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Scribe Notes

2026-06-06T04:35:53Z

Terryintransit: /* Autumn 809 WK */

[[Image:Records 1.png]] [[Category:Scribe Notes]]<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>

Skip to the [[Scribe Notes#Summer_826 WK|Current Season]]

Every guild adventure is required to have an official scribe to record the main events of the adventure.
The completed documents are written in the electronic format of the scribes preference and added to the archives in the [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/ Guild Library] (usually in PDF).

Scribe notes can be entered directly on the wiki (view existing [[:Category:Scribe_Notes|Scribe Notes]] for examples).
It is recommended to make use of the linking ability of the Wiki to cross reference everywhere you go and every important person you deal with to their appropriate section of the Wiki.

To start a set of Scribe notes the following templates are available for you. [[Scribe notes template|Standard Template]] (''recommended'') and [[IanW template|Template 3]]

= Content of Scribe Notes =
While there are no hard and fast rules about what must be in a set of scribe notes, the following is a guideline of the minimum that should be included.
* The Party Members.
* Party Leader, Scribe and Military Scientist.
* The Employer, what the party is hired to do and what they are getting paid.
* Diary with names, places and events.
* Astrology readings and any other bits of information gathered during the course of the adventure.
* The outcome of the adventure.
* Treasure and Items acquired on the adventure.

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=Scribe Notes=

== 826 Wk ==
=== Spring 826===

=== Winter 826===
* [[Twenty Years After]] - Med/High - Weds - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Down in the Hundred Acre Woods]] - Medium - Wed - GM: Kita
* [[Gobo Garrison]] - Low - Sat - GM: Sam

=== Autumn 826===
<div style="background-color: #ddffdd;">
* [[Regailia Recovery for Royal Renunciation]] - Low - Sat - GM: [[User:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[One Man's Justice]] - Med - Mon - GM: [[User:stephen|Stephen]]
* [[The Quest for Fire and Water]] - Med/High - Sun/Mon - GM: [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[Shadows In Play]] - Low - Mon - GM:[[Anne]]
* [[A Simple Task]] - Online - Medish- Tue - Terry
* [[Scourge of the Clouded Skies]] - Highish - Wed - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Misogyny with a capital M]] - Low - Tue - GM: [[User:Jeff|JeffL]]
* adventure - lvl - night - GM:
</div>

=== Summer 826===
* [[Die Wiederkehr der Königskleinodien]] - Low/Med + - Mon - [[Chris Caulfield]]
* [[Casting Stones]] - Med - Mon - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Blight of the Bloated Blobs]] - Low - wed - [[Zarne]]
* [[Welcome to the Island]] - Lowish - Tues - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
* [[Celestial Pioneers]] - Medium - One Day - [[User:Martin | Martin]]
* [[Dancing in the Moonlight]] - Low/Med - Sat - [[User: Dean|Dean]]

== 825 Wk ==
22 games in 825 WK

=== Spring 825===
* [[Celestial Mechanics]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] - Saturday - [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[The Warlocks Contract]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]]ish - Tuesday - [[Anne]]
* [[Dreamers Showcase]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | High]] - Saturday - [[Sam]]
* [[Neverland Unbound]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] - Wednesday - [[Kita]]
* [[Threnody of Kings]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Extreme]] - Monday - [[Mandos]]
* [[The Subliminal Court]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]] - Var - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]

=== Winter 825===
* [[Monsters Inc II]] - High - Mon - [[User:Dean | Dean Ellis]]
* [[Once Upon a Storytime]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] - Saturday - [[Mandos]]
* [[Glowing Glacier]] - Medish- Tue - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Return of the Shrooms]] Low/Med - Wed - [[Ian A]]
* [[The Liminal Court]] Med - Sun - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]

=== Autumn 825===
* [[Toxic Neighbours]] - High - Mon - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[If you go down in the woods today...]] - Low/Med - Sat - [[User:Dean_Ellis|Dean]]
* [[Earth. Under Sky, Under Earth]] - Med/High - Tues - Online - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[The Search for Ling]] - Low - Wed - [[Anne]]
* [[Calf Catastrophe]] - Low - Sat - [[Sam]]
* [[Micro Brewery Adventure]] - Low - Tue - GM: Nick

=== Summer 825===
* [[Black Moonlight]] - High - Mon - [[User:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Uncertainty Principle]] - Low/Med - Weekends - [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Duck Duck Trash]] - Low - Wed - [[Kita]]
* [[Suspicious Voices]] - Med/High- Night - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Invitation To The Skies]] - Med - Sat- [[Sam]]
* [[A Merry Little Christmas]] - [[Kita]]

==824 WK==
20 games in 824 WK
=== Spring 824===
* [[Eastern Shadows ]] - Mon - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Blood across the Seas]]- Low/Med? - Mon - [[Chris Caulfield]]
* [[Homecoming]]- Med-ish - TBC - Online Terry
* [[Down in the Deep Blue Sea]] - Tuesday Online - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
* [[Red Laughter - The Hunt]] - Online - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]
* [[Undead What Now?]] - Wed - Med - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Don't touch]] - Fri - Low - Ian

=== Winter 824===
* [[Gold Fever]] - Med - Mon - Martin
* [[Graduates Task]] - Bunny - Thurs - Anne
* [[Burning of Nihlus]] - High+Smart - Wed - Sam
* [[Taking a Unicorn Home]] - Keith
* [[Bad Oysters]] - Med - One Day - Ian A

=== Autumn 824===
* [[Grymeron Out of Shape]] - Medium - Mon - Dean - St Johns
* [[Witch Hunt]] - Low/Medium - Jacqui - Online/Mangere Bridge - Tuesdays
* [[Friendly Fire]] - Medium - Well done. - Bernard - Online - Wednesdays.
* [[Red Laughter]] - Medium - Jim - Online - Sunday (21:00 to 01:00)

=== Summer 824===
* [[Menglana revenge]] - High - Mon - Jono
* [[Black Watch: Let it Burn]] - Low - Mon - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Imagined Problems]] - Low-Med - Wed - Sam
* [[It Came From The Depths]] - Medium - Tues - Keith - Online

== 823 Wk ==
19 games in 823 WK 
=== Spring 823 Wk ===
* [[ The Best Laid Plans of Mercs and Mermen]] - Med-High - Wed - Anne
* [[ The Night of the Comet]] - Low - Tue? - Jacqui
* [[Prelude to Marriage]] - Med - Thu - Terry (Online)
* [[MorsCerta, HoraIncerta]] - High - Mon - Chris C
* [[Gnome Way Home]] - Low - var - Martin
* [[Giant Trouble at Desert Flower]] - Medium(ish) - Wed- [[User:Michael P|Michael P]]

=== Winter 823 Wk ===

* [[A.C.A.T stuck in a tree]] - High - Wed - Sam
* [[In the Shadow of the Black tower]] - Low/Medium - Monday - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[The Engines of God]] - High - Mon - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Winter Mystery]] - Lowish - Wed(Online) - Bernard

=== Autumn 823 Wk ===
* [[Cave of Deception]] - Low - Wed - Kita
* [[Wine and Cheese]] - Med - Mon - [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[The Disappearance of Yasmin's Hammer]] - Low - Mon - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Elementary My Dear Adventurer]] - Med High - Tues - [[Keith Smith]] (Online)
* [[If you can't be bad, be bad at it]] - Low - var - Dean

=== Summer 823 Wk ===
* [[Green Waters Rising]] - Tues - Medium - [[User:Bernard | Bernard]] - Full
* [[Visions Of Loot]] - Weds - Med - Sam - Full
* [[Seirs Sunday Soiree]] - Anne
* [[A Dungeon of Unfortunate Events]] - Thu - Med=>High - Dean

== 822 Wk ==
21 games in 822 WK 
===Spring 822 WK===
* [[Of Marsh and Marble]] - Mondays - Lower Medium - Chris
* [[A Herbal Experiment]] - Weds - Bunny - Low - [[Anne]]
* [[Salve Rex]] - Thu - Low-Med - ChrisC
* [[O' give me a home]] - Mon - High+ - [[User:stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Santanapped]] - Med - Terry

=== Winter 822 WK ===
* [[A Cold Sun - Part 2]] - TBC - Wed (Online?) - Highish - Bernard
* [[Beauty and the... Two Beasts?]] - Thursdays (Online) - Lowish - Kita
* [[Beyond the Gatehouse]] Medium/High - Monday - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[West where the Heartwood is]] - High - Thur - Dean
* [[Newtonian Goblins]] - Sat pm - Low - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Twin Gate Colosseum]] - July 16th - Flexi - [[Anne]]

=== Autumn 822 WK ===

* [[Red Dresses in the Shadows]] - Monday - Medium/High - Jono
* [[An Unknown Onslaught]] - Wed - Low-Medium - Anne
* [[Johnny isn't Sleeping]] (Goblin Fire Mages) - Fri 8pm Start - Bunny - Ian A
* [[The Chaos That Sleeps In The Deep]] - Wed(7pm) - Online(Roll20/Discord) - Medium-Weird(with a touch of silliness) - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Covert Fox]] - Sat pm - Low - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]

=== Summer 822 WK===

* [[A Spate of OZzity]] - Wed - Med-High - Dean (Half Session)
* [[Bring Summer to Bryshande]] - Thu - High - Chris (Half Session)
* [[A Golden Eye on the waves]] - Monday - Medium/High - Jono
* [[The Hunt for Three Claw]] - Wed - Bunny Low - Bernard
* [[Orc Brew Quest]] - Tues - Medium Crunchy - Ian
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: The Great Grain Heist]] - Tues(usually) - Lowish - Terry(Online)

== 821 Wk ==
20 games in 821 WK 
=== Spring 821 WK ===
* [[An Evening with the Unholy]] - Wed - High - Anne (online) Full
* [[I Must Go Down To The Sea Again]] - Tue - Low/Med - [[User:Keith|Keith]] (online)
* [[The Hero's Quintet]] - Wed - Med-High - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] (online, short game)
* [[*Read the Fine Print]] - Med/High MTB (online)

=== Winter 821 WK ===
* [[You're Not In Tycho anymore]] - Tuesdays - Low - Chris
* [[A Golden Eye in the deep]] - Monday - Medium - Jono
* [[Braegon's Treasure Map]] - Weds - Low-Med - Dean
* [[Taking the Lute]] - Weds - Med - Ian
* [[Polite Enquiries]] - Low/Med - Ross(online)

=== Autumn 821 WK ===
* [[Not just a simple comb]] Monday nights - Jono Full
* [[Death's reflection in the mirror of fear]] - Low-med - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[The Autumn Wolves]] - Bunny-Low - Anne
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: River Watch]] - Med - Terry (Online)
* [[Doing the Rounds]] - Bunny-Low - Jacqui
* [[A Cold Sun]] - Low-Med - Bernard
* [[Kanlaoise - Soul Men]] - Ross (online)

=== Summer 821 WK ===
* [[Blood & Ice]] - High, Monday night GM: [[Jono Bean|Jono]] - Full
* [[Won't you go to funky town]] - Med, Weds, Ian A.
* [[Follow the Evening Star]] - Low, Tues, [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: Recipe for Danger]] - GM [[Micheal Young]] (online)

== 820 Wk ==
19 games in 820 WK 
=== Spring 820 WK ===
* [[The Lost Forge]] - Med/High - Bernard - Wed/Online
* [[Monsters Inc]] - Extreme - Dean - Mondays
* [[One of Our Vineyards is Missing]] - Low - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] - Tuesdays
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: Vigors Quest]] - Terry (online)

=== Winter 820 WK ===
* [[Candyland]] - Low - Anne - Wed
* [[East Hindia TC]] - Low-Med - Thu/Wed - GM [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Looking Glass Lost]] - Med - Fri - GM [[User:Michael P|Michael P]]
* [[Coral Sea Colony]] - Low-Med - Tues - GM [[User:Keith|Keith]] (Online)
* [[Kanlaoise Part Deux]] - High - GM Ross

=== Autumn 820 WK ===
* [[Nobody dies there...probably]] - Low- Tuesday - GM IanA
* [[Thirteen feet and to trust your fifth look]] - Med/High - GM Jono
* [[The Bottle of Spirits]] - Tues - GM: William
* [[Into the Sky Rock]] - Weds - GM: Bernard
* [[Brave new world]] continuation... - Thu - DM: Jim
* [[Arth 1]] - ''Non-DQ'' - Wed - GM: Paul S.
* [[Novadom Road North]] - Lockdown Weekends - Low - GM Stephen.

=== Summer 820 WK ===
* [[A Darkened Mystery]] - Med - Wed - GM Anne
* [[Okla is missing]] - Med/High - GM Jono
* [[The Evernow]] - Easy, safe, fun - GM William
* [[Hire-A-Hubby]] - Med-High - Tues - GM Stephen
* [[An Overflow of Goblins]] - Lowish - Tues - GM [[User:Keith | Keith]]

== 819 WK ==
17 games in 819 WK 
=== Spring 819 WK ===
* [[Half a crisp spring]] - High - Mon - GM Jono
* [[Thin Ice]] - Med - Tue - Chris
* [[The Gates of Heck]] - Low+ - Thurs - GM [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
* [[Brave new world]] - Thurs - GM [[User:Jim | Jim]]

=== Winter 819 WK ===

* [[Worship the Desert]] Thurs - Crunchy - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Series of Unfortunate Events]] - Medium - Dean
* [[Archaeological Expedition]] - Low - [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[No 1 Hobbit Detective Agency - Adventuring Arborist]] - Medium - Terry (online)
* The continuation of [[The Harvest of the Planes]] - High - Jim Arona

=== Autumn 819 WK ===
* [[Fate_of_Or|"The Fate of Or"]] - Titan-pestering (but not aggressively so). Thurs ''chez'' Smith - Michael P.
* [[The Harvest of the Planes]] - High level, not Monday - Jim Arona
* [[Falling the way rocks don't]] - Low - Mon - Stephen
* [[A lack of humer]] - Low - Weds - Ian A.

=== Summer 819 WK ===
* [[A Plea for Help]] - Low-Med - Night TBD - Anne
* [[Trouble in the Spine]] - Low-Med - Tue - GM Chris
* [[Northern Summers]] - Med-High - Tues - GM Jono
* [[No 1 Detective Hobbit Agency - The Creampuff Catnappering Caper]] - Med - Sun - GM Terry (online)

== 818 WK ==
19 games in 818 WK

=== Spring 818 WK ===
* [[Night Train to Lisbon]] - Low to Medium - Night TBA - Jim Arona
* [[More Enquiring Minds]] - High - Night Monday - Dean Ellis
* [[The Fires of Heck]] - Low - Tuesday - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]

=== Winter 818 WK ===
* [[Liberty of County Palatine of Borovia]] - High+ - Tuesday - [[Jono Bean|Jono]]
* [[Lord Azzur's Black Fleet]] - High+ - Wednesday - Julia
* [[Recover Dylath]] - High - Mon - William
* [[Back Doors and Short Cuts]] - Low-Med - Tue - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Delve under Old Seagate]] - Low - Thu - Ian A.
* [[Return to Kanlaoise]] - Brave - Ross

=== Autumn 818 WK ===
* [[My dreams are strange dreams]] - Kelsie - Medium - Wednesday
* [[Trading in Sunshine]] - Clare - Medium - Monday
* [[Blood on Broad Street]] - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - Low-Medium - Tuesday
* [[Ten Days to the end of the world]] - William - High - Thursday - West
* [[Operation Word]] - [[Jono Bean|Jono]] - Var - Tues/Thurs

=== Summer 818 WK ===
* [[Full Metal Breastplate]] Jim Arona - Medium
* [[I need a Hero (or five)]] William - We'll see
* [[Enquiring Minds]] Dean - 3 Tuesday, than Monday
* [[Mr Grumpy and the Tartan]] Ian Anderson - Bunny-Low - Thursdays

== 817 WK ==
19 games in 817 WK
=== Spring 817 WK ===
* [[Anticipatory_Revenge]] Michael P. Non-humans preferred but not essential.
* [[Into the Unknown]] ChrisC. Low (only new PC's)
* [[Air Bastards of the Shattered Queen]] William - Medium, no really.
* [[Brastor goblin hunting]] Bernard - Tuesday - Mediumish

=== Winter 817 WK ===
* [[The Pevensey Heist]] - [[Clare]] Monday - Low Medium
* [[Fallen Ocelotepec]] - [[Jim Arona | Jim]] Tuesday Medium
* [[Blood-Feud?]] - [[User:Dean|Dean]] Wednesday - High
* [[A Cultural Exchange]] - [[User:Keith|Keith]] Tuesdays - Low
* [[The Hippo's Helpers]] - Greg Graydon & Julia - Medium (a weekend game 5&6 August 2017)

=== Autumn 817 WK ===
* [[Northern Lords]] - Med-High - [[Jono Bean]] Monday night
* [[A Quiet Contemplative Trip]] - [[William]] Monday Extreme
* [[South Gate Rot]] - [[Jim Arona | Jim]] Wednesdays Low/Violent
* [[Through A Mirror Darkly]] - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] - Tuesday Medium
* [[Shrooms]] - [[Ian A | Ian A]] - Wednesday Low

=== Summer 817 WK ===
* [[Vacancies]] - Med-High (Independent) - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]. (Probably Summer.)
* [[Into the Dark Continent]] - Medium - Mon - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]
* [[The Fox vs The Marquessa]] - High - Thu - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Banshee Bits Required]] - Low/medium - Wed - [[User:Mebh|Julia]]
* [[Deserts, Dungeons, & Dwarves pt 2]] -Low/bunny - Wed - [[User:Helen|Helen]]
* [[Street of Gods]] - Low - Tues - Jeff Leddra

== 816 WK ==
15 games in 816 WK
=== Spring 816 WK ===
* [[Ivinia Darkness]] - Mon/Wed - High/Medium - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[The Magical Mystery Show]] - Mon Medium - [[William]]
* [[The Coils of Spring]] - Mon/Tue - Medium - [[Jim Arona]]
* [[Somebody's Daughter]] - Tue - Low - [[Ian Anderson]]

=== Winter 816 WK ===
* [[Chelemby Northern Darkness]] - Mon High/Medium - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Seagate's Haunts]] - [[User:Keith|Keith]] - Low - Tues
* [[The Hippo's Bride]] - Julia - High - Mon (Goblins Hippo bride all Scab's fault)

=== Autumn 816 WK ===
* [[Pongo Gutbag and the Legion of Doom!]] - Mon - Very High, 25 PC recommended - GM William
* [[War-wolves of Londinium]] - TBA - Not Low - GM [[Jim Arona]]
* [[A friend in need ...]] - Tue - Low-med - GM [[User:Chris|Chris]]
* [[Winter is Coming]] - Tues - High-med - GM [[User:Keith|Keith]]

=== Summer 816 WK===
* [[Gypsy Smugglers Wanted]] - Upper Medium, after a low start - Wed - Mangere - GM Michael P.
* [[The Mikado Affair]] - Medium, but with plenty of opportunities to expose internal organs - TBA - DM - [[Jim Arona]]
* [[Chateau Haut-Brion]] - Mon High/Medium - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Mine Fox Rescue]] - Mon - Med - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]

== 815 WK ==
18 games in 815WK 
=== Spring 815 WK ===
* [[Hot Fusion]] - Medium - GM William '''full'''
* [[Enchanted Jewels]] - Medium, Monday - GM [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Into the Valley of Roses]] - Low/Medium, Thursdays - GM [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]

=== Winter 815 WK ===
* [[The Exodus Agenda]] - High - DM [[User:Velcanthus|Jim]]
* [[Pro Bono]] - Low/Medium - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Travel Advisory]] - Low-Med - Ian W
* [[What is the Big Bad Wolf afraid of?]] - Low - Dean

=== Autumn 815 WK ===
* [[A Doomsday Like Any Other]] Shared game. William, Craig, Julia
**[[Unruly Sonne]] - Medium - High - Mon - [[William Dymock|William]]
**[[And Darkness Fell Upon The Face Of Alusia]] - [[User:Mebh | Julia]]
**[[Secret Seven and the mystery of the missing Sun]] - Craig
* [[Where's Johnny?]] - Low/Low-Med Mon - Ian A
* [[Bear Necessities]] - Low - Miles

=== Summer 815 WK ===

* [[Get Your Rocks Off!]] - Medium - GM William '''full'''
* [[A Walk in the Black Forest]] - Medium, but blood may be spilt - GM Jim
* [[Duskfalls demise]] - Medium - GM [[User:Mebh|Julia]] '''full'''
* [[A large concern]] - High - GM [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Vun Enchanted Evening]] - Medium/High - GM Ian Wood

== 814 WK ==
25 games in 814 WK
=== Spring 814 WK ===

* [[Tears of Salt]] - Medium - Fri - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Blood in the Snow]] - Low-Med - Tue - GM: ChrisC
* [[The Bold and the Handsome]] - Frivolous (Oz Game) - Tue - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean]]
* [[Escort a caravan]] - low/med - Tues - GM: [[User:IanW|Ian W]]
* [[Reclaiming Walontaun]] - High - We - GM: [[Craig Harper|Craig]]

=== Winter 814 WK ===
* [[Black Magic Woman]] - Low - Mondays - GM : [[William]]
* [[Copper Sands and Broken Dice]] - Low - Wednesdays - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Network of Sin]] - High+ - Th - DM: Jim
* [[The Cleansing of the Shire]] - Med - Fri - GM: Jacqui
* [[Vapour - The Legend continues|Finding Harold]] - Med - Tue - GM: Julia
* [[A Body for Pug]] - Low - Wednesdays - GM : Miles

=== Autumn 814 WK ===
* [[A Plan may be forthcoming]] - Not Bunny - Wednesday - GM : [[William]]
* [[Send Lawyers, Knives and Money]] (aka 12 years a slave) - Medium - Tuesdays - GM : Bridget Dymock-Johnson
* [[Mislaid Offspring]] - Highish, but not God Bothering - Wednesday - GM : Michael P.
* [[Shopping on Grymeron]] - Medium to Newtonian - Tuesdays - GM: Dean E
* [[Employment wanted]] - lowish - Thursdays - GM : ''GM Ian Anderson'' - this is the overflow
* [[A Loss in the Family]] - Low/Med - Mon - GM: ChrisC
* [[Murky Mind Trip]] - Med - 18th May -GM: Terry
* [[Like the Night]] - Low/Med - a couple of stray Wednesdays - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* Red Carpet Massacre - GM: Mandos

=== Summer 814 WK ===
* [[Brief Candles]] - High - Thursdays - DM: [[Jim Arona|Jim]]
* [[The Hero of Nightfall]] - High - Mondays - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[The Wood Wide Web]] - Low/Med - Tues - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Those Dripping Bones]] - Medium/Chewy - Wed - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[five go forth in Cornumbria]] - Low/Med - Mon/Tues - GM:Julia
* [[Wedding Preparations]] - Low/Med - Wed - GM: Terry

==813 WK==
33 games in 813 WK
===Spring 813 WK===
* [[The Big Push]] - by lots of different people
<div style="background-color: #eeeedd;">
** [[Return of the Geomancers]] - High+ - Wednesday - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
** [[The battle of Simia Orichalcae]] - High - Tues - GM: [[William]]
** [[Pointed Diplomacy]] - Master Assassins - varies over a few nights/weekends (Thursdays) - GM: Paul S. - '''FULL''
** [[Kill Them All]] - Highish thump fest in the Shattered Kingdom - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
** [[Loyalty and honor]] - Low/medium - GM Julia
</div>
* [[Darkness Falls]] - Medium/High - Wed - GM: Miles Jackson

===Winter 813 WK===
* [[A Cold return]] - High - Monday - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Just Deserts]] - Low/Medium - Tuesday - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]
* [[The Wicked Witch of the Wet]] - Medium/Highish - Tues/Thu - GM: [[User:Keith|Keith Smith]] (Note: 8wk session only as we leave in Aug)
* [[Red Red Wine]] - Low/Medium - Thursday - GM: [[User:Chris|Chris C]] - ''a low to low medium level game for new players''
* [[A Brick wrapped in a Prophecy]] - Very low - Wednesday - GM:Ian Anderson
* [[The Good, Bad And Ugly]] - Low - Wednesday - GM:Jeff Leddra
* [[Red Carpet Massacre]] - Medium - Monday - GM:[[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]

===Autumn 813 WK===

* [[Land of the Mislaid]] - Thu - Medium-ish - GM: Michael P
* [[Legion's End]] - Tuesdays - Extreme - GM: William
* [[A Fox in the Hen House]] - Thu - Low - New Windsor - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - ''A low level game for new players''
* [[Walk a Crooked Mile]] - Mon - Medium - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[For Those in Peril IN the Sea...]] - Thu - Medium - GM: [[User:Jacqui|Jacqui]]
* [[Much Ado About Nothing]] - Thu - social - GM: Andrew W
* [[Rumble in the Jungle]] - Wed - Low - GM: Michael Young
* [[Black Watch Chronicles V: Hand of Fate]] - Mon - Low - GM: Ben Taberner
* [[Moving Statues]] - Mon - Highish to Drow-bothering - GM: Craig Harper

===Summer 813 WK===

* [[Within and Without]] - Tues - GM: Martin (Full)
* [[The Siege of Ar Eeb]] - Tues - GM: [[William]]
* [[Following the Fumes III]] An Air Mage Adventure - Low/Med/High - Mon - GM: [[Craig Harper]]
* [[A fading light from the West]] - High - Thur - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[When my Ships come in]] - Mon - GM: Bernard
* [[Squid Row]] - Medium/High - Wed - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[The things in Baron Turds 'Back-passage']] - day game - GM: [[Paul Schmidt]]
* [[Crooked House|Crooked Little House]] - Kids - Sat - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[My Kingdom Come]] - Thurs - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] (Full)
* [[Beach Games]] - Various times in Whananaaki - GM [[William]] and [[Kelsie]]

==812 WK==

24 Games in 812WK

===Spring 812 WK===
* [[Our Two Main Weapons are Fear, Surprise, A Huge Mountain of Skulls...Wait a minute.]] - High - Tuesday - GM: [[William]]
* [[Things Fall Apart]] - High - Wednesday - GM: [[Paul Schmidt]]
* [[The Middle Way]] - High - TBA - DM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[The Gyldwasser Depths]] - Low to Med - Tuesday - GM: ChrisC - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[Invasion Route One ends in a Swamp, please explain.]] - Highish - Mondays - GM:[[Ian Wood]]
* [[In Search of Paradox]] - Low - Wednesday - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]

===Winter 812 WK===
* [[And the Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail Against Thee]] - Guess - Mon - GM: [[William]]
* [[Psst!, where is this town called Konigsburg?]] - Low - TBA - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
* [[Hubble Bubble and Rabbits]] - Low Medium - Wed - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Destinations]] - Med-High - Thu - GM: [[User:helen|Helen]]
* [[Wolves of Winter]] - High - Tuesday - DM: [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]

===Autumn 812 WK===
* [[Western Coils of Sand and Jumping Tigers]] - Medium/High - Monday - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Hunting the Eagle]] - Low to Low/Med - Tuesday - [[User :ChrisC|Chris C]] - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[The Bloody Murder of the Foul Prince Romero and His Enormously Bosomed Wife]] - Medium - TBA - GM: [[William]]
* [[Who Let The Undead Out]] - Medium - Thur - [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[The Lady Vanishes]] - Medium level adventure for Low level characters - Wed - Jim
* [[Divisions Within]] - High side of Medium - Wednesday - Miles

===Summer 812 WK===
* [[The Sixteen Quarters of Time]] - High - Mon - GM: [[User:Velcanthus|Jim]]
* [[We did offer to pay]] - Extreme - Wed - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Friday Night Firefights]] - Low/Med - Wed - GM: [[William]]
* [[A Beast in the Night]] - Low - Tues - GM: [[Clare]]
* [[The meteor has landed]] - Low/Medium - Tues - GM: [[Stefan]]
* [[All of our Children are Missing]] - High - GM: Scott Raymond
* [[Delph Vermin - The Extermination Mission]] - High Side of Medium - Wed - GM: [[Michael Young]]

==811 WK==
27 Games in 811
===Spring 811 WK===
* [[What once was lost]] - Low - Monday - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark TM]: [[William]]
* A Hobbit [[Fact-eliminating mission]] - High - Monday - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamemaster GM]: Michael Parkinson
* [[Vale of Tears - Part 2]] - Medium - Tuesday night - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel GM]: [[Stefan]]
* [[Manhunt - In Search of RocSingers Past]] - Level: Medium; Night: Wednesday; GM: [[Bernard Hoggins]]
* [[This Quintessence of Dust]] - Low - Med - Wed - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master DM]: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[The Truth hurts]] An Oz Adventure - Newtonian - Wednesday : [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]
* [[Following the Fumes II]] An Air Mage Adventure - Low/Med/High - Thursday - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Powers:_International_Man_of_Mystery GM]: [[Craig Harper]] - Full
* [[A Shortage of Tall Poppies]] Low Level, Wednesday, GM [[Miles Jackson]] (4 week adventure)

===Winter 811 WK===

* [[Sun Wukong and the six sorcerors]] - Med - Th - [[William]]
* [[Sahuagin Smackdown]] - Highish - Tue - GM:[[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Too much of a good thing]] - Medium ish - Tue - [[User :ChrisC|Chris C]] - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[Twice as Cold]] - Medium & Very High- Monday - GMs: [[User :Kelsie2|Kelsie]] & [[Jono Bean]]
* [[A stoners tale - Part II]] Level: Low - Night: Wednesday - GM: [[Stefan]]
* [[Carzala Grieves]] Level: Very Low - Night: Wednesday - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]]
* [[Where Have All The Dragons Gone?]] Level: Medium; Night: Wednesday; GM: [[Miles Jackson]]
* [[A Winter's Tale]] Level: Kids; Played: on weekends; GM [[Jim Arona]]

===Autumn 811 WK===
*[[Brides of Blackrod]] - High - Mon - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
*[[Autumn Colours]] - non High - Sat - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
*[[Elemental as Anything]] - Medium - Night - GM:[[William]]
*[[Sumthin's A-Matter With Our Monster]] - Medium/High - Thu GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
*[[A stoners tale.]] - Low. - Wed - GM:[[Stefan]]
*[[Harvest Moon]] - Med+ - Tues - GM:[[GM's#GM:_Martin_Dickson|Martin]]
*[[Elemental Robes]] - Low/High - Tues - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
*[[War in Heaven]] - Low/Medium - Wed - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]

===Summer 811 WK===
*[[And Darkness Was on the Face of the Deep]] - High - Tue - GM:[[Jim Arona]]
*[[The cattle drive me crazy]] - Low - Mon - GM:[[William]]
*[[SauRus's Curse Removal Quest]] - Med - Mon - GM:[[user:helen|Helen]]
*[[We are still walking to China]] - Medium - Night - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]]
*[[Six go mad on mescaline]] - Low/Med - Wed - GM: [[Miles Jackson]]
*[[Horns of the North]] - Low - Thu - GM:[[Michael Young]]

==810 WK==
29 Games in 810 

===Spring 810 WK===
*[[Following the Fumes]] An Air Mage Adventure - Med/High - Mondays - GM: [[Craig Harper]]
*[[Echoes in Eternity]] - High - Tuesdays? - GM:[[William]]
*[[Lambs with Teeth]] - Medium-High - Thursdays - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
*[[The Rainbow Gates]] - Low - Tuesdays - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean]]
*[[A game of 2 halves]] - Low Medium - Tuesdays - GM: [[Dylan]]
*[[Sahuagin, Elves, and Merfolk. Oh My!]] - Medium High - Wednesday - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]]
*[[For I Have Immortal Longings in Me]] - Low Medium - Wednesday - DM: [[Jim Arona]]
*[[Dark Dangerous Secrets]] - Medium - night -GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]
*[[Brastor Banditos]] GM: ???

===Winter 810 WK===
* [[Sand Storm]] - Medium/Endurance - GM:Bernard
* [[Road to Gory|Road to Glory]] - Extreme to Demigod Bothering - GM: Michael P - Mostly off-plane
* [[EnTitleD to die for]] - Medium - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[Reason Unborn]] - Medium-ish - GM: [[Jeff Church]]
* [[An escaped Imp]] - Low - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Vale of Tears - Part 1]] - Medium-ish - GM: [[Stefan]]
* [[Stitched Up]] Callus - GM: Adam
* [[Troubles with Blackstrike]] - GM: Ross

===Autumn 810 WK===
* [[Work for the Warden]] - Med/High - night - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] - On Plane [[Artzdorf and Flugelheim]]
* [[Missing, presumptions on hold]] - Extreme - night -GM: [[William]]
* [[Slow Portal to China]] but we'd rather reach Elfenburg - Low or Medium - night - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] -
* [[Where Angels Fear to Tread]] - High - night -GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[Little Girl Lost in the Woods]] - Low Medium - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[The Prodigal Sun]] - High - night - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
* [[Escort to Darktree Tower]] - Med High - night - GM:[[Jim Arona]]

=== Summer 810 WK ===
* [[Songs of Pain and Sorrow]] - High - night - GM: [[Jim Arona]] - Off Plane, the Seven Kingdoms: Lameth
* [[Ghost Town]] - Low Medium - night - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]] - Off Plane
* [[Bad Karma]] - High - night - GM: [[Andrew W]] - On Plane
* [[Theropsid Escorts]] - Low/Med - night - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - On Plane
* [[Reflections and Visitations]] - High+ - night - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin Dickson]] - Various planes
* [[Peak Downs Return]] - High? - night - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
* [[The Great Sperm Race]] - Medium - night - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]
* [[Galleria Malvagio]] - Medium - night - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]]

==809 WK==
25 games in 809
===Spring 809 WK===
* [[A Spring Wedding]] - High - night - GM: [[:Category:Helen Saggers|Helen Saggers]] Off plane.
* [[Molon Labe]] - Medium - night - GM: [[William]] Alfhiem
* [[A Pirate's Lament]] - Med + - night - GM [[Rosemary Mansfield]] Off Plane
* [[The Last Delivery]] - Low Med - night - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - Western Kingdom
* [[Trials of the Hafted Weapon]] continues...
* [[Broken Heart]]- Low - night - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[Famous Five go to Delphi]] - High - night - GM: [[Michael Young]]
* [[Nadin's Revenge]] - High GM: Ross

===Winter 809 WK===
* [[A Civilised Ending]] - High - night - GM: [[Andrew W]] - On Plane
* [[The casting of shadows]] - Medium - night - GM: [[William]]
* [[The Black Pearl]] - Low/Med - night - GM:[[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - On Plane
* [[Maid Service]] - Medium+ - night - GM: Scott Raymond Off Plane
* [[Trials of the Hafted Weapon]] - Medium - night - GM: [[Jono Bean]] - On Plane
* [[Ground Zero Day]] - Medium - night - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Leddra|Jeff Leddra]] - In the mind of a god (go figure!)

===Autumn 809 WK===
* [[Revolving Doors Redux]] - High - GM: [[:Category:Dean Ellis|Dean Ellis]]
* [[The end of days]] - Extreme - GM: [[William Dymock]]
* [[A Loss of Reason]] - Medium-ish - GM: [[Jeff Church]]
* [[Watching the Watchmen]] - Sub-Low - GM: [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]]
* [[Looking for the Ladle]] - Low medium - GM: Ian Wood
* [[Up The Garden Path]] - Medium - GM: [[:Category:Jacqui Smith | Jacqui]]
* [[Coronation Invitations]] - GM: Ross Scribe: Sin <---- CATEGORY HERE
* [[Missing Monkys]] - GM: ??? Scribe: Uzi

===Summer 809 WK===
* [[Bread and Circuses]] - Med - night - GM: Helen Saggers
* [[Deconstructing a Fictional Girl]] - High - night - GM: [[Andrew W]]
* [[Bandits, Bandits everywhere]] - Low - night - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]]
* [[Thanks for all the fish]] - Low - night - GM: [[William Dymock]]
* [[Delving Too Deep]] - High - night - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Can we fix it?]] - Medium - night - GM: Miles Jackson

==808 WK==
31 games in 808
===Spring 808 WK===
* [[Reach Up for the Sunrise]] - night - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Black_Watch_Chronicles_III:_Tidings_of_Comfort_and_Joy|Tidings of Comfort and Joy]] - night - GM: [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]]
* [[Ephemeral Elephants]] - night - GM:[[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]]
* [[Rangiwhero Recon]] - night - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]]
* [[The Rights of Spring]] - night - GM: [[William]]
* [[Fair-bound Ride]] - night - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]]
* [[Save the Demon]] - night - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]

===Winter 808 WK===
* [[She is Made of Truth]] - High - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Blood and Sand]] - High - GM: Callum - Tues [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[I met her in a dream]] - Low/Med - GM: Jill Mitchinson [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[In Her Majesty's Somewhat Secret Service]] - High - GM: William [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Revolving Doors]] - Med - GM: [[:Category:Dean Ellis|Dean Ellis]]
* [[The Sun, The Moon, and the Piper's Song]] - Med - GM: Jacqui
* [[Lessons in Enlightenment and Respect]]- Low - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[Alusian Innocents Abroad, The Evil Within]] - Innocents - GM: Mark Simpson

===Autumn 808 WK===
*[[Trials of the Tridents]] - Med/High - Tuesday night - GM: [[Jono Bean]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Skin Trade]] - Medium - Monday nights - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]], [[Insel der Freiheit|Al]]
*[[Balrogs & Mithral]] - High - Wednesday nights - GM: [[:Category:Hamish Brown|Hamish]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Chasing White Elephants]] - medium - Friday nights - GM: [[:Category:Bernard|Bernard]] - OP
*[[The Legacy of Kael]] - Medium - Negotiable days - '''Ye saga continueth!''' - GM: [[William]] - [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Please may we have our Prince back]] - High - Thursday - GM: [[Phil_Judd|Phil]], Off Plane
*[[The Family Jewels]] - Med/High - Wednesday - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[The Tiger and the Mouse]] - Med - Friday 21/3 - GM: [[Jon McSpadden]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[The Long Way Home]] Low - night - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Leddra|Jeff Leddra]]
*[[WMDs Considered Harmful]] - GM: Ross

===Summer 808 WK===
* [[Blood of Girwyllan]] - High Tuesday night - GM: [[Jono Bean]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Swamp Exploration]] - Mediumish - Saturday afternoons - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Search and Rescue]] - Friday nights - GM: [[User:Helen|Helen Saggers]] OP
* [[The Laughing Hills]] - Medium - Wednesday Night Full - GM:[[User:William|William Dymock-Johsnon]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[S.P.E.]] - High - Wednesday night - GM:[[Gordon Lewis]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[A Minor Investigation]] - Very High - Thursday Night - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Living on the Edge]] - Medium - Wednesday night - GM:[[Miles Jackson]] OP
*[[A Conduit to the Plane of the Eternal Fortress]] - GM: Adam Scribe: [[Sin]]

==807 WK==
38 games in 807
=== Spring 807 WK ===
* [[The End of The World]] Full/High - GM [[William]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[The Fate of Queen Aleksandra]] Full/High - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Black Watch Chronicles II: The Absent Physician]] Full/Low - GM: [[GM's#Ben Taberner|Ben]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Fey Haven]] Full/Med-High - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen Martin]] OP
* [[Don't go breaking my heart]] Full/High - GM: [[Callum|Callum]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Winter War|Ruskan Rumble]] Various/Full? Following on from [[To Ruska with Love]] - GM: [[:Category:Greg Graydon|Greg Graydon]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Escort to the Superstition Mountains]] Low - GM: [[Craig Harper]] Monday nights. [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Horse Thieves]] Low - GM: [[Clare]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Dead Like Us]] ? - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]] OP

=== Winter 807 WK ===
*[[A Kings Ransom]] - GM: [[User :ChrisC|Chris C]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Safely Underfoot]] - GM: [[:Category:Greg Graydon|Greg Graydon]],[[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Sword of Petrus]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian Mitchinson |Jillian Mitchinson]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[A combined GM Game]]:
**[[Save A Prayer]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
**[[Flute Interlude]] - GM: [[William]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Meanderings for Madron]] - GM: [[Adam Tennant]] OP
* [[Neither Hare nor Thar]] - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]], [[Andrew W]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Viola's Little Problem]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]], [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Storm_To_Port|Storm to Port]] - GM: [[:Category:Bernard|Bernard]] - Scribe: [[Aqualina]] OP
* [[Fire and Ice]] - GM: [[Miles Jackson]] OP
* [[The Madness of Pope Blitzkrieg]] - GM: Terry: - Scribe: [[Tulip]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Wok is going on? (Part I)]] - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]: - Scribe: [[Uzi Urksome|Uzi]] OP

=== Autumn 807 WK ===
* [[Crystal Ship]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]],[[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[The Redemption of Lord Surturs Bane]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[To Ruska with Love]] - GM: [[:Category:Greg Graydon|Greg Graydon]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[How to Win Friends]] - GM: [[William]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Enter the Dragon]] - GM: [[Karen_Dransfield|Karen]], OP
* [[Havoc in the house of Guildenstern]] - GM: [[Gordon_Lewis|Gordon]]- Scribe [[Valery]], OP
* [[A Little Autumn Cleaning]] - GM: [[Keith_Smith|Keith]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Clem's Promise]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Jail Break]] - GM: [[Callum|Callum]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Jack and the Beanstalk]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]] - OP

=== Summer 807 WK ===
* [[First Branch of the Elements ]] - GM: [[Micheal Young]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Festival of the Arts]] - GM: [[Andrew W]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Unbridaled Power]] - GM: William, [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Deserts, Dungeons and Dwarves]] - GM: Helen Saggers, OP
* [[The War on Horror]] - GM: Michael P, OP
* [[Kill the Vampires]] - GM: [[:Category:Hamish Brown|Hamish]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Jewel and Surgeo]] - GM: Phil Judd, OP
* [[Scouting for Silas]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]

==806 WK==
44 games in 806
=== Spring 806 WK ===
* [[Rio]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Gathering of the Fumes]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Craig_Harper|Craig Harper]]
* [[Assault on Masada]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]]
* [[Crisis on Alternate Alusias]] - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Mist over Bluegrass]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Low
* [[A Toothy Extraction]] - GM: [[Gordon Lewis]] High
* [[Railway Adventure]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]]
* [[Assault on Kron]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian_Mitchinson | Jillian Mitchinson]]
* [[Kijaand Restoration (Part I)]] - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
* [[An Outbreak of Strangeness]] - GM: Scott Raymond
* [[Scab's Secret Sasquatches]] - GM: [[Zane Hembest]]
* [[Rot and Roll in Ildrisholm (or Extreme Psychotherapy for a Hill)]] - GM: [[Dan]]

=== Winter 806 WK ===
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]] Group one.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] Group two.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_William_Dymock|William Dymock-Johnson]] Group three.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Greg_Graydon|Greg Graydon]] Unspecified person sneaky group.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: Bernard Hoggins Seagate support team
* [[Search for the lost Temple]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan Judd]]
* [[Ozma's Birthday]] - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]
* [[Favours from Zirac Holdings]] - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen Martin]]
* [[Rescuing Cob and Co]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]]
* The Summer King - GM: [[Callum]]

=== Autumn 806 WK ===
* [[Scouting of the Games]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Kishwa]]
* [[Fishing in the Fastness]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Clementine]]
* [[Return of the King]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe: The Party.
* [[Blood, My God the Blood]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian Mitchinson |Jillian Mitchinson]]
* [[White Wedding]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Martin_Dickson |Martin Dickson]] Scribe: [[Father Broc]]
* [[The Siege of Novadom]] - GM: [[User:William |William]]
* [[Into the Valley]] - GM: [[Callum]] Scribe: [[Ithilmor]]
* [[The dreams of the Seven]] - GM: [[Callum]] Scribe: [[Erzsabet]]
* [[The Mystery of the Missing Mana]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Zane_Mendoza|Zane Mendoza]] Scribe [[Menolly]]
* [[Kidnappers will Rue the Day]] - GM: Helen Saggers Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[A Message for Gia]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]] Scribe [[Douglas]]

=== Summer 806 WK ===
* [[Matt Tumbledown Adventure]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[GoK]] 
* [[McBright Masterwork]] - GM: [[User:Gorgox|Gordon]] Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Lath's Island]] - GM: [[Julia McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Shoka]]
* [[Nauvare Stash]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_William_Dymock|William Dymock]] Scribe: [[Lath]]
* [[To Hell And Back]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Noel_Livingston|Noel Livingston]] Scribe: [[Lath]]
* [[Big Bad Void Wolf]] - GM: [[GM's#Dean Ellis|Dean]] Scribe: [[Pennlucien]]
* [[Black Watch Chronicles: Nightmare Murders]] - GM: [[GM's#Ben Taberner|Ben]] - Scribe: [[Dramus]] (Actually his scribe is doing it)
* [[Mayhem in the Dwarven Mines]] - GM: Miles Jackson - Scribe: [[Theodonna]]
* [[Fear and Loathing in Sanctuary]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Andrew_W|Andrew W]]
* [[Oh! Not another Bard!]] - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]] Scribe: [[Menolly]]
* [[A Manor of Fate]] - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
* [[Finding the Flencers]] - GM: [[Dan|Daniel Dixon]]

==805 WK==
32 games in 805
=== Spring 805 WK ===
* [[How Much for the Little Boy]]? - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Lisa_Rose|Lisa]] Scribe: [[Aryan]]
* [[Not all water is wet|Not all water is wet -or- More Minions for Rashak]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Saydar]]
* [[Endless Winter]] GM: Clare Matthews Scribe: Louise (Cypriano)
* [[Plague upon Thee (Part I)]] - GM: Ross.
* [[Plague upon Thee (Part II)]] - GM: Ross.
* [[The Treaty of New Hope]] GM: Helen Scribe: Faith
* [[Under the Tuscan Sun]] - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
* [[The Duke's Cattle Drive]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Struan_Judd|Struan Judd]] Scribe: [[Kelestra]]
* [[The Death Gate]] (Defeat of the Rashak Wannabe) - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]], Scribe: [[Flamis]]

=== Winter 805 WK ===
* [[Little Ragnarok]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Andrew_W|Andrew W]] - Scribe: [[TDP]]
* [[Missing Brewery]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan J.]] Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[Where the Wind Blows]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]. Scribe Father Broc
* [[Small Mistakes]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Craig_Harper|Craig Harper]] Scribe [[Lath]]
* [[Poison Cloude]] - GM: [[Jason Saggers]] Scribe: [[Sau Ras]]
* [[Return to the Fastness- Part 2]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]] Scribe: Bart then Clementine then Lisa
* [[The Hive Mind Adventure]] - GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[Brastor Breakout]] (aka Assault on Carson's Switch) - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Chasing Off the Greys]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian Mitchinson |Jillian Mitchinson]]. Scribe [[Motley]]
* [[Of Elves and Goblins and Such and So Forth]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe [[Gavin's Hill]]
* [[Return to the temple of Light]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]]

=== Autumn 805 WK ===
* [[Harbinger of Death]] - GM: William. Scribe: [[Braegon]].
* [[Things to do in Brastor when you're Dead]] GM: [[User: Cosmo| Ben Taberner]] Scribe: Gavin's Hill
* [[Return to the Fastness- Part 1]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Michael (the adventurer)]]
* [[How We Won The War]] GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] Scribe: [[Sam the Ork]]
* [[Siren's Prize]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] Scribe : [[Aqualina]]
* [[Where Have All The Gryphons Gone?]] GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe: Dawn
* [[The Hunting of the Omnicognitron]] - GM: Ross.
* [[Exploring Paradise]] GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Helen_Saggers|Helen Saggers]] Scribe: [[Menolly]]
* [[The Ostow Incident]] GM: Ian Wood
* [[Urnwards we go]] GM: Gordon Lewis

=== Summer 805 WK ===
* [[Warriors Big Day Out]] - GM: Clare Scribe: [[GoK]]
* [[A Timely Ghost]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos| Mandos]] Scribe: [[Mortimer]]
* [[Conflict in Gaia]] - GM: Alan Grant Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Never Say Neverre]] - GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: [[Isil Eth]]
* [[The Ghoul Preservation Society]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Bernard_Hoggins|Bernard Hoggins]] - Scribe: [[Menolly]]
* Jeremiah's Chariot - GM: Martin

==804 WK==
20+ games in 804
=== Spring 804 WK ===
* [[The Great Library of Ekonda]] GM: Helen Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Morgan's Folly Strikes Back]] GM: Jill McSpadden Scribe: Motley
* [[Just deal with it!]] GM: Stephen
* [[Portals of Paleolithica Part2]] (Garweeze Wurld) GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]], Scribe Grizelda Feldspar

=== Winter 804 WK ===
* [[Rings of Deception]] - GM: Bernard - Scribe: Tanis
* [[Gaia's Blessing]] - GM: Alan Grant Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[The Mystery of Missing Suitors]] - GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe: Father Broc
* [[What's going on in the south of Prevada]] - GM: [[Phil Judd]]
* [[Recover temple artefacts]] - GM: Ben T.

=== Autumn 804 WK ===
* Get the Cold Out! [[Ice Demons in Flugelheim]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]]
* [[The Dark Continent Adventure]] - GM: [[Miles Jackson]] Scribe: [[Tanis Kerelon | Tanis]]
* [[Sunken Doomed]] - GM: Gordon Lewis
* [[The Scary Door]] - GM:[[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[The Ball adventure]] - GM: [[Chris C]]
* [[Trapped on Khoras (Portals of Paeolithica I)]] - GM Jacqui

=== Summer 804 WK ===
* [[When You Wish Upon a Leprechaun]] - GM: Mandos Scribe: Algarloth
* [[Elf Noir]] - GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: Sir Francis ( [[Kathleen]])
* [[Game Afoot]] - GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe: Mira
* [[Searching Sol for Paradise]] - GM: Helen Saggers Scribe: Roderigo
* [[Return to the Cold]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] - Scribe: Penni
* [[The Rescue of Tehe]] - GM: Eamon Zink
* Coming Forth by Day GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] no scribe notes available

==803 WK==

23+ games in 803
=== Spring 803 WK ===
* [[Hunting the Maiden]] - GM: Bernard - Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[The Riddle]] (aka Manuscript Hunters) - GM: Lisa Rose - Scribe: [[Father Broc]]
* [[Dazed and Confused]] - GM: Scott Raymond - Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* Into the Cold [[Colder Than A Snowman's Codpiece]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] - Scribe: Roderigo
* [[Lifting the Veil]] - GM: Eamon Zink
* Shepherding the Shorn GM: Simon White
* [[Overawed and Overboard]]: The Ambassador's Holiday - GM: Ben T.

=== Winter 803 WK ===
* [[Escorting A Lord]] - GM: Bernard - Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[A Party Of Elegant People]] - GM: Ian Wood - Scribe: [[Silverfoam]]
* [[Sorting The Smugglers With Samdar]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - Scribe: Roderigo
* [[Send In The Clowns]] - GM: Andrew W - Scribe: [[Mortimer]]
* [[Church Nights]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] - Scribe: [[Arianna|Arianna di Angelo]]
* [[Smugglers of Erewhon]] - GM: Chris C.
* Six Impossible things (No Scribe Notes) - GM:William Dymock

=== Autumn 803 WK ===
* [[Rousted In Rastenburg At The Rose Court]] GM: Anna
* [[Haven's Crystal Life]] GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] Scribe: [[Sam the Ork]]
* [[Merfolk, Sahuagin, and The Deep Blue Hole]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Save the Queen]] GM: Phil Judd
* [[All about Alexandra]] - GM: [[User:Hannah|Hannah]]
* [[Icefall]] GM: Jeff Ledra

=== Summer 803 WK ===
* [[Pet Show]]. GM: [[User:Gorgox|Gordon Lewis]]
* [[Tails you Lose]]. GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[A Cunning Rescue]] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe:Armaud/Kit
* [[The Emperor's Gonna Die]] GM: Scott Raymond Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Caravan to the Enchanted Forest]] - Chris C.

==802 WK==
20+ games in 802
=== Spring 802 WK ===
* [[Investigation of D'arbres]]. GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Trip to Savarea]] GM: Zane Mendoza Scribe:Silent
* [[Heretics of Miloo]] GM: Gordon Lewis Scribe: Arnaud
* [[Quest for Lost Dragons]] -- Baal's Final Return. GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Travels through Halph]] - GM: [[Chris C]]
* A few Good Sophonts (No Scribe Notes) - GM:William Dymock

=== Winter 802 WK ===
* [[Spying on the Plane Eating City]] GM: [[Ben_Taberner|Ben Taberner]] Scribe: [[Arnaud_de_Montfort_Esq|Arnaud]]
* [[For the Faerie King and Karma]] GM: [[Ben_Taberner|Ben Taberner]] Scribe: [[Arnaud_de_Montfort_Esq|Arnaud]]
* [[Quarry in a Quarry]] GM: Sally Musgrave Scribe: Stardreamer
* [[Seven Stout Hearts in Phantasia]] GM: Andrew Scribe: Graaven Brightrock
* [[The Needs of a Tree]] GM: Jason Saggers Scribe [[Basalic]]
* [[Fiasco in Rokar]] GM: [[William]] Scribe: [[Haann_Uberreich]]
* [[Dragons Beds are hard to Find]]. GM: [[:Category:Phil Judd|Phil]]

=== Autumn 802 WK ===
* [[Olympic Security/Destinian Gold]] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: [[Kathleen]]
* [[Into the Se of Wizards]] GM: [[William]] Scribe: Arnaud
* [[Dealing with the Troll]] - GM: Mandos
* [[Haven's Incursion]] - GM: Stephen
* [[Mystery in Mystra]] GM: Simon White Scribe: [[Aurora]]

=== Summer 802 WK ===
* [[Pasifikan Plundering]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]] - Scribe: Arnaud
* [[On Godric's Trail]] GM: Clare - Scribe:Graaven Brightrock
* [[Joe the Balrog]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] - Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Rannitaire Diplomacy]] - GM: Lisa
* Meeting Cain (No Scribe Notes) - GM:Andrew Withy

== 801 WK==
19+ games in 801
=== Spring 801 WK ===
* [[South Haven Academy for Girls]] GM: William Scribe: Arnaud
* [[A Gentleman's Sport]] GM: Eamon Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Theft of the Faerie Flag]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] Scribe [[Aurora]]
* [[Gardens of Phadre]] GM: Gordon Scribe: [[Darien]]

=== Winter 801 WK ===
* [[Kaith Tax Collection]] GM: Julie Scribe: Arnaud
* [[Rumblings of Evil Beneath Rank Dwarves]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Kryan
* [[Surprise for Sahuagin]] GM: William Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Brundah's Mam]] - GM: Gordon

=== Autumn 801 WK ===
* [[Into A Strange Land]] GM: Struan Scribe: Arwen
* [[Runeation]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Loxi
* [[Jhensi Hallenger's Birthday]] GM: Gordon Scribe: Valery
* [[The Road Builder]] GM: Martin Dickson
* [[Search for Lost Mind Magics]] - GM: Clare

=== Summer 801 WK ===
* [[The Great Mummy Hunt]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] Scribe: Graaven Brightrock
* [[Football of Purple]] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: [[Darien]]
* [[Fighting the Good Fight, No Matter the Cost]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Strange Journey to Monmosphoidoi]] GM: Eamon Scribe: Scorpion
* [[A Terranovan Picnic]] GM: Martin Scribe: Kryan
* [[Return to the Keep on the Borderlands]] GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Haann Uberreich]]

==800 WK ==
16+ games in 800
=== Spring 800 WK ===
* [[Going On A Bear Hunt]] GM: [[User:Hannah|Hannah]] Scribe: Loxi
* [[Scrying Thy Neighbour]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: Tom
* [[Christopher's Doom]] GM: Clare Scribe: [[Kathleen]]

=== Winter 800 WK ===
* [[Escort to Countess Kirsten]] GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Kathleen]]
* [[Pasifika in Peril]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]] Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[Milloo Trade Mission]] GM: Gordon Lewis Scribe: Gerrad
* [[Bringing Light to the Darkness]] GM: Paul Schmidt
* Westphalia - [[Hi Kipchac]] GM: Andrew W, Scribe: [[TDP]]
* [[The Missing Reporter]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]]
* The Big Key (No Scribe Notes) - GM: William

=== Autumn 800 WK ===
* [[Seven For Thebes]] / [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sd8Mjakx80PQ20TYpb8EReTmzXZjFKhp/view?usp=drive_link Seven For Thebes] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Against the Dark Circle]] / [[Battles in the Dark]] GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Kern
* [[Sun Sword]] GM: ? Scribe: [[Ty]]
* [[Murder Mystery]] GM: Eamon Zink Scribe: Scorpion

=== Summer 800 WK ===
* [[Rescue II]] GM: Clare West Scribe: Douglas
* [[Middlemarch]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Redemption or else..]] (Dark Circle) - GM: Adam T.
* The [[Protector of GerFenDiak]] - GM: Phil J.
* Trip to ShadowRun (No Scribe Notes) - GM:Ian Wood

==799 WK==
13+ games in 799 WK
=== Spring 799 WK ===
* [[Travels with Father Bob]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: Arwen
* [[Return to Sudar]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: [[Axy Geldrax|Axy]]
* [[Resurrection River]] GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe:Scorpion
* [[Heedless they..]] - GM: Martin D.

=== Winter 799 WK ===
* [[Enter the Cockroach]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe:Loxi
* [[The Dragon Horde]] GM: Daryl Crosby Scribe:Hargan
* [[Edge of the Underdark]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe:[[Basalic]]
* [[Trouble with the Troll King]] - GM: Dean
* [[Return of the Shaper]] (?) - GM: [[Jono Bean]] - Scribe: Sabbath

=== Autumn 799 WK ===
* [[Return to Lorgos]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe:[[Aqualina]]
* [[Belial Baiting]] (fulfilling geas) - GM: Andrew W.

=== Summer 799 WK ===
* [[The War of Tears (Adventure)|The War of Tears]] GM: Martin Dickson Scribe:TDP Roberts
* [[Hobbit's Home]] GM: Francis Scribe:[[Phaeton]]
* [[Empress of Azuria]] - GM: Michael P.

==798 WK==
19 games in 798 WK
=== Spring 798 WK ===
* [[Dog Bothering]] GM: Daryl Scribe: Kayseri
* [[Return to Norden]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Save Our Senshi]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]] Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[Prince of Darkness II]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Pent
* [[Zinzanity]] GM: Stephen

=== Winter 798 WK ===
* [[Overdue Library Books]] GM: Martin Dickson Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Investigating the Guild Vaults]] GM: Andrew Scribe: Valery
* [[Kali and the Five Dwarves]] GM: Rosemary Scribe: Hoo
* [[Against the Necromancers]] GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Serendipidy

=== Autumn 798 WK ===
* [[Planeport Troopers]] GM: Ross Alexander Scribe: Liessa
* [[Mission to Malachandra]] GM: Jacqui
* [[Defense of Ssqua]] GM: Martin Dickson Scribe: Bozo
* [[Green Orcs in Purple]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe Kryan
* [[Westphalia Succession]] GM: Andrew Withy Scribe: Kathleen
* [[Sound of Death I]] (Fastness) - GM: Jono
* Meeting the Queen of Pain (No Scribe Notes) - GM: Adam T

=== Summer 798 WK ===
* [[Root of Evil]] GM: [[Micheal Young|Mike]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Behold the Beholder]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Through the Doors of Perception]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Callas]]
* [[The Hunting of the Captain]] GM: Mandos
* [[Necromancer Bash]] GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* The Twisted Avatar GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Hurolg the Hammer]] - GM: Carl R.
* [[Portals in the jungle]] - GM: Greg G.
* Empire of the Sun (cont.) - GM: Martin D

==797 WK==

=== Spring 797 WK ===
* [[The Dragon Court of Ambra]]. GM: Craig Beere
* [[The Seagate Guards Do Lower Orminthwaite]] GM: Andrew Scribe: Tixellanif
* [[The Hunt for Kontalie]] GM: Phil Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Killing of the Great Troll Chef]] GM: Noel Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Quest for Virtue]] GM: Ben Scribe: Ned
* [[Prince of Darkness]] GM: Jon Scribe: Pent
* [[Rescue of Scratch from the Lands of the Dead]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Empire of the Sun Investigation]] - GM: Martin D

=== Winter 797 WK ===
* [[Qui Vigiles Vigilent]]. GM: Dan Dixon Scribe: [[Callas]]
* [[Quest for Father Rowan's Holy Symbol]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Rules of Engagement]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: Starflower
* [[The Eclipse]] GM: Noel Scribe: Scorpion
* [[That was now, This is then]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: Amaranth
* [[The Eye of Norden]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: Eidolon
* Hunt for the Mystical Item (No Scribe Notes) - GM Francis

<div style="border:1pt solid black; margin-top:10pt; margin-bottom:10pt; padding: 5px; color:#990000;">
The Western Kingdom Calendar and a realignment of the calendar with the seasons, which had become out of step due to the AP calendar's use of a 365 day year, was started at the beginning of this session. Months in the WK calendar before this point were extrapolated.
</div>

==1996==

=== Jul 1996 AP ===
(Autumn 797 WK)
* [[Around A Hat in 80 Hours]] GM: [[Martin]] Scribe: [[Bozo]]
* [[The Other Hat Adventure]] (Falkenstein) GM: Lisa Scribe: Strontium
* [[Organised Chaos]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe [[Aqualina]]
* [[Find the Worts]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe [[Phaeton]]
* [[Rabbit Adventure]] GM: Daryl Scribe: Berik
* [[Failed rescue in Ildrisholm]] GM: Dan Dixon Scribe: [[Jedburgh]]
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm (Part II)]] GM: Dan Dixon Scribe: [[Ishamael]]
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm (Part III)]] GM: Dan Dixon
* [[Least We Forget]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: [[Callas]]
* [[Twelve Days]] - GM: Dean

=== Apr 1996 AP ===
(Summer 797 WK)
* [[Truce in the Fastness of Girwyllan]] / A Trip in the Woods - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Jedburgh
* [[The Search for Flowers]] GM: Struan Scribe: Tixellanif
* [[Princess Bride in the Black Tower]] GM: William Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[The Return of the Prodigal Son]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]] Scribe: Hugh
* [[Destroy the Weapon of Mass Destruction]] GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe: Gideon
* [[Saydar's Pub Crawl]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Miners and Mages]] (Goblins and Gold) GM: Phil Scribe: [[Kern]]
* [[The Wedding Ring]] GM: Andrew W Scribe: ??
* Dramus of Oz (No Scribe Notes) - GM: Dean Ellis

=== Jan 1996 AP ===
(Spring 796 WK)
* [[Chaining the Dark Lord]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Find Liessa's Tutor]] GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe: Berik
* [[Scroll of Himcules]] GM: Bryan Holden Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Against Azzur]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Neverland]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] Scribe: Shizane
* [[Attempted Patricide]] - GM: Lisa

==1995==

=== Oct 1995 AP ===
(Winter 796 WK)
* [[The Chancellors Message]] GM: Ian Wood Scribe: Anathea
* [[Worts and Boyles]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe: Glod
* [[Arabian Adventure]] GM: Alastair Scribe: Darksinger
* [[Garsen's Tower - Investigation]] GM: Greg Graydon Scribe: Vapour
* [[Garsen's Tower - Epilogue]] (The Sale of..) GM: Greg Graydon Scribe: Vapour
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm (Part I)]] GM: Dan Dixon
* [[Armless, Eyeless and Nameless in the Abyss]] GM: Jim Arona
* [[Al Addions Lamp]] GM: Andrew W Scribe: ??
* Delta Baby GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Castle of Ultimate Darkness]] - GM: Adam T.

=== Jul 1995 AP ===
(Autumn 796 WK)
* [[Where is Gammy?]] GM: Daryl Crosby Scribe: Gideon
* [[The Gnome with the Golden Hand]] GM: [[Carl]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[The Alternate Adventure]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Berik
* [[Object Delivery]] GM: [[User:stephen|Stephen]] Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Down on the Farm]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe: Glod
* [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/snau9606.pdf To Granton and Back] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Ithilmore
* [[City In Flight]] GM: Keith
* [[In search of knowledge]] Oz - GM: Dean

=== Apr 1995 AP ===
(Summer 796 WK)
* [[Kedri, Sushi and Calimari Surprise]] GM: William Dymock
* [[A Diplomatic Undertaking]] GM: Eamon Zink Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Quest for Shaman's Daughter]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe: Pinefeller
* [[The Trouble with Triffids]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] Scribe: Glod
* [[Against the Ogre Horde]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm]] GM: Dan Dixon
* [[Bite of the Snakewoman]]: GM [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Meet the Vampire]]: GM [[Jono Bean]]
* [[A trip to Freetown]]: GM Jon McSpadden
* [[Daffyds Bride]]: GM Andrew W
* [[The rescue mission]] - GM Phil J.

=== Jan 1995 AP ===
(Spring 795 WK)
* [[Giants, Woman and Winter]]. GM: Michael Young
* [[Dorvogel's Dungeon]] GM: Daryl Crosby Scribe: Britamus
* [[Magi, Mistresses, and Mind Mages]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Delta Blues]] GM: Rosemary Mansfield Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Many Lifeforms are Present]] GM: William Dymock
* [[Die Wintergarten]] GM:[[Jim Arona]] Scribe: ?

==1994==

=== Oct 1994 AP ===
(Winter 795 WK)
* [[The Temple of the White Goddess]]. GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Yana the Undying]] GM: Brent Jackson Scribe: Eidolon
* [[Kings Quest]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Rescue at Hob's Dell]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Jedburgh
* [[Temple of Death]] DM: Dan Dixon
Ed; not scribe notes, link tot he Temple. Anyone know if this was a game?
* [[Courts of Jashmed]] GM: [[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]]
* House of Time (No Scribe Notes) - GM:Ross Alexander

=== July 1994 AP ===
(Autumn 795 WK)
* [[Quest for Martin Candlestone]] (Into the High mana Zone). GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Jedburgh
* [[Shapechangers, the Inquisition & Literature - a Sweetwater Interlude]]. GM: [[:Category:Andrew_W|Andrew W]]
* [[Illusion, Delusion, and Dainty Danger]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield|Rosemary]] Scribe: [[Axy Geldrax|Axy]]
* [[Return One Hero from the Cosmos]] GM: [[William Dymock]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Tears of the Gods]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Scorpion
* [[The Swamp undead and the doings of King Sigismund]] GM: Alistair Scribe: [[Father Broc|Fenton]]
* [[To The Evening Star]] GM: Keith Smith
* [[Who killed Roger]] - GM: Phil J.

=== Apr 1994 AP ===
(Summer 795 WK)
* [[In Search of Slavers]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Axy Geldrax|Axy]]
* [[Escorting Ensemble]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Arabia and Back]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]]
* [[Shadows over Granton]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Shadows over Calder]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Wings of Death]] (Fastness) - GM: Jono B
* ?? (Cher was on it) - GM: Stephen

=== Jan 1994 AP ===
(Spring 794 WK)
* [[Insect World]] GM: Carl Reynolds Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Search for John]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Darksinger
* [[Six Go Mad in Amba]] GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[The Elven Crystals]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: [[Logan]]
* [[The Trial: part 1]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: [[Vapour]]
* The Found Hobbit GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] no scribe notes

==1993==

=== Oct 1993 AP ===
(Winter 794 WK)
* [[The Inconstant Moon]]. GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan Judd]]
* [[Evil Below]] GM: Michael Young
* [[Dragon's Eye]] GM: Mike Harre Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Problems with Shrivers]] & Venture into the Void - GM: Derek T.

=== Jul 1993 AP ===
(Autumn 794 WK)
* [[Drakenburg Assault]] GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Listen Carefully...]] GM: [[William Dymock]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Priests and Pregnancy]] GM: [[Ian Wood]] Scribe: Romo
* [[In Search of the Sorceress in Silver's Kit]] GM: [[Jon McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Prydera]]
* [[The Spurs of Ulric]] / Search for Sigismund - GM: Mark H

=== Apr 1993 AP ===
(Summer 794 WK)
* [[The Return of the Unwilling Chosen]] GM: Mike Harre Scribe: [[Phaeton]]

=== Jan 1993 AP ===
(Spring 793 WK)
* [[Mordag's Little Finger]] - GM:[[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] - Scribe: [[Ptolemy]]
* [[Knight of Mystery]] - GM: William Dymock - Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Romance in the South Seas]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] - Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Shaper's Castle]] - GM: Struan Judd
* [[Eretrian Name Quest]] - GM: Greg C.
* [[Robyn's Revenge Thwarted]] - GM: Mike Y.

==1992==

=== Oct 1992 AP ===
(Winter 793 WK)
* [[Orc Slayer]] - GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Defence of the Muleskin Tavern]] & [[Day of the Snork]] - GM: Jon Mc.
* [[The Search for the Holy Lance of Antioch]] - GM: Adam Tennant -
* [[Rescue from the Hive]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] - Scribe: Bozo
* [[Lake Cartography]] - GM: Greg Graydon -Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* Défense of the Muleskin Tavern - Jon McSpadden
* The Day of the Snork - Jon McSpadden

=== Jul 1992 AP ===
(Autumn 793 WK)
* [[The Rescue of Finangle in Oz]] (The Land of Dreams) - GM: Dean Ellis & Lisa Cotton
* [[The Ship That Flew]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] - Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Where's Alice?]] - GM: Daniel Dixon - Scribe: Bozo
* [[Martin’s Sword]] #5 Game Over - GM: Martin - Scribe: Bleyze
* [[Dwarf Bait]] Scribe:Blackrod/Scratch
* That Ranke Bishop's Come Calling - Michael Young
* Duchy of Trelbar - Caravan Guards - Chris Caulfield
* The Helyssian Crown Jewels -Struan Judd
* Priest of Famine - Mark Eaton
* Eremos Investigation - Stephen Martin
* Find the Pessant Decendants - Ian Wood

=== Apr 1992 AP ===
(Summer 793 WK)
* [[Trash and Burn]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[California Smith | California Smith and the Lost City of Pasifika]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]]
* [[In Search of Knowledge]] - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean]] - Scribe: [[Father Broc|Karys the Sage]]
* [[Purple Pro's]] - GM: Michael P.
* [[The Wombles]] - GM: Struan
* [[Terranova Scouting]] - GM: Martin D

=== Jan 1992 AP ===
(Spring 792 WK)
* [[Rats, Rats, Ratties]] - GM: Phil Judd - Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Trip to Port Artz]] - GM: Struan Judd
* [[Rescue the Brotherhood]] - GM: Bryan Holden
* Mars Adventure - Greg Graydon - Brandon(Ineluki)
* Dwarves of Near Novadom - Ian Wood - Andrew(Lady Carla)

==1991==

=== Oct 1991 AP ===
(Winter 792 WK)
* [[Rendezvous with Gaia]] GM: Daniel Dixon Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Disappointment at Destiny]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: [[Aqualina]]/Kryan
* [[Trip to Glorantha]] GM: Scott Whittaker

=== Jul 1991 AP ===
(Autumn 792 WK)
* [[Mystery at Maltain]] GM: Struan Judd
* [[Find the Dwarves]] - GM: Mark E.

=== Apr 1991 AP ===
(Summer 792 WK)
* [[Babes in Faerieland]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[The Stolen Seal]] GM: Phil Judd Scribe: [[Starflower]]
* [[The Deepspring Disappearances]] GM: Adam Tennant
* The First Oz Trilogy:
** [[Rescue the Tinman]] - Med-High - GM: Dean
** [[Find the Cowardly Lion]] (& Dorothy) - Low-Med - GM: Brent
** [[Abduct the Scarecrow]] - Low - GM: Lisa

=== Jan 1991 AP ===
(Spring 791 WK)
* [[The Enchanter's Box]] GM: Reid Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[The Great Parisian Jewel Robberies]] - GM: Mark Harrison Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* Trevaris the Ghost City GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Terranova I - Discovery]] GM: Martin Dickson

==1990==

=== Oct 1990 AP ===
(Winter 791 WK)
* [[Last Will and Testament of Baron Garcia]] - GM: Dean Ellis
* Jellinfeld's Pumping Machine GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* Master of Illusions - GM: Klaude
* To Catch A Fallen Star (continued) - GM: Carl Reynolds
* Plains Guild Rescue Mission - GM: Mike Young
* Evil Bash - GM: Mike P
* [[The Arms of Nagash Tor]] - GM: Lisa
* [[Sword of McFergus]] - GM: Mike H
* Dungeon Bash - GM: Mark Eaton
* (Continuation of Combat Play Test and Greg Cole adventure)

=== Jul 1990 AP ===
(Autumn 791 WK)
* [[Tax the Hobbits]] - GM: Phil Judd
* [[To Catch A Fallen Star]] - GM: Carl Reynolds
* The Monumental Blunder - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] - (scribe notes held by Rosemary)
* [[The Oracle of the North]] & Brastor Haunted House - GM: Bryan H.
* [[Mezzo Volta Suffering]] - GM: [[Craig_Harper|Craig]]
* [[Dreamlands II]] - GM: [[Martin]]
* [[The Adventure Where We Ripped The Goblins Off Wicked]] - GM: Klaude
* [[The Forest Oracle 3]] - GM: Bryan H
* (3 other adventures no details other than GMs: Fiona, Greg Cole, Mike Y)
* (Combat System Play Test) - GM: Marc

=== Apr 1990 AP ===
(Summer 791 WK)
* [[Crown of Souls]] - GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe: Carol
* [[The Deepspring Disappearances]] - GM: Adam Tennant
* [[Robin's Hoods]] - GM: Mike Young
* [[Castle Defence Repossession]] - GM: Greg G
* ''Do You Take This Frog? (moved to Summer 790 based on Scribe's dates)''

=== Jan 1990 AP ===
(Spring 790 WK)
* [[A Wandering We Will Go]] - GM: Bart

==1989==

=== Oct 1989 AP ===
(Winter 790 WK)
* [[Turrible Trouble at Smackbottom Thwait]] - GM: Fiona Cole -
* [[Swash and Buckle]] - GM: Lisa

=== Jul 1989 AP ===
(Autumn 790 WK)
* [[The Quest for Missing Melanie]] - GM: Struan Judd - Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[Against ze Flying Nomes]] - GM: Martin Dickson

=== Apr 1989 AP ===
(Summer 790 WK)
* Regicide GM: Brent - Scribe: Amaranth
* The Balrog's Egg GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe Serendipity
* King Ronald's Menagerie GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Do You Take This Frog?]] - GM: Craig Harper - Scribe: [[Basalic]]

=== Jan 1989 AP ===
(Spring 789 WK)
* Ye Noble Guardians of Ye Football Team - GMs: Reid/Bryan Holden - Scribe: Starflower
* Trouble at Huddles Farm - GM: Lisa Cotton - Scribe: Amelia
* Seagate Guild and the Temple of Doom (Delph III) - GM: Greg Taylor - Scribe: Whisper

==1988==
=== Oct 1988 AP ===
(Winter 789 WK)
* [[Sundered Realm]] - GM: Mark Harrison -
* Eringdale Kidnaps - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] - (no scribe notes)

=== Jul 1988 AP ===
(Autumn 789 WK)
* [[The Mines of Gothron]] - GM: Martin Dickson -
* The Shattered Statue II - GM: Bart Janssen -
* Hobgoblin Harassment - GM: Greg Graydon - Scribe: The entire party

=== Apr 1988 AP ===
(Summer 789 WK)
* [[Delph II - Insect World]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: Isil Eth

=== Jan 1988 AP ===
(Spring 788 WK)
* The Diary of Ventura Blue - GM: Unknown - Scribe:
* [[Blabbo Take's Birthday Party]] - GM: Lisa Cotton
* Gator Depression - GM: Greg Graydon - Scribe: {The entire party}

==1987==
=== Oct 1987 AP ===
(Winter 788 WK)
* [[Skystone Heist]] - GM: Marc Harrison -
* [[The Progress of Disease II]] - GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe: Mary M
* Bryan's Beginners Intro - GM: Bryan Holden -

=== April 1987 ===
(Summer 788)
* [[Holy Grail]] (We ''all'' love King Mark!) - GM: Michael Parkinson

==1986==
=== Oct 1986 AP ===
(Winter 787 WK)
*[[Alensia I]] - GM: Martin Dickson
=== Jul 1986 AP ===
(Autumn 787 WK)
*[[Bergelfen - First Contact]] - GM: Michael Parkinson
=== Jan 1986 AP ===
(Summer 787 WK)
* [[Southern Continent Expedition]] - GMs: Russel Barke, Mike Young, Pete Simunovich

==1985==
=== Oct 1985 AP ===
(Winter 786 WK)
* [[Sanctuary Slavers]] - GM: Martin

=== Aug 1985 AP ===
(Autumn 786 WK)
*[[Kinlu Expedition]] - GM: Martin Dickson

=== Apr 1985 AP ===
(Summer 786 WK)
*[[The Vampire of Borovia]] - GM: Martin Dickson

==1984==
=== Jul 1984 AP ===
(Autumn 785 WK)
* [[The Lost Woman Adventure]] - GM: Brent Jackson - Scribe: Bab El Ehr
* [[Ghostbusters (Un-)Limited]] - GM: Brent Jackson - Scribe: Bab El Ehr

=== Apr 1984 AP ===
(Summer 785 WK)
* [[Ruby Waters Adventure]] - GM: Luke De Jong - Scribe: TDH
* Take It from the Top GM: Kyn Jackson Scribe: Borghoff

== Undefined ==
* To Bring Back Orb from Naga - GM: Unknown - Scribe:
* The Golden Dragon Quest - GM: Brent Jackson -
* [[Asuraasafes Shopping List]] - GM: Mike Young - Scribe: Rothgar
* [[Castle of Ultimate Darkness]] - GM: Adam Tennant -
* [[Beyond the Vaults/Locating Shoka]] - GM: Adam Tennant -
* [[To find a bird]] - GM: Jono Bean -

Scribe Notes

2026-06-06T04:35:41Z

Terryintransit: /* Spring 807 WK */

[[Image:Records 1.png]] [[Category:Scribe Notes]]<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>

Skip to the [[Scribe Notes#Summer_826 WK|Current Season]]

Every guild adventure is required to have an official scribe to record the main events of the adventure.
The completed documents are written in the electronic format of the scribes preference and added to the archives in the [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/ Guild Library] (usually in PDF).

Scribe notes can be entered directly on the wiki (view existing [[:Category:Scribe_Notes|Scribe Notes]] for examples).
It is recommended to make use of the linking ability of the Wiki to cross reference everywhere you go and every important person you deal with to their appropriate section of the Wiki.

To start a set of Scribe notes the following templates are available for you. [[Scribe notes template|Standard Template]] (''recommended'') and [[IanW template|Template 3]]

= Content of Scribe Notes =
While there are no hard and fast rules about what must be in a set of scribe notes, the following is a guideline of the minimum that should be included.
* The Party Members.
* Party Leader, Scribe and Military Scientist.
* The Employer, what the party is hired to do and what they are getting paid.
* Diary with names, places and events.
* Astrology readings and any other bits of information gathered during the course of the adventure.
* The outcome of the adventure.
* Treasure and Items acquired on the adventure.

<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; font-size: smaller; ">__TOC__</div>

=Scribe Notes=

== 826 Wk ==
=== Spring 826===

=== Winter 826===
* [[Twenty Years After]] - Med/High - Weds - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Down in the Hundred Acre Woods]] - Medium - Wed - GM: Kita
* [[Gobo Garrison]] - Low - Sat - GM: Sam

=== Autumn 826===
<div style="background-color: #ddffdd;">
* [[Regailia Recovery for Royal Renunciation]] - Low - Sat - GM: [[User:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[One Man's Justice]] - Med - Mon - GM: [[User:stephen|Stephen]]
* [[The Quest for Fire and Water]] - Med/High - Sun/Mon - GM: [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[Shadows In Play]] - Low - Mon - GM:[[Anne]]
* [[A Simple Task]] - Online - Medish- Tue - Terry
* [[Scourge of the Clouded Skies]] - Highish - Wed - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Misogyny with a capital M]] - Low - Tue - GM: [[User:Jeff|JeffL]]
* adventure - lvl - night - GM:
</div>

=== Summer 826===
* [[Die Wiederkehr der Königskleinodien]] - Low/Med + - Mon - [[Chris Caulfield]]
* [[Casting Stones]] - Med - Mon - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Blight of the Bloated Blobs]] - Low - wed - [[Zarne]]
* [[Welcome to the Island]] - Lowish - Tues - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
* [[Celestial Pioneers]] - Medium - One Day - [[User:Martin | Martin]]
* [[Dancing in the Moonlight]] - Low/Med - Sat - [[User: Dean|Dean]]

== 825 Wk ==
22 games in 825 WK

=== Spring 825===
* [[Celestial Mechanics]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] - Saturday - [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[The Warlocks Contract]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]]ish - Tuesday - [[Anne]]
* [[Dreamers Showcase]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | High]] - Saturday - [[Sam]]
* [[Neverland Unbound]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] - Wednesday - [[Kita]]
* [[Threnody of Kings]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Extreme]] - Monday - [[Mandos]]
* [[The Subliminal Court]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]] - Var - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]

=== Winter 825===
* [[Monsters Inc II]] - High - Mon - [[User:Dean | Dean Ellis]]
* [[Once Upon a Storytime]] - [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] - Saturday - [[Mandos]]
* [[Glowing Glacier]] - Medish- Tue - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Return of the Shrooms]] Low/Med - Wed - [[Ian A]]
* [[The Liminal Court]] Med - Sun - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]

=== Autumn 825===
* [[Toxic Neighbours]] - High - Mon - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[If you go down in the woods today...]] - Low/Med - Sat - [[User:Dean_Ellis|Dean]]
* [[Earth. Under Sky, Under Earth]] - Med/High - Tues - Online - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[The Search for Ling]] - Low - Wed - [[Anne]]
* [[Calf Catastrophe]] - Low - Sat - [[Sam]]
* [[Micro Brewery Adventure]] - Low - Tue - GM: Nick

=== Summer 825===
* [[Black Moonlight]] - High - Mon - [[User:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Uncertainty Principle]] - Low/Med - Weekends - [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Duck Duck Trash]] - Low - Wed - [[Kita]]
* [[Suspicious Voices]] - Med/High- Night - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Invitation To The Skies]] - Med - Sat- [[Sam]]
* [[A Merry Little Christmas]] - [[Kita]]

==824 WK==
20 games in 824 WK
=== Spring 824===
* [[Eastern Shadows ]] - Mon - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Blood across the Seas]]- Low/Med? - Mon - [[Chris Caulfield]]
* [[Homecoming]]- Med-ish - TBC - Online Terry
* [[Down in the Deep Blue Sea]] - Tuesday Online - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
* [[Red Laughter - The Hunt]] - Online - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]
* [[Undead What Now?]] - Wed - Med - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Don't touch]] - Fri - Low - Ian

=== Winter 824===
* [[Gold Fever]] - Med - Mon - Martin
* [[Graduates Task]] - Bunny - Thurs - Anne
* [[Burning of Nihlus]] - High+Smart - Wed - Sam
* [[Taking a Unicorn Home]] - Keith
* [[Bad Oysters]] - Med - One Day - Ian A

=== Autumn 824===
* [[Grymeron Out of Shape]] - Medium - Mon - Dean - St Johns
* [[Witch Hunt]] - Low/Medium - Jacqui - Online/Mangere Bridge - Tuesdays
* [[Friendly Fire]] - Medium - Well done. - Bernard - Online - Wednesdays.
* [[Red Laughter]] - Medium - Jim - Online - Sunday (21:00 to 01:00)

=== Summer 824===
* [[Menglana revenge]] - High - Mon - Jono
* [[Black Watch: Let it Burn]] - Low - Mon - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Imagined Problems]] - Low-Med - Wed - Sam
* [[It Came From The Depths]] - Medium - Tues - Keith - Online

== 823 Wk ==
19 games in 823 WK 
=== Spring 823 Wk ===
* [[ The Best Laid Plans of Mercs and Mermen]] - Med-High - Wed - Anne
* [[ The Night of the Comet]] - Low - Tue? - Jacqui
* [[Prelude to Marriage]] - Med - Thu - Terry (Online)
* [[MorsCerta, HoraIncerta]] - High - Mon - Chris C
* [[Gnome Way Home]] - Low - var - Martin
* [[Giant Trouble at Desert Flower]] - Medium(ish) - Wed- [[User:Michael P|Michael P]]

=== Winter 823 Wk ===

* [[A.C.A.T stuck in a tree]] - High - Wed - Sam
* [[In the Shadow of the Black tower]] - Low/Medium - Monday - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[The Engines of God]] - High - Mon - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Winter Mystery]] - Lowish - Wed(Online) - Bernard

=== Autumn 823 Wk ===
* [[Cave of Deception]] - Low - Wed - Kita
* [[Wine and Cheese]] - Med - Mon - [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[The Disappearance of Yasmin's Hammer]] - Low - Mon - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Elementary My Dear Adventurer]] - Med High - Tues - [[Keith Smith]] (Online)
* [[If you can't be bad, be bad at it]] - Low - var - Dean

=== Summer 823 Wk ===
* [[Green Waters Rising]] - Tues - Medium - [[User:Bernard | Bernard]] - Full
* [[Visions Of Loot]] - Weds - Med - Sam - Full
* [[Seirs Sunday Soiree]] - Anne
* [[A Dungeon of Unfortunate Events]] - Thu - Med=>High - Dean

== 822 Wk ==
21 games in 822 WK 
===Spring 822 WK===
* [[Of Marsh and Marble]] - Mondays - Lower Medium - Chris
* [[A Herbal Experiment]] - Weds - Bunny - Low - [[Anne]]
* [[Salve Rex]] - Thu - Low-Med - ChrisC
* [[O' give me a home]] - Mon - High+ - [[User:stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Santanapped]] - Med - Terry

=== Winter 822 WK ===
* [[A Cold Sun - Part 2]] - TBC - Wed (Online?) - Highish - Bernard
* [[Beauty and the... Two Beasts?]] - Thursdays (Online) - Lowish - Kita
* [[Beyond the Gatehouse]] Medium/High - Monday - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[West where the Heartwood is]] - High - Thur - Dean
* [[Newtonian Goblins]] - Sat pm - Low - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Twin Gate Colosseum]] - July 16th - Flexi - [[Anne]]

=== Autumn 822 WK ===

* [[Red Dresses in the Shadows]] - Monday - Medium/High - Jono
* [[An Unknown Onslaught]] - Wed - Low-Medium - Anne
* [[Johnny isn't Sleeping]] (Goblin Fire Mages) - Fri 8pm Start - Bunny - Ian A
* [[The Chaos That Sleeps In The Deep]] - Wed(7pm) - Online(Roll20/Discord) - Medium-Weird(with a touch of silliness) - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Covert Fox]] - Sat pm - Low - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]

=== Summer 822 WK===

* [[A Spate of OZzity]] - Wed - Med-High - Dean (Half Session)
* [[Bring Summer to Bryshande]] - Thu - High - Chris (Half Session)
* [[A Golden Eye on the waves]] - Monday - Medium/High - Jono
* [[The Hunt for Three Claw]] - Wed - Bunny Low - Bernard
* [[Orc Brew Quest]] - Tues - Medium Crunchy - Ian
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: The Great Grain Heist]] - Tues(usually) - Lowish - Terry(Online)

== 821 Wk ==
20 games in 821 WK 
=== Spring 821 WK ===
* [[An Evening with the Unholy]] - Wed - High - Anne (online) Full
* [[I Must Go Down To The Sea Again]] - Tue - Low/Med - [[User:Keith|Keith]] (online)
* [[The Hero's Quintet]] - Wed - Med-High - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] (online, short game)
* [[*Read the Fine Print]] - Med/High MTB (online)

=== Winter 821 WK ===
* [[You're Not In Tycho anymore]] - Tuesdays - Low - Chris
* [[A Golden Eye in the deep]] - Monday - Medium - Jono
* [[Braegon's Treasure Map]] - Weds - Low-Med - Dean
* [[Taking the Lute]] - Weds - Med - Ian
* [[Polite Enquiries]] - Low/Med - Ross(online)

=== Autumn 821 WK ===
* [[Not just a simple comb]] Monday nights - Jono Full
* [[Death's reflection in the mirror of fear]] - Low-med - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[The Autumn Wolves]] - Bunny-Low - Anne
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: River Watch]] - Med - Terry (Online)
* [[Doing the Rounds]] - Bunny-Low - Jacqui
* [[A Cold Sun]] - Low-Med - Bernard
* [[Kanlaoise - Soul Men]] - Ross (online)

=== Summer 821 WK ===
* [[Blood & Ice]] - High, Monday night GM: [[Jono Bean|Jono]] - Full
* [[Won't you go to funky town]] - Med, Weds, Ian A.
* [[Follow the Evening Star]] - Low, Tues, [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: Recipe for Danger]] - GM [[Micheal Young]] (online)

== 820 Wk ==
19 games in 820 WK 
=== Spring 820 WK ===
* [[The Lost Forge]] - Med/High - Bernard - Wed/Online
* [[Monsters Inc]] - Extreme - Dean - Mondays
* [[One of Our Vineyards is Missing]] - Low - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] - Tuesdays
* [[No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: Vigors Quest]] - Terry (online)

=== Winter 820 WK ===
* [[Candyland]] - Low - Anne - Wed
* [[East Hindia TC]] - Low-Med - Thu/Wed - GM [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Looking Glass Lost]] - Med - Fri - GM [[User:Michael P|Michael P]]
* [[Coral Sea Colony]] - Low-Med - Tues - GM [[User:Keith|Keith]] (Online)
* [[Kanlaoise Part Deux]] - High - GM Ross

=== Autumn 820 WK ===
* [[Nobody dies there...probably]] - Low- Tuesday - GM IanA
* [[Thirteen feet and to trust your fifth look]] - Med/High - GM Jono
* [[The Bottle of Spirits]] - Tues - GM: William
* [[Into the Sky Rock]] - Weds - GM: Bernard
* [[Brave new world]] continuation... - Thu - DM: Jim
* [[Arth 1]] - ''Non-DQ'' - Wed - GM: Paul S.
* [[Novadom Road North]] - Lockdown Weekends - Low - GM Stephen.

=== Summer 820 WK ===
* [[A Darkened Mystery]] - Med - Wed - GM Anne
* [[Okla is missing]] - Med/High - GM Jono
* [[The Evernow]] - Easy, safe, fun - GM William
* [[Hire-A-Hubby]] - Med-High - Tues - GM Stephen
* [[An Overflow of Goblins]] - Lowish - Tues - GM [[User:Keith | Keith]]

== 819 WK ==
17 games in 819 WK 
=== Spring 819 WK ===
* [[Half a crisp spring]] - High - Mon - GM Jono
* [[Thin Ice]] - Med - Tue - Chris
* [[The Gates of Heck]] - Low+ - Thurs - GM [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
* [[Brave new world]] - Thurs - GM [[User:Jim | Jim]]

=== Winter 819 WK ===

* [[Worship the Desert]] Thurs - Crunchy - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Series of Unfortunate Events]] - Medium - Dean
* [[Archaeological Expedition]] - Low - [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[No 1 Hobbit Detective Agency - Adventuring Arborist]] - Medium - Terry (online)
* The continuation of [[The Harvest of the Planes]] - High - Jim Arona

=== Autumn 819 WK ===
* [[Fate_of_Or|"The Fate of Or"]] - Titan-pestering (but not aggressively so). Thurs ''chez'' Smith - Michael P.
* [[The Harvest of the Planes]] - High level, not Monday - Jim Arona
* [[Falling the way rocks don't]] - Low - Mon - Stephen
* [[A lack of humer]] - Low - Weds - Ian A.

=== Summer 819 WK ===
* [[A Plea for Help]] - Low-Med - Night TBD - Anne
* [[Trouble in the Spine]] - Low-Med - Tue - GM Chris
* [[Northern Summers]] - Med-High - Tues - GM Jono
* [[No 1 Detective Hobbit Agency - The Creampuff Catnappering Caper]] - Med - Sun - GM Terry (online)

== 818 WK ==
19 games in 818 WK

=== Spring 818 WK ===
* [[Night Train to Lisbon]] - Low to Medium - Night TBA - Jim Arona
* [[More Enquiring Minds]] - High - Night Monday - Dean Ellis
* [[The Fires of Heck]] - Low - Tuesday - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]

=== Winter 818 WK ===
* [[Liberty of County Palatine of Borovia]] - High+ - Tuesday - [[Jono Bean|Jono]]
* [[Lord Azzur's Black Fleet]] - High+ - Wednesday - Julia
* [[Recover Dylath]] - High - Mon - William
* [[Back Doors and Short Cuts]] - Low-Med - Tue - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Delve under Old Seagate]] - Low - Thu - Ian A.
* [[Return to Kanlaoise]] - Brave - Ross

=== Autumn 818 WK ===
* [[My dreams are strange dreams]] - Kelsie - Medium - Wednesday
* [[Trading in Sunshine]] - Clare - Medium - Monday
* [[Blood on Broad Street]] - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - Low-Medium - Tuesday
* [[Ten Days to the end of the world]] - William - High - Thursday - West
* [[Operation Word]] - [[Jono Bean|Jono]] - Var - Tues/Thurs

=== Summer 818 WK ===
* [[Full Metal Breastplate]] Jim Arona - Medium
* [[I need a Hero (or five)]] William - We'll see
* [[Enquiring Minds]] Dean - 3 Tuesday, than Monday
* [[Mr Grumpy and the Tartan]] Ian Anderson - Bunny-Low - Thursdays

== 817 WK ==
19 games in 817 WK
=== Spring 817 WK ===
* [[Anticipatory_Revenge]] Michael P. Non-humans preferred but not essential.
* [[Into the Unknown]] ChrisC. Low (only new PC's)
* [[Air Bastards of the Shattered Queen]] William - Medium, no really.
* [[Brastor goblin hunting]] Bernard - Tuesday - Mediumish

=== Winter 817 WK ===
* [[The Pevensey Heist]] - [[Clare]] Monday - Low Medium
* [[Fallen Ocelotepec]] - [[Jim Arona | Jim]] Tuesday Medium
* [[Blood-Feud?]] - [[User:Dean|Dean]] Wednesday - High
* [[A Cultural Exchange]] - [[User:Keith|Keith]] Tuesdays - Low
* [[The Hippo's Helpers]] - Greg Graydon & Julia - Medium (a weekend game 5&6 August 2017)

=== Autumn 817 WK ===
* [[Northern Lords]] - Med-High - [[Jono Bean]] Monday night
* [[A Quiet Contemplative Trip]] - [[William]] Monday Extreme
* [[South Gate Rot]] - [[Jim Arona | Jim]] Wednesdays Low/Violent
* [[Through A Mirror Darkly]] - [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] - Tuesday Medium
* [[Shrooms]] - [[Ian A | Ian A]] - Wednesday Low

=== Summer 817 WK ===
* [[Vacancies]] - Med-High (Independent) - [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]. (Probably Summer.)
* [[Into the Dark Continent]] - Medium - Mon - [[Jim Arona|Jim]]
* [[The Fox vs The Marquessa]] - High - Thu - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Banshee Bits Required]] - Low/medium - Wed - [[User:Mebh|Julia]]
* [[Deserts, Dungeons, & Dwarves pt 2]] -Low/bunny - Wed - [[User:Helen|Helen]]
* [[Street of Gods]] - Low - Tues - Jeff Leddra

== 816 WK ==
15 games in 816 WK
=== Spring 816 WK ===
* [[Ivinia Darkness]] - Mon/Wed - High/Medium - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[The Magical Mystery Show]] - Mon Medium - [[William]]
* [[The Coils of Spring]] - Mon/Tue - Medium - [[Jim Arona]]
* [[Somebody's Daughter]] - Tue - Low - [[Ian Anderson]]

=== Winter 816 WK ===
* [[Chelemby Northern Darkness]] - Mon High/Medium - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Seagate's Haunts]] - [[User:Keith|Keith]] - Low - Tues
* [[The Hippo's Bride]] - Julia - High - Mon (Goblins Hippo bride all Scab's fault)

=== Autumn 816 WK ===
* [[Pongo Gutbag and the Legion of Doom!]] - Mon - Very High, 25 PC recommended - GM William
* [[War-wolves of Londinium]] - TBA - Not Low - GM [[Jim Arona]]
* [[A friend in need ...]] - Tue - Low-med - GM [[User:Chris|Chris]]
* [[Winter is Coming]] - Tues - High-med - GM [[User:Keith|Keith]]

=== Summer 816 WK===
* [[Gypsy Smugglers Wanted]] - Upper Medium, after a low start - Wed - Mangere - GM Michael P.
* [[The Mikado Affair]] - Medium, but with plenty of opportunities to expose internal organs - TBA - DM - [[Jim Arona]]
* [[Chateau Haut-Brion]] - Mon High/Medium - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Mine Fox Rescue]] - Mon - Med - [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]

== 815 WK ==
18 games in 815WK 
=== Spring 815 WK ===
* [[Hot Fusion]] - Medium - GM William '''full'''
* [[Enchanted Jewels]] - Medium, Monday - GM [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Into the Valley of Roses]] - Low/Medium, Thursdays - GM [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]

=== Winter 815 WK ===
* [[The Exodus Agenda]] - High - DM [[User:Velcanthus|Jim]]
* [[Pro Bono]] - Low/Medium - [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Travel Advisory]] - Low-Med - Ian W
* [[What is the Big Bad Wolf afraid of?]] - Low - Dean

=== Autumn 815 WK ===
* [[A Doomsday Like Any Other]] Shared game. William, Craig, Julia
**[[Unruly Sonne]] - Medium - High - Mon - [[William Dymock|William]]
**[[And Darkness Fell Upon The Face Of Alusia]] - [[User:Mebh | Julia]]
**[[Secret Seven and the mystery of the missing Sun]] - Craig
* [[Where's Johnny?]] - Low/Low-Med Mon - Ian A
* [[Bear Necessities]] - Low - Miles

=== Summer 815 WK ===

* [[Get Your Rocks Off!]] - Medium - GM William '''full'''
* [[A Walk in the Black Forest]] - Medium, but blood may be spilt - GM Jim
* [[Duskfalls demise]] - Medium - GM [[User:Mebh|Julia]] '''full'''
* [[A large concern]] - High - GM [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Vun Enchanted Evening]] - Medium/High - GM Ian Wood

== 814 WK ==
25 games in 814 WK
=== Spring 814 WK ===

* [[Tears of Salt]] - Medium - Fri - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Blood in the Snow]] - Low-Med - Tue - GM: ChrisC
* [[The Bold and the Handsome]] - Frivolous (Oz Game) - Tue - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean]]
* [[Escort a caravan]] - low/med - Tues - GM: [[User:IanW|Ian W]]
* [[Reclaiming Walontaun]] - High - We - GM: [[Craig Harper|Craig]]

=== Winter 814 WK ===
* [[Black Magic Woman]] - Low - Mondays - GM : [[William]]
* [[Copper Sands and Broken Dice]] - Low - Wednesdays - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Network of Sin]] - High+ - Th - DM: Jim
* [[The Cleansing of the Shire]] - Med - Fri - GM: Jacqui
* [[Vapour - The Legend continues|Finding Harold]] - Med - Tue - GM: Julia
* [[A Body for Pug]] - Low - Wednesdays - GM : Miles

=== Autumn 814 WK ===
* [[A Plan may be forthcoming]] - Not Bunny - Wednesday - GM : [[William]]
* [[Send Lawyers, Knives and Money]] (aka 12 years a slave) - Medium - Tuesdays - GM : Bridget Dymock-Johnson
* [[Mislaid Offspring]] - Highish, but not God Bothering - Wednesday - GM : Michael P.
* [[Shopping on Grymeron]] - Medium to Newtonian - Tuesdays - GM: Dean E
* [[Employment wanted]] - lowish - Thursdays - GM : ''GM Ian Anderson'' - this is the overflow
* [[A Loss in the Family]] - Low/Med - Mon - GM: ChrisC
* [[Murky Mind Trip]] - Med - 18th May -GM: Terry
* [[Like the Night]] - Low/Med - a couple of stray Wednesdays - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* Red Carpet Massacre - GM: Mandos

=== Summer 814 WK ===
* [[Brief Candles]] - High - Thursdays - DM: [[Jim Arona|Jim]]
* [[The Hero of Nightfall]] - High - Mondays - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[The Wood Wide Web]] - Low/Med - Tues - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Those Dripping Bones]] - Medium/Chewy - Wed - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[five go forth in Cornumbria]] - Low/Med - Mon/Tues - GM:Julia
* [[Wedding Preparations]] - Low/Med - Wed - GM: Terry

==813 WK==
33 games in 813 WK
===Spring 813 WK===
* [[The Big Push]] - by lots of different people
<div style="background-color: #eeeedd;">
** [[Return of the Geomancers]] - High+ - Wednesday - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
** [[The battle of Simia Orichalcae]] - High - Tues - GM: [[William]]
** [[Pointed Diplomacy]] - Master Assassins - varies over a few nights/weekends (Thursdays) - GM: Paul S. - '''FULL''
** [[Kill Them All]] - Highish thump fest in the Shattered Kingdom - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
** [[Loyalty and honor]] - Low/medium - GM Julia
</div>
* [[Darkness Falls]] - Medium/High - Wed - GM: Miles Jackson

===Winter 813 WK===
* [[A Cold return]] - High - Monday - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Just Deserts]] - Low/Medium - Tuesday - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]
* [[The Wicked Witch of the Wet]] - Medium/Highish - Tues/Thu - GM: [[User:Keith|Keith Smith]] (Note: 8wk session only as we leave in Aug)
* [[Red Red Wine]] - Low/Medium - Thursday - GM: [[User:Chris|Chris C]] - ''a low to low medium level game for new players''
* [[A Brick wrapped in a Prophecy]] - Very low - Wednesday - GM:Ian Anderson
* [[The Good, Bad And Ugly]] - Low - Wednesday - GM:Jeff Leddra
* [[Red Carpet Massacre]] - Medium - Monday - GM:[[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]

===Autumn 813 WK===

* [[Land of the Mislaid]] - Thu - Medium-ish - GM: Michael P
* [[Legion's End]] - Tuesdays - Extreme - GM: William
* [[A Fox in the Hen House]] - Thu - Low - New Windsor - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - ''A low level game for new players''
* [[Walk a Crooked Mile]] - Mon - Medium - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[For Those in Peril IN the Sea...]] - Thu - Medium - GM: [[User:Jacqui|Jacqui]]
* [[Much Ado About Nothing]] - Thu - social - GM: Andrew W
* [[Rumble in the Jungle]] - Wed - Low - GM: Michael Young
* [[Black Watch Chronicles V: Hand of Fate]] - Mon - Low - GM: Ben Taberner
* [[Moving Statues]] - Mon - Highish to Drow-bothering - GM: Craig Harper

===Summer 813 WK===

* [[Within and Without]] - Tues - GM: Martin (Full)
* [[The Siege of Ar Eeb]] - Tues - GM: [[William]]
* [[Following the Fumes III]] An Air Mage Adventure - Low/Med/High - Mon - GM: [[Craig Harper]]
* [[A fading light from the West]] - High - Thur - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[When my Ships come in]] - Mon - GM: Bernard
* [[Squid Row]] - Medium/High - Wed - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[The things in Baron Turds 'Back-passage']] - day game - GM: [[Paul Schmidt]]
* [[Crooked House|Crooked Little House]] - Kids - Sat - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[My Kingdom Come]] - Thurs - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] (Full)
* [[Beach Games]] - Various times in Whananaaki - GM [[William]] and [[Kelsie]]

==812 WK==

24 Games in 812WK

===Spring 812 WK===
* [[Our Two Main Weapons are Fear, Surprise, A Huge Mountain of Skulls...Wait a minute.]] - High - Tuesday - GM: [[William]]
* [[Things Fall Apart]] - High - Wednesday - GM: [[Paul Schmidt]]
* [[The Middle Way]] - High - TBA - DM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[The Gyldwasser Depths]] - Low to Med - Tuesday - GM: ChrisC - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[Invasion Route One ends in a Swamp, please explain.]] - Highish - Mondays - GM:[[Ian Wood]]
* [[In Search of Paradox]] - Low - Wednesday - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]

===Winter 812 WK===
* [[And the Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail Against Thee]] - Guess - Mon - GM: [[William]]
* [[Psst!, where is this town called Konigsburg?]] - Low - TBA - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
* [[Hubble Bubble and Rabbits]] - Low Medium - Wed - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Destinations]] - Med-High - Thu - GM: [[User:helen|Helen]]
* [[Wolves of Winter]] - High - Tuesday - DM: [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]

===Autumn 812 WK===
* [[Western Coils of Sand and Jumping Tigers]] - Medium/High - Monday - [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Hunting the Eagle]] - Low to Low/Med - Tuesday - [[User :ChrisC|Chris C]] - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[The Bloody Murder of the Foul Prince Romero and His Enormously Bosomed Wife]] - Medium - TBA - GM: [[William]]
* [[Who Let The Undead Out]] - Medium - Thur - [[User:Keith|Keith]]
* [[The Lady Vanishes]] - Medium level adventure for Low level characters - Wed - Jim
* [[Divisions Within]] - High side of Medium - Wednesday - Miles

===Summer 812 WK===
* [[The Sixteen Quarters of Time]] - High - Mon - GM: [[User:Velcanthus|Jim]]
* [[We did offer to pay]] - Extreme - Wed - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
* [[Friday Night Firefights]] - Low/Med - Wed - GM: [[William]]
* [[A Beast in the Night]] - Low - Tues - GM: [[Clare]]
* [[The meteor has landed]] - Low/Medium - Tues - GM: [[Stefan]]
* [[All of our Children are Missing]] - High - GM: Scott Raymond
* [[Delph Vermin - The Extermination Mission]] - High Side of Medium - Wed - GM: [[Michael Young]]

==811 WK==
27 Games in 811
===Spring 811 WK===
* [[What once was lost]] - Low - Monday - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark TM]: [[William]]
* A Hobbit [[Fact-eliminating mission]] - High - Monday - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamemaster GM]: Michael Parkinson
* [[Vale of Tears - Part 2]] - Medium - Tuesday night - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel GM]: [[Stefan]]
* [[Manhunt - In Search of RocSingers Past]] - Level: Medium; Night: Wednesday; GM: [[Bernard Hoggins]]
* [[This Quintessence of Dust]] - Low - Med - Wed - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master DM]: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[The Truth hurts]] An Oz Adventure - Newtonian - Wednesday : [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]
* [[Following the Fumes II]] An Air Mage Adventure - Low/Med/High - Thursday - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Powers:_International_Man_of_Mystery GM]: [[Craig Harper]] - Full
* [[A Shortage of Tall Poppies]] Low Level, Wednesday, GM [[Miles Jackson]] (4 week adventure)

===Winter 811 WK===

* [[Sun Wukong and the six sorcerors]] - Med - Th - [[William]]
* [[Sahuagin Smackdown]] - Highish - Tue - GM:[[User:Keith | Keith]]
* [[Too much of a good thing]] - Medium ish - Tue - [[User :ChrisC|Chris C]] - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[Twice as Cold]] - Medium & Very High- Monday - GMs: [[User :Kelsie2|Kelsie]] & [[Jono Bean]]
* [[A stoners tale - Part II]] Level: Low - Night: Wednesday - GM: [[Stefan]]
* [[Carzala Grieves]] Level: Very Low - Night: Wednesday - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]]
* [[Where Have All The Dragons Gone?]] Level: Medium; Night: Wednesday; GM: [[Miles Jackson]]
* [[A Winter's Tale]] Level: Kids; Played: on weekends; GM [[Jim Arona]]

===Autumn 811 WK===
*[[Brides of Blackrod]] - High - Mon - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
*[[Autumn Colours]] - non High - Sat - GM: [[Jim Arona]]
*[[Elemental as Anything]] - Medium - Night - GM:[[William]]
*[[Sumthin's A-Matter With Our Monster]] - Medium/High - Thu GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]]
*[[A stoners tale.]] - Low. - Wed - GM:[[Stefan]]
*[[Harvest Moon]] - Med+ - Tues - GM:[[GM's#GM:_Martin_Dickson|Martin]]
*[[Elemental Robes]] - Low/High - Tues - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
*[[War in Heaven]] - Low/Medium - Wed - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]

===Summer 811 WK===
*[[And Darkness Was on the Face of the Deep]] - High - Tue - GM:[[Jim Arona]]
*[[The cattle drive me crazy]] - Low - Mon - GM:[[William]]
*[[SauRus's Curse Removal Quest]] - Med - Mon - GM:[[user:helen|Helen]]
*[[We are still walking to China]] - Medium - Night - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]]
*[[Six go mad on mescaline]] - Low/Med - Wed - GM: [[Miles Jackson]]
*[[Horns of the North]] - Low - Thu - GM:[[Michael Young]]

==810 WK==
29 Games in 810 

===Spring 810 WK===
*[[Following the Fumes]] An Air Mage Adventure - Med/High - Mondays - GM: [[Craig Harper]]
*[[Echoes in Eternity]] - High - Tuesdays? - GM:[[William]]
*[[Lambs with Teeth]] - Medium-High - Thursdays - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]]
*[[The Rainbow Gates]] - Low - Tuesdays - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean]]
*[[A game of 2 halves]] - Low Medium - Tuesdays - GM: [[Dylan]]
*[[Sahuagin, Elves, and Merfolk. Oh My!]] - Medium High - Wednesday - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]]
*[[For I Have Immortal Longings in Me]] - Low Medium - Wednesday - DM: [[Jim Arona]]
*[[Dark Dangerous Secrets]] - Medium - night -GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]
*[[Brastor Banditos]] GM: ???

===Winter 810 WK===
* [[Sand Storm]] - Medium/Endurance - GM:Bernard
* [[Road to Gory|Road to Glory]] - Extreme to Demigod Bothering - GM: Michael P - Mostly off-plane
* [[EnTitleD to die for]] - Medium - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - A [[Western Kingdom]] Game
* [[Reason Unborn]] - Medium-ish - GM: [[Jeff Church]]
* [[An escaped Imp]] - Low - GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Vale of Tears - Part 1]] - Medium-ish - GM: [[Stefan]]
* [[Stitched Up]] Callus - GM: Adam
* [[Troubles with Blackstrike]] - GM: Ross

===Autumn 810 WK===
* [[Work for the Warden]] - Med/High - night - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] - On Plane [[Artzdorf and Flugelheim]]
* [[Missing, presumptions on hold]] - Extreme - night -GM: [[William]]
* [[Slow Portal to China]] but we'd rather reach Elfenburg - Low or Medium - night - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] -
* [[Where Angels Fear to Tread]] - High - night -GM: [[Jim Arona]]
* [[Little Girl Lost in the Woods]] - Low Medium - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[The Prodigal Sun]] - High - night - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
* [[Escort to Darktree Tower]] - Med High - night - GM:[[Jim Arona]]

=== Summer 810 WK ===
* [[Songs of Pain and Sorrow]] - High - night - GM: [[Jim Arona]] - Off Plane, the Seven Kingdoms: Lameth
* [[Ghost Town]] - Low Medium - night - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]] - Off Plane
* [[Bad Karma]] - High - night - GM: [[Andrew W]] - On Plane
* [[Theropsid Escorts]] - Low/Med - night - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - On Plane
* [[Reflections and Visitations]] - High+ - night - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin Dickson]] - Various planes
* [[Peak Downs Return]] - High? - night - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
* [[The Great Sperm Race]] - Medium - night - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]
* [[Galleria Malvagio]] - Medium - night - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]]

==809 WK==
25 games in 809
===Spring 809 WK===
* [[A Spring Wedding]] - High - night - GM: [[:Category:Helen Saggers|Helen Saggers]] Off plane.
* [[Molon Labe]] - Medium - night - GM: [[William]] Alfhiem
* [[A Pirate's Lament]] - Med + - night - GM [[Rosemary Mansfield]] Off Plane
* [[The Last Delivery]] - Low Med - night - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - Western Kingdom
* [[Trials of the Hafted Weapon]] continues...
* [[Broken Heart]]- Low - night - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[Famous Five go to Delphi]] - High - night - GM: [[Michael Young]]
* [[Nadin's Revenge]] - High GM: Ross

===Winter 809 WK===
* [[A Civilised Ending]] - High - night - GM: [[Andrew W]] - On Plane
* [[The casting of shadows]] - Medium - night - GM: [[William]]
* [[The Black Pearl]] - Low/Med - night - GM:[[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - On Plane
* [[Maid Service]] - Medium+ - night - GM: Scott Raymond Off Plane
* [[Trials of the Hafted Weapon]] - Medium - night - GM: [[Jono Bean]] - On Plane
* [[Ground Zero Day]] - Medium - night - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Leddra|Jeff Leddra]] - In the mind of a god (go figure!)

===Autumn 809 WK===
* [[Revolving Doors Redux]] - High - GM: [[:Category:Dean Ellis|Dean Ellis]]
* [[The end of days]] - Extreme - GM: [[William Dymock]]
* [[A Loss of Reason]] - Medium-ish - GM: [[Jeff Church]]
* [[Watching the Watchmen]] - Sub-Low - GM: [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]]
* [[Looking for the Ladle]] - Low medium - GM: Ian Wood
* [[Up The Garden Path]] - Medium - GM: [[:Category:Jacqui Smith | Jacqui]]
* [[Coronation Invitations]] - GM: Ross Scribe: Sin
* [[Missing Monkys]] - GM: ??? Scribe: Uzi

===Summer 809 WK===
* [[Bread and Circuses]] - Med - night - GM: Helen Saggers
* [[Deconstructing a Fictional Girl]] - High - night - GM: [[Andrew W]]
* [[Bandits, Bandits everywhere]] - Low - night - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]]
* [[Thanks for all the fish]] - Low - night - GM: [[William Dymock]]
* [[Delving Too Deep]] - High - night - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]]
* [[Can we fix it?]] - Medium - night - GM: Miles Jackson

==808 WK==
31 games in 808
===Spring 808 WK===
* [[Reach Up for the Sunrise]] - night - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Black_Watch_Chronicles_III:_Tidings_of_Comfort_and_Joy|Tidings of Comfort and Joy]] - night - GM: [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]]
* [[Ephemeral Elephants]] - night - GM:[[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]]
* [[Rangiwhero Recon]] - night - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]]
* [[The Rights of Spring]] - night - GM: [[William]]
* [[Fair-bound Ride]] - night - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]]
* [[Save the Demon]] - night - GM: [[Jeff Leddra]]

===Winter 808 WK===
* [[She is Made of Truth]] - High - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Blood and Sand]] - High - GM: Callum - Tues [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[I met her in a dream]] - Low/Med - GM: Jill Mitchinson [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[In Her Majesty's Somewhat Secret Service]] - High - GM: William [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Revolving Doors]] - Med - GM: [[:Category:Dean Ellis|Dean Ellis]]
* [[The Sun, The Moon, and the Piper's Song]] - Med - GM: Jacqui
* [[Lessons in Enlightenment and Respect]]- Low - GM: Miles Jackson
* [[Alusian Innocents Abroad, The Evil Within]] - Innocents - GM: Mark Simpson

===Autumn 808 WK===
*[[Trials of the Tridents]] - Med/High - Tuesday night - GM: [[Jono Bean]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Skin Trade]] - Medium - Monday nights - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]], [[Insel der Freiheit|Al]]
*[[Balrogs & Mithral]] - High - Wednesday nights - GM: [[:Category:Hamish Brown|Hamish]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Chasing White Elephants]] - medium - Friday nights - GM: [[:Category:Bernard|Bernard]] - OP
*[[The Legacy of Kael]] - Medium - Negotiable days - '''Ye saga continueth!''' - GM: [[William]] - [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Please may we have our Prince back]] - High - Thursday - GM: [[Phil_Judd|Phil]], Off Plane
*[[The Family Jewels]] - Med/High - Wednesday - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[The Tiger and the Mouse]] - Med - Friday 21/3 - GM: [[Jon McSpadden]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[The Long Way Home]] Low - night - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Leddra|Jeff Leddra]]
*[[WMDs Considered Harmful]] - GM: Ross

===Summer 808 WK===
* [[Blood of Girwyllan]] - High Tuesday night - GM: [[Jono Bean]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Swamp Exploration]] - Mediumish - Saturday afternoons - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Search and Rescue]] - Friday nights - GM: [[User:Helen|Helen Saggers]] OP
* [[The Laughing Hills]] - Medium - Wednesday Night Full - GM:[[User:William|William Dymock-Johsnon]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[S.P.E.]] - High - Wednesday night - GM:[[Gordon Lewis]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[A Minor Investigation]] - Very High - Thursday Night - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Living on the Edge]] - Medium - Wednesday night - GM:[[Miles Jackson]] OP
*[[A Conduit to the Plane of the Eternal Fortress]] - GM: Adam Scribe: [[Sin]]

==807 WK==
38 games in 807
=== Spring 807 WK ===
* [[The End of The World]] Full/High - GM [[William]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[The Fate of Queen Aleksandra]] Full/High - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Black Watch Chronicles II: The Absent Physician]] Full/Low - GM: [[GM's#Ben Taberner|Ben]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Fey Haven]] Full/Med-High - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen Martin]] OP
* [[Don't go breaking my heart]] Full/High - GM: [[Callum|Callum]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Winter War|Ruskan Rumble]] Various/Full? Following on from [[To Ruska with Love]] - GM: [[:Category:Greg Graydon|Greg Graydon]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Escort to the Superstition Mountains]] Low - GM: [[Craig Harper]] Monday nights. [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Horse Thieves]] Low - GM: [[Clare]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Dead Like Us]] ? - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]] OP

=== Winter 807 WK ===
*[[A Kings Ransom]] - GM: [[User :ChrisC|Chris C]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Safely Underfoot]] - GM: [[:Category:Greg Graydon|Greg Graydon]],[[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[Sword of Petrus]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian Mitchinson |Jillian Mitchinson]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
*[[A combined GM Game]]:
**[[Save A Prayer]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
**[[Flute Interlude]] - GM: [[William]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Meanderings for Madron]] - GM: [[Adam Tennant]] OP
* [[Neither Hare nor Thar]] - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]], [[Andrew W]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Viola's Little Problem]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]], [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Storm_To_Port|Storm to Port]] - GM: [[:Category:Bernard|Bernard]] - Scribe: [[Aqualina]] OP
* [[Fire and Ice]] - GM: [[Miles Jackson]] OP
* [[The Madness of Pope Blitzkrieg]] - GM: Terry: - Scribe: [[Tulip]] [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Wok is going on? (Part I)]] - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]: - Scribe: [[Uzi Urksome|Uzi]] OP

=== Autumn 807 WK ===
* [[Crystal Ship]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]],[[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[The Redemption of Lord Surturs Bane]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[To Ruska with Love]] - GM: [[:Category:Greg Graydon|Greg Graydon]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[How to Win Friends]] - GM: [[William]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Enter the Dragon]] - GM: [[Karen_Dransfield|Karen]], OP
* [[Havoc in the house of Guildenstern]] - GM: [[Gordon_Lewis|Gordon]]- Scribe [[Valery]], OP
* [[A Little Autumn Cleaning]] - GM: [[Keith_Smith|Keith]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Clem's Promise]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Jail Break]] - GM: [[Callum|Callum]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Jack and the Beanstalk]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]] - OP

=== Summer 807 WK ===
* [[First Branch of the Elements ]] - GM: [[Micheal Young]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Festival of the Arts]] - GM: [[Andrew W]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Unbridaled Power]] - GM: William, [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Deserts, Dungeons and Dwarves]] - GM: Helen Saggers, OP
* [[The War on Horror]] - GM: Michael P, OP
* [[Kill the Vampires]] - GM: [[:Category:Hamish Brown|Hamish]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]
* [[Jewel and Surgeo]] - GM: Phil Judd, OP
* [[Scouting for Silas]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]], [[Main_Page#Alusia|Al]]

==806 WK==
44 games in 806
=== Spring 806 WK ===
* [[Rio]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Gathering of the Fumes]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Craig_Harper|Craig Harper]]
* [[Assault on Masada]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]]
* [[Crisis on Alternate Alusias]] - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Mist over Bluegrass]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Low
* [[A Toothy Extraction]] - GM: [[Gordon Lewis]] High
* [[Railway Adventure]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]]
* [[Assault on Kron]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian_Mitchinson | Jillian Mitchinson]]
* [[Kijaand Restoration (Part I)]] - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
* [[An Outbreak of Strangeness]] - GM: Scott Raymond
* [[Scab's Secret Sasquatches]] - GM: [[Zane Hembest]]
* [[Rot and Roll in Ildrisholm (or Extreme Psychotherapy for a Hill)]] - GM: [[Dan]]

=== Winter 806 WK ===
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]] Group one.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] Group two.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_William_Dymock|William Dymock-Johnson]] Group three.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Greg_Graydon|Greg Graydon]] Unspecified person sneaky group.
* [[Winter Games]] - GM: Bernard Hoggins Seagate support team
* [[Search for the lost Temple]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan Judd]]
* [[Ozma's Birthday]] - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]
* [[Favours from Zirac Holdings]] - GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen Martin]]
* [[Rescuing Cob and Co]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]]
* The Summer King - GM: [[Callum]]

=== Autumn 806 WK ===
* [[Scouting of the Games]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Kishwa]]
* [[Fishing in the Fastness]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Clementine]]
* [[Return of the King]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe: The Party.
* [[Blood, My God the Blood]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian Mitchinson |Jillian Mitchinson]]
* [[White Wedding]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Martin_Dickson |Martin Dickson]] Scribe: [[Father Broc]]
* [[The Siege of Novadom]] - GM: [[User:William |William]]
* [[Into the Valley]] - GM: [[Callum]] Scribe: [[Ithilmor]]
* [[The dreams of the Seven]] - GM: [[Callum]] Scribe: [[Erzsabet]]
* [[The Mystery of the Missing Mana]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Zane_Mendoza|Zane Mendoza]] Scribe [[Menolly]]
* [[Kidnappers will Rue the Day]] - GM: Helen Saggers Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[A Message for Gia]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jeff_Ledra|Jeff Ledra]] Scribe [[Douglas]]

=== Summer 806 WK ===
* [[Matt Tumbledown Adventure]] - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[GoK]] 
* [[McBright Masterwork]] - GM: [[User:Gorgox|Gordon]] Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Lath's Island]] - GM: [[Julia McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Shoka]]
* [[Nauvare Stash]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_William_Dymock|William Dymock]] Scribe: [[Lath]]
* [[To Hell And Back]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Noel_Livingston|Noel Livingston]] Scribe: [[Lath]]
* [[Big Bad Void Wolf]] - GM: [[GM's#Dean Ellis|Dean]] Scribe: [[Pennlucien]]
* [[Black Watch Chronicles: Nightmare Murders]] - GM: [[GM's#Ben Taberner|Ben]] - Scribe: [[Dramus]] (Actually his scribe is doing it)
* [[Mayhem in the Dwarven Mines]] - GM: Miles Jackson - Scribe: [[Theodonna]]
* [[Fear and Loathing in Sanctuary]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Andrew_W|Andrew W]]
* [[Oh! Not another Bard!]] - GM: [[User:Bernard|Bernard]] Scribe: [[Menolly]]
* [[A Manor of Fate]] - GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
* [[Finding the Flencers]] - GM: [[Dan|Daniel Dixon]]

==805 WK==
32 games in 805
=== Spring 805 WK ===
* [[How Much for the Little Boy]]? - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Lisa_Rose|Lisa]] Scribe: [[Aryan]]
* [[Not all water is wet|Not all water is wet -or- More Minions for Rashak]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Saydar]]
* [[Endless Winter]] GM: Clare Matthews Scribe: Louise (Cypriano)
* [[Plague upon Thee (Part I)]] - GM: Ross.
* [[Plague upon Thee (Part II)]] - GM: Ross.
* [[The Treaty of New Hope]] GM: Helen Scribe: Faith
* [[Under the Tuscan Sun]] - GM: [[Ian Wood]]
* [[The Duke's Cattle Drive]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Struan_Judd|Struan Judd]] Scribe: [[Kelestra]]
* [[The Death Gate]] (Defeat of the Rashak Wannabe) - GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]], Scribe: [[Flamis]]

=== Winter 805 WK ===
* [[Little Ragnarok]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Andrew_W|Andrew W]] - Scribe: [[TDP]]
* [[Missing Brewery]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan J.]] Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[Where the Wind Blows]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]. Scribe Father Broc
* [[Small Mistakes]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Craig_Harper|Craig Harper]] Scribe [[Lath]]
* [[Poison Cloude]] - GM: [[Jason Saggers]] Scribe: [[Sau Ras]]
* [[Return to the Fastness- Part 2]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]] Scribe: Bart then Clementine then Lisa
* [[The Hive Mind Adventure]] - GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[Brastor Breakout]] (aka Assault on Carson's Switch) - GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Chasing Off the Greys]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jillian Mitchinson |Jillian Mitchinson]]. Scribe [[Motley]]
* [[Of Elves and Goblins and Such and So Forth]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe [[Gavin's Hill]]
* [[Return to the temple of Light]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]]

=== Autumn 805 WK ===
* [[Harbinger of Death]] - GM: William. Scribe: [[Braegon]].
* [[Things to do in Brastor when you're Dead]] GM: [[User: Cosmo| Ben Taberner]] Scribe: Gavin's Hill
* [[Return to the Fastness- Part 1]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono_Bean|Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Michael (the adventurer)]]
* [[How We Won The War]] GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] Scribe: [[Sam the Ork]]
* [[Siren's Prize]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] Scribe : [[Aqualina]]
* [[Where Have All The Gryphons Gone?]] GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe: Dawn
* [[The Hunting of the Omnicognitron]] - GM: Ross.
* [[Exploring Paradise]] GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Helen_Saggers|Helen Saggers]] Scribe: [[Menolly]]
* [[The Ostow Incident]] GM: Ian Wood
* [[Urnwards we go]] GM: Gordon Lewis

=== Summer 805 WK ===
* [[Warriors Big Day Out]] - GM: Clare Scribe: [[GoK]]
* [[A Timely Ghost]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos| Mandos]] Scribe: [[Mortimer]]
* [[Conflict in Gaia]] - GM: Alan Grant Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Never Say Neverre]] - GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: [[Isil Eth]]
* [[The Ghoul Preservation Society]] - GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Bernard_Hoggins|Bernard Hoggins]] - Scribe: [[Menolly]]
* Jeremiah's Chariot - GM: Martin

==804 WK==
20+ games in 804
=== Spring 804 WK ===
* [[The Great Library of Ekonda]] GM: Helen Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Morgan's Folly Strikes Back]] GM: Jill McSpadden Scribe: Motley
* [[Just deal with it!]] GM: Stephen
* [[Portals of Paleolithica Part2]] (Garweeze Wurld) GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]], Scribe Grizelda Feldspar

=== Winter 804 WK ===
* [[Rings of Deception]] - GM: Bernard - Scribe: Tanis
* [[Gaia's Blessing]] - GM: Alan Grant Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[The Mystery of Missing Suitors]] - GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe: Father Broc
* [[What's going on in the south of Prevada]] - GM: [[Phil Judd]]
* [[Recover temple artefacts]] - GM: Ben T.

=== Autumn 804 WK ===
* Get the Cold Out! [[Ice Demons in Flugelheim]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]]
* [[The Dark Continent Adventure]] - GM: [[Miles Jackson]] Scribe: [[Tanis Kerelon | Tanis]]
* [[Sunken Doomed]] - GM: Gordon Lewis
* [[The Scary Door]] - GM:[[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[The Ball adventure]] - GM: [[Chris C]]
* [[Trapped on Khoras (Portals of Paeolithica I)]] - GM Jacqui

=== Summer 804 WK ===
* [[When You Wish Upon a Leprechaun]] - GM: Mandos Scribe: Algarloth
* [[Elf Noir]] - GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: Sir Francis ( [[Kathleen]])
* [[Game Afoot]] - GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe: Mira
* [[Searching Sol for Paradise]] - GM: Helen Saggers Scribe: Roderigo
* [[Return to the Cold]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] - Scribe: Penni
* [[The Rescue of Tehe]] - GM: Eamon Zink
* Coming Forth by Day GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] no scribe notes available

==803 WK==

23+ games in 803
=== Spring 803 WK ===
* [[Hunting the Maiden]] - GM: Bernard - Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[The Riddle]] (aka Manuscript Hunters) - GM: Lisa Rose - Scribe: [[Father Broc]]
* [[Dazed and Confused]] - GM: Scott Raymond - Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* Into the Cold [[Colder Than A Snowman's Codpiece]] - GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] - Scribe: Roderigo
* [[Lifting the Veil]] - GM: Eamon Zink
* Shepherding the Shorn GM: Simon White
* [[Overawed and Overboard]]: The Ambassador's Holiday - GM: Ben T.

=== Winter 803 WK ===
* [[Escorting A Lord]] - GM: Bernard - Scribe: [[Aurora]]
* [[A Party Of Elegant People]] - GM: Ian Wood - Scribe: [[Silverfoam]]
* [[Sorting The Smugglers With Samdar]] - GM: [[User:ChrisC|Chris C]] - Scribe: Roderigo
* [[Send In The Clowns]] - GM: Andrew W - Scribe: [[Mortimer]]
* [[Church Nights]] - GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] - Scribe: [[Arianna|Arianna di Angelo]]
* [[Smugglers of Erewhon]] - GM: Chris C.
* Six Impossible things (No Scribe Notes) - GM:William Dymock

=== Autumn 803 WK ===
* [[Rousted In Rastenburg At The Rose Court]] GM: Anna
* [[Haven's Crystal Life]] GM: [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] Scribe: [[Sam the Ork]]
* [[Merfolk, Sahuagin, and The Deep Blue Hole]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Save the Queen]] GM: Phil Judd
* [[All about Alexandra]] - GM: [[User:Hannah|Hannah]]
* [[Icefall]] GM: Jeff Ledra

=== Summer 803 WK ===
* [[Pet Show]]. GM: [[User:Gorgox|Gordon Lewis]]
* [[Tails you Lose]]. GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[A Cunning Rescue]] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe:Armaud/Kit
* [[The Emperor's Gonna Die]] GM: Scott Raymond Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Caravan to the Enchanted Forest]] - Chris C.

==802 WK==
20+ games in 802
=== Spring 802 WK ===
* [[Investigation of D'arbres]]. GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]]
* [[Trip to Savarea]] GM: Zane Mendoza Scribe:Silent
* [[Heretics of Miloo]] GM: Gordon Lewis Scribe: Arnaud
* [[Quest for Lost Dragons]] -- Baal's Final Return. GM: [[User:Martin|Martin]]
* [[Travels through Halph]] - GM: [[Chris C]]
* A few Good Sophonts (No Scribe Notes) - GM:William Dymock

=== Winter 802 WK ===
* [[Spying on the Plane Eating City]] GM: [[Ben_Taberner|Ben Taberner]] Scribe: [[Arnaud_de_Montfort_Esq|Arnaud]]
* [[For the Faerie King and Karma]] GM: [[Ben_Taberner|Ben Taberner]] Scribe: [[Arnaud_de_Montfort_Esq|Arnaud]]
* [[Quarry in a Quarry]] GM: Sally Musgrave Scribe: Stardreamer
* [[Seven Stout Hearts in Phantasia]] GM: Andrew Scribe: Graaven Brightrock
* [[The Needs of a Tree]] GM: Jason Saggers Scribe [[Basalic]]
* [[Fiasco in Rokar]] GM: [[William]] Scribe: [[Haann_Uberreich]]
* [[Dragons Beds are hard to Find]]. GM: [[:Category:Phil Judd|Phil]]

=== Autumn 802 WK ===
* [[Olympic Security/Destinian Gold]] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: [[Kathleen]]
* [[Into the Se of Wizards]] GM: [[William]] Scribe: Arnaud
* [[Dealing with the Troll]] - GM: Mandos
* [[Haven's Incursion]] - GM: Stephen
* [[Mystery in Mystra]] GM: Simon White Scribe: [[Aurora]]

=== Summer 802 WK ===
* [[Pasifikan Plundering]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]] - Scribe: Arnaud
* [[On Godric's Trail]] GM: Clare - Scribe:Graaven Brightrock
* [[Joe the Balrog]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] - Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Rannitaire Diplomacy]] - GM: Lisa
* Meeting Cain (No Scribe Notes) - GM:Andrew Withy

== 801 WK==
19+ games in 801
=== Spring 801 WK ===
* [[South Haven Academy for Girls]] GM: William Scribe: Arnaud
* [[A Gentleman's Sport]] GM: Eamon Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Theft of the Faerie Flag]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui]] Scribe [[Aurora]]
* [[Gardens of Phadre]] GM: Gordon Scribe: [[Darien]]

=== Winter 801 WK ===
* [[Kaith Tax Collection]] GM: Julie Scribe: Arnaud
* [[Rumblings of Evil Beneath Rank Dwarves]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Kryan
* [[Surprise for Sahuagin]] GM: William Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Brundah's Mam]] - GM: Gordon

=== Autumn 801 WK ===
* [[Into A Strange Land]] GM: Struan Scribe: Arwen
* [[Runeation]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Loxi
* [[Jhensi Hallenger's Birthday]] GM: Gordon Scribe: Valery
* [[The Road Builder]] GM: Martin Dickson
* [[Search for Lost Mind Magics]] - GM: Clare

=== Summer 801 WK ===
* [[The Great Mummy Hunt]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] Scribe: Graaven Brightrock
* [[Football of Purple]] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: [[Darien]]
* [[Fighting the Good Fight, No Matter the Cost]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Strange Journey to Monmosphoidoi]] GM: Eamon Scribe: Scorpion
* [[A Terranovan Picnic]] GM: Martin Scribe: Kryan
* [[Return to the Keep on the Borderlands]] GM: [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Haann Uberreich]]

==800 WK ==
16+ games in 800
=== Spring 800 WK ===
* [[Going On A Bear Hunt]] GM: [[User:Hannah|Hannah]] Scribe: Loxi
* [[Scrying Thy Neighbour]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: Tom
* [[Christopher's Doom]] GM: Clare Scribe: [[Kathleen]]

=== Winter 800 WK ===
* [[Escort to Countess Kirsten]] GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: [[Kathleen]]
* [[Pasifika in Peril]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]] Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[Milloo Trade Mission]] GM: Gordon Lewis Scribe: Gerrad
* [[Bringing Light to the Darkness]] GM: Paul Schmidt
* Westphalia - [[Hi Kipchac]] GM: Andrew W, Scribe: [[TDP]]
* [[The Missing Reporter]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]]
* The Big Key (No Scribe Notes) - GM: William

=== Autumn 800 WK ===
* [[Seven For Thebes]] / [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sd8Mjakx80PQ20TYpb8EReTmzXZjFKhp/view?usp=drive_link Seven For Thebes] GM: Michael Parkinson Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Against the Dark Circle]] / [[Battles in the Dark]] GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Kern
* [[Sun Sword]] GM: ? Scribe: [[Ty]]
* [[Murder Mystery]] GM: Eamon Zink Scribe: Scorpion

=== Summer 800 WK ===
* [[Rescue II]] GM: Clare West Scribe: Douglas
* [[Middlemarch]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Redemption or else..]] (Dark Circle) - GM: Adam T.
* The [[Protector of GerFenDiak]] - GM: Phil J.
* Trip to ShadowRun (No Scribe Notes) - GM:Ian Wood

==799 WK==
13+ games in 799 WK
=== Spring 799 WK ===
* [[Travels with Father Bob]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: Arwen
* [[Return to Sudar]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: [[Axy Geldrax|Axy]]
* [[Resurrection River]] GM: Jeff Leddra Scribe:Scorpion
* [[Heedless they..]] - GM: Martin D.

=== Winter 799 WK ===
* [[Enter the Cockroach]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe:Loxi
* [[The Dragon Horde]] GM: Daryl Crosby Scribe:Hargan
* [[Edge of the Underdark]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe:[[Basalic]]
* [[Trouble with the Troll King]] - GM: Dean
* [[Return of the Shaper]] (?) - GM: [[Jono Bean]] - Scribe: Sabbath

=== Autumn 799 WK ===
* [[Return to Lorgos]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe:[[Aqualina]]
* [[Belial Baiting]] (fulfilling geas) - GM: Andrew W.

=== Summer 799 WK ===
* [[The War of Tears (Adventure)|The War of Tears]] GM: Martin Dickson Scribe:TDP Roberts
* [[Hobbit's Home]] GM: Francis Scribe:[[Phaeton]]
* [[Empress of Azuria]] - GM: Michael P.

==798 WK==
19 games in 798 WK
=== Spring 798 WK ===
* [[Dog Bothering]] GM: Daryl Scribe: Kayseri
* [[Return to Norden]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Save Our Senshi]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]] Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[Prince of Darkness II]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Pent
* [[Zinzanity]] GM: Stephen

=== Winter 798 WK ===
* [[Overdue Library Books]] GM: Martin Dickson Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Investigating the Guild Vaults]] GM: Andrew Scribe: Valery
* [[Kali and the Five Dwarves]] GM: Rosemary Scribe: Hoo
* [[Against the Necromancers]] GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Serendipidy

=== Autumn 798 WK ===
* [[Planeport Troopers]] GM: Ross Alexander Scribe: Liessa
* [[Mission to Malachandra]] GM: Jacqui
* [[Defense of Ssqua]] GM: Martin Dickson Scribe: Bozo
* [[Green Orcs in Purple]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe Kryan
* [[Westphalia Succession]] GM: Andrew Withy Scribe: Kathleen
* [[Sound of Death I]] (Fastness) - GM: Jono
* Meeting the Queen of Pain (No Scribe Notes) - GM: Adam T

=== Summer 798 WK ===
* [[Root of Evil]] GM: [[Micheal Young|Mike]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Behold the Beholder]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Through the Doors of Perception]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Callas]]
* [[The Hunting of the Captain]] GM: Mandos
* [[Necromancer Bash]] GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* The Twisted Avatar GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Hurolg the Hammer]] - GM: Carl R.
* [[Portals in the jungle]] - GM: Greg G.
* Empire of the Sun (cont.) - GM: Martin D

==797 WK==

=== Spring 797 WK ===
* [[The Dragon Court of Ambra]]. GM: Craig Beere
* [[The Seagate Guards Do Lower Orminthwaite]] GM: Andrew Scribe: Tixellanif
* [[The Hunt for Kontalie]] GM: Phil Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Killing of the Great Troll Chef]] GM: Noel Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Quest for Virtue]] GM: Ben Scribe: Ned
* [[Prince of Darkness]] GM: Jon Scribe: Pent
* [[Rescue of Scratch from the Lands of the Dead]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Empire of the Sun Investigation]] - GM: Martin D

=== Winter 797 WK ===
* [[Qui Vigiles Vigilent]]. GM: Dan Dixon Scribe: [[Callas]]
* [[Quest for Father Rowan's Holy Symbol]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Rules of Engagement]] GM: Paul Schmidt Scribe: Starflower
* [[The Eclipse]] GM: Noel Scribe: Scorpion
* [[That was now, This is then]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: Amaranth
* [[The Eye of Norden]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: Eidolon
* Hunt for the Mystical Item (No Scribe Notes) - GM Francis

<div style="border:1pt solid black; margin-top:10pt; margin-bottom:10pt; padding: 5px; color:#990000;">
The Western Kingdom Calendar and a realignment of the calendar with the seasons, which had become out of step due to the AP calendar's use of a 365 day year, was started at the beginning of this session. Months in the WK calendar before this point were extrapolated.
</div>

==1996==

=== Jul 1996 AP ===
(Autumn 797 WK)
* [[Around A Hat in 80 Hours]] GM: [[Martin]] Scribe: [[Bozo]]
* [[The Other Hat Adventure]] (Falkenstein) GM: Lisa Scribe: Strontium
* [[Organised Chaos]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe [[Aqualina]]
* [[Find the Worts]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe [[Phaeton]]
* [[Rabbit Adventure]] GM: Daryl Scribe: Berik
* [[Failed rescue in Ildrisholm]] GM: Dan Dixon Scribe: [[Jedburgh]]
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm (Part II)]] GM: Dan Dixon Scribe: [[Ishamael]]
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm (Part III)]] GM: Dan Dixon
* [[Least We Forget]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: [[Callas]]
* [[Twelve Days]] - GM: Dean

=== Apr 1996 AP ===
(Summer 797 WK)
* [[Truce in the Fastness of Girwyllan]] / A Trip in the Woods - GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Jedburgh
* [[The Search for Flowers]] GM: Struan Scribe: Tixellanif
* [[Princess Bride in the Black Tower]] GM: William Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[The Return of the Prodigal Son]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith]] Scribe: Hugh
* [[Destroy the Weapon of Mass Destruction]] GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe: Gideon
* [[Saydar's Pub Crawl]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Miners and Mages]] (Goblins and Gold) GM: Phil Scribe: [[Kern]]
* [[The Wedding Ring]] GM: Andrew W Scribe: ??
* Dramus of Oz (No Scribe Notes) - GM: Dean Ellis

=== Jan 1996 AP ===
(Spring 796 WK)
* [[Chaining the Dark Lord]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Find Liessa's Tutor]] GM: [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] Scribe: Berik
* [[Scroll of Himcules]] GM: Bryan Holden Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Against Azzur]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Neverland]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] Scribe: Shizane
* [[Attempted Patricide]] - GM: Lisa

==1995==

=== Oct 1995 AP ===
(Winter 796 WK)
* [[The Chancellors Message]] GM: Ian Wood Scribe: Anathea
* [[Worts and Boyles]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe: Glod
* [[Arabian Adventure]] GM: Alastair Scribe: Darksinger
* [[Garsen's Tower - Investigation]] GM: Greg Graydon Scribe: Vapour
* [[Garsen's Tower - Epilogue]] (The Sale of..) GM: Greg Graydon Scribe: Vapour
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm (Part I)]] GM: Dan Dixon
* [[Armless, Eyeless and Nameless in the Abyss]] GM: Jim Arona
* [[Al Addions Lamp]] GM: Andrew W Scribe: ??
* Delta Baby GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Castle of Ultimate Darkness]] - GM: Adam T.

=== Jul 1995 AP ===
(Autumn 796 WK)
* [[Where is Gammy?]] GM: Daryl Crosby Scribe: Gideon
* [[The Gnome with the Golden Hand]] GM: [[Carl]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[The Alternate Adventure]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Berik
* [[Object Delivery]] GM: [[User:stephen|Stephen]] Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Down on the Farm]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe: Glod
* [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/snau9606.pdf To Granton and Back] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Ithilmore
* [[City In Flight]] GM: Keith
* [[In search of knowledge]] Oz - GM: Dean

=== Apr 1995 AP ===
(Summer 796 WK)
* [[Kedri, Sushi and Calimari Surprise]] GM: William Dymock
* [[A Diplomatic Undertaking]] GM: Eamon Zink Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Quest for Shaman's Daughter]] GM: Craig Beere Scribe: Pinefeller
* [[The Trouble with Triffids]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] Scribe: Glod
* [[Against the Ogre Horde]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Exploring Ildrisholm]] GM: Dan Dixon
* [[Bite of the Snakewoman]]: GM [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Meet the Vampire]]: GM [[Jono Bean]]
* [[A trip to Freetown]]: GM Jon McSpadden
* [[Daffyds Bride]]: GM Andrew W
* [[The rescue mission]] - GM Phil J.

=== Jan 1995 AP ===
(Spring 795 WK)
* [[Giants, Woman and Winter]]. GM: Michael Young
* [[Dorvogel's Dungeon]] GM: Daryl Crosby Scribe: Britamus
* [[Magi, Mistresses, and Mind Mages]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Delta Blues]] GM: Rosemary Mansfield Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Many Lifeforms are Present]] GM: William Dymock
* [[Die Wintergarten]] GM:[[Jim Arona]] Scribe: ?

==1994==

=== Oct 1994 AP ===
(Winter 795 WK)
* [[The Temple of the White Goddess]]. GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Yana the Undying]] GM: Brent Jackson Scribe: Eidolon
* [[Kings Quest]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Rescue at Hob's Dell]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Jedburgh
* [[Temple of Death]] DM: Dan Dixon
Ed; not scribe notes, link tot he Temple. Anyone know if this was a game?
* [[Courts of Jashmed]] GM: [[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]]
* House of Time (No Scribe Notes) - GM:Ross Alexander

=== July 1994 AP ===
(Autumn 795 WK)
* [[Quest for Martin Candlestone]] (Into the High mana Zone). GM: [[Jono Bean]] Scribe: Jedburgh
* [[Shapechangers, the Inquisition & Literature - a Sweetwater Interlude]]. GM: [[:Category:Andrew_W|Andrew W]]
* [[Illusion, Delusion, and Dainty Danger]] GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield|Rosemary]] Scribe: [[Axy Geldrax|Axy]]
* [[Return One Hero from the Cosmos]] GM: [[William Dymock]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Tears of the Gods]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: Scorpion
* [[The Swamp undead and the doings of King Sigismund]] GM: Alistair Scribe: [[Father Broc|Fenton]]
* [[To The Evening Star]] GM: Keith Smith
* [[Who killed Roger]] - GM: Phil J.

=== Apr 1994 AP ===
(Summer 795 WK)
* [[In Search of Slavers]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Axy Geldrax|Axy]]
* [[Escorting Ensemble]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Scorpion
* [[Arabia and Back]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]]
* [[Shadows over Granton]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Shadows over Calder]] GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Wings of Death]] (Fastness) - GM: Jono B
* ?? (Cher was on it) - GM: Stephen

=== Jan 1994 AP ===
(Spring 794 WK)
* [[Insect World]] GM: Carl Reynolds Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Search for John]] GM: William Dymock Scribe: Darksinger
* [[Six Go Mad in Amba]] GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[The Elven Crystals]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: [[Logan]]
* [[The Trial: part 1]] GM: Jon McSpadden Scribe: [[Vapour]]
* The Found Hobbit GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] no scribe notes

==1993==

=== Oct 1993 AP ===
(Winter 794 WK)
* [[The Inconstant Moon]]. GM: [[User:NeonGraal|Struan Judd]]
* [[Evil Below]] GM: Michael Young
* [[Dragon's Eye]] GM: Mike Harre Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Problems with Shrivers]] & Venture into the Void - GM: Derek T.

=== Jul 1993 AP ===
(Autumn 794 WK)
* [[Drakenburg Assault]] GM: [[Jono Bean]]
* [[Listen Carefully...]] GM: [[William Dymock]] Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Priests and Pregnancy]] GM: [[Ian Wood]] Scribe: Romo
* [[In Search of the Sorceress in Silver's Kit]] GM: [[Jon McSpadden]] Scribe: [[Prydera]]
* [[The Spurs of Ulric]] / Search for Sigismund - GM: Mark H

=== Apr 1993 AP ===
(Summer 794 WK)
* [[The Return of the Unwilling Chosen]] GM: Mike Harre Scribe: [[Phaeton]]

=== Jan 1993 AP ===
(Spring 793 WK)
* [[Mordag's Little Finger]] - GM:[[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon McSpadden]] - Scribe: [[Ptolemy]]
* [[Knight of Mystery]] - GM: William Dymock - Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Romance in the South Seas]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] - Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[Shaper's Castle]] - GM: Struan Judd
* [[Eretrian Name Quest]] - GM: Greg C.
* [[Robyn's Revenge Thwarted]] - GM: Mike Y.

==1992==

=== Oct 1992 AP ===
(Winter 793 WK)
* [[Orc Slayer]] - GM: Jon McSpadden
* [[Defence of the Muleskin Tavern]] & [[Day of the Snork]] - GM: Jon Mc.
* [[The Search for the Holy Lance of Antioch]] - GM: Adam Tennant -
* [[Rescue from the Hive]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] - Scribe: Bozo
* [[Lake Cartography]] - GM: Greg Graydon -Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* Défense of the Muleskin Tavern - Jon McSpadden
* The Day of the Snork - Jon McSpadden

=== Jul 1992 AP ===
(Autumn 793 WK)
* [[The Rescue of Finangle in Oz]] (The Land of Dreams) - GM: Dean Ellis & Lisa Cotton
* [[The Ship That Flew]] - GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] - Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Where's Alice?]] - GM: Daniel Dixon - Scribe: Bozo
* [[Martin’s Sword]] #5 Game Over - GM: Martin - Scribe: Bleyze
* [[Dwarf Bait]] Scribe:Blackrod/Scratch
* That Ranke Bishop's Come Calling - Michael Young
* Duchy of Trelbar - Caravan Guards - Chris Caulfield
* The Helyssian Crown Jewels -Struan Judd
* Priest of Famine - Mark Eaton
* Eremos Investigation - Stephen Martin
* Find the Pessant Decendants - Ian Wood

=== Apr 1992 AP ===
(Summer 793 WK)
* [[Trash and Burn]] GM: Scott Whittaker Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[California Smith | California Smith and the Lost City of Pasifika]] GM: [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]]
* [[In Search of Knowledge]] - GM: [[User:Dean|Dean]] - Scribe: [[Father Broc|Karys the Sage]]
* [[Purple Pro's]] - GM: Michael P.
* [[The Wombles]] - GM: Struan
* [[Terranova Scouting]] - GM: Martin D

=== Jan 1992 AP ===
(Spring 792 WK)
* [[Rats, Rats, Ratties]] - GM: Phil Judd - Scribe: [[Basalic]]
* [[Trip to Port Artz]] - GM: Struan Judd
* [[Rescue the Brotherhood]] - GM: Bryan Holden
* Mars Adventure - Greg Graydon - Brandon(Ineluki)
* Dwarves of Near Novadom - Ian Wood - Andrew(Lady Carla)

==1991==

=== Oct 1991 AP ===
(Winter 792 WK)
* [[Rendezvous with Gaia]] GM: Daniel Dixon Scribe: [[Phaeton]]
* [[Disappointment at Destiny]] GM: Mike Parkinson Scribe: [[Aqualina]]/Kryan
* [[Trip to Glorantha]] GM: Scott Whittaker

=== Jul 1991 AP ===
(Autumn 792 WK)
* [[Mystery at Maltain]] GM: Struan Judd
* [[Find the Dwarves]] - GM: Mark E.

=== Apr 1991 AP ===
(Summer 792 WK)
* [[Babes in Faerieland]] GM: [[User:Jacqui | Jacqui Smith]] Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* [[The Stolen Seal]] GM: Phil Judd Scribe: [[Starflower]]
* [[The Deepspring Disappearances]] GM: Adam Tennant
* The First Oz Trilogy:
** [[Rescue the Tinman]] - Med-High - GM: Dean
** [[Find the Cowardly Lion]] (& Dorothy) - Low-Med - GM: Brent
** [[Abduct the Scarecrow]] - Low - GM: Lisa

=== Jan 1991 AP ===
(Spring 791 WK)
* [[The Enchanter's Box]] GM: Reid Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[The Great Parisian Jewel Robberies]] - GM: Mark Harrison Scribe: [[Aqualina]]
* Trevaris the Ghost City GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Terranova I - Discovery]] GM: Martin Dickson

==1990==

=== Oct 1990 AP ===
(Winter 791 WK)
* [[Last Will and Testament of Baron Garcia]] - GM: Dean Ellis
* Jellinfeld's Pumping Machine GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* Master of Illusions - GM: Klaude
* To Catch A Fallen Star (continued) - GM: Carl Reynolds
* Plains Guild Rescue Mission - GM: Mike Young
* Evil Bash - GM: Mike P
* [[The Arms of Nagash Tor]] - GM: Lisa
* [[Sword of McFergus]] - GM: Mike H
* Dungeon Bash - GM: Mark Eaton
* (Continuation of Combat Play Test and Greg Cole adventure)

=== Jul 1990 AP ===
(Autumn 791 WK)
* [[Tax the Hobbits]] - GM: Phil Judd
* [[To Catch A Fallen Star]] - GM: Carl Reynolds
* The Monumental Blunder - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] - (scribe notes held by Rosemary)
* [[The Oracle of the North]] & Brastor Haunted House - GM: Bryan H.
* [[Mezzo Volta Suffering]] - GM: [[Craig_Harper|Craig]]
* [[Dreamlands II]] - GM: [[Martin]]
* [[The Adventure Where We Ripped The Goblins Off Wicked]] - GM: Klaude
* [[The Forest Oracle 3]] - GM: Bryan H
* (3 other adventures no details other than GMs: Fiona, Greg Cole, Mike Y)
* (Combat System Play Test) - GM: Marc

=== Apr 1990 AP ===
(Summer 791 WK)
* [[Crown of Souls]] - GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe: Carol
* [[The Deepspring Disappearances]] - GM: Adam Tennant
* [[Robin's Hoods]] - GM: Mike Young
* [[Castle Defence Repossession]] - GM: Greg G
* ''Do You Take This Frog? (moved to Summer 790 based on Scribe's dates)''

=== Jan 1990 AP ===
(Spring 790 WK)
* [[A Wandering We Will Go]] - GM: Bart

==1989==

=== Oct 1989 AP ===
(Winter 790 WK)
* [[Turrible Trouble at Smackbottom Thwait]] - GM: Fiona Cole -
* [[Swash and Buckle]] - GM: Lisa

=== Jul 1989 AP ===
(Autumn 790 WK)
* [[The Quest for Missing Melanie]] - GM: Struan Judd - Scribe: [[Flamis]]
* [[Against ze Flying Nomes]] - GM: Martin Dickson

=== Apr 1989 AP ===
(Summer 790 WK)
* Regicide GM: Brent - Scribe: Amaranth
* The Balrog's Egg GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe Serendipity
* King Ronald's Menagerie GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] (no scribe notes)
* [[Do You Take This Frog?]] - GM: Craig Harper - Scribe: [[Basalic]]

=== Jan 1989 AP ===
(Spring 789 WK)
* Ye Noble Guardians of Ye Football Team - GMs: Reid/Bryan Holden - Scribe: Starflower
* Trouble at Huddles Farm - GM: Lisa Cotton - Scribe: Amelia
* Seagate Guild and the Temple of Doom (Delph III) - GM: Greg Taylor - Scribe: Whisper

==1988==
=== Oct 1988 AP ===
(Winter 789 WK)
* [[Sundered Realm]] - GM: Mark Harrison -
* Eringdale Kidnaps - GM: [[Rosemary Mansfield]] - (no scribe notes)

=== Jul 1988 AP ===
(Autumn 789 WK)
* [[The Mines of Gothron]] - GM: Martin Dickson -
* The Shattered Statue II - GM: Bart Janssen -
* Hobgoblin Harassment - GM: Greg Graydon - Scribe: The entire party

=== Apr 1988 AP ===
(Summer 789 WK)
* [[Delph II - Insect World]] GM: Greg Taylor Scribe: Isil Eth

=== Jan 1988 AP ===
(Spring 788 WK)
* The Diary of Ventura Blue - GM: Unknown - Scribe:
* [[Blabbo Take's Birthday Party]] - GM: Lisa Cotton
* Gator Depression - GM: Greg Graydon - Scribe: {The entire party}

==1987==
=== Oct 1987 AP ===
(Winter 788 WK)
* [[Skystone Heist]] - GM: Marc Harrison -
* [[The Progress of Disease II]] - GM: Martin Dickson - Scribe: Mary M
* Bryan's Beginners Intro - GM: Bryan Holden -

=== April 1987 ===
(Summer 788)
* [[Holy Grail]] (We ''all'' love King Mark!) - GM: Michael Parkinson

==1986==
=== Oct 1986 AP ===
(Winter 787 WK)
*[[Alensia I]] - GM: Martin Dickson
=== Jul 1986 AP ===
(Autumn 787 WK)
*[[Bergelfen - First Contact]] - GM: Michael Parkinson
=== Jan 1986 AP ===
(Summer 787 WK)
* [[Southern Continent Expedition]] - GMs: Russel Barke, Mike Young, Pete Simunovich

==1985==
=== Oct 1985 AP ===
(Winter 786 WK)
* [[Sanctuary Slavers]] - GM: Martin

=== Aug 1985 AP ===
(Autumn 786 WK)
*[[Kinlu Expedition]] - GM: Martin Dickson

=== Apr 1985 AP ===
(Summer 786 WK)
*[[The Vampire of Borovia]] - GM: Martin Dickson

==1984==
=== Jul 1984 AP ===
(Autumn 785 WK)
* [[The Lost Woman Adventure]] - GM: Brent Jackson - Scribe: Bab El Ehr
* [[Ghostbusters (Un-)Limited]] - GM: Brent Jackson - Scribe: Bab El Ehr

=== Apr 1984 AP ===
(Summer 785 WK)
* [[Ruby Waters Adventure]] - GM: Luke De Jong - Scribe: TDH
* Take It from the Top GM: Kyn Jackson Scribe: Borghoff

== Undefined ==
* To Bring Back Orb from Naga - GM: Unknown - Scribe:
* The Golden Dragon Quest - GM: Brent Jackson -
* [[Asuraasafes Shopping List]] - GM: Mike Young - Scribe: Rothgar
* [[Castle of Ultimate Darkness]] - GM: Adam Tennant -
* [[Beyond the Vaults/Locating Shoka]] - GM: Adam Tennant -
* [[To find a bird]] - GM: Jono Bean -

Coronation Invitations

2026-06-06T04:34:59Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Ross Alexander]][[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
[[Category:Sin the Orc]]
[[Category:Sabastian]]
[[Category:Mirage]]

;Game Master :[[Ross Alexander]]
;Party Scribe :[[Sin the Orc]] (Tricia)
;Party Leader :[[Sabastian]] (Terry)
;Other Party Members :[[Mirage]] (Zane)

== Date: 01/03/09 (day 1) ==

Dark-skinned Elf from the Imperial Court of the [[Kijaand Empire]] wants us to deliver invitations to various highly placed and extremely dangerous individuals who are for the most part the proven enemies of the court. The invitations are of heavy card with ornate gold/silver writing, and they are highly magical. They are magically protected and can only be opened by the recipient. They will change colour in the local of the recipient and turn gold on being placed in the recipients hands. If answered, a message will be returned to the imperial court elves. They should be delivered within the next 100 days, she will pay 500sp for the first message and an amount increasing by 500sp per invitation. She gives us symbols that will identify us as Imperial Messengers.

* Bulich of Highvale (Orc leader, male, Highvale)
* [[Karasova Lethlil]] (1/2 elf mind mage, female, Unknowable)
* Grampian Wrought Iron (Dwarf, retired leader, male, Wrought Iron holdings)
* Tinkermeister Tuneup (Gnome, male, Blackstone dwarven holdings)
* [[Varenthia Simbelyn]] (Elf, close to ascension, female, Ice Tower)
* Valerie Longmeadow (Hobbit, Mayor of Longmeadow, female, Longmeadow)
* Norion Sweptsands (Human, Leader, male, Sweptsands)
* D'Urzi Draal Ziamon (Ice Elf, male, Ice Tower)
* Morgan the Grey (Human, wicca, male, Elven Tower)

She provides a general warning that flying is unsafe, ice drakes patrol the mountains and are very possessive of airspace, elven guards patrol settled areas. She gives us two binder items to aid in travel and a third which will help answer our questions. We are also given a "word of recall" which when uttered will return us to the Temple of the Sun in the city of [[Karawak]], but this should not be used lightly. We test the items before departing (some of the following information was obtained during the mission).

# Incense burner & 10 lots of incense oil
#* drip the incense on the burner to activate (1 pulse)
#* creates a wind funnel of â‰ˆ60miles/hr
#* takes wielder and those selected in the immediately surrounding hexes
#* check against 3*WP to change direction
#* takes 1 pulses to power up and then will last for 5min, it will go clear 1 pulse before it stops
#* very dangerous
# Shadow shifter
#* allows wielder to step between sharply delineated shadows "within sight"
#* can do 10's miles, maybe more
#* it possible to target from a crystal of vision
#* takes 1min to open the portal, and the portal remains open for 30sec
#* can travel both ways through the portal while it is open
#* shadows must be sharp
# Solar spark
#* flying spark of light, semi-sentient
#* we also believe it is a spying device and that the elves can gain information from it
#* answers simple questions from limited database of knowledge
#* rudimentary direction sense and positioning
#* able to act as a limited guard device (but very local only 20 ft)
#* can become dim or very bright

We arrange to be summoned to the city of [[Karawak]] at the beginning of the 6th day from now at midnight. We prepare clothing for both very warm and very cold climates.

== Date: 02-05/03/09 (days 2-5)==

Fly to [[Brastor]] where Sebastian outfits Mirage with some ranked weapons and armour.

== Date: 06/03/09 (day 6) ==

We appear in dense pillars of light within one of a number or alcoves off a very large room (cathedral?) that is a Sun place of power. There are very sharp shadows created and priestesses obviously using these for magical tasks, we can identify scrying. Spark leads us to another column we can see in the light: a city spanning many islands on a wide river delta, there is a large bridge spanning the whole delta (it has foundations on a number of islands which behave like stepping stones). This is the city of [[Karawak]]. Some of the islands only have water access, other islands have small bridges. The city appears partly elven-made in the sense that channels have been dug out to create islands and improve passage.

We pass into this pillar of light and appear in a small stone courtyard outside an Imperial Compound on one of the larger islands. We make our way to the main bridge, hale a passing hobbit caravan and gather information, they identify where Longmeadow is, and then they take us with them to visit a dwarven island, where we speak to the dwarves who have information on Grampian. Sebastian trades for some gems, we arrange to take messages to the Wrought Iron Dwarves, and are given some dwarven supplies (Rum (very sweet), Bread (very sweet) and Cram (toffee with nuts and dried fruit)) The Star thinks Tinkemeister is in Karawak and we obtain directions to the Gnomish island. When we visit, Sebastian tests out a jet-pack, and we find that Tinkermeister is working for the Blackstone Dwarves. We take accommodation for the night. We quiz the Spark about all the personages, and Sebastian marks those that we can on a map he has.

== Date: 07/03/09 (day 7) ==

We pick up letters and supplies from the dwarves, walk out of the city, cast wings and fly along the river towards the mountain range. Soon we leave the settled farm lands behind and enter a rain-forest. Along the river are palisade areas for the elven boats to stop, obviously the territory is unsafe. We land in an empty one for the night and are attacked by ninja goblins. Defeat the goblins, loot the bodies.

== Date: 08/03/09 (day 8) ==

We sleep late into the morning. Fly up to the head of the river, this land is settled by a number of elven houses, there are two forts and some elves fly out and question us. The also give us information on the dwarves, we fly over to the "Lower Entrance" of the dwarven clan holdings, give our messages over and spend the rest of the day climbing the escarpment, since Grampian lives at the top. We get most of the way there but need to stop for weakling hobbit to rest the night.

== Date: 09/03/09 (day 9) ==

We reach the "New Hold" in the morning and take a lift the rest of the way to the top. Our guides Mac and Cameron then take us out to Grampians stone house. We give him his invitation (500sp), and ask him for information on the other personages. He is clearly a high ranked Astrologer, but very old now. Spend the rest of the day training, and the evening drinking with the Dwarves.

== Date: 10-14/03/09 (days 10-14) ==

Fly around the mountains to the Hobbit area of Longmeadow.

== Date: 15/03/09 (day 15) ==

We meet armed Hobbits on the road, and then are escorted to visit Valerie, she seems an extremely capable wicca, but she hasn't a clue otherwise. We give her the invitation (1000sp). Sebastian gets some hot hobbit action, and wangles an invitation to be Valerie's partner at the coronation. Hobbits party into the night.

== Date: 16/03/09 (day 16) ==

We obtain more info on the other personages, and say good-bye to the Hobbits, and start our long flight round to the eastern side of the mountains.

== Date: 17-22/03/09 (days 17-22) ==

Fly around the mountains into the area where we believe Morgan the Grey's tower to be.

== Date: 23/03/09 (day 23)==

Cannot find the tower, we camp for the night and are attacked by some bandits. Sin is poisoned. We interrogate (and loot) the one we manage to capture and then fly to the tower. It is a white stone and of elven design. Morgan obviously controls flocks (murders) of crows, and we are hassled by his raven familiar Eyebite. Sin is turned briefly into a sparrow. We see Morgan and give him his invitation (1500sp). He offers to get Eyebite to take a message to Corisova ... she will find us if she wants the invitation. We fly south along the mountain range towards the Sweptsands.

== Date: 24/03/09 (day 24) ==

We fly south along the mountain range towards the Sweptsands.

== Date: 25/03/09 (day 25)==

We fly south along the mountain range towards the Sweptsands. In the evening Sebastian does an Astrology reading:

<blockquote>
''Swift as the swift'' 
''To the hear sea'' 
''From the sun to the set'' 
''As it's high in the sky''
</blockquote>

Sin valiantly guards the sleeping party ALL NIGHT.

== Date: 25/03/09 (day 25) ==

In the morning Sin sleeps while the Hobbit and Elf laze about. Midday we fly east in formation searching over the sweptsands. The country is of sandy dunes with water collecting between each huge dune. In the evening we land and camp near water. Sebastian reads the night sky ... we should travel perpendicular to the sun ie fly south.

== Date: 26/03/09 (day 26) ==

We get up very early and fly again searching for the tribe of Norion. We catch sight of a caravan moving across the dunes in the distance and make our presence known. They approach us, but it turns out they are setting up an attack on Norion and so don't want to let us go until they are ready, we play along with this as the two leaders (an old man (Celestial) and woman (Necromancer) seem very powerful, it is all very sinister. They assure us we will be able to deliver the message and take us on our word not to ruin their arrangements. We spend the day hanging around the camp.

== Date: 27/03/09 (day 27) ==

We spend the day moving with the caravan, we can see many scouts coming and going, and at times feel a sinister dark presence (we figure out later that it is Eyebite homing in on the fun). We find out that Norion is a bully and thug and very very unpleasant. The best way to stay alive is to pander to his vanity. We are encouraged to "take our message" into Norion's camp (as a diversion) in the early morning by the offer of magical items, cloth armour for the others and a protection from heat cloak for Sin. We power up and go in.

We make a grand entrance as Imperial messengers but Norion won't personally take the message. We try to leave using subterfuge, we pretend the incense burner is a gift, we pour the incense on and try to escape. However there follows a string of very bad luck. Norion jumps on Mirage and fractures his skull, Mirage is now unconscious on the ground with Norion's hand around his and hence the incense burner. Sebastian fumbles at grabbing the sensor, and by this time there are 4 bandits surrounding and attacking Sin who is hitting Norion. Sebastian manages to touch the burner and make his willpower check, and we finally manage to lift off. But Norion and 2 of his bandits are in the area with us and are taken along too. Sebastian misses the smoke hole and Sin only just manages to cut an opening before we get caught up. Sebastian concentrates on rejecting the unwanted party (we think they can be not-included in the items field using a WP check). Norion attacks Sebastian and Sin attacks Norion and the bandits attack Sin. Sin dies heroically protecting the party and Sebastian manages to aim a boom-stick at Norion who lets go and falls. IBite catches him squawking that "it is not his time to die, he must die slowly". Sebastian lands us near the camp, and IBite leaves Norion with us. The caravans attack has started and without Norion the battle is won more easily. It seems not only this tribe are involved, many others are present.

We are allowed to give Norion his invitation (2000sp) as he is tortured almost to death, he is forced to accept the invitation, then petimorted and skin changed into a snake. We are to take him back to the Imperial Court as their reply to the invitation. We get the weapons and armour of the two bandits we killed.

== Date: 28-04/04/09 (days 28-34)==

We have to stay a week while a herbalist is found and Sin is resurrected.

== Date: 05/04/09 (day 35) ==

We fly south and west towards the mountain range towards Bulich and Highvale.

== Date: 06/04/09 (day 36) ==

We fly into the foot-hills of the mountains, but cannot find the Orc hold. We make camp and Sebastian takes a flight a bit further up to see if he can see the Vale. It starts to snow and we hunker down under a small overhang, Sin unseen and Sebastian hiding in one of Mirages' rocks. An ice drake turns up and watches for a while, and then approaches. It seems curious but not aggressive (yet). As the only visible entity Mirage asks about the ice elf D'Urzi, and the drake agrees to go and see if he wants the invitation, the drake returns and says D'Urzi will see us at highvale soon. The drake makes it very clear there is to be no flying. We rest for what remains of the night.

== Date: 07/04/09 (day 37) ==

We use the shadow shifting device to advance up the mountain. We find the entrance to Bulich's vale but it is late in the evening and so we camp and rest. The main keep is wooden with a surrounding palisade and well above the lower wooded portions of the vale where the main orc village is situated. We estimate a population of several hundred Orcs, and we will need to go through the village to get to the keep!

== Date: 08/04/09 (day 38) ==

We use the shadow shifting device to reach the entrance to the vale and bribe our way in past the first set of guards. On the other side a drake and rider swoop down to us. It is the curious drake from the other day and D'Urzi. He is extremely pale and has armour that looks very icy, we give him his invitation (2500sp). Mirage chats with the drake, and D'Urzi says he is going into the keep with us (good!). The orcs all clear before D'Urzi and we walk unmolested into the keep. We find Bulich in his "throne room", he is very old and obviously weak but attempting to put up a good appearance, which is failing. He greets D'Urzi with animosity, it is clear that things are about to happen (probably the overthrow and killing of Bulich). We give him his invitation (3000sp) and take up an offer of accommodation, we leave the orc chieftain and elf to their politics. On reaching the offered accommodation, we notice Corisova's letter is glowing, it turns out she is the serving woman who has showed us the way. We give her, her invitation (3500sp) and are very happy when she departs.

== Date: 09/04/09 (day 39) ==

We are woken in the morning by the drake scratching at the shutters, we open them and she tells us we should get going. Bulich's last stand has happened. She offers to give us a ride down to the Blackstone dwarves! We forgo breakfast and climb out of the window and onto her back. Riding the drake obviously involves some semi-magical form of transportation as we become faintly insubstantial. On approaching Blackstone she becomes insubstantial and leaves us feather falling onto the mountain top. We are greeted by Blackstone Dwarves on guard and told that Tinkermeister is indeed working for them, but in the lower holds, and we will have to go down. Sebastian is sick so we leave him behind to be hauled down by the dwarves in a day and make our way down the very narrow but well made path to Tinkermeisters workshops. We give him his invitation (4000sp)

== Date: 10/04/09 (day 40) ==

We find accommodation and wait for a day, as the dwarves are changing guard and they will bring Sebastian down in the afternoon. Sin has a days training in unarmed combat.

== Date: 11/04/09 (day 41) ==

In the morning we prepare to depart, but just before we go Sebastian holds up the last invitation and says "last chance Varentia", we wait a minute and then there is a tug of a breese on the invitation, Sebastian lets it go and it drifts out in front of us in a most unnatural fashion. Then, we all feel a gentle tug of air and we follow the invitation into the trees. Very shortly we arrive at a clearing with an exquisite elven fountain, the grass is very green, the sky is very blue (with high wispy clouds), and the air feels of spring. Even worse the ground is consecrated. Sin puts a finger in the fountain, and it starts itching, so she wipes her hand on the grass, then her whole hand starts itching, so she pours dwarven sweet rum on it and licks the rum off. Her hand stops itching. Varenthia turns up, is mysterious and cryptic and takes her invitation (4500sp), she then touches the water and both the fountain and her fade away. We all back away.

We use the recall word, and find ourselves in a column of light within the Sun Temple. We are held there for some 15 minutes and a priestess arrives, we give her the Norian/snake and she gives us our payment (cold hard cash!). Then we appear in Brastor, it is just before dawn on the 12th.

== Game Dates ==

{|
|-
|Game time
|Start
|Finish
|Time
|-
|In-game time
|01/03/09
|12/04/09
|41 days
|-
|Real time: day 1
|10.30am 02/01/09
|10.30pm 02/01/09
|3.5 sessions
|-
|Real time: day 2
|11.30am 03/01/09
|9.00pm 03/01/09
|2.5 session
|}

== Rewards ==

;Sin: 13,500 EP (12,000 base + 1000 for notes + 500 for food)
;Mirage: 13,000 EP (12,000 base + 1000 for food)
;Sabastian: 9,500 EP (9,000 base + 500 for leader)

== Loot ==

*number of goblin daggers
*low level bandit armour and weapons, one potion of natural venom poison and one of antidote.
*two higher level bandit's armour and weapons (Sweptsands scale armour made out of skin, a great axe, and two battle axes which can be wielded one handed as dual strike weapons.)
*special items of cloth armour for Sebastian and Mirage, and heat protection cloak for Sin.

* Poison is a rank 5 alchemist natural poison weapon venom, will do additional 5 points on first strike and 3 points for 2D10 pulse after. Antidote will cure any natural poison and has a (90 - 10 / Rank)% chance of curing synthetic poison - 500sp each
* Great axe rank 5 (+1 damage) = 250 sp
* 2 x Scale armour [Weight 30lb, Protection 6, AG -3] 500sp each
* Set of battle axes - PS 12, MD 14, DM +3, BC 60% each axe. Can be duel wielded but requires PS 15, MD 18, DM +3, BC 50% (non ambidex characters suffer additional -20 for offhand) - 1000sp
* Total = 3250 - 10% = 2925 = 975 each

;Total cash: 500+1000+1500+2000+2500+3000+3500+4000+4500=22500 + 4800 loot (1500 for each major item and 300 in various other random items) = 9100 - 910 (10% tax) = 8190 + 975 for extra items

Coronation Invitations

2026-06-06T04:34:34Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Ross Alexander]][[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
[[Category:Sin]]
[[Category:Sabastian]]
[[Category:Mirage]]

;Game Master :[[Ross Alexander]]
;Party Scribe :[[Sin]] (Tricia)
;Party Leader :[[Sabastian]] (Terry)
;Other Party Members :[[Mirage]] (Zane)

== Date: 01/03/09 (day 1) ==

Dark-skinned Elf from the Imperial Court of the [[Kijaand Empire]] wants us to deliver invitations to various highly placed and extremely dangerous individuals who are for the most part the proven enemies of the court. The invitations are of heavy card with ornate gold/silver writing, and they are highly magical. They are magically protected and can only be opened by the recipient. They will change colour in the local of the recipient and turn gold on being placed in the recipients hands. If answered, a message will be returned to the imperial court elves. They should be delivered within the next 100 days, she will pay 500sp for the first message and an amount increasing by 500sp per invitation. She gives us symbols that will identify us as Imperial Messengers.

* Bulich of Highvale (Orc leader, male, Highvale)
* [[Karasova Lethlil]] (1/2 elf mind mage, female, Unknowable)
* Grampian Wrought Iron (Dwarf, retired leader, male, Wrought Iron holdings)
* Tinkermeister Tuneup (Gnome, male, Blackstone dwarven holdings)
* [[Varenthia Simbelyn]] (Elf, close to ascension, female, Ice Tower)
* Valerie Longmeadow (Hobbit, Mayor of Longmeadow, female, Longmeadow)
* Norion Sweptsands (Human, Leader, male, Sweptsands)
* D'Urzi Draal Ziamon (Ice Elf, male, Ice Tower)
* Morgan the Grey (Human, wicca, male, Elven Tower)

She provides a general warning that flying is unsafe, ice drakes patrol the mountains and are very possessive of airspace, elven guards patrol settled areas. She gives us two binder items to aid in travel and a third which will help answer our questions. We are also given a "word of recall" which when uttered will return us to the Temple of the Sun in the city of [[Karawak]], but this should not be used lightly. We test the items before departing (some of the following information was obtained during the mission).

# Incense burner & 10 lots of incense oil
#* drip the incense on the burner to activate (1 pulse)
#* creates a wind funnel of â‰ˆ60miles/hr
#* takes wielder and those selected in the immediately surrounding hexes
#* check against 3*WP to change direction
#* takes 1 pulses to power up and then will last for 5min, it will go clear 1 pulse before it stops
#* very dangerous
# Shadow shifter
#* allows wielder to step between sharply delineated shadows "within sight"
#* can do 10's miles, maybe more
#* it possible to target from a crystal of vision
#* takes 1min to open the portal, and the portal remains open for 30sec
#* can travel both ways through the portal while it is open
#* shadows must be sharp
# Solar spark
#* flying spark of light, semi-sentient
#* we also believe it is a spying device and that the elves can gain information from it
#* answers simple questions from limited database of knowledge
#* rudimentary direction sense and positioning
#* able to act as a limited guard device (but very local only 20 ft)
#* can become dim or very bright

We arrange to be summoned to the city of [[Karawak]] at the beginning of the 6th day from now at midnight. We prepare clothing for both very warm and very cold climates.

== Date: 02-05/03/09 (days 2-5)==

Fly to [[Brastor]] where Sebastian outfits Mirage with some ranked weapons and armour.

== Date: 06/03/09 (day 6) ==

We appear in dense pillars of light within one of a number or alcoves off a very large room (cathedral?) that is a Sun place of power. There are very sharp shadows created and priestesses obviously using these for magical tasks, we can identify scrying. Spark leads us to another column we can see in the light: a city spanning many islands on a wide river delta, there is a large bridge spanning the whole delta (it has foundations on a number of islands which behave like stepping stones). This is the city of [[Karawak]]. Some of the islands only have water access, other islands have small bridges. The city appears partly elven-made in the sense that channels have been dug out to create islands and improve passage.

We pass into this pillar of light and appear in a small stone courtyard outside an Imperial Compound on one of the larger islands. We make our way to the main bridge, hale a passing hobbit caravan and gather information, they identify where Longmeadow is, and then they take us with them to visit a dwarven island, where we speak to the dwarves who have information on Grampian. Sebastian trades for some gems, we arrange to take messages to the Wrought Iron Dwarves, and are given some dwarven supplies (Rum (very sweet), Bread (very sweet) and Cram (toffee with nuts and dried fruit)) The Star thinks Tinkemeister is in Karawak and we obtain directions to the Gnomish island. When we visit, Sebastian tests out a jet-pack, and we find that Tinkermeister is working for the Blackstone Dwarves. We take accommodation for the night. We quiz the Spark about all the personages, and Sebastian marks those that we can on a map he has.

== Date: 07/03/09 (day 7) ==

We pick up letters and supplies from the dwarves, walk out of the city, cast wings and fly along the river towards the mountain range. Soon we leave the settled farm lands behind and enter a rain-forest. Along the river are palisade areas for the elven boats to stop, obviously the territory is unsafe. We land in an empty one for the night and are attacked by ninja goblins. Defeat the goblins, loot the bodies.

== Date: 08/03/09 (day 8) ==

We sleep late into the morning. Fly up to the head of the river, this land is settled by a number of elven houses, there are two forts and some elves fly out and question us. The also give us information on the dwarves, we fly over to the "Lower Entrance" of the dwarven clan holdings, give our messages over and spend the rest of the day climbing the escarpment, since Grampian lives at the top. We get most of the way there but need to stop for weakling hobbit to rest the night.

== Date: 09/03/09 (day 9) ==

We reach the "New Hold" in the morning and take a lift the rest of the way to the top. Our guides Mac and Cameron then take us out to Grampians stone house. We give him his invitation (500sp), and ask him for information on the other personages. He is clearly a high ranked Astrologer, but very old now. Spend the rest of the day training, and the evening drinking with the Dwarves.

== Date: 10-14/03/09 (days 10-14) ==

Fly around the mountains to the Hobbit area of Longmeadow.

== Date: 15/03/09 (day 15) ==

We meet armed Hobbits on the road, and then are escorted to visit Valerie, she seems an extremely capable wicca, but she hasn't a clue otherwise. We give her the invitation (1000sp). Sebastian gets some hot hobbit action, and wangles an invitation to be Valerie's partner at the coronation. Hobbits party into the night.

== Date: 16/03/09 (day 16) ==

We obtain more info on the other personages, and say good-bye to the Hobbits, and start our long flight round to the eastern side of the mountains.

== Date: 17-22/03/09 (days 17-22) ==

Fly around the mountains into the area where we believe Morgan the Grey's tower to be.

== Date: 23/03/09 (day 23)==

Cannot find the tower, we camp for the night and are attacked by some bandits. Sin is poisoned. We interrogate (and loot) the one we manage to capture and then fly to the tower. It is a white stone and of elven design. Morgan obviously controls flocks (murders) of crows, and we are hassled by his raven familiar Eyebite. Sin is turned briefly into a sparrow. We see Morgan and give him his invitation (1500sp). He offers to get Eyebite to take a message to Corisova ... she will find us if she wants the invitation. We fly south along the mountain range towards the Sweptsands.

== Date: 24/03/09 (day 24) ==

We fly south along the mountain range towards the Sweptsands.

== Date: 25/03/09 (day 25)==

We fly south along the mountain range towards the Sweptsands. In the evening Sebastian does an Astrology reading:

<blockquote>
''Swift as the swift'' 
''To the hear sea'' 
''From the sun to the set'' 
''As it's high in the sky''
</blockquote>

Sin valiantly guards the sleeping party ALL NIGHT.

== Date: 25/03/09 (day 25) ==

In the morning Sin sleeps while the Hobbit and Elf laze about. Midday we fly east in formation searching over the sweptsands. The country is of sandy dunes with water collecting between each huge dune. In the evening we land and camp near water. Sebastian reads the night sky ... we should travel perpendicular to the sun ie fly south.

== Date: 26/03/09 (day 26) ==

We get up very early and fly again searching for the tribe of Norion. We catch sight of a caravan moving across the dunes in the distance and make our presence known. They approach us, but it turns out they are setting up an attack on Norion and so don't want to let us go until they are ready, we play along with this as the two leaders (an old man (Celestial) and woman (Necromancer) seem very powerful, it is all very sinister. They assure us we will be able to deliver the message and take us on our word not to ruin their arrangements. We spend the day hanging around the camp.

== Date: 27/03/09 (day 27) ==

We spend the day moving with the caravan, we can see many scouts coming and going, and at times feel a sinister dark presence (we figure out later that it is Eyebite homing in on the fun). We find out that Norion is a bully and thug and very very unpleasant. The best way to stay alive is to pander to his vanity. We are encouraged to "take our message" into Norion's camp (as a diversion) in the early morning by the offer of magical items, cloth armour for the others and a protection from heat cloak for Sin. We power up and go in.

We make a grand entrance as Imperial messengers but Norion won't personally take the message. We try to leave using subterfuge, we pretend the incense burner is a gift, we pour the incense on and try to escape. However there follows a string of very bad luck. Norion jumps on Mirage and fractures his skull, Mirage is now unconscious on the ground with Norion's hand around his and hence the incense burner. Sebastian fumbles at grabbing the sensor, and by this time there are 4 bandits surrounding and attacking Sin who is hitting Norion. Sebastian manages to touch the burner and make his willpower check, and we finally manage to lift off. But Norion and 2 of his bandits are in the area with us and are taken along too. Sebastian misses the smoke hole and Sin only just manages to cut an opening before we get caught up. Sebastian concentrates on rejecting the unwanted party (we think they can be not-included in the items field using a WP check). Norion attacks Sebastian and Sin attacks Norion and the bandits attack Sin. Sin dies heroically protecting the party and Sebastian manages to aim a boom-stick at Norion who lets go and falls. IBite catches him squawking that "it is not his time to die, he must die slowly". Sebastian lands us near the camp, and IBite leaves Norion with us. The caravans attack has started and without Norion the battle is won more easily. It seems not only this tribe are involved, many others are present.

We are allowed to give Norion his invitation (2000sp) as he is tortured almost to death, he is forced to accept the invitation, then petimorted and skin changed into a snake. We are to take him back to the Imperial Court as their reply to the invitation. We get the weapons and armour of the two bandits we killed.

== Date: 28-04/04/09 (days 28-34)==

We have to stay a week while a herbalist is found and Sin is resurrected.

== Date: 05/04/09 (day 35) ==

We fly south and west towards the mountain range towards Bulich and Highvale.

== Date: 06/04/09 (day 36) ==

We fly into the foot-hills of the mountains, but cannot find the Orc hold. We make camp and Sebastian takes a flight a bit further up to see if he can see the Vale. It starts to snow and we hunker down under a small overhang, Sin unseen and Sebastian hiding in one of Mirages' rocks. An ice drake turns up and watches for a while, and then approaches. It seems curious but not aggressive (yet). As the only visible entity Mirage asks about the ice elf D'Urzi, and the drake agrees to go and see if he wants the invitation, the drake returns and says D'Urzi will see us at highvale soon. The drake makes it very clear there is to be no flying. We rest for what remains of the night.

== Date: 07/04/09 (day 37) ==

We use the shadow shifting device to advance up the mountain. We find the entrance to Bulich's vale but it is late in the evening and so we camp and rest. The main keep is wooden with a surrounding palisade and well above the lower wooded portions of the vale where the main orc village is situated. We estimate a population of several hundred Orcs, and we will need to go through the village to get to the keep!

== Date: 08/04/09 (day 38) ==

We use the shadow shifting device to reach the entrance to the vale and bribe our way in past the first set of guards. On the other side a drake and rider swoop down to us. It is the curious drake from the other day and D'Urzi. He is extremely pale and has armour that looks very icy, we give him his invitation (2500sp). Mirage chats with the drake, and D'Urzi says he is going into the keep with us (good!). The orcs all clear before D'Urzi and we walk unmolested into the keep. We find Bulich in his "throne room", he is very old and obviously weak but attempting to put up a good appearance, which is failing. He greets D'Urzi with animosity, it is clear that things are about to happen (probably the overthrow and killing of Bulich). We give him his invitation (3000sp) and take up an offer of accommodation, we leave the orc chieftain and elf to their politics. On reaching the offered accommodation, we notice Corisova's letter is glowing, it turns out she is the serving woman who has showed us the way. We give her, her invitation (3500sp) and are very happy when she departs.

== Date: 09/04/09 (day 39) ==

We are woken in the morning by the drake scratching at the shutters, we open them and she tells us we should get going. Bulich's last stand has happened. She offers to give us a ride down to the Blackstone dwarves! We forgo breakfast and climb out of the window and onto her back. Riding the drake obviously involves some semi-magical form of transportation as we become faintly insubstantial. On approaching Blackstone she becomes insubstantial and leaves us feather falling onto the mountain top. We are greeted by Blackstone Dwarves on guard and told that Tinkermeister is indeed working for them, but in the lower holds, and we will have to go down. Sebastian is sick so we leave him behind to be hauled down by the dwarves in a day and make our way down the very narrow but well made path to Tinkermeisters workshops. We give him his invitation (4000sp)

== Date: 10/04/09 (day 40) ==

We find accommodation and wait for a day, as the dwarves are changing guard and they will bring Sebastian down in the afternoon. Sin has a days training in unarmed combat.

== Date: 11/04/09 (day 41) ==

In the morning we prepare to depart, but just before we go Sebastian holds up the last invitation and says "last chance Varentia", we wait a minute and then there is a tug of a breese on the invitation, Sebastian lets it go and it drifts out in front of us in a most unnatural fashion. Then, we all feel a gentle tug of air and we follow the invitation into the trees. Very shortly we arrive at a clearing with an exquisite elven fountain, the grass is very green, the sky is very blue (with high wispy clouds), and the air feels of spring. Even worse the ground is consecrated. Sin puts a finger in the fountain, and it starts itching, so she wipes her hand on the grass, then her whole hand starts itching, so she pours dwarven sweet rum on it and licks the rum off. Her hand stops itching. Varenthia turns up, is mysterious and cryptic and takes her invitation (4500sp), she then touches the water and both the fountain and her fade away. We all back away.

We use the recall word, and find ourselves in a column of light within the Sun Temple. We are held there for some 15 minutes and a priestess arrives, we give her the Norian/snake and she gives us our payment (cold hard cash!). Then we appear in Brastor, it is just before dawn on the 12th.

== Game Dates ==

{|
|-
|Game time
|Start
|Finish
|Time
|-
|In-game time
|01/03/09
|12/04/09
|41 days
|-
|Real time: day 1
|10.30am 02/01/09
|10.30pm 02/01/09
|3.5 sessions
|-
|Real time: day 2
|11.30am 03/01/09
|9.00pm 03/01/09
|2.5 session
|}

== Rewards ==

;Sin: 13,500 EP (12,000 base + 1000 for notes + 500 for food)
;Mirage: 13,000 EP (12,000 base + 1000 for food)
;Sabastian: 9,500 EP (9,000 base + 500 for leader)

== Loot ==

*number of goblin daggers
*low level bandit armour and weapons, one potion of natural venom poison and one of antidote.
*two higher level bandit's armour and weapons (Sweptsands scale armour made out of skin, a great axe, and two battle axes which can be wielded one handed as dual strike weapons.)
*special items of cloth armour for Sebastian and Mirage, and heat protection cloak for Sin.

* Poison is a rank 5 alchemist natural poison weapon venom, will do additional 5 points on first strike and 3 points for 2D10 pulse after. Antidote will cure any natural poison and has a (90 - 10 / Rank)% chance of curing synthetic poison - 500sp each
* Great axe rank 5 (+1 damage) = 250 sp
* 2 x Scale armour [Weight 30lb, Protection 6, AG -3] 500sp each
* Set of battle axes - PS 12, MD 14, DM +3, BC 60% each axe. Can be duel wielded but requires PS 15, MD 18, DM +3, BC 50% (non ambidex characters suffer additional -20 for offhand) - 1000sp
* Total = 3250 - 10% = 2925 = 975 each

;Total cash: 500+1000+1500+2000+2500+3000+3500+4000+4500=22500 + 4800 loot (1500 for each major item and 300 in various other random items) = 9100 - 910 (10% tax) = 8190 + 975 for extra items

Missing Monkys

2026-06-06T04:32:09Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
[[Category:Uzi Urksome]]
[[Category:Belladona]]
[[Category:Arkham]]
[[Category:Sabastian]]
[[Category:Ross Alexander]]
;GM: [[Ross Alexander]]
= Party =
;[[Uzi Urksome]]: third son of Kalshnikov Urksome teh Mighty (scribe)
;[[Belladona|Belly]]: (mil sci)
;[[Arkham|Hammy]] : (party leader)
;Orm
;[[Sabastian|Sebby]]

= Diary =

==Day first [15.4.809 WK]==
kid from Woo-Fang's monky-place say he n place disappeared in big magic storm. prob to drow plane. talk n shit. sleep.

==Day two==

Hammy does star-looking n gets

<blockquote>
On the plane,
Around the plane,
On the bowls,
around the bowls.
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
High is the valley,
Low is the pit,
Royal is the hand,
Cold is the altar.
</blockquote>

*high is the valley (high vale?)
*low is the pit (great pit in the desert? pit under the dwarves?)
*royal is the hand (regent?)
*cold is the altar"

kid uses magic stick makes cloud (65mph) we fly to ex-monky-place. da tree has magic (DA: last magic to impact = increase gravity). go village Sebby tries to hire boy but mum says no he gives us stick. fly to portal thingy in mountain (DA: last used = 5 days ago) push open doors to [[Kanlaoise|Kanlesh]]. other side da portal comes out of dis tower (Varenthia's). see ice drake run into towers other door which is ward with big icey spell (60 odd damage to touch if you save) n bottom 25 feet is invisi unconcious gas. halfway up tower has no walls n bowl of water (DA: scrying magic, activate with scrying magic, no effect on caster). at top more no walls n big chair. queeny scary mes grovel. she says bowls came thru demselves n flew off n changed but same. most powerful altars (of [[Shahdad|Shadad]]) are [[Mazarathin]], [[Alabaq]], [[Saesora]]. fly a bit to [[Highvale]]. sleep.

==Day three==

spot some nomads. talk to dem who say saw light and red light seemed to land NW. cloud over there a bitz. camp. Sebby read night sky = image of elf bint, image white marble altar, image pyre in wooden hall, image of wasteland. sleep kill 4 ogres bind rune mage ogre loot = 70sp, ash rune wand, 5x amulets of luck. sleep.

==Day many==

sleep till midday. misty so walk. find big area of glass = high mana zone +5 ranks to fire magic also celestial rk10 gravity. locate on monk points to dis n other places, so maybe everything got merged den split? rung ogre divinates: fire, earth, light, dark, general thermatergy, general entities magics, but strongest magic celestial, with fire n earth strong residual. putting stuff like da ogre on it makes it flat and get absorbed and spread. magicy stuff is sort of working, but decreasing and frozen so ESP and telepathy sorta pick stuff up no thoughts. cloud to High Vale lots of tents around town n looks full.

Sebby says Bullich just carked it n dey look like dey're having set fights for leadership. locate pointing at big hall. land outside n wander in. get challenged a few times n spot [[Karasova Lethlil|Corasova]] the mind mage who Sebby pokes but get inside hall. dere a big fire with Bullic on it (DA = formerly living) but da locate points at bowl on high table; black like rk20 darkness. may be portable as side dosent seem to suck but top does. leave town.

Sebby n Orm have hissy fit n go away. wii fly to desert

==Day many-one==

fly till midday, arrow point down, big storm wait...

==Day many-two==

bit dust, crystal look = big hole 40' diameter? fly down 2 miles with eye in front, no bottoms. speed up bit fly down 4 more miles, light we thru down on sand at "bottom" siting on nothing with stars past da nothing. also human (dosent show ESP or Telepahy) with bowl. dont wake up till we touch bowl - turns to be angry [[Metastopheles]] - take him n bowl out. egg him to going to High Vale n doing some orcs while we sneaks to hall n bowl. fly all day, mind-bint didnt stop us taking bowl. fly west. sleep.

==Day Many-three==

small monk kitchen-boy appears, prob from bowl?, flying patrols, spot group of humies/orcs with slaves - rescue kitchen monk-woman from them, fly all day into night.

==Day Many-many==

head SW bit [[Mazarathin]], [[Orthostopheles]] locates in there. mince about till next night, mince about trying to get in da city. Hammy n Belly go to city, as mes too stand outy. Belly pumps and solicits for info, Othors house = Hascisz he thinks maybe another 5th bowl causing da others playing up; fire, ice, clay, diamond, Gold? Bone? Go to dwarves to get bowls divinated. Ancient div says da two bowls are identical, parts of the same whole. One aspect out of balance and taken over others, maybe a super-celestial bowl? leakage might be da big squashed bowl. old div dwarf (Fergus) wants to check it. wait day fly night.
==Day Many-many-one==
fly all day, dusk = sqashed bowl. three camps dere now; Highvale (new orc chief, [[Morgan the Grey|Morgan]] + raven, guards), church (elf-bint in white, one in black, four guards), imperial (old sun-elf, 4 guards, proper elf-bint). fiddle with bowls, squashy bits shrinks and more people pop out, eventually Woo-Fang pops, he had monkestry (Woo-folding power) but still in there. da dwarf rune-mage does a banish, n monkstry appears, squashy black stuff all gone. bowls bit more like old bowls - outside look icy/firey as normal but inside has sheen of blacky oil or somat.

==Day Many-many-two [24.4.809 WK] ==
make dragon-sized feast for Metadragoneles. Back to monkestry.

= Loot =

*70sp
*ash rune wand
*5x amulets of luck
*one Foo-skill each
*6-month Dragon-enchant (Rank 15 Ritual of Enchantment lasting 6 months)
*High Elf Library card for Arkham
*Bella to learn dragon
*rk8 cook for Uzi
*claymore thingy
*week spy immersion
*week elf immersion
*xp approx = 8000xp

Missing Monkys

2026-06-06T04:31:30Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
[[Category:Uzi Urksome]]
[[Category:Belladona]]
[[Category:Arkham]]
[[Category:Sabastian]]
;GM: [[Ross]]
= Party =
;[[Uzi Urksome]]: third son of Kalshnikov Urksome teh Mighty (scribe)
;[[Belladona|Belly]]: (mil sci)
;[[Arkham|Hammy]] : (party leader)
;Orm
;[[Sabastian|Sebby]]

= Diary =

==Day first [15.4.809 WK]==
kid from Woo-Fang's monky-place say he n place disappeared in big magic storm. prob to drow plane. talk n shit. sleep.

==Day two==

Hammy does star-looking n gets

<blockquote>
On the plane,
Around the plane,
On the bowls,
around the bowls.
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
High is the valley,
Low is the pit,
Royal is the hand,
Cold is the altar.
</blockquote>

*high is the valley (high vale?)
*low is the pit (great pit in the desert? pit under the dwarves?)
*royal is the hand (regent?)
*cold is the altar"

kid uses magic stick makes cloud (65mph) we fly to ex-monky-place. da tree has magic (DA: last magic to impact = increase gravity). go village Sebby tries to hire boy but mum says no he gives us stick. fly to portal thingy in mountain (DA: last used = 5 days ago) push open doors to [[Kanlaoise|Kanlesh]]. other side da portal comes out of dis tower (Varenthia's). see ice drake run into towers other door which is ward with big icey spell (60 odd damage to touch if you save) n bottom 25 feet is invisi unconcious gas. halfway up tower has no walls n bowl of water (DA: scrying magic, activate with scrying magic, no effect on caster). at top more no walls n big chair. queeny scary mes grovel. she says bowls came thru demselves n flew off n changed but same. most powerful altars (of [[Shahdad|Shadad]]) are [[Mazarathin]], [[Alabaq]], [[Saesora]]. fly a bit to [[Highvale]]. sleep.

==Day three==

spot some nomads. talk to dem who say saw light and red light seemed to land NW. cloud over there a bitz. camp. Sebby read night sky = image of elf bint, image white marble altar, image pyre in wooden hall, image of wasteland. sleep kill 4 ogres bind rune mage ogre loot = 70sp, ash rune wand, 5x amulets of luck. sleep.

==Day many==

sleep till midday. misty so walk. find big area of glass = high mana zone +5 ranks to fire magic also celestial rk10 gravity. locate on monk points to dis n other places, so maybe everything got merged den split? rung ogre divinates: fire, earth, light, dark, general thermatergy, general entities magics, but strongest magic celestial, with fire n earth strong residual. putting stuff like da ogre on it makes it flat and get absorbed and spread. magicy stuff is sort of working, but decreasing and frozen so ESP and telepathy sorta pick stuff up no thoughts. cloud to High Vale lots of tents around town n looks full.

Sebby says Bullich just carked it n dey look like dey're having set fights for leadership. locate pointing at big hall. land outside n wander in. get challenged a few times n spot [[Karasova Lethlil|Corasova]] the mind mage who Sebby pokes but get inside hall. dere a big fire with Bullic on it (DA = formerly living) but da locate points at bowl on high table; black like rk20 darkness. may be portable as side dosent seem to suck but top does. leave town.

Sebby n Orm have hissy fit n go away. wii fly to desert

==Day many-one==

fly till midday, arrow point down, big storm wait...

==Day many-two==

bit dust, crystal look = big hole 40' diameter? fly down 2 miles with eye in front, no bottoms. speed up bit fly down 4 more miles, light we thru down on sand at "bottom" siting on nothing with stars past da nothing. also human (dosent show ESP or Telepahy) with bowl. dont wake up till we touch bowl - turns to be angry [[Metastopheles]] - take him n bowl out. egg him to going to High Vale n doing some orcs while we sneaks to hall n bowl. fly all day, mind-bint didnt stop us taking bowl. fly west. sleep.

==Day Many-three==

small monk kitchen-boy appears, prob from bowl?, flying patrols, spot group of humies/orcs with slaves - rescue kitchen monk-woman from them, fly all day into night.

==Day Many-many==

head SW bit [[Mazarathin]], [[Orthostopheles]] locates in there. mince about till next night, mince about trying to get in da city. Hammy n Belly go to city, as mes too stand outy. Belly pumps and solicits for info, Othors house = Hascisz he thinks maybe another 5th bowl causing da others playing up; fire, ice, clay, diamond, Gold? Bone? Go to dwarves to get bowls divinated. Ancient div says da two bowls are identical, parts of the same whole. One aspect out of balance and taken over others, maybe a super-celestial bowl? leakage might be da big squashed bowl. old div dwarf (Fergus) wants to check it. wait day fly night.
==Day Many-many-one==
fly all day, dusk = sqashed bowl. three camps dere now; Highvale (new orc chief, [[Morgan the Grey|Morgan]] + raven, guards), church (elf-bint in white, one in black, four guards), imperial (old sun-elf, 4 guards, proper elf-bint). fiddle with bowls, squashy bits shrinks and more people pop out, eventually Woo-Fang pops, he had monkestry (Woo-folding power) but still in there. da dwarf rune-mage does a banish, n monkstry appears, squashy black stuff all gone. bowls bit more like old bowls - outside look icy/firey as normal but inside has sheen of blacky oil or somat.

==Day Many-many-two [24.4.809 WK] ==
make dragon-sized feast for Metadragoneles. Back to monkestry.

= Loot =

*70sp
*ash rune wand
*5x amulets of luck
*one Foo-skill each
*6-month Dragon-enchant (Rank 15 Ritual of Enchantment lasting 6 months)
*High Elf Library card for Arkham
*Bella to learn dragon
*rk8 cook for Uzi
*claymore thingy
*week spy immersion
*week elf immersion
*xp approx = 8000xp

Bread and Circuses

2026-06-06T04:29:47Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Helen Saggers]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Grizelda]]
[[Category:Aqualina]]
[[Category:Sau Rus]]
[[Category:Sooty]]
[[Category:Menolly]]
[[Category:Lizette]]

Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer 809 WK| Scribe notes]] 

This adventure takes place on the plane of [[Iska]] in the [[Mithrian Portal system]]. 

==Summary==
'''Adventure:''' Bread and Circuses 
'''GM:''' Helen Saggers 
'''Session:''' Summer 809 wk 
'''Night:''' Mondays 
'''Location''' Bernards place in Ellerslie. 
'''Level:''' Medium 

'''Party:''' 
*[[Grizelda]] - Wicca - Giant
*[[Aqualina]] - Water - Human
*[[Sau Rus]] - Necromancer - Human
*[[Sooty]] - Thingy Mage. - Elf
*[[Menolly]] - Earth - Elf
*[[Lizette]] - Namer - Human

'''Employer:''' 
HammÄd ibn RaÅ¡Ä«d 
'''Mission:''' 
Find out why no grain ships are arriving in the capitol. 
'''Pay:''' 
15 lbs of gold for the party, plus... to be negotiated with employer. 

== Scribe Notes ==

The party
* Menolly - blond female elven pacifistic Earth Mage and her two canine pets (the monkey apparently got killed)
* Sauros - weedy human male cartographer, linguist and Necromancer (party leader)
* Aqualina - short dusky-skinned human Water Mage, wearing only a length of fabric (two lengths thank you - A)
* Grizelda - female giant Wiccan mage, and Master Chef (scribe)
* Sooty - elven male Fire mage (military scientist)
* Lizette - pretty red-headed human Namer, known to be the blondest redhead on Alusia

=== 1st Meadow 809 ===
After the Guild Meeting we gathered in the green meeting room (it seems that Guild Security have chosen to redecorate - again). The young man who is our employer was our employee last summer - our translator, HammÄd ibn RaÅ¡Ä«d, the grain merchant's son.

Apparently, grain shipments had been failing to arrive for some time. The ships went up the Slaver's River, and did not come back. Now, the granaries were getting low. Which means that people in the city would soon begin to starve. For solving this problem we would receive 15lbs of gold, plus salvage. HammÄd has been at the Guild and is now a beginning Air Mage.

Sau Rus offered to make us pigeon wings so we can fly. This will make getting around much easier, and only Aqualina did not seem to like the idea. It is more of a problem that we cannot wear armour with them (at least I had something I could use - A). We organised party leader, military scientist and scribe, and arranged to meet when everyone had sorted out greater enchantments and such like. Menolly wanted to go down to Slippery Rock to get some skin change pelts. I wonder if I should learn that spell.

Lizette: "Does anyone else resurrect?"
Sau Rus: "I can get them up again, but people refuse to call it resurrection."

=== 3rd Meadow 809 ===
It was after breakfast on the third day when we finally got started. We took the Khoras delegation's portal to the Sea of Grass, then we used the Pasifikan Portal system to go to Pasifika. We flew to the Trading Post, and found it to be much more fortified than it had been. Aqualina left a message there, for her tribe. We then flew to the portal to Paleolithica, went through, and then flew to the island where the portal to Frigidia lies. There we camped. Aqualina caught some eels, and I fried them up with some roots. Sooty said the most peculiar things, and then had a headache.

Lizette: "We can stop the pain and then resurrect you later."

Watch Order:
# Lizette, Sauros
# Grizelda, Menolly
# Aqualina, Sooty

=== 4th Meadow 809 ===
After we purified, Menolly made Armours of Earth and Strength of Stone on Aqualina and I, who volunteered as front row. Sooty cast something to protect us against the cold. I made them restoratives. Thus prepared we went through the portal and into the cold of Frigidia. To make matters worse the glacier had moved, and there was ice blocking the way. Sooty contrived to bind the ice and move it aside, muttering, "My ice, my ice..." He really has lost it.

We went directly west, until we hit the wall, and then turned south, until we found the tunnel. I wondered aloud what kind of a Power the people of this offended to bring this Ragnarok upon them. Sooty explained that in fact there are four sleeping dragons here - and they need to be disturbed to take away the eternal winter. We went past a big circular portal, to the right, and up the cliff (I slipped, but was not hurt). Then through a tunnel and so to the bridge - the jungle-like rope bridge which does not look like it belongs here. Sooty cut off the cowbell, and dropped it into the chasm. It becomes evident that Aqualina does not like heights. (Evident? I told you right from the start - A) There was more narrow tunnel, and finally a red rock cavern with a building. We went inside, and Sooty incanted to great Mithros.

It was cold and dry one moment, then hot and humid the next. We were in a jungle, and had safely arrived on the plane of [[Iska]]. We took flight, looking for the great wide river we called the Slavers River. Finding it, we flew upriver until we found a village. Picking a large field, we landed... to find ourselves in a field of cut sugar cane.

We went through the field towards the village as Hammad wanted to talk to his cousin. He, his cousin that is, had been watching the river to see if any ships were going past. When we got there we found a man, with skin much darker than Aqualina, on the roof with a spyglass. Hammad spoke to him in the native language, something similar to Aribie, and discovered that no grain ships had been through. The situation was indeed getting desperate as local stores around the coast had been utilised to keep the capital city going and those stocks were getting exhausted too. No grain meant no flour, no flour meant no bread. Also, and this might be worse to some people, no grain meant no beer.

One hundred miles up the river was another village and it was known that ships had got that far and returned. However, any attempts to go further had caused disappearances. And it wasn't confined to ships. Even land based travel going up there had resulted in disappearances.

We were able to find out that, up the river from the village at the 100 mile mark, the river split in two. The left branch went into the forest but the right went past the immense grain fields. The plan so far is to fly up river a bit then we utilise every scrying method we had to try and find out what has been going on.

It was just after noon so, while Sau Rus and Menolly settled down to scry and map for a couple of hours, Aqualina and I went fishing and came back with some flat fish. After that, we flew off and went looking for the slavers we had encountered. Sure enough, we found their boat parked at the end of the jetty in the reeds near the palm trees. The better fliers landed on the jetty while the rest of us landed on the pond (Lizette was aiming for the jetty, got her line of approach wrong and ended up in the muck - A).

After drying off, we walked to the gate in the outer edge which Aqualina was able to open. Inside were fields, and in the distance we could see workers. The dogs started barking and Sooty called out to announce our arrival.

Eventually some people came out, the thin human we had met before, along with some guards with crossbows. They have had no problems with losing ships but they don't go past the large town. Some of their friends go further but they use the north fork. So the problem is upriver of the fork on the south branch. There are rumours in the large town of a lack of trade from the south branch.

We left, and headed for the town. Landing on the road, we walked into the town. There was a ditch and a bank - and a gate. As we entered we got stared at and the children hid. Most likely the wings.

We headed for the docks where the inns are and chose the better of the two, one one that doesn't smell as bad. No boats, so no travellers, so we're the only customers. This inn has good stairs so I sleep upstairs on multiple pallets. Lizette gets into warm water while Sooty freezes a mug of ice. It steams, then freezes a stone which fractures into many pieces. There is good fried fish and bad cabbage for dinner. We sleep, we watch, we sleep.

=== 5th Meadow ===
(White Lotus Day)
We had pottage for breakfast, made preparations, and used the crystal balls to map some more. We spotted one more village on the other bank about halfway to the fork and a larger town on the fork itself.

We fly to Forktown , a couple of miles up the northern fork. After landing Sau Rus countered the wings of Iben and Aqualina and they went into the town (after I changed into the krakenskin armour - A). They learned that boats that don't go as far as the first village come back, those that go further don't. People have come from there seeking help We have parrot for dinner then Aqualina and Iben get parrot wings (so it was back to the two piece and sash - and I'd like to see Lizette carry off this look - A).

=== 6th Meadow ===
In the morning we use the crystal balls to look at the river just before the second village, about 30-40 miles from Fork Town up the south fork, and we see a line of something across the river. Looking closer we see a line of boats roped together across the river - an obvious blockade. At each end there was a camp of about ten tents, occupied by military looking types. Looking at the second village itself we observed a shanty town, full of people doing not much.

The plan was to fly further up and land somewhere between the first and second village. That would bring us closer to the ship bridge Menolly seemed rather keen on the flying bit. Apparently she wants to learn to fly rather well so she can teach her dogs to fly. Upon hearing that, Aqualina made some sort of comment on flying pigs ... which lead into a discussion of magically enlarged flying war boars.

About mid morning, we flapped into the air and headed for the designated point. It was decided to land in the river. The river banks were lined with trees and, beyond that, were thorns on wasteland. The river itself, near the banks, was covered with reeds. I landed first, in an area near the reeds .. with a big splosh and deeper than I thought. So I splashed my way to shore (assisted by a buoyancy - A). Aqualina went for a deeper area of the river and stayed in the river until everyone else was down.

While I went fishing for crabs and crayfish, Aqualina summoned a water elemental and sent it up the river to check out the area under the ship bridge. Lizette and Menolly set up camp while Sau Rus and Sooty watched for crocodiles. All I managed to catch were small crayfish ... reminded me of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_yabby yabbies].

The elemental returned and reported that it had found the boats tied together and a lot of bad stuff .. a kind of dead slug stuff (something like sea cucumber slime? - A). Magic had been involved in its creation but it was native to this plane. And it was poisonous, as Menolly determined. This stuff, according to Lizette's divination, was the exudate of a giant slug, a poison becoming more poisonous as time went on - and we had been swimming in it. Aqualina was poisoned and, since Waters of Healing didn't work, but Sooty was able to cure it with Healer skills (I had been bracing myself for a Cleansing Flame - A) so that told us it was a low ranked artificial poison. We decided not to eat those crayfish...

Sau Rus used a crystal ball to divine the future if we decide not to intervene and it wasn't good. There were dead cows and bits of boat floating in the river and the forest burning in the background.

That evening, I made stew from our rations and settled down to read the runes:
* ''What is the relationship between the slugs and the guards?'' - A futile effort to stop their spreading.
* ''What was the purpose of the slugs?'' - To create an army
* ''What was the intended purpose of the army of slugs?'' - To bring joy, prosperity, sunshine, and wealth

The answers seemed to indicate that the guards were there to try and contain the poison, but Sooty (and I agree - A) thought it was rather odd. Why hadn't warnings been sent out then? And I must admit that third reading sounded unlikely enough to be a backfire

(While she was doing this, I was keeping watch up a tree ... which led Sau Rus to comment that I was 'roosting'. - A)

=== 7th Meadow ===
Night passed - and it was gruel for breakfast. The cartographers did their thing and discovered that the grain fields were just fifty miles further up the river. The village was somewhere between deserted and abandoned and the grain fields were planted but untended, especially since there were cows in there just wandering about. That was enough to get us flying there to investigate. As we approached, Sau Rus detected some undead under a house.

We landed. Aqualina did so in a cowpat. (I faceplanted in a cowpat - maybe I'd better sign up for more flying lessons at the Guild - A). There were dead bodies about, dead from days to weeks, some of poisoning, most of dehydration. The undead are a bunch of zombies in a house. As a safety precaution, when I let them out for Sau Rus to control, the rest of the party took to the air. To our surprise, they turned out to be zombie dogs. Sau Rus controlled them and the rest of the party came down (In a second cowpat - A).

The zombie dogs had been made by magic weeks ago, specifically by an uncolleged ritual called "Create Zombie - for the Greater Goblin God" by a goblin. They had been inside a hut with a two doors on opposing sizes. Sooty's theory was that the dogs had chased a villager inside the hut through one door then, as the villager ran out the opposite door, both sets had been slammed shut, trapping the dogs inside. Scratch marks on the inside of the doors and other evidence made this theory plausible.

Aqualina summoned a water elemental and sent it up and down river. Meanwhile Lizette was left alone with three zombie dogs to divinate them. They had been zombified four weeks ago. Menolly examined the cows and discovered that 'they were a little bit poisoned'.

The water elemental reported that the slime was thicker upriver. It hadn't seen any actual slugs but it had only gone 10-15 miles. The slime wasn't affecting the elemental but it was just 'icky'. Meanwhile Sooty chopped up the zombie dogs. We determined that there were not enough bodies - around seventy people were missing from the village.

Aqualina summoned another elemental and sent it upriver with the instructions to return if the slime concentration suddenly dropped off, indicating it had passed the point where the slugs are... or after 100 miles... otherwise we could be waiting for a very long time.

Meanwhile much talking to various birds and animals was done. Ibin told us that the goblins live in the desert beyond the grainlands. There were no actual slugs here, just the goop in the water. I talked to a cow, which told us that, one night, there was much yelling and the people left on a boat, no idea which way though. A dead cow was found, which had died of blood loss.

Night arrived. Finally, eight hours after the elemental left, it returned with the news that it had reached the hundred mile mark and the river was thick with slime up there. It was floating on the surface and covering the rocks. It had even brought back a sample which was carefully passed on to Lizette .... who had forgotten why she wanted the sample. We used it to determine that the toxin was potent for months. But if the slime was dried, the potency duration dropped to days.

=== 8th Meadow ===
Early that morning, we flew all the way down to where Ibin's cousin was still watching for boats, and left a message to be passed on if we didn't return from our next planned expedition and the girls went shopping for supplies ... with Lizette's money. I purchased foodstuffs for the journey, mainly lentils, rice, something called couscous, spices including cumin and saffron, and a couple of chickens. We then flew all the way back to the abandoned village - a six hour trip each way. Aqualina was definately getting browner in the sun. (Not dark enough to pass as a native though - A). The chicken were turned into dinner.

One of the crystals was used to obtain a precognitive vision to ascertain what would happen if we went to the garrison by the boat blockade. It looked like the crystal was confused as first they didn't point weapons at us, then they did. Still ... a good sign ... we weren't attacked on sight.

=== 9th Meadow ===
We began before dawn, with our magical preparations: Waterbreathings (21 hour duration - Aqualina got a triple), Armours of Earth (+22 DEF for 5.5 hours), Strengths of Stone (Endurance +9 for 10 hours) and Strengths of Stone (Strength) on everyone who needed them, including Menolly's dogs/mice. Sau Rus's wings were due to fall off so he removed them from all of us. Then - at my suggestion, since I not want to walk thirty miles along marshy crocodile-infested riverbank - Aqualina created a boat and used a Mage Current to send us quickly downriver towards the barricade. On the way, Sau Rus and Sooty created a salamander in a box trap.

As we approached, we saw men waving flags, probably signalling the garrison. Then we saw small boats being launched in our direction. So we beached the boat on the bank. Ibin spoke to the troops that approached and learned that there was a quarantine and they weren't letting anyone out to go down river. Their leader was upriver, the Caliph in a large city. They had been arresting anyone who came up river. They also had sick people here and they were about to send the worse case upriver to the quarantine camp. So Sooty offered to heal them in the name of the Guardian .. using Cleansing Flames as a ritual. Hopefully that should impress them enough to allow us to continue investigating. Sooty cured the worst affected person first to prove that it worked, and later did his ritual on the captain and two of his guard sergeants.

He told us that the Caliph's city was located about two hundred miles upriver, at a fork with a tributary. Sickness was spreading the river from there but it was more prevalent up the tributary. Lizette and Menolly discovered that the guard captain had a rank twenty geas on him to maintain the quarantine and not to let anyone go. Which explained why they were being so inflexible, and not issuing any warnings. He had to check the wording of his orders to determine what he should do with us.

"He's covering his rear?" - Aqualina
"No .. More like covering his geas" - Sau Rus

Finally we were informed that we were going to be sent to the quarantine camp .. with an armed escort. We explained about the poisonous slime in the river, showing them our samples. The captain commented that that explained why his guards at the inland wells weren't affected. So we recommended that they strain all the water that came out of the river and to use well water whenever possible. As we left with our escort we saw them starting to collect linen from the washing lines and stretching it across their water barrels.

That afternoon, we were sailed upriver and finally arrived at the quarantine camp just after dark. After being marched through the village we finally reached the camp. It once was surrounded by a fence but had quickly outgrown it. At least a thousand people were here and none of them looked well ... not even the guards. Upon arrival, a clerk handed Ibin a paper with a barracks number on it ... more like a patch of ground on which we had to construct our own shelter.

Ibin and Sooty went to find the people in charge. Apparently there is some division into tribes and along guild lines. The rest of us set up camp and I prepared dinner.

Sooty - "You are what you eat - if you eat something tough and inedible like Guild "C" rations"
Lizette - Can I quote you on being a "C" class adventurer because you are what you eat?"

Sooty cured one of the leaders while we served them dinner. After it finally worked, we explained about the water and how to prevent the sickness.

=== 10th Meadow ===
Breakfast then collected firewood. There was a line waiting for us when we got back, for Sooty to cure. We decided not to ask how much Ibin was charging.

Wells were dug while Sooty cured people. A diversion had also been arranged by the cured families and we were able to slip out, with the help of Walking Unseens. We walked about three miles upriver and camped.

There were strange creatures in the dark. Hyenas Menolly said. Thought about getting a bolt into one as they were so noisy (She wasn't the only one - A).

=== 11th Meadow ===
Aqualina made a boat and we sailed upstream on a mage current. We passed the uninhabited village we visited before and carried on. There was a village every fifteen miles or so. Sau Rus cast detect undead at each one but didn't get any results.

Eventually, 120 miles up, we came to a broad bend in the river. On the inside of the bend was a rather larger village - and there were people here. They seemed rather surprised as we came into land - and they were looking decidingly sick. We asked for the headman but he was too sick so we went to his house. I soon discovered that the mana level here was low, so this is more a town than a village. Once there, Sooty cured the headman while I made dinner in the native style - a fish stew with saffron and rice.

=== 12th Meadow ===
The headman was awake and better. Apparently people from the next village upriver, on the desert side, had come here. Many had died from the poison and from undead. We asked to talk to someone from the next village and we were told of someone four doors along. They told us that the undead had come from the hill where they had been buried. Only the recent bodies had been animated.

So we headed up the river to the abandoned village. There were no undead there so we headed for the burial hill. No undead there either. From what we could tell, they had left ten days ago.

I tried reading the runestones with the question "Where are the majority of the zombies created in the name of the Goblin God been gathering?". The answer was "Under the bed, on the roof, in the closet." Wierd.

Dinner was ready and we watched the night.

=== 13th Meadow ===
In the morning, we used the crystals to look at the city. The docks were empty of ships and only a few people were lounging about. No blockade and no cargo. A wall could be seen between the docks and the city itself. The gates were closed and there was a shantytown outside. Nobody was approaching the gates, nobody was walking around. If there were guards then they must have been under the canopies. There were a few dogs, no livestock, and the river looked mucky. The market was sparse with very few people buying and selling.

The palace was located on a hill by the main river. Gardeners could be seen in the grounds. Palace gates were shut and washing was on the line. The interior was scryshielded as was the gatehouse.

Lizette - You can get decaffinated restoratives?

We headed upriver at speed, as Aqualina had done something really wierd with the mage current (would you believe a triple effect backfire? - A), and openly approached the docks. While we tethered the boat, the people on the dock continued lounging in the shade. As we approached the river gate, the guards got their act together and Ibin talked to them after bowing and such. They are here to stop looting and keeping people in so they didn't have any objections to us actually entering.

Once in, we headed for the palace. All the houses we passed were walled and gated. We saw some stray pigs and chickens on the way past some boarded up shops.

Sau Rus - Small rabid creatures only attack McLeods, a well known fact.

Eventually we came to some fancy gates. Ibin knocked on them and a guard came out and looked at us - significantly. (I know a DA when I see one - A). We looked back and learned he was a blacksmith, earth mage and good with his scimitar. After some talking we were led to the next person.

The next official had courtier and illusionist. After a lot more talking, a bribe, and more waiting, we got to see the next one up the chain, an E&E merchant. More talk, more bribes, and we are told that the Caliph will see us in an hour. So still more waiting.

After divesting ourselves of all our weapons, as per their request, we are led into a large, airy, shady audience chamber. A lieutenant was with the Caliph and three or four invisible people were also in the room.

The Caliph wanted to know what we wanted so, through Ibin, Sooty told him. He told us that he had sent military healers up the river and had not heard back from them as well as sending a message across the desert to a capital city. This city uses aqueducts to bring water from up the main river. Finally, after appraising him of the current situation, we obtained a writ to travel.

There were no zombies here yet and, four generations ago, the goblins lived further down the valley but had since been pushed back. Now they raid caravans in the desert.

On the way out, Sau Rus attempted to detect undead and found none. Meanwhile Aqualina waterproofed the travel writ. We walked back to the docks and back to the boat.

Grizelda - "Undead chickens do NOT lay eggs."
Sau Rus - "I don't know. I've never tried."

Once in the boat, Aqualina started summoning her elementals. As she did, Sau Rus and Menolly mapped the area upstream. It took Aqualina all afternoon to get a pair of elementals. Once they were both there, she sent them up a branch each with instructions to return if the slime level dropped off.

The one sent up the main channel came back quickly having found that the poison diminished after the backwash. Up the tributary, the goop just got worse and worse. That elemental finally turned back after reaching the waterfalls in the mountains. There was more goop than water .... and no fish.

=== 14th Meadow ===
In the morning, Aqualina made the mage current and we headed up the tributary. We stopped at the first village, 15 miles up. It was empty, no people, no undead. At the second village, 30 miles up, we found living people. They looked fit and might be military. Ibin, Sooty, Lizette and I went into the village. Most of the military persons carry on, but some swagger out to meet us. We told them about the goblins and the undead. Sooty think this lot might be bandits.

The third village appeared empty and abandoned. And so it was. So was the 4th village and the fifth. We stopped for lunch by the sixth while the cartographers did their thing. No undead detected so far. They could see a ford further up and there were two more villages between us and it. A closer view showed animal pens on one side, but no animals. Trees were on the other side. No bodies and no boats.

Lizette was hoping for some undead to divinate so Sau Rus created an undead goat. However it really wasn't much help so Sau Rus had it jump over the side. The last we saw it, it had been dragged under by a crocodile.

There were live people in the next village and they turned out to the military force, at least what was left of them. They're looking for food class rations. We could see a dozen of then, but there could be more. They told us that the soldiers, 25 to 30, who went looking for the undead hadn't returned. They had also brought the sick villagers here from next village up. Only herders lived further up the river from the ford.

It was decided that they should evacuate back down to the city so Aqualina ritually made three boats while Sau Rus made the paddles.

Night passed - nothing unusual happened.

=== 15th Meadow ===
In the morning, we waved goodbye to the fleet. Instead of taking a boat, Sau Rus did his ritual to attack pigeon wings to some of us while Sooty firewalked Menolly and her dogs. During that, he went numb for eight days. On the way up, the last village was checked but no undead was detected.

"I can command that many men" - Sooty
"I can raise that many men" - Sau Rus
"I can count that many men" - Lizette

From the tracks that were found, it looked like the army went into the desert.

Further up, we reached the ford and the crystal viewers saw that the river split up as it flowed out of a set of canyons and cliffs. The sludge was mostly coming from the middle canyons. Those that could fly took to the air and they spotted burnt out boats in the river but still no sign of undead. The boats looked like they had been deliberately fired. So Aqualina and Lizette went out to have a look at them.

"I'd rather you created a longboat" - Grizelda
"You use your culture, I'll use mine" - Aqualina after creating an outrigger canoe.

The boats looked like they had been cast adrift and sunk. Lizette did some DAs on them and the last magic to impact was fireproofing. Each boat was 15ft wide, 20ft long and there were three of them.

Another five miles up and discarded belt buckles, swords etc were found. The place looked like a battlefield.

Finally we reached the canyons. They narrowed as we progressed and the tops were rough. Sooty did some rather scary flying in the canyons but he found people and animals down there. Menolly ran into them but Sooty was able to ensure she got through the zombie horde safely. We were looking for ways to wash them down the river but Aqualinas admitted she did not know the flash flood spell (something I should remedy - A).

Finally we flew off to the side a few miles and landed on a plateau.

=== 16th Meadow ===
In the morning we woke and argued some more. There was a river of zombies a hundred feet below in the canyon. Sau Rus attempted to control a group of them and got a fight going.

we followed the canyons upriver past a cliff. The canyons continued but there was no water. Sau Rus and Sooty landed. Sau Rus checked for undead, which there were, while Sooty climbed down a hole and found the river was coming out of holes in the cliff - and it was full of sludge.

So we landed, we prepared, we landed again. Sau Rus made the wings go away from Aqualina, himself, and I so we could put our armour on.

"I think we just proved that Lizette likes living on the edge" - Aqualina, after Lizette deliberately landed near the edge of the cliff.

We then climbed down and went into the tunnel. It was wet and slimy. The fresh slime was only days old. After a while, we came to a junction where there was water with slime and just slime. We went up the one with just slime, which was fresher, and eventually it joined the water. After about 250ft in we reached another junction, one wet, one dry. The dry turned, went up and into a chimney. We went back and up the other tunnel.

After 70ft, we came to a waterfall - with a bunch of zombies waiting for us. We defeated them quickly, mainly due to Sau Rus controlling most of them. Then we discovered that the Forbiddance that Lizette had put on top of the waterfall had backfired and was not against zombies but humans (I banged my nose on it - A). Fortunately it was not a high rank and, after a few minutes, it went away.

We came to another waterfall with a bunch of zombies - which Sau Rus controlled - all except one which we beat up.

Finally we came to a big cavern. Mostly here was a big pool, and a lot of zombies on a ledge on the other side.

"They're elementals, not Lizettes" - Sooty.

Sau Rus caused some zombie in-fighting while Sooty was trying to catch them on fire. Then arrows started flying at us from somewhere in the dark. Aqualina set up a line of geysers along the ledge and the zombies started retreating. So, after waterbreathings on those who needed them, we headed through the pool and onto the ledge. In the pool we spotted white things with tentacles which DAed as cave crayfish.

The archers turned out to be goblins with bows. So they got shrouded in fog. Aqualina and I charged after them and discovered that, around the corner were a LOT more. So we backed off and regrouped before preparing for a fire assisted charge.

Sooty and I attacked along the high road. After ploughing our way through a small horde of goblins - who insisted on closing and grappling me. Meanwhile Sau Rus and the others dealt to a somewhat larger horde of zombies on the low road, many of which were controlled by Sau Rus. The ways met and beyond that was a pool fed by a waterfall. The pool was full of slug stuff - which didn't last long when Aqualina put a waterspout in there. Beyond that was a temple facade, a giant statue of the goblin god, an entrance, a bunch of hobgoblins and, thirty feet up on a parapet, were goblins with crossbows.

Stupidest Adventurer - Lizette for attempting to fly in a 50ft cavern occupied by a water spout.

By the time we had dealt to the goblins, the hobs had disappeared, leaving a fair bit of loot behind. We couldn't figure out how they went away.

I collected the loot while Lizette managed to hurt herself nastily. Menolly said that the altar had a Call Master on it - they must have persuaded their master to teleport them out.

The slugs in the pool had been pulverised by the waterspout but there was still a lot of slime about. While we cleaned up and secured the temple, Sooty decided to attempt to summon a Guardian and persuade him/her to clean up the mess. To do that, he decided to travel to the nearest temple, along with Ibin, in order to retrieve required information. Meanwhile the rest of us retreated downstream and outside to one of the canyons.

The water in the river was still very dirty with bodies floating in it. Someone suggested retrieving the bodies so Aqualina attempted to summon an elemental to do the task. Unfortunately, it went wrong, and the elemental arrived enraged and started attacking Aqualina who ended up getting pummelled. I interposed myself while Sau Rus had zombies pile on it. Finally Lizette banished it, but not before getting muscle spasms. Menolly set to work fixing those. Aqualina sulked for a bit while we waited for Sooty to return and do the summoning in the goblin temple.

=== 17th Meadow ===
In the early hours of the morning, Sau Rus came out. He borrowed a crystal and looked for Sooty, who it seemed was sitting on a mesa in the desert. Sau Rus went to fetch him and they returned after lunch. Lizette and Menolly would be busy healing, and divinating, until the next day. Meanwhile we entertained ourselves by watching zombies that were controlled by Sau Rus ripping up uncontrolled zombies and vice versa.

=== 18th Meadow ===
Sau Rus put wings on us and we flew to the Caliph's palace. Ibin comes out with a number of papers authorising the removal of the blockade and release of ships. I spent time learning the local cuisine with the Caliph's chef. Menolly, Aqualina and Lizette went shopping while Sooty went to the temple.

=== 20th Meadow ===
Two days later, we went to the blockade and sorted everything out. Then we went downstream with a Mage Current for four days (along with a flotilla of ships - did that make me an Admiral of the Fleet? - A) and thence to the capital.

=== 24th Meadow ===
Back through the Mithrian Portal to the one of Frigidia. Sooty had Lizette divinate the portal. There were bones littered around the place - Plane of Origin Omega (mostly). We then made our way to the next portal annd thence to Paeolithica. There we unfurled our wings, flew to the Alusian portal, and made our way homeward.

Deconstructing a Fictional Girl

2026-06-06T04:28:47Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Scribe Notes]] [[Category: Sanctuary]][[Category:Clarissa]][[Category:Andrew Withy]]
[[Category:Clarissa d'Ornay]]
[[Category:Dalran]]
[[Category:Kilroy]]
[[Category:Serendipity]]
[[Category:Thaeuss]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
== Summary ==
'''GM''': [[Andrew W]] 
'''Session''': [[Summer]] 809 wk 
'''Night''': Tuesdays 
'''Location''': Avondale - At Chez Martin 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Very High]] 

;Party:
* [[Clarissa d'Ornay]]
* [[Dalran]]
* [[Kilroy]]
* [[Serendipity]]
* [[Thaeuss]]

;Employer: Clarissa.

;Pay: Salvage, but Clarissa has vouched sweeten the pot up to 150,000sp (GV) in items and provide as much Courtier training as anyone can stomach. This includes access to information about the Sanctuary/Ranke political scene and her investigations into the slave trade over the past three years.

; Game Summary: In sooth, I know not why I am so mad: It wearies me; you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn; And such a want-wit madness makes of me, That I have much ado to know myself.

;Mission: Clarissa's life has been plagued by mysteries, and she'd like a few of them resolved. These include:
*Who was the [[Deconstructing a Fictional Girl#Ashen Stranger| overly familiar Elf]] that was reduced to dust in the Palace of Ranke? And where did he think he was going with Clarissa?
*What is [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Chenaya|Chenaya]] up to, apart from daring to depose [[Duchess Meredith|Merry]]? What do the political manoeuvrings in the region have to do with it?
*Why, when she's hardly been at the Prince's Palace recently, are the other [[Sanctuary_Concubines|Concubines]] so afraid of her? Before she was accused of melting one, naturally.
*Who or what murdered and "melted" Taya? And just what have they been putting into the Krrf to make you see things like that?
*Are these events part of a vast conspiracy, or is that just the Rune Curse talking?

== Events ==
===Pre-History===
Once upon a time (''Clarissa to add appropriate public history, if any'').

===Recent Events===
In mid spring 808, Clarissa returned from Alfheim to find things had changed in Sanctuary while she was away.

====Event One====
Having returned to the guild for de-briefing, Clarissa rapidly turned to her responsibilities, arriving first at Sanctuary, and then being directed to Ranke by a rather absent-minded or distracted, although complementary, Kadakithis. He did mention that he'd recently heard good things about her from a surprising source - the (elven) Establishment of Sanctuary, who have to date had little time for his 'painted' minx / whore to humans / out-world (non-Alfheim) trash. While in Sanctuary, she also found out the [[Deconstructing_a_Fictional_Girl#Sanctuary Rumours| currently circulating rumours]], for what they were worth.

;Extra Notes: Kadakithis was more distracted than usual, and he didn't seem too bothered by her extended absence. On the other hand, this seemed to explain why Princess was taking over more of her role - rather than disciplining her, maybe he's just edging her out? Clarissa attempted to quickly confirm how much of a tattered state her already stressed "spy network" around the palace was in, with particular emphasis on backgrounding her "replacement", and finding out what the hell she did to get into people's good books. The spy network appeared to be in a compromised state - she got the usual gossip, although people need a little more than the usual encouragement. However, no one would talk about Princess, and just looked blank and scared when asked - oddly, scared of Clarissa, not of someone else. She didn't have time to take someone away and *make* them tell before she was called away to Ranke.

====Event Two====
At Ranke city, Clarissa reported to her mistress, Duchess Meredithis. She was being driven crazy by the pettiness of Chenaya, who has been getting more and more petulant and rebellious as the end of her two year service nears (it finishes on 15 Meadow 809). The spring taxes have been prompt, including a token amount from southern Ranke, from the withdrawing Sister Grace; apparently that region will be paying full taxes from next year, giving her a political debt to Mordeaux. She's also been receiving rather some odd messages on Clarissa's behalf. A 'family friend' had been asking after her rather insistently, and doesn't seem to recognise precedence or the human hierarchy - e.g. in a public audience at Open Court, he told Merry to get off her fat human behind and go looking for her patroness, before he unleashed the fires of Beltane on her. Clarissa realised that Merry was playing it up a little, and was amused rather than scared, but Chenaya was pissed at having her charge threatened because of her (actually, she's just pissed in general, but it's an excuse to yell at Clarissa).

;Extra Notes:
*Clarissa talked to Merry about the affront, and she was not concerned - on a personal level it helped her to connect with her protector, as an otherwise implacable, perfect, mysterious guardian and really cool role model (Merry's now about 15). She likes the idea of Clarissa being surprised, and having older family trying to keep her in line, which she can relate to quite strongly.
*Chenaya has taken a personal dislike to Clarissa, mainly because (i) she is part of the Prince's conspiracy that set her up as a babysitter; (ii) Clarissa gets to come and go; (iii) Merry likes Clarissa way more than her; (iv) at worst, she is supposed to be the implacable, perfect, mysterious guardian, not this Elf bint; it's not fair! She also believes the world revolves around her and her family, and Clarissa is not part of that world, being an enemy combatant that she isn't allowed to take down.
*Clarissa has also been winding her up for some time, partially just for fun, and partially to test her limits. Chenaya has an icy-cold temper, and believes revenge is best served cold. Lowen seems less than convinced about a broader political role, but that isn't stopping his daughter. The family friend was some oddly-dressed elf. No good descriptions from otherwise reliable witnesses - 'non-descript' is the best she can get.
*There are a range of customs involving fire and the holiday of Beltane; for instance a local human custom is to get married by jumping through a fire on Beltane. This is different from the Beltan elves (no final 'e').
*The church forces had seized Southern Ranke in the aftermath of the Dark Circle, and has always promised it was just short-term - looks like they meant it. It is like brokering deals with a polite fanatic though - they nod and smile, and the Rankene diplomats have no idea if the ideas got through, let alone were agreed to.

====Event Three====
On the morning of the 16th Blossom; a few days back into the Palace routines, and Clarissa was already bored senseless (OK, the krrf might explain the senseless part, but it helped with the boredom). Shortly after 10am, during a particularly dull Open Court, the guards let some elven guy jump the queue of senior merchants & petty nobles waiting their turn. Clarissa started to come out of her daydreaming. Once he is out of the antechamber, he suddenly ran towards the throne. Not that Merry's twitchy about her bastard half-brothers, but half a dozen guards were between him and the throne in no time flat, while a couple of officials & clerks started chanting. Chenaya leapt in front of the throne, as he seemed to spin & blur for a second and slipped past the guards. He leapt up the steps of the throne, and dodged right past Chenaya and Merry, heading straight for Clarissa. She made as to dodge, as she hear some crossbows firing and saw Chenaya's rather large sword come down on his back. He ignored these attacks, took Clarissa's straight-arm jab, which should have kept him at range, and stepped in, lifting her around her waist and tilting her nearly horizontal. He turned to face the hall, as he said "You stupid little girl, your grandfather's worried sick about ..." while urgently rubbing a baroquely carved bracelet looped through his belt, a few inches from her eyes. Clarissa twisted and struggled, then fell to the floor, just managing to get her feet under her in time to avoid the pile of ash on the marble. Apparently he was not indifferent to a decent Whitefire. Chenaya scattered his ashes with her boots, incidentally getting a cloud of them to rise up and ruin Clarissa's dress. Guards shielded Clarissa from the courtiers and hustled her out of the court, in a different direction from Merry.

;Extra Notes: Clarissa managed to grab the bracelet as she "recovered" from her fall - explaining some of the ash on the dress. No chance to fix the face of the assailant to memory in any useful magical way - it was seen for a second or two at best. The general feeling is: Elvish, lean long face, harsh lines around his mouth, black hair, arched eyebrows, look of concentration, and disdain, and a serious tone of annoyance when he addressed her that as a governess she wished she had available - the voice is perhaps more memorable than the face. She had enough ash to have a couple of Detect Fumes/Snort Magic attempts over the next day or two, and got Moon Magic as the nearest thing to a college/type. She had to breathe in a few grams of the ash, and her dreams over the next night or two are particularly vivid and disturbing.

====Event Four====
Clarissa was promptly banished from the Ranke court. Well, not so much banished, as advised that the best thing she could do for Merry's safety is to spend more time away from her. She did get to attend the post-attack debrief, where she learnt that only one guard was killed, with a lucky shot across the throat - the others were just nicked as he deflected himself past them using his daggers, and chose not to engage them. The kidnapper was apparently *not* the elf that had been looking for you. Nor had the person who whitefired him been identified - it wasn't the palace guards or court mages, and no one saw anyone else casting. The court mages take the attacker's remains away for investigation. Merry did let her know (through a maid - Clarissa was not allowed to be in the same room as her!) that if she can do anything to help, to let her know, and that she hopes that Clarissa will sort it all out before the Coronation ball (the second anniversary of her ascension), wishing her godspeed. Chenaya then escorted her to the edge of the city, and gleefully let her know she had given 'a fire on sight' order to the guards if Clarissa isn't accompanied by her.

;Extra Notes: Clarissa used Whispering Wind to dutifully notify the Prince and then alert Dalran to step up the recruitment as things have clearly come to a head. She also used Whispering Wind to ask her most trusted agent in Ranke City to monitor the goings on in the Palace and findings from the court mages. She flew back to Sanctuary via an indirect, low-level route, quietly fuming to herself and plotting.

====Event Five====
Ever the dutiful concubine, Clarissa returned to her master to report on the events in person, hopefully before anyone got to put their spin on it. He was a little surprised, but not as concerned as she would have expected, telling her that her old room should be available, and patting her on the posterior, before returning to a council with Alar, Walegrin, Zalbar, and the new concubine Princess. Clarissa returned to the seraglio, where she found that the rest of the concubines are buzzing with the news of impending war. They had no idea with whom, but the Third Command had returned, and the city of Ilsig was apparently sending some troops. ( Clarissa didn't even know that Ilsig had an army, let alone that they would put it under someone else's command. ) Gula also doesn't know why the Ilsigi would help a Rankene Prince, and was concerned that she was out of the loop. Even Sophie-Claire didn't know the political reasons, but Lirain guessed that someone, possibly Dalmakithis, was about to move into Southern Ranke to fill the political void left by Sister's Grace's exit. A Vigeles plot is also possible (but that's always a safe second choice). Lirain's had kindly already filled the girls in on Clarissa's expulsion from the Capital, and Taya had told 'only her closest friends'.

Clarissa got the feeling that all is not right with the girls - they were nervous & on edge, not just because of the political shifts that could see them discredited/discarded, but also on a personal, physical level. Finally Taya can't bear it any longer, and asked her whether she was coming back for good, and Clarissa could see in her eyes that she's scared she'll say yes. The general consensus is that the seraglio has been feeling a little crowded lately - a conclusion that Clarissa had been refusing to acknowledge in the infrequent visits she had made in the last year or so. Her reaction to the rather sudden open fragility of the other concubines -- by giving them one of those slow, barely upturned, Elfin smiles that extend entirely too far across the face, and shows the points of many tiny, perfect teeth -- didn't really help. Nor did her saying "Oh really, Ladies. You didn't imagine this could last forever, did you?" before stalking off. There was whispering in her wake.

;Extra Notes: Later that night, she paid a visit to Taya and had nice, quiet, chat about what as actually been happening around the Palace. She was to be convinced to be terrified, although the threats were to be couched in the most ambiguous of terms and out of earshot of any assistance, as terror is rather more difficult to fake than simple fear. Clarissa saw no advantage in hurting these women, but she was very sick of people flaking out on her, and her hardened adversaries of the past few years weren't going to get a bye either. She know that she would have to lean quite hard to reduce one of the concubines to terror. Taya was a fine choice, and probably the easiest to break. Princess turned up just as Clarissa started to apply pressure, and leant in the doorway for a while, amused and watching. She offered to help, and that's when Taya broke completely, telling Clarissa whatever she wanted to know. Terror was something that she know won't be able to undo - she knew she was burning bridges here. There was a lot of babble from Taya, and not a lot of useful information. She seemed to get Princess and Princess Daphne confused, to the Dark One's amusement. It seems that while Clarissa was away, the seraglio is a back-stabbing, vicious nest of asps, but whenever she was back, they all give room to the cobra - to paraphrase her very careful circumlocutions, Clarissa had become unpredictable, lethal, and impossible to read, which she didn't use to be. Apart from that, politics continue as always. She thinks that maybe the troops were heading north, as the sailors were south over winter, and why else would they come back to Sanctuary? There was a fair bit of begging for her life, and so on. She pressed some of her jewellery on Clarissa who, on her way out, contemptuously tossed a bauble to "Princess" for her assistance.

====Event Six====
Clarissa had been home a few days, renewed her acquaintance with her krrf dealers and other important contacts, and settled in. Whatever military planning was going on was keeping Princess, and now Sophie-Claire, very busy, and they weren't saying anything when they returned to the seraglio to sleep. The others were still very nervous around both Clarissa and Princess, but she didn't seem to be hostile, just tired and withdrawn - she didn't talk to the rest of the girls at all, although she did acknowledge Clarissa. The 26th of Blossom was a hot spring morning. Around two o'clock Clarissa was daydreaming to herself and playing with sending reflections of the candles all over the room, when she heard a girlish scream, which echoed around in an odd manner. She went running out into the corridor, where she bumped into Princess, who was also running the same way. Clarissa slipped over in some blood, and pulled herself up to her feet again, using the dagger sticking out of Princess's neck. She was finding it tricky to stand up, because the corridor is bending and twisting like it was in a high gale.

The screaming was now shouting, and it was kind of disorienting, but Clarissa headed towards the sound of trouble, to find half a dozen guards standing over the body of Taya on a sun-divan in the solar, which had stretched to over a hundred foot long. She was covered with blood, and looked to be the victim of a frenzied attack, with many stab wounds to her torso and arms. Her face was fixed in a rictus of terror and pain, but it started to melt and liquefy while she watched. The guards saw her, and backed off, shape-shifting while calling something out. Their voices now seemed to be coming from a really long way away, and it was hard to hear them, but she thought they are saying 'pease-pot yore, whip hands tao' to someone behind her. Clarissa leant forward to catch their words while spinning to defend herself from a rear attack, and then the floor buckled. There was a lot of movement in her peripheral vision and the taste of iron in her mouth as the world spun around and got noticeably blurry, and then she was floating for a while. It was kind of peaceful, apart from a repeated vision of Taya's face dissolving away, the distant screaming and shouting and a numb feeling in your wrists. As she started to fall asleep, Quag's face sprung into sharp focus - he looked worried.

===== Rhians Story =====
''As told to Kilroy in the Sanctuary markets on the morning of 6th Meadow, seemingly well rehearsed, or perhaps just repeated many times.''

I was near the Seraglio when I heard screams and saw guards running towards them, naturally I followed.

There was a knife wielding fiend standing over a blood covered body, it killed the guards with one knife, waving the other over its head.

Bourne came in wearing nothing but a towel, he threw a dagger at the fiend but missed, the fiend threw a dagger back at Bourne and struck him through the eye.

I was about to seek more guards when Quag arrived. He fenced with the fiend for a while then got in a "lucky" blow with the hilt of his sword.

The fiend must have stolen the appearance of its first victim as it looked similar to Clarissa, though it's tattoos were writhing weirdly and it was surrounded by a odd "grey-ish" glow (described akin to Witchsight glow, though she was not personally familiar with that magic).

: '''NB''' ''This matches fairly well with the official story and the dagger's testimony. Which could indicate that Rhian is faithfully repeating the cover story, or that the cover story is mostly true (the notable exception being that Clarissa was not killed).''

====Event Seven====
Suddenly it was really sunny and bright. She was out in a garden behind the palace, and the light hurt Clarissa's eyes. She tried to shade them, but her hands still didn't work. There was a moment of panic, and then hearing a deep soothing voice calms her down; it was her close, personal friend, whose name was on the tip of her tongue - let's call him "Whatsisname" for now. He told her not to worry, that this was all standard procedure and normal routine, that they respect her and what she can do, and she was safe here. She looked around - the blindfold was still covering the very top part of her vision, but it had been pushed back so she could see. There was the [[Sanctuary_Notables#Prince_Kadakithis|Prince]], old Kittykat, looking like he was about to have kittens. Kittens for Kittykat - she could picture the entire litter - the one who waddles carefully to protect her dignity that's [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Sophie-Claire| Sophie-Claire]]; the one buried in Kittykat's side suckling on him (a little south for milk) is [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Thalia|Thalia]]; the one lying in the sun is [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Taya|Taya]]; [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Lirain|Lirain]] is mewling and trying to get his attention; [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Gula|Gula]] is the one exploring the rose garden; and [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Cassia|Cassia]] is sitting up straight, purring harmoniously, and swiping at Lirain occasionally, while her shadow stalks off on its own toward Clarissa, hissing and spitting. It looked so self-important and tiny, Clarissa giggled and the shadow kitten arched it's back, then leapt for her. She tried to defend herself, but her arms and legs don't work, and her struggles merely threw her off-balance and onto the stone paving, where she banged her head slightly. As the stars clear, she could see the little shadow cat waltzing off through the garden, tail held high, and walking through the wall. She had a tangle of black wool or something wrapped around a paw and dangling behind her.

;Notes
*The descriptions of the [[Sanctuary_Concubines#One_for_Every_Day_of_the_Week| concubines]] match very nicely with Clarissa's experience of them, though the Cassia/"shadow kitten" reference is a huge mystery.
*It's possible there was a Rune of Truth on the forehead already (though there was also a blindfold above her eyes?) and maybe it was able nuance the random free-associating in something useful?
*''Sigh.'' Another blow to the head and missing period of time.

;Revelations:
*''"Whatsisname"'' is almost certainly the Stepson, [[Sanctuary_Mages#Randal |Randal]], based on the divination timeline and smell of dog, his usual transformation choice.

====Event Eight====
Good old ''Whatsisname'' helped Clarissa up again, while she listened to the wind whispering to itself. Suddenly she realised something was not right - Taya couldn't have been sunbathing, she was dead; someone must have been messing with her mind for her not to realise that. And she can't turn into a cat! She was much less trusting of the situation now - if ''Whatsisname'' wasn't here she'd have been really worried. She quietly studied the garden - it's the nursery where Prince Kadakithis potters with breeding varietals and grafting hybrids. The Prince was sitting on an upturned flowerpot a few feet away, with dour [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Coricidius|Coricidius]] standing beside him, displaying his perpetual disdain for proceedings, along with [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Kurrekai|Lady Kurrekai's]] companion [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Vanda|Vanda]] and her maid [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Rhian|Rhian]], which was a little odd. They are flanked by [[Sanctuary_Notables#Zalbar|Zalbar]] and [[Sanctuary_Soldiers#Quag|Quag]]. Hmm, ''Whatsisname'' smells of dog; that's what must have driven off the little shadowkit. Clarissa checked herself out carefully - she was just wearing a chemise, and by the Thousand Eyes of Ils, her tattoos were missing! That cat wasn't playing with wool - it had stolen her tattoos!

While she was thinking all this through, they asked her a bunch of routine questions about where she have been and who she had talked to. Clarissa realised that they are trying to be tricky and interrogate her, and that one of the best techniques to resist interrogation was to simply tell the truth, at least when you are innocent, and so Clarissa kept to the truth as much as possible. They didn't go near any sensitive areas at all, presumably because most of that stuff was sensitive to Kadakithis too. They mainly ask about where she was and what she had heard that morning, so she told the truth. Rhian told a different story, about seeing Clarissa bending over Taya and stabbing her repeatedly, before rushing out the door, and rushing back in, still with drawn and bloody dagger, a minute later. She was obviously lying because Clarissa didn't see her in the room either time, but no one else could see it, and they seemed to believe her, with her human face with those grey elven eyes and that auburn hair that had to be a throw-back to an Autumn dalliance in Alfheim. It became clear that, despite the help of ''Whatsisname'', it was rapidly becoming a show trial. Clarissa tried to explained what was happening, and offered the proof of her tattoos being stolen, but part-way through she realised that Rhian's shadow was sneaking up on the Prince. Clarissa screamed out to warn him, and lunged towards the shade, throwing herself off the bench, and rolling on the ground towards the evil fiend while yelling to drive it off, until Quag stopped Clarissa with a firm boot to the head.

Notes;
*More head trauma. Oh, and inspired work by the counsel for the defence there.
*What is [[Sanctuary_Nobles#Rhian|Rhian]] doing there? Or in the Seraglio in the first place? Has someone simply paid to say these terrible things, or did they really happen? And what's with the eyes? And the shadow?

====Event Nine====
Clarissa came to, being shaken and feeling beaten and bruised. Her hands were still bound in their bandages, and sensation had returned to her wrists, which ached like they might have been recently broken and half healed. Her head was pounding, and Zalbar was holding her too tight; she could feel his fingers digging in, while holding her still and at arm's length. He whispered fiercely 'listen to the prince, girl', and shook her again. Her tattoos had returned, and were twining protectively around her, but that was the only thing that seemed right. Even ''Whatsisname'' had wandered off - a fair-weather friend, then - she had always suspected so. Kittykat was standing by the garden, holding a trowel and a rose cutting, and looked sad.

;GEAS :Rank 10 given by Prince Kadakithis: "You know that I need peace in my home - I can't have my girls fighting and hurting each other; particularly not with what's afoot. I know that Taya could be difficult at times, but you really have to be more tolerant. Melting your rivals is simply unacceptable under my roof. I want you to go away and think about what you've done, until you can accept responsibility for your actions; and then if you wish to come back, you will have to publicly throw yourself at my mercy in open court. And take your time about it - if you come back to the palace before this plant blooms, I'll have to name it after you".

She was helped into a loose over-robe with a deep hood, presented with a small satchel containing some of the things from her rooms, and escorted from the Palace grounds by Zalbar and Quag, one of whom was holding her at all times. They pushed her out of the main gates, and told the guards that target practice started in two minutes. Clarissa held her head up high, and wove her way down the street to the nearest corner, and then to a café, where she could take something to clear the fuzziness from her head, and then planned her next move. Her forehead itched where the Truth rune had been painted, her arms hurt just from carrying the bag only a few tens of yards, and her bare feet were oddly blistered.

;Notes
*Clarissa was either able to take better stock of her injuries, or something weird and violent happened in the interim between this memory and the previous one. It also appears to have put both (both!?!) Hellhounds slightly on edge.
*It appears that Kadakithis let loose onto the world either;
*#A completely insane woman who has had privileged access to his courts for three years.
*#A drug-addled murderer with many, many personal problems.
*#See 1 or 2, but one that is also possessed to boot.
*#Any other guesses? It seems odd that just letting her go seemed like a good plan.
*His remarks in the Geas regarding "with what's afoot" and "think about what you've done" either imply he didn't anticipate or know about Clarissa's memory holes or that he wanted her to be compelled to investigate the issues in spite of those. Or he's got an sadistic streak a mile wide.
*On top of that, he's allowed it to be known that she's dead. Maybe the rope just had to be long enough?

====Event Ten====
It was now mid afternoon on the 27th of Blossom - she'd managed to lose an entire day somewhere. The satchel contained thirty silver pennies, a change of cheap clothes (no shoes), some of her paste jewellery and one piece of Taya's good jewellery, a cold iron dagger covered with dried blood, most of her krrf supply (they missed the more carefully-hidden stashes), a crushed cream or white lilac blossom, and precious little else. She had no magic items, a serious headache and dehydration from whatever she had been on for the last couple of days (and the repeated head trauma) - but knew there was no way that uncut krrf took her on that ride. While she was taking stock of her resources, Clarissa picked up the latest edition of the Silberton Bugle, a folded-broadsheet that is usually on top of the latest events.

{| border="1" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="30" align="center"
! MIDNIGHT MASSACRE
AT THE PALACE

More than a Dozen people have been Slaughtered in 
the Governor's Palace overnight by a Foul Being from 
the Lower Planes. Servants working at the time of the 
Butchery attest to Blood-Curdling Screams coming 
from the Forbidden Grounds of the Seraglio in the 
Wee Hours of the morning. Several Steadfast Guards 
rushed to the Scene of the Disturbance, following a 
trail of Blood and Corpses. They found a Fiendish 
Succubus 'allegedly' stabbing the Ravishing Beauty 
Taya, while Howling Mindlessly into the Night Sky. 
When they attempted to restrain her, she Casually 
Killed or Incapacitated them. The Hellhound Bourne 
was next on the Scene, probably fresh from Sultry 
Lirain's warm bed, for he was without Armour or 
Trews. The Murderess put a dagger in his eye, and 
then returned to her Dark Handiwork, Licking the 
Face of her victim until it Dissolved in her Saliva. It 
took the Battle-Proven Hellhound Quag to defeat the 
Assassin in pitched battle. Our current information is 
that two of Kitty-Kat's Concubines were Killed, along 
with three Guards, a senior Eunuch, and six luscious 
Maidservants. Sadly, Bourne will recover completely. 

The Palace had no comment to make on the incident.

Buy the Silberton Bugle, 3 c.f. per edition.

Shocking pictures of the Bloodbath - Page 3

Ormond Press gangs roam the Docks - Page 4

Obituaries & Etchings: Taya and Clarissa - Page 6
|}

Notes; In the [[Floriography|language of flowers]] the Lilac means either 'Beauty, Pride', or in a more subtle way 'Consequences', however White Lilacs are supposed to reflect 'Youthful innocence', but can send the message "They suspect nothing." The 30 pieces of silver seems a bit ominous as well.

Clarissa used the few coins she had to take a sedan chair to the docks and get a tiny cabin on a slow barge headed upriver to the Capital. She hid herself in her cabin, sleeping fitfully and waking frequently. Once she felt confident enough to cast and survive a Flying spell, she abandoned it in darkness and arrived back at the Guild early on the 30th.

Much of the following two days was a blur of worried Guild healers and fascinated Namers, as they attempted to tease apart Clarissa's tangled magical and chemical state.

====The Armada====
By 26 Blossom, the docks are full to overflowing with ships, from ocean-going hulks and cogs to coastal cutters and fishing smacks. Food prices are much higher than usual. There is a higher edge of violence and brutality in the air than is usual for Sanctuary, particularly near the waterfront. This may be because of the hardened presence of the Third Command, or due to the thousands of sullen press-ganged recruits they are standing over. The city guards (and Pilf, Hawkmasks, etc) have been excluded from the docks to prevent incidents. The ships appear to be taking on large quantities of supplies. Some are taking limes and lemons, hard-tack and jerky, while others are taking on much more perishable foods. Even some of the Riverside and Fishtown vessels are involved. On the 29th of Blossom, the whole port is filled to overflowing, as a flotilla of 40-50 river craft arrive from Ranke city, packed full with heavily armoured troops. These troops are not divvied up between the larger ocean-going ships, but stay with the barges, as the giant armada heads out to sea on the 30th, powered by every water mage that the entire coastline can spare. Perhaps 150 boats and ships, each with between 5 and 250 people, leave Sanctuary.

== Objectives ==

=== Ashen Stranger ===

*The stranger has left relatively little behind to identify himself. There was another Elf that attempted to make contact with Clarissa before she returned from Alfheim, but they appeared to be slightly more au fait with human culture, i.e. that humans use enough language to be talked down to, even if they are the local ruler. He might be able to be tracked down.

*Confirm if there is a link between the disappearances of the Lil'rissas and the attempted abduction in Ranke. This follows the speculation that someone looking for Clarissa had a general description and location, but no knack/taste for blending with human-ish society and was using a random sampling techniques rather than questions.

*Make contact with Clarissa's remaining resources (and any others) in Ranke and see if they have progressed their investigation into him further. At the same time, get updates on Merry's well-being and Chenaya's further antics.

=== Lil'rissa Disappearances ===

Six Lil'rissas are known to have disappeared during Winter. Using the services of a very grabby and distracted Astrologer to determine the [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rmansfield/Wiki/calc5MinuteMoon.html minute by minute location of Moon] we can try and fit them to the modus operandi of the Ashen Stranger and use of the Lunar Teleport bracelet. If the abduction times and circumstances match, we might be able to use them as other points of reference. If they have just all been grounded in their rooms, Clarissa will at least feel a bit better.

Sanctuary Location (Decimal)
Latitude : 38.88
Longitude : 19.17

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
!|Disappearance
!width="400pt"|Local(?) Time that Moon > 54°
|-
|*7th Snow || 18:55 - 22:10
|-
|*9th Snow || 19:50 - 00:10
|-
|*10th Snow || 20:30 - 01:10
|-
|*11th Snow ||It was now obviously no longer safe or hip to be a Lil'rissa. The devotees started to get their tattoos removed and to dress sensibly.
|-
|rowspan="2"|* 12th Snow x 2 (cousins) || Late on the 11th: 21:10 - 02:00
|-
| Or on the 12th: 21:55 - 02:45
|-

|* 17th Snow || 02:25 - 05:00
|}

If we can get a few of these we can triangulate [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rmansfield/Wiki/findMoon.html the location of possible common teleport sources based on the dates and times] (note that map overlay is wonky in Firefox, but fine in IE6). If it's too anomalous, we can break the connection between these two facets.

== Information ==
This information revolves around Clarissa's concerns and information sources, including Palace gossip, and general Sanctuary events. It is unclear whether it is relevant to the mission, whatever that proves to be.

===Sanctuary Rumours===
* The Lil'rissas have started disappearing from Sanctuary. Initially it was possible that fashion had moved on, but a rumour has recently swept the streets that many of the rissas just weren't around any more. The trend disappeared overnight, but at least one more ex-rissa went missing in subsequent days.
* The Third Command has finished clearing out the pirates in the [[Sanctuary_Isles|Scavenger Isles]], and rather than just overwintering in Southern Ranke, apparently they are replacing the [[Mordeaux]] Church knights as they pull back. There must be some sort of deal between Xerxes and the [[Duchess Meredith|Merry Duchess]], for the church to be giving land away after they stole it so cleanly.
* More disturbances in the [[Sanctuary Underworld]]. The ripples have reached the surface, which means that something big is happening. The Hawkmasks have been seen arguing amongst themselves, and have starting retreating again from ground recently wrestled from those snot-nosed Ilsigi gangsters. Maybe their new boss, the Blue Diamond, is slipping, or she might just be luring out rivals. Jubal is apparently still laying low, but there won't be ripples when he moves, just the water turning red...
* The Art Bubble has burst in Sanctuary. The last few package tours from the Kingdom and further west didn't have a high enough survival rate, and the novelty seems to have worn off. This hasn't been helped by the number of fires in the recent galleries, or the rising cost of union membership, as many people have to get a second job to afford the fees or medical bills.
* Clarissa doesn't work at the Palace any more.
** '''Update''' - Clarissa and Taya don't work at the Palace any more - they have both been killed and melted by a Succubus attack on the last Wensday of Blossom. Bourne the Hellhound is recovering from a knife to the brain. Ten others palace staff are dead. Palace Security has been doubled, and the army mobilised.
* The Prince appears to still be supporting his niece from behind the throne. Sanctuary sent in its full tax levy for the second year in a row, and turning the Third Command into marines has helped to collect record customs duty. The grumbling northern provinces have been chivvied into line by senior Sanctuary Ilsigi, and the central provinces are still afraid of Chenaya.
* Speaking of which, Chenaya is stuck in her second year-and-a-day oath to protect the Merry Duchess. She shouldn't have gone double-or-nothing with the Governor to get out of her first oath.
* Sanctuary is definitely invading someone by sea. No one knows for sure, but it seems most likely that 'we' are invading Ormond, or possibly Aladar as Ormond is a peaceful penny-stamp, and has a long land border with Ranke. There are rumours about almost every conceivable target however, including Terra Nova, the Lunar Empire, and Hindia, and of course 'them Calamar Dagos from down south' from the less informed. The palace staff know even less than everyone else, and the Prince and his top officials haven't been seen by anyone since the 27th.

===Regional Rumours===
* The [[Ranke|Rankene]] armies of the ruthless [[Duchess Meredith|child-Princess Meredith]], are preparing for a Summer campaign, destination unknown. Press gangs have been operating in [[Sanctuary]], [[Ilsig]] and [[Tainsfield]], and the Sanctuary 'merchant' navy has finished refitting after its anti-pirate operations. There should be no problem in paying for an expansionist campaign, as the tax take from [[Sanctuary]] and the north have been prompt and delivered in full for the first time in several generations.
* Recent assassination attempts on [[Duchess Meredith|Miss soldier-girl Meredith]] have been dismissed as 'a misunderstanding' by Palace officials, who also have no comment on the related dismissal of her bodyguard, who is also one of her Uncle's concubines. Lady Chenaya Vigeles, her chatelaine and chief advisor says: "Duchess Meredithis' popularity remains as high with her loyal subjects as ever, and this will continue as we usher in a period of rapid growth and stabilisation for all of Ranke. We have no fears for her Grace's safety." Rumours of an imminent Vigeles coup are also hotly denied by the Palace.
* The Church Knights of [[Mordeaux]] have withdrawn from [[Southern Ranke]], having completed their post-[[Dark Circle]] pacification programme. Sister Grace has claimed Victory for the forces of Justice after three hard-fought years, and says that the last of the undead, bandits, and rebel Barons have been brought into line.
* County [[Ormond]] is calling upon all its Knights and men-at-arms to provide their 40 days of annual service in person, on the southern border, from the start of Summer, and for as long as necessary. It is calling in political favours, and requesting that its allies vigorously support its internationally recognised and rightful independence from [[Ranke]], promising provisioning for as many foreign troops as will take to the field in support.
* [[AnteCarzala]] is nervously awaiting the outcome of the Church retreat from [[Southern Ranke]], with their Musselman religious orders expecting increased border raids of the relatively prosperous border province. Lord Prudence has requested that the more militant orders move to the town of Silverdrake.

===Theories===

====Seraglio Rampage Reports====
*'''Theory A:''' Clarissa's Suppressed/Possessed/Obsessed Personality(ies)
*'''Supporting Information:''' The Dagger's Testimony, Clarissa's Wounds, Divination Timeline of Magic and Quasi-Magical effects, Fact that she's Obviously Nuts 
*'''Theory B:''' Elaborate Hoax
*'''Supporting Information:''' Prince's Blasé Reaction and that he released Clarissa to kill again. 
*'''Ambiguous Information:''' The Accused/Eyewitnesses Testimony, Statements to the Press, General Confusion
*'''Notes:''' Currently the party has yet to speak to a semi-reliable witness to the events. 

====The Ashen Stranger's Purpose====
*'''Theory A:''' Clarissa's lost '''paternal''' family come to get her back.
*'''Supporting Information:''' Megildur's Testimony. 
*<strike>'''Theory B:''' Sent to extracted malfunction sleeper agent.</strike> But this might still be an aspect of Theory A.
*<strike>'''Supporting Information:''' Lil'rissas disappearing to cover trail?</strike> 
*<strike>'''Theory C:''' Random Elf Collector (or Very Poorly Informed Abductors)</strike>
*<strike>'''Supporting Information:''' Lil'rissas disappearing in Winter
*'''Counter Information:''' Paused for months until Clarissa was back in the area, then she got grabbed on the same day as the Rune Curse was applied.</strike>Megildur's description of "Princess'" reaction seems to imply that she and the Ashen stranger are close in some way. 
*'''Ambiguous Information:''' Reference to a grandfather (which one?) 

====The Ashen Stranger's (Lunar) White-firing====
*<strike>'''Theory A:''' Ranke Court anti-teleport defence magics.</strike>
*<strike>'''Supporting Information:''' Timing of Events</strike>
*<strike>'''Counter Information:''' What defence rates a Teleport out as bad and Whitefire as okay? Also, he could not have triggered it on himself and carried Clarissa, and was thus planning to place it on her and then trigger it. The bracelet survived, when it should have been targeted with him.</strike> 
*<strike>'''Theory B:''' Automatic Reflex from Clarissa/"Princess"</strike>
*<strike>'''Supporting Information:''' She's just that creepy.</strike> 
*'''Theory C:''' Random Bystander AKA Megildur AKA "Beady-eyes" 
*'''Supporting Information:''' Megildur's admission. 
*'''Ambiguous Information:''' 

====Princess' Relationship to the Ashen Stranger====
*'''Theory A:''' Formless as yet, but Megildur believed that she welcomed his arrival, was moving to meet him, and juggled several guards and Chenaya to get there.
*'''Supporting Information:''' Other witnesses? 

====The Lunar Teleport Bracelet Destination====
*'''Theory A:''' Target Ranke
*'''Supporting Information:'''?
*'''Counter Information:''' This spell has massive range, but a strict timing component. Other spells could have sufficed. 
*'''Theory B:''' Target Darkest Azuria/Where-ever
*'''Supporting Information:''' Megildur's stories of "The Corruptor", the spells has adequate range for those locations. 
*'''Ambiguous Information:''' A charged used that day, either for his arrival or used by messenger alerting Ash? The usable range on the important times covers Ranke and points south. 

====The Rune Curse's Purpose====
*'''Theory A:''' Chenaya's Revenge
*'''Supporting Information:''' Happened immediately before Clarissa was nearly abducted, a situation that Chenaya could have easily engineered. 
*'''Theory B:''' A trigger condition for hidden memories or personality.
*'''Supporting Information:''' ??
*'''Counter Information:''' Lousy, slow, dangerous spell to use for this. 
*'''Theory C:''' Accidental side effect of Megildur's apparently ineffectual Amnesia Curse targeting Clarissa's 'tweenage years.
*'''Supporting Information:''' Supposition from Cousin Megildur AKA "Beady-eyes"
*'''Counter Information:''' The memory blanking was a dodgy move to start with, but accidentally engendering paranoia and (prompt) madness? Also the Divination revealed it was a genuine Rune Curse. 
*'''Ambiguous Information:''' The amnesia curse was not apparent in the original divinations, caught later by Kilroy. 

===Speculation===
* Something to do with the tats? krrf? offended elves? rival concubines? a complex plot by the Prince? the previous demon-summoning concubine? Princess Daphne? the chambermaids?

===Background on Clarissa===
* [[The Clarissa Diaries|See the Clarissa diaries]]. Clarissa to adjust security clearance as required.

===Astrology===
A life-changing decision awaits you during the rebirth of the next Phoenix, while both it and you are still wearing flowers. Your best Gem Friend is Opal.

''Offered by the Astrology department as one of their occasional pieces of free "advice". It appears to place a limit the our effort for the six weeks until the 12th of Heat, or 1st day of "Falling Blossoms in the Month of the Phoenix" to give it it's full Elven flummery.''

''And a "Gem Friend!?" Puh-lease.''

===Research===
* [[Lost Celestial Branches]]
* [[Elven Custodial Laws]]
* [[Records of a Broken Home]]
* [[Clarissa's Summer Residence]]

===Divinations===
;Guild Divination Report - 30 Blossom 808
The Guild divination went back 11 weeks, but magics before 11th Blossom relate to a previous adventure and are excluded:

:12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 22nd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th: Alchemical quasi-magic.
:25th and 26th: complex cocktail of Alchemical and Herbal quasi-magic.

:12th: Empathy Rk 14 [MA 26, WP 23].
:15th: Empathy Rk 14 [MA 26, WP 23].
:16th: Rune Curse Rk 17 (ritual cast) [MA 24], Armour of Earth Rk 17 during this time [MA 23]; Flying Rk 12 [Clarissa].
:26th: Trollskin Rk 6 [MA 19], Trollskin Rk 20 [MA 30], Healer quasi-magic, Teleport Rk 9 [MA 30, WP 26], Earth Healing Rk 20 [MA 30], Interregnum Rk 6 [MA 12], Greater Summoning SCS and GCS Rk 6 [MA 12], True Form Rk 8 [No MA]. Possible traces of Binder / E&E ritual magic.
:27th: E&E Charm Rk 6 [MA 30], Rune of Truth Rk 15 [MA 27], Healer quasi-magic, Geas Rk 10 [No MA].
:29th: Non-colleged Minor Curse [Clarissa], Flying Rk 12 [Clarissa].
:30th: Flying Rk 12 [Clarissa]. After the divination, curse removal, Healer quasi-magic.

All magics belonged to the expected college.

===Dates===
These dates are either relevant historical dates, or imminent Rankene events:
* early 1995AP (Summer 796WK?) - Clarissa stumbles into the Guild.
* The Lil'rissa known disappearances were on the:
**7th Snow
**9th Snow
**10th Snow
**12th Snow x 2 (cousins)
**17th Snow
*** 6 Lil'rissas in total. The rapid disappearance of the fashion trend started around the 11th of Snow
* 16 Blossom 808, 10:27am - death of Ashen Stranger in Ranke city
* 26 Blossom 808, 2-ish am - Demon kills Clarissa, Taya
* Beltane 809 - High Holiday, Full Moon
* 5 Meadow - White Lotus Day
* 7-10 Meadow - Festival of the Arts, Sanctuary
* 14 Meadow - New Moon
* 15 Meadow - Chenaya's oath to protect Meredithis ends
* 22 Meadow - Duchess Meredithis' Coronation Ball
* 28 Meadow - Full Moon
* 12 Heat - New Moon
* 15 Heat - Summer Solstice
* 26 Heat - Full Moon
* 3 Breeze - Day of Death

=== Previous Season's Calendar ===
The dates of the start of each of the 28 day Old Elven Calendar Season Months have been marked to help keep track of ominous prophecies. All of these dates fall within the Long Month of the Phoenix.

{| cellspacing=1 border=1 class="Season" id="Spring"
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Thaw]]
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Candlemansa]]
| class=day | 1
| ''Guild Meeting''
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
| ''1st day of Entrancing Spirit''
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Seedtime]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
| ''Rites of Thunor''
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
| ''Equinox''
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
| ''Eostre''
| class=day | 18
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
| ''1st day in the Forest Heart''
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Blossom]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
| ''An [[Deconstructing_a_Fictional_Gir#Ashen Stranger|Ashen Stranger]]
assaults Clarissa in Ranke''
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 17
| ''1st day of Radiant Blooms''
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
| ''Floralia''
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
| ''Demon kills Concubines in Sanctuary''
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
| ''Walpurgisnacht''
|}

=== Current Season's Calendar ===

{| cellspacing=1 border=1 class="Season" id="Summer"
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Summer 809wk''': [[Meadow]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Beltane]]
''Full Moon''
| class=day | 1
| ''Guild Meeting''
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
| ''Street Fighting in [[Ranke|R]]''
| class=day | 5
| ''White Lotus''
''[[#Megildur|M]] caught''

''[[Amdusias|A]] killed''
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
| ''Start of the Festival of the Arts''
| class=day | 8
| ''[[Sanctuary Mage Guild|SMG]] => [[Arabie#Wasyrat|W]]''
| class=day | 9
| ''[[Sanctuary|S:]] [[Clarissa d'Ornay|C]] meets [[Sanctuary Soldiers#Bourne|B]]''
''[[Tonkin and Dabb|T&D]] Mtg.''

''[[Ranke|R]] attacks [[Arabie#Wasyrat|W]]''

''[[#Megildur|M.]] => [[Alfheim|home]]''
| class=day | 10
| ''Festival of the Arts Ends''
''[[Arabie#Wasyrat|W]] Palace falls''
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
| ''1st day of Vibrant Growth''
''New Moon''
| class=day | 15
| ''Chenaya's oath to protect Meredithis ends''
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
| ''Duchess Meredithis' Coronation Ball''
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
| ''Ecliptic New Year''
| class=day | 27
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
| ''Full Moon''
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Summer 809wk''': [[Heat]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|''1st day of Falling Blossoms''
''New Moon''
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
| ''Midsummer Eve
(Faerie Day)''
| class=day | 15
| ''Solstice''
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
| ''Full Moon''
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Summer 808wk''': [[Breeze]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
| ''Day of Death''
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 10
|''1st day of Waving Grass''
''New Moon''
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 24
| ''Full Moon''
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
|}

== People and Places ==
==== Feovar Garavheron ====
Clarissa's maternal grandfather.
Head of Arandil clan.
Lives in Elfheim.
'White' Lunar Celestial mage.
==== Calimë Tiadana Arandil ====
Clarissa's mother.
Lives in Elfheim.
==== Megildur ====
Young Elven ranger/hunter.
Cousin to Clarissa on her maternal side.
'White' Lunar Celestial mage.
==== Maetharanel Arandil ====
Trans: "Warrior Princess King-Friend"
Birth name of Clarissa.
==== Grandfather ====
Clarissa's maternal grandfather is [[#Feovar Garavheron|Feovar]].
Clarissa's paternal grandfather is [[#Morohtar|Morohtar]].
==== Morohtar ====
[[Bandorion#People|Morohtar]], Clarissa's paternal grandfather.
'Dark' Lunar Celestial Mage. (TBC)

==== The Corrupter ====
[[Bandorion#People|Beriogelir]], Clarissa's father.
Megildur described him as "a Drow in all but name."
'Dark' Lunar Celestial Mage.

== Scribe Notes ==
<div style="float:right; width:50%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
These bits are extracts from the actual scribe notes included here to make it easier for players & GM.
</div>
NB These are the official scribe notes as may be found in the guild library.
=== Day 1 - 1st of Meadow 809 ===
Very early on this guild meeting day, before most guild adventurers had even started regretting the previous nights 'celebration', we 5 met in the secret room between 5A and 5C.

<div style="float:right; width:40%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
C., S., and D. provide briefings on politics and events in Sanctuary.
C. wants to know what's really going on and wants it resolved.
Guild Mind Mages requested to check C.'s memories, find anything hidden, expand relevant details.
Rituals of Anti-Scrying, Linking Lifeforce, GE, Divination.
Guild Namers requested to recheck their Divs when we find un-revealed details.
Talking to bloody dagger reveals C. hand held the dagger when the blood was splattered over it.
It wasn't C.'s dagger before then, belonged to a human male (later shown to be Bourne).
</div>
In these small cramped (but secure) rooms we discussed many things, most of which revolved around Clarissa being 4 cream buns short of a picnic and looking dreadful. We continued discussions over some fine fresh produce and excellent red wine until just after lunch when the first of the guild parties started flying off to various locations.

We decided that the Guild Mind Mage's were to be consulted to try to recover some of Clarissa's fragmented, confused, befuddled and missing memories - and off she went.
We then undertook some rituals and the like until she was returned.

It was mid afternoon before we received Clarissa back into our company and we then found out ...
That Clarissa is as nutty as a fruit cake with special additives for flavour and inconsistency.

<div style="float:right; width:35%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
Sneak into Seraglio and recover equipment. Only hidden stuff is left, the rest has been taken somewhere un-locatable.
</div>
Late afternoon sees us take a short trip to a nearby [[Sanctuary|seaside resort]] and in the early evening recover some of Clarissa's equipment she had left behind in her hasty departure. We all spend a quiet and delightful night camped under the stars.

=== Day 2 - 2nd of Meadow 809 ===

<div style="float:right; width:35%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
Fly to and setup base at Godrock.
Another locate attempt on C.'s equipment reveals palace is protected by potentially lethal backlash against anti-scrying.
</div>
We rise early at 5am and decide that having a roof over our heads would be best. We will take up the offer of nearby coastal accommodation from a friend of ours and thus we travel there and make ourselves at home.
Clarissa mentions her lost wardrobe again, but the topic pains Dalran too much to pursue any further.
Dalran heads into the resort to see some associates and the rest of the party take part in some camp activities.

<div style="float:right; width:35%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
C cuts her own wrists with sharpened pumice but has no memory of it.
K.O. does not release a hidden persona, neither does immersion.
K attempts Curse Removal on Amnesia on C.
T makes a clay golem duplicate of C.
</div>
Clarissa has her bath cut short by a freak soap and pumice accident.
Thaeuss and Serendipity's Phrenology enrichment and deep rinse tire Clarissa again but reveal no more about the nature of the accident.
Clarissa then decides to try Kilroy's cleansing treatment which turns out to be equally unsuccessful but she does catch a nap while he goes through the motions.

Inspired, Thaeuss sculpts a statue of Clarissa to commemorate the occasion. While Serendipity occupies a lounger by the pool.

Dalran returns with the dinner time buffet, relieving the others from the tedium of exquisite sweet and savoury pastries.
Dinner conversation is most convivial, following Dalran's camp stories everyone retires early.

=== Day 3 - 3rd of Meadow 809 ===
Back at the guild by mid morning. Multiple divinations & DAs of Clarissa.
* The Amnesia curse effect affected some time in her second Long Year (her tweens).
* The Amnesia and Paranoia curses were both cast in the same Rune Curse ritual on the 16th. Both have been removed, although it will take some time for the Paranoia curse to fully fade - it currently counts as being hag-ridden and paranoid.
* The tattoos have no magical component, and have never been affected by magic, ever. The inks are formerly living plant matter, which were killed between 784 and 791 WK. Probably rules out being tattooed for 100 years, but makes a 7 year tattooing likely.
* Clarissa is 53 years old, not the 130+ she thought.
* Records show that Clarissa arrived at the Guild on 19 Seed 795WK (1 Silver Bear by the old elven calendar).
* Clarissa is BeeAyTee-EssAitchAyeTee SeeAreAyZeeWhy.

;Information from Logan
:The Lunar branch of the Celestial College is news to people in the Lunar empire. Someone knows an old sage who thinks that some crepuscular southern race did moon magic instead of sun magic. Maybe it was the mole people of the southern continent? Or one of the long-lost ocean-going peoples, because of the tides? Logan gains some brownie points with allies for warning them of the possible re-emergence of an ancient branch of magic - they will keep an eye on the branch of any unusual celestial magics for the next few months.
:Clarissa d'Ornay is known as a trade representative from the Rankene Empire. They are interested to confirm her membership of the Seagate Guild. Some minor contracts had been drawn up with Sanctuary for additional trade in spices and slaves due to her presence, but the amounts are inconsequential (hundreds of thousands) - the contracts will be ripped up, as a gesture of goodwill to Logan.
:The Ivory Bracelet looks like some work pulled from a jungle dig a few years back, probably a religious artefact from one of those Drow or Lizardman stepped temples, but much more delicate. Collectors now know Logan is in the market for such a piece, and a discrete word will be spread to appropriate finders of such items.

Mid afternoon at the Guild.
<div style="float:right; width:35%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
Fly to Ranke, set up fake C (C2) in a loft in an empty warehouse, wander town to spread rumours and hints of Cs return and location.
Elven hunter ambushes us, fails to kill C but gets away. K is accidentally killed.
Pack up and fly back to guild to get K resurrected.
</div>
After much discussion we decide to travel to a place of [[Ranke_City|elevated status]] and enjoy some time relaxing alongside its delightful river in a roomy abode we have managed to lease for a time - We also plan to show off our [[Clarissa_d'Ornay|upmarket fine lady]] to see what sort of attention she attracts. We make plans for some visitors who may come by unexpectedly and then decided to partake in some local cuisine and beverages. After an hour and a half we decided that an early night was called for and headed back towards our roomy abode. We came across a hunter pursuing his [[Clarissa_d'Ornay|quarry]] and unfortunately disrupted his sport. We tried to make amends and explain but he disappeared into the urban wilderness. Once back together again we noticed that Kilroy had disappeared so we searched and searched for him but his game of hide and seek was very very good - we did find him in the end but he appeared to have suffered an accident involving an [[Serendipity|unlucky foot]] and we decide to take his corpse back to the guild for attention.

=== Day 4 - 4th of Meadow 809 ===

We depart our abode and fly to the guild arriving there around 2am. We get a good nights sleep at the guild and awake again at 10am when we will decide our new activities for the day
 
When we awake from our well deserved slumber we breakfast and then head over to discuss [[Lost Celestial Branches|research]] topics with the librarians who have discovered some information for Kilroy. Kilroy also puts on a show for us that showcases a lot of his outfits he might wear in the future. Late in the afternoon at 4pm we decide to leave the guild and return to our previous location.
<div style="float:right; width:50%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
Warehouse has been warded against tattooed female elves with Whitefire. Hunter shows up again but we lose him.
Re-set trap across the road, C2 as bait while we watch.
</div>
We get there by 630pm and then we enjoy some sightseeing through the wonderful urban environs and then settle in for a quiet night.

=== Day 5 - 5th of Meadow 809 ===

<div style="float:right; width:45%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
Hunter kills C2, we pursue and catch him outside town. Turns out to be C's cousin (M) on maternal side sent by maternal Grandfather to stop C from meddling with Elven politics and disgracing family.
M reveals tattooist (aka The Corrupter) is C's father, who is seen to have had to much influence over C and corrupted her.
Amdusias told M where to find C and who was with her.
D & T recover C2 from Chenaya who is investigating warehouse.
</div>
Midnight turns out to be quite exciting and we have some fun with the arrival of Clarissa's [[Megildur|relative]] who pops by and nearly kills Clarissa with his high-jinks. We follow along with his fun and games by heading off into the nearby countryside until finally we then sit down with him to have a chat about some of Clarissa's family matters deep into the night. 
Leaving the rest to keep chatting Thaeuss and I head back to our previous location and recover some goods we had left there, much to the chagrin of the people looking to relieve us of our goods. We return to the group and some proper familial introductions are made and then the talking continues yet again.
 
<div style="float:right; width:35%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
We summon [[Amdusias]], S chats with him till he becomes substantial, then we kill him and several of his Hellhounds and Devils. M is badly burned.
</div>
Decisions are finally made and getting rid of an [[Amdusias|annoying influence]] over our planning options is our first priority so we decide on another picnic on a nearby hill, well apart from other influences and beings - and after some well deserved sleep. The midday picnic is a stunning success and our guest departs in a puff, leaving us to plan our next steps in peace.

<div style="float:right; width:35%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
M's view of the fight is blinkered/biased, he credits all kills to C (and believes this completely).
</div>
When Dalran brings Megildur back from his intense tanning session, he is impressed at how his cousin dealt with the interlopers all on her own.

With time pressing, we decide to split up to gather information rapidly before finalising the next leg of our journey. Seren to drop some luggage at home then visit some friends in Bergelfen, Thaeuss and Clarissa back into town to catch up with some old friends, Dalran and Kilroy back to the resort to chat up some girls.

=== 5th - 6th of Meadow 809 ===
<div style="float:left; clear: both; width: 100%;">
<div style="float:left; width:31%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
'''Serendipity'''

Flies to Seagate, leaves M with the healers, [[Elfenburg#Slow Portal|portals]] to [[Elfenburg|Bergelfen]].

The Burgraf requests a full report on the Garavheron/Arandil families and the Corrupter.

Aubrey knows of the family as the only known practitioners of the Lunar Branch of Celestial since the War of Tears. He does not know of the Corrupter but suggests he may be a follower of the Wanderer branch as they used to do things like the tattoos.

</div>
<div style="float:left; width:31%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
'''Clarissa & Thaeuss'''

With C disguised, walk into Ranke city openly.
Visit Lady Selma Tainsfield as concerned friends of C (carrying a letter of introduction). She catches us up on local gossip and her account of the events at Ranke court match C's memory.

Then sneak into palace, wait for Camille Laticia, C has a private unofficial chat. Her meticulous records also match to C's version of events, reclaiming southern Ranke and the troop movements have been the main topics in court for the past month.

</div>
<div style="float:left; width:31%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
'''Dalran & Kilroy'''

Fly to Sanctuary, sneak in and meet with D's contacts.

[[Sanctuary Mages#Enas Yorl|Enas Yorl]] does not know anything of the Lunar Branch but is interested in anything we learn.

All of the (most trusted) Hazard Class mages will be on holiday in Arabie from the 8th to the 23rd, Black Viktor and [[Sanctuary_Mages#Ischade|Ischade]] are expected to mind affairs while they are gone.

K is regaled by [[Deconstructing a Fictional Girl#Rhians_Story|Rhian's version]] of the Seraglio Massacre.
</div>
</div>

Meet up again back at Seagate.
Clarissa has no memory of her cousin or family.
Divinations of Megildur and Clarissa reveal nothing new.
Megildur believes that if we approach Feovar Garavheron (Maternal Grandfather) seeking the location of the corrupter so that we can remove his influence, that he would probably tell us.
We decide to try this once we are armed with the full report from Seren's people.

<div style="float:right; width:60%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
[[Sanctuary Innocents#Jharn|Jharn Alden]] wishes to buy Jaelle out of the [[Sanctuary_Merchants#Aristo|family business]]. Seren requests a full report of all current assets and contracts before she can provide appropriate advice.
</div>
While in Seagate we meet with a [[Tonkin and Dabb|girl]] from the [[Sanctuary|resort]] who wishes to discuss some business related to an acquaintance of Seren's.

=== Day 7-8 - 7th & 8th of Meadow 809 ===

Establish rune portals to the south east edge of the [[Sea of Grass]] and down to the [[Five Sisters]] so that we can travel quickly to where we suspect the Corrupter is once we have his location confirmed. Late afternoon on the 8th sees us back at the guild where after some discussion involving new facts we decide to return to the [[Sanctuary|seaside resort]] where we arrive in mid evening and then settle in for a good nights sleep (with watches)

=== Day 9 - 9th of Meadow 809 ===
<div style="float:right; width:62%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
Bourne sees straight through C's disguise, he wants a report for the prince and he wants C to 'give him an excuse'.
His (abrupt) account of events matches what we know, his eye will not heal, it has been replaced with a small crystal permanently tracking on C.

Renn wishes to acknowledge a favour owed to C for her contribution last spring in Alfheim. He can arrange meetings with our persons of interest but will only do so if we agree all parties would survive the meeting.

S advises T&D to gift all current and future shares that Jaelle Alden holds in the [[Sanctuary_Merchants#Aristo|family business]] to the [[Sanctuary_Artists#Arts Council|Silberton Arts Council]].

The financial report indicates that Manon is in Wasyrat, D reports that is where the navy and Hazard Mages have gone to 'stamp out the slave trade'.
</div>
We visit [[Sanctuary_Merchants#Renn|Renn the Banker]] as the result of an invitation after we were accosted by a [[Sanctuary_Soldiers#Bourne|Disguised man]] who enquired as to our progress resolving certain matters for [[Sanctuary_Notables#Prince Kadakithis|Clarissa's boyfriend]].

We get little from Renn and later Seren decided to rid herself of some troubling investments and thus we visit some [[Tonkin and Dabb|Low Life]] to get things sorted out. Once this is done we decide that the weather is not warm enough to continue our vacation here and so we set off for the SE.

[[#Megildur|Megildur]] starts flying back home to report to [[#Feovar Garavheron|grandfather]] and hopefully speak positively for Clarissa.

We fly and portal to [[Tycho City]] and fly and fly and fly..

=== Day 10 - 10th of Meadow 809 ===
<div style="float:right; width:75%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">
The Rankene army has breached the northern walls, fighting in that quarter of the city. Elementals, Djinn, and other fliers are in the region. Some Hazard Mages are invading from the west.

We fly into the SE corner of the city, sneak into the palace, get directions to Manon, enter the court where he and every other VIP is meeting with the Queen to oversee the war, trip intrusion alerts, and then the fun begins.
Entire palace gets shrouded in darkness, dozens of courtiers and guards die in cross-fire of solar flare, blackfire, air storms, etc. VIPs retreat and activate their room-clearing sun storm, we split just before the fatal tanning session starts.

S follows the Queen and advisers, spots Manon and extracts him with some collateral damage and leaves town.
K keeps the guards running, eventually finds his way to the corridor of carnage and starts looting.
T tails the generals for a while, fuels the chaos with a few stone-faced friends, then finds his way to the CoC and pockets the Chancellor and remains of the queen.
D & C flirt with the tanning room then reach the CoC shortly before reinforcements arrive. 
D observes that S has collected the primary target, K & T delay the reinforcements, C & D open a new exit and we all leave. 

</div>

We finally arrive at a new [[Arabie#Wasyrat|holiday spot]] and we enter the city avoiding a nasty looking domestic dispute on the beach nearby.

We look for some decent accommodation and decide to stay at the [[Arabie#Wasyrat Palace|best accommodation in town]].

A small case of overbooking results in small fracas in the courtyard which leads to the demise of an important local lady and some close associates. We do not want to be linked to this unfortunate event and so we quickly depart for a nearby beach where we all catch up.
 
<div style="float:right; width:100%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">

Rendezvous at next cove east as per pre-arranged plans. Brief interrogation of Manon reveals that he was the child-broker, but by the third swap (father to mother) the disputes about the length of custody periods and the communication between them had broken down so badly that the pick up was missed. Manon had left the tranfers to trusted agents and the squabbling to lawyers, but seems certain that no "valuable merchandise" would have been abandoned or "embezzeled".

He is able to give the both the C's fathers location at that time, a volcano some thousands miles and slightly east of our current location, and guess at S's D.O.D whereabouts (near the front of the shop in Wyserat). He also helps us by indicating that the Wyserat treasury is off-plane in care of a Djinn and that there are still an amount of operating capital and works of art in the Palace that we might "save" from the seige.

He goes back in the box, we re-prioritise and head back to the Palace and find the looting in full swing - it is revealed to be an bucket chain to deposit goods in a pentacle in the basement and whisk them away. Blending righteous indignation and avarice we scatter the help and load up miniaturised chests and the Greater Summoner in charge.
</div>

<div style="float:right; width:70%; margin: 0.2em 0 0.2em 1em; color: #000066; background-color: #FFFF99;" title="This is not public knowledge!">

Hit the Al-Den scriptorium and naughty scroll shop, bursting in before the proprietor disappears into the back rooms, a mind-bending maze comprising of two horribly mislabelled doors. After removing much magic from the wizened human cleaning lady we find S's D.O.D underneath and load up another body. Bravely yell at the doors until we discover the likely exits (bedroom, wardrobe, stairs (to a nearby, but quite different, roof), a house in sanctuary, and a scriptorium/school-room).

Brief pause to hand over the apprehended parts of the Wsyerat command structure to the Rankene and help C's political profile, then fly south and pause to make sure that cargo isn't going anywhere.
 
As bodies are being Petrified, Gremory arrives in response to D.O.D's predicament and patiently requests that he be handed over. Somewhere between S's assurance that he would not be harmed and the <s>Duke</s> Duchess of Songs of playing with C's hair, a months breathing space is negotiated and she leaves amicably and empty handed.
</div>
 

 
Once we have a chance to talk to the local guide, we stop in town to collect a few knick-knacks and postcards, deliver a peace offering to the aggrieved party on the beach to sooth ruffled feelings and decamp for some real, "off-the-beaten" trail sightseeing.

A fascinating traveller on one of the fabled "ships of the the desert" approaches us as we are admiring the desolate beauty of the dunes, shares our humble meal and haggles with us for a recovery of a statuette. It's status as an heirloom decides the matter, but our new friend seems determined to re-open the barginning later.

=== Day 11 - 11th of Meadow 809 ===
We fly all day long with a some airbourne rest breaks

=== Day 12 - 12th of Meadow 809 ===
Dawn (6am) sees us coming up to a huge mountain rising up from the jungle. We probably travelled around a 1000miles yesterday and we are glad of the distance between us and [[Arabie#Wasyrat|that nasty little city]]. We estimate that we are some 30 miles away from [[Bandorion]] which appears to be a collection of White marble ruins just above the tree line around 13,000ft. Below we see figures that we take to be elves showing their age and we head in for a meeting with C's dad. Perhaps 'the Corrupter' title given her father was a reflection of the difference between Alfheim elven court life and living in a more pristine and wild area such as this mountain, 100's of Miles away from [[Alfheim|civilisation]] and its veneer of civility.

Scout and spy for a couple of hours. Confirm our suspicions that this is a colony of fanatical nature-loving artists. The 'Lunatic Fringe' of Alfheim society.

Thaeuss and his bodyguard/flesh-golem/illusion Kilroy go in, approach [[Bandorion#Lothroniel|Lothroniel]] and then talk to [[Bandorion#Beriogelir|Beriogelir]] about Clarissa and her past.

Then bring in Clarissa for a 'family reunion', consult with [[Bandorion#Morohtar|Grand Father]] about change/damage to the tattoos.
After examination, he declares he needs to consult with his [[Orias|muse]].

Seren, Thaeuss and Clarissa join Beriogelir and Morohtar in a 'power circle', [[Bandorion#Balanidhren|Balanidhren]] leads the invocation.
Seren is briefly assaulted by a spirit-form imp or something like that, presumably because of her protective tattoos.
Clarissa's spirit is briefly taken away for a long talk with [[Orias]] about her options.

Clarissa takes angst to a whole new level as she discusses and considers the options the demon gave her. Eventually we can take no more and rest for the night - sleeping in the ground for the first time in several days.

=== Day 13 - 13th of Meadow 809 ===

In the morning Clarissa diverts conversation away from her choice by having us Lunar Teleported to a 'garden' where the Lil'rissas were killed (blood and bone for the garden).

The garden is about 5 miles from Sanctuary and it is early morning when we arrive there.

Discretely leaving through a hole in their wall, we make our way to Sanctuary.
Black Victor checks up on his responsibilities, judges a few matters and then organises a field trip for the 18 political students.

Victor and his pet spectre escort the 21 students to Ranke to observe the end of Chenaya's vow and how that affects the politics of Ranke. The guards at Ranke look exceptionally unimpressed to see us all descend on them, but honour the usual arrangements the the Mages Guild.
After checking in at the usual Inns, Victor takes the group to observe the tail end of open court, then sends them off to make observations and complete their assignment.

Clarissa visits a few friends to catch up on recent events and the mood of the town. Chenaya has organised a stacked meeting of the regents council for the afternoon of the 15th.

Later that night Kilroy and Chenaya share some dreams which makes us suspect that we can cut a deal with Chenaya.

=== Day 14 - 14th of Meadow 809 ===

Clarissa has breakfast with Merry to co-ordinate efforts, and get her new orders (to return to Ranke and resume her duties).

Clarissa, Seren, and Thaeuss invite the absentee members of the regents council to the meeting tomorrow.

Clarissa bumps into Chenaya in the evening and has a chat. Chenaya decides not to deal with Clarissa and chooses instead to deal to her.
After a bit more banter and some confusion over projected images, Chenaya kills Clarissa and leaves her lifeless clay with the guards to be disposed.

=== Day 15 - 15th of Meadow 809 ===
Some of the regents are escorted into town. The students all gather outside of the regents council to take notes.
Clarissa arrives with a friendly majority of the council and quickly sets things to order again.

Chenaya leaves the council not long afterwards, attempting to aerate some walls as she goes.

Ranke politics return to normal.

=== Day 17 - 17th of Meadow 809 ===

A private meeting is held in Khatovar. The party leaves the meeting light two statuettes and one nasty curse.

Nobody is too unhappy.

== Loot==
Total value 180,520sp, I think.

Some of these items are valuables from Manon or Aristo, or Magical Ornaments and Knicknacks from Manon's bedroom. They have all been covered with dense script and sigils (except for the labels). The sigils include ownership, warning, and fireproofing. Also they have all been labelled as documents, but only for the purposes of spell targeting.

===Returned===
; Elven Clothyard Arrows
: Cleaned and returned to Megildur.
; Lower Third of the Queen of Wasyrat
: Delivered to the generals of the Rankene army
; Chancellor of Wasyrat
: Delivered to the generals of the Rankene army, presumably resurrectable.
; Aristo Alden
: Petrified and Itemised, 1 month grace before release-to or renegotiation with [[Gremory]]. Released on his own recognizance in [[Khatovar]].
; Manon Alden
: Petrified and Itemised, gifted to Aristo on his release.

===Claimed===
; Credit for destroying the command structure of Wasyrat
: Credit from the generals of the Rankene army. Valuation: none. Look on Chenaya's face: Priceless. '''Clarissa'''

;A Favour fromHashim ibn Khulus, Greater Summoner of Wasyrat
:Archmage Hashim ibn Khulus is a wise and powerful Greater Summoner who works for the current Wasyrat royalty. He was captured by a guild party and ransomed back to the Wasyrat palace in exchange for one favour for each of the party, including <insert name>. He can summon Djinn, Efreet, Angels, lesser Demons, and lesser Elementals. He will not summon Named Powers (ArchAngels, Demon Lords), nor anything that can't be bound. He does not like <insert name>. , but will undertake any reasonable, safe task to be rid of his debt. Valuation: none. Nominal worth for GM to rate size of favour: 5,000sp '''Everyone'''

;Lunar Teleport Bracelet
:The bracelet from the Ashen Stranger is an invested item containing 3 charges of Rank 12 Lunar Teleport, which teleports the wearer (only) to a pre-determined location that is currently in moonlight, BC 94%. The spell is of a Lunar branch of Celestial. If the Adept knows the Lunar Teleport spell, they can select a different destination for the wearer. There is some cost to the wearer in using the teleport - temporary to medium term WP loss. The Teleport is on-plane, and range is limited by the destination and origin both needing to be in at least (90-3/Rank)° moonlight. The Ivory bracelet is covered with minute complex patterns (of interlocking animals frolicking in moonlight) burnt into the surface. It is rechargeable to a maximum of 5 charges, requiring a combination of two of: A full moon, Lunar New Year; High Holiday. Weight 2 oz. Valuation: 9,900sp. '''Clarissa'''

; Inscribed Brace of Magical Daggers
:SC+10%, Cure Infection on any wound they cause (costs 1 FT for wielder). Their blood runnels make them good for drawing in blood. Inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of ownership, warning. Valuation: 2x200sp. '''Claimed'''

;Vial of Virility
:As per Wicca spell, Rank 15. Duration x 50, Effect/50. Inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of ownership, warning, fireproofing. Valuation: 1,000sp. '''Claimed'''

; Pretty Scrolls
:Several less-than-tasteful etchings of slavegirls. Some poems and religious works. All fireproofed by Scriptomancy. All in Arabique. Valuation: 1,000sp. '''Dalran'''

; Literary Scrolls
:A number of illuminated stories from the Thousand and One Arabian Nights. All fireproofed by Scriptomancy. All in Arabique. Valuation: 1,000sp. '''Seren'''

;Amulet of Reversal
:All magic targeted at the wearer by a single named entity will reverse back and apply to the targeting entity as well. The ITN of the entity must be spoken aloud by the wearer on the night of the Full Moon, and the reversal effect will then apply whenever worn by that person (only), until the next Full Moon. Shaped Scriptomancy item inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of ownership and warning. Valuation: 7,500sp. '''Thaeuss'''

;Quill of Dictation and Transcription
:Anything said in Elven by the writer will be written in beautiful Arabique cursive script, regardless of the writer's rank in spoken or written Arabique. Shaped Scriptomancy item inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of ownership, dictation, tranlation, and warning. Valuation: 1,000sp. '''Dalran'''

;Quill of Enchantment
:Any written magic performed with this quill will gain a 5% bonus (this does not stack with any bonuses from the ink/blood). This will usually only affect the chance to Invest Scrolls, cast any Runes that can be drawn with a quill rather than inscribed, such as Runes of Doom, and most Scriptomancy magic. Shaped Scriptomancy item inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of ownership and warning. Valuation: 5,000sp. '''Dalran'''

===Sold===
; 10 Chests and a couple of sacks saved from looters of Wasyrat
: Itemised and stored. 4 hundredweight of miscellany, worth half its weight in silver. Total 71,680sp.
; Wasyrat Petty Cash
: 3 bags of coin. 20 pounds, 90% silver, 10% gold. Total 13,440sp.
; Valuables from Chancellor, Queen, Greater Summoner
: Valuable looking or magical items removed from the Chancellor, the bottom third of the Queen, the Greater Summoner. 18,000sp of jewellery. Small amounts of Myrrh, Frankincense, Sandlewood, Antimony, Ambergris 1,000sp. Censor of silver and gems 3,000sp. Silver Shields of protection against Backfiring when summoning Djinn & Efreet, Valuation: 2,000sp + 3,000sp. Amulets of Luck, Iron, Aquilegius, Amethyst (Hashim), Elderflowers (Chancellor) Valuation: 12,200sp. Total: 39,200sp

;Inscribed Amulets
:Amulets of Luck, Carbuncle, Beryl, Elderflowers x2, Hypericum. Valuation: 17,600sp.

;Inscribed Signet Ring of Authentication
:This ornate signet ring, used to seal documents, casts an Authentication magic on every document sealed. If the document is inauthentic (forged, or sealed not by a rightful owner), there is a 50% chance the ring will destroy itself in a spectacular manner, likely involving serious injury to its wearer. The signet shape can be changed to that of the appropriate owner. Shaped Scriptomancy item. Valuation: 4,000sp

===Items To Be Resolved===

;Quill of Re-Writing History
:History is written by the victors. This quill allows the historian to write about recent events, shading peoples' memories of motivations, intentions and understandings to change their spin on events; this is effectively retrospective propaganda. The rewrite of history MAY NOT change memories of the actual events that occurred. The writer must have sufficient WP to rewrite history: 1 WP per witness (all present must be targetted) + 1 WP per 5 minutes elapsed since the event. The player must also write the new history, within appropriate time constraints. Those witnesses with Mind Cloak or similar defences and more WP than the historian may make a MR check to avoid having their memories altered. Too much use of this item may start causing memory gaps or localised amnesia in the targets. Shaped Scriptomancy item inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of ownership and warning. Valuation: 6,000sp
::: ''EOI from Clarissa'' - Clarissa's eyes keep wandering towards this, despite being short the several trillion WP needed to fix her reputation with it.
::: ''EOI from Dalran''
::: ''EOI from Kilroy''

;Labels
:These fire-proof water-proof paper labels contain one charge each of Scriptomancy Relabeling. When affixed, tied, wedged or attached to an object and triggered (BC 99%), that object will permanently seem to be as per the label to all observers (including the triggerer), and spells (for targeting purposes) until the label is removed or destroyed (one use per label). The actual weight, size, fragility, etc will not change. The labels are (in elvish) "spittoon", "harpoon", "egg spoon", "bassoon", "macaroon", "balloon". ''You are sure that they had other labels when you first got them''. Invested Scriptomancy items inscribed with Scriptmancy Sigils of fireproofing. Valuation: 6x300sp

::: ''Duration once labeled and triggered?'' Until removed/destroyed.
::: ''Is the labeler affected by the relabeling?''. Yes, but they can remember that the macaroon is poisonous, the eggspoon effective, etc. Encumbrance, PS/MD requirements, etc remain the same, so you can figure out "oh, ''that'' macaroon" easily enough, although people (incl yourself) might wonder why you are carrying a 10 pound macaroon in a shoulder-sheath. Relabelling a weapon could be tricky, as you will fight as if it's a macaroon. Probably neither side will get weapon or warrior ranks in a macaroon fight - I'd unlabel a weapon/macaroon before hitting people in most situations, but not an anvil/macaroon before dropping it on someone's foot.
::: ''EOI from Kilroy, one or more (label your favourite nasty assassin weapon, and nobody will ever suspect you just cut that persons throat with your egg spoon. Don't label your poison pouch with macaroon and get forgetful though :-))''
::: ''EOI from Dalran'' Sounds interesting then ;)

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==

=== Nominations ===
; Best Death
: Kilroy - flew into a wall then was stepped on by his would-be rescuers because he was too well disguised.

; Smartest

; Bravest

=== Quotes ===
: '''Kilroy''': "I've been thinking..."

=== Hot and Not ===
; Hot
: Bunny Boiling

; Not
: Serial Amnesia

=== Possible Articles===
;Ranke abolishes Slavery
;Ormond and Ranke tussle over border
;Ranke attacks Arabie
;Royal Wedding Bells?
;Yet Another Concubine charged with Murder
;More Branches found on Celestial Tree

== Getting Organised ==
=== Standard Buffs ===
: * indicates Duration is Enhanced

Three armour/defence options:
: Rk 20 Shadow Form from Seren 42% Def for 20.5 Hrs*
: Rk 20 Rune Shield from Kilroy 25% Def +5 AP for 41 Hrs*
: Rk 20 Enchant Armour from Dalran 42% Def +1 AP for 20.5 Hrs*

Strength of Darkness +11 PS for 390 Mins* (6.5 Hrs)

Witchsight Rk 14 from Seren 14.5 Hrs*

Vapour Breathing from Clarissa 6.5 Hrs*

Anti-Scrying from Dalran

For Travel we have:
: Air Flight from Clarissa 42 MPH for 6.5 Hrs / 12.5 Hrs*
: Shadow Wings from Seren 40 MPH for 5.5 Hrs / 10.5 Hrs*
: Instill Flight - Thaeuss 40 MPH for 5.5 Hrs / 10.5 Hrs* - may carry up to 650 lbs
: Karreyhun - Kilroy 18 MPH
: Winged Elf - Dalran 56 MPH
: Rune Portals - Kilroy

Itemisation from Thaeuss - objects reduced to 1/10th weight and 1/12th size for up to 15 Days*

Modify Aura +/- 3 levels for 13 Hrs*

Also for melee combat Dalran grants:
: +10 IV, +10 SC, +10 Def, +1 Pass Action at end of pulse (Engaged only)

Weapons Spells:
: Smite Rk 20 - Res or D+21 + Prone & Stun on first hit - 41 Hrs* (on person, not weapon specific)
: Rune Weapon Rk 20 - Acid/Poison D-5 + 8 for D pulses - 25 mins / 45 mins*
: Enchant Weapon Rk 20 - +21 SC +7 Dam for 25 mins / 45 mins*

=== Playing Nights ===
# 16th Dec
# 23rd Dec
# 30th Dec - Chris Away No game on the 6th Jan due to holidays
# 13th Jan onwards
12. Extra Wednesday session 4 March.
In Total: 12 sessions in a 12 session season. Chris & Lisa each missed 1.5 sessions.

Bandits, Bandits everywhere

2026-06-06T04:27:56Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category: Scribe Notes]][[Category: Chris Caulfield]]
[[Category: Thoric]]
[[Category: Lyric]]
[[Category: Sister Euphrasia]]
[[Category: Ara]]
[[Category: Reno]]
[[Category: Mario]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer 809 WK| Scribe notes]] 
= Summary =
'''Adventure''': Bandits, Bandits Everywhere 
'''GM''': [[user:ChrisC|Chris C]] 
'''Session''': Summer 809 wk 
'''Night''': Mondays, from the 15th Dec 2008 to 2nd March 2009 
'''Level''': Low 
'''Location''': Chez Ellis
'''Party''' 
* [[Thoric]] - played by [[Greg Graydon]]
* [[Lyric]] - played by [[User:Michelle|Michelle Ellis]]
* [[Sister Euphrasia]] Montjoy - played by [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]]
* [[Ara]] - played by [[Zeb]]
* [[Teeanna]] - played by [[User:Hannah|Hannah Jackson]]
* [[Reno]] - played by [[:Category:Jill Mitchinson|Jill Mitchinson]]
* [[Mario]] - played by [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]

'''Employer''' 
[[Lance Hendryksson]], a factor for the [[DeWolf Trading Company]]

'''Mission''' 
To ensure certain goods get to their intended recipients. Deliver some goods through the [[Artusian Hills]], delivery some estate goods for the guild back to [[Akuji|Akuji's]] family in the deep desert NE of [[Delph]] and if you have the time then organise and deliver a lot of wine to [[Steinhugel]].

'''Pay''' 
80sp per day plus bonuses - a minimum of 5,000sp each. You can have any loot from any 'incidents' that occur while delivering the goods and a % of Salvage for any goods recovered.

'''Locations of Game'''
* [[St Hylena]]
* [[Dimazcus]]
* [[Shorapur]]
* [[Novadom]]
* [[Ein Gydi Oasis]]
* [[Azjunni Landing]]

'''Dramatis Personae'''
* [[Captain Jacque Rackam]] of the [[Terranovan Queen]]
* [[Captain Barbyra Kendall]] of the [[Sylver Shark]]

And then we were offered Urgla, (absinthe which tastes like chocolate milkshake)

Category:Reno

2026-06-06T04:27:14Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Character Reno"

Character [[Reno]]

Category:Ara

2026-06-06T04:26:49Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Character Ara"

Character [[Ara]]

Category:Sister Euphrasia

2026-06-06T04:26:35Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Character Sister Euphrasia"

Character [[Sister Euphrasia]]

Bandits, Bandits everywhere

2026-06-06T04:26:15Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category: Scribe Notes]][[Category: Chris Caulfield]]
[[Category: Thoric]]
[[Category: Lyric]]
[[Category: Sister Euphrasia]]
[[Category: Ara]]
[[Category: Reno]]
[[Category: Mario]]

'''Adventure''': Bandits, Bandits Everywhere 
'''GM''': [[user:ChrisC|Chris C]] 
'''Session''': Summer 809 wk 
'''Night''': Mondays, from the 15th Dec 2008 to 2nd March 2009 
'''Level''': Low 
'''Location''': Chez Ellis
'''Party''' 
* [[Thoric]] - played by [[Greg Graydon]]
* [[Lyric]] - played by [[User:Michelle|Michelle Ellis]]
* [[Sister Euphrasia]] Montjoy - played by [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]]
* [[Ara]] - played by [[Zeb]]
* [[Teeanna]] - played by [[User:Hannah|Hannah Jackson]]
* [[Reno]] - played by [[:Category:Jill Mitchinson|Jill Mitchinson]]
* [[Mario]] - played by [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]]

'''Employer''' 
[[Lance Hendryksson]], a factor for the [[DeWolf Trading Company]]

'''Mission''' 
To ensure certain goods get to their intended recipients. Deliver some goods through the [[Artusian Hills]], delivery some estate goods for the guild back to [[Akuji|Akuji's]] family in the deep desert NE of [[Delph]] and if you have the time then organise and deliver a lot of wine to [[Steinhugel]].

'''Pay''' 
80sp per day plus bonuses - a minimum of 5,000sp each. You can have any loot from any 'incidents' that occur while delivering the goods and a % of Salvage for any goods recovered.

'''Locations of Game'''
* [[St Hylena]]
* [[Dimazcus]]
* [[Shorapur]]
* [[Novadom]]
* [[Ein Gydi Oasis]]
* [[Azjunni Landing]]

'''Dramatis Personae'''
* [[Captain Jacque Rackam]] of the [[Terranovan Queen]]
* [[Captain Barbyra Kendall]] of the [[Sylver Shark]]

And then we were offered Urgla, (absinthe which tastes like chocolate milkshake)

Reno

2026-06-06T04:24:33Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Category: Character Category: Jill Mitchinson Reno - played by Jill Mitchinson"

[[Category: Character]]
[[Category: Jill Mitchinson]]

Reno - played by Jill Mitchinson

Sister Euphrasia

2026-06-06T04:22:54Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Category: Character Sister Euphrasia Montjoy - played by Ben Taberner"

[[Category: Character]]
Sister Euphrasia Montjoy - played by Ben Taberner

Thanks for all the fish

2026-06-06T04:18:00Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:William]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Imri]]
[[Category:Vladimir]]
[[Category:Tegan]]
[[Category:Ibrihim]]
[[Category:Julius]]
[[Category:Rahne]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer 809 WK| Scribe notes]] 
= Summary =
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
'''Adventure''': Thanks for all the fish 
'''GM''': [[William]] 
'''Session''': [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Summer 809 wk]] 
'''Night''': Often Wednesday 
'''Level''': Low 
'''Location''': TBA 
'''Party''':
*[[Imri]] - Elven Water Mage, Leader
*[[Vladimir]] - Human Mind Mage, Fishing Commander
*[[Tegan]] - Human Earth Mage
*[[Ibrihim]] - Human Air/Desert Mage, Scribe
*[[Julius|Jules]] - Human E&E Mage
*[[Rahne]] - Kinlu Human Warrior-Philosopher (backup E&E)

'''Employer''':
Her Majesty's Privy Councillor, Maristal. That is, the Alfheim Crown.

'''Payment''': Reasonable expenses and guild rates of 200sp/week from [[Isil Eth]] and Eternal Gratitude from someone else.

'''Problem''': The stocks of Baikai Taiga are at an all time low at the palace. Go get some more before the cook kills himself and functional diplomacy grinds to a halt. They come from Ruska.

==Diary==
===1 Meadow===
: Maristal is an elven courtier dressed in gold trinkets in not quite the worse possible taste. His frazzled and distracted manner means that he pulls off an air of misplaced-sock-guy, rather than regal Privy Councillor. He tells us that the Queen may want some cool fish soon, and as the palace has run out of the right fish, the Palace Chef will not be able to fulfil her request, forcing him to quit (at best), and destroying the reputation of the Palace Kitchens and thus the Crown's capacity for diplomacy. The fish comes from Ruska. We agree to meet him at the Elven Embassy in Seagate later that afternoon, after completing some research and administration.

: We elect Imri, the Elven Water mage as the leader, due to her (a) being elvish, (b) knowing fish, (c) having adventured more than once. Vladimir is made Fishing Commander, in lieu of Military Scientist, and Ibrihim is gifted scribe.

:We go to the Guild library. They are mainly very helpful. Apparently Ruska is not a province of Alfheim, but an empire in its own right, taking up most of the middle of the northern part of the continent. It will take 2 months to sail to Ruska, heading north into the Frozen Ocean, then around the Arctic Circle through sea ice, pack ice, and icebergs. Overland, one needs to go well past the Lunar Empire, which is at the eastern edge of our understanding. We get a map of the continent, with half the map blank apart form the word "Ruska". We also get lent a book "The Splendour of Ythanamai", by Obidiah, which appears to be a guide to sea life, with pictures - more on this later.

: We catch a ride into town on the Ambassador's (spare?) Coach, a wondrous vehicle worth a million pennies melted down, and as we realise, even more whole. It glides smoothly down the hill, then eases its way through packed streets of vermin and commonality with ne'er a ripple or bump, until it stops outside the Embassy. There is a decadent and sybaritic party underway inside. The air is toxic and it is difficult to see the far side of the room, due to the dense Krrf fug; I decline to Detect Fumes. We mingle for a short period, and realise that most of the guests are pleasant, high, unstable, and have a completely different idea of appropriate behaviour than anything we have experienced. We manage to follow a waiter with an empty tray, and escape into the Kitchens.

:The kitchens are run efficiently, with mostly local staff. The elvish aboyeur, or possibly sous-chef, intercepts us, and directs us to the cold store, where the Palace Chef is sitting huddled, rocking backwards and forwards. Once we let him know we are here to get his fish, he becomes relatively animated, although still fragile and slightly unhinged. We take him onto the balcony, to warm up. He tells us that he is out of fish, and that Doran brings them. Doran hasn't brought any fish for 40 years, and they've just run out. Doran is apparently a Dwarf from the Iron Peaks. The sort of fish that the chef is out of is Baikai taiga, from Lake Baikai. He starts to provide us with the recipe for making them, but we don't pay a great deal of attention.

:Most of the party head over to the aboyeur and check transport options. The fish need to be transported to the Palace in Eidolon, Alfhiem. He directs us to Lucas, the leader of 'The Returned' - who are the stern looking people in green armour that aren't drinking or smoking, and only eating lightly. They are in defensive clusters in a couple of corners. Imri approaches one of them, having neatly avoided getting engaged on the way (a prospective partner starts looking for her fiancé to duel). She explains the urgency of the matter, the worry at the highest levels of the administration, and the personal requirements of her Majesty, and then segues into a request for transportation to secure vital supplies for the continuation of the Crown. These military men keenly volunteer to assist, as long as discussions can occur outside the room, before they collapse from the effects of passive smoking. While Lake Baikai in Ruska is part of a ''contested area'', they are happy to travel there. An offer is made to travel via the Hellgates, if the mission is urgent. After verifying that they are not using a euphemism or metaphor, Imri demurs, over concerns that the fumes and heat of Hell could damage the delicate and critical supplies we are seeking. Their alternative plan is to travel by ship, which may take three or four days to reach the lake (a thousand miles a day, overland?). The downside of this approach is the chance of reavers, pirates, and enemy interception, but that all sounds safer than demonic customs agents to us. We agree to meet Force Leader Lucas on the west Common at dawn tomorrow, with a detailed itinerary.

:Meanwhile, the increasingly unstable Palace Chef has fallen off the balcony, and passed out, so is carried back inside where he is tended by the kitchen first aid team.

:We return to the Guild Library, where Imri carefully reads Obidiah's "The Splendour of Ythanamai". The Librarians would be much faster at finding the information, but its on the list of books that are too dangerous to read. The book containing the reasons why the book is too dangerous to read is also on the list. We set a watch over Imri, and she reads on. Amongst other factoids, we learn:
:* In the stygian depths of the Baikai Lake, there is a crevice or crevasse in which there lies a passage to the Plane of Water, where the Elementals Lords dwell. The appropriate way to prepare the traditional human sacrifice / guest-gift is provided, in exacting detail - the filleting is particularly precise.
:* The Speak to Aquatics spell is listed in the middle of a descriptive passage of another waterway; presumably it works like a scroll.
:* The [[Calamar]] are described, with lemon and bread crumbs.
:* A fish from a particular Isle of Adventure provides great powers for a year; however the directions to the isle are clearly garbled or encoded, and the passage is worthless.
:* The Baikai Lake is huge - several hundred miles long, and perhaps a hundred miles wide. It is very far north, and frozen for ten months of the year. Exports of the local areas are predominantly Reindeer and Elk Velvet. The area is currently occupied by [[Swordworlds]] troops, who are slaves of the [[Calamar]].

:We suddenly realise it is after midnight, and before we head off to bed, those still awake stop in at the Astrologers' Tower for some good advice. The Astrologer had not yet mastered questions, but could provide each of us with an appropriate answer, if we could later determine the correct question. They were:
::* "Do not feed the fisherman" - Ibrihim
::* "No, it was merely rendered unconscious" - Imri
::* "Trust the drunken man" - Vladimir

===2 Meadow===
:We are up before dawn, after less than 4 hours sleep. We take our gear, including the cold weather gear and recently purchased carpets (120sp each, if you don't already have one of Ibrihim's Magic Flying Carpets®), and head down to the western common. We find a bizarre contrivance, a kind of giant catamaran with a series of spikes instead of oars, masts, and rigging. We are greeted by Captain Toric, skipper of The Assimilator's Claw, a freshly-build crystal ship from Eidolon. We find out that while it is only 5 weeks since it left the ship builders' yards, it has already been in four pitched battled. The marines on duty appear willing to launch into their fifth at any moment. Once we are assured that the cabins are enchanted to descend to the earth safety if the ship breaks up, we suddenly elect to stay on deck. The ship free-falls to around 18,000 feet, and then starts to fall sideways - it is soon doing somewhere in excess of a hundred miles an hour (or more than 39mph, anyway). This altitude is apparently ideal, as we can't be seen from below or above. For the rest of our time on this vessel, we intermittently glance up into the blue-purple sky, wary of what could be watching. The ship is powered by Living Crystal and Words of Power. As long as its magic, that's alright.

:Shortly after lunch, we arrive at the Iron Peaks, a dwarven protectorate of Alfheim which lies to its South East, probably just north of the Lunar Empire, or something - we've covered an awful lot of geography already. The Claw descends to just above a mountain shoulder, and we climb to the ground on a rope ladder. After walking down the river valley for a mile or so, we find neatly farmed fields and a carven entrance to a large dwarven town. We talk to a senior dwarf (Name?, Job?), and find out a lot about the trade missions that Doran undertook:
:* The dwarves run a trade caravan all over central and eastern Alusia. It takes about five years for the caravan to complete the round trip. They send out a new caravan every ten years or so, and trade various goods up and down the route, finally brining a collection of the goods back to Eidolon.
:* The route passes through the Lunar Empire, Arabie, Hindia, Ruska, and other places we have never heard of - where is Kashmir?
:* Doran was the Senior Caravan Master. He, along with several hundred other dwarves, went out almost 40 years ago and never returned.
:* Senior Caravan Master Calan set out ten years later with several hundred more dwarves, and did not return either.
:* Several scouting parties have been sent out to determine what has happened to the caravans; they haven't returned either.
:* All this has been reported, frequently and in detail, to Eidolon, but with no response until now.
:We purchase 10 2-gallon barrels that the taiga are usually transported in, which is a standard 20 year supply. We also learn how the fish are stored - around an ounce of a very expensive Arabian spice is added to each barrel, and this keeps them fresh for decades. We resolve to head to Arabie to buy some of this spice, partially because it sounds a whole lot warmer than Baikai Lake. Returning to the Claw shortly after dusk, we set a course South and East.

===3 Meadow===
We fly all day, hopefully heading towards Arabie.
===4 Meadow===
We fly until we reach the city of [[Arabie#Samakar|Samakar]], in Arabie. It is late morning when we hove-to over a patch of desert several miles from the city. The city is a wonder to behold, but then so is our vessel. Tegan finds the city awkward to look at, as it is on fire, with a 80 yard high demon shovelling coal onto it. Did I mention that Tegan lives in some mystical metaphorical parallel world? The entire party gets rugged up, and practises a little flying before approaching the city. It turns out that Vlad is a natural, while Imri still treats a flying carpet like a rowboat. Once we straighten out, we head along the road until we are only a few hundred yards from the northern city gates. Dusting ourselves off, we hail an inbound carter, Amaris (Ars to his friends). He lets us know that the Sultan is building a Quorax, and to avoid paying the head tax, we should declare ourselves to be students. We chat and walk alongside his bullock cart. For a conveyer of mass consumable vegetable products, he seemed to know a lot about the rarer spices; fortunately, he doesn't recommend a cousin who is a spice merchant.

At the gate, the 'guards' appear suspiciously overdressed, and highly knowledgeable. When we say we are students, they ask 'where from?', and when we reply 'Seagate' (honesty is apparently effective when you have nothing to hide), they tell us there is no institution of higher learning in Seagate, only a mad mercenary guild. Both parties get highly suspicious of the other. They do a quick demon search of the cart. After quick looks at each other, we assure the guards we have no demons on us. They tell us to hand over all papers, books, diaries, notes, etc. I have some notes with pictures of fish, to work out fish/barrel packaging techniques. They take the notes away, promising to return them later. As it happens, they do so. Our subsequent discovery of a public library containing vast knowledge makes me suspect that my little deformed-taiga / barrel packing problem will be puzzled over by generations of scholars to come.

Inside the town, apart from Tegan noticing that a third of the populace is immolated, we progress to the nearest market, with help from Ars. He has to leave us, after showing us the spice markets, but gives us directions to a nearby souk, where we can meet him again. The spice markets are, live the rest of Samakar, very crowded and loud. The spice merchant we did business with had a wide range of addictive substances, some of which were very good and reasonably priced. He also had Takh, which allows you to change your visions of the future, and thence change the future. You need to buy the right potion for the event you wish to change however - short victorious wars, strong first sons, prosperous business ventures, etc. Tegan tried a sample, but I'm not sure she knew which one. We also bought the package of spice that the vendor had put aside for the dwarves a few decades ago (conveniently to hand, possibly due to a vision of the vendor?). Tegan starts chatting to an Angel of Michael, who is lost. She invites him to a nearby souk, where we can all get directions to the nearest temple of Michael. We play along with her vision, and even engage in indirect conversation with this hallucination, who calls itself Loriel. Loriel is in town to help out on a divine exorcism, but is happy to put his feet up and have a drink of brandy, as the exorcism won't start until he arrives. While I think we are in a different souk to that which Ars recommended, Ars turns up shortly and chats as well. I don't even think S-P-Y, and the rest seem unsurprised. Having mixed the evils of alcohol with the headiness of divine conversation and a cocktail of various mystic spices, Tegan then tries to induce a vision. She sees a stranger, who goes to kiss her (which she regards as a common reaction to her presence), and a demon leaps out of his mouth and bites her head off. She replays the vision, and cuts the stranger's head off with her short sword - or the table knife, as it appears to us.

As a break from trying drugs, we decide to join Loriel in his religious duties. The Temple of Michael is in the Street of Temples. A huge tower topped with a bell dominates the street; it is dedicated to Mazda, the local fire god. Loriel and Tegan chat about the conflagration she (and possibly he) is witnessing; apparently it is a sign of the Mazda faithful. The Powers of Light Temple has no supporting beams, and its roof is held up by faith; I don't know how they got planning approval. Inside there is a priest, Brother Hammer of God, in the middle of what looks like a remove curse ritual, on some poor bound and writhing figure. When Loriel turns up, Br HoG extracts the demon, Loriel kills it with a single stroke, and then wanders off into the city. Tegan is obviously overcome with religious fervour, and says "If I don't kiss someone soon, I might never be able to safely". We lead her away, towards the gates.

In our seventeenth market (I think), we pass by a menagerie seller; or rather, we stop, and engage in haggling for all sorts of goods. Tegan buys a capuchin monkey for 6sp, then a pair of [[Squibbon]]s for 2 gs each. We discover the meaning of 'happy as a sackful of Squibbons. The monkey is terrified of the herbivorous Squibbons - later we learn that Squibbons like to dash out monkey brains for fun (and that they treat any other living thing weighing less than 10 pounds similarly). I save a local government official from a rioting mob, to the rest of the party's disgust. I guess they are fans of small government. Having gone past the chained orc several times, Tegan's consumerist tendencies are worn down, and she purchases him too. We return to the ship around mid afternoon.

At the ship, we learn that the Orc, Archak, is a Bakran, a noble Orc from the plane of Salamaka (a plane visited several times before by Guild parties), whose family has been wiped out and disgraced by rival Bakran. He has a daughter studying at the secret special forces training base known as the [[Southhaven Academy for Girls]]. He tells us the current price for Scorpion's head in Salamaka is 75,000, and for Damien the Black, 50,000. He is happy to be Tegan's slave, despite being capable of killing the entire party ten times over with a runcible spoon. He has been an ally of the [[Calamar]] and [[Swordsworld]] forces, and a respectful enemy of the [[Beltan Elves]]. They are a little wary in having him on board, but are soon diverted by the [[Squibbon]]s. We get requested for four of them, and whip back to the city before our carpets expire. This time, it doesn't take too long to purchase what we need, with Imri cracking the whip every time anyone turns to look at anything.

===5 Meadow===
We fly North and East. It's warm.

===6 Meadow===
We fly North and East. It's cool.

===7 Meadow===
We fly North and East. It's cold.

===8 Meadow===
We fly North and East. Ice freezes on my whiskers.

===9 Meadow===
We fly North and East. From inside my carpet, I see Tegan, the arctic ranger, finally looks content.

'''I don't know how many days we flew north.'''

===I think its still Meadow===
We reach Lake Baikai. It's a frozen desolate lake over five hundred miles long and scores of miles wide, wending through a regular ocean of conifer trees. Apparently its summer here, but the lake is solid ice, and the ground covered with snow. After scouting the area, the Claw descends so we can disembark, and then heads off to some alternative reality. It looks like a long walk home. Imri sis given a Nexus Crawler by the Elves, which is a device/construct/creature that we can use to summon them.

We approach the nearest small set of buildings, hoping to find a quiet fishing village. Instead, its a quiet company of engineers from the Swordsworld. We talk to the chief plumber, who seems to mistake us for a new troop of foot-soldiers. Archak has a quick chat with him in a foreign language (it could be betrayal, warning, or setting the scene for us, but we can't take him on, and he gets all huffy when someone suggests he could do anything dishonourable by his lights, so I let it go). We tell an unfortunate (and true) story about being dressed for Arabie, and preferring to be there, but ending up being sent here to secure a supply of taiga, and ask for a situation briefing. After friendly agreements about the competence of bureaucrats, and a bit of a fire-side chat, he advises us to head ten miles along the lake, to see Harold of Innsbrook to get the taiga. He even leads us a sleigh, which the party is keen on, for some silly reason. I don't know if he is on to us or not, but he strongly suggests we avoid Officer Sasha, the Guardian of Morality.

Making our way back into the wilderness with our twenty barrels, Tegan, her wolf, her monkey, and her orc, seem keen on a ten miles slog through the snow. I point out that we have five carpets and could fly to Innsbrook in 15 minutes, rather than an all-day hike. Tegan is noticeably unimpressed, and declares she is going to use the sleigh. Archak takes her side, and that is that. We split the party. All the sensible people pick up a rope with a string of four barrels each, and fly off, after indicating a likely half-hour return. We fly for fifteen minutes, and landing in a clearing of trees a couple of hundred yards outside Innsbrook. Imri fails to ship her oars in time, and crashes into a tree, before landing on the barrels, destroying one and cracking another. The rest of us land and unload our barrels. Imri gets her healing magic ready, and we agree to leave her alone and unseen, while the rest of us fly off to chivvy Tegan into the air. '''Do we take Imri's carpet?? '''

Meanwhile, Tegan's menagerie flushes out a drunk from the bushes. His advice is 'Drink, if you are going to Innsbrook - it kills them if you drink this'. Apparantly the drunk sees people climbing into people's heads and controlling them, but they can't stand alcohol, so he is the only one who is not controlled by the evil forces. He doesn't name the forces of evil as Sobriety, and Tegan & Archak drink with him. The drink's got enough of a kick that an elite superorc like Archak coughs and is cautious on the second gulp. The drunken mutterings continue, as Tegan swallows a yarn about the Fishgod being behind the brain-eating, as ['''something scrawled - bad handwriting'''] broke the seal, and they came swimming out of the depths. Calamar? Tequila worms? Whatever.

Leaving Imri behind with the barrels, we fly back looking for Tegan. By the time we findher, she, Archak, and even her little monkey are decidedly drunk. We land on the edge of the ice and they regale us with their fragments of conspiracy theory. After the first sentence, Jules is drinking, and Vladimir joins him shortly thereafter. Rahne is a little more cautious, and I still firmly believe in abstinence. Eventually we round up the monkey, wolf, barrels, Archak and Tegan, and weave our way back to where we left Imri. Imri, on hearing the tale, decides that only the sober people should be sent into town, which aggravates the surly drunks, but amuses me. Eventually we all sneak into town, with Rahne and Imri having had small swigs of the foul grain alcohol. I'm protected from any mind attacks through a careful blend of herbs and spices, selected in Arabie, and blended in the snows of Ruska.

The village seems almost deserted, run-down and derelict. Vladimir's extra sensory perception picks up a few people wandering the village, one in a hut alone, and three in another. Around 80 people are deep underground, in some sort of religious trance. We visit the lone person in a hut, but their doors are barred, and they scream when we approach; after both magic and brute force fail to open the doors, we circle around to the three-person hut. We are met by some friendly dwarves. Tegan sees they have horns and tails, but they seem fine to the rest of us. We chat with them for a while. As far as fish-catching, tea-drinking, polite, friendly, social and decidedly above-ground dwarves go, they seem normal enough. Hearing our problem, they offer to help us fish. They dismiss the people underground as 'just the humans'. We move our gear into the hut and settle in. We do not share food with them, as we have been warned 'do not feed the fishermen'.

Around dusk, the humans return from their netherworld ceremony, and wander around the village oddly for a bit before disappearing. We have watches throughout the night, from the loft above the dwarves where we are sleeping. Due to strict elven watch protocol we do not have a light burning, and as Imri is the only one who sees well at night this leads to minor problems, despite the night being only 5 hours long and not particularly deep. Sometime after midnight, something clammy crawls over my neck and face; I <s>scream like a girl</s> alert the rest of the party, and there is some confusion and kafuffle until a lantern is lit. Vlad believes that the denizen is now downstairs, as our hosts rouse themselves from that place and enquire as to our health. Given that it is now their problem, and they are not the least but concerned, we settle down again.

===Lets call it the Eleventh, shall we===
Shortly it becomes light, and a few hours later, it is time to get up. We have our (separate) breakfast and medicinal doses, then join the dwarves in preparing to fish. Jules and Tegan spot that the house with the locked doors is now open and empty, with signs of a struggle, but find no clues. Rahne has come down sick, as a reaction to the grain alcohol. The rest of us help chip the overnight ice off the boat, and then haul it a couple of hundred yards over the lake ice until its weight breaks through the thinning crust, and it can be rowed. Imri is very keen to get us away from the village and chivvies us along relentlessly.

The 'longboat' is short, crowded and uncomfortable, and rocks incessantly. Imri's mage current takes us over the frozen expanses of the lake as our breath freezes in front of us. After a long time, the boat stops, and the slow, painstaking process of fishing takes place. It appears to involve nets, lines with hooks, a large number of worms and pieces of dead fish, and a lot of waiting. I sit quietly on a pile of carpets, waiting for it to be over. Imri is also impatient, and wants us to finish after we've caught a few fish. To speed things up, after summoning aquatics once or twice and talking to them, she suggests a technique called 'burley', which involves gutting Jules like a fish, and letting them feed on his intestines. If course, she doesn't explain this to us fully, and gets him to start slowly by putting a little blood in the water. Within a couple of minutes, not only do we have full nets, but a large tentacle has come out of the depths and grabbed the bait. Someone (?Rahne? Vladimar?) slashes at the tentacle, while I haul back on Jules. When he falls into my lap on the pile of carpets, I take off, circling in case the rest of the party is still attacked. However, once the bait is out of reach, the water horror descends to its stygian depths again. I drop Jules back on shore, and then cautiously circle back to the ship. It is heading back to land, as Imri has definitely had enough fishing now, despite the rest of the party being keen to press on. We have caught 2 barrels worth of Taiga.

Once on shore, we are even more suspicious of Imri's behaviour. We leave the barrels outside town as we return, and then we ply her with alcohol (? I think?). Shortly thereafter, she spits out a 4 inch long water scorpion (that is, an eight-legged segmented creature that appears to be made of water) that has been lodged at the back of her tongue, controlling her mind and body. Imri recovers herself quickly at that point, and talks to the creature. It is a water spirit, like a baby elemental, that comes from the plane of Ythanamai (see the earlier reference to a book bearing this name). We decide to leave the village forthwith. Rahne and Vladimir head towards the dwarf's hut to get our gear, while Jules scouts around, and the rest of us stay in the woods. I don't think I have taken quite the right combination of spices, as the world is a little surreal, but it seems that the townsfolk have become aware that we are no longer friendly - perhaps we kill Imri's possessor? They form a number of mobs, and start searching around for us.

Those of us who faded back into the woods are spotted, and Archak and the wolf hold them off long enough for the flight magics to be cast, and the womenfolk (Imri and Tegan) swept up and rescued. Meanwhile, Rahne and Vladimir thump some of the people who are searching the huts for them. It seems that repeatedly stabbing a body renders it inert of scant seconds, but beating it unconscious with a pommel to the side of the head is more effective. They then pretend to be in the loft, with the help of some brook handles and invisibility, and the rest of their attackers swarm up the stairs, allowing them to walk out with the gear. Jules runs distraction for some of the others, and they make their way out of the village laden down with all the gear we didn't bring fishing. A few minutes later, we meet up a half mile outside town. Some massed chanting rises from the village, and we become apprehensive. We have only two flying spells on, and no opportunity to cast more for several more hours, so we decide to relay the party at least ten miles further away, in case something bad happens.

It takes another hour and a half, but the party is finally ensconced in a warm campsite, with a fire, and a meal starting to cook, as the last of the party are brought in. I keep watch from just above the trees, and alert the party to a giant form rising out of the water - its an elemental that's hundreds of feet high, one of the Great Ones. We hunker down and wait, while the earth shakes, and Imri can hear the giant creature calling out that it can't find us. We are glad that we managed to get far enough away, and then hunkered down before the summoning had finished. Meanwhile, Tegan has lured in a wolf with howling (no need for a summoning), and starts talking to it about the surrounding area. It seems that the human village is known by the wild animals as easy pickings, due to the unusual behaviour of its inhabitants. There are no other unusual villages that it is aware of. Tegan also gets directions to a group of 3 witches living nearby that have taught the wolves about magic and various human behaviours. After a hot meal, we rest and wait out the night.

===That makes today the Twelfth ===
The next morning, bright and early, we cast flying magics and head off into the wilderness. We fly for around 3 hours along the side of the lake, and then spot another fishing village. Vlad and Rahne investigate cautiously, then we all follow in once it appears to be safe. The village is bustling, and has a lot of new construction. There is also an inn! The locals appear to be speaking Ruskan, although the inn keeper speaks enough elvish to organise two rooms and a hot lunch, and a few of the others speak a smattering, so we can make our intent known. We negotiate with the local fishermen, and for the princely sum of 55 sp, we get a boat and many eager fishermen happy to catch 18 barrels worth of Taiga. It appears that hard currency is uncommon here.

That afternoon Imri goes fishing, with Rahne and me to keep her company, as there is no need for everyone to be on board, and the boats are a little cramped. The rest laze around, resting and recovering from the vicissitudes of travel. The boat is no more stable than the last, and the horrid incessant lapping of water and sudden lurches as people move around made it impossible to rest, or even relax for a moment. Imri spends some time listening to the call of the deep. However, the fishermen seem competent, and several barrels of fish are caught, gutted, and packed.

Back at the inn, a group of horsemen come riding in. They are from the local lord, who lives in a manor house a few miles away. They interrogate the party mildly, via the innkeeper. Once Imri gets back, we answer their questions via Elvish, as their smattering of Lunar wasn't enough to be clear. We are invited to the lord's house for dinner tonight. A coach has been sent for. After an hour or two of cleaning up and resting, we get into the coach for a bumpy ride - suspension and springs appear to have not made it this far east. We talk to the local Boyar, or hereditary feudal overlord of the area. He is relatively civilised (i.e. much more so than we), and has a wish to bring modern attitudes, technology and customs to his backwards province, starting with an influx of settlers and cosmopolitan ideas. He speaks Elvish, Erehleine, Lunar, Ellenic, and of course 'Common', the Ruskan tongue. He was educated somewhere far away to the south and west. He is interested to hear about the possessed village in the next province, and believes that he can <s>seize</s> liberate the village and surrounding lands. He is a little concerned about the Swordsworld people, but not overly so. He commits to a contract to purchase a score of carpets, if I can deliver them via our flying ship (logistics are always tricky). We chat long into the gathering dusk. Eventually we are loaded into the coach and roll back down the hill to the village, where we sleep soundly.

===Thirteenth, Unlucky for Some===
It's minus 5 and snowing - must be time to go fishing again. Imri and some of the other hardier folk bundle up and head out fishing; I fly cover in case of kraken, Swordsworlders, or whatever. They bring back a fish in a bucket. The fish is possessed by cooperative a water scorpion/spirit/baby elemental. We question it in the water, in the bucket on the lake, and on land. It tells us of the formless world of Ythanamei, where they are not individuals, and are without minds or functions, and of the excitement of coming through the gap between worlds, and the curiosity and desire to learn and experiment with a world that has solidity and boundaries, land and sky, things to talk to, and so much to discover. It tells us of the portal or crack in reality and the bottom of the lake; of the Great Ones, the major elementals who can come through for a short time only; and the myriad of Outer Ones like itself. We estimate the portal is about a yard across. We convince Imri and Rahne not to kill the water spirit immediately, but instead transport it to the Boyar, and show it to him, before dispatching it. He is interested and concerned, and promises that is there is something he can do to help, he will do so. We remind him of the importance of drinking heavily when fighting these things.

==Fourteenth; the New Moon is good for Fishing==
We fish. More fish are caught. They are gutted and packed. It is the New Moon.

==Fifteenth; still having Barrels of fun==
We fish. More fish are caught, gutted and packed, and finally all our barrels are full. We activate the nexus crawler, and shortly afterwards The Assimilator's Claw and the survivors of Captain Toric's crew turn up. The ship has been thoroughly melted, and around half the crew are missing. It looks like fishing isn't the worst thing we could have been doing after all! We load up the 19 barrels of spiced Taiga fish, and brief Toric on the events. Our version concentrates much more on the necessity to plug a void where inter-dimensional invaders are coming through, and less on the repeated gutting of fish. As we have no namers or rune mages, and neither does the ship's crew, Cpt Toric recommends the use of a magic circle. This device is a circle with various patterns and interweavings made from wrought iron, and if placed around a small crack between realities, it should seal the gap (from that side, anyway).
[[Image: Magic_Circle_to_seal_Ythanamei.jpg|right|200px]]

We also mention the rear-echelon Swordsworlders, although the Beltan elves don't seem too concerned. They think it would be a good opportunity for us to pick up a Guardian of Morality, as they are quite valuable to the opposition, although not dangerous per se - kind of like a chaplain. Of course, what an inter-dimensional Beltan battle ship regards as a soft target may not be easy for us. We wish the Beltan elves good luck, and assure them that the rest of our mission should not take too long. They head off into another battle - I have no idea how elves get to be such a long-lived folk, given this crew's war schedule, and the excessive partying of the other Alfheim elves.

That evening, back at our little snow-side village, we ask the blacksmith if he can whip up a magic circle about a yard across, from the picture we have been given. It is completely beyond his skill, but he reckons that the smiths in the 'big city' of Omsk should be able to produce one, it would probably take a week to make. We get directions to Omsk, which is about a week's travel away on foot (so, probably 70-80 miles, or 2 hours by carpet).

We decide to explore the depths of Lake Baikai to scout and measure the hole.

==Sixteenth; a punt on the lake ==
We borrow a boat big enough for all of us, Imri casts Water Breathing on everyone, Cold Protection on the divers (Imri, Vlad, Tegan and Archak), Mage current to take us out there, then attempts to Bind Water for a couple of hours trying to ignore the distractions by the water creatures but fails and is eventually too exhausted to continue.
We return to our inn to rest and try again tomorrow.

==Seventeenth; a refreshing dip ==
We try again, this time Tegan also puts Night Vision on the divers and Rahne shares a cup of tea with Imri to help clear her mind. Jules tries making Imri invisible which probably helps as the water creatures seem less intrusive.
This time the Binding holds, Vlad checks that there aren't dozens of water creatures lurking below us in ambush and finds that the Bound Water has a mind. Tegan then refuses to go into the bound water, Archak won't go without Tegan and Imri won't go with only two of them. Jules flies Tegan back to land so she can cast Night Vision on him, then returns and Ibrihim knocks himself out putting Cold Protection on Jules.
With limited time left on the various spells, the divers follow the directions of the bound water to find the 2' wide portal on a ledge about 7,000' below the surface.
They take measurements and Jules leaves a locatable stone that Rahne had prepared earlier.

Back on land Imri and Ibrihim are exhausted, Rahne and Jules have sufficient duration remaining on their carpets to fly to Omsk, so they set off with the picture of the circle and the portal measurements.

At Omsk they find that they and the locals have very few languages in common, making use of a hundred words in Elven and lots of hand gestures they find an inn, find a blacksmith and commission him to make the circle.

When the rest of the party flies in later in the evening, Jules is partying with the local lumberjacks and Rahne is quietly sipping tea at the inn.

==Eighteenth; forging a sign ==
Rahne introduces Imri to the smith, and keeps an eye on his oldest apprentice while Imri sorts out the mistranslations.
The sign will take three days to make, the smith has put all of his other work on hold as his old master had told him about signs like this and when they were requested the need would be dire.
He also suggests we seek the help of the priests in the capital.

We decide to try the local priest first. It turns out the local priest speaks some common as he had served with the Tomsk army under some western generals.
Since we are mages he thinks we should be fine with the circle and won't need the priests.

==Nineteenth; mind your fingers ==
The smith has worked non-stop on the sign and has it ready for us in the morning. He is keen for us to take his oldest apprentice back with us as it is time for him to start his journeyman years, regretfully we decline as he is too big for us to carry and does not have any experience flying.

Rahne carries the sign on the flight back, it starts to get warmer as we approach the lake.
We make our preparations and head back out on the lake.
Ibrihim prepares a wooden frame for the circle so we don't need to be holding it when we put it over the portal.
This time Imri, Vlad, Ibrihim and Rahne go down to the portal. Rahne carefully places the circle over the portal, the portal folds in on itself, closing and taking the circle and the part of the frame where our hands would otherwise have been with it.

Back on land we head off to see the local lord and report our success.
...

== Twentieth; excuse me meister ==

Fly to the Swordsworld controlled village.
Abduct a painter who used to be a lumberjack and interrogate him about the Guardian.
Sneak into town after dark, Rahne knocks on the Guardians door, smiles and asks for the Guardian, when he answers Archak grabs him and everyone heads for the hills.

We summon The Assimilator's Claw and are surprised when The Eternal Vengeance turns up. They have our fish and remember dealing with us but we don't remember them. After much confusion they tell us that this sort of thing happens to them sometimes, reality is frequently a casualty of multi-dimensional battles.

== Twenty-First; out of the war zone ==

We fly towards Elfheim.

== Twenty-Second; into the fire ==

After briefly docking at the tallest tower of the upper city, we are dropped at freight docks in the lower city.
Imri hires porters to take us and the barrels to the warehouse.
The porters tell us it is dangerous to move food around town because of the shortages, so we mark them all as sand hoping to avoid trouble.
The porters also tell us that a spy from Seagate was recently caught. The spy claimed to be something called a Journalist but was taking so many notes on the civil issues that she was obviously a spy for Isil-Eth.

At the warehouse they reluctantly accept the fish, it turns out the Privy Chancellor is concerned that sending adventurers to fetch luxury goods for the palace when there is a general food shortage in Elfheim may cast him in a bad light.

We head to the upper city to find the Privy Chancellor and get it all sorted out.
Archak wears some token manacles to avoid trouble.
There is some sort of protest rally in the upper city.
The guards are concerned about Dwarf smuggling and several Elves ask Imri who she supports and if she supports freedom for all Elves.

The Privy Chancellor is in the middle of a party and drugged to the eyeballs.
He thinks Isil-Eth has hired us to kill him so is blowing his fortune on one last party for all his friends. We assure him we are working for him and have no plans to kill him which makes him depressed because now he's destitute and would we just kill him to end the suffering.
Imri convinces him to relocate the party to somebody else's party to save whatever he has left and hopefully to sober him up so we can get some sense.
He loves the idea and they take the party and us to the palace of the Princess.
The Privy Chancellors drug enhanced orgy goers don't seem to mesh well with the Princess' diplomatic high tea but we miss that fun as Imri drags us back to the Privy Chancellors palace to await his sober return.

== Twenty-Fifth; the cook, the cloud, and 19 barrels of fish ==
After three days we suspect the Chancellor might not be coming back, he is not locatable within 15 miles of Eidolon.

We decide to try visiting the palace cook. After getting lost in the palace gardens we ask for directions and eventually reach the kitchens.
He sends a scullion to help us get a cloud and bring the barrels of fish to the kitchen.
We hear the Chancellor has fled the city after ruining delicate political negotiations at the Princess' palace, we deny all knowledge of the event and promptly leave town too.

We fly towards Bergelfen and camp for the night in the pass.

== Twenty-Sixth; The Barracks of Bergelfen ==
Arriving in Bergelfen we get directions to Isil-Eth's chambers above (what is now) the Beltan barracks.
One of her aides shows us the entrance to the Slow Portal to Seagate.

After three hours of slogging through the swamp and arguing about whether we should have flown we climb over sacks of carrots and onions and emerge from a cupboard below the guild kitchens.

We report to Isil-Eth, Ibrihim negotiates our pay while we try to play up the positives of our mission and play down the negatives.

Isil-Eth is not impressed that the Privy Chancellor has fled and wants us to sort it out and bring him back. She thinks he will have fled to his mother, Lady Talis.

== Twenty-Seventh; Don't fly in the Swamp ==

On our way back to the Slow Portal, guild security warns us not to leave the path under any circumstances and flying within the portal would be fatal.

Flying back through the pass from Bergelfen we land in a field that some Elves are clearing of yellow flowers and camp at its edge.

== First of Heat; Lady Talis ==

After several days flying and camping we eventually reach [[Alfheim#Merche and Adjac|Merche]] and seek an audience at the palace with Lady Talis.

She is extremely disappointed and embarrassed by her son and has exiled him to guard the western border.
We are allowed to go and fetch him back to Eidolon but we are not to bring him back through here as she does not want to see him.

She directs us to an inn to stay in for the night. The inn is as palatial as the Privy Chancellors palace, but with better food and service. We are concerned at the cost but Ibrihim assures us it's a reasonable expense as this is the sort of place Isil-Eth would stay at.

== Second of Heat; Welcome to the border ==

After a few hours flight (170 miles) west we spot the border outpost and land to walk in.

Just as we regain our feet we are ambushed. A flight of arrows from the forest scatter us and leave Ibrihim bleeding on the ground.
Archak, Rahne, and Vlad take the fight to the attacking elves and are soon supported by the rest of the party.
The elves are all defeated but at Imri's insistence, not killed.

Marching and dragging our prisoners we head into the tower and hand them over to the guards demanding justice (apparently this translated into Elven as please heal them and slap their hands for being naughty).

We seek audience with Maristal but he is too drunk to make much sense. We rest and are healed while Ibrihim sobers up the Privy Chancellor.

Once sober, Maristal is reluctant to return. We tell him that Isil Eth values his work and specifically requested his return, this changes his mind and we are soon on board the cloud he summons and flying back to Eidolon.

== Third of Heat; Eight by Cloud ==
We fly...

== Fourth of Heat; Facing the music ==
We stay with Maristal until he has safely reached his palace in the upper city.
Deciding that we have done enough damage to Elven society, we leave Maristal to face the music and start flying back to Elfenburg.

== Fifth of Heat; Last cold night ==
After one last cold night camping out in the mountain pass, we arrive in Elfenburg.

Isil Eth is not here so we continue to Seagate via the slow portal to report the completion of our mission.

==Notes==

Thanks for all the fish

2026-06-06T04:17:27Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:William]][[Category:Scribe notes]]
[[Category:Imri]]
[[Category:Vladimir]]
[[Category:Tegan]]
[[Category:Ibrihim]]
[[Category:Julius]]
[[Category:Rahne]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer 809 WK| Scribe notes]] 
= Summary =
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
'''Adventure''': Thanks for all the fish 
'''GM''': [[William]] 
'''Session''': [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Summer 809 wk]] 
'''Night''': Often Wednesday 
'''Level''': Low 
'''Location''': TBA 
'''Party''':
*[[Imri]] - Elven Water Mage, Leader
*[[Vladimir]] - Human Mind Mage, Fishing Commander
*[[Tegan]] - Human Earth Mage
*[[Ibrihim]] - Human Air/Desert Mage, Scribe
*[[Julius|Jules]] - Human E&E Mage
*[[Rahne]] - Kinlu Human Warrior-Philosopher (backup E&E)

'''Employer''':
Her Majesty's Privy Councillor, Maristal. That is, the Alfheim Crown.

'''Payment''': Reasonable expenses and guild rates of 200sp/week from [[Isil Eth]] and Eternal Gratitude from someone else.

'''Problem''': The stocks of Baikai Taiga are at an all time low at the palace. Go get some more before the cook kills himself and functional diplomacy grinds to a halt. They come from Ruska.

==Diary==
===1 Meadow===
: Maristal is an elven courtier dressed in gold trinkets in not quite the worse possible taste. His frazzled and distracted manner means that he pulls off an air of misplaced-sock-guy, rather than regal Privy Councillor. He tells us that the Queen may want some cool fish soon, and as the palace has run out of the right fish, the Palace Chef will not be able to fulfil her request, forcing him to quit (at best), and destroying the reputation of the Palace Kitchens and thus the Crown's capacity for diplomacy. The fish comes from Ruska. We agree to meet him at the Elven Embassy in Seagate later that afternoon, after completing some research and administration.

: We elect Imri, the Elven Water mage as the leader, due to her (a) being elvish, (b) knowing fish, (c) having adventured more than once. Vladimir is made Fishing Commander, in lieu of Military Scientist, and Ibrihim is gifted scribe.

:We go to the Guild library. They are mainly very helpful. Apparently Ruska is not a province of Alfheim, but an empire in its own right, taking up most of the middle of the northern part of the continent. It will take 2 months to sail to Ruska, heading north into the Frozen Ocean, then around the Arctic Circle through sea ice, pack ice, and icebergs. Overland, one needs to go well past the Lunar Empire, which is at the eastern edge of our understanding. We get a map of the continent, with half the map blank apart form the word "Ruska". We also get lent a book "The Splendour of Ythanamai", by Obidiah, which appears to be a guide to sea life, with pictures - more on this later.

: We catch a ride into town on the Ambassador's (spare?) Coach, a wondrous vehicle worth a million pennies melted down, and as we realise, even more whole. It glides smoothly down the hill, then eases its way through packed streets of vermin and commonality with ne'er a ripple or bump, until it stops outside the Embassy. There is a decadent and sybaritic party underway inside. The air is toxic and it is difficult to see the far side of the room, due to the dense Krrf fug; I decline to Detect Fumes. We mingle for a short period, and realise that most of the guests are pleasant, high, unstable, and have a completely different idea of appropriate behaviour than anything we have experienced. We manage to follow a waiter with an empty tray, and escape into the Kitchens.

:The kitchens are run efficiently, with mostly local staff. The elvish aboyeur, or possibly sous-chef, intercepts us, and directs us to the cold store, where the Palace Chef is sitting huddled, rocking backwards and forwards. Once we let him know we are here to get his fish, he becomes relatively animated, although still fragile and slightly unhinged. We take him onto the balcony, to warm up. He tells us that he is out of fish, and that Doran brings them. Doran hasn't brought any fish for 40 years, and they've just run out. Doran is apparently a Dwarf from the Iron Peaks. The sort of fish that the chef is out of is Baikai taiga, from Lake Baikai. He starts to provide us with the recipe for making them, but we don't pay a great deal of attention.

:Most of the party head over to the aboyeur and check transport options. The fish need to be transported to the Palace in Eidolon, Alfhiem. He directs us to Lucas, the leader of 'The Returned' - who are the stern looking people in green armour that aren't drinking or smoking, and only eating lightly. They are in defensive clusters in a couple of corners. Imri approaches one of them, having neatly avoided getting engaged on the way (a prospective partner starts looking for her fiancé to duel). She explains the urgency of the matter, the worry at the highest levels of the administration, and the personal requirements of her Majesty, and then segues into a request for transportation to secure vital supplies for the continuation of the Crown. These military men keenly volunteer to assist, as long as discussions can occur outside the room, before they collapse from the effects of passive smoking. While Lake Baikai in Ruska is part of a ''contested area'', they are happy to travel there. An offer is made to travel via the Hellgates, if the mission is urgent. After verifying that they are not using a euphemism or metaphor, Imri demurs, over concerns that the fumes and heat of Hell could damage the delicate and critical supplies we are seeking. Their alternative plan is to travel by ship, which may take three or four days to reach the lake (a thousand miles a day, overland?). The downside of this approach is the chance of reavers, pirates, and enemy interception, but that all sounds safer than demonic customs agents to us. We agree to meet Force Leader Lucas on the west Common at dawn tomorrow, with a detailed itinerary.

:Meanwhile, the increasingly unstable Palace Chef has fallen off the balcony, and passed out, so is carried back inside where he is tended by the kitchen first aid team.

:We return to the Guild Library, where Imri carefully reads Obidiah's "The Splendour of Ythanamai". The Librarians would be much faster at finding the information, but its on the list of books that are too dangerous to read. The book containing the reasons why the book is too dangerous to read is also on the list. We set a watch over Imri, and she reads on. Amongst other factoids, we learn:
:* In the stygian depths of the Baikai Lake, there is a crevice or crevasse in which there lies a passage to the Plane of Water, where the Elementals Lords dwell. The appropriate way to prepare the traditional human sacrifice / guest-gift is provided, in exacting detail - the filleting is particularly precise.
:* The Speak to Aquatics spell is listed in the middle of a descriptive passage of another waterway; presumably it works like a scroll.
:* The [[Calamar]] are described, with lemon and bread crumbs.
:* A fish from a particular Isle of Adventure provides great powers for a year; however the directions to the isle are clearly garbled or encoded, and the passage is worthless.
:* The Baikai Lake is huge - several hundred miles long, and perhaps a hundred miles wide. It is very far north, and frozen for ten months of the year. Exports of the local areas are predominantly Reindeer and Elk Velvet. The area is currently occupied by [[Swordworlds]] troops, who are slaves of the [[Calamar]].

:We suddenly realise it is after midnight, and before we head off to bed, those still awake stop in at the Astrologers' Tower for some good advice. The Astrologer had not yet mastered questions, but could provide each of us with an appropriate answer, if we could later determine the correct question. They were:
::* "Do not feed the fisherman" - Ibrihim
::* "No, it was merely rendered unconscious" - Imri
::* "Trust the drunken man" - Vladimir

===2 Meadow===
:We are up before dawn, after less than 4 hours sleep. We take our gear, including the cold weather gear and recently purchased carpets (120sp each, if you don't already have one of Ibrihim's Magic Flying Carpets®), and head down to the western common. We find a bizarre contrivance, a kind of giant catamaran with a series of spikes instead of oars, masts, and rigging. We are greeted by Captain Toric, skipper of The Assimilator's Claw, a freshly-build crystal ship from Eidolon. We find out that while it is only 5 weeks since it left the ship builders' yards, it has already been in four pitched battled. The marines on duty appear willing to launch into their fifth at any moment. Once we are assured that the cabins are enchanted to descend to the earth safety if the ship breaks up, we suddenly elect to stay on deck. The ship free-falls to around 18,000 feet, and then starts to fall sideways - it is soon doing somewhere in excess of a hundred miles an hour (or more than 39mph, anyway). This altitude is apparently ideal, as we can't be seen from below or above. For the rest of our time on this vessel, we intermittently glance up into the blue-purple sky, wary of what could be watching. The ship is powered by Living Crystal and Words of Power. As long as its magic, that's alright.

:Shortly after lunch, we arrive at the Iron Peaks, a dwarven protectorate of Alfheim which lies to its South East, probably just north of the Lunar Empire, or something - we've covered an awful lot of geography already. The Claw descends to just above a mountain shoulder, and we climb to the ground on a rope ladder. After walking down the river valley for a mile or so, we find neatly farmed fields and a carven entrance to a large dwarven town. We talk to a senior dwarf (Name?, Job?), and find out a lot about the trade missions that Doran undertook:
:* The dwarves run a trade caravan all over central and eastern Alusia. It takes about five years for the caravan to complete the round trip. They send out a new caravan every ten years or so, and trade various goods up and down the route, finally brining a collection of the goods back to Eidolon.
:* The route passes through the Lunar Empire, Arabie, Hindia, Ruska, and other places we have never heard of - where is Kashmir?
:* Doran was the Senior Caravan Master. He, along with several hundred other dwarves, went out almost 40 years ago and never returned.
:* Senior Caravan Master Calan set out ten years later with several hundred more dwarves, and did not return either.
:* Several scouting parties have been sent out to determine what has happened to the caravans; they haven't returned either.
:* All this has been reported, frequently and in detail, to Eidolon, but with no response until now.
:We purchase 10 2-gallon barrels that the taiga are usually transported in, which is a standard 20 year supply. We also learn how the fish are stored - around an ounce of a very expensive Arabian spice is added to each barrel, and this keeps them fresh for decades. We resolve to head to Arabie to buy some of this spice, partially because it sounds a whole lot warmer than Baikai Lake. Returning to the Claw shortly after dusk, we set a course South and East.

===3 Meadow===
We fly all day, hopefully heading towards Arabie.
===4 Meadow===
We fly until we reach the city of [[Arabie#Samakar|Samakar]], in Arabie. It is late morning when we hove-to over a patch of desert several miles from the city. The city is a wonder to behold, but then so is our vessel. Tegan finds the city awkward to look at, as it is on fire, with a 80 yard high demon shovelling coal onto it. Did I mention that Tegan lives in some mystical metaphorical parallel world? The entire party gets rugged up, and practises a little flying before approaching the city. It turns out that Vlad is a natural, while Imri still treats a flying carpet like a rowboat. Once we straighten out, we head along the road until we are only a few hundred yards from the northern city gates. Dusting ourselves off, we hail an inbound carter, Amaris (Ars to his friends). He lets us know that the Sultan is building a Quorax, and to avoid paying the head tax, we should declare ourselves to be students. We chat and walk alongside his bullock cart. For a conveyer of mass consumable vegetable products, he seemed to know a lot about the rarer spices; fortunately, he doesn't recommend a cousin who is a spice merchant.

At the gate, the 'guards' appear suspiciously overdressed, and highly knowledgeable. When we say we are students, they ask 'where from?', and when we reply 'Seagate' (honesty is apparently effective when you have nothing to hide), they tell us there is no institution of higher learning in Seagate, only a mad mercenary guild. Both parties get highly suspicious of the other. They do a quick demon search of the cart. After quick looks at each other, we assure the guards we have no demons on us. They tell us to hand over all papers, books, diaries, notes, etc. I have some notes with pictures of fish, to work out fish/barrel packaging techniques. They take the notes away, promising to return them later. As it happens, they do so. Our subsequent discovery of a public library containing vast knowledge makes me suspect that my little deformed-taiga / barrel packing problem will be puzzled over by generations of scholars to come.

Inside the town, apart from Tegan noticing that a third of the populace is immolated, we progress to the nearest market, with help from Ars. He has to leave us, after showing us the spice markets, but gives us directions to a nearby souk, where we can meet him again. The spice markets are, live the rest of Samakar, very crowded and loud. The spice merchant we did business with had a wide range of addictive substances, some of which were very good and reasonably priced. He also had Takh, which allows you to change your visions of the future, and thence change the future. You need to buy the right potion for the event you wish to change however - short victorious wars, strong first sons, prosperous business ventures, etc. Tegan tried a sample, but I'm not sure she knew which one. We also bought the package of spice that the vendor had put aside for the dwarves a few decades ago (conveniently to hand, possibly due to a vision of the vendor?). Tegan starts chatting to an Angel of Michael, who is lost. She invites him to a nearby souk, where we can all get directions to the nearest temple of Michael. We play along with her vision, and even engage in indirect conversation with this hallucination, who calls itself Loriel. Loriel is in town to help out on a divine exorcism, but is happy to put his feet up and have a drink of brandy, as the exorcism won't start until he arrives. While I think we are in a different souk to that which Ars recommended, Ars turns up shortly and chats as well. I don't even think S-P-Y, and the rest seem unsurprised. Having mixed the evils of alcohol with the headiness of divine conversation and a cocktail of various mystic spices, Tegan then tries to induce a vision. She sees a stranger, who goes to kiss her (which she regards as a common reaction to her presence), and a demon leaps out of his mouth and bites her head off. She replays the vision, and cuts the stranger's head off with her short sword - or the table knife, as it appears to us.

As a break from trying drugs, we decide to join Loriel in his religious duties. The Temple of Michael is in the Street of Temples. A huge tower topped with a bell dominates the street; it is dedicated to Mazda, the local fire god. Loriel and Tegan chat about the conflagration she (and possibly he) is witnessing; apparently it is a sign of the Mazda faithful. The Powers of Light Temple has no supporting beams, and its roof is held up by faith; I don't know how they got planning approval. Inside there is a priest, Brother Hammer of God, in the middle of what looks like a remove curse ritual, on some poor bound and writhing figure. When Loriel turns up, Br HoG extracts the demon, Loriel kills it with a single stroke, and then wanders off into the city. Tegan is obviously overcome with religious fervour, and says "If I don't kiss someone soon, I might never be able to safely". We lead her away, towards the gates.

In our seventeenth market (I think), we pass by a menagerie seller; or rather, we stop, and engage in haggling for all sorts of goods. Tegan buys a capuchin monkey for 6sp, then a pair of [[Squibbon]]s for 2 gs each. We discover the meaning of 'happy as a sackful of Squibbons. The monkey is terrified of the herbivorous Squibbons - later we learn that Squibbons like to dash out monkey brains for fun (and that they treat any other living thing weighing less than 10 pounds similarly). I save a local government official from a rioting mob, to the rest of the party's disgust. I guess they are fans of small government. Having gone past the chained orc several times, Tegan's consumerist tendencies are worn down, and she purchases him too. We return to the ship around mid afternoon.

At the ship, we learn that the Orc, Archak, is a Bakran, a noble Orc from the plane of Salamaka (a plane visited several times before by Guild parties), whose family has been wiped out and disgraced by rival Bakran. He has a daughter studying at the secret special forces training base known as the [[Southhaven Academy for Girls]]. He tells us the current price for Scorpion's head in Salamaka is 75,000, and for Damien the Black, 50,000. He is happy to be Tegan's slave, despite being capable of killing the entire party ten times over with a runcible spoon. He has been an ally of the [[Calamar]] and [[Swordsworld]] forces, and a respectful enemy of the [[Beltan Elves]]. They are a little wary in having him on board, but are soon diverted by the [[Squibbon]]s. We get requested for four of them, and whip back to the city before our carpets expire. This time, it doesn't take too long to purchase what we need, with Imri cracking the whip every time anyone turns to look at anything.

===5 Meadow===
We fly North and East. It's warm.

===6 Meadow===
We fly North and East. It's cool.

===7 Meadow===
We fly North and East. It's cold.

===8 Meadow===
We fly North and East. Ice freezes on my whiskers.

===9 Meadow===
We fly North and East. From inside my carpet, I see Tegan, the arctic ranger, finally looks content.

'''I don't know how many days we flew north.'''

===I think its still Meadow===
We reach Lake Baikai. It's a frozen desolate lake over five hundred miles long and scores of miles wide, wending through a regular ocean of conifer trees. Apparently its summer here, but the lake is solid ice, and the ground covered with snow. After scouting the area, the Claw descends so we can disembark, and then heads off to some alternative reality. It looks like a long walk home. Imri sis given a Nexus Crawler by the Elves, which is a device/construct/creature that we can use to summon them.

We approach the nearest small set of buildings, hoping to find a quiet fishing village. Instead, its a quiet company of engineers from the Swordsworld. We talk to the chief plumber, who seems to mistake us for a new troop of foot-soldiers. Archak has a quick chat with him in a foreign language (it could be betrayal, warning, or setting the scene for us, but we can't take him on, and he gets all huffy when someone suggests he could do anything dishonourable by his lights, so I let it go). We tell an unfortunate (and true) story about being dressed for Arabie, and preferring to be there, but ending up being sent here to secure a supply of taiga, and ask for a situation briefing. After friendly agreements about the competence of bureaucrats, and a bit of a fire-side chat, he advises us to head ten miles along the lake, to see Harold of Innsbrook to get the taiga. He even leads us a sleigh, which the party is keen on, for some silly reason. I don't know if he is on to us or not, but he strongly suggests we avoid Officer Sasha, the Guardian of Morality.

Making our way back into the wilderness with our twenty barrels, Tegan, her wolf, her monkey, and her orc, seem keen on a ten miles slog through the snow. I point out that we have five carpets and could fly to Innsbrook in 15 minutes, rather than an all-day hike. Tegan is noticeably unimpressed, and declares she is going to use the sleigh. Archak takes her side, and that is that. We split the party. All the sensible people pick up a rope with a string of four barrels each, and fly off, after indicating a likely half-hour return. We fly for fifteen minutes, and landing in a clearing of trees a couple of hundred yards outside Innsbrook. Imri fails to ship her oars in time, and crashes into a tree, before landing on the barrels, destroying one and cracking another. The rest of us land and unload our barrels. Imri gets her healing magic ready, and we agree to leave her alone and unseen, while the rest of us fly off to chivvy Tegan into the air. '''Do we take Imri's carpet?? '''

Meanwhile, Tegan's menagerie flushes out a drunk from the bushes. His advice is 'Drink, if you are going to Innsbrook - it kills them if you drink this'. Apparantly the drunk sees people climbing into people's heads and controlling them, but they can't stand alcohol, so he is the only one who is not controlled by the evil forces. He doesn't name the forces of evil as Sobriety, and Tegan & Archak drink with him. The drink's got enough of a kick that an elite superorc like Archak coughs and is cautious on the second gulp. The drunken mutterings continue, as Tegan swallows a yarn about the Fishgod being behind the brain-eating, as ['''something scrawled - bad handwriting'''] broke the seal, and they came swimming out of the depths. Calamar? Tequila worms? Whatever.

Leaving Imri behind with the barrels, we fly back looking for Tegan. By the time we findher, she, Archak, and even her little monkey are decidedly drunk. We land on the edge of the ice and they regale us with their fragments of conspiracy theory. After the first sentence, Jules is drinking, and Vladimir joins him shortly thereafter. Rahne is a little more cautious, and I still firmly believe in abstinence. Eventually we round up the monkey, wolf, barrels, Archak and Tegan, and weave our way back to where we left Imri. Imri, on hearing the tale, decides that only the sober people should be sent into town, which aggravates the surly drunks, but amuses me. Eventually we all sneak into town, with Rahne and Imri having had small swigs of the foul grain alcohol. I'm protected from any mind attacks through a careful blend of herbs and spices, selected in Arabie, and blended in the snows of Ruska.

The village seems almost deserted, run-down and derelict. Vladimir's extra sensory perception picks up a few people wandering the village, one in a hut alone, and three in another. Around 80 people are deep underground, in some sort of religious trance. We visit the lone person in a hut, but their doors are barred, and they scream when we approach; after both magic and brute force fail to open the doors, we circle around to the three-person hut. We are met by some friendly dwarves. Tegan sees they have horns and tails, but they seem fine to the rest of us. We chat with them for a while. As far as fish-catching, tea-drinking, polite, friendly, social and decidedly above-ground dwarves go, they seem normal enough. Hearing our problem, they offer to help us fish. They dismiss the people underground as 'just the humans'. We move our gear into the hut and settle in. We do not share food with them, as we have been warned 'do not feed the fishermen'.

Around dusk, the humans return from their netherworld ceremony, and wander around the village oddly for a bit before disappearing. We have watches throughout the night, from the loft above the dwarves where we are sleeping. Due to strict elven watch protocol we do not have a light burning, and as Imri is the only one who sees well at night this leads to minor problems, despite the night being only 5 hours long and not particularly deep. Sometime after midnight, something clammy crawls over my neck and face; I <s>scream like a girl</s> alert the rest of the party, and there is some confusion and kafuffle until a lantern is lit. Vlad believes that the denizen is now downstairs, as our hosts rouse themselves from that place and enquire as to our health. Given that it is now their problem, and they are not the least but concerned, we settle down again.

===Lets call it the Eleventh, shall we===
Shortly it becomes light, and a few hours later, it is time to get up. We have our (separate) breakfast and medicinal doses, then join the dwarves in preparing to fish. Jules and Tegan spot that the house with the locked doors is now open and empty, with signs of a struggle, but find no clues. Rahne has come down sick, as a reaction to the grain alcohol. The rest of us help chip the overnight ice off the boat, and then haul it a couple of hundred yards over the lake ice until its weight breaks through the thinning crust, and it can be rowed. Imri is very keen to get us away from the village and chivvies us along relentlessly.

The 'longboat' is short, crowded and uncomfortable, and rocks incessantly. Imri's mage current takes us over the frozen expanses of the lake as our breath freezes in front of us. After a long time, the boat stops, and the slow, painstaking process of fishing takes place. It appears to involve nets, lines with hooks, a large number of worms and pieces of dead fish, and a lot of waiting. I sit quietly on a pile of carpets, waiting for it to be over. Imri is also impatient, and wants us to finish after we've caught a few fish. To speed things up, after summoning aquatics once or twice and talking to them, she suggests a technique called 'burley', which involves gutting Jules like a fish, and letting them feed on his intestines. If course, she doesn't explain this to us fully, and gets him to start slowly by putting a little blood in the water. Within a couple of minutes, not only do we have full nets, but a large tentacle has come out of the depths and grabbed the bait. Someone (?Rahne? Vladimar?) slashes at the tentacle, while I haul back on Jules. When he falls into my lap on the pile of carpets, I take off, circling in case the rest of the party is still attacked. However, once the bait is out of reach, the water horror descends to its stygian depths again. I drop Jules back on shore, and then cautiously circle back to the ship. It is heading back to land, as Imri has definitely had enough fishing now, despite the rest of the party being keen to press on. We have caught 2 barrels worth of Taiga.

Once on shore, we are even more suspicious of Imri's behaviour. We leave the barrels outside town as we return, and then we ply her with alcohol (? I think?). Shortly thereafter, she spits out a 4 inch long water scorpion (that is, an eight-legged segmented creature that appears to be made of water) that has been lodged at the back of her tongue, controlling her mind and body. Imri recovers herself quickly at that point, and talks to the creature. It is a water spirit, like a baby elemental, that comes from the plane of Ythanamai (see the earlier reference to a book bearing this name). We decide to leave the village forthwith. Rahne and Vladimir head towards the dwarf's hut to get our gear, while Jules scouts around, and the rest of us stay in the woods. I don't think I have taken quite the right combination of spices, as the world is a little surreal, but it seems that the townsfolk have become aware that we are no longer friendly - perhaps we kill Imri's possessor? They form a number of mobs, and start searching around for us.

Those of us who faded back into the woods are spotted, and Archak and the wolf hold them off long enough for the flight magics to be cast, and the womenfolk (Imri and Tegan) swept up and rescued. Meanwhile, Rahne and Vladimir thump some of the people who are searching the huts for them. It seems that repeatedly stabbing a body renders it inert of scant seconds, but beating it unconscious with a pommel to the side of the head is more effective. They then pretend to be in the loft, with the help of some brook handles and invisibility, and the rest of their attackers swarm up the stairs, allowing them to walk out with the gear. Jules runs distraction for some of the others, and they make their way out of the village laden down with all the gear we didn't bring fishing. A few minutes later, we meet up a half mile outside town. Some massed chanting rises from the village, and we become apprehensive. We have only two flying spells on, and no opportunity to cast more for several more hours, so we decide to relay the party at least ten miles further away, in case something bad happens.

It takes another hour and a half, but the party is finally ensconced in a warm campsite, with a fire, and a meal starting to cook, as the last of the party are brought in. I keep watch from just above the trees, and alert the party to a giant form rising out of the water - its an elemental that's hundreds of feet high, one of the Great Ones. We hunker down and wait, while the earth shakes, and Imri can hear the giant creature calling out that it can't find us. We are glad that we managed to get far enough away, and then hunkered down before the summoning had finished. Meanwhile, Tegan has lured in a wolf with howling (no need for a summoning), and starts talking to it about the surrounding area. It seems that the human village is known by the wild animals as easy pickings, due to the unusual behaviour of its inhabitants. There are no other unusual villages that it is aware of. Tegan also gets directions to a group of 3 witches living nearby that have taught the wolves about magic and various human behaviours. After a hot meal, we rest and wait out the night.

===That makes today the Twelfth ===
The next morning, bright and early, we cast flying magics and head off into the wilderness. We fly for around 3 hours along the side of the lake, and then spot another fishing village. Vlad and Rahne investigate cautiously, then we all follow in once it appears to be safe. The village is bustling, and has a lot of new construction. There is also an inn! The locals appear to be speaking Ruskan, although the inn keeper speaks enough elvish to organise two rooms and a hot lunch, and a few of the others speak a smattering, so we can make our intent known. We negotiate with the local fishermen, and for the princely sum of 55 sp, we get a boat and many eager fishermen happy to catch 18 barrels worth of Taiga. It appears that hard currency is uncommon here.

That afternoon Imri goes fishing, with Rahne and me to keep her company, as there is no need for everyone to be on board, and the boats are a little cramped. The rest laze around, resting and recovering from the vicissitudes of travel. The boat is no more stable than the last, and the horrid incessant lapping of water and sudden lurches as people move around made it impossible to rest, or even relax for a moment. Imri spends some time listening to the call of the deep. However, the fishermen seem competent, and several barrels of fish are caught, gutted, and packed.

Back at the inn, a group of horsemen come riding in. They are from the local lord, who lives in a manor house a few miles away. They interrogate the party mildly, via the innkeeper. Once Imri gets back, we answer their questions via Elvish, as their smattering of Lunar wasn't enough to be clear. We are invited to the lord's house for dinner tonight. A coach has been sent for. After an hour or two of cleaning up and resting, we get into the coach for a bumpy ride - suspension and springs appear to have not made it this far east. We talk to the local Boyar, or hereditary feudal overlord of the area. He is relatively civilised (i.e. much more so than we), and has a wish to bring modern attitudes, technology and customs to his backwards province, starting with an influx of settlers and cosmopolitan ideas. He speaks Elvish, Erehleine, Lunar, Ellenic, and of course 'Common', the Ruskan tongue. He was educated somewhere far away to the south and west. He is interested to hear about the possessed village in the next province, and believes that he can <s>seize</s> liberate the village and surrounding lands. He is a little concerned about the Swordsworld people, but not overly so. He commits to a contract to purchase a score of carpets, if I can deliver them via our flying ship (logistics are always tricky). We chat long into the gathering dusk. Eventually we are loaded into the coach and roll back down the hill to the village, where we sleep soundly.

===Thirteenth, Unlucky for Some===
It's minus 5 and snowing - must be time to go fishing again. Imri and some of the other hardier folk bundle up and head out fishing; I fly cover in case of kraken, Swordsworlders, or whatever. They bring back a fish in a bucket. The fish is possessed by cooperative a water scorpion/spirit/baby elemental. We question it in the water, in the bucket on the lake, and on land. It tells us of the formless world of Ythanamei, where they are not individuals, and are without minds or functions, and of the excitement of coming through the gap between worlds, and the curiosity and desire to learn and experiment with a world that has solidity and boundaries, land and sky, things to talk to, and so much to discover. It tells us of the portal or crack in reality and the bottom of the lake; of the Great Ones, the major elementals who can come through for a short time only; and the myriad of Outer Ones like itself. We estimate the portal is about a yard across. We convince Imri and Rahne not to kill the water spirit immediately, but instead transport it to the Boyar, and show it to him, before dispatching it. He is interested and concerned, and promises that is there is something he can do to help, he will do so. We remind him of the importance of drinking heavily when fighting these things.

==Fourteenth; the New Moon is good for Fishing==
We fish. More fish are caught. They are gutted and packed. It is the New Moon.

==Fifteenth; still having Barrels of fun==
We fish. More fish are caught, gutted and packed, and finally all our barrels are full. We activate the nexus crawler, and shortly afterwards The Assimilator's Claw and the survivors of Captain Toric's crew turn up. The ship has been thoroughly melted, and around half the crew are missing. It looks like fishing isn't the worst thing we could have been doing after all! We load up the 19 barrels of spiced Taiga fish, and brief Toric on the events. Our version concentrates much more on the necessity to plug a void where inter-dimensional invaders are coming through, and less on the repeated gutting of fish. As we have no namers or rune mages, and neither does the ship's crew, Cpt Toric recommends the use of a magic circle. This device is a circle with various patterns and interweavings made from wrought iron, and if placed around a small crack between realities, it should seal the gap (from that side, anyway).
[[Image: Magic_Circle_to_seal_Ythanamei.jpg|right|200px]]

We also mention the rear-echelon Swordsworlders, although the Beltan elves don't seem too concerned. They think it would be a good opportunity for us to pick up a Guardian of Morality, as they are quite valuable to the opposition, although not dangerous per se - kind of like a chaplain. Of course, what an inter-dimensional Beltan battle ship regards as a soft target may not be easy for us. We wish the Beltan elves good luck, and assure them that the rest of our mission should not take too long. They head off into another battle - I have no idea how elves get to be such a long-lived folk, given this crew's war schedule, and the excessive partying of the other Alfheim elves.

That evening, back at our little snow-side village, we ask the blacksmith if he can whip up a magic circle about a yard across, from the picture we have been given. It is completely beyond his skill, but he reckons that the smiths in the 'big city' of Omsk should be able to produce one, it would probably take a week to make. We get directions to Omsk, which is about a week's travel away on foot (so, probably 70-80 miles, or 2 hours by carpet).

We decide to explore the depths of Lake Baikai to scout and measure the hole.

==Sixteenth; a punt on the lake ==
We borrow a boat big enough for all of us, Imri casts Water Breathing on everyone, Cold Protection on the divers (Imri, Vlad, Tegan and Archak), Mage current to take us out there, then attempts to Bind Water for a couple of hours trying to ignore the distractions by the water creatures but fails and is eventually too exhausted to continue.
We return to our inn to rest and try again tomorrow.

==Seventeenth; a refreshing dip ==
We try again, this time Tegan also puts Night Vision on the divers and Rahne shares a cup of tea with Imri to help clear her mind. Jules tries making Imri invisible which probably helps as the water creatures seem less intrusive.
This time the Binding holds, Vlad checks that there aren't dozens of water creatures lurking below us in ambush and finds that the Bound Water has a mind. Tegan then refuses to go into the bound water, Archak won't go without Tegan and Imri won't go with only two of them. Jules flies Tegan back to land so she can cast Night Vision on him, then returns and Ibrihim knocks himself out putting Cold Protection on Jules.
With limited time left on the various spells, the divers follow the directions of the bound water to find the 2' wide portal on a ledge about 7,000' below the surface.
They take measurements and Jules leaves a locatable stone that Rahne had prepared earlier.

Back on land Imri and Ibrihim are exhausted, Rahne and Jules have sufficient duration remaining on their carpets to fly to Omsk, so they set off with the picture of the circle and the portal measurements.

At Omsk they find that they and the locals have very few languages in common, making use of a hundred words in Elven and lots of hand gestures they find an inn, find a blacksmith and commission him to make the circle.

When the rest of the party flies in later in the evening, Jules is partying with the local lumberjacks and Rahne is quietly sipping tea at the inn.

==Eighteenth; forging a sign ==
Rahne introduces Imri to the smith, and keeps an eye on his oldest apprentice while Imri sorts out the mistranslations.
The sign will take three days to make, the smith has put all of his other work on hold as his old master had told him about signs like this and when they were requested the need would be dire.
He also suggests we seek the help of the priests in the capital.

We decide to try the local priest first. It turns out the local priest speaks some common as he had served with the Tomsk army under some western generals.
Since we are mages he thinks we should be fine with the circle and won't need the priests.

==Nineteenth; mind your fingers ==
The smith has worked non-stop on the sign and has it ready for us in the morning. He is keen for us to take his oldest apprentice back with us as it is time for him to start his journeyman years, regretfully we decline as he is too big for us to carry and does not have any experience flying.

Rahne carries the sign on the flight back, it starts to get warmer as we approach the lake.
We make our preparations and head back out on the lake.
Ibrihim prepares a wooden frame for the circle so we don't need to be holding it when we put it over the portal.
This time Imri, Vlad, Ibrihim and Rahne go down to the portal. Rahne carefully places the circle over the portal, the portal folds in on itself, closing and taking the circle and the part of the frame where our hands would otherwise have been with it.

Back on land we head off to see the local lord and report our success.
...

== Twentieth; excuse me meister ==

Fly to the Swordsworld controlled village.
Abduct a painter who used to be a lumberjack and interrogate him about the Guardian.
Sneak into town after dark, Rahne knocks on the Guardians door, smiles and asks for the Guardian, when he answers Archak grabs him and everyone heads for the hills.

We summon The Assimilator's Claw and are surprised when The Eternal Vengeance turns up. They have our fish and remember dealing with us but we don't remember them. After much confusion they tell us that this sort of thing happens to them sometimes, reality is frequently a casualty of multi-dimensional battles.

== Twenty-First; out of the war zone ==

We fly towards Elfheim.

== Twenty-Second; into the fire ==

After briefly docking at the tallest tower of the upper city, we are dropped at freight docks in the lower city.
Imri hires porters to take us and the barrels to the warehouse.
The porters tell us it is dangerous to move food around town because of the shortages, so we mark them all as sand hoping to avoid trouble.
The porters also tell us that a spy from Seagate was recently caught. The spy claimed to be something called a Journalist but was taking so many notes on the civil issues that she was obviously a spy for Isil-Eth.

At the warehouse they reluctantly accept the fish, it turns out the Privy Chancellor is concerned that sending adventurers to fetch luxury goods for the palace when there is a general food shortage in Elfheim may cast him in a bad light.

We head to the upper city to find the Privy Chancellor and get it all sorted out.
Archak wears some token manacles to avoid trouble.
There is some sort of protest rally in the upper city.
The guards are concerned about Dwarf smuggling and several Elves ask Imri who she supports and if she supports freedom for all Elves.

The Privy Chancellor is in the middle of a party and drugged to the eyeballs.
He thinks Isil-Eth has hired us to kill him so is blowing his fortune on one last party for all his friends. We assure him we are working for him and have no plans to kill him which makes him depressed because now he's destitute and would we just kill him to end the suffering.
Imri convinces him to relocate the party to somebody else's party to save whatever he has left and hopefully to sober him up so we can get some sense.
He loves the idea and they take the party and us to the palace of the Princess.
The Privy Chancellors drug enhanced orgy goers don't seem to mesh well with the Princess' diplomatic high tea but we miss that fun as Imri drags us back to the Privy Chancellors palace to await his sober return.

== Twenty-Fifth; the cook, the cloud, and 19 barrels of fish ==
After three days we suspect the Chancellor might not be coming back, he is not locatable within 15 miles of Eidolon.

We decide to try visiting the palace cook. After getting lost in the palace gardens we ask for directions and eventually reach the kitchens.
He sends a scullion to help us get a cloud and bring the barrels of fish to the kitchen.
We hear the Chancellor has fled the city after ruining delicate political negotiations at the Princess' palace, we deny all knowledge of the event and promptly leave town too.

We fly towards Bergelfen and camp for the night in the pass.

== Twenty-Sixth; The Barracks of Bergelfen ==
Arriving in Bergelfen we get directions to Isil-Eth's chambers above (what is now) the Beltan barracks.
One of her aides shows us the entrance to the Slow Portal to Seagate.

After three hours of slogging through the swamp and arguing about whether we should have flown we climb over sacks of carrots and onions and emerge from a cupboard below the guild kitchens.

We report to Isil-Eth, Ibrihim negotiates our pay while we try to play up the positives of our mission and play down the negatives.

Isil-Eth is not impressed that the Privy Chancellor has fled and wants us to sort it out and bring him back. She thinks he will have fled to his mother, Lady Talis.

== Twenty-Seventh; Don't fly in the Swamp ==

On our way back to the Slow Portal, guild security warns us not to leave the path under any circumstances and flying within the portal would be fatal.

Flying back through the pass from Bergelfen we land in a field that some Elves are clearing of yellow flowers and camp at its edge.

== First of Heat; Lady Talis ==

After several days flying and camping we eventually reach [[Alfheim#Merche and Adjac|Merche]] and seek an audience at the palace with Lady Talis.

She is extremely disappointed and embarrassed by her son and has exiled him to guard the western border.
We are allowed to go and fetch him back to Eidolon but we are not to bring him back through here as she does not want to see him.

She directs us to an inn to stay in for the night. The inn is as palatial as the Privy Chancellors palace, but with better food and service. We are concerned at the cost but Ibrihim assures us it's a reasonable expense as this is the sort of place Isil-Eth would stay at.

== Second of Heat; Welcome to the border ==

After a few hours flight (170 miles) west we spot the border outpost and land to walk in.

Just as we regain our feet we are ambushed. A flight of arrows from the forest scatter us and leave Ibrihim bleeding on the ground.
Archak, Rahne, and Vlad take the fight to the attacking elves and are soon supported by the rest of the party.
The elves are all defeated but at Imri's insistence, not killed.

Marching and dragging our prisoners we head into the tower and hand them over to the guards demanding justice (apparently this translated into Elven as please heal them and slap their hands for being naughty).

We seek audience with Maristal but he is too drunk to make much sense. We rest and are healed while Ibrihim sobers up the Privy Chancellor.

Once sober, Maristal is reluctant to return. We tell him that Isil Eth values his work and specifically requested his return, this changes his mind and we are soon on board the cloud he summons and flying back to Eidolon.

== Third of Heat; Eight by Cloud ==
We fly...

== Fourth of Heat; Facing the music ==
We stay with Maristal until he has safely reached his palace in the upper city.
Deciding that we have done enough damage to Elven society, we leave Maristal to face the music and start flying back to Elfenburg.

== Fifth of Heat; Last cold night ==
After one last cold night camping out in the mountain pass, we arrive in Elfenburg.

Isil Eth is not here so we continue to Seagate via the slow portal to report the completion of our mission.

==Notes==

Delving Too Deep

2026-06-06T04:15:17Z

Terryintransit:

{{Right|__TOC__}}
[[Category:Bernard]]
[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Darien]]
[[Category:Isil Eth]]
[[Category:Pent]]
[[Category:Gerald/Glass]]
[[Category:Thorn]]
[[Category:Killramadrum Gillgiver]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer 809 WK| Scribe notes]] 
= Summary =
'''Adventure''': Delving too Deep 
'''GM''': [[User:Bernard|Bernard]] 
'''Season''': Summer 809 wk 
'''Night''': Wed 
'''Level''': [[Experience#High | High]] 
; Party
*[[Darien]], A Human [[:Category:Celestial|Celestial]] [[:Category:Spy|Spy]] played by [[User:ErrolC|Errol]]
*[[Isil Eth]] - a (pregnant) elf, played by [[User:IanW|Ian Wood]] (Scibe)
*[[Pent]] - Ice Mage Warrior played by [[User:Phil|Phil Judd]]
*[[Gerald/Glass]]
*[[Thorn]] - A human Warrior/Healer played by [[User:Helen|Helen]] (Party Leader)
*[[Killramadrum Gillgiver|Drum]] - Guild beast, Namer played by [[Jason Saggers]] (Mil Sci)
*
; Employer
: Duke of Petrenco.
; Mission
: Assorted tasks on [[Farwey]]
# Escort/Transport some supplies to the devastated area's of the coast.
# As a gesture of good will, investigate the ruined city of Inyae and clear it of major gribble things.
# Breach the undead's lines and make contact with the Dwarves in the northern mountains.
# Get back to talk about it.
; Pay
* Get to destroy undead.
* 10,000sp worth of Bardic invested items each.
* Get to destroy gribbly things.
* 10,000sp worth of Celestial invested items each.
* 10,000sp cash each.
* Get to destroy undead.

==Scribe Notes==

fly another 10 minutes until the wings run out. 
put up another scry sheild and set up the tower. we think it is 9pm on White Lotus Day.
We sent a Whispering Winds message to the humans "underground 40 miles enemy ahead charge". 
normal watches and get some sleep.

===The second battle===
at about midnight we sent a pair of illusionary birds - they return after 90 minutes = bad people 22.5 miles.

_6th Meadow_
Wings @30 miles per hour (easier calculations) + usual buffs.
Fly forward 18 miles. after 10 miles there is smoke that gets thicker.
walking another 3 miles the smoke thickens and a red glow is visible ahead, smoke is now smelling of wood and coal...

At a point about 60 miles in we see defences backlit by the fires - about 1 mile
Place a crystal of vision 1 mile ahead 3 layers of defence spanning 150' depth (across the entire 100' width of the corridor)
the barriers are probably stone golems.
there are ballistas and many guards, say 400 goblins and 1000 skeletons.
The opposition appear to know we are here and do a watch change, it takes many minutes for the change.

Place a second crystal 2 miles ahead (1 mile ahead of the previous) and 40' up.
See goblin defensive structure against an apparently smooth wall - 3 rings - which may be a dwarven sally port.
we estimate there are 3000 troops guarding this system. there are also 6 spectrals visible about the outer wall of the defences.
There is a chasm, with most of the red glow coming from it, in the opposite wall with walkways on both sides. There are a lot of goblin and skeletal foot traffic.

We spend 4 hours to put up Gerald's Tactical Table, as the undead roll dark spheres at us.
The Table shows a small dwarvish sally port just the other side of the undead defence walls (the closest one that crosses the corridor) which must have a hidden door as we cannot see one in the corridor wall and sry sheild. There is a dwarvish regiment in the tunnel (about 300 of them).

_the Plan_
Charge!
2 hours after we send a bubble of methane, which we spend in an igloo of bound ice about 2 miles from the front lines. Small boom. I put on a few spells including Glowing Sunlight, triple = double damage and double range

We flew in at 30 mph to attack.

;March Order
:Pent
:Drum
:Gerald
:Isil Eth
:Darien
:Thorn

We flew a across a ward with Necrosis - 24 damage.

We flew over the outer two rings of defences (which had been destroyed and all of the goblins had been killed by the explosion. We guess most of the undead were killed by the fireball too.

On landing I put down a small Rank 10 enhance enchant on damage. 
It took us 5 entire pulses, with help from the dwarves who had surged out when the mthane went bang, to destroy 4 spectral creatures, 6 ballista Golems, several stone golems and a horde of skeletal warriors. One of the spectral warriors was wearing a crown and was more difficult to destroy.

===Embassage to the Dwarves===
We followed the dwarves into their side tunnel, which then closed up, and went to a triple layered defensive ring (the dwarves and goblins love triple defences).
Commander Brick, an illustrious dwarf who led the sally and is a member of the Order of Four Battleaxes, listened to our mission and expressed his gratitude to the humans.
The undead appears to be heading for a large dwarvish establishment called the City of the Great Pit of Magma where Mithril has been Forged since Time Immemorial, commonly calle the "Balrog Pit". A Balrog was apparently slain, but apparently may not be anymore.
The undead are tunnelling to below the binding and could then approach the city.
Now the capital is further in.
We commune with the Spirit of the Mountains through a six hour ritual, and we become Friends of Dwarves.
A divination of the Spectre's crown shows that it steals the souls of those that die near it. Two gems that are attached but not part of the crown each contain the souls of senior dwarves that died defending the outer defences. Talking to them on Mind Speech, which was rather wierd as my mind was somewhat in the gems, they said they wanted to be released to move on.
So we destroyed the crown, which weighs about 4 pounds of pure gold.

We are offered guides to assist. We take 6 elite scouts, with the logic that if a group needs be be sent back, 4 of them should handle the random greater undead expected in the tunnels.
* An E&E (quickness slowness web)
* 2 Earth mages (actually lava mages)
* A Namer (Banish Div Remove Curse CS at rk6)
* 2 Fighters

===Deep Delve===
On the morning of the 7th, we get a few power-ups and head off to find the human dragon-hunters - we hope they will have useful intel. We encounter a few single and several pairs of [[Spectre]]s (mix of Celestial & Necro) and deal with each swiftly. After 10 hours travel we find 3 humans and two dwarves camping. We exchange information, with Sir T doing most of their talking.
;Sir Thrydewulf
: Silvered Jousting Plate
: Rune Mage
; Sir Wusc
: Silvered Jousting Plate
: Bardic + Necro
; Lady Meryl
: Mithril chain
: Illusion+E&E+Other

They are all cave rangers, and warriors, and wear illusions. They encountered what they called a shadow dragon in caverns they reached from Oberdorf last Autumn. It breather fire and life-draining,and used Celestial and Necro magic. Not being too well equipped to deal with such, they retreated and have since acquired suitable potions etc. Have been underground since mid-winter.

The dwarves (one has a missing arm) were rescued from an undead ritual.
Talking with the dwarves, there are 6 mountains with Hearts (physically lava pools), as well as the Soul of the Mountains (linked with the capital). Two of the Hearts have cities linked to them (Balrog pit and another), plus another aborted. The Balrog was defeated by dwarven champions after much preparation.

We rest up, and send the rescued dwarves back with 4 escorts (keeping the E&E and a lava mage).

As we travel deeper, the natural tunnels become what the dwarves call veins - the humans have not previously gone this deep (which explains why they have been stumbling around not achieving much for months?). After 4 hours travel we come to a translucent barrier, it's shape suggesting that it is a large globe. DA tells us that its nature is greeting, and it is several seasons old. When we get within 50ft, we are warned (everyone hears in their best language) that the area has been claimed by powers. Gerald's image is bitten by a illusionary dragon's head when it touches the barrier. Darien is unable to nullify the effect (it probably resisted), so we divinate it.
* Is non-colleged, but see below
* Damage is Illusionary/Spectral magic, and cross-planner
* A single contact would kill a normal human outright
* Resistance (half damage) is assisted by Necro or Celestial counterspells.

Our two remaining guides are unkeen, and are asked to stay for two hours before returning. We resist (due to rk20 area Necro CS from Sir W) and heal. Darien was damaged despite shadow-walking (as expected), but discovered that the shadow plane was more turbulent than normal. As we continue down, mana levels rise to high.

After a short walk, we find ourselves overlooking a huge '''Cavern'''.
* We are at one of several small tunnel openings high on the walls (750' above floor)
* There are 4 major entrances at floor level
* cavern is around 2000' across
* 300' above floor is a large alcove with two 'shadow dragons'
* The Heart is 1000' across. The pulsing red lava changes to a ghostly green around the spectral Balrog
* Did I mention the Titain sized spectral Balrog?
* we sense dwarven spirits circling the lava pool.

Isil Eth goes to the Astral (with Thorn along to watch her back) to look for connections:
;Strong links (e.g. Brotherhood)
:between the 'dragons'
:between the Dwarven champions' spirits
;Connections (weaker)
:Dragons to the Chamber (The entire cavern of the Heart.)
:Chamber to the pool
:Dwarves to Balrog (Antagonistic)
;Associations (weakest)
:Dwarves to Pool
:Dragons to Balrog
:Balrog to Pool
There was also a strong silver cord going straight up from the heart to though the roof and out of sight.

We decide that we need to talk to high priests and suchlike to get more info about the history of the 'defeat' of the Balrog.

==[[Delving Too Deep Party Organisation|Party Organisation]]==

== Current Season's Calendar ==

{| cellspacing=1 border=1 class="Season" id="Summer"
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Summer 809wk''': [[Meadow]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Beltane]]
Full Moon
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
| White Lotus
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
|
New Moon
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
| Full Moon
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Summer 809wk''': [[Heat]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
New Moon
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
| Midsummers Eve
(Faerie Day)
| class=day | 15
| Solstice
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
| Full Moon
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Summer 808wk''': [[Breeze]] 
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
| Day of Death
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 10
| New Moon
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 24
| Full Moon
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
|}
== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==

=== Nominations ===
; Best Death

; Smartest

; Bravest

=== Quotes ===
:''"Dwarves do it with Mountains"'' - '''Pent'''
: Gerald - I'm thinking, the Balrog is '''only''' Titan-sized...

=== Hot and Not ===
; Hot
: Inventing Dwarven Conspiracy Theories
: Bubbles of Methane
; Not

==GM's Notes==
===History of the Balrog===
Saga of the Sage Tordik and the Balrog of Fires Deep.

Extracted, translated into common and summarised, the original document being highly embellished and 1000 pages long

And so it came to pass in the 567th year of the age of the Founding *1, During the reign of High King Gel, and the advances by the Orcish Warlord Narz-Drek-Gol, that at the 3rd battle of the Chasm of Ancient Dark, did the Sage-Priest Tordik and his companions, four score and five warriors numbering amongst the bravest and mightiest of the realm found themselves stranded. The bridge behind them had fallen as they pressed into the masses of foul beasts blocking their passage, cast asunder by the magics of the Goblin Shamans who now sought their destruction, and their friends the other side of the chasm forced into retreat by a horde of otherworldly fiends summoned from across the planes with the blood of a thousand dwarves. No quarter was to be had from the beasts surrounding them, so trusting on the mysterious magics of their elvish allies, they cast themselves into the chasm, seeking what lay down in it's depths, as surely any danger was better than capture and sacrifice.

Luck smiled upon them that day, and favoured their landing, leagues below in the dark tunnels that connect the very roots of the mountains, and so they traveled forth seeking a way back to the shallow stone of the mines and kingdoms.
The way was long and torturous, with even their best Stone pathfinders unable to pick safe routes, and beasts from the dark tormented them, plucking off those that wandered alone from the madness of the depths consuming them.
Slowly they fell, till at last, three score remained as they entered a large chamber, there to finally confront the beasts that they both pursued and fled. To their horror, they recognized them, servants of the mountains, tied to a heart of an ancient mountain of power, yet twisted almost beyond recognition, with claws in the place of hands, brimstone wreathing their heads like crowns, wielding scourges and flails instead of fine battleaxes.
And so battle was joined, and the just prevailed, the corrupted agents being cast down, yet in the silence and smoke after, did the Sage Tordik speak "Lo my friends, these beasts are not here at random, below us must lie a true heart of the mountains, claimed and corrupted by some foul beast, for all Dwarves, it is our duty to venture forth, find the paths that must exist to this place, and cleanse it, claiming it for the true sons of these roots."
And thus was the challenge cast forth through the tunnels as the survivors of that battle roared their approval.

What followed can only be described as three days of hell, as they fought their way into the heart through all that the foul beast could throw at them, there to the heart entered a mere dozen, of so many that had begun, this was all left that could hold an axe high, battered, blood stained and scarred, they met with the Balrog, and the clash of Steel against Claw was great, but in the end, the just prevailed, and the heart was claimed.

Five heroes true did survive that day;
Tordik, sage, and future high priest.
Nod; Future king of the Burning Deeps.
Aldor the pure, lost in the depths several years later.
Denger the Hardheaded. Hero of the later battle of the Northen Depths, saviour of the Royal crown.
And Tolden-Gol. Hero and Villan in the same breath, beloved of the Clan Gel, yet turned his back on all Dwarven homes to travel the surface world.

And so do all Dwarves remember those who died, Seven in the heart to empower the Spirit of the Mountain to break it's chains, two score and fifteen to the beasts that served the balrogs call, and all those that died in the Chasm to win the wise Sage Tordik and his band the time they needed to escape to the depths, and on to claim the heart.

*1; This word has been translated as Founding, yet ancient Dwarvish used this word to symbolize both Founding and Sundering, and it's surrounding context as well as attachments determined which it meant in the given case. Given that dwarvish society was growing at the time, modern dwarves disbelieve that it could mean Sundering despite a lack of context attached making it's meaning uncertain.

===High priest of Balrog Pit's extra notes===

Can we fix it?

2026-06-06T04:06:54Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Dirk]]
[[Category:Dwork]]
[[Category:Theodonna]]
[[Category:Melco]]
[[Category:Anooke]]
[[Category:Cyan]]
[[Category:Zanak]]
return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
*GM: Miles Jackson
*Time: Summer 809 WK
*Day: Wednesdays
*Level: Low - Medium
;The Party
# [[Dirk]]- a very strong goblin warrior, military scientist (and his wolf Shadow)
# [[Dwork]] - Bodyguard, male prostitute and wielder of a massive flaming glaive. Over-powered, over-sexed and over-here. For hire - in soo many ways
# [[Theodonna]]- a Namer and looks like a female human, but isn't quite
# [[Melco]] - pretty boy human, celestial herbalist
# [[Anooke]] - now what does he look like again? Oh, small and frigid
# [[Cyan]] - a human Mind Mage
# [[Zanak]] - A young human male Pirate who likes to acquire pretty dresses. He engages in Healing and being a Mind Mage
# Astrid - The inhabitant of Golem guild/healer 6'3' scandanavian beauty (NPC)
==1st of Heat - Aunty Karakas and the Anti-Ants==
;The Mission
Well, back a year or so a bunch of Seagate Adventures were not quite able to finish saving a universe [[Living on the Edge]].
Now '''Kaladan''' (an 'enlightened' Kalimar binder) wants the job finished. Dirk was 'geas'ed at the end of that mission, so he's a starter! Kaladan has sent '''Astrid''' (a gorgeous 6 foot 3 inch golem - inhabited by the spirit of an ancient not so enlightened Kalimar) to the guild to organise things.
*First stop is to find '''Flint-moss''' - an ancient shaper friend of Kaladan the party employer. He has a temper and is 15,000 years old.
*Dirk is elected party leader, with Melco as military scientist and Dwork as scribe (assisted by Zanak as needed)
*What's our reward? (I hear you say). If we succeed Kaladan will shape a custom item for each of us. If we fail we will die.
;Karakas the Witch
In the evening we fly to Karakas' place, 30 miles from town - to get potions and enchantments to aid our quest. We find that her cottage has been infested with 'space ants'. There are about 50 dead ants around the house and a number of chopped up golems. Karakas is wounded and Elenna (her assistant) is damaged. Most importantly, the witches' cauldron has been taken.

We follow the ant trail to a small mound guarded by 8 (soon to be dead) ants. Down the tunnels we track until we come across a barrier that seems to stop all magic. The orc fireball's anyway and backfires (but good). A female Kalimar disappears up a side passage, but gets burnt (but good).

The cauldron laden Queen Ant is completing a ritual behind the barrier, but we attack and slice the straps holding on the cauldron. Dwork and Theodonna disrupt the barrier by messing up the sticks and runes on the ground around the queen.

The Queen Ant is really upset with the female Kalimar. She teleports off and kills her only transport off of this plane. We get to loot the body (choice!)

Cyan casts mind speech on the ant queen and finds out that the ants are now trapped on this plane. The dead Kalimar who provided the plane travel here was '''Khal-Grief''' other wise know as Grief. Grief's boss was a minor godling by the name of '''Starrock'''

The elf Klunna von straun employed the ant queen to recover the cauldron.
;Karacas Discussions
The witch knows quite a bit about the people and places we are going to. Flintmoss originally made her cauldron – and it was 'acquired' by Karakas from Grafspire. The caldron was created to be able to find things. The witch also knew Astrid back when she was an evil Kalimar.

Zanak spends some time making the witch happy - and we all benefit.
==2nd of Heat – We Depart==
After Anook (who is he again?) gets 6 ice cubes itemised (20x20x20) and we get a source of emergency air (7 people 3 hours)

Astrid ports us to the ship. Kinross the gnomish captain tends to be distracted when faced by mechanisms (or even ideas for mechanisms), but seems skilled at his job.
==3rd of Heat – We Travel==
We travel – and set the ship to scan for dark matter as we go (worth money that!)
== 4th of Heat – We Fight==
Ahoy – there's dark matter in that-thar asteroid!

We suit-up (Anook in an ice-cube) and head over to the holey rock. The tunnels have an aura of disintegration (smooth sided) and soon we make it to a large chamber – yes, inhabited by a large worm.

Its' skin is embedded with dark matter and it spits a pretty good web, grabbing Dirk and Dwork and dragging them in. Dwork gets annoyed when a lick of the tongue disintegrates his shiny new armour and he hits it with his electric glaive, setting of a chain dark matter explosion (somebody warned us about that, but the orc does not have a good memory). Fries the adventurers badly and fries the worm much worse.

By the time we have finished it off, Theodonna is also naked (who hoo!), Dirk, Dwork and the naked namer have been swallowed and cut their way out – and we collect more dark matter (as well as some other salvage). An ice cube floats around the chamber making itself useful.

==5th of Heat – Grafspire==
Avoiding the trap of a small black dark matter rich ship (mummy was just around the corner), we sight Grafspire - 25 mile long spire of rock with one large city (Grafspire) a smaller fortified city (Dalegadrian) and some sort of dockyard building/wrecking site
;Well, we got in and we got out.
In the process we met people, gave bribes, gathered information, witnessed combat, got attacked, escaped and departed – all of us covered in doodoo and some of us naked
;Flinders
*a talkative gnome Namer at the docks who identifies mind mages '''All mind mages must wear collars''' (Cyan refuses and stays in the ship)
*'''The Trolls Heart:''' a tavern in the ''''The Pits'''' (full of tarts) where we might get a guide to the '''Tangles''' (where the Troll Mart and Flintmoss may be). ''Look for Gadget or The Ferret''
*'''The Sailors Delight:''' another tavern in the Pits.
*'''Willemina:''' the chief Bitch of the Pits (a place of dubious business practice)
*'''Rock Ape kidnappers:''' people have gone missing (over the last 2 months), snatched from the streets
;Amelia
*Once the wife of one of the members of the Free Traders that ran the rock, but since he died 6 months ago, she has taken control of the city. Turns out to be an evil mind mage (is there any other sort?)
*'''Mind Mage collars:''' enforced by Amelia. They let Amelia read mind mage minds (she's already got everybody else covered) and prevents the use of "intrusive" mind spells.
;The Lady Black
*a Â½ elf Kalimar arrives soon after us (with guards) and is met by Amelia (with Rock Apes). Combat ensues. We approach in a jolly boat.
*Dwork thinks '''Hmm, I'm in fireball range'''. Amelia immediately dispatches a fireball in our direction. How did that happen? And how could you possibly blame the orc?
*The Lady Black is losing the combat – and disappears. Amelia talks to us '''We wouldn't lie to you! I don't think I can lie to you.'' (so true)
*We find out later that The Lady Black's trading establishment was destroyed 3 months ago (by Amelia)
;The Pits
*Anook talks to Gadget (the goggled one likes small boys)
*Theodonna gets offered a job by Willemina (Namers are in demand)
*We flee the Trolls heart as recommend by '''Pondscum''' (Willemina's gopher) to Willemina. Now, Willow is a BIG woman (40 stone) and she takes a great liking of the orc (why not!)
*Trollmart is now controlled by Amelia too, but Willow will help us if we rescue someone from Trollmart for her
*The orc scores! (nearly) but D&W are interrupted by Amelia's gas grenado bearing rock apes. As the Lady Amelia arrives we retreat through the service tunnels (yes the sewers)
;Escape
*Willemina comes along as a slender woman (she wouldn't otherwise fit)
*Gadget comes along too
*Dirk faces down an ice hound. Dirk gets turned into an ice cube. The orc sets fire to the methane (again) and Anook finishes the dog off and sets up a wall of ice behind us.
* We make it off the rock – ice cube in tow.

We make it back to our ship and depart for the Trollmart (2 days away). Cyan takes a quick look/smell of us, mutters in disgust and tells us to shower before he will talk to us.
We shower.
Theodonna brings Dirk back from being a frigid statue. It takes her 3 hours and the odd backfire but there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage.
Dwork and Willemina take up where they left off (fornicating) and Dwork seems mightily impressed by Willows new skin tight leather outfit that covers her full 40 stone.
Gadget, despite his propensity for little boys, is impressed by Dworks eagerness to please his mistress, and makes a new set of armour for him.
==6th of Heat – What Willemina wants==
When Dwork and Willemina finally return to our group she tells us about Corundum. He has been captured by Amelias forces and is held in an enchanted cell somewhere. He is a powerful shaper and is a descendant of Flintmoss. She wants us to locate and rescue him. We agree since Willemina will reward us and he seems to be the only clue we have to Flintmoss.
With only a Â½ day to go we come across an elf mining an asteroid. He is riding a space worm. Dirk, Dwork and Theodonna remind us of the outcome of our last space worm encounter and strongly suggest we don't repeat it.
We leave him alone.

==7th of Heat – Trollmart==
Willemina gives us disguises and aura alterations. She also gives us a note for Corundum asking him to cooperate with us.
We stay in the Spit Roast Goat Inn then visit the House of Corundum. There we meet an old truthsayer called Furnace who also asks us to help Corundum.
Meanwhile Cyan has been mentally tracking an individual with too much interest in us till he disappears behind a magic field a few buildings away.
;The Trap is Sprung
We follow Cyan to a passageway leading to some stairs and a locked door. A little boy who Dirk and Anook befriended says the people in the room stole Corundum.
We leap into action.
After a short but furious battle most of us regain consciousness. Dirk seems to have shredded his body into 99 pieces. Needless to say he is dead. Seems he got turned into a gas form and sucked into a glass bottle. In his attempt to transform into an ape or some such large animal he failed to notice the glass bottle was made from bound glass. He made quite a mess!
We also notice we have only survived because Furnace and his fellow trolls came and kicked some rock ape arse.
It seems Helena and Portia (the 2 elves who work for Amelia and control her kidnapping gang) were here but managed to teleport away. They left behind a gnome called Pigsty. He is a namer/binder who caused most of the damage to our party from lots of complicated traps.

He pleads for his life and says Corundum is being held in Grafspire.
;Rescuing Corundum
While Furnace fashions a golem body for Dirks spirit Theodonna divinates the items found in the space worm from several days ago. Why she didn't do it on the 2 day trip we don't know.
There is a main gauche which she takes an instant liking to (actually she won't give it up to any of us – probably a bad sign), a ring with some Strength of Stone charges, and the scroll tube (minor god cursed) which seems to be trapped with a time effect bomb. We wisely leave it alone.
Dirk is pleased with his new temporary body of a Dwarf Troll Golem as it is 6 foot 6 tall. Dwork is happy too, but for a different reason.
Furnace gives us 6 Dwarf Trolls (in a berserker rage) to come through and help in rescuing Corundum. Zanak follows the portal back to Grafspire from which Helena and Portia arrived through.
Furnace offers one other bit of information. It appears Corundum has the racial memories of Flintmoss (or could he be Flintmoss?!?).

We set the order as Dirk, Anook and Cyan, then Dwork, Theodonna (in rat form) and an ally, Melco and an ally, then finally Zanak and the rest of the Dwarf Trolls.

;A Javelin to the Belly
The party leaps through the portal and finds themselves in a single hex cell with razor sharp bars. There are 4 golems thrusting their Javelins into us and trying to pull us into the bars for a very messy death.
Anook freezes a side of the cell and shatters it. Eventually the group gets out of the cell relatively unharmed.
;What do you mean Relatively Unharmed?
*Dirk gets skewered but being a golem it doesn't really bother him.
*Theodonna scurries out of the cell in rat form but is pursued by Dworks panther. She turns back into a human just in time. (That could have been a best death award!)
*The panther is picked up by a golem and is used to assault Dirk.
*Melco is seriously wounded and has a gusher from his right arm. Zanak tries to stabilise him but the room seems to be preventing the healing process. He is eventually stabilized by getting him into the hallway.

Cyan saves the day by windwalking the golems and they disappear for a few minutes.
;The Room of Statues
Once out of the room we find an intersection. The corridor opposite us leads to an open room with 6 statues. They are in unusual positions. The corridor to the left is darkened. The corridor on the right is filled with 6 orks. The dwarf trolls repulse them and they turn to flee. Anook and Dirk cast spells to block the corridor so they can't raise the alarm.

The statue room has a magical effect on the floor and a hidden rear door. We know about that because one of the dwarf trolls is trying to locate Corundum and can feel him 50 feet away. The floor turns sentients into stone statues. Anook covers the floor in a foot thick pad of ice and it seems to protect us.
Theodonna proves her usefulness once again (she has saved our bacon many times already) and untraps the door. She seems to have a counter spell for everything...
From behind the door we hear "Gorak Come". There are some very loud footsteps coming.
;Gorak Comes
2 black shadowy insubstantial figures come through the door (black skinned goblins) and attack Theodonna and Dirk. Dwork strikes Dirks one and the 2 figures disappear.
Through the door strides Gorak. Behind him we can see 2 prison cells and some torture chambers.

All spells thrown at Gorak fizzle out before they reach him. It seems he has an anti-magic field around him.
We quickly devise a plan to lure him back to the portal room so Cyan can sneak past him from a side corridor. Cyan would then free Corundum and all we need to do is escape through a Zanak portal. Simple enough really. Of course this assumes everyone did as they were told.
Melco mutters to himself "what if I step into this unnaturally dark corridor?" and is promptly sucked into the darkness. His screams are cut short. We carry on with the plan while commenting on that "silly Melco".
Gorak is huge and slow but shapechanges to be smaller and faster. All bar one of the remaining Dwarf Trolls attack Gorak. They do a surprising amount of damage before being killed. We manage to kill Gorak with an assortment of arrows and grenados.

;A Trap in Time
There are 4 beings chained to the walls in the cells. 2 are humans (a namer and a mind mage) but they are totally insane.
The third is a gnome binder called Keystone who built this place and it turns out Amelia thought of him as a loose end so gave him to Gorak to "play with". He is quite keen to help us get out.
The last person is Flintmoss (from 15,000 years ago !!!) who has been swapped in time with Corundum. He was in the process of building the Heart of Darkness when he was so rudely displaced in time. He warns us to stay away from him as Amelias trap is to send us all back in time if we touch Flintmoss.

Meanwhile Melco has been petrified and broken into 86 pieces. We can see 2 spheres down his corridor. One is a time trap and the other has a TK Rage spell. With Keystones help we capture the time trap sphere and rescue Melcos pieces.
We take the dead trolls and the unconscious mages back to Grafspire. Dirk is the last to step through the portal and gives a rude gesture to Amelia as she portals into Goraks building.

;Back on Grafspire
We divinate Flintmoss. Starrock (the godling who sent the ant queen to trouble us on the first day) has been working with Amelia to stop Flintmoss from completing the Heart of Darkness. It is his power that has caused the time traps and time displacements. The concept of all this time trapping is too much for Dwork so he has a sleep.
With the help of Furnace and his friends we get Melco and Dirk back into their own bodies. Dirk divinates Theodonna (she is also asleep) and we can now see the main gauche has been cursed by Starrock (he gets around). Whilst it gives her some benefits in battle is stops others near her casting and healing doesn't work as well. To remove the curse takes more than we can muster. Anook fixes the problem by turning it to ice and it melts away. Theodonna is not pleased when she awakes but what can she do about it now?!?

Furnace looks at Zanaks pitiful cutlass and offers to make a new improved one for him. He says to come back in 3 days.

With most of the day gone we decide to portal to our ship and take control again. Keystone offers to help but has second thoughts once he realizes how mad we really are.
Just as we are preparing to leave a warning signal reverberates through Grafspire. A huge asteroid is on a collision course and we need to get out now. The whole living quarters portion of Grafspire detaches and moves away from the main body of Grafspire.

;Taking our Ship Back – Part One
Once we are clear we open a portal to the ship and step through.
There are several trolls and a female human on board. She claims to own the ship and the previous captain and Astrid are long gone. After some clever negotiating on dirks part we agree to swap the ship for the galleon Portia and Helena have. Of course we need to commandeer it first.
She says it will take 3 weeks to get back to the trollmart. We all look around puzzled till Zanak mentions his lizard says there is something warping the portal it opened. On closer inspection we identify Starrocks aura on the portal. Damn it we have moved 3 weeks into the future. Dwork rolls his eyes as it is all too much for him.

We step back through the portal and then divinate the lizard. It has certainly been affected by Starrock. The upgrade Karakas did to it gave Starrock an opening. The dwarf Troll shaman does a true sensing ritual and Melcos shadow splits off from him. Starrocks Avatar attempts to flee into space but Zanak, upset his poor lizard had been misused, mental attacks him into submission.
The shaman puts it into a soul jar. Flintmoss commandeers it to use in completing the Heart of Darkness ritual. Actually this is a good thing as he can sacrifice the god essence instead of his own.
Melco takes a small beating for being so silly in the first place.

;Taking our Ship Back – Part Two
Sick of being toyed with we try to rescue our ship again. In the process we kill Helena but Portia teleports away.
The ship warns us there is something strange in the rear room. We tell the ship to return to Mollys where the captain and Astrid were dropped off while we investigate the rear room.

Of course the room is trapped with an alarm signal once the door is opened. It will alert someone called Melena. The thing in the room is a living pulsing crystal which Flintmoss recognizes as a Time Creature. It is very rare and dangerous, and thus valuable, so we come up with a plan to capture it.
In the meantime Anook drops off Helenas body for a resurrection and to have her items divinated (Chain Mail, ring and rapier).
The creature is probably a trap to ensnare us so we decide to try capturing Melena instead. She is likely to be a Time Mage and bound to be in the employ of Starrock.
The plan is simple. Have the ship eject the time creature and the surrounding "bubble of force" then trigger the alert to Melena, lay down a time special counter (Theodonna just learned it) and take her by surprise.
Cyan is a bit concerned she could be too much for us but Dwork and Zanak are only interested in the possible booty she would have. Dirk reluctantly agrees with the Ork and the crazy pirate.
* scribe note – Dirk seems to agree with the pirate quite a bit for the next few hours, almost as if he wasn't really in control of himself.

;Taking on a Time Mage
The plan is enacted. The time creature is safely deposited on an asteroid and the door to the room is opened. Instead of Melena 4 goblins appear. We dispatch them in a matter of seconds but Theodonna and Dwork seem to have taken some massive damage. The damage appears to be time effected as it hasn't really happened yet. – it could have been worse...

Anook does something unintentionally clever and puts a coating of snow down on the floor. Instantly we see some foot prints which lead to the control room. Melena has been very clever and waltzed right through us, interrogated the ship, replayed the last few minutes and listened to our plans and escaped. The time creature is no longer on the asteroid. Damn she is good.

What to do next?
Follow her of course. Zanak follows her portal and we step through.
There are 2 rooms. The first has Portia, naked and chained to a torture device, an undead male human (also chained to the wall) and Melena. The second room has the time creature and Portias belongings (blue robes, a rapier, an amulet and 2 rings). We can also see Amelias head on a pike in the corner.

Anook hits the undead male and does some good damage. Of course then he is drained and the creature is whole again. Dirk tries to hit Melena but she keeps teleporting to other spots in the room. When Dwork comes through the portal he finds himself right next to Melena. He swings and misses. She touches him with her little finger and his right arm nearly drops off. He swings with his left arm but misses again.

Dirk, Anook and Melco keep the undead male busy till he falls unconscious while Zanak, Dwork, Theodonna try to hit Melena. Cyan, using telepathy, locates her mind several stories above us, and casts phantasm to hinder her.
Melena teleports into the second room and unleashes the time creature.
In the heartbeat it takes her to do this Dirk, Anook, Melco and Dwork engage her. Dwork gets in the final blow that kills her. She cries out "I am coming my Lord!" and sags to the ground.

We all run for the portal as the time creature ages the ship around us at a rate of 10,000 years per pulse. Cyan, Zanak and Dwork make it through unharmed. Theodonna, Melco and Dirk make it back but are cursed to age 10,000 years and appear to be dead. Melco had Melenas body. Anook takes a bit longer to come through. The ship disintegrated around him. Fortunately he encased himself in ice and managed to gather some treasure before going into the portal. He has some gold and silver, some dark matter and a great axe.

;The Interrogation
Flintmoss uses the god essence to try and remove the aging curse. Dirk fails and needs to be resurrected. Dirk doesn't appear to have suffered any endurance loss from the resurrection.

We send the rest of the night healing the party and divinating the loot. We get Helena and Portia resurrected (Portia died when the ship disintegrated) and question them. There jobs were to take out any Mind Mages or Namers that came near Flintmoss. Amelias job was to stop any powerful binders for getting in Melenas way. Given that her head was on a stake (which Anook brought back) we think she didn't do a very good job. We think we will sell Amelias head to Lady Black.

Portia heard Melena talking to an insubstantial figure several times. We think this was Starrock. Melena talked about "wiping the slate clean and reforming the plane", although Portia didn't realize the ramifications of this.

Melena also organised a group of assassins to kill Kaladan. We send an emissary to his court (courtesy of Zanaks lizard) and inform Kaladan. He returns through the portal to see Flintmoss.

Helena, Portia and Amelia originated in Alusia. Helena and Portia were pacted to a demon, while Amelia was pacted to Starrock.

Kaladan and Flintmoss agree that the Heart of Darkness needs to be fixed in this time to stop any time paradoxes. We all just agree because the time ramifications are just too confusing.

Technically we have completed the assigned mission but as we didn't have any fixed plans for the next few weeks we decide to stay and help. Also Flintmoss says he won't have time to make our special items till he returns from saving the universe...

It has been a long day. We all rest and recuperate.

==8th of Heat – Off to Mollies==
It is 8am and we discuss the plan for today.
It seems the gnomes know how to get into the black hole. They routinely slip in and acquire (steal) black matter. Gadget and Pondscum are known to be involved. Gadget is in the Sailor Delight back on Grafspire. Pondscum is in Mollies.
Flintmoss tells us Starrock can't take physical form. He seems to exist in all times, by which he means he can travel through time. Because of this he can keep skipping through time to see what we plan to do and come up with devious plans to stop us. We decide to forgo any more planning till we get into the Heart of Darkness, where time doesn't exist in the same way.

We think when we fix the Heart of Darkness the Universe Barrier will disappear and we will be able to leave this plane.

Zanaks lizard has remembered the Trollmart Habitation and can now open a portal back to it anytime.

Kaladan reminds us the Assassins will not stop till the contract is completed, or they die. We scoff at them. After all how tough can they be?

===At Mollies===
Zanaks lizard reports that it feels like it has been interfered with again. Anook saves the day by slipping his god protection ring onto the lizard and the portal to our ship opens with out incident. It takes us 3 hours to get to Mollies but we do the last 30 minutes in stealth mode.
Flintmoss and Kaladan spent the trip making Flintmoss safe to be near.

There are a couple of small but very fast Space Manta ships docked, a few gnomish vessels and a large Galleon. Dirk has a bad feeling about the galleon.

We wisely use a crystal ball to checkout the people in Mollies Bar.
The ship locates her captain in a back room. He is injured but Astrid is healing him.

Asides from Molly and some serving wenches, there are:
* Gnomes – 2 male, 2 female. They look like miners so could be useful if we can't find Pondscum.
* 8 armoured humans. There are some assassins in the group.
* A large bearish looking rotund guy. He has a staff and 3 floozies hanging around him.
* An old grey haired guy with a Minotaur and Ork for guards. The Ork is an assassin.
* Another human with very gaudy clothing, lots of bling and an impressive bow. He has 6 gorgeous girls around him, like groupies.
* Sailors. Between 40 and 50.

Something has given us away. The 3 floozies walk out of the inn and head in our direction. The large rotund guy gets up and assaults the 4 gnomes. Only one of them manages to get out before all hell breaks loose.

The 3 floozies turn into Time Vampires and fly towards us at tremendous speed. The gaudy guy and the old guy disappear. The other patrons scatter. Astrid, Shadow, the ships captain and Willemina race towards the docks.

The time vampires are reflecting our magics back at us. We lead them on a quick trip around the asteroid and get back to the docks in time to save our friends and the gnome. There is an angry guy in green plate armour on the galleon who recognizes Dirk and swears bloody murder at him. Apparently his name is Jasper and he is an abomination. Dirk met him last time he tried to save the Heart of Darkness.

Just before we get on the ship and make our escape the time vampires catch up and strike. They knock Melco over (he stuck his head up to see where they were (doh!). Anook manages to hit one. While they turn around (still flying at speed) we jump on the ship and it easily outpaces them.

===Taking on the Assassins===
The gnome (Matty) confirms he knows how to get into the Heart of Darkness. Pondscum knew too but was abducted by Melena a few days ago.
Willimena identifies the 3 assassins as:
* Boris – the bear shaped guy
* Weasel – the old guy
* Frederick – the gaudy one

We quickly decide to take on the assassins while we have the element of surprise. They are based at Amelias torture place (where we found Flintmoss). The plan is simple. Using the gnome we captured earlier, in exchange for his freedom, we will storm the place using our lizards ability to follow portals. We rescue the other gnomes, maybe loot Amelias private quarters and dispatch the unsuspecting assassins, making Kaladan even happier with us.

Cyan tells us we are idiots but we pay him no attention. We buff up and storm through. Within seconds 5 of us are dead (thanks goodness for Trollskin) and only Cyan and Theodonna are alive. We have killed one assassin called Frederick the Flash. Well actually Flintmoss did the killing by placing a razor wire trap on his side of the portal (Cyan warned him Frederick was coming through) and sliced and diced him. Boris sends a rat through the portal just before it closes offering to exchange Frederick and his belongings for Melco. As a side note Frederick managed to kill the Weasel with his fireballs, which toasted a few of us too.

We get healed (Astrid rocks!) and Theodonna checks out Fredericks gear. He has some red leather armour (fire protection), a ring (stops the Golems from attacking) and a main gauche (Mind Mage Killer). The rat turns out to be a Sonic Bat with some impressive telepathic abilities. We decide Melco isn't worth all this loot so we renegotiate. The final tally is Melco (and Fredericks gold cloak and medallion, as well as 2 gnomes) will be exchanged for the main gauche. We can keep Fredericks body (he wasn't a good enough assassin if we managed to kill him) and his gear. Boris also agrees to give us a 24 hour head start before chasing Kaladan again. This seems quite convenient as it will take us 24 hours to get to the Heart of Darkness.

Melco and the two gnomes are healed. They are called Penelope and Matty and they have a ship which can do the trip in 12 hours. They use a "bubble of force" to protect themselves and their ship in the Heart of Darkness. In fact there is a whole mini community in the Heart of Darkness where traders and miners search out more black matter.

==9th of Heat – The Heart of Darkness==
We resurrect the binder who was helping us storm Amelias place and drop him off at Mollies. We portal to Kaladans Palace to get rank 20 witchsight. Kaladan reminds us he can do Quickness. If he had reminded us a bit earlier maybe we wouldn't all have died!!!

We reach the Heart of Darkness with 8 hours to spare of our 24 before Boris commences his attacks on Kaladan. Zanaks lizard has remembered the Small Ship so we can escape from the bad place quickly when all hell breaks loose.

Flintmoss offers two suggestions:
* We proceed to the center of the Heart of Darkness and give Flintmoss 30 minutes uninterrupted so he can stabilize it. There is a mini plane/sphere about 10 miles across. Dirk remembers part of it well.
* We extract a large enough cargo of Dark Matter so that when the Heart of Darkness implodes it doesn't do enough to destroy the whole universe.

The second option seems really dangerous as we would need to use our spaceship to get the dark matter away and every man and his dog will be shooting at us. We can all see the huge explosion that volume of dark matter would cause, with us sitting right at the center...

We encourage some other gnomes to pretend to be doing the second plan while we attempt the first one.

We purchase a wagon and tunnel on through to the center. Theodonna can recognize a Dark Matter Dragon in close proximity but nothing untoward happens. The trip takes us 4 hours.

===Into the Castle===
The terrain is quite hilly. The land is rocky but quite plain. There aren't that many distinguishing features. Off to our right we see the citadel Dirk so fondly remembers. Off to our left is a small castle. It looks a bit like a French Chateau and is about 4 miles away. We leave the wagon secured behind a hill and buff up. As we head off we see 2 creatures break away from the citadel. Flintmoss says they are Dark Matter Shadows and have an immunity to attacks. Dirk shudders again. Our magic casting is likely to have attracted their attention. Best not to be here when they arrive.

Cyan puts most of us into his magic carpet (another dimension) and windwalks himself, Dirk and Theodonna to the rear castle walls. Kaladan makes his own way. It seems a tad unusual but there was nothing we could do to stop him anyway.

Cyan notices a large black armoured troll on the rooftop. It jumps down near the front of the castle. On his telepathy he can sense 2 beings inside. One is a troll (12 foot tall, heavy black plate armour) and the other is bored human thinking "when will they arrive?". Turns out she is a grey haired female who is quite strong in TH Rage and has a staff of anti-magic.

Flintmoss needs to get to the basement for 30 minutes. There is a secret passage below the stairs.

By now it is about midday. The troll from the rooftop enters but it isn't on Telepathy. He says the citadel is "disturbed" and that they should be on guard.
Melco casts unseen on us all and the females mind disappears (mind shield most likely). Anook rashly casts an ice construction so we can climb in through a first level window ( the guards are on the 4th floor) and the trolls suddenly become more alert. It appears that casting magic is triggering some alarms. Telepathy reassures us that the trolls think it is the female as she is no longer in their room.

We are in a bedroom. The building is made of bound space whale bone and silk boards. We want to get to the ground floor but the door to the hallway is trapped and any counter spell we use will alert the guards. We peek through the floor boards and see a dining room but it is likely to used regularly so we decide to slip through the side wall into the next room. It is a ladies bedroom (the grey haired lady?). there is a trophy room below this room and we reason it isn't used much. We lower Dwork through the floor on a rope, making sure he avoids the obviously trapped rugs on the floor. He gets about half way down and suddenly goes stiff (not in the way he wants). The Trolls are now very alert. CRAP!!!

We pull him back up and Kaladan says he is "suspended in time". We look to Flintmoss for guidance but he says the Chateau was built on top of his workshop and he doesn't remember much about it.

Cyan can hear the last troll saying "Who should investigate this?". The last troll powers up and disappears of Telepathy.

We all jump into Cyans magic carpet and powerup (safe from the alarm magic detecting us). Cyan remains on guard in the room but no one is likely to notice him. The door downstairs rattles and Cyan can hear the trolls. Meanwhile the table and bear rug have both come alive (animated) and are forcing there way up through the floorboards.

In the carpet Dwork takes a swing at Dirk and catches him by surprise. Zanak tries to subdue him with mental attack but backfires and knocks himself out. Kaladan steps up to the mark and casts Sleep on Dwork. Theodonna senses that a soul jar spell has been used on Dwork. We wonder if this soul is better than Dworks.

===Battle on the Stairwell===
The table and the bear make it into our room. Cyan skulks in a corner and they don't see him. The bear opens the door to the hallway and the TK Rage blasts the room. Fortunately Cyan resists it. The bear and table head out of the room making a fair chunk of noise. The female Kalimar comes down the stairs and the table and bear stop being animated. Cyan can see the female and a troll at the base of the stairs getting ready to enter our room. The woman has a staff which generates a sphere of anti-magic.

The rest of us are all powered up and ready for a fight. We burst forth from the carpet. The troll though gets the drop on us and fires 3 spinning disks of force at us. The first disk slices Melcos left arm off and cripples Flintmoss in one arm. The second hits Kaladan in the arm and he is surprised by the blood pumping forth. The third hits Astrid in the neck and her head falls off. Thankfully she is a golem so she isn't really dead.
Dirk and Anooks Ice Monster race forward to engage the troll. The ice monster gets in a few whacks but ultimately is pummeled to ice crystals. Dirk tries to slip a greek fire grenade between the plates of armour but does a poor job. Cyan manages to take control of the situation, and the troll, and forces him to step into the hole in the floor for the soul trap below. Instantly he loses control of the troll but a new mind comes onto mind Speech for him. It is a female mind saying "I can be free at last!".

The second troll appears at the top of the stairs where the female Kalimar has retreated to. Flintmoss uses the invulnerable body of Dwork as a shield while Melco falls to the floor unconscious. Anook blocks the passage with an ice construction.

===Kaladan Has Been Here Before===
Flintmoss mends Astrid and Zanak finally wakes up. Some healing occurs.

Cyan discusses the new minds predicament and offers to help it escape in exchange for Dworks soul (this is uncharacteristic of Cyan and some of the party suspect he is not in his right mind). She was trapped by Kaladan and imprisoned as a head on the wall in the trophy room. She wants three bodies for her and her friends. They were handmaidens for Starrock, who we now discover was female too. It seems like Kaladan is responsible for every female attacking us. He gives a knowing smirk but shrugs off our recriminations. Cyan promises to bring some bodies back for them but he needs Dwork back now to help. She agrees.

Kaladan, who now looks like a male Ork, wakes Dwork up from the sleep spell. He admits he built the chateau to defend Flintmoss's workshop in the basement but Starrock managed to get through and imprisoned Kaladan in the Citadel, where Dirk first encountered him a year ago.

With the troll and other female Kalimar trapped one level up (no doubt Kaladan slept with her too) we venture down to the ground level. We need to be behind the stairway to get into the secret entrance to the basement but confronting us is the female Kalimar (Keren) and a small dapper man with a lovely top hat. Dirk engages them in conversation about why they want to stop us. Keren, feeling quite safe in her anti-magic bubble, freely tells us Starrock will remake the universe as a "paradise for women". Dwork sniggers and suggests Kaladan will either not exist or will be a slave to their every need. Kaladan doesn't appreciate the humour.

===Zanaks First "Gold Brick"===
Dwork attempts to engage to the dapper young man in conversation but starts of very poorly when he insults the mans dress sense. The man, who it turns out is a demon called the Prince of Fates, pulls out a black deck of cards and offers Dwork one. Dwork pauses and asks what the card is. The man replies "It is a Card of Fate". Dwork ,being bold, takes one. Nothing happens. Once he retreats out of the anti-magic field though his disappears and his likeness can be seen on the card. Dirk picks the card up.

Dirk weighs up our chances of taking them on in a physical battle. He observes that Keren's staff is made of Black Oak, she has smoky blue robes, a small silver dagger and a small pouch. She looks like an easy beat. The Prince of Fates is an unknown quantity. Cyan is adamant we should leave them alone but the party feels adventurous. Kaladan casts quickness on us before we leap into action.

At the moment Kaladans spell goes off the 2 disappear. Zanak hears the last words of the Prince of Fates "Fate must be balanced" as a Gold card drops to the floor. Zanak picks it up and finds he can avoid one death. Yippee!!!

===Passageway to the Basement===
The secret door Flintmoss identifies is trapped and warded by a god, Starrock we presume. Flintmoss tells us about the passageway and the many binder traps he laid. He can allow us to pass them unharmed but his memory is a bit hazy. Now is not the time to leave vital bits of information out so Kaladan, with Flintmoss's agreement, uses Hypnotism to refresh his memory. We play it safe though as Starrock is bound to have put additional traps on the passageway. We tunnel downwards and enter the passageway about 60 feet from the basement door. The corridor is covered in dust. The door is white with metal spikes.

Theodonna considers using a wish (Chaos Tainted) to bring Dwork back from the card of fate. Zanak offers to give her the golden card of fate if she does but she realizes this is his first useful item and uses the wish pro bono – scribe note – WHEW!!!
Dwork reappears but is effected by the chaos nature of the wish.

Dirk seems a bit worried that Kaladan may have missed a few vital pieces of information out about his involvement in this whole affair. With a little threatening he agrees to come clean.
Kaladan "borrowed" a skill from Starrock called Time Phase and used it to put the Heart of Darkness out of phase. This was 15,000 years ago. He also confirms that Flintmoss has been affected by a mind spell which has messed with his memory. This occurred in the last few days.

We begin to step forward but we all feel like some bad fates have afflicted us. Zanak feels really clumsy, like he was effected twice. Anook falls over and we hear a click. Theodonna leaps over him but stumbles and sinks into the ground a bit. Another click is heard and the door at the end of the tunnel opens. We can see Starrock bound in place between two pillars near the back of the room. Keren stands beside her and gives her brother (Kaladan) an evil look. There are 12 goblins just in the doorway. The Heart of Darkness, with it barrier, pulses away in the centre of the room. Jasper stands just behind it. When he sees Dirk he roars a challenge. Dirk responds with a string of insults which illicites some useful information from both Keren and Jasper.

Jasper is an Abomination (he is basically a demon) with Mind and Illusion skills. He is the master Melena referred to when she died. We assumed it was Starrock but a master is a male. Keren hired Jasper to kill Kaladan. She is the one who actually wants the gods destroyed. She will use Starrock to destroy the barrier on the Heart of Darkness and then sacrifice the god to escape the destruction of the universe. Her and her cronies will stay out of phase while the universe reforms and they hope to influence the new pattern.

Jasper gives out a laugh as he points out the disintegration field between himself and us, and the huge boulder racing down the corridor from behind us. Dirk has some snappy retort but it has little effect on Jasper.

Kaladan disappears. The group gets ready to race through the disintegration field. Flintmoss casts a counter spell and we all race through except Zanak. While Dirk and Jasper were engaged in a bit of one-up-manship he had been sucking up to Keren, mainly because of the pretty dress she is wearing. Keren has offered to teleport him to safety, by her side, if he switches sides. Zanak still feels encumbered by some bad fates and agrees, just to get passed the disintegration field.

He group gets into the room by the smallest margin and are engaged by the necromantic goblins. Melco has a spot of good luck and gets clipped by the boulder and propelled further into the room, in fact right next to Jasper. Jasper ignores him and manages to teleport Dirk and Dwork away. Cyan and Keren trade TK Rages. The goblins are falling quickly but there were 12 to start with. Anook manages to slip past them and moves to the open space in the right. Melco tries to bash Keren, to disrupt her casting, but her small silver dagger touches him and he rolls on the ground in agony. Flintmoss races to Starrocks side and tries to free her. Keren escapes down the rear passageway.

Jasper has remained motionless since we entered the room. He vanishes and a side corridor opens (right next to Anook) and the real Jasper strides into the room. He attempts to charm Anook but Anook resists and surrounds himself with an ice construction.

Theodonna has been surrounded by the remaining goblins and a concerted effort sees her decapitated. Astrid wades in and deals to them.

===Gold Card Heaven===
Zanak appears in a room. He is surprised to be out of contact with Cyans mind speech. He sees a large plate armoured troll by the door (18 feet away). The troll says "sit down and be quiet". Zanak casts a quick mental attack and the troll falls over. Eyeing up the room he can see 6 Gold Cards of Fate. He quickly grabs them. There is a small silver chest, no doubt trapped, so he searches the troll body. He finds 3 javelin darts and a huge giant axe.

Dirk appears and looks surprised that this pretty little pirate youth had so quickly taken out a giant troll. Dwork appears next. Zanak suggests following Dworks teleportation portal back to the battle but a gold card triggers a new thought "to win this battle you need to locate Kaladan. Only he can give Starrock her powers back". A quick check reveals another gold card can open a portal to his hearts desire. It opens and we see Kaladan in another room, rifling through a chest. Keren and the Prince of Fates have just entered the room. There is also a small green goblin by them. He looks a bit insane.

The Prince of Fate, recognizing the remaining cards in Zanaks pack, offers him 12 Gold Cards to kill Kaladan. Zanak quickly refuses and tries to mental attack Keren. Dwork fireballs her while Dirk engages Keren and the goblin. The Prince of Fate throws a card at Dirk. It has no obvious effect, always a bad sign.

Zanak negotiates with the Prince of Fate for a Gold Card to get us back into the main room but his obsessive need to balance the Fates means one of our group needs to accept a Black Card. Zanak suggests Theodonna and the Prince of Fates accepts. Dirk protests as he had Keren on the ropes but it is too late. Dirk and Dwork appear next to Jasper, Zanak and Kaladan by Flintmoss and Starrock.

===5 Minutes Left===
Jasper has changed shape and now has a snake like head. Zanak uses another Gold Card and Jasper loses his immunity to all magics. Dwork throws a Water Death grenade at Jasper but misses and coats Anooks ice construction with it. Anook is not happy!

Zanak tries to cast a spell and back fires. Another Gold Card disappears to protect him from the results. Kaladan has started "merging" with Starrock to return her stolen powers. And you know what we mean by merging...

Jasper and Dirk trade blows for a few moments till Dirk finally falls over.

Zanak calls out to the Prince of Fates (they seem to be getting on well) and agrees to take a Black Card if a Gold Card to remove Jasper is forthcoming. Jasper disappears to the 666th layer of hell.

Starrock is struggling to get free of Kaladan, not realizing what he is trying to achieve (giving her powers back) and is causing him some severe damage. He calls out for help and Zanak uses another Gold Card to reconcile Kaladan and Starrock. Zanaks last Gold Card is used to resurrect Theodonna.

Anook stalks after Keren and the green Goblin but they run off down the corridor.

Dwork fireballs the remaining Goblins by Astrid. Flintmoss petrifies Melco and Cyan puts him in his magic carpet. It appeared that Melco was affecting the barrier around the Heart of Darkness so we had to remove him. Flintmoss then fixes Astrids damage before checking on the Heart of Darkness.

After a moments investigation he calls out that he can't stop it exploding. There are only 3 minutes left before the whole universe is destroyed. Kaladan and Starrock, holding hands like reunited lovers, tell us to leave and their sacrifice will ensure the Universes survival. Flintmoss will stay too as the explosion will send him back to his own time.

We need only defend the room for the last few minutes to ensure Keren doesn't enact another plan. The Prince of Fates appears again and says he will stop Keren from succeeding if someone will take another Black Card. Dirk steps up to the plate this time.

We quickly portal directly to the Trollmart and meet up with Furnace and our other friends. Corundum has reappeared with the return of Flintmoss to the past. He has a message from Flintmoss with the location of the treasure he promised us. "The secret location is hidden in the racial memories of the shaman. Only true heroes will be able to find the buried treasure."

The Heart of Darkness is now a small sun. It is a shame about the gnomes and the female Kalimar trapped in the Chateau above Flintmoss's workshop but the important thing is we survived !!! Dirk doesn't miss the Citadel one little bit.

Kaladan and Starrock have left us an Amulet each as a reward for our saving the universe and reuniting them.

We all get healed a bit and then we go to the temple in search of the shaman. It doesn't take long to find a story about Flintmoss and 7 Demon Heroes. The treasure is buried in the Ancestral Home and only a true clan member will be allowed access. Dirk offers to undergo the ritual when he hears about the drinking all night part. He glosses over the Steel ring through the testicles part though.

He returns the next morning and we head off.

==10th of Heat – Treasure Hunting==
It takes most of the day to get to the ancestral home asteroid so we Divinate all the loot we have acquired. There is certainly some good booty there!!! Theodonna and Dwork even get some armour to wear.

We land on the asteroid and look dubiously at the large 40 foot high and 20 foot wide passageway heading directly to the center, about 10 miles in. Zanaks lizard is very afraid of a huge dark portal in the very center. Zanak reassures it that he will keep it safe. The Prince of Fates stands by silently, observing us. After a little prompting (begging) by Zanak he says is always around on fateful days. He refuses to help us.

Cyan windwalks us all down 9 miles down the 10 mile long passageway. He only stops when he slams into an invisible barrier. The rest of us didn't notice it and have gone to the other side. At this point we notice the bones and rusted weapons and armour. We try to reach Cyan but the barrier stops us. Seems like there is only one way forward. Cyan debates the foolhardiness of continuing but is eventually lured forwards by the promise of treasure. The bones belonged to other dwarf trolls who had hoped to gain our treasures but were never seen again. The shaman who accompanied us say small prayers over their remains.

We enter the main cavern. It is about 80 foot deep. There are 2 pillars just in the entrance and a large pulsating darkness near the far end. Dirk uses his special dwarf troll clan powers to speak to the spirits swirling around the pillars, or so he says. His story is so outlandish that it can only be the truth.

Flintmoss's mausoleum is in the dark area near the back of the cavern. Flintmoss died 2 years after returning to his time. He was assassinated by the brotherhood we encountered a few days ago. A short time after his internment a "nice looking" human male and Keren (so this rules out Jasper) came to the cavern and left the pulsating darkness, then left. The darkness is a living being and can turn into a creature with sharp black claws. It also has a pack of mini creatures in the form of stone statues. They could be imps. Once the darkness transforms it activates the imps (originally 70 but now only 50) and they attack the trespassers. The statues are currently buried about 8 inches below the surface of the gravel flooring just outside the darkness.

Being an adventurous group we decide to dig up the remaining 50 imps and trap them in the alcoves on the outer walls of the cavern. It doesn't take long.

Dirk then bravely walks forward into the darkness.

===The Claws of Darkness===
As soon as Dirk touches the darkness it transforms into a batlike creature and flies to the top of the mausoleum. Dirk starts climbing the wall while we cast spells at it. Zanaks lizard warns the creature is strengthening the dark portal inside the mauloleum and something evil is coming through.

Only Anooks iceball has any effect on the creature. It quickly launches itself at him. Zanak gets off a luck mental attack and it drops to the ground. Melco races towards it and kills it. He is tempted to pick up the black sword and the black pouch from the creature but good sense prevails and he DAs it first. Just as well because each item will instantly kill any other creature that touches them. He leaves them behind.

Dirk opens the mausoleum doors and we all stride in.

Hanging from the ceiling are 4 censures with black flames. In the middle of the room is Flintmoss's crypt. On top is a font with black water. Rising above this is a darkness portal. There are 7 disembodied claws coming through the portal. Each of us recognizes our true name engraved into the darkness. They are clearly aimed at destroying a specific member of the party. On the plus side we can see our individual treasures hanging on the walls.

We DA the area before the claws get too close to us and figure out we each have to defeat our own claw to close the portal.

Theodonna lays down a counterspell. We all engage our individual claw. Dwork manages to dispatch his first time with an impressive fireball. The rest of us need to hack away with whatever light enhanced magical weapons we have at hand. The battle is over surprisingly quickly. We were all fortunate enough to resist their attacks, which of course would have meant instant death.

We grab our treasure and run. At the barrier Zanak uses his lizard, who feels a bit happier now, to open a portal back to the ship. We escape, gather our loot and portal back to Trollhome.

Zanak gets his new cutlass from Furnace while Theodonna finally divinates the scroll tube we found in the ant lair right at the start of the adventure. It appears the tube is meant for Dirk. He tentatively opens it. Inside is a note from Starrock thanking us for freeing her and a warning that "light is the key" when attempting to gain our rewards.

Now she tells us !!!

We stay on this plane for a little longer and then we return to Alusia.

== Administration ==
=== Equipment ===
;Guild purchases
*12 healing potions (+10) : 2 each except Dirk
*5 Waters of Strength (Rank 14): Theodoona 1, Melco 1, Anook 2, Dwork 1: 70 minutes each.
*6 Waters of Healing (Rank 10): all to Dirk
*All are 500sp each
;Expenses
*1000sp for wings for the group
=== Loot and Boons ===
;Ant Lair
* Beautiful crafted rapier
* Bag with small chunks of dark matter and gems
* Scroll tube – trapped with a god curse
;Karakas
* Zanaks lizard is upgraded to remember 7 locations to which it can open a portal.
* Dwork – Greater Rank 12 on all 4
* Zanak – Rank 16 on all 4
* Dirk – Rank 12 on all 4
* Theodonna – Rank 15 on all 4
* Melco – Rank 12 on all 4
* Anook – 1 week +10 Endurance
* Cyan – either WP+2 or MA+4 – not decided yet
* 2 x 500sp potions of true seeing/locate
;Asteroid Worm
* Dark Matter 4 x 2,000 sp
* Ring (4 x RK12 strength of stone)
* Beetle exoskeleton (could be made into great armour)
* Main Gauche (of screaming berserker) -> Theodonna – destroyed by Anook
;Helenas Possessions
* Chain Mail – 8 points of protection, able to cast magic
* Ring – improved lightning strike on each attack
* Rapier – extra damage to humans
;Portias Possessions
* Blue Robes – 10 points of protection
* Rapier – the higher the strike chance of the opponent the better the defense bonus
* Amulet – increases portaling ability but is dangerous to the untrained
* Ring – Strength of Stone – Rank 20
* Ring – Enhance Enchantment – Rank 15 twice per day 5 mins on person
;Melenas Possessions
* 10,000 SP
* Dark Matter 5 x 2,000 SP
* Great Axe – Dwarf Killer
;Frederick the Flash
* Red Leather - fire protection
* Ring – Identifies bearer to the Golems in Amelia's deathtrap
* Main Gauche – Mind Mage Killer. +30% mind magic resistance - Traded for Melco
* Gold Cloak – Charming
* Squid Head Medallion – Protection from Kalimar Magic
;Kerens Room
* 3 Javelin Darts
* Troll axe – huge
;Furnace
* New Cutlass – For Zanak
;Flintmoss's Mausoleum
* a uniquely crafted magical item for each party Member

=== Keeping up Standards ===
;Standard Buffs - Party
* Lesser enchantment
* Purification
* Fire Armour (Dwork - 32 points)
* Mind Speech
* ?

;Standard Buffs - Self
* Cyan - Mind Cloak and Telepathy
* Zanak - A pretty dress. Not much else to offer :)
* Theodonna - Counterspells as required

;Standard Marching Order
* Dirk, Dwork
* Theodonna, Zanak
* Cyan, Melco
* Anook, Astrid
;Standard Watches
* First:
* Second:
* Third:
* Forth:

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==
===Possible Award Nominations ===
;Smartest
;Bravest
;Stupidest
*Dirk – Day 7 - Changing shape inside a bound glass bottle
;Best Death
*Dirk – Day 7 - Changing shape inside a bound glass bottle

===Quotes===
;Day Seven
*Dirk says to Dwork "these javelins tickle, you should try one."

===Hot and Not===
;Hot
;Not
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]]

Can we fix it?

2026-06-06T04:02:21Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Dirk]]
[[Category:Dwork]]
[[Category:Theodonna]]
[[Category:Melco]]
[[Category:Anooke]]
[[Category:Cyan]]
[[Category:Zanak]]
return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
*GM: Miles Jackson
*Time: Summer 809 WK
*Day: Wednesdays
*Level: Low - Medium
;The Party
# [[Dirk]]- a very strong goblin warrior, military scientist (and his wolf Shadow)
# [[Dwork]] - Bodyguard, male prostitute and wielder of a massive flaming glaive. Over-powered, over-sexed and over-here. For hire - in soo many ways
# [[Theodonna]]- a Namer and looks like a female human, but isn't quite
# [[Melco]] - pretty boy human, celestial herbalist
# [[Anooke]] - now what does he look like again? Oh, small and frigid
# [[Cyan]] - a human Mind Mage
# [[Zanak]] - A young human male Pirate who likes to acquire pretty dresses. He engages in Healing and being a Mind Mage
# [[Astrid]] - The inhabitant of Golem guild/healer 6'3' scandanavian beauty (NPC)
==1st of Heat - Aunty Karakas and the Anti-Ants==
;The Mission
Well, back a year or so a bunch of Seagate Adventures were not quite able to finish saving a universe [[Living on the Edge]].
Now '''Kaladan''' (an 'enlightened' Kalimar binder) wants the job finished. Dirk was 'geas'ed at the end of that mission, so he's a starter! Kaladan has sent '''Astrid''' (a gorgeous 6 foot 3 inch golem - inhabited by the spirit of an ancient not so enlightened Kalimar) to the guild to organise things.
*First stop is to find '''Flint-moss''' - an ancient shaper friend of Kaladan the party employer. He has a temper and is 15,000 years old.
*Dirk is elected party leader, with Melco as military scientist and Dwork as scribe (assisted by Zanak as needed)
*What's our reward? (I hear you say). If we succeed Kaladan will shape a custom item for each of us. If we fail we will die.
;Karakas the Witch
In the evening we fly to Karakas' place, 30 miles from town - to get potions and enchantments to aid our quest. We find that her cottage has been infested with 'space ants'. There are about 50 dead ants around the house and a number of chopped up golems. Karakas is wounded and Elenna (her assistant) is damaged. Most importantly, the witches' cauldron has been taken.

We follow the ant trail to a small mound guarded by 8 (soon to be dead) ants. Down the tunnels we track until we come across a barrier that seems to stop all magic. The orc fireball's anyway and backfires (but good). A female Kalimar disappears up a side passage, but gets burnt (but good).

The cauldron laden Queen Ant is completing a ritual behind the barrier, but we attack and slice the straps holding on the cauldron. Dwork and Theodonna disrupt the barrier by messing up the sticks and runes on the ground around the queen.

The Queen Ant is really upset with the female Kalimar. She teleports off and kills her only transport off of this plane. We get to loot the body (choice!)

Cyan casts mind speech on the ant queen and finds out that the ants are now trapped on this plane. The dead Kalimar who provided the plane travel here was '''Khal-Grief''' other wise know as Grief. Grief's boss was a minor godling by the name of '''Starrock'''

The elf Klunna von straun employed the ant queen to recover the cauldron.
;Karacas Discussions
The witch knows quite a bit about the people and places we are going to. Flintmoss originally made her cauldron – and it was 'acquired' by Karakas from Grafspire. The caldron was created to be able to find things. The witch also knew Astrid back when she was an evil Kalimar.

Zanak spends some time making the witch happy - and we all benefit.
==2nd of Heat – We Depart==
After Anook (who is he again?) gets 6 ice cubes itemised (20x20x20) and we get a source of emergency air (7 people 3 hours)

Astrid ports us to the ship. Kinross the gnomish captain tends to be distracted when faced by mechanisms (or even ideas for mechanisms), but seems skilled at his job.
==3rd of Heat – We Travel==
We travel – and set the ship to scan for dark matter as we go (worth money that!)
== 4th of Heat – We Fight==
Ahoy – there's dark matter in that-thar asteroid!

We suit-up (Anook in an ice-cube) and head over to the holey rock. The tunnels have an aura of disintegration (smooth sided) and soon we make it to a large chamber – yes, inhabited by a large worm.

Its' skin is embedded with dark matter and it spits a pretty good web, grabbing Dirk and Dwork and dragging them in. Dwork gets annoyed when a lick of the tongue disintegrates his shiny new armour and he hits it with his electric glaive, setting of a chain dark matter explosion (somebody warned us about that, but the orc does not have a good memory). Fries the adventurers badly and fries the worm much worse.

By the time we have finished it off, Theodonna is also naked (who hoo!), Dirk, Dwork and the naked namer have been swallowed and cut their way out – and we collect more dark matter (as well as some other salvage). An ice cube floats around the chamber making itself useful.

==5th of Heat – Grafspire==
Avoiding the trap of a small black dark matter rich ship (mummy was just around the corner), we sight Grafspire - 25 mile long spire of rock with one large city (Grafspire) a smaller fortified city (Dalegadrian) and some sort of dockyard building/wrecking site
;Well, we got in and we got out.
In the process we met people, gave bribes, gathered information, witnessed combat, got attacked, escaped and departed – all of us covered in doodoo and some of us naked
;Flinders
*a talkative gnome Namer at the docks who identifies mind mages '''All mind mages must wear collars''' (Cyan refuses and stays in the ship)
*'''The Trolls Heart:''' a tavern in the ''''The Pits'''' (full of tarts) where we might get a guide to the '''Tangles''' (where the Troll Mart and Flintmoss may be). ''Look for Gadget or The Ferret''
*'''The Sailors Delight:''' another tavern in the Pits.
*'''Willemina:''' the chief Bitch of the Pits (a place of dubious business practice)
*'''Rock Ape kidnappers:''' people have gone missing (over the last 2 months), snatched from the streets
;Amelia
*Once the wife of one of the members of the Free Traders that ran the rock, but since he died 6 months ago, she has taken control of the city. Turns out to be an evil mind mage (is there any other sort?)
*'''Mind Mage collars:''' enforced by Amelia. They let Amelia read mind mage minds (she's already got everybody else covered) and prevents the use of "intrusive" mind spells.
;The Lady Black
*a Â½ elf Kalimar arrives soon after us (with guards) and is met by Amelia (with Rock Apes). Combat ensues. We approach in a jolly boat.
*Dwork thinks '''Hmm, I'm in fireball range'''. Amelia immediately dispatches a fireball in our direction. How did that happen? And how could you possibly blame the orc?
*The Lady Black is losing the combat – and disappears. Amelia talks to us '''We wouldn't lie to you! I don't think I can lie to you.'' (so true)
*We find out later that The Lady Black's trading establishment was destroyed 3 months ago (by Amelia)
;The Pits
*Anook talks to Gadget (the goggled one likes small boys)
*Theodonna gets offered a job by Willemina (Namers are in demand)
*We flee the Trolls heart as recommend by '''Pondscum''' (Willemina's gopher) to Willemina. Now, Willow is a BIG woman (40 stone) and she takes a great liking of the orc (why not!)
*Trollmart is now controlled by Amelia too, but Willow will help us if we rescue someone from Trollmart for her
*The orc scores! (nearly) but D&W are interrupted by Amelia's gas grenado bearing rock apes. As the Lady Amelia arrives we retreat through the service tunnels (yes the sewers)
;Escape
*Willemina comes along as a slender woman (she wouldn't otherwise fit)
*Gadget comes along too
*Dirk faces down an ice hound. Dirk gets turned into an ice cube. The orc sets fire to the methane (again) and Anook finishes the dog off and sets up a wall of ice behind us.
* We make it off the rock – ice cube in tow.

We make it back to our ship and depart for the Trollmart (2 days away). Cyan takes a quick look/smell of us, mutters in disgust and tells us to shower before he will talk to us.
We shower.
Theodonna brings Dirk back from being a frigid statue. It takes her 3 hours and the odd backfire but there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage.
Dwork and Willemina take up where they left off (fornicating) and Dwork seems mightily impressed by Willows new skin tight leather outfit that covers her full 40 stone.
Gadget, despite his propensity for little boys, is impressed by Dworks eagerness to please his mistress, and makes a new set of armour for him.
==6th of Heat – What Willemina wants==
When Dwork and Willemina finally return to our group she tells us about Corundum. He has been captured by Amelias forces and is held in an enchanted cell somewhere. He is a powerful shaper and is a descendant of Flintmoss. She wants us to locate and rescue him. We agree since Willemina will reward us and he seems to be the only clue we have to Flintmoss.
With only a Â½ day to go we come across an elf mining an asteroid. He is riding a space worm. Dirk, Dwork and Theodonna remind us of the outcome of our last space worm encounter and strongly suggest we don't repeat it.
We leave him alone.

==7th of Heat – Trollmart==
Willemina gives us disguises and aura alterations. She also gives us a note for Corundum asking him to cooperate with us.
We stay in the Spit Roast Goat Inn then visit the House of Corundum. There we meet an old truthsayer called Furnace who also asks us to help Corundum.
Meanwhile Cyan has been mentally tracking an individual with too much interest in us till he disappears behind a magic field a few buildings away.
;The Trap is Sprung
We follow Cyan to a passageway leading to some stairs and a locked door. A little boy who Dirk and Anook befriended says the people in the room stole Corundum.
We leap into action.
After a short but furious battle most of us regain consciousness. Dirk seems to have shredded his body into 99 pieces. Needless to say he is dead. Seems he got turned into a gas form and sucked into a glass bottle. In his attempt to transform into an ape or some such large animal he failed to notice the glass bottle was made from bound glass. He made quite a mess!
We also notice we have only survived because Furnace and his fellow trolls came and kicked some rock ape arse.
It seems Helena and Portia (the 2 elves who work for Amelia and control her kidnapping gang) were here but managed to teleport away. They left behind a gnome called Pigsty. He is a namer/binder who caused most of the damage to our party from lots of complicated traps.

He pleads for his life and says Corundum is being held in Grafspire.
;Rescuing Corundum
While Furnace fashions a golem body for Dirks spirit Theodonna divinates the items found in the space worm from several days ago. Why she didn't do it on the 2 day trip we don't know.
There is a main gauche which she takes an instant liking to (actually she won't give it up to any of us – probably a bad sign), a ring with some Strength of Stone charges, and the scroll tube (minor god cursed) which seems to be trapped with a time effect bomb. We wisely leave it alone.
Dirk is pleased with his new temporary body of a Dwarf Troll Golem as it is 6 foot 6 tall. Dwork is happy too, but for a different reason.
Furnace gives us 6 Dwarf Trolls (in a berserker rage) to come through and help in rescuing Corundum. Zanak follows the portal back to Grafspire from which Helena and Portia arrived through.
Furnace offers one other bit of information. It appears Corundum has the racial memories of Flintmoss (or could he be Flintmoss?!?).

We set the order as Dirk, Anook and Cyan, then Dwork, Theodonna (in rat form) and an ally, Melco and an ally, then finally Zanak and the rest of the Dwarf Trolls.

;A Javelin to the Belly
The party leaps through the portal and finds themselves in a single hex cell with razor sharp bars. There are 4 golems thrusting their Javelins into us and trying to pull us into the bars for a very messy death.
Anook freezes a side of the cell and shatters it. Eventually the group gets out of the cell relatively unharmed.
;What do you mean Relatively Unharmed?
*Dirk gets skewered but being a golem it doesn't really bother him.
*Theodonna scurries out of the cell in rat form but is pursued by Dworks panther. She turns back into a human just in time. (That could have been a best death award!)
*The panther is picked up by a golem and is used to assault Dirk.
*Melco is seriously wounded and has a gusher from his right arm. Zanak tries to stabilise him but the room seems to be preventing the healing process. He is eventually stabilized by getting him into the hallway.

Cyan saves the day by windwalking the golems and they disappear for a few minutes.
;The Room of Statues
Once out of the room we find an intersection. The corridor opposite us leads to an open room with 6 statues. They are in unusual positions. The corridor to the left is darkened. The corridor on the right is filled with 6 orks. The dwarf trolls repulse them and they turn to flee. Anook and Dirk cast spells to block the corridor so they can't raise the alarm.

The statue room has a magical effect on the floor and a hidden rear door. We know about that because one of the dwarf trolls is trying to locate Corundum and can feel him 50 feet away. The floor turns sentients into stone statues. Anook covers the floor in a foot thick pad of ice and it seems to protect us.
Theodonna proves her usefulness once again (she has saved our bacon many times already) and untraps the door. She seems to have a counter spell for everything...
From behind the door we hear "Gorak Come". There are some very loud footsteps coming.
;Gorak Comes
2 black shadowy insubstantial figures come through the door (black skinned goblins) and attack Theodonna and Dirk. Dwork strikes Dirks one and the 2 figures disappear.
Through the door strides Gorak. Behind him we can see 2 prison cells and some torture chambers.

All spells thrown at Gorak fizzle out before they reach him. It seems he has an anti-magic field around him.
We quickly devise a plan to lure him back to the portal room so Cyan can sneak past him from a side corridor. Cyan would then free Corundum and all we need to do is escape through a Zanak portal. Simple enough really. Of course this assumes everyone did as they were told.
Melco mutters to himself "what if I step into this unnaturally dark corridor?" and is promptly sucked into the darkness. His screams are cut short. We carry on with the plan while commenting on that "silly Melco".
Gorak is huge and slow but shapechanges to be smaller and faster. All bar one of the remaining Dwarf Trolls attack Gorak. They do a surprising amount of damage before being killed. We manage to kill Gorak with an assortment of arrows and grenados.

;A Trap in Time
There are 4 beings chained to the walls in the cells. 2 are humans (a namer and a mind mage) but they are totally insane.
The third is a gnome binder called Keystone who built this place and it turns out Amelia thought of him as a loose end so gave him to Gorak to "play with". He is quite keen to help us get out.
The last person is Flintmoss (from 15,000 years ago !!!) who has been swapped in time with Corundum. He was in the process of building the Heart of Darkness when he was so rudely displaced in time. He warns us to stay away from him as Amelias trap is to send us all back in time if we touch Flintmoss.

Meanwhile Melco has been petrified and broken into 86 pieces. We can see 2 spheres down his corridor. One is a time trap and the other has a TK Rage spell. With Keystones help we capture the time trap sphere and rescue Melcos pieces.
We take the dead trolls and the unconscious mages back to Grafspire. Dirk is the last to step through the portal and gives a rude gesture to Amelia as she portals into Goraks building.

;Back on Grafspire
We divinate Flintmoss. Starrock (the godling who sent the ant queen to trouble us on the first day) has been working with Amelia to stop Flintmoss from completing the Heart of Darkness. It is his power that has caused the time traps and time displacements. The concept of all this time trapping is too much for Dwork so he has a sleep.
With the help of Furnace and his friends we get Melco and Dirk back into their own bodies. Dirk divinates Theodonna (she is also asleep) and we can now see the main gauche has been cursed by Starrock (he gets around). Whilst it gives her some benefits in battle is stops others near her casting and healing doesn't work as well. To remove the curse takes more than we can muster. Anook fixes the problem by turning it to ice and it melts away. Theodonna is not pleased when she awakes but what can she do about it now?!?

Furnace looks at Zanaks pitiful cutlass and offers to make a new improved one for him. He says to come back in 3 days.

With most of the day gone we decide to portal to our ship and take control again. Keystone offers to help but has second thoughts once he realizes how mad we really are.
Just as we are preparing to leave a warning signal reverberates through Grafspire. A huge asteroid is on a collision course and we need to get out now. The whole living quarters portion of Grafspire detaches and moves away from the main body of Grafspire.

;Taking our Ship Back – Part One
Once we are clear we open a portal to the ship and step through.
There are several trolls and a female human on board. She claims to own the ship and the previous captain and Astrid are long gone. After some clever negotiating on dirks part we agree to swap the ship for the galleon Portia and Helena have. Of course we need to commandeer it first.
She says it will take 3 weeks to get back to the trollmart. We all look around puzzled till Zanak mentions his lizard says there is something warping the portal it opened. On closer inspection we identify Starrocks aura on the portal. Damn it we have moved 3 weeks into the future. Dwork rolls his eyes as it is all too much for him.

We step back through the portal and then divinate the lizard. It has certainly been affected by Starrock. The upgrade Karakas did to it gave Starrock an opening. The dwarf Troll shaman does a true sensing ritual and Melcos shadow splits off from him. Starrocks Avatar attempts to flee into space but Zanak, upset his poor lizard had been misused, mental attacks him into submission.
The shaman puts it into a soul jar. Flintmoss commandeers it to use in completing the Heart of Darkness ritual. Actually this is a good thing as he can sacrifice the god essence instead of his own.
Melco takes a small beating for being so silly in the first place.

;Taking our Ship Back – Part Two
Sick of being toyed with we try to rescue our ship again. In the process we kill Helena but Portia teleports away.
The ship warns us there is something strange in the rear room. We tell the ship to return to Mollys where the captain and Astrid were dropped off while we investigate the rear room.

Of course the room is trapped with an alarm signal once the door is opened. It will alert someone called Melena. The thing in the room is a living pulsing crystal which Flintmoss recognizes as a Time Creature. It is very rare and dangerous, and thus valuable, so we come up with a plan to capture it.
In the meantime Anook drops off Helenas body for a resurrection and to have her items divinated (Chain Mail, ring and rapier).
The creature is probably a trap to ensnare us so we decide to try capturing Melena instead. She is likely to be a Time Mage and bound to be in the employ of Starrock.
The plan is simple. Have the ship eject the time creature and the surrounding "bubble of force" then trigger the alert to Melena, lay down a time special counter (Theodonna just learned it) and take her by surprise.
Cyan is a bit concerned she could be too much for us but Dwork and Zanak are only interested in the possible booty she would have. Dirk reluctantly agrees with the Ork and the crazy pirate.
* scribe note – Dirk seems to agree with the pirate quite a bit for the next few hours, almost as if he wasn't really in control of himself.

;Taking on a Time Mage
The plan is enacted. The time creature is safely deposited on an asteroid and the door to the room is opened. Instead of Melena 4 goblins appear. We dispatch them in a matter of seconds but Theodonna and Dwork seem to have taken some massive damage. The damage appears to be time effected as it hasn't really happened yet. – it could have been worse...

Anook does something unintentionally clever and puts a coating of snow down on the floor. Instantly we see some foot prints which lead to the control room. Melena has been very clever and waltzed right through us, interrogated the ship, replayed the last few minutes and listened to our plans and escaped. The time creature is no longer on the asteroid. Damn she is good.

What to do next?
Follow her of course. Zanak follows her portal and we step through.
There are 2 rooms. The first has Portia, naked and chained to a torture device, an undead male human (also chained to the wall) and Melena. The second room has the time creature and Portias belongings (blue robes, a rapier, an amulet and 2 rings). We can also see Amelias head on a pike in the corner.

Anook hits the undead male and does some good damage. Of course then he is drained and the creature is whole again. Dirk tries to hit Melena but she keeps teleporting to other spots in the room. When Dwork comes through the portal he finds himself right next to Melena. He swings and misses. She touches him with her little finger and his right arm nearly drops off. He swings with his left arm but misses again.

Dirk, Anook and Melco keep the undead male busy till he falls unconscious while Zanak, Dwork, Theodonna try to hit Melena. Cyan, using telepathy, locates her mind several stories above us, and casts phantasm to hinder her.
Melena teleports into the second room and unleashes the time creature.
In the heartbeat it takes her to do this Dirk, Anook, Melco and Dwork engage her. Dwork gets in the final blow that kills her. She cries out "I am coming my Lord!" and sags to the ground.

We all run for the portal as the time creature ages the ship around us at a rate of 10,000 years per pulse. Cyan, Zanak and Dwork make it through unharmed. Theodonna, Melco and Dirk make it back but are cursed to age 10,000 years and appear to be dead. Melco had Melenas body. Anook takes a bit longer to come through. The ship disintegrated around him. Fortunately he encased himself in ice and managed to gather some treasure before going into the portal. He has some gold and silver, some dark matter and a great axe.

;The Interrogation
Flintmoss uses the god essence to try and remove the aging curse. Dirk fails and needs to be resurrected. Dirk doesn't appear to have suffered any endurance loss from the resurrection.

We send the rest of the night healing the party and divinating the loot. We get Helena and Portia resurrected (Portia died when the ship disintegrated) and question them. There jobs were to take out any Mind Mages or Namers that came near Flintmoss. Amelias job was to stop any powerful binders for getting in Melenas way. Given that her head was on a stake (which Anook brought back) we think she didn't do a very good job. We think we will sell Amelias head to Lady Black.

Portia heard Melena talking to an insubstantial figure several times. We think this was Starrock. Melena talked about "wiping the slate clean and reforming the plane", although Portia didn't realize the ramifications of this.

Melena also organised a group of assassins to kill Kaladan. We send an emissary to his court (courtesy of Zanaks lizard) and inform Kaladan. He returns through the portal to see Flintmoss.

Helena, Portia and Amelia originated in Alusia. Helena and Portia were pacted to a demon, while Amelia was pacted to Starrock.

Kaladan and Flintmoss agree that the Heart of Darkness needs to be fixed in this time to stop any time paradoxes. We all just agree because the time ramifications are just too confusing.

Technically we have completed the assigned mission but as we didn't have any fixed plans for the next few weeks we decide to stay and help. Also Flintmoss says he won't have time to make our special items till he returns from saving the universe...

It has been a long day. We all rest and recuperate.

==8th of Heat – Off to Mollies==
It is 8am and we discuss the plan for today.
It seems the gnomes know how to get into the black hole. They routinely slip in and acquire (steal) black matter. Gadget and Pondscum are known to be involved. Gadget is in the Sailor Delight back on Grafspire. Pondscum is in Mollies.
Flintmoss tells us Starrock can't take physical form. He seems to exist in all times, by which he means he can travel through time. Because of this he can keep skipping through time to see what we plan to do and come up with devious plans to stop us. We decide to forgo any more planning till we get into the Heart of Darkness, where time doesn't exist in the same way.

We think when we fix the Heart of Darkness the Universe Barrier will disappear and we will be able to leave this plane.

Zanaks lizard has remembered the Trollmart Habitation and can now open a portal back to it anytime.

Kaladan reminds us the Assassins will not stop till the contract is completed, or they die. We scoff at them. After all how tough can they be?

===At Mollies===
Zanaks lizard reports that it feels like it has been interfered with again. Anook saves the day by slipping his god protection ring onto the lizard and the portal to our ship opens with out incident. It takes us 3 hours to get to Mollies but we do the last 30 minutes in stealth mode.
Flintmoss and Kaladan spent the trip making Flintmoss safe to be near.

There are a couple of small but very fast Space Manta ships docked, a few gnomish vessels and a large Galleon. Dirk has a bad feeling about the galleon.

We wisely use a crystal ball to checkout the people in Mollies Bar.
The ship locates her captain in a back room. He is injured but Astrid is healing him.

Asides from Molly and some serving wenches, there are:
* Gnomes – 2 male, 2 female. They look like miners so could be useful if we can't find Pondscum.
* 8 armoured humans. There are some assassins in the group.
* A large bearish looking rotund guy. He has a staff and 3 floozies hanging around him.
* An old grey haired guy with a Minotaur and Ork for guards. The Ork is an assassin.
* Another human with very gaudy clothing, lots of bling and an impressive bow. He has 6 gorgeous girls around him, like groupies.
* Sailors. Between 40 and 50.

Something has given us away. The 3 floozies walk out of the inn and head in our direction. The large rotund guy gets up and assaults the 4 gnomes. Only one of them manages to get out before all hell breaks loose.

The 3 floozies turn into Time Vampires and fly towards us at tremendous speed. The gaudy guy and the old guy disappear. The other patrons scatter. Astrid, Shadow, the ships captain and Willemina race towards the docks.

The time vampires are reflecting our magics back at us. We lead them on a quick trip around the asteroid and get back to the docks in time to save our friends and the gnome. There is an angry guy in green plate armour on the galleon who recognizes Dirk and swears bloody murder at him. Apparently his name is Jasper and he is an abomination. Dirk met him last time he tried to save the Heart of Darkness.

Just before we get on the ship and make our escape the time vampires catch up and strike. They knock Melco over (he stuck his head up to see where they were (doh!). Anook manages to hit one. While they turn around (still flying at speed) we jump on the ship and it easily outpaces them.

===Taking on the Assassins===
The gnome (Matty) confirms he knows how to get into the Heart of Darkness. Pondscum knew too but was abducted by Melena a few days ago.
Willimena identifies the 3 assassins as:
* Boris – the bear shaped guy
* Weasel – the old guy
* Frederick – the gaudy one

We quickly decide to take on the assassins while we have the element of surprise. They are based at Amelias torture place (where we found Flintmoss). The plan is simple. Using the gnome we captured earlier, in exchange for his freedom, we will storm the place using our lizards ability to follow portals. We rescue the other gnomes, maybe loot Amelias private quarters and dispatch the unsuspecting assassins, making Kaladan even happier with us.

Cyan tells us we are idiots but we pay him no attention. We buff up and storm through. Within seconds 5 of us are dead (thanks goodness for Trollskin) and only Cyan and Theodonna are alive. We have killed one assassin called Frederick the Flash. Well actually Flintmoss did the killing by placing a razor wire trap on his side of the portal (Cyan warned him Frederick was coming through) and sliced and diced him. Boris sends a rat through the portal just before it closes offering to exchange Frederick and his belongings for Melco. As a side note Frederick managed to kill the Weasel with his fireballs, which toasted a few of us too.

We get healed (Astrid rocks!) and Theodonna checks out Fredericks gear. He has some red leather armour (fire protection), a ring (stops the Golems from attacking) and a main gauche (Mind Mage Killer). The rat turns out to be a Sonic Bat with some impressive telepathic abilities. We decide Melco isn't worth all this loot so we renegotiate. The final tally is Melco (and Fredericks gold cloak and medallion, as well as 2 gnomes) will be exchanged for the main gauche. We can keep Fredericks body (he wasn't a good enough assassin if we managed to kill him) and his gear. Boris also agrees to give us a 24 hour head start before chasing Kaladan again. This seems quite convenient as it will take us 24 hours to get to the Heart of Darkness.

Melco and the two gnomes are healed. They are called Penelope and Matty and they have a ship which can do the trip in 12 hours. They use a "bubble of force" to protect themselves and their ship in the Heart of Darkness. In fact there is a whole mini community in the Heart of Darkness where traders and miners search out more black matter.

==9th of Heat – The Heart of Darkness==
We resurrect the binder who was helping us storm Amelias place and drop him off at Mollies. We portal to Kaladans Palace to get rank 20 witchsight. Kaladan reminds us he can do Quickness. If he had reminded us a bit earlier maybe we wouldn't all have died!!!

We reach the Heart of Darkness with 8 hours to spare of our 24 before Boris commences his attacks on Kaladan. Zanaks lizard has remembered the Small Ship so we can escape from the bad place quickly when all hell breaks loose.

Flintmoss offers two suggestions:
* We proceed to the center of the Heart of Darkness and give Flintmoss 30 minutes uninterrupted so he can stabilize it. There is a mini plane/sphere about 10 miles across. Dirk remembers part of it well.
* We extract a large enough cargo of Dark Matter so that when the Heart of Darkness implodes it doesn't do enough to destroy the whole universe.

The second option seems really dangerous as we would need to use our spaceship to get the dark matter away and every man and his dog will be shooting at us. We can all see the huge explosion that volume of dark matter would cause, with us sitting right at the center...

We encourage some other gnomes to pretend to be doing the second plan while we attempt the first one.

We purchase a wagon and tunnel on through to the center. Theodonna can recognize a Dark Matter Dragon in close proximity but nothing untoward happens. The trip takes us 4 hours.

===Into the Castle===
The terrain is quite hilly. The land is rocky but quite plain. There aren't that many distinguishing features. Off to our right we see the citadel Dirk so fondly remembers. Off to our left is a small castle. It looks a bit like a French Chateau and is about 4 miles away. We leave the wagon secured behind a hill and buff up. As we head off we see 2 creatures break away from the citadel. Flintmoss says they are Dark Matter Shadows and have an immunity to attacks. Dirk shudders again. Our magic casting is likely to have attracted their attention. Best not to be here when they arrive.

Cyan puts most of us into his magic carpet (another dimension) and windwalks himself, Dirk and Theodonna to the rear castle walls. Kaladan makes his own way. It seems a tad unusual but there was nothing we could do to stop him anyway.

Cyan notices a large black armoured troll on the rooftop. It jumps down near the front of the castle. On his telepathy he can sense 2 beings inside. One is a troll (12 foot tall, heavy black plate armour) and the other is bored human thinking "when will they arrive?". Turns out she is a grey haired female who is quite strong in TH Rage and has a staff of anti-magic.

Flintmoss needs to get to the basement for 30 minutes. There is a secret passage below the stairs.

By now it is about midday. The troll from the rooftop enters but it isn't on Telepathy. He says the citadel is "disturbed" and that they should be on guard.
Melco casts unseen on us all and the females mind disappears (mind shield most likely). Anook rashly casts an ice construction so we can climb in through a first level window ( the guards are on the 4th floor) and the trolls suddenly become more alert. It appears that casting magic is triggering some alarms. Telepathy reassures us that the trolls think it is the female as she is no longer in their room.

We are in a bedroom. The building is made of bound space whale bone and silk boards. We want to get to the ground floor but the door to the hallway is trapped and any counter spell we use will alert the guards. We peek through the floor boards and see a dining room but it is likely to used regularly so we decide to slip through the side wall into the next room. It is a ladies bedroom (the grey haired lady?). there is a trophy room below this room and we reason it isn't used much. We lower Dwork through the floor on a rope, making sure he avoids the obviously trapped rugs on the floor. He gets about half way down and suddenly goes stiff (not in the way he wants). The Trolls are now very alert. CRAP!!!

We pull him back up and Kaladan says he is "suspended in time". We look to Flintmoss for guidance but he says the Chateau was built on top of his workshop and he doesn't remember much about it.

Cyan can hear the last troll saying "Who should investigate this?". The last troll powers up and disappears of Telepathy.

We all jump into Cyans magic carpet and powerup (safe from the alarm magic detecting us). Cyan remains on guard in the room but no one is likely to notice him. The door downstairs rattles and Cyan can hear the trolls. Meanwhile the table and bear rug have both come alive (animated) and are forcing there way up through the floorboards.

In the carpet Dwork takes a swing at Dirk and catches him by surprise. Zanak tries to subdue him with mental attack but backfires and knocks himself out. Kaladan steps up to the mark and casts Sleep on Dwork. Theodonna senses that a soul jar spell has been used on Dwork. We wonder if this soul is better than Dworks.

===Battle on the Stairwell===
The table and the bear make it into our room. Cyan skulks in a corner and they don't see him. The bear opens the door to the hallway and the TK Rage blasts the room. Fortunately Cyan resists it. The bear and table head out of the room making a fair chunk of noise. The female Kalimar comes down the stairs and the table and bear stop being animated. Cyan can see the female and a troll at the base of the stairs getting ready to enter our room. The woman has a staff which generates a sphere of anti-magic.

The rest of us are all powered up and ready for a fight. We burst forth from the carpet. The troll though gets the drop on us and fires 3 spinning disks of force at us. The first disk slices Melcos left arm off and cripples Flintmoss in one arm. The second hits Kaladan in the arm and he is surprised by the blood pumping forth. The third hits Astrid in the neck and her head falls off. Thankfully she is a golem so she isn't really dead.
Dirk and Anooks Ice Monster race forward to engage the troll. The ice monster gets in a few whacks but ultimately is pummeled to ice crystals. Dirk tries to slip a greek fire grenade between the plates of armour but does a poor job. Cyan manages to take control of the situation, and the troll, and forces him to step into the hole in the floor for the soul trap below. Instantly he loses control of the troll but a new mind comes onto mind Speech for him. It is a female mind saying "I can be free at last!".

The second troll appears at the top of the stairs where the female Kalimar has retreated to. Flintmoss uses the invulnerable body of Dwork as a shield while Melco falls to the floor unconscious. Anook blocks the passage with an ice construction.

===Kaladan Has Been Here Before===
Flintmoss mends Astrid and Zanak finally wakes up. Some healing occurs.

Cyan discusses the new minds predicament and offers to help it escape in exchange for Dworks soul (this is uncharacteristic of Cyan and some of the party suspect he is not in his right mind). She was trapped by Kaladan and imprisoned as a head on the wall in the trophy room. She wants three bodies for her and her friends. They were handmaidens for Starrock, who we now discover was female too. It seems like Kaladan is responsible for every female attacking us. He gives a knowing smirk but shrugs off our recriminations. Cyan promises to bring some bodies back for them but he needs Dwork back now to help. She agrees.

Kaladan, who now looks like a male Ork, wakes Dwork up from the sleep spell. He admits he built the chateau to defend Flintmoss's workshop in the basement but Starrock managed to get through and imprisoned Kaladan in the Citadel, where Dirk first encountered him a year ago.

With the troll and other female Kalimar trapped one level up (no doubt Kaladan slept with her too) we venture down to the ground level. We need to be behind the stairway to get into the secret entrance to the basement but confronting us is the female Kalimar (Keren) and a small dapper man with a lovely top hat. Dirk engages them in conversation about why they want to stop us. Keren, feeling quite safe in her anti-magic bubble, freely tells us Starrock will remake the universe as a "paradise for women". Dwork sniggers and suggests Kaladan will either not exist or will be a slave to their every need. Kaladan doesn't appreciate the humour.

===Zanaks First "Gold Brick"===
Dwork attempts to engage to the dapper young man in conversation but starts of very poorly when he insults the mans dress sense. The man, who it turns out is a demon called the Prince of Fates, pulls out a black deck of cards and offers Dwork one. Dwork pauses and asks what the card is. The man replies "It is a Card of Fate". Dwork ,being bold, takes one. Nothing happens. Once he retreats out of the anti-magic field though his disappears and his likeness can be seen on the card. Dirk picks the card up.

Dirk weighs up our chances of taking them on in a physical battle. He observes that Keren's staff is made of Black Oak, she has smoky blue robes, a small silver dagger and a small pouch. She looks like an easy beat. The Prince of Fates is an unknown quantity. Cyan is adamant we should leave them alone but the party feels adventurous. Kaladan casts quickness on us before we leap into action.

At the moment Kaladans spell goes off the 2 disappear. Zanak hears the last words of the Prince of Fates "Fate must be balanced" as a Gold card drops to the floor. Zanak picks it up and finds he can avoid one death. Yippee!!!

===Passageway to the Basement===
The secret door Flintmoss identifies is trapped and warded by a god, Starrock we presume. Flintmoss tells us about the passageway and the many binder traps he laid. He can allow us to pass them unharmed but his memory is a bit hazy. Now is not the time to leave vital bits of information out so Kaladan, with Flintmoss's agreement, uses Hypnotism to refresh his memory. We play it safe though as Starrock is bound to have put additional traps on the passageway. We tunnel downwards and enter the passageway about 60 feet from the basement door. The corridor is covered in dust. The door is white with metal spikes.

Theodonna considers using a wish (Chaos Tainted) to bring Dwork back from the card of fate. Zanak offers to give her the golden card of fate if she does but she realizes this is his first useful item and uses the wish pro bono – scribe note – WHEW!!!
Dwork reappears but is effected by the chaos nature of the wish.

Dirk seems a bit worried that Kaladan may have missed a few vital pieces of information out about his involvement in this whole affair. With a little threatening he agrees to come clean.
Kaladan "borrowed" a skill from Starrock called Time Phase and used it to put the Heart of Darkness out of phase. This was 15,000 years ago. He also confirms that Flintmoss has been affected by a mind spell which has messed with his memory. This occurred in the last few days.

We begin to step forward but we all feel like some bad fates have afflicted us. Zanak feels really clumsy, like he was effected twice. Anook falls over and we hear a click. Theodonna leaps over him but stumbles and sinks into the ground a bit. Another click is heard and the door at the end of the tunnel opens. We can see Starrock bound in place between two pillars near the back of the room. Keren stands beside her and gives her brother (Kaladan) an evil look. There are 12 goblins just in the doorway. The Heart of Darkness, with it barrier, pulses away in the centre of the room. Jasper stands just behind it. When he sees Dirk he roars a challenge. Dirk responds with a string of insults which illicites some useful information from both Keren and Jasper.

Jasper is an Abomination (he is basically a demon) with Mind and Illusion skills. He is the master Melena referred to when she died. We assumed it was Starrock but a master is a male. Keren hired Jasper to kill Kaladan. She is the one who actually wants the gods destroyed. She will use Starrock to destroy the barrier on the Heart of Darkness and then sacrifice the god to escape the destruction of the universe. Her and her cronies will stay out of phase while the universe reforms and they hope to influence the new pattern.

Jasper gives out a laugh as he points out the disintegration field between himself and us, and the huge boulder racing down the corridor from behind us. Dirk has some snappy retort but it has little effect on Jasper.

Kaladan disappears. The group gets ready to race through the disintegration field. Flintmoss casts a counter spell and we all race through except Zanak. While Dirk and Jasper were engaged in a bit of one-up-manship he had been sucking up to Keren, mainly because of the pretty dress she is wearing. Keren has offered to teleport him to safety, by her side, if he switches sides. Zanak still feels encumbered by some bad fates and agrees, just to get passed the disintegration field.

He group gets into the room by the smallest margin and are engaged by the necromantic goblins. Melco has a spot of good luck and gets clipped by the boulder and propelled further into the room, in fact right next to Jasper. Jasper ignores him and manages to teleport Dirk and Dwork away. Cyan and Keren trade TK Rages. The goblins are falling quickly but there were 12 to start with. Anook manages to slip past them and moves to the open space in the right. Melco tries to bash Keren, to disrupt her casting, but her small silver dagger touches him and he rolls on the ground in agony. Flintmoss races to Starrocks side and tries to free her. Keren escapes down the rear passageway.

Jasper has remained motionless since we entered the room. He vanishes and a side corridor opens (right next to Anook) and the real Jasper strides into the room. He attempts to charm Anook but Anook resists and surrounds himself with an ice construction.

Theodonna has been surrounded by the remaining goblins and a concerted effort sees her decapitated. Astrid wades in and deals to them.

===Gold Card Heaven===
Zanak appears in a room. He is surprised to be out of contact with Cyans mind speech. He sees a large plate armoured troll by the door (18 feet away). The troll says "sit down and be quiet". Zanak casts a quick mental attack and the troll falls over. Eyeing up the room he can see 6 Gold Cards of Fate. He quickly grabs them. There is a small silver chest, no doubt trapped, so he searches the troll body. He finds 3 javelin darts and a huge giant axe.

Dirk appears and looks surprised that this pretty little pirate youth had so quickly taken out a giant troll. Dwork appears next. Zanak suggests following Dworks teleportation portal back to the battle but a gold card triggers a new thought "to win this battle you need to locate Kaladan. Only he can give Starrock her powers back". A quick check reveals another gold card can open a portal to his hearts desire. It opens and we see Kaladan in another room, rifling through a chest. Keren and the Prince of Fates have just entered the room. There is also a small green goblin by them. He looks a bit insane.

The Prince of Fate, recognizing the remaining cards in Zanaks pack, offers him 12 Gold Cards to kill Kaladan. Zanak quickly refuses and tries to mental attack Keren. Dwork fireballs her while Dirk engages Keren and the goblin. The Prince of Fate throws a card at Dirk. It has no obvious effect, always a bad sign.

Zanak negotiates with the Prince of Fate for a Gold Card to get us back into the main room but his obsessive need to balance the Fates means one of our group needs to accept a Black Card. Zanak suggests Theodonna and the Prince of Fates accepts. Dirk protests as he had Keren on the ropes but it is too late. Dirk and Dwork appear next to Jasper, Zanak and Kaladan by Flintmoss and Starrock.

===5 Minutes Left===
Jasper has changed shape and now has a snake like head. Zanak uses another Gold Card and Jasper loses his immunity to all magics. Dwork throws a Water Death grenade at Jasper but misses and coats Anooks ice construction with it. Anook is not happy!

Zanak tries to cast a spell and back fires. Another Gold Card disappears to protect him from the results. Kaladan has started "merging" with Starrock to return her stolen powers. And you know what we mean by merging...

Jasper and Dirk trade blows for a few moments till Dirk finally falls over.

Zanak calls out to the Prince of Fates (they seem to be getting on well) and agrees to take a Black Card if a Gold Card to remove Jasper is forthcoming. Jasper disappears to the 666th layer of hell.

Starrock is struggling to get free of Kaladan, not realizing what he is trying to achieve (giving her powers back) and is causing him some severe damage. He calls out for help and Zanak uses another Gold Card to reconcile Kaladan and Starrock. Zanaks last Gold Card is used to resurrect Theodonna.

Anook stalks after Keren and the green Goblin but they run off down the corridor.

Dwork fireballs the remaining Goblins by Astrid. Flintmoss petrifies Melco and Cyan puts him in his magic carpet. It appeared that Melco was affecting the barrier around the Heart of Darkness so we had to remove him. Flintmoss then fixes Astrids damage before checking on the Heart of Darkness.

After a moments investigation he calls out that he can't stop it exploding. There are only 3 minutes left before the whole universe is destroyed. Kaladan and Starrock, holding hands like reunited lovers, tell us to leave and their sacrifice will ensure the Universes survival. Flintmoss will stay too as the explosion will send him back to his own time.

We need only defend the room for the last few minutes to ensure Keren doesn't enact another plan. The Prince of Fates appears again and says he will stop Keren from succeeding if someone will take another Black Card. Dirk steps up to the plate this time.

We quickly portal directly to the Trollmart and meet up with Furnace and our other friends. Corundum has reappeared with the return of Flintmoss to the past. He has a message from Flintmoss with the location of the treasure he promised us. "The secret location is hidden in the racial memories of the shaman. Only true heroes will be able to find the buried treasure."

The Heart of Darkness is now a small sun. It is a shame about the gnomes and the female Kalimar trapped in the Chateau above Flintmoss's workshop but the important thing is we survived !!! Dirk doesn't miss the Citadel one little bit.

Kaladan and Starrock have left us an Amulet each as a reward for our saving the universe and reuniting them.

We all get healed a bit and then we go to the temple in search of the shaman. It doesn't take long to find a story about Flintmoss and 7 Demon Heroes. The treasure is buried in the Ancestral Home and only a true clan member will be allowed access. Dirk offers to undergo the ritual when he hears about the drinking all night part. He glosses over the Steel ring through the testicles part though.

He returns the next morning and we head off.

==10th of Heat – Treasure Hunting==
It takes most of the day to get to the ancestral home asteroid so we Divinate all the loot we have acquired. There is certainly some good booty there!!! Theodonna and Dwork even get some armour to wear.

We land on the asteroid and look dubiously at the large 40 foot high and 20 foot wide passageway heading directly to the center, about 10 miles in. Zanaks lizard is very afraid of a huge dark portal in the very center. Zanak reassures it that he will keep it safe. The Prince of Fates stands by silently, observing us. After a little prompting (begging) by Zanak he says is always around on fateful days. He refuses to help us.

Cyan windwalks us all down 9 miles down the 10 mile long passageway. He only stops when he slams into an invisible barrier. The rest of us didn't notice it and have gone to the other side. At this point we notice the bones and rusted weapons and armour. We try to reach Cyan but the barrier stops us. Seems like there is only one way forward. Cyan debates the foolhardiness of continuing but is eventually lured forwards by the promise of treasure. The bones belonged to other dwarf trolls who had hoped to gain our treasures but were never seen again. The shaman who accompanied us say small prayers over their remains.

We enter the main cavern. It is about 80 foot deep. There are 2 pillars just in the entrance and a large pulsating darkness near the far end. Dirk uses his special dwarf troll clan powers to speak to the spirits swirling around the pillars, or so he says. His story is so outlandish that it can only be the truth.

Flintmoss's mausoleum is in the dark area near the back of the cavern. Flintmoss died 2 years after returning to his time. He was assassinated by the brotherhood we encountered a few days ago. A short time after his internment a "nice looking" human male and Keren (so this rules out Jasper) came to the cavern and left the pulsating darkness, then left. The darkness is a living being and can turn into a creature with sharp black claws. It also has a pack of mini creatures in the form of stone statues. They could be imps. Once the darkness transforms it activates the imps (originally 70 but now only 50) and they attack the trespassers. The statues are currently buried about 8 inches below the surface of the gravel flooring just outside the darkness.

Being an adventurous group we decide to dig up the remaining 50 imps and trap them in the alcoves on the outer walls of the cavern. It doesn't take long.

Dirk then bravely walks forward into the darkness.

===The Claws of Darkness===
As soon as Dirk touches the darkness it transforms into a batlike creature and flies to the top of the mausoleum. Dirk starts climbing the wall while we cast spells at it. Zanaks lizard warns the creature is strengthening the dark portal inside the mauloleum and something evil is coming through.

Only Anooks iceball has any effect on the creature. It quickly launches itself at him. Zanak gets off a luck mental attack and it drops to the ground. Melco races towards it and kills it. He is tempted to pick up the black sword and the black pouch from the creature but good sense prevails and he DAs it first. Just as well because each item will instantly kill any other creature that touches them. He leaves them behind.

Dirk opens the mausoleum doors and we all stride in.

Hanging from the ceiling are 4 censures with black flames. In the middle of the room is Flintmoss's crypt. On top is a font with black water. Rising above this is a darkness portal. There are 7 disembodied claws coming through the portal. Each of us recognizes our true name engraved into the darkness. They are clearly aimed at destroying a specific member of the party. On the plus side we can see our individual treasures hanging on the walls.

We DA the area before the claws get too close to us and figure out we each have to defeat our own claw to close the portal.

Theodonna lays down a counterspell. We all engage our individual claw. Dwork manages to dispatch his first time with an impressive fireball. The rest of us need to hack away with whatever light enhanced magical weapons we have at hand. The battle is over surprisingly quickly. We were all fortunate enough to resist their attacks, which of course would have meant instant death.

We grab our treasure and run. At the barrier Zanak uses his lizard, who feels a bit happier now, to open a portal back to the ship. We escape, gather our loot and portal back to Trollhome.

Zanak gets his new cutlass from Furnace while Theodonna finally divinates the scroll tube we found in the ant lair right at the start of the adventure. It appears the tube is meant for Dirk. He tentatively opens it. Inside is a note from Starrock thanking us for freeing her and a warning that "light is the key" when attempting to gain our rewards.

Now she tells us !!!

We stay on this plane for a little longer and then we return to Alusia.

== Administration ==
=== Equipment ===
;Guild purchases
*12 healing potions (+10) : 2 each except Dirk
*5 Waters of Strength (Rank 14): Theodoona 1, Melco 1, Anook 2, Dwork 1: 70 minutes each.
*6 Waters of Healing (Rank 10): all to Dirk
*All are 500sp each
;Expenses
*1000sp for wings for the group
=== Loot and Boons ===
;Ant Lair
* Beautiful crafted rapier
* Bag with small chunks of dark matter and gems
* Scroll tube – trapped with a god curse
;Karakas
* Zanaks lizard is upgraded to remember 7 locations to which it can open a portal.
* Dwork – Greater Rank 12 on all 4
* Zanak – Rank 16 on all 4
* Dirk – Rank 12 on all 4
* Theodonna – Rank 15 on all 4
* Melco – Rank 12 on all 4
* Anook – 1 week +10 Endurance
* Cyan – either WP+2 or MA+4 – not decided yet
* 2 x 500sp potions of true seeing/locate
;Asteroid Worm
* Dark Matter 4 x 2,000 sp
* Ring (4 x RK12 strength of stone)
* Beetle exoskeleton (could be made into great armour)
* Main Gauche (of screaming berserker) -> Theodonna – destroyed by Anook
;Helenas Possessions
* Chain Mail – 8 points of protection, able to cast magic
* Ring – improved lightning strike on each attack
* Rapier – extra damage to humans
;Portias Possessions
* Blue Robes – 10 points of protection
* Rapier – the higher the strike chance of the opponent the better the defense bonus
* Amulet – increases portaling ability but is dangerous to the untrained
* Ring – Strength of Stone – Rank 20
* Ring – Enhance Enchantment – Rank 15 twice per day 5 mins on person
;Melenas Possessions
* 10,000 SP
* Dark Matter 5 x 2,000 SP
* Great Axe – Dwarf Killer
;Frederick the Flash
* Red Leather - fire protection
* Ring – Identifies bearer to the Golems in Amelia's deathtrap
* Main Gauche – Mind Mage Killer. +30% mind magic resistance - Traded for Melco
* Gold Cloak – Charming
* Squid Head Medallion – Protection from Kalimar Magic
;Kerens Room
* 3 Javelin Darts
* Troll axe – huge
;Furnace
* New Cutlass – For Zanak
;Flintmoss's Mausoleum
* a uniquely crafted magical item for each party Member

=== Keeping up Standards ===
;Standard Buffs - Party
* Lesser enchantment
* Purification
* Fire Armour (Dwork - 32 points)
* Mind Speech
* ?

;Standard Buffs - Self
* Cyan - Mind Cloak and Telepathy
* Zanak - A pretty dress. Not much else to offer :)
* Theodonna - Counterspells as required

;Standard Marching Order
* Dirk, Dwork
* Theodonna, Zanak
* Cyan, Melco
* Anook, Astrid
;Standard Watches
* First:
* Second:
* Third:
* Forth:

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==
===Possible Award Nominations ===
;Smartest
;Bravest
;Stupidest
*Dirk – Day 7 - Changing shape inside a bound glass bottle
;Best Death
*Dirk – Day 7 - Changing shape inside a bound glass bottle

===Quotes===
;Day Seven
*Dirk says to Dwork "these javelins tickle, you should try one."

===Hot and Not===
;Hot
;Not
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]]

Can we fix it?

2026-06-06T04:02:07Z

Terryintransit:

Can we fix it?

2026-06-06T04:01:30Z

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<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Dirk]]
[[Category:Dwork]]
[[Category:Theodonna]]
[[Category:Melco]]
[[Category:Anook]]
[[Category:Cyan]]
[[Category:Zanak]]
return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
*GM: Miles Jackson
*Time: Summer 809 WK
*Day: Wednesdays
*Level: Low - Medium
;The Party
# [[Dirk]]- a very strong goblin warrior, military scientist (and his wolf Shadow)
# [[Dwork]] - Bodyguard, male prostitute and wielder of a massive flaming glaive. Over-powered, over-sexed and over-here. For hire - in soo many ways
# [[Theodonna]]- a Namer and looks like a female human, but isn't quite
# [[Melco]] - pretty boy human, celestial herbalist
# [[Anook]] - now what does he look like again? Oh, small and frigid
# [[Cyan]] - a human Mind Mage
# [[Zanak]] - A young human male Pirate who likes to acquire pretty dresses. He engages in Healing and being a Mind Mage
# Astrid - The inhabitant of Golem guild/healer 6'3' scandanavian beauty (NPC)
==1st of Heat - Aunty Karakas and the Anti-Ants==
;The Mission
Well, back a year or so a bunch of Seagate Adventures were not quite able to finish saving a universe [[Living on the Edge]].
Now '''Kaladan''' (an 'enlightened' Kalimar binder) wants the job finished. Dirk was 'geas'ed at the end of that mission, so he's a starter! Kaladan has sent '''Astrid''' (a gorgeous 6 foot 3 inch golem - inhabited by the spirit of an ancient not so enlightened Kalimar) to the guild to organise things.
*First stop is to find '''Flint-moss''' - an ancient shaper friend of Kaladan the party employer. He has a temper and is 15,000 years old.
*Dirk is elected party leader, with Melco as military scientist and Dwork as scribe (assisted by Zanak as needed)
*What's our reward? (I hear you say). If we succeed Kaladan will shape a custom item for each of us. If we fail we will die.
;Karakas the Witch
In the evening we fly to Karakas' place, 30 miles from town - to get potions and enchantments to aid our quest. We find that her cottage has been infested with 'space ants'. There are about 50 dead ants around the house and a number of chopped up golems. Karakas is wounded and Elenna (her assistant) is damaged. Most importantly, the witches' cauldron has been taken.

We follow the ant trail to a small mound guarded by 8 (soon to be dead) ants. Down the tunnels we track until we come across a barrier that seems to stop all magic. The orc fireball's anyway and backfires (but good). A female Kalimar disappears up a side passage, but gets burnt (but good).

The cauldron laden Queen Ant is completing a ritual behind the barrier, but we attack and slice the straps holding on the cauldron. Dwork and Theodonna disrupt the barrier by messing up the sticks and runes on the ground around the queen.

The Queen Ant is really upset with the female Kalimar. She teleports off and kills her only transport off of this plane. We get to loot the body (choice!)

Cyan casts mind speech on the ant queen and finds out that the ants are now trapped on this plane. The dead Kalimar who provided the plane travel here was '''Khal-Grief''' other wise know as Grief. Grief's boss was a minor godling by the name of '''Starrock'''

The elf Klunna von straun employed the ant queen to recover the cauldron.
;Karacas Discussions
The witch knows quite a bit about the people and places we are going to. Flintmoss originally made her cauldron – and it was 'acquired' by Karakas from Grafspire. The caldron was created to be able to find things. The witch also knew Astrid back when she was an evil Kalimar.

Zanak spends some time making the witch happy - and we all benefit.
==2nd of Heat – We Depart==
After Anook (who is he again?) gets 6 ice cubes itemised (20x20x20) and we get a source of emergency air (7 people 3 hours)

Astrid ports us to the ship. Kinross the gnomish captain tends to be distracted when faced by mechanisms (or even ideas for mechanisms), but seems skilled at his job.
==3rd of Heat – We Travel==
We travel – and set the ship to scan for dark matter as we go (worth money that!)
== 4th of Heat – We Fight==
Ahoy – there's dark matter in that-thar asteroid!

We suit-up (Anook in an ice-cube) and head over to the holey rock. The tunnels have an aura of disintegration (smooth sided) and soon we make it to a large chamber – yes, inhabited by a large worm.

Its' skin is embedded with dark matter and it spits a pretty good web, grabbing Dirk and Dwork and dragging them in. Dwork gets annoyed when a lick of the tongue disintegrates his shiny new armour and he hits it with his electric glaive, setting of a chain dark matter explosion (somebody warned us about that, but the orc does not have a good memory). Fries the adventurers badly and fries the worm much worse.

By the time we have finished it off, Theodonna is also naked (who hoo!), Dirk, Dwork and the naked namer have been swallowed and cut their way out – and we collect more dark matter (as well as some other salvage). An ice cube floats around the chamber making itself useful.

==5th of Heat – Grafspire==
Avoiding the trap of a small black dark matter rich ship (mummy was just around the corner), we sight Grafspire - 25 mile long spire of rock with one large city (Grafspire) a smaller fortified city (Dalegadrian) and some sort of dockyard building/wrecking site
;Well, we got in and we got out.
In the process we met people, gave bribes, gathered information, witnessed combat, got attacked, escaped and departed – all of us covered in doodoo and some of us naked
;Flinders
*a talkative gnome Namer at the docks who identifies mind mages '''All mind mages must wear collars''' (Cyan refuses and stays in the ship)
*'''The Trolls Heart:''' a tavern in the ''''The Pits'''' (full of tarts) where we might get a guide to the '''Tangles''' (where the Troll Mart and Flintmoss may be). ''Look for Gadget or The Ferret''
*'''The Sailors Delight:''' another tavern in the Pits.
*'''Willemina:''' the chief Bitch of the Pits (a place of dubious business practice)
*'''Rock Ape kidnappers:''' people have gone missing (over the last 2 months), snatched from the streets
;Amelia
*Once the wife of one of the members of the Free Traders that ran the rock, but since he died 6 months ago, she has taken control of the city. Turns out to be an evil mind mage (is there any other sort?)
*'''Mind Mage collars:''' enforced by Amelia. They let Amelia read mind mage minds (she's already got everybody else covered) and prevents the use of "intrusive" mind spells.
;The Lady Black
*a Â½ elf Kalimar arrives soon after us (with guards) and is met by Amelia (with Rock Apes). Combat ensues. We approach in a jolly boat.
*Dwork thinks '''Hmm, I'm in fireball range'''. Amelia immediately dispatches a fireball in our direction. How did that happen? And how could you possibly blame the orc?
*The Lady Black is losing the combat – and disappears. Amelia talks to us '''We wouldn't lie to you! I don't think I can lie to you.'' (so true)
*We find out later that The Lady Black's trading establishment was destroyed 3 months ago (by Amelia)
;The Pits
*Anook talks to Gadget (the goggled one likes small boys)
*Theodonna gets offered a job by Willemina (Namers are in demand)
*We flee the Trolls heart as recommend by '''Pondscum''' (Willemina's gopher) to Willemina. Now, Willow is a BIG woman (40 stone) and she takes a great liking of the orc (why not!)
*Trollmart is now controlled by Amelia too, but Willow will help us if we rescue someone from Trollmart for her
*The orc scores! (nearly) but D&W are interrupted by Amelia's gas grenado bearing rock apes. As the Lady Amelia arrives we retreat through the service tunnels (yes the sewers)
;Escape
*Willemina comes along as a slender woman (she wouldn't otherwise fit)
*Gadget comes along too
*Dirk faces down an ice hound. Dirk gets turned into an ice cube. The orc sets fire to the methane (again) and Anook finishes the dog off and sets up a wall of ice behind us.
* We make it off the rock – ice cube in tow.

We make it back to our ship and depart for the Trollmart (2 days away). Cyan takes a quick look/smell of us, mutters in disgust and tells us to shower before he will talk to us.
We shower.
Theodonna brings Dirk back from being a frigid statue. It takes her 3 hours and the odd backfire but there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage.
Dwork and Willemina take up where they left off (fornicating) and Dwork seems mightily impressed by Willows new skin tight leather outfit that covers her full 40 stone.
Gadget, despite his propensity for little boys, is impressed by Dworks eagerness to please his mistress, and makes a new set of armour for him.
==6th of Heat – What Willemina wants==
When Dwork and Willemina finally return to our group she tells us about Corundum. He has been captured by Amelias forces and is held in an enchanted cell somewhere. He is a powerful shaper and is a descendant of Flintmoss. She wants us to locate and rescue him. We agree since Willemina will reward us and he seems to be the only clue we have to Flintmoss.
With only a Â½ day to go we come across an elf mining an asteroid. He is riding a space worm. Dirk, Dwork and Theodonna remind us of the outcome of our last space worm encounter and strongly suggest we don't repeat it.
We leave him alone.

==7th of Heat – Trollmart==
Willemina gives us disguises and aura alterations. She also gives us a note for Corundum asking him to cooperate with us.
We stay in the Spit Roast Goat Inn then visit the House of Corundum. There we meet an old truthsayer called Furnace who also asks us to help Corundum.
Meanwhile Cyan has been mentally tracking an individual with too much interest in us till he disappears behind a magic field a few buildings away.
;The Trap is Sprung
We follow Cyan to a passageway leading to some stairs and a locked door. A little boy who Dirk and Anook befriended says the people in the room stole Corundum.
We leap into action.
After a short but furious battle most of us regain consciousness. Dirk seems to have shredded his body into 99 pieces. Needless to say he is dead. Seems he got turned into a gas form and sucked into a glass bottle. In his attempt to transform into an ape or some such large animal he failed to notice the glass bottle was made from bound glass. He made quite a mess!
We also notice we have only survived because Furnace and his fellow trolls came and kicked some rock ape arse.
It seems Helena and Portia (the 2 elves who work for Amelia and control her kidnapping gang) were here but managed to teleport away. They left behind a gnome called Pigsty. He is a namer/binder who caused most of the damage to our party from lots of complicated traps.

He pleads for his life and says Corundum is being held in Grafspire.
;Rescuing Corundum
While Furnace fashions a golem body for Dirks spirit Theodonna divinates the items found in the space worm from several days ago. Why she didn't do it on the 2 day trip we don't know.
There is a main gauche which she takes an instant liking to (actually she won't give it up to any of us – probably a bad sign), a ring with some Strength of Stone charges, and the scroll tube (minor god cursed) which seems to be trapped with a time effect bomb. We wisely leave it alone.
Dirk is pleased with his new temporary body of a Dwarf Troll Golem as it is 6 foot 6 tall. Dwork is happy too, but for a different reason.
Furnace gives us 6 Dwarf Trolls (in a berserker rage) to come through and help in rescuing Corundum. Zanak follows the portal back to Grafspire from which Helena and Portia arrived through.
Furnace offers one other bit of information. It appears Corundum has the racial memories of Flintmoss (or could he be Flintmoss?!?).

We set the order as Dirk, Anook and Cyan, then Dwork, Theodonna (in rat form) and an ally, Melco and an ally, then finally Zanak and the rest of the Dwarf Trolls.

;A Javelin to the Belly
The party leaps through the portal and finds themselves in a single hex cell with razor sharp bars. There are 4 golems thrusting their Javelins into us and trying to pull us into the bars for a very messy death.
Anook freezes a side of the cell and shatters it. Eventually the group gets out of the cell relatively unharmed.
;What do you mean Relatively Unharmed?
*Dirk gets skewered but being a golem it doesn't really bother him.
*Theodonna scurries out of the cell in rat form but is pursued by Dworks panther. She turns back into a human just in time. (That could have been a best death award!)
*The panther is picked up by a golem and is used to assault Dirk.
*Melco is seriously wounded and has a gusher from his right arm. Zanak tries to stabilise him but the room seems to be preventing the healing process. He is eventually stabilized by getting him into the hallway.

Cyan saves the day by windwalking the golems and they disappear for a few minutes.
;The Room of Statues
Once out of the room we find an intersection. The corridor opposite us leads to an open room with 6 statues. They are in unusual positions. The corridor to the left is darkened. The corridor on the right is filled with 6 orks. The dwarf trolls repulse them and they turn to flee. Anook and Dirk cast spells to block the corridor so they can't raise the alarm.

The statue room has a magical effect on the floor and a hidden rear door. We know about that because one of the dwarf trolls is trying to locate Corundum and can feel him 50 feet away. The floor turns sentients into stone statues. Anook covers the floor in a foot thick pad of ice and it seems to protect us.
Theodonna proves her usefulness once again (she has saved our bacon many times already) and untraps the door. She seems to have a counter spell for everything...
From behind the door we hear "Gorak Come". There are some very loud footsteps coming.
;Gorak Comes
2 black shadowy insubstantial figures come through the door (black skinned goblins) and attack Theodonna and Dirk. Dwork strikes Dirks one and the 2 figures disappear.
Through the door strides Gorak. Behind him we can see 2 prison cells and some torture chambers.

All spells thrown at Gorak fizzle out before they reach him. It seems he has an anti-magic field around him.
We quickly devise a plan to lure him back to the portal room so Cyan can sneak past him from a side corridor. Cyan would then free Corundum and all we need to do is escape through a Zanak portal. Simple enough really. Of course this assumes everyone did as they were told.
Melco mutters to himself "what if I step into this unnaturally dark corridor?" and is promptly sucked into the darkness. His screams are cut short. We carry on with the plan while commenting on that "silly Melco".
Gorak is huge and slow but shapechanges to be smaller and faster. All bar one of the remaining Dwarf Trolls attack Gorak. They do a surprising amount of damage before being killed. We manage to kill Gorak with an assortment of arrows and grenados.

;A Trap in Time
There are 4 beings chained to the walls in the cells. 2 are humans (a namer and a mind mage) but they are totally insane.
The third is a gnome binder called Keystone who built this place and it turns out Amelia thought of him as a loose end so gave him to Gorak to "play with". He is quite keen to help us get out.
The last person is Flintmoss (from 15,000 years ago !!!) who has been swapped in time with Corundum. He was in the process of building the Heart of Darkness when he was so rudely displaced in time. He warns us to stay away from him as Amelias trap is to send us all back in time if we touch Flintmoss.

Meanwhile Melco has been petrified and broken into 86 pieces. We can see 2 spheres down his corridor. One is a time trap and the other has a TK Rage spell. With Keystones help we capture the time trap sphere and rescue Melcos pieces.
We take the dead trolls and the unconscious mages back to Grafspire. Dirk is the last to step through the portal and gives a rude gesture to Amelia as she portals into Goraks building.

;Back on Grafspire
We divinate Flintmoss. Starrock (the godling who sent the ant queen to trouble us on the first day) has been working with Amelia to stop Flintmoss from completing the Heart of Darkness. It is his power that has caused the time traps and time displacements. The concept of all this time trapping is too much for Dwork so he has a sleep.
With the help of Furnace and his friends we get Melco and Dirk back into their own bodies. Dirk divinates Theodonna (she is also asleep) and we can now see the main gauche has been cursed by Starrock (he gets around). Whilst it gives her some benefits in battle is stops others near her casting and healing doesn't work as well. To remove the curse takes more than we can muster. Anook fixes the problem by turning it to ice and it melts away. Theodonna is not pleased when she awakes but what can she do about it now?!?

Furnace looks at Zanaks pitiful cutlass and offers to make a new improved one for him. He says to come back in 3 days.

With most of the day gone we decide to portal to our ship and take control again. Keystone offers to help but has second thoughts once he realizes how mad we really are.
Just as we are preparing to leave a warning signal reverberates through Grafspire. A huge asteroid is on a collision course and we need to get out now. The whole living quarters portion of Grafspire detaches and moves away from the main body of Grafspire.

;Taking our Ship Back – Part One
Once we are clear we open a portal to the ship and step through.
There are several trolls and a female human on board. She claims to own the ship and the previous captain and Astrid are long gone. After some clever negotiating on dirks part we agree to swap the ship for the galleon Portia and Helena have. Of course we need to commandeer it first.
She says it will take 3 weeks to get back to the trollmart. We all look around puzzled till Zanak mentions his lizard says there is something warping the portal it opened. On closer inspection we identify Starrocks aura on the portal. Damn it we have moved 3 weeks into the future. Dwork rolls his eyes as it is all too much for him.

We step back through the portal and then divinate the lizard. It has certainly been affected by Starrock. The upgrade Karakas did to it gave Starrock an opening. The dwarf Troll shaman does a true sensing ritual and Melcos shadow splits off from him. Starrocks Avatar attempts to flee into space but Zanak, upset his poor lizard had been misused, mental attacks him into submission.
The shaman puts it into a soul jar. Flintmoss commandeers it to use in completing the Heart of Darkness ritual. Actually this is a good thing as he can sacrifice the god essence instead of his own.
Melco takes a small beating for being so silly in the first place.

;Taking our Ship Back – Part Two
Sick of being toyed with we try to rescue our ship again. In the process we kill Helena but Portia teleports away.
The ship warns us there is something strange in the rear room. We tell the ship to return to Mollys where the captain and Astrid were dropped off while we investigate the rear room.

Of course the room is trapped with an alarm signal once the door is opened. It will alert someone called Melena. The thing in the room is a living pulsing crystal which Flintmoss recognizes as a Time Creature. It is very rare and dangerous, and thus valuable, so we come up with a plan to capture it.
In the meantime Anook drops off Helenas body for a resurrection and to have her items divinated (Chain Mail, ring and rapier).
The creature is probably a trap to ensnare us so we decide to try capturing Melena instead. She is likely to be a Time Mage and bound to be in the employ of Starrock.
The plan is simple. Have the ship eject the time creature and the surrounding "bubble of force" then trigger the alert to Melena, lay down a time special counter (Theodonna just learned it) and take her by surprise.
Cyan is a bit concerned she could be too much for us but Dwork and Zanak are only interested in the possible booty she would have. Dirk reluctantly agrees with the Ork and the crazy pirate.
* scribe note – Dirk seems to agree with the pirate quite a bit for the next few hours, almost as if he wasn't really in control of himself.

;Taking on a Time Mage
The plan is enacted. The time creature is safely deposited on an asteroid and the door to the room is opened. Instead of Melena 4 goblins appear. We dispatch them in a matter of seconds but Theodonna and Dwork seem to have taken some massive damage. The damage appears to be time effected as it hasn't really happened yet. – it could have been worse...

Anook does something unintentionally clever and puts a coating of snow down on the floor. Instantly we see some foot prints which lead to the control room. Melena has been very clever and waltzed right through us, interrogated the ship, replayed the last few minutes and listened to our plans and escaped. The time creature is no longer on the asteroid. Damn she is good.

What to do next?
Follow her of course. Zanak follows her portal and we step through.
There are 2 rooms. The first has Portia, naked and chained to a torture device, an undead male human (also chained to the wall) and Melena. The second room has the time creature and Portias belongings (blue robes, a rapier, an amulet and 2 rings). We can also see Amelias head on a pike in the corner.

Anook hits the undead male and does some good damage. Of course then he is drained and the creature is whole again. Dirk tries to hit Melena but she keeps teleporting to other spots in the room. When Dwork comes through the portal he finds himself right next to Melena. He swings and misses. She touches him with her little finger and his right arm nearly drops off. He swings with his left arm but misses again.

Dirk, Anook and Melco keep the undead male busy till he falls unconscious while Zanak, Dwork, Theodonna try to hit Melena. Cyan, using telepathy, locates her mind several stories above us, and casts phantasm to hinder her.
Melena teleports into the second room and unleashes the time creature.
In the heartbeat it takes her to do this Dirk, Anook, Melco and Dwork engage her. Dwork gets in the final blow that kills her. She cries out "I am coming my Lord!" and sags to the ground.

We all run for the portal as the time creature ages the ship around us at a rate of 10,000 years per pulse. Cyan, Zanak and Dwork make it through unharmed. Theodonna, Melco and Dirk make it back but are cursed to age 10,000 years and appear to be dead. Melco had Melenas body. Anook takes a bit longer to come through. The ship disintegrated around him. Fortunately he encased himself in ice and managed to gather some treasure before going into the portal. He has some gold and silver, some dark matter and a great axe.

;The Interrogation
Flintmoss uses the god essence to try and remove the aging curse. Dirk fails and needs to be resurrected. Dirk doesn't appear to have suffered any endurance loss from the resurrection.

We send the rest of the night healing the party and divinating the loot. We get Helena and Portia resurrected (Portia died when the ship disintegrated) and question them. There jobs were to take out any Mind Mages or Namers that came near Flintmoss. Amelias job was to stop any powerful binders for getting in Melenas way. Given that her head was on a stake (which Anook brought back) we think she didn't do a very good job. We think we will sell Amelias head to Lady Black.

Portia heard Melena talking to an insubstantial figure several times. We think this was Starrock. Melena talked about "wiping the slate clean and reforming the plane", although Portia didn't realize the ramifications of this.

Melena also organised a group of assassins to kill Kaladan. We send an emissary to his court (courtesy of Zanaks lizard) and inform Kaladan. He returns through the portal to see Flintmoss.

Helena, Portia and Amelia originated in Alusia. Helena and Portia were pacted to a demon, while Amelia was pacted to Starrock.

Kaladan and Flintmoss agree that the Heart of Darkness needs to be fixed in this time to stop any time paradoxes. We all just agree because the time ramifications are just too confusing.

Technically we have completed the assigned mission but as we didn't have any fixed plans for the next few weeks we decide to stay and help. Also Flintmoss says he won't have time to make our special items till he returns from saving the universe...

It has been a long day. We all rest and recuperate.

==8th of Heat – Off to Mollies==
It is 8am and we discuss the plan for today.
It seems the gnomes know how to get into the black hole. They routinely slip in and acquire (steal) black matter. Gadget and Pondscum are known to be involved. Gadget is in the Sailor Delight back on Grafspire. Pondscum is in Mollies.
Flintmoss tells us Starrock can't take physical form. He seems to exist in all times, by which he means he can travel through time. Because of this he can keep skipping through time to see what we plan to do and come up with devious plans to stop us. We decide to forgo any more planning till we get into the Heart of Darkness, where time doesn't exist in the same way.

We think when we fix the Heart of Darkness the Universe Barrier will disappear and we will be able to leave this plane.

Zanaks lizard has remembered the Trollmart Habitation and can now open a portal back to it anytime.

Kaladan reminds us the Assassins will not stop till the contract is completed, or they die. We scoff at them. After all how tough can they be?

===At Mollies===
Zanaks lizard reports that it feels like it has been interfered with again. Anook saves the day by slipping his god protection ring onto the lizard and the portal to our ship opens with out incident. It takes us 3 hours to get to Mollies but we do the last 30 minutes in stealth mode.
Flintmoss and Kaladan spent the trip making Flintmoss safe to be near.

There are a couple of small but very fast Space Manta ships docked, a few gnomish vessels and a large Galleon. Dirk has a bad feeling about the galleon.

We wisely use a crystal ball to checkout the people in Mollies Bar.
The ship locates her captain in a back room. He is injured but Astrid is healing him.

Asides from Molly and some serving wenches, there are:
* Gnomes – 2 male, 2 female. They look like miners so could be useful if we can't find Pondscum.
* 8 armoured humans. There are some assassins in the group.
* A large bearish looking rotund guy. He has a staff and 3 floozies hanging around him.
* An old grey haired guy with a Minotaur and Ork for guards. The Ork is an assassin.
* Another human with very gaudy clothing, lots of bling and an impressive bow. He has 6 gorgeous girls around him, like groupies.
* Sailors. Between 40 and 50.

Something has given us away. The 3 floozies walk out of the inn and head in our direction. The large rotund guy gets up and assaults the 4 gnomes. Only one of them manages to get out before all hell breaks loose.

The 3 floozies turn into Time Vampires and fly towards us at tremendous speed. The gaudy guy and the old guy disappear. The other patrons scatter. Astrid, Shadow, the ships captain and Willemina race towards the docks.

The time vampires are reflecting our magics back at us. We lead them on a quick trip around the asteroid and get back to the docks in time to save our friends and the gnome. There is an angry guy in green plate armour on the galleon who recognizes Dirk and swears bloody murder at him. Apparently his name is Jasper and he is an abomination. Dirk met him last time he tried to save the Heart of Darkness.

Just before we get on the ship and make our escape the time vampires catch up and strike. They knock Melco over (he stuck his head up to see where they were (doh!). Anook manages to hit one. While they turn around (still flying at speed) we jump on the ship and it easily outpaces them.

===Taking on the Assassins===
The gnome (Matty) confirms he knows how to get into the Heart of Darkness. Pondscum knew too but was abducted by Melena a few days ago.
Willimena identifies the 3 assassins as:
* Boris – the bear shaped guy
* Weasel – the old guy
* Frederick – the gaudy one

We quickly decide to take on the assassins while we have the element of surprise. They are based at Amelias torture place (where we found Flintmoss). The plan is simple. Using the gnome we captured earlier, in exchange for his freedom, we will storm the place using our lizards ability to follow portals. We rescue the other gnomes, maybe loot Amelias private quarters and dispatch the unsuspecting assassins, making Kaladan even happier with us.

Cyan tells us we are idiots but we pay him no attention. We buff up and storm through. Within seconds 5 of us are dead (thanks goodness for Trollskin) and only Cyan and Theodonna are alive. We have killed one assassin called Frederick the Flash. Well actually Flintmoss did the killing by placing a razor wire trap on his side of the portal (Cyan warned him Frederick was coming through) and sliced and diced him. Boris sends a rat through the portal just before it closes offering to exchange Frederick and his belongings for Melco. As a side note Frederick managed to kill the Weasel with his fireballs, which toasted a few of us too.

We get healed (Astrid rocks!) and Theodonna checks out Fredericks gear. He has some red leather armour (fire protection), a ring (stops the Golems from attacking) and a main gauche (Mind Mage Killer). The rat turns out to be a Sonic Bat with some impressive telepathic abilities. We decide Melco isn't worth all this loot so we renegotiate. The final tally is Melco (and Fredericks gold cloak and medallion, as well as 2 gnomes) will be exchanged for the main gauche. We can keep Fredericks body (he wasn't a good enough assassin if we managed to kill him) and his gear. Boris also agrees to give us a 24 hour head start before chasing Kaladan again. This seems quite convenient as it will take us 24 hours to get to the Heart of Darkness.

Melco and the two gnomes are healed. They are called Penelope and Matty and they have a ship which can do the trip in 12 hours. They use a "bubble of force" to protect themselves and their ship in the Heart of Darkness. In fact there is a whole mini community in the Heart of Darkness where traders and miners search out more black matter.

==9th of Heat – The Heart of Darkness==
We resurrect the binder who was helping us storm Amelias place and drop him off at Mollies. We portal to Kaladans Palace to get rank 20 witchsight. Kaladan reminds us he can do Quickness. If he had reminded us a bit earlier maybe we wouldn't all have died!!!

We reach the Heart of Darkness with 8 hours to spare of our 24 before Boris commences his attacks on Kaladan. Zanaks lizard has remembered the Small Ship so we can escape from the bad place quickly when all hell breaks loose.

Flintmoss offers two suggestions:
* We proceed to the center of the Heart of Darkness and give Flintmoss 30 minutes uninterrupted so he can stabilize it. There is a mini plane/sphere about 10 miles across. Dirk remembers part of it well.
* We extract a large enough cargo of Dark Matter so that when the Heart of Darkness implodes it doesn't do enough to destroy the whole universe.

The second option seems really dangerous as we would need to use our spaceship to get the dark matter away and every man and his dog will be shooting at us. We can all see the huge explosion that volume of dark matter would cause, with us sitting right at the center...

We encourage some other gnomes to pretend to be doing the second plan while we attempt the first one.

We purchase a wagon and tunnel on through to the center. Theodonna can recognize a Dark Matter Dragon in close proximity but nothing untoward happens. The trip takes us 4 hours.

===Into the Castle===
The terrain is quite hilly. The land is rocky but quite plain. There aren't that many distinguishing features. Off to our right we see the citadel Dirk so fondly remembers. Off to our left is a small castle. It looks a bit like a French Chateau and is about 4 miles away. We leave the wagon secured behind a hill and buff up. As we head off we see 2 creatures break away from the citadel. Flintmoss says they are Dark Matter Shadows and have an immunity to attacks. Dirk shudders again. Our magic casting is likely to have attracted their attention. Best not to be here when they arrive.

Cyan puts most of us into his magic carpet (another dimension) and windwalks himself, Dirk and Theodonna to the rear castle walls. Kaladan makes his own way. It seems a tad unusual but there was nothing we could do to stop him anyway.

Cyan notices a large black armoured troll on the rooftop. It jumps down near the front of the castle. On his telepathy he can sense 2 beings inside. One is a troll (12 foot tall, heavy black plate armour) and the other is bored human thinking "when will they arrive?". Turns out she is a grey haired female who is quite strong in TH Rage and has a staff of anti-magic.

Flintmoss needs to get to the basement for 30 minutes. There is a secret passage below the stairs.

By now it is about midday. The troll from the rooftop enters but it isn't on Telepathy. He says the citadel is "disturbed" and that they should be on guard.
Melco casts unseen on us all and the females mind disappears (mind shield most likely). Anook rashly casts an ice construction so we can climb in through a first level window ( the guards are on the 4th floor) and the trolls suddenly become more alert. It appears that casting magic is triggering some alarms. Telepathy reassures us that the trolls think it is the female as she is no longer in their room.

We are in a bedroom. The building is made of bound space whale bone and silk boards. We want to get to the ground floor but the door to the hallway is trapped and any counter spell we use will alert the guards. We peek through the floor boards and see a dining room but it is likely to used regularly so we decide to slip through the side wall into the next room. It is a ladies bedroom (the grey haired lady?). there is a trophy room below this room and we reason it isn't used much. We lower Dwork through the floor on a rope, making sure he avoids the obviously trapped rugs on the floor. He gets about half way down and suddenly goes stiff (not in the way he wants). The Trolls are now very alert. CRAP!!!

We pull him back up and Kaladan says he is "suspended in time". We look to Flintmoss for guidance but he says the Chateau was built on top of his workshop and he doesn't remember much about it.

Cyan can hear the last troll saying "Who should investigate this?". The last troll powers up and disappears of Telepathy.

We all jump into Cyans magic carpet and powerup (safe from the alarm magic detecting us). Cyan remains on guard in the room but no one is likely to notice him. The door downstairs rattles and Cyan can hear the trolls. Meanwhile the table and bear rug have both come alive (animated) and are forcing there way up through the floorboards.

In the carpet Dwork takes a swing at Dirk and catches him by surprise. Zanak tries to subdue him with mental attack but backfires and knocks himself out. Kaladan steps up to the mark and casts Sleep on Dwork. Theodonna senses that a soul jar spell has been used on Dwork. We wonder if this soul is better than Dworks.

===Battle on the Stairwell===
The table and the bear make it into our room. Cyan skulks in a corner and they don't see him. The bear opens the door to the hallway and the TK Rage blasts the room. Fortunately Cyan resists it. The bear and table head out of the room making a fair chunk of noise. The female Kalimar comes down the stairs and the table and bear stop being animated. Cyan can see the female and a troll at the base of the stairs getting ready to enter our room. The woman has a staff which generates a sphere of anti-magic.

The rest of us are all powered up and ready for a fight. We burst forth from the carpet. The troll though gets the drop on us and fires 3 spinning disks of force at us. The first disk slices Melcos left arm off and cripples Flintmoss in one arm. The second hits Kaladan in the arm and he is surprised by the blood pumping forth. The third hits Astrid in the neck and her head falls off. Thankfully she is a golem so she isn't really dead.
Dirk and Anooks Ice Monster race forward to engage the troll. The ice monster gets in a few whacks but ultimately is pummeled to ice crystals. Dirk tries to slip a greek fire grenade between the plates of armour but does a poor job. Cyan manages to take control of the situation, and the troll, and forces him to step into the hole in the floor for the soul trap below. Instantly he loses control of the troll but a new mind comes onto mind Speech for him. It is a female mind saying "I can be free at last!".

The second troll appears at the top of the stairs where the female Kalimar has retreated to. Flintmoss uses the invulnerable body of Dwork as a shield while Melco falls to the floor unconscious. Anook blocks the passage with an ice construction.

===Kaladan Has Been Here Before===
Flintmoss mends Astrid and Zanak finally wakes up. Some healing occurs.

Cyan discusses the new minds predicament and offers to help it escape in exchange for Dworks soul (this is uncharacteristic of Cyan and some of the party suspect he is not in his right mind). She was trapped by Kaladan and imprisoned as a head on the wall in the trophy room. She wants three bodies for her and her friends. They were handmaidens for Starrock, who we now discover was female too. It seems like Kaladan is responsible for every female attacking us. He gives a knowing smirk but shrugs off our recriminations. Cyan promises to bring some bodies back for them but he needs Dwork back now to help. She agrees.

Kaladan, who now looks like a male Ork, wakes Dwork up from the sleep spell. He admits he built the chateau to defend Flintmoss's workshop in the basement but Starrock managed to get through and imprisoned Kaladan in the Citadel, where Dirk first encountered him a year ago.

With the troll and other female Kalimar trapped one level up (no doubt Kaladan slept with her too) we venture down to the ground level. We need to be behind the stairway to get into the secret entrance to the basement but confronting us is the female Kalimar (Keren) and a small dapper man with a lovely top hat. Dirk engages them in conversation about why they want to stop us. Keren, feeling quite safe in her anti-magic bubble, freely tells us Starrock will remake the universe as a "paradise for women". Dwork sniggers and suggests Kaladan will either not exist or will be a slave to their every need. Kaladan doesn't appreciate the humour.

===Zanaks First "Gold Brick"===
Dwork attempts to engage to the dapper young man in conversation but starts of very poorly when he insults the mans dress sense. The man, who it turns out is a demon called the Prince of Fates, pulls out a black deck of cards and offers Dwork one. Dwork pauses and asks what the card is. The man replies "It is a Card of Fate". Dwork ,being bold, takes one. Nothing happens. Once he retreats out of the anti-magic field though his disappears and his likeness can be seen on the card. Dirk picks the card up.

Dirk weighs up our chances of taking them on in a physical battle. He observes that Keren's staff is made of Black Oak, she has smoky blue robes, a small silver dagger and a small pouch. She looks like an easy beat. The Prince of Fates is an unknown quantity. Cyan is adamant we should leave them alone but the party feels adventurous. Kaladan casts quickness on us before we leap into action.

At the moment Kaladans spell goes off the 2 disappear. Zanak hears the last words of the Prince of Fates "Fate must be balanced" as a Gold card drops to the floor. Zanak picks it up and finds he can avoid one death. Yippee!!!

===Passageway to the Basement===
The secret door Flintmoss identifies is trapped and warded by a god, Starrock we presume. Flintmoss tells us about the passageway and the many binder traps he laid. He can allow us to pass them unharmed but his memory is a bit hazy. Now is not the time to leave vital bits of information out so Kaladan, with Flintmoss's agreement, uses Hypnotism to refresh his memory. We play it safe though as Starrock is bound to have put additional traps on the passageway. We tunnel downwards and enter the passageway about 60 feet from the basement door. The corridor is covered in dust. The door is white with metal spikes.

Theodonna considers using a wish (Chaos Tainted) to bring Dwork back from the card of fate. Zanak offers to give her the golden card of fate if she does but she realizes this is his first useful item and uses the wish pro bono – scribe note – WHEW!!!
Dwork reappears but is effected by the chaos nature of the wish.

Dirk seems a bit worried that Kaladan may have missed a few vital pieces of information out about his involvement in this whole affair. With a little threatening he agrees to come clean.
Kaladan "borrowed" a skill from Starrock called Time Phase and used it to put the Heart of Darkness out of phase. This was 15,000 years ago. He also confirms that Flintmoss has been affected by a mind spell which has messed with his memory. This occurred in the last few days.

We begin to step forward but we all feel like some bad fates have afflicted us. Zanak feels really clumsy, like he was effected twice. Anook falls over and we hear a click. Theodonna leaps over him but stumbles and sinks into the ground a bit. Another click is heard and the door at the end of the tunnel opens. We can see Starrock bound in place between two pillars near the back of the room. Keren stands beside her and gives her brother (Kaladan) an evil look. There are 12 goblins just in the doorway. The Heart of Darkness, with it barrier, pulses away in the centre of the room. Jasper stands just behind it. When he sees Dirk he roars a challenge. Dirk responds with a string of insults which illicites some useful information from both Keren and Jasper.

Jasper is an Abomination (he is basically a demon) with Mind and Illusion skills. He is the master Melena referred to when she died. We assumed it was Starrock but a master is a male. Keren hired Jasper to kill Kaladan. She is the one who actually wants the gods destroyed. She will use Starrock to destroy the barrier on the Heart of Darkness and then sacrifice the god to escape the destruction of the universe. Her and her cronies will stay out of phase while the universe reforms and they hope to influence the new pattern.

Jasper gives out a laugh as he points out the disintegration field between himself and us, and the huge boulder racing down the corridor from behind us. Dirk has some snappy retort but it has little effect on Jasper.

Kaladan disappears. The group gets ready to race through the disintegration field. Flintmoss casts a counter spell and we all race through except Zanak. While Dirk and Jasper were engaged in a bit of one-up-manship he had been sucking up to Keren, mainly because of the pretty dress she is wearing. Keren has offered to teleport him to safety, by her side, if he switches sides. Zanak still feels encumbered by some bad fates and agrees, just to get passed the disintegration field.

He group gets into the room by the smallest margin and are engaged by the necromantic goblins. Melco has a spot of good luck and gets clipped by the boulder and propelled further into the room, in fact right next to Jasper. Jasper ignores him and manages to teleport Dirk and Dwork away. Cyan and Keren trade TK Rages. The goblins are falling quickly but there were 12 to start with. Anook manages to slip past them and moves to the open space in the right. Melco tries to bash Keren, to disrupt her casting, but her small silver dagger touches him and he rolls on the ground in agony. Flintmoss races to Starrocks side and tries to free her. Keren escapes down the rear passageway.

Jasper has remained motionless since we entered the room. He vanishes and a side corridor opens (right next to Anook) and the real Jasper strides into the room. He attempts to charm Anook but Anook resists and surrounds himself with an ice construction.

Theodonna has been surrounded by the remaining goblins and a concerted effort sees her decapitated. Astrid wades in and deals to them.

===Gold Card Heaven===
Zanak appears in a room. He is surprised to be out of contact with Cyans mind speech. He sees a large plate armoured troll by the door (18 feet away). The troll says "sit down and be quiet". Zanak casts a quick mental attack and the troll falls over. Eyeing up the room he can see 6 Gold Cards of Fate. He quickly grabs them. There is a small silver chest, no doubt trapped, so he searches the troll body. He finds 3 javelin darts and a huge giant axe.

Dirk appears and looks surprised that this pretty little pirate youth had so quickly taken out a giant troll. Dwork appears next. Zanak suggests following Dworks teleportation portal back to the battle but a gold card triggers a new thought "to win this battle you need to locate Kaladan. Only he can give Starrock her powers back". A quick check reveals another gold card can open a portal to his hearts desire. It opens and we see Kaladan in another room, rifling through a chest. Keren and the Prince of Fates have just entered the room. There is also a small green goblin by them. He looks a bit insane.

The Prince of Fate, recognizing the remaining cards in Zanaks pack, offers him 12 Gold Cards to kill Kaladan. Zanak quickly refuses and tries to mental attack Keren. Dwork fireballs her while Dirk engages Keren and the goblin. The Prince of Fate throws a card at Dirk. It has no obvious effect, always a bad sign.

Zanak negotiates with the Prince of Fate for a Gold Card to get us back into the main room but his obsessive need to balance the Fates means one of our group needs to accept a Black Card. Zanak suggests Theodonna and the Prince of Fates accepts. Dirk protests as he had Keren on the ropes but it is too late. Dirk and Dwork appear next to Jasper, Zanak and Kaladan by Flintmoss and Starrock.

===5 Minutes Left===
Jasper has changed shape and now has a snake like head. Zanak uses another Gold Card and Jasper loses his immunity to all magics. Dwork throws a Water Death grenade at Jasper but misses and coats Anooks ice construction with it. Anook is not happy!

Zanak tries to cast a spell and back fires. Another Gold Card disappears to protect him from the results. Kaladan has started "merging" with Starrock to return her stolen powers. And you know what we mean by merging...

Jasper and Dirk trade blows for a few moments till Dirk finally falls over.

Zanak calls out to the Prince of Fates (they seem to be getting on well) and agrees to take a Black Card if a Gold Card to remove Jasper is forthcoming. Jasper disappears to the 666th layer of hell.

Starrock is struggling to get free of Kaladan, not realizing what he is trying to achieve (giving her powers back) and is causing him some severe damage. He calls out for help and Zanak uses another Gold Card to reconcile Kaladan and Starrock. Zanaks last Gold Card is used to resurrect Theodonna.

Anook stalks after Keren and the green Goblin but they run off down the corridor.

Dwork fireballs the remaining Goblins by Astrid. Flintmoss petrifies Melco and Cyan puts him in his magic carpet. It appeared that Melco was affecting the barrier around the Heart of Darkness so we had to remove him. Flintmoss then fixes Astrids damage before checking on the Heart of Darkness.

After a moments investigation he calls out that he can't stop it exploding. There are only 3 minutes left before the whole universe is destroyed. Kaladan and Starrock, holding hands like reunited lovers, tell us to leave and their sacrifice will ensure the Universes survival. Flintmoss will stay too as the explosion will send him back to his own time.

We need only defend the room for the last few minutes to ensure Keren doesn't enact another plan. The Prince of Fates appears again and says he will stop Keren from succeeding if someone will take another Black Card. Dirk steps up to the plate this time.

We quickly portal directly to the Trollmart and meet up with Furnace and our other friends. Corundum has reappeared with the return of Flintmoss to the past. He has a message from Flintmoss with the location of the treasure he promised us. "The secret location is hidden in the racial memories of the shaman. Only true heroes will be able to find the buried treasure."

The Heart of Darkness is now a small sun. It is a shame about the gnomes and the female Kalimar trapped in the Chateau above Flintmoss's workshop but the important thing is we survived !!! Dirk doesn't miss the Citadel one little bit.

Kaladan and Starrock have left us an Amulet each as a reward for our saving the universe and reuniting them.

We all get healed a bit and then we go to the temple in search of the shaman. It doesn't take long to find a story about Flintmoss and 7 Demon Heroes. The treasure is buried in the Ancestral Home and only a true clan member will be allowed access. Dirk offers to undergo the ritual when he hears about the drinking all night part. He glosses over the Steel ring through the testicles part though.

He returns the next morning and we head off.

==10th of Heat – Treasure Hunting==
It takes most of the day to get to the ancestral home asteroid so we Divinate all the loot we have acquired. There is certainly some good booty there!!! Theodonna and Dwork even get some armour to wear.

We land on the asteroid and look dubiously at the large 40 foot high and 20 foot wide passageway heading directly to the center, about 10 miles in. Zanaks lizard is very afraid of a huge dark portal in the very center. Zanak reassures it that he will keep it safe. The Prince of Fates stands by silently, observing us. After a little prompting (begging) by Zanak he says is always around on fateful days. He refuses to help us.

Cyan windwalks us all down 9 miles down the 10 mile long passageway. He only stops when he slams into an invisible barrier. The rest of us didn't notice it and have gone to the other side. At this point we notice the bones and rusted weapons and armour. We try to reach Cyan but the barrier stops us. Seems like there is only one way forward. Cyan debates the foolhardiness of continuing but is eventually lured forwards by the promise of treasure. The bones belonged to other dwarf trolls who had hoped to gain our treasures but were never seen again. The shaman who accompanied us say small prayers over their remains.

We enter the main cavern. It is about 80 foot deep. There are 2 pillars just in the entrance and a large pulsating darkness near the far end. Dirk uses his special dwarf troll clan powers to speak to the spirits swirling around the pillars, or so he says. His story is so outlandish that it can only be the truth.

Flintmoss's mausoleum is in the dark area near the back of the cavern. Flintmoss died 2 years after returning to his time. He was assassinated by the brotherhood we encountered a few days ago. A short time after his internment a "nice looking" human male and Keren (so this rules out Jasper) came to the cavern and left the pulsating darkness, then left. The darkness is a living being and can turn into a creature with sharp black claws. It also has a pack of mini creatures in the form of stone statues. They could be imps. Once the darkness transforms it activates the imps (originally 70 but now only 50) and they attack the trespassers. The statues are currently buried about 8 inches below the surface of the gravel flooring just outside the darkness.

Being an adventurous group we decide to dig up the remaining 50 imps and trap them in the alcoves on the outer walls of the cavern. It doesn't take long.

Dirk then bravely walks forward into the darkness.

===The Claws of Darkness===
As soon as Dirk touches the darkness it transforms into a batlike creature and flies to the top of the mausoleum. Dirk starts climbing the wall while we cast spells at it. Zanaks lizard warns the creature is strengthening the dark portal inside the mauloleum and something evil is coming through.

Only Anooks iceball has any effect on the creature. It quickly launches itself at him. Zanak gets off a luck mental attack and it drops to the ground. Melco races towards it and kills it. He is tempted to pick up the black sword and the black pouch from the creature but good sense prevails and he DAs it first. Just as well because each item will instantly kill any other creature that touches them. He leaves them behind.

Dirk opens the mausoleum doors and we all stride in.

Hanging from the ceiling are 4 censures with black flames. In the middle of the room is Flintmoss's crypt. On top is a font with black water. Rising above this is a darkness portal. There are 7 disembodied claws coming through the portal. Each of us recognizes our true name engraved into the darkness. They are clearly aimed at destroying a specific member of the party. On the plus side we can see our individual treasures hanging on the walls.

We DA the area before the claws get too close to us and figure out we each have to defeat our own claw to close the portal.

Theodonna lays down a counterspell. We all engage our individual claw. Dwork manages to dispatch his first time with an impressive fireball. The rest of us need to hack away with whatever light enhanced magical weapons we have at hand. The battle is over surprisingly quickly. We were all fortunate enough to resist their attacks, which of course would have meant instant death.

We grab our treasure and run. At the barrier Zanak uses his lizard, who feels a bit happier now, to open a portal back to the ship. We escape, gather our loot and portal back to Trollhome.

Zanak gets his new cutlass from Furnace while Theodonna finally divinates the scroll tube we found in the ant lair right at the start of the adventure. It appears the tube is meant for Dirk. He tentatively opens it. Inside is a note from Starrock thanking us for freeing her and a warning that "light is the key" when attempting to gain our rewards.

Now she tells us !!!

We stay on this plane for a little longer and then we return to Alusia.

== Administration ==
=== Equipment ===
;Guild purchases
*12 healing potions (+10) : 2 each except Dirk
*5 Waters of Strength (Rank 14): Theodoona 1, Melco 1, Anook 2, Dwork 1: 70 minutes each.
*6 Waters of Healing (Rank 10): all to Dirk
*All are 500sp each
;Expenses
*1000sp for wings for the group
=== Loot and Boons ===
;Ant Lair
* Beautiful crafted rapier
* Bag with small chunks of dark matter and gems
* Scroll tube – trapped with a god curse
;Karakas
* Zanaks lizard is upgraded to remember 7 locations to which it can open a portal.
* Dwork – Greater Rank 12 on all 4
* Zanak – Rank 16 on all 4
* Dirk – Rank 12 on all 4
* Theodonna – Rank 15 on all 4
* Melco – Rank 12 on all 4
* Anook – 1 week +10 Endurance
* Cyan – either WP+2 or MA+4 – not decided yet
* 2 x 500sp potions of true seeing/locate
;Asteroid Worm
* Dark Matter 4 x 2,000 sp
* Ring (4 x RK12 strength of stone)
* Beetle exoskeleton (could be made into great armour)
* Main Gauche (of screaming berserker) -> Theodonna – destroyed by Anook
;Helenas Possessions
* Chain Mail – 8 points of protection, able to cast magic
* Ring – improved lightning strike on each attack
* Rapier – extra damage to humans
;Portias Possessions
* Blue Robes – 10 points of protection
* Rapier – the higher the strike chance of the opponent the better the defense bonus
* Amulet – increases portaling ability but is dangerous to the untrained
* Ring – Strength of Stone – Rank 20
* Ring – Enhance Enchantment – Rank 15 twice per day 5 mins on person
;Melenas Possessions
* 10,000 SP
* Dark Matter 5 x 2,000 SP
* Great Axe – Dwarf Killer
;Frederick the Flash
* Red Leather - fire protection
* Ring – Identifies bearer to the Golems in Amelia's deathtrap
* Main Gauche – Mind Mage Killer. +30% mind magic resistance - Traded for Melco
* Gold Cloak – Charming
* Squid Head Medallion – Protection from Kalimar Magic
;Kerens Room
* 3 Javelin Darts
* Troll axe – huge
;Furnace
* New Cutlass – For Zanak
;Flintmoss's Mausoleum
* a uniquely crafted magical item for each party Member

=== Keeping up Standards ===
;Standard Buffs - Party
* Lesser enchantment
* Purification
* Fire Armour (Dwork - 32 points)
* Mind Speech
* ?

;Standard Buffs - Self
* Cyan - Mind Cloak and Telepathy
* Zanak - A pretty dress. Not much else to offer :)
* Theodonna - Counterspells as required

;Standard Marching Order
* Dirk, Dwork
* Theodonna, Zanak
* Cyan, Melco
* Anook, Astrid
;Standard Watches
* First:
* Second:
* Third:
* Forth:

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==
===Possible Award Nominations ===
;Smartest
;Bravest
;Stupidest
*Dirk – Day 7 - Changing shape inside a bound glass bottle
;Best Death
*Dirk – Day 7 - Changing shape inside a bound glass bottle

===Quotes===
;Day Seven
*Dirk says to Dwork "these javelins tickle, you should try one."

===Hot and Not===
;Hot
;Not
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Summer_809_WK|Scribe Notes]]

Reach Up for the Sunrise

2026-06-06T03:59:11Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Mandos]][[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Category: Scribe Notes for Insel der Freiheit]]
[[Category:Human the Fool]]
[[Category:Lucius]]
[[Category:Michael (the adventurer)]]
[[Category:Vychan]]
[[Category:Caprice]]
[[Category:Pent]]
[[Scribe_Notes#Spring_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
The adventure involves the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] as well as the Dragon [[Roche]].
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Reach Up for the Sunrise 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] 
'''Session''': [[Spring]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Wednesday - Starting 17/09/08 
'''Location''': Chez Mitchinson 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Looking Medium-Highish]] 
; Party

This adventure is available for players to sign up. Please add your name below and character below.

# [[Human the Fool]] - Illusionist played by Michael Scott
# [[Lucius]] - played by Bridget X
# [[Michael (the adventurer)]] - Celestial played by William
# [[Vychan]] - Played by Sean
# [[Caprice|Verity]] - Thaumaturge played by Kelsie
# [[Pent]] - an Ice mage played by Phil

Adventure Full
 
{| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=200 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
|+<big><big>'''Astrology'''</big></big>
|-
|Now the time has come 
The music's between us 
Though the night seems young 
Is at an end 
Only change will bring 
You out of the darkness 
In this moment everything is born again 
 
Now the fireball burns 
We go round together 
As the planet turns into the light 
Something more than dreams to 
Watch out for each other 
Coz we know what it means to be alive 
 
Reach up for the sunrise 
Put your hands into the big sky 
You can touch the sunrise 
Feel the new day enter your life 
|-
|}
; Employer
: The Queen Regent of the Isles.
; Mission
: A large contingent of stone elves has risen out of the Water on the Western Coast of the Isles. During conversations with them the Guild is mentioned and the Queen Regent has requested a group come and act as intermediaries.
; Pay
: Land and titles.
Sections that are after the "DRAFT" comment are scribe notes work in progress (no links - not spell checked) - please do not edit. 

=Mission Notes=
==1st Thaw 808 - Guild day==
After the meeting we form up our group in a meeting room. 
To meet with us there are two individuals:
<ul><li>A marbled stone elf who only speaks Ancient Elven.</li>
<li>A 5' 10" human who only speaks [[Folksprach]].</li></ul> 
First we speak to the Human whose name is [[Mercato#Advisors and Members of Court|Elpidius Viridius]]. 
"We seek your assistance."
He is the advisor to the Queen Regent of the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] and his problem is simple - he wishes to get rid of the elves. 
Some thousands of them walked out of the sea and have set up camp in the uninhabited jungle in the province of [[Pontaningal]] ruled by [[Pontaningal#People|Prince Ancus Aulus Dioges]]. The local law does not allow for mercenary groups on the isle and the stone elves seem disinclined to return to the sea. They fear they might actually move inland across other inhabited areas. 
In return for this they will grant us land and title. Also restrictions on guild members on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] (not allowed to from mercenary groups, carry weapons etc) may be lifted. 
Next we spoke to the marbled stone elf named [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Lotus Blossom|Lotus Blossom]] ([[Human the Fool]] translated for us). 
"We seek your aid."
They ask us to restore the "Will" of their hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. 
As they were traveling under the ocean on their important mission they were attacked (a few weeks offshore from the isle), during the attack one of their number were taken and [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] had a tentacle from some sort of creature stuck on his head. Once the attack was beaten off [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] was found to be listless and lethargic. 
The stone elf believes that [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] needs to be re-united with his original muse to restore his will and allow him to continue on his important mission. 
In addition they seek to have their geas removed so they are not forced to follow the hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. Also this should turn them back into normal elves and they could go and live in peace somewhere. Originally there were 5,000 of them, but one has been lost in the battle for [[Masada]] and on was lost to the above Head Sucker of the Deeps. 
The stone elf does not believe that the retainers being present with the hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] will actually make a difference in whether or not he succeeds in his endeavors. 
In return for this they will give us a bag full of black pearls (est value 100,000+ sp) - this will be left at the guild.
So to us it appears if we solve the stone elves problems we will also solve the Queens. 
We had a further talk to [[Mercato#Advisors and Members of Court|Elpidius]] to find out more about the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]]. 
A quick run down on some of their laws: 
(Actually the laws can vary from province to province) 
<ul><li>No Orcs.</li>
<li>Don't openly use magic.</li>
<li>No weapons.</li>
<li>No Mercenaries.</li></ul>
Actually we get (and sign) a letter that says we are on the Queens business so can move around as armed mercenaries under special dispensation. 
"No more [[Mercato#Cities|BatiBati]]."
This comment could easily be misconstrued but apparently refers to the destruction of the town of [[Mercato#Cities|BatiBati]] by mercenaries.
We spend the evening trying to find out all the information we can from the Guild Library. 
We read the following old scribe notes: 
<ul><li>32,000 [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/snsu0502/TimelyGhost.html years ago].</li>
<li>[[:Category:Scribe Notes for Insel der Freiheit|Other Scribe notes]].</li>
</ul> 
and try unsuccessfully to track down stories about this ancient elvish hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] or the Dragon [[Roche]] (who was apparently last seen in northern [[Brastor]] helping to destroy a great evil in a temple there).
Our plan for the morrow is to: 
<ul><li>Go to [[D%27arbres]] to see the originating point of the stone elves and the hero and look for clues on the original muse or the whereabouts of [[Roche]].</li>
<li>Talk to the four inquisitors that traveled through time with [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] for the same information - they reside near to [[D%27arbres]].</li>
<li>Go to [[Alfheim#Eidolon|Eidolon]] to look for information on the muse of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. Also the stone elves visited there so they might have information on the geas.</li>
<li>Head to the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] to look for the Dragon [[Roche]].</li></ul>

==2nd Thaw 808==
===D'Arbres===
We take the slow portal to [[Elfenburg]] (about three hour's trip), then fly (another three hour's) to [[D%27arbres]] and land on the road south of the town.

We had a quick talk with the local [[D%27arbres#People|Reeve Cohat]] (who was working in the fields), then went and dug down to the Hero's tomb (actually directly beneath the [[D%27arbres#People|Reeve Cohat's]] house). The tomb looked relatively undisturbed with the gold leaf doors telling the story of the hero's progress and amazing things he had done - mostly fiction.

Inside the tomb was a slab surrounded by four chairs. A detailed search of the rest of the tomb revealed nothing.

We left the tomb and followed the trench (where the five thousand stone elves were buried) off to the North West.

At the other end of the ten mile long trench was the entrance and the hole where the Dragon [[Roche]] was sleeping. It used to be an earth place of power here but now that is only faint.

[[Vychan]] did his earth divination ritual here.

The ten questions and their answers are listed below:
<ol><li>Is the muse of the hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] still alive. No</li>
<li>Is the Dragon [[Roche]] currently on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]]. No</li>
<li>Is there anything in this vicinity pertaining the muse of the hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. Not directly</li>
<li>Did the Dragon [[Roche]] remove something when he was here last. Yes</li>
<li>Is the Dragon [[Roche]] building anything currently. Yes</li>
<li>Do the Inquisitors know who the original muse is or how to lift the Geas. Yes</li>
<li>Was the sapping of the hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] will premeditated. No</li>
<li>Are the stone elves heading towards the Spider Demon. No</li>
<li>Is the muse currently on [[Alusia]]. Yes</li>
<li>Are the [[Calamar]] involved. Yes</li>
</ol>

===Attacked by Calamar===
Right after [[Vychan]] finished his ritual three large (fifteen feet across) rocks fell from the sky and burst open to reveal fifteen (three combat squads of five) lizard like creatures who have four arms each. 
They act aggressively so combat ensues. During the fight the demand our "unconditional surrender", after capturing [[Lucius]] they demand it again or they will kill him, a pulse later they return [[Lucius|Lucius's]] battered body with his heart ripped out.

But some how [[Lucius]] is still alive.

Eventually [[Michael (the adventurer)]] manages to talk to them and the demand we hand over the shaper [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]]. We say we don't have him and immediately all the lizards teleport out (using a [[Calamar]] device we later confirm called a "splinge"). They leave behind three of the guards that [[Caprice|Verity]] has captured.

We talk to (and DA) one of these captives (after I Hibernate him and we move him some miles) and discover a number of things:

<ul>
<li>Their generic true name is "Kimash".</li>
<li>Their plan of origin is "Kimerl".</li>
<li>The dark mage who was with them has a best offensive spell of "BlackFire".</li>
<li>The last plane they were at was "[[The_Void|The Void]]".</li>
<li>The Kimash's leader (well those who attacked us) name is [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Prince Charlick|Prince Charlick]], they attacked us under orders from their master the [[Calamar]] "[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Seeker Lodoth Sqir|Seeker Lodoth Sqir]]" and they came from the [[Calamar_Weapons#Void_Cruiser|Void Cruiser]] "[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Significant Lack of Opposition|Significant Lack of Opposition]]".
We suggest that if the Kimash or the [[Calamar]] want something from us the best way to do this is to offer us money - we are mercenaries after all. 
We re-iterate that we don't have [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]] and return the splinge to him at which time the guard teleports away. 
[[Vychan]] - Enchant Armor (which the Kimash had on) doesn't work in close.
[[Pent]] - True - only if you are really close i.e. inside their armor.
Much to our surprise the guard reappears but his time he is the mouthpiece for his superior (possessed?). 
[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Prince Charlick|Prince Charlick]] wants the shaper [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]], or alternatively his current location. He is not seeking [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi's]] friendship and would not return him to us afterward in a resurrectable state ([[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Prince Charlick|Prince Charlick]] doesn't sound like a nice guy) - actually they want [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]] as their captive - probably permanently. 
Alternatively if we wanted to work for them we could cause the "Shaman of the Damned" to be reborn (Currently a Lich named Lord Arendale), we weren't really that keen. 
Last job they wanted done was to get one of the Five Dragons on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] to leave it. 
Finally we negotiated for the return (and reinstatement) of [[Lucius|Lucius's]] heart for 100 guineas. 
Then the lizard left us again.

===Visit the Inquissitors===
We returned to the hole where the Dragon [[Roche]] used to be (the [[Calamar]] already knew we were there previously) and descended the stairs. Part of the way down the stairs continued and we realised that we had been magically transported (also our crystal ball we were using to keep and eye on the surface cut out). 
We were greeted by eight people in monk habits that said their master [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]] was expecting us - they took us into this magical library were [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]] was sitting. 
We asked him about the original muse of the Hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. 
He wasn't certain but suggested there were only really two choices:
<ol><li>[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] original wife (some 32,000 years ago) from the [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Scarlet scorpion|Scarlet scorpion]] clan.</li>
<li>[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] (of the [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jade Dragon|Jade Dragon]] clan) - [[Foras|Foras's]] wife who [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] apparently had a torrid affair with.</li></ol>
He didn't know of the current location of either of them or what happened to them. 
We also asked [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]] where [[Roche]] was and he said he didn't know although he thought [[Roche|Roche's]] current great work is being constructed off to the east somewhere. 
He also said the [[Calamar]] are trying to interfere on this plane and that he ([[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#J'anthro L'roi|J'anthro L'roi]]) was the key to remove some of the greater powers. 
He also suggested that [[Lucius]] learn some elvish history:
"Seek the first Drow"
I am a little confused about this but it appears that the Drow that appeared during the [[War_of_Tears|War of Tears]] we simply copying the earlier "Drow". Apparently [[Roche]] knows more about them. 
Finally - for the day, we left and flew back to [[Elfenburg]] and spent the night there.

==3rd Thaw 808==
===Elfenburg===
We resolve to attempt to track down the genealogies of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] ([[Foras|Foras's]] wife) for some clue as to her whereabouts. 
Additionally we should visit the Elvish capital of [[Alfheim#Eidolon|Eidolon]] which is the last known location of the Dragon [[Roche]] and ask of him. 
Immediate problem is that [[Lucius]] is not on good terms with the royal court (he is protector of a renegade province to which they sent an army to subdue - even though they paid their taxes - and the army just vanished) so she thinks that heading into [[Alfheim#Eidolon|Eidolon]] is not a good idea. 
We decide to go to the local library instead and see how that goes. 
At the door we are asked to check in our weapons (they have had some problems with violence and [[Calamar]]). [[Vychan]] mentions he is banned from most libraries so the guards will not let him in. He is left with all of our armaments and we are introduced to the librarian [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#A'Salt|A'Salt]] who is the "Master of Names". 
He explained that every clan has a book of genealogies (called a litany) which records all elvish relationships related to that clan. This is usually held by the clan head. 
As [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] married outside of her clan there will be reference to her in two litanies. 
[[Foras]] was the head of clan [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Leaping Tiger|Leaping Tiger]]. 
We also asked them for any records or pictures of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] in search of clues. 
They only found two pictures: 
<ol>
<li>The first was a seven foot high oil painting, [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] was in the foreground wearing his armor, carrying his sword and shield. Behind him were his two retainers - his Master of Horse and his Shield Arm (who actually turned traitor against him some 32,000 years ago).</li>
<li>The second was a locket containing a picture of a very young [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. It had the inscription "To my son [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]".</li>
</ol>
We then discuss going to [[Alfheim#Eidolon|Eidolon]] but decide to send a courier instead to enquire after the Dragon [[Roche]]. We are told that this will take a couple of days. 
The courier is sent, and then we spend the afternoon organising transport to [[Lalhaudh]] as [[Lucius]] believes we might be able to get some further information there.

==4th Thaw 808==
===Lalhaudh===
We flew to [[Lalhaudh]] to see the Dragon of Secrets who owed a secret to [[Lucius]]. 
We asked "Where exactly is [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] muse?" and the Dragon answered:
The muse is in the Room of Traps in the Temple of the First Drow.
Of course now all we have to do is find this temple - at least we know it is somewhere on [[Alusia]]. 
Also we tried to contact Shan Meze - the old Elven god of Magic but they didn't answer us. 
In the afternoon we flew back to [[Elfenburg]] to wait for news from our courier.

==5th Thaw 808==
About midday the courier returned to [[Elfenburg]] with the news that they didn't know where the Dragon [[Roche]] was in [[Alfheim#Eidolon|Eidolon]] but he was wanted for stealing the litany of the [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Leaping Tiger |Leaping Tiger]] clan.

Next we took the slow portal back to the [[Seagate_Guild|Guild]] and there tried to investigate the location of the temple to the First Drow (or Drow God?). 
Alas there was no information - although [[Roche]] did involve himself in a guild attack on a temple in Northern [[Brastor]]. 
There were no scribe notes which were intelligible.

So our next step was to head to the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]], attempt to see [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] as well as look out for any more news on the Dragon [[Roche]] or the Temple to the First Drow.

The marbled elf ad been transported by the Dragon [[Chaaff]] to [[Mercato#Advisors and Members of Court|Elpidius Viridius]] who then guided through a portal (that arrives in the [[Filgiso_Forest|Filgiso Forest]]). [[Mercato#Advisors and Members of Court|Elpidius Viridius]] says it is a few weeks walk / ride / sail to get to the stone elves camp (and [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]) but we think it would be a day or two's flight.

===We talk to Seir===
Our last approach on information gathering is to try and talk to [[Seir]] (I knew him as [[Seir|Astronia]] some 32,000 years ago) and ask him our three questions. [[Vychan]] isn't sure what [[Seir]] thinks of him at the moment (as the world seems to mostly have forgotten [[Vychan]]). 
We get [[Razor]] to give it a go.

First a little air elemental turns up and as it seems to be a representative of [[Seir]] we ask it our three questions:
<ol>
<li>Where is the Temple of the 1st Drow?</li>
<li>Where is [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] ([[Foras|Foras's]] wife)?</li>
<li>Where is the Dragon [[Roche]]?</li>
</ol>
The little air elemental disappeared and [[Seir]] himself turned up. 
For some reason the others got me to talk to him and other than possibly getting [[Vychan]] in trouble I don't think we ended up any different from when we started. However [[Seir]] seemed to learn a lot from us.

To our three questions he said:
<ol>
<li>Temple of the 1st Drow - All sought it before they became what they did (also described it as the "Grail" - immortality).</li>
<li>[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] - I don't know.</li>
<li>[[Roche]] - I didn't know he was back - at which point he vanished leaving a few pearls.</li>
</ol>
===To the Isles===
We left that night for the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]], so we would arrive in the morning. 
First we had to go to the [[Filgiso_Forest|Filgiso Forest]] where we were escorted to the portal which was inside a cave. 
This took us to another chamber. As we were leaving we saw a Dragons hoard of gold and shells about twenty five feet across and three feet deep - obviously for sleeping on. Outside of this was the mountain in the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]].

Night was over and it was morning.

==6th Thaw 808==
We flew west over the desert avoiding any settlements. 
It is very hot - actually it is cooler flying than being on the ground and we flew for about ten hours before stopping to camp on the edge of the jungle.
==7th Thaw 808==
===We meet Kesrin===
We flew all morning until we found the area the stone elves were in. Then we landed on the beach.
Actually [[Lucius]] crashed into the sea and couldn't seem to swim and [[Caprice|Verity's]] dog pulled him out (even
though the water wasn't deep enough to be over his head).
A short walk to the north brought us to the stone elves camp.

Actually it is a very boring camp because all the stone elves do is just stand around, they don't have tents or fires because they done eat or sleep. 
[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] has a tent that is fifteen feet across. 
He is sleeping inside and his tent is a slovenly mess - as is [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] himself. All of his muscle is turning to fat at a greatly increased rate and he is covered in ornate tattoos. 
His armour, sword and shield are hanging up in the tent.
[[Human the Fool]] is zapped by lightening when he touches the armour.
Verity reveals that [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] is connected to two powers [[Foras]] and an "Ancient Gargantuan Horror". 
[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] doesn't respond to us or our questions at all except when we mention [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] when his eyes give a flicker.

[[Caprice|Verity]] laid her healing hands upon [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] in an attempt to cure him and he became briefly lucid.
"Help Me.
The Dark one has me.
I must recover.
Keep my ...."
And then his eyes glazed back over and he became unresponsive again.

We spoke to the marbled elves a bit about what was happening. 
They told us that they have to stay with the hero (they as the main group – a few can leave), if they do not it would violate the geas and they would probably die.

[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] can be coaxed into moving a little and they have been making about half a mile a day (at that rate I think it will take about four years to cross the island).

[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] is very much more vulnerable in his current state and not up to fighting the darkness. 
They don't really know where they need to go but "feel" that it is to the east. 
(We consider trying to triangulate the location of their destination but realise that it will be hard due to the inaccuracy of the "feeling" of the direction to go – we estimate this would take a week at least).

If we had a cure for [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] they could divert to another location for that cure (as that would almost certainly be quicker than four years of walking).

After much arguing and looking blankly at each other we thought we should try and contact the local [[Category:Dragons_of_Insel_der_Freiheit]]. The only places we knew they might be were days of flight away. [[Chaaff]] (the water dragon) had greeted the elves on the beach and we thought he might know either:
<ul><li>Where [[Roche]] was.</li>
<li>Details on the Ancient Gargantuan Horror from under the sea.</li></ul>
Having no way of contacting him we got [[Vychan]] to go down to the beach and call out [[Chaaff|Chaaff's]] name under the water. This didn't work (good for laughs though).

The only other proven way of contacting the [[Category:Dragons_of_Insel_der_Freiheit]] was via attempting to contact other powers (e.g. Call Master) however this tended to upset them a bit.

So we got [[Human the Fool|Human]] to do it.
He vanished for a minute and said he saw a copper coloured Dragon – [[Ijel]].
He said to [[Human the Fool|Human]] he shouldn't call his Master on the Islands but other than that was very helpful – he told [[Human the Fool|Human]] that:
<ul><li>[[Roche]] would contact us once we cured the Hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]].</li>
<li>What we sought was not on the island.</li>
<li>His brother would come to help us.</li></ul>
We try one more thing that evening. [[Vychan]] puts a amulet that prevents you from being possessed on [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. No apparent effect.

===Back to the Guild - Suddenly===
That evening after dinner we heard a leathery flapping of wings down by the beach so we grabbed all our things and ran down there. 
Whilst running that way we saw a ball of fire flying towards us and it exploded around us and we appeared back at the [[Seagate_Guild|Guild]].
[[Vychan]] – Oh yeah, that's how they help you travel
Not sorry for getting him to stick his head under water any more!

==8th Thaw 808==
===The Temple of the First Drow===
We went back to the [[Seagate_Guild|Guild]] library and looked up the temple of the [[Temple_of_the_Drow_God|Temple of the Drow God]]. 
Also I had a talk to [[Father_Broc|Father Broc]] and [[Logan]] who we involved in the expedition to it. 
More and more it sounded like the place we had to go.

Some pertinent points about the [[Temple_of_the_Drow_God|Temple]].
<ul><li>It was built by the dragon [[Roche]].</li>
<li>The stone dragon guardians at the door would obliterate "Evil" people.</li>
<li>The dragon statue in the first room breathed fire that removed curses, blessings and objects of malign intent and placed them in an antechamber (the only way out was past the dragon statue again so any items would be sent back to the antechamber).</li>
<li>Past that was a Banner room with one hundred and forty four skinned elves (icky).</li>
<li>Next was a room with another dragon sculpture which will trigger if anyone in the room CAN speak Drow.</li></ul>
We get some key phases written on flash cards in Drow, Draconic and Ancient Elven – mainly [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle's]] name.

We ask for a "Limited precog" at the guild to be cast on our behalf to show what would happen if all of us went into the temple. 
I shows [[Human the Fool|Human]] being obliterated by the door guardians.

Also [[Vychan]] has too many curses/blessings to risk them being removed – so the two of them can stay outside the temple and guard any items we have of demonic or malign origin.

We also decide to sleep through the day (as we are a little portal lagged) and fly tonight.

Just after dusk [[Caprice|Verity]] danced for us and we were most encouraged.

Then we flew in the early evening towards the [[Temple_of_the_Drow_God|Temple]]. Once we were within fifty odd miles of where it was supposed to be we saw a glow on the ground in the distance. As we approached it became obvious that this was the [[Temple_of_the_Drow_God|Temple]] in a excavated quarry about a mile across.

We landed about an hour and a half before midnight and there is no sign of any undead – The light hurts [[Vychan]] a little so it might be undead repelling too.

[[Human the Fool|Human]] thought it was a good idea to put the stone elves through the [[Temple_of_the_Drow_God|Temple]] to see if it removed the geas.

[[Vychan]] and [[Human the Fool|Human]] stay outside and the rest of us venture in past the outer guardians into the room with the fire breathing dragon statue. It breathed fire on us and [[Caprice|Verity]] lost one blessing (which was due to run out in a couple of days.

There were three doors out of this room:
<ol><li>One went down some short stairs to a small altar which had offerings on it (they turned out to be stone? Like fruit made of stone).</li>
<li>One went into a small antechamber room – where the evil objects were stored.</li>
<li>The last large door led into the banner room.</li></ol>

We went into the banner room. 
In here were six rows of twenty four "frames" each with the skin of a single elf on it, there was a massive variety of ages and sexes. 
If you remove a frame (they were arranged on metal poles like "banners") from its hole a spirit appears and starts screaming in agony. 
If you try to take a frame out of the room a magical wall stops you at the doorway.

I tried putting on my iron circlet (that lets me see into the spirit world) but it was too overwhelming. Too much screaming and suffering.

The skins on the frames were D.A.ed and they came back as aura strength "Avatar" and Generic True Name "Elf". We also established that every single one of them was skinned around forty six thousand years ago. 
Also it appears that all identifying marks (tattoos, birth marks etc) have been removed from the skins to make them almost indistinguishable.

This means that none of them are [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] (so she must be somewhere else here.

We report all of this back to [[Vychan]] and [[Human the Fool|Human]] – [[Human the Fool|Human]] says:
Somebody really held a grudge.
Hmm – This place was built by [[Roche]], so it might be him and one of the things we want to do is undo a geas he placed on the stone elves. I hope he isn't miffed.

We went back past the banner room into the room with the dragon sculpture that is triggered if you CAN speak Drow (don't know what it does then though?). 
None of us do so we are fine.

Around this room are a set of pictures that tell the story of the first Drow. 
Basically he invented a new language – Drow and then killed of two and a half million innocent elves to gain power for himself and his family. Lots of power.
The old Dragons put him down and trapped him and all his family here until his power waned enough for him to be destroyed (which happened a couple of years ago).

In fact in a small room off this chamber there are the chains that used to hold him. 
Also there are the remnants of rune sticks that were used by a previous party to rune portal out.

But no [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]].

[[Caprice|Verity]] had a very good idea.
Maybe [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] is in the antechamber – perhaps her soul is trapped in an evil object so she is stuck in there.

We resolve to search there next.

We went into the little side annex (could this be the room of traps?).
It looked for all the like a little [[Michaelines|Michaeline]] temple with a altar, pews, plain wall hangings and a little table with a few artefacts on it.

We D.A.'ed each object on the table asking:
Does this item contain the soul of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]].
The book came back with an answer of "Yes" (also the book's cover and binding were made of Elf skin) and inscribed with runes of blood.
Also we found that the book "Might" suck our souls in as well and it was made by some "Dark" "Inquisitorial" "Lunatic" person.

[[Lucius]] carefully TK'ed the book open and we discovered that there were twenty pages.
I looked at the souls in the book and saw there were a mixture of "White" (3), "Grey" (5) and "Black" (12) souls in the book.

[[Lucius]] TK the book open page by page:
The first page had a picture of an old elven lady - she was dressed in archaic clothes. I identified here as one of the "White" souls.
The second page had a male elf - again ancient dressed. "Grey" this time.
Third was another male elf. "White".
Fourth was a young female elf which turned out to be [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]]. "Grey".

Touching the front of the page allowed you access to the souls memories, however the souls memories would try to take you over temporarily if you were not really for it.

We talked about taking some of the other evil items and thought it might be too dangerous.

On the altar was a cup filled with an "Immortality" liquid.

[[Michael (the adventurer)|Michael]] touched the cup and liquid started gushing out and filling the room (after the door behind us slammed shut).

Quickly I guess that the water would drain out near the roof somewhere and saw the hole - then I walled up the cup and the drain so we would be safe. The walled up area filled with water and then drained, triggering a release mechanism that emptied the room and opened the door - ta da.

Suddenly remembering this room is called "The Room of Traps" we checked around for traps and found tones of them (the altar, pews, table, drapes) - we decide to touch as little as possible.

[[Lucius]] TK's the book into a sack and [[Caprice|Verity]] picks it up, she is briefly taken over but regains control of herself. As she is going to have to teleport out of here and fly back to the guild we spend a couple of hours practicing with the book so [[Caprice|Verity]] has more control.
Then we head back to the [[Seagate_Guild|Guild]].

Back there they divinate the book whilst we rest.
Basically the book is a device for swapping souls in and out of bodies, whilst a soul is in the book you can access it's memories by touching the page that contains it. If you look at the back of a page that contains a soul you are sucked into the page (the front of which then looks like you) and whichever soul that was in the book goes into your body.

In the early days of the [[War_of_Tears|War of Tears]] [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] was invited by a bard to look at the book.

Other revelations were that she had a child with [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]], [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Sheral|Sheral]] - who [[Foras]] believes is his. He was four when [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] was trapped in the book.

==9th Thaw 808==
Slept the rest of the day after the all night temple investigation.

==10th Thaw 808==
At [[Seagate_Guild|Guild]] recovery and library investigations. Verity studies Jiall-en-tielle in the book in the hope of being able to fake her (if she doesn't have a magical link with Kesrin)

==11th Thaw 808==
Library investigations and portaled that night to the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]].

==12th Thaw 808==
===Back to the Isles===
Arrived [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]].
Flew all day across the desert and camped on our edge of jungle ridge top.

==13th Thaw 808==
Arrived at the stone elves camp (it has moved about 2 miles - very slow going.)

We checked in on [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] - he actually looked fatter and worse.
[[Caprice|Verity]] put on the likeness of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] and approached him and he held his hand out briefly before slumping into lethargy again.
We had [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] touch the page of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] and the communed a little but it didn't break him out.

We move out of the tent a little (but clearly not enough) and decide to try to temporarily release [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] to talk to her.
[[Lucius]] volunteered to swap with [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] (I think he wrongly feared some party members would force this upon some unsuspecting person but almost all of us would never have let this happen), he also thought that tying himself up would just frighten [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]].
We at least convinced him to take off his armor, put aside his weapons and have some cold iron on.

Well that was pretty disastrous.
When [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] took over [[Lucius]] body she said:
Where am I?
My love is here.
Then she ignored everything we tried to say and headed towards him, talking, restraining, sleeping, sapping didn't work. She picked up [[Vychan]] and was only stopped when we put a wall of stone around her.

Then we heard a booming as something started striking the wall of stone from the other side - yes [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] had came to rescue her. Just before he broke through the wall we let her go an stood back, when the touched there was a flash of white light and [[Lucius|Lucius's]] body vanished, to be replaced with [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle's]]

[[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] looked back to normal as well (Heroic) and they went back into his tent and the sounds of passion wafted forth.

And all we had was a book with a picture of [[Lucius]] in it. What's worse it wasn't [[Lucius|Lucius's]] first time trapped in a book like this.

[[Roche]] was supposed to be turning up now we cured [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] so we looked around for him in vain.
That evening ([[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] and [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle]] were still at it) [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Lotus Blossom|Lotus Blossom]] said [[Roche]] had spoken to him in his head and we could met him at [[Vidal|Vidal's]] home (basically on the other side of the Island).

==14th Thaw 808==
===Struck Down from the Sky===
The next morning we fly off towards [[Vidal|Vidal's]].
About five hours into the flight we hear some "Thunderclaps" occurring nearby. Slightly confused we continue on and [[Caprice|Verity]] and [[Human the Fool]] are killed by Whirlwind vortex. We land and nothing else happens.

[[Caprice|Verity]] and [[Human the Fool]] come back to life (via magical potions).

[[Vychan]] remembers (NOW) about the no fly zone in the middle of the island - but he thought a previous party had arranged for safe passage for flying people now.
Something about hostile air shamans.

Despite [[Human the Fool|Human the Fool's]] desire to hunt down these shamans for revenge ( a bit of a problem as we didn't see them, don't know where they are, and are in the middle of a jungle) we decide to go "around" the danger area (which might be up to 80% of the island) and fly or sail around the coast.
To this end we walk south-west (directly away from the centre of the island) and then fly following a river down the coast.

==15th Thaw 808==
We fly along the southern coast of the island, past a enormous whirlpool (named the [[Kota_Drift|Kota Drift]] on the map) and land and camp on a peninsula on the south coast.

Next we fly to [[Setagen]] - this city is on a volcanic island and is apparently mostly made from volcanic glass. It is also a big trading city and we stay at a Inn called "The Docksider"

==16th Thaw 808==
===We Meet Vidal===
Next day we caught the fast packet ship up to [[Pasir]], the regional capital
Actually we missed the six a.m. ship and caught the midday one - it takes five to six hours.

That evening we reached [[Pasir]] but immediately flew up the valley to [[Vidal|Vidal's]].
[[Vychan]] warned us that there is "forgetting" water up at [[Vidal|Vidal's]] but he couldn't remember exactly where it was (so we take our own supplies).

[[Vidal]] lives in a [[The_Boneyard|Ossuary]] (lots of bones), as we approach [[Vychan]] says he can see a beam of light coming out of the top of the building, [[Caprice|Verity]] reckons there are souls in this beam.

The door is answered by a six foot tall black human with lots of gold jewellery ([[Vidal]]).

He says [[Roche]] told him some information and in return for that he would answer one question of us each, of that information.
Apparently this is how [[Vidal]] operates - he is a trader in information.

We thought up some questions:
# How do we release the stone elves from their geas and return them to being normal elves?
# Where and what is the darkness [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] seeks to fight?
# What and where is the great work that [[Roche]] is currently building?
# Why did [[Roche]] take the Litany of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Leaping Tiger |Leaping Tiger]] from [[Alfheim#Eidolon|Eidolon]]?
# Is the darkness [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]] is facing his last one?

Answers:
# "Take them to the 'End of the World' - When the dawns sunlight comes through to the end of the world they will be cured. [[Vidal]] doesn't know where "The end of the World" is but it is mythically on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] somewhere.
# [[Vidal]] won't answer "What is the Darkness" but the where is [[Plateau_of_Decay|Plateau of Decay]] (apparently [[Lord_Arrindale|Lord Arrindale]] is no longer there).
# [[Roche|Roche's]] project is to assist the healing of a house spirit harmed by another guild party.
# [[Roche]] believes that [[Foras]] suspects his line is not pure, and thus he may wage war on [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] descendents.
# It is the beginning and end, it is the darkness and light, it is the only darkness.

He is reasonable with his answers, and we don't need to worry about accidental or incidental questions.

We also discovered a little more information.
The Black Dragon ([[Larth]]) is the one that travels places to transport people.
The air shaman hates [[Roche]].
We should find [[Chaaff]] to try and fix [[Lucius]].

We have one remaining question, but we may use it later and because of the good standing of the guild, it can be about anything. If we wish, we can also give him information to for further questions.

[[Caprice|Verity]] wonders whether he is interested in anything she knows from [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Jiall-en-tielle|Jiall-en-tielle's]] memories. After a private conversation he says that he would like the whole book. While no specific deal is made, with a ritual of blood drinking he gives her the ability to carry the book without disturbance. This ability is not permanent because "he didn't take anything in return"

Normally such momentous and heroic occurrences happen on auspicious dates, there is one some 17 days in the future - The End of the month of "Worlds Edge"

We are also told by [[Vidal]] to:
Scout the way - find the fork in [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] path where the stone ones must diverge to be release from the geas.

He also tells us that the air shaman's area of control stretches over a six hundred to seven hundred miles across area centred on [[Mt_Biraja|Mt Biraja]].

Lastly we ask how to find [[Chaaff]] to try and fix [[Lucius]]. [[Vidal]] says he can summon him here and he would arrive in a few hours (we think this is a good idea).

[[Chaaff]] turns up as a six foot tall human in blue scale mail armor. He tells us that he has a body that would sufice [[Lucius]]. [[Chaaff]] leaves (we hear the flapping of leathery wings) and a little while later returns with a human gibbering idiot. The [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] here have driven him insane and having his soul in a page would be a blessing for him. We hold the page with [[Lucius]] in it and the gibbering idiots soul is put into the page. [[Lucius|Lucius's]] soul is put into the human body ([[Lucius]] was an elf). [[Chaaff]] says that a Namer ritual (True Form) could turn [[Lucius]] back into an Elf.

Final note - the forgetting water is the water in the lake near the temples - do not drink.

==17th Thaw 808==
Next we flew down to the "[[Plateau_of_Decay|Plateau of Decay]]".
It is a near perfect circle some 3 miles across and half a mile high with a tall tower at the centre. Here also there is quite a lot of black obsidian around.
We traveled around the base of it and finally realised that there is no easy way to climb up.
On the top is a strange jungle - actually it is more like a beech forest up there - remarkably little undergrowth.

Two other points about this charming place. Just being here is like an undead slowly draining you (1 point per half hour) and it is also a Earth Druidic place of power.
Also there seems to be a lack of bugs and small animals - making it quite pleasant if you are immune to draining.
We walk for an hour and a half to the middle.
On the way we saw a large spider run up a tree (this is odd because a) there are no other small animals on the plateau and b) there are no spiders on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]]).
Other than the Spider demon says [[Vychan]]. We are much more watchful after that.

We reached the tower with no further spider sightings. The jungle canopy goes right up to the tower (it is about a hundred to a hundred fifty feet tall here) and the tower pokes some fifty odd feet out of the canopy.
The tower has a single human sized door which is open.

The tower has no aura but is aligned with powers ancient, chaotic, and decay.
Peeking in the open door we see spiral stairs going both up and down (a fork in the road?).

Outside in the jungle [[Vychan]] summoned a supposedly friendly earth elemental that thumped me.
So he got rid of that one and got a MORE friendly one which seemed to be covered in Kryonite dust.
This one told us there was a large cavern under the tower that used to be where they mined the Kryonite. He also mentioned that the end of the world was down there.
The elemental couldn't tell what was at the top of the tower but undernieth there were siz levels of undergroup complex ranging from the ex-quarters of [[Lord_Arrindale|Lord Arrindale]] at the top through to the mines at the bottom.
Also it mentioned there was a large spider to the north and many other spiders elsewhere on the island.

Finally the stone elves were moving this way and would be here in a fortnight.

We decide to move on down and report to the queen prior to getting to involved with the tower and mine.

We follow the river south (flying) to a small town. To avoid upsetting them (by our use of magic) we land well out of town then float closer (on a block of ice), finally walking the last short distance.

Alas no one seems to want to talk to us (or can) in town and we look around for an Inn. There doesn't seem to be anything like it and after some vigorous gesturing we are directed to a temple.

Outside the temple is a statue with three people sitting back to back with their legs crossed. In front of the statue is an altar and offerings.
Also the temple has a light coming out of the top of it like the [[The_Boneyard|Ossuary]] [[Vidal]] lives in.

A priestly like monk gives us a sleeping roll and speaks to us in Lunar. He asks us to help out a little for our lodging.

He also tells us the town is called "Kendingen" and the statue is of "Blalli".
We help out in the kitchen (not slaying monsters that threaten the town as is normal) then sleep the night.

==19th Thaw 808==
===Message for the Queen===

Next morning we fly on down to the capital (carefully flying high and avoiding villages or towns to not scare the locals).

Outside the capital we landed in some of the wet fields (invisible) and frightened a few peasants. We quickly left the area and went into the city and headed for the palace. [[Caprice|Verity]] and I got a rickshaw and everyone else walked.

When we got to the palace we asked to see the Queen and instead got to see [[Mercato#Advisors and Members of Court|Elpidius Viridius]] again.
He took our report with very little reaction.

He also said we could stay at the palace tonight (beds and baths) and showed us a place we could take off from on our magical wings.
Also we could use the basic palace facilities (not including in the Eunuchs.)
[[Pent]] - What would you want Eunuchs for?
[[Caprice|Verity]] - For a change?

==20th Thaw 808==
===Into the Mines===

The next day we take off from the secret spot at the palace and fly back north to the [[Plateau_of_Decay|Plateau of Decay]].

We landed at the base of the tower and prepared to go in.
[[Michael (the adventurer)|Michael]] had to put witchsight on the elf ([[Lucius]]) so he could see in the dark.

We go down the stairs which spiral down a long way.

At the first opening down the stairs ([[Lord_Arrindale|Lord Arrindale's]]) there is a huge ward over the entrance (DA's as Exsanguination) and wizard eye cannot penetrate it for a look around either.
As we really want to find "The End of the World" at this seemed to be at the bottom we went past the first five levels and walked all the way to the bottom.

When the stairs ran out there was a large opening in the outside wall that lead into a huge cavern and a set of large doors straight ahead.

The large stone doors were covered in runic script.
We did three DA's on them
#Method to Open - Push
#Nature of Magic - Defense
#Is this the End of the World - No Answer

[[Vychan]] also said that this was an earth place of power.

Looking back into the huge cavern we saw that there were a large number of matching holes in the floor and ceiling - these used to have columns in them which a previous party had destroyed (via playing a flute in the room beyond the stone doors) in an attempt to collapse the mine (obviously didn't work). Also we noted that the holes in the floor went very deep and were possibly bottomless.

Perhaps the columns were not holding the roof up but had some other purpose - I am reminded of being inside a huge machine.

We pushed open the doors and went into the next room. This room's floor was covered in kryonite dust (the flute had destroyed a crystal in the centre of the room) and also had a hole in the floor in the middle - this was unexpected and had not been mentioned by any prior scribes.
Peering down the hole we see it goes thirty to forty feet down then opens up into a corridor.

[[Lucius]] sends down a wizard eye and he sees a long corridor that runs off to the north and slopes down a little.

So we climbed down on ropes, [[Vychan]] - with his practiced eye, said the tunneled was proberly created by spriggins (and no he did not have the item that enrages spriggins on him).

1 mile of walking later and we emerge into the sunlight (on a warm summers day) at the base of a burial mound. D.A. shows the plane to be "Galacia" - we changed planes just inside the tunnel.

This place looks like a strange mini-plane as there is mist in all directions a couple of miles away. An it doesn't appear to have a north.

The burial mound is twenty five feet high and three hundred feet across. We walk around the base before going up to the top. On one side is a river and a lake and on the other is a forest.

On top there are five rings of standing stones, most of which are broken or shattered (possibly by earthquake). The innermost ring has sixteen stones in a ring. There is a tingle as you walk around amongst

them.

This looks kind of familiar to me - have I been somewhere like this before? [[Caprice|Verity]] hypnotised me so I could remember.
I recall a similar place of spirits from years ago. There were three rings not five and a big "darkness" intruding on one side. The stones contained spirits of gods (or aspects of nature) and you could commune with them by close contact (hugging).

It is high mana here and [[Vychan]] summons an earth elemental which told us a number of things:
#There is no-one else here.
#The tunnel we came in is the only hollow in the burial mound.
#At the edge of the plane (which is close) is the firmament.

The spirits used to hold spirits but they are gone now - only a lingering echo remains.

We also walked out the mists for a look but found nothing.

[[Lucius]] went back down the tunnel towards Allusiaand heard martial sounds, he ran back to us and we crept down towards them.
After a while [[Caprice|Verity]] heard voices talking in the local tongue, they were having conversations about the quality of the new weapons.

We prepared an ambush for about a dozen mutant dwarves??
Except a bunch (say another dozen) "Fae Wraiths" came out of the walls at us and attacked and drained us.

[[Michael (the adventurer)|Michael]] and I killed most of the Fae Wraiths [[Caprice|Verity]] froze some and the rest hurt a couple. Also [[Caprice|Verity]] incinerated the dwarves.

Picking up the pieces after a few of them ran away we found:
#Three dwarvern partial plate (magical - Nature protection).
#Three magical pick axes.
=Appendix=
==A - Individuals we Met or Heard about==
<ul>
<li>A'Salt - Master of Names and librarian in [[Elfenburg]].</li>
<li>Kesrin - Elvish hero from pre [[War of Tears|War of Tears]]. Currently on [[Alusia]] to fight the great coming darkness and accompanied by 4,998 elves made of stone.</li>
<li>J'anthro L'roi - Inquisitor and Shaper, founder of the new order of Kohath - a neutral set of arbitrators and negotiators who seek justice.</li>
<li>Jiall-en-tielle - [[Foras|Foras's]] wife and former lover of [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]]. We suspect he is her Muse.</li>
<li>Lotus Blossom - One of the 4,998 elves made of stone that was transported through time to assist the hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]].</li>
<li>Prince Charlich - Leader of the Kimash.</li>
<li>Seeker Lodoth Sqir - [[Calamar]] and leader of the expedition.</li>
<li>Significant Lack of Opposition - [[Calamar_Weapons#Void_Cruiser|Void Cruisers]] are people too.</li>
</ul>

==B - Locations we Went==

<ul>
<li>D'arbres - See [[D%27arbres]] The party went here to investigate the Hero [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] tomb and to look at where the Dragon [[Roche]] was. Also they sought out the inquisitors for assistance.</li>
</ul>

==C - Old Clans==
<ul>
<li>Leaping Tiger - Members - [[Foras]] (clan head), Astronia ([[Seir]]).</li>
<li>Scarlet Chrysanthemum - Members - [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin]].</li>
<li>Red Scorpion - Members - [[Reach_Up_for_the_Sunrise#Kesrin|Kesrin's]] original wife (some 32,000 years ago).</li>
<li>Jade Dragon - Members - Jiall-en-tielle 
</ul>

==D - Loot we acquired or expenses we incurred==
# 100,000 sp plus (none of us are pearl merchants) in black pearls as pay from Stone elves.
# (25,200) sp to recover [[Lucius|Lucius's]] heart (and put it back in his chest).
# 300 sp pearls from [[Seir]].
# (400) sp for a Limited Precognitive Vision to show [[Human the Fool]] being obliterated.
# (2,000) sp for Bat wings to get us to the Temple of the first Drow.
# (84) sp Docksider Inn for night.
# (147) sp Midday packet ship to Capital [[Pasir]].
# Three dwarvern partial plate (magical - Nature protection).
# Three magical pick axes.

Black Watch Chronicles III: Tidings of Comfort and Joy

2026-06-06T03:58:11Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Ben Taberner]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Lyric]]
[[Category:Vapour]]
[[Category:Avatriss]]
[[Category:Bodric]]
[[Category:Mavric]]
[[Category:Henric]]
The third in a [[Black Watch Chronicles|series]] of adventures involving the Black Watch. 
[[Scribe_Notes#Spring_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Tidings of Comfort and Joy 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Ben Taberner|Ben Taberner]] 
'''Session''': [[Spring]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Thursday - starting 18th Sept 2008 
'''Location''': Chez Mitchinson 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]] 
; Party

*[[Lyric]] Henrikson - played by [[Michelle Ellis]] (Scribe)
*[[Vapour]] - Human Air Hage played by [[Neil Davies]]
*[[Avatriss]] - played by Jill Mitchinson (Party Leader)
*[[Bodric]] Henrikson
*[[Mavric]] Henrikson - played by [[:Category:Lisa_Rose|Lisa Martin]]
*[[Henric]] Henrikson - played by [[Chris Caulfield]]

 
; Employer
: Senior Sergeant Antaeus Albrecht.
; Mission
: Inexplicable art-related crimes are cluttering up the Seagate Watch's Log Books, and they have even less grasp of what to do than they do with [[Black Watch Chronicles II: The Absent Physician|missing healers]] or [[Black Watch Chronicles: Nightmare Murders|homicidal boogey-men]].
; Pay
: Guild rates, cheer.

== Lyric's Scribe Notes ==

=== 1st Thaw ===

Well, Henie, Boddie, Mavric and I were back in Seagate because we need some supplies for our Inn so we are going to be selling jewellery and stuff but as it is guild meeting time it was perfect to get in and see all our friends and maybe practice some magic or get weapons and stuff or maybe sample some of the local inns so we can get some new ideas for our inn now that we have had it for a while but more importantly I get to see Jazmyn if she is home and tell her what I have been doing and maybe we could go shopping or sunbathing or something else she likes to do especially now it is spring but then again she is from that really cold plane so she probably sunbakes in the really cold for Alusia but it must be pretty much warm compared to her home but while we were at the guild hanging around chatting after the meeting and because their wasn't many adventures there were lots of people around hanging around which was great because you get to meet some really nice and not so nice people and they all seem to like me and talk to me and tell me interesting stories and stuff but as we were standing around some guild security asked if we were interested in work and because I recognised Albrecht from last time I figured it couldn't hurt to talk because we may get paid to stay in Old Seagate while we sell all our stuff or even better we might get to fly somewhere anything that would break the boredom of the same old same old at the Inn and anyways Boddie really need to get out because everything is the Inn this, the Inn that, brewing this, distilling that. Geez. I think it is time that he finds a nice wife, he is almost old enough and if he is going to get all domestic maybe that will make him happy, he just doesn't seem to know what to do with himself.

Anyways, all four of us ended up in a meeting room with a really tall odd looking guy who I am pretty sure is a human but he is very strange looking, very shiny like he has been polished and weird hair like the tips have been frightened white and a female human who is tall but not as tall as the man but she looks very serious, like when Henie can get when he is contemplating whatever he thinks about when he daydreams, she has that sort of look, except she is a girl and she is human and taller than Henie and probably better looking but I can't tell cause she is a girl and human.

Well Guild security introduces some strange man with a big moustache but I didn't really pay attention as I was excited to see Albrecht and happily asked him about his family and introduced my family and stuff as I had told him all about them last time I saw him and now he can see for himself and for sure can believe all the stories of killing monsters in Novedom and stuff which would of course be stories he repeats and now he can picture us all when he recalls them. Maybe Mavric could go and tell the stories of our travels to the watch. I should remember to ask Albrecht next time I see him.

Well the guy with the moustache talks about needing an able group of adventures and that is definitely me and my family because we are very very able. Not sure about the two others but we will see how it goes.

Well the moustache guy goes and Albrecht talks about us looking into some weird stuff that is going on in Old Seagate. He tells us the nasty scary story again about the kids being killed in the meat works a couple of years ago and that around that time there has been some big big murals painted that just appeared over night around Old Seagate and then the people started to act very strangely and crime increased and they think it was related to the murals somehow and they have now got new rock paintings popping up overnight that they are now worried about this as some of the poor hungry people in Old Seagate are now doing some street performing which is bothering them as they are not saying very nice things in the performances and it has gotten people upset so we need to look into it. The rock paintings are on rocks which are part of the road or street markers or part of buildings and stuff so it isn't as if they can be prepainted in advance and left there and just like the murals they are not sure how they are being done without being seen and stuff or how they are being painted so they are worried that there might be higher crime or even murders or torture like there was when the murals we around so they are worried and want us to look into it and again they want us to be quiet about who we are and what we are about or what we are up to as yet again there are reasons why they can't be seen to be doing this work for them.

So we decide that yes we will be involved in the job and decide to introduce ourselves, the tall man is a human and he is called Vapour and likes himself a lot and he talks and talks and talks all about himself and if he isn't talking about himself he is doing exercises or coming up with stupid comments but as he is part of the Air College maybe this is normal but just listening to him talking about himself about how pretty he is and how he has been Mr Air College for 3 years running and on and on and on, nothing like Ibrihim so maybe it isn't an air college thing and some of the stuff he says and explanations of what is going on in Seagate I think he is a bit of an airhead and he takes that as a compliment as that is what he thinks the air college is referred too as a nickname so obviously he is called it a lot and then he said he has a huge dragon fly that he wants Mavric to ride so there is no damn chance of him brushing her hair as Mavric says it is a mating ritual! And then there is Avatriss who is a Mind Mage - oh goodness not another one and yes that is why she has the human look that Henie has but she seems to have an issue with sex and that some people have sex for other things other than to make babies because when I was explaining that last time I was in Old Seagate with Teeanna and Peter and Ibrihim and Kirgoth and Jules that the criminal people thought that Teeanna was moving into their territory and they thought I was a male dwarf prostitute because prostitutes get paid for sex and I was explaining this to Mavric and Avvy (or is should we call her Avric) thinks I have an issue with sex but I think she does as she wants to get people on her couch and thrash it out or axe it out or something like that but we need to work out who is going to be the party leader and as I have worked for Albrecht and the Watch before and also worked lots in Old Seagate and know the names of three of the heads of the criminals gangs that I should be the party leader but Henie wants to be the party leader as well and we just can't have that as he would just nag and think and wait and we would get nowhere so I would prefer Boddie if we had to have one of us at least he would let me hit things or Mavric as she would let me hit things too or be sneaky or something fun but nooooooooo not Henie so the Vapour aka Airhead is also wanting to be the party leader and that is definitely out of the question more than Henie so I think if I can't be party leader the only person left that would work for the family is Avvy so she is chosen but I am worried that she could be just like Henie but at least she won't boss us around like he would. And at the end of the decision she mentions she is a local and lives around the docks so she could be so useful when it comes to working in Old Seagate because she can talk to everybody.

Well, OK now she says she can't tell her family she is in Old Seagate as they will want her to work which sucks because it would be so useful to have those contacts but I am sure we can work out a way to get them to know she is here but working and not available to work in the family business. So then it happens, we talk about plans for what we are going to do, talk talk talk so boring, can we get going already! Then I remember that guild security gave me a letter from the head of the criminals I know and they had told us of a lady to see about where the artist was, and he is an artist so he might have something to do with the paintings, art, painting, same sort of stuff isn't it? Then Avvy has some great ideas and we decide that we should all go down and stay in Old Seagate were we can case out there area see if there is any strange religions popping up or groups we can join that might be doing street performing and I am sure Mavric can get some work and I can tell good stories too or we could do some gambling or see if we can get work but we need to be seen as separate groups having us mixing with humans might be a bit obvious that we are adventures so we are going to have us family members in one room of a hostel and Avvy and Vapour will be in another room and pretend we don't know each other and we can continue with our buying and selling of stuff for the Inn or get a job or something and that the others need to come up with a cover, I suggest that they need to act as boyfriend and girlfriend but yet again Avvy has a problem with this you know her issues with sex and all but it is all pretend she doesn't have to have sex with him just sleep with him because the other option is that one is a guard and the other has something that is worth lots of money and if that is the case they become a target for people who might attack somebody who only has one guard but goods that need a guard, I think they should be girlfriend and boyfriend but then we won't hear the end of it from Vapric but it is probably the best idea so I say it over and over and hope that it ends up being what they do see if I was party leader there wouldn't be a need to argue the point oh well.

We decide that before we head off we need a decent map and get Albrecht to put pins in it so that we can see where the murals were and where the current paints are so we can se if there is a pattern or consistency across the two crimes of art that we are looking so we get a map that is as good but now need the pins put in and Albrecht says he will get back to us on that but Albrecht does mentions that by Blue Gate near Hogs End across from the meat works there is a very good recent rock painting so we decide we need to have a look but also need to organise somewhere to stay so Avric tells us of a place to stay and Henie likes Avric as he tries to get her to take one of the pieces of jewellery we are going to sell and he keeps telling her it is for her and she keeps saying no and he keeps saying take it and he only stops because we hassle him that he likes Avric and he stops and we start to head off, us dwarves are going to go down in our wagon and the others on foot and we will organise our accommodation and have a look at the stuff at Blue Gate but then when we head out on top of the stables is Molly.

I call out to her saying hello and she seems much better than I last saw her and Vapric also knows her too as it seems that she has been spending time with air mages and we try and get her down because Austin the Namer is looking very much upset then Molly shows she is still Molly by saying she thought she was on the roof of the stables and then she was there and when I asked her if she could think she was really standing next to me she thought I was funny but then Vapric says he is going to fly up and get her, fly, fly but then again he is an air mage but we wait and wait and continue to try and get Molly to come down but then Vapric climbs up to the roof to get her down and then finally he decides to flys her down why he climbed up there in the first place I don't know and she seems just as excited about flying as I do as she screams and screams with joy and seems to really enjoy it. But Austin mentions that the Astrologers have been following Molly around as she keeps having statements amongst her ramblings as she has good days and bad days and some good days she talks about she mentions about "Look to the Child" and that she has dreams and that her dreams are like art as they are all bright colours ands vivid and Austin thinks she might be dreaming and saying really important things but as she still isn't really well it is a bit erratic with what she says and stuff but as she has feelings and senses stuff.

So for some reason it was decided because Molly was having a good day maybe Vapric could take her to the Blue Gate to see if she feels or says anything about the pictures that are painted around there so they take off with Molly screaming with joy that she was flying and I hope it is me screaming with joy soon because of flying but they head off and then it is decided that Henie and Bodie should head off in the wagon and find a hostel or boarding house and Avric says that they should find one with paintings on it would be really good as it would be a discussion point and I think that is a good idea but Mavric, Avric, Albrecht and Austin wait for Molly and Vapric to return from their trip, and they take ages and ages to come back but when they do come back Molly is not very good at all and it works out that Molly saw the paintings of the stones and thought they were pretty but then said that the Story is as "old as the stones that are broken to pave these streets" or something like that and that "grandfathers faces is revealed by the rising tide" and Vapric says that basically it is a picture of a camp fire with a fire in the middle and figures all around the campfire with each rock being different people horses and stuff and the fire rock is a read rock and that the rocks are only painted on the street side of the rock so not all over the rock and then Vapric said that Molly looked at the meat works and then really got upset and cried and tried to hide as close to him as possible like she was trying to get inside him by squishing herself against him if he had a clock she would have hidden under it but she just had he's greasy chest and weird outfit but by the sounds of it so she was really scared so all those stories of the kids and torture must be true and not just scary bed time stories which of course I knew because I had worked in Old Seagate before and I am an adventurer and old enough now not to believe in bed time stories not that I was ever afraid of them nor did I ever believe them because the true stories have to be scarier and therefore more exciting as people were really doing this stuff rather than make believe, but actually they were torturing and killing little kids and babies so that isn't very exciting at all but rather yucky but anyways I am sure Avric is now jealous that she has Molly to contend with for Vapric but then again nobody can like Vapric as much as Vapric but then what is Henie going to think when he finds out Avric is jealous of Molly it will break his heart for sure.

Ah, no, Boddie and Henie has headed down already to Old Seagate and now we need to go to the library to do research, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oh but yes it is ok Mavric and Avric is going to go library and Vapric and I can help Austin get Molly inside as she really isn't very happy I think the word is comatosed I am sure that is what Austin called it but basically she is just standing there and Austin doesn't seem very happy with Vapric for giving her one of her bad days after it being so good but to me she looks and acts just like I remember but Mavric said that she isn't going to do research but librarians are there to do that it just takes longer but that is much better than searching through lots and lots of books and they are much better at it than we are so that is good but I couldn't believe she volunteered but next time maybe I could volunteer and get the librarians to do the work for us it might make me seem more interested in that sort of stuff. Anyways once Mavric and Avric come back we head off down to Old Seagate to find the boys with Mavric and I in the front because I know where they are but with Avric and Vapric walking behind so we don't look like we are together but I can hear Vapric going on about how good it is for Avric that she is getting to sleep in the same room and that they will get to mate, ohhh yuck I need to get some sort of silencing spell actually maybe Mavric has one I really should ask because we would have had such a nicer walk if Vapric didn't sound so desperate and Avric was getting more and more angry with him saying he had no chance and stuff so maybe Henie will still have a chance after all but then we will have to wait and see with that but I found the boys staying at the Wayward Shepherd Inn and we have two rooms for us dwarves and let Vapric and Avric get their own room.

The boys are in bar of course which is great because all Mavric and I have to do is drop our gear and come back down so we can have an ale if you can really count it as ale it is a little better than dish water but Boddie says it is better for us to stay somewhere like here as we aren't to rich nor too poor plus there was some anti dwarf inns around which I never suspected there would be in Old Seagate because I thought anybodies money would be good enough for a room but obviously not here maybe a dwarven clan came in and damaged the inn previously or maybe that will happen in the future and they are afraid but either way I am sure the damage wouldn't be from us even though they didn't really like us

But finally Avric comes down from her room and she looks a little distressed but then orders two beers and goes and sits with some scruffy looking guy that looks really shocked that she has come up and given him a beer and sat down, geez Avric must be really angry with Vapric to chat to him and she talks and talks and talks and the guy looks more and more confused as the conversation continues but then I thought about Henie and how upset he must be but as I said to Mavric it wouldn't have worked as she is so much taller than Henie but they Mavric said she was told that when you are lying down height isn't a problem and I suppose she is right but then Vapric comes down to the bar looking shiny and happy as ever and goes straight over to Avric and Avric loudly introduces Vapric as her brother, heeeeeehhheeee he has got no hope now because people don't like it when brother and sister make babies together oh yuck but Vapric gives up and comes and introduces himself to us like he doesn't know us and everything then when the guy leaves Avric comes over and does the same and then we found out that she is going on a date with the guy who's name is Fred and they are going to a theatre which is a permanent place were travelling, well I suppose resident, actors and musicians and bards and stuff show their stuff and Mavric is really really excited about it and says can she go too so it now looks like we are all going and I can only imagine what Fred is going to think when his date turns up with all of us in toe heheheh very funny.

So we clean up and head off to meet up with Fred who Avric is paying to go to the theatre with her hehehehehe and on the way we see a strangely painted fountain which looks like it has a dryad or something earthy like thing but it is probably one of the painted things so we will have to go back and have another look tomorrow but then Avric found Fred and Fred was not at all pleased that we were all there well specifically Vapric but hey it is her brother hehehehe so he has no competition with Avric hehehehe.

We finally arrive to the theatre and wow what a building it is really really new and has many tiers to it and it is called The Sphere and it is new and purpose built like and it costs 1 copper for the lower or upper floor and 2 for the second floor so Mavric and I decide to go to the second floor as we can see better than being on the ground floor, I don't know where the boys are something about a backdoor and not having to pay or something and I am not sure where Avric or Vapric has gone so Mavric sits at the seat as close as possible to the stage but I see there are some really nice seats that have nice cushions and stuff but when I go to sit there they so I can't and that it is only for gentry and I say that I am gentry and they said I am not the right gentry so I sit in the seat closest to them after putting my war hammer next me and look at the idiot menacing for a while and he looks frightened but doesn't let me sit there even though they are empty but hey I don't care as the show starts and man when it does it was boring as it is a history or stuff but has lots of talking and not a lot of jokes or singing and it goes on for so long that I am almost falling asleep in my beers but from what I can see from Mavric she is almost falling out of her seat, I am not looking forward to sleeping in the same room as her tonight because she has this big stupid excited grin on her face and I can just imagine how much she is going to go on and on and on and on about it and I am sure she is going to come up with some new ideas for shows and is going to do a critique of this one and on and on and on I am sure she is going to go, hopefully it is a late night drinking so I can go to sleep with the light on and then the show is over and Mavric runs over and yeap I was right she goes on and on about how it was a saga and that men were playing girls parts and the painted backdrops and proper costumes and that their were 12 actors and even a dwarf and an elf (like I didn't notice already) and she was really excited that it was a was the good verses evil with the good guys won in the end. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh now she wants to go and talk to them all and tell them how great they are but is already wanting to make some suggestions on how to make it better and stuff so when we talk to some guy on the stage she gets told to ask for Gothry, whoever that is but when we get to the back door some Orc (who we find out later is called Ugrake) lets us in once Gothry comes and gets us who was the dwarf from the show but once we are inside we see the boys are there too but I don't think Ugrake likes them very much but Boddie seems to be staying away from Henie for some reason and I am sure he has been causing problems but then I find out why because it seems that Henie is dating the elf? Didn't know Henie liked elves but Boddie seems pleased with the rumour so I should ask him about it later. But anyways talking to Gothry we find out some interesting things such as Arty is the main guy who organises anything and that he doesn't take kindly to criticism and he is a little wary of Mavric's excitement about telling Arty how she can help the play being better but when Mavric stopped talking for two seconds she realised that Gothry had gone very white with shock and swayed more than caused by the drink but I think she will say something anyway but she promised Gothry that as tonight is a celebration not to mention any of the issues with the play and Vapric is very excited that [[Sabastian]] Silverfoot is one of the patrons of the theatre and when he said he was apprenticed to him the actors were very excited. But Arty is quite a nice jolly fellow who likes to drink a lot and he wasn't upset when Mavric said why isn't there any girls in the play and as it is a new thing it isn't as if it is a tradition or anything and that she could join and would love to do anything including make up or anything if she could and oh please if it will shut her up please let her join but then the party was over so we headed off but instead of going straight back to the inn Mavric made us follow a very drunk Arty so that she could go back tomorrow to give some ideas and debrief the show and stuff but finally we get back to the inn but Mavric was very chatting about the show and wanted to stay up all night to write a new play to show Arty in the morning but her tiredness much have hit her as she just fell asleep while writing so I put her to bed so that she is not to stiff tomorrow for her meeting with Arty but I might talk to Bodric tomorrow and see if I can stay with him or him and Henie if Mavric is going to be this excited again because it is a really hard thing to get sleep once somebody just talks and talks and talks and doesn't realise that people are not interested or are bored.

=== 2nd Thaw ===

And once Mavric wakes up she starts chatting again, a little confused as to why she feel asleep as she hadn't finished her play but excited about seeing Arty again but I think she is a bit keen and is going to visit him way to early for somebody who will for sure have a major hangover but she is sure she is going to get there by 10.30 but when we went downstairs for breakfast but byt the look on Bodric's face I figured I might go somewhere else for breakfast which Avric was keen to do to so we go down the road to an eatery and we talk about how her evening with Fred and I found that human mating rituals are really really weird as Avric had asked Fred out and paid to go to the theatre and his beer at the pub and everything and then she said that Fred thought it was a date but Avric didn't as she was after information and stuff and then to top it off which I am sure would have confused Fred she offered him work if he goes and visits her some of her family members so for sure he thinks it was his lucky day but if he knew it wasn't a date I am sure he would be crushed and probably would never talk to her family because how could a man show his face if he knew all this but I didn't say much to Avric about Fred's feelings or stuff about dwarvian dating because I didn't want to offend her.

When we got back Mavric and Henric had headed off to see Arty, ah the quiet time, perfect to go for a bath and relax, maybe go for a bit of a walk but then Mavric and Henie are back pretty quickly. It sounds like Arty was happy to seem the (doubt that) but they made mums special hangover cure and the Arty was quite keen in Mavric ideas and she is so excited that she wants to go and work with them and has already told all of us that she isn't going to go back to the inn so at least I might be a bit quieter up there, which actually isn't good just spending time with Boddie and Henie, I think I might need to go out more with the guild.

But we head out over to the abattoir and Hogs Head. On the way we walk past the Mothers Lemente and there is thankfully still no pearl back up there but everything normal but when we get to Hogs Head and the abattoir it we see all these really cool paintings on the road with lots of cobblestones all around a centre one that looks like a pyramid and then oh my goodness my family is going nuts, they are talking about hitting it, then Vapric is talking about getting paints etc so I rush into the bar to talk to the bar tender who I haven't talked to for a while but remember that he was one of the nuts so I need to distract him so he doesn't see what is happening and I have a beer and talk to him about the painting and did he get it commissioned etc and he says no why would he want to do that and stuff then there was HUGGGEEEE bang and I think somebody just hit one of the stones and it wasn't very successful but the bar tender is freaking out so I talk to home about roadworks and stuff going on and try and keep him from the front door and the bar tender talks about somebody standing on a rock and something about Song to Carzala but didn't get it painted that is all says in his normal strange manner the Avric comes and gets me which I am disappointed about because the ale here is much better than were we are staying but we head back to Seagate looking to stop at the watch and the guild with a small amount of paint, Bodric with sore arms and the knowledge the centre stone is naturally strong and definitely out of place.

When we get back to the watch and ask for Albrecht some guy winks at Avric or Mavric I am not sure who but he says he has something for us and his name is Lofty and it works out he has a map for us (to be attached) which has markings for all the random paintings around Old Seagate and the dates of for them are:

;Map
;Mark

;A 20th Ice (might have been earlier but not sure) - At the Hogs Head/Abattoir
Paintings of a fire side scene with the middle stone as the fire and the hard one to break

;B 21st Ice - Fountain
The nymph person that we had already seen

;C 23rd Ice - Well
Caricature of witches in the old traditional way with black hats very different to [[Jazmyn]]

;D 25th Ice - Public Stocks
Pictures of laughing/funny Imps with pitch forks (mustache
boss picture was near here and noticed around 26th but not separately marked.)

;E 25th Ice - Taxation Office Steps
Has a teeth and tongue down the stairs which has been painted over with cheap white
paint but you can still see it.

;F 29th Ice - Statue of the Beltons the guy who made the Old Seagate Freetown
It has been touched up with flesh like colours and stuff. Looks prettied up.

;G At least months ago - Church of Luck
Deserted building with orgy like pictures, might be a wild goose chase

Looking at the map we see that there is a trend going from Blue Gate downwards then it curls around to the G spot which is a bit old and maybe a wild goose chase but we really should find it even if it is hard to find but if we can exclude the G spot we have a travelling line which is straightish but then the conspiracy theories come out about who could be doing the paints and it being a carnival or god only knows what and around and around the theories go, where they stop nobody knows but stop!!!! We really need to find the G spot and see if it is important so we decide that we need to have a look at all these spots and see if we can discount the G spot altogether.

We need to check into the guild library so decide to go there first so Avric organises to catch up with Lofty at the Gangly Fox but as we are organising to catch up with him he mentions that the pub Diamond Spider Tavern might be a good pub to go to which is near spot B, it is in the lower class section and that this is were a lot of the street performers are performing but we still organise to meet at the Gangly fox later.

Luckily it isn't a long walk because more theories are abound, trying to link the paints to 7 sins and all sorts of stuff, it is all very interesting but I think it is giving Vapric a headache as he is getting more and more confused and angry that we are talking about all this stuff but then we get to the guild and give the flakes of paint and rock to Austin to DA he seems much better and we ask if Austin would like to come out for the afternoon with us to have a nice walk around Old Seagate and have dinner and maybe a few beers as it is a lovely day and if possible he could DA a number of items for us and maybe a divination if needed and he said yes!!! Bloody Henie offers to pay guild rates to him after he had already said yes to dinner and beers and a walk on this lovely Thaw day so I hit Henie and mention that payment was beer and dinner and I am specifying them in the guild notes so there isn't any confusion so there!

Go to the library and they have gotten information on Beltan and it sounds like he gave Seagate away to be a free town and that there is no spots of importance nor complaints about Beltan and stuff and they say that there is a nutty guy called Barnabus and he knows stuff about Grandfather stones in Carzala which are big rock heads with 3 faces and that they guard places in 3's for protection and that there was a good example in Gettsburg in the old Secnette house and that a guild party found them but the dark circle was coming and it was all bad with bad people there so the guild party ran away and when another guild party came back to see the stones they were destroyed so they don't know much about them but the statement of Grandfathers faces is a good match. What they do know is that the Plains Barbarian might have made them and that they are protective spirits or something but I was getting bored and didn't really listen and I wish I had headed off with Henie and Vapric who went to see the alchemists, I need to learn how to blow things up if it means I get out of the library but then they said that the protective spirits are good not evil spirits but then that was all they really knew so we go and collect the boys and they have found out that the paint from the theatre which Vapric got and the paint from the rock and rock fragments are pretty much the same composition but weather different which they said was due to one being outside and the other inside which sounds pretty clever but they said that we should go and see a Mr Candy who buys all the bulk stuff the alchemist don't want which I don't know if that is a good thing to purchase but he seems happy to buy all the stuff and he could be the maker of all these paints.

So we head off with Austin for our walk and he seems happy to be out and about as I am sure he doesn't get out so I talk to him about stuff and see how much he sees and how he has been treating Molly and then all of we are at the Gangly Fox to see Lofty but as we want to walk through all the A to G spots while we have Austin in toe we say that we will meet him at the Grey Swan and we head off to the spots starting with F but Lofty comes along anyways!!!!

;Spot F
The Statue is painted really respectfully like they have put makeup on it but not really like a stage actor but more like you would do on a doll or marionette like setup and the others ask me to document that the statue was erected in 775 in memory of so he was dead before then.

Austin DA - Not magical

Then we head off to G spot

;G Spot
It is on a small building that looks closed but has some caretaking happening but not for a while and the painting is old and a bit more of sketch of people naked running around and jumping on each other and probably having sex and stuff and it is the Church of Luck and Chance and considering the other businesses in the area that the building is in the G Spot is not important and deemed a red herring.

Austin DA - Not magical

;E Spot
The tax office with the big tongue and teeth and they have tried to paint it over with really cheap white paint and it is such a bad job you can still see everything still and it looks funny bright colours and it looks like it is a joke.

Austin DA - Not magical

;D Spot
Stocks with imps with pitch forks and it looks like they are laughing at the people in the stocks and it is quite funny to look at and it is painted right down to the road so it is quite detailed.

Austin DA - Not magical

;C Spot
The Well is painted with all the witches with black hats which looks like out of a fairytale and not really what witches really look like anymore.

Austin DA - Not magical

;B Spot
Fountain with a dryad on it and it looks like it would have been hard to do but must have been when the fountain was off.

Austin DA - Not magical

While we are here, Lofty mentions that there is an old mural from the previous art crimes so we go and have a look. It is really near the theatre but it looks different to the paintings we are seeing now and the pictures had kids in them but they have faded away now and some of the kids have vanished from this one too and maybe when they killed kids maybe they vanished from the painting but Lofty wasn't sure and this painting has scorch marks on it from where two buildings burnt down which is where the theatre is now and they found out that the buildings burnt down due to young people were smoking stuff and listening to repetitive music and the fire started from there so they are sure it was an accident not to make room for a theatre but nothing to do with the kids vanishing because it was much later. But Lofty said that when the theatre burnt down wax was running down out of the alleyway and there was a foot in a boot and looked like it was cut off with wax so they think maybe some magics were involved but not sure so it sounds really strange. Buildings burnt down were wholesalers and a printer.

;A Spot
The fireside scene we had seen earlier and hit got paint off and a little bit of rock. The paint is really really thick and it is magically protected !!!!

Austin DA - Yay Magical, something is Magical.

Austin starts to divinate while we protect him with Vapric going into the Hogs End to get some beers and chat to the meat workers that were in the bar and then some strange guy came up and shook a tambourine in Avric's ear and she turned around and punched him in the nose and he was really surprise and had a bleading knows and Mavric and I talk to him to get him away from Avric before she brings everybody around to watch a fight when all we want to do is be quiet around Austin while he does the divination and we talk to guy and his name is Turley and he is quite upset about being punched but I give him my beer and say not to scare Avric as she doesn't like tambourines so to be careful and Mavric talks about stuff and find out that Turley is a troubadour and he says it is slow lately because of the stupid theatre and that it is taking all his money because they are getting all the sponsors and being organised and stuff so he isn't getting as much coin as he would normally and he didn't know who was doing the paints around town and so we go and check out his act to get him away from Avric and so we go to Dukes Arms where he starts to play and man he is terrible but Mavric tries to support him by doing some dancing to his music and acrobatics and stuff but he runs away and I think that is he realises he is rubbish and the fact that one of or friends just punched him in the nose but at least he left Austin alone while doing the divination so we head back to see what is going on and we just have to stand around an pass the time until Austin finishes and my goodness Mavric and Henie are coming up with ideas for new plays and I ask Boddie if I can sleep in his room tonight so that Henie and Mavric can share because they will talk and talk and talk and he says yes because he knows I am the better option to share with and finally Austin finishes his divination but he says we have to wait until he has done his diagnoses and gives us his report.

As Austin knows his way back and was not afraid to walk through Old Seagate alone we headed off to look around Spot F and Spot G to see if we can find anything that that the random art people might find interesting to paint and we found a rock wall corner that had a nice place which would a nice location to paint and then a sundial which might be useful too so we split into two groups, Boddie, Avric and Mavric looking after the wall and Henie, Vapric and I looking after the sundial so Henie climbed a tree that could see the sundial, Vapric needed a sleep so laid in the grass nearby where he couldn't be seen and I went for a walk, unseen of course, to see who was about and during the walk I saw Boddie dressed as a street urchin and the girls heading off to the nearest gate so I headed back the way we came but didn't see anybody and when I got back to the boys I didn't tell them I was there as Henie was having fun waking Vapric up regularly so I preferred that he didn't know I was there because he would just talk about his ideas to help Mavric with her play so I just sat around waiting and then finally Avric arrived and got the boys up saying that nothing was going to happen at the wall nor here as she did something from the mind magics that makes you see the future, obviously this is something that Henie isn't very good at as he just sat in a tree and didn't find out if it was useful but we headed off after Mavric and Bodric who had been left outside but Vapric headed back to the inn for some reason but that is ok as I am sure we will get more done without him sleeping on the job so we go outside the walls to something called a Gibbet and it is an old historical thing and Avric seems was excited that it might be the next thing to be painted and what Mavric was supposed to wait and see if it was painted and Bodric was supposed to meet her here but neither of them are there so I tell the others I am with them which gives them a nice surprise and I locate Mavric who is down by one of the docks.

When we catch up with Mavric she is rolling around in the mud, climbing over rocks and stuff and some guys are working there and I think they think Mavric is a bit loopy but she is very keen on the fact that this big boulder which is covered in mud might be a grandfather stone and it would be really really cool if it did and she had been talking to the leader of the work gang working on the new dock they are building around the rock and Mr Savage is organising for it to be built and Mr Savage is one of the people who paid to have the theatre built with the others. And Avric thinks that the dock is really really strong for what a dock would normally need to have but they say that Mr Savage is a merchant and needs his own dock and that they don't know much about him other than is an employer who pays them to do work so he doesn't know much but as it is low tide they are trying to do as much work as possible but we decide we need sleep and to come back when it is high tide and that the boulder might be easier to clean off and not so many people working around it.

=== 3rd Thaw ===

So we head back and of course Vapric is sound asleep which is probably a good thing so that Avric gets a good sleep without him oiling himself up or is it down and stuff but we all get a good night sleep and when I wake up Mavric is off to watch the theatre rehearse and talks to Arty about a new play they are doing and he doesn't remember the name but it is about a mad old king but he isn't sure if it is a comedy or tragedy and it sounds a bit strange that it is supposably a favourite of the sponsors but Arty hasn't heard of it before but then he doesn't remember the name either which is also strange and the guys from the theatre didn't like having Mavric there watching and she thinks she was just making them very nervous.

Vapric decides he needs to check with Sebastian if he is aware of the play and if he is one of the sponsors who is interested in having a play that nobody remembers the name and stuff and if it wasn't him who of the sponsors are keen on having it played and when Vapric gets back he says that Sebastian is interested in having it shown as Mr Savage requested surprise surprise you know Mr Savage the sponsor of the theatre and the new dock and as Mr Savage has talked about it so much to Sebastian and is so enthusiastic about it and Sebastian is just interested in having good shows on and if Mr Savage likes it all the good for him so he isn't possibly involved but I am worried about this play and we really really need to find out more about it because what happens if it opens a link to the other plain where the bad guy who was killing all those kids came from or maybe we end up on a plain like those people stuck on the element plain or something else, oh got to find Mr Savage too and stop random painting and stuff. Geee our list gets longer not shorter got to do something about that.

We head off to the guild to check on Austin and his divination and see if they know anything about plays on Mad Kings and about the rocks and stuff but it doesn't seem if we are having any luck as Austin is confused about what is going on and is going around and around in circles and seems like he hasn't slept and looks distressed and the librarian hasn't found out anything more about the grandfather rocks and really needs more information to know which Mad King or a play name or anything but one good thing comes out of our visit and that is getting another Namer to come out and visit stuff with us and that is Adolphus and he is keen on dinner and beers too and he comes out and about because Austin is going to be busy for a while and Adolphus likes road trips and sparkly things so Vapric says if there isn't anything interesting for him to divinate he has had tea with the dwarvian god Krom he has an item that he can look at and Vapric seems a bit taken back when Mavric and Henie say nahnahnahnah nah, saying they've been there done as they have met the same god before too so we head off to the new docks with the boulder or grandfather stone or whatever it is and talking to Adolphus he is really interested in unusual places and stuff and when we get down to the rocks we get to look at the boulder and talking to the workman again Mavric gets up on the rock and after a small amount of washing it looks like there is some carvings and it is probably a grandfather stone and so we start washing it more until there is enough for uncovered for Adolphus to DA and it's GTM is grandfather stone and that its power is in containment!!! Which is very strange as they are normally for protection but being a grandfather stone is good because Vapric flys off to get Austin for us and get him here because Adolphus finds it funny that this is the reason why Austin is so confused as he is trying to figure out one part of the puzzle and should divinate this bit too. So while we wait we look at the map and figure out where the third grandfather stone is with Spot A being one and this dock spot being Spot H where would Spot J be and when I get out my great mapping instruments out and do as accurate triangulation it appear that it would be near the Gibbet (tbc because it could have been a backyard, need to confirm with Ben due to late discussion, crappy notes and bad memory)

But while Avric and I were looking at the map with Adolphus the work men get a bit upset because a carriage arrives and it is Mr Savage and they are worried because he might think they have to be working but as it is still quite a high tide they can't but we make up that we are picnicking so the boys jump into the water like they enjoy swimming and Mavric jumps off the rock in the water for the same and I pull out the bits and pieces of food out of my pack to set up a picnic and Mr Savage comes over to talk to us and I offer him food like cheese and bread and he does take it and eats it and enjoys it and we have lovely conversation about swimming and dwarves of this age and stuff and he knows I am girl and my age but I have a really good look at him while I ask him questions oh and I forgot I had asked Adolphus to DA him before he come over and when he finally leaves he says that he couldn't DA him and once he goes around the corner I locate him and he isn't found which is really weird because I got a good look at him and my range much further than just around the corner. So is he an illusion or from the future like the other guy that killed kids or something else, we really need to know more about this Mr Savage and as Boddie had harassed the carriage driver he knows that they live in Old Seagate but we will need to find out where.

And finally Vapric arrives with no Austin and he says that he is too tired to do anymore but he is sleeping and seemed happy that he isn't going crazy or something with the divination results and so we head back to the inn to clean up and Mavric sees Arty who found the paperwork with the name of the play which is "Thus mourn the Winter for the Spring"

So because we haven't done enough today, shhheeeshhh, we decide that we should head out to Raphael Gate to have a look at the gibbet as it seems to be the approximate spot on the map if the there was a triangle that make up three grandfather stones as they do come in threes and if we can find it we might be able to find the centre and they think that might be a good thing and stuff and when we get there and look around for a while it then we notice that the gibbet steps might be one so Adolphus does some DA's and yes it is. This one grandfather stone is for focussing of spirits and god stuff and it complements and reforces the others

So it works out that

1 = Protection (A Spot)
2 = Preservation / Containment (New wharf)
3 = Focussing and stuff (Gibbet)

but we are going to need Austin to divinate the two of them so that he gets the whole picture of three but we decide that it is time to finally have a rest and decide that we should have dinner at the Black Swan as we had said we would feed Adolphus not just take him out on the town and we if we can't shut up Henie going on and on about [[Liessa Varden|Liessa]] and how she is so wonderful and wears open toed shoes and all sorts of stuff. I think Henie is organising for a church to be setup to honour her and have a following and stuff, does that make it a new cult as [[Liessa Varden|Liessa]] isn't dwarven so mum and dad will be upset if he isn't worshipping one of them but her and Adolphus gets so bored with all this talk of [[Liessa Varden|Liessa]] he gets Vapric to fly him back to the guild by while he is gone Henie still goes on and on and on about [[Liessa Varden|Liessa]] it is doing my head in and then Vapric finally arrives so we head off to see Mrs Quic who was the person that Mr Sloakam, Mad Abbey and Mr Ketch told me in their letter that she would know all about Renado Grenalt who was the artist that did the tear thing from the crazy god that was making Molly go crazier and everybody else go crazy and cause riots and stuff [[Black Watch Chronicles II: The Absent Physician]] and when we get to the house she lives in, if you can call it that she says that he is up north near Aladar or something like that doing some exhibing and that she gets money from him every once and a while or an IOU for storing his stuff. His stuff, his stuff is there can we look at it as his paints are good and we might like to buy some of them but then she says no that we can't today but maybe tomorrow so we organise to come back tomorrow but we think she might try and sell them now she thinks they are worth money so that is a bit bad so we decide to break into her attic where the are supposed to be but then on the corner of the street we see a puppet show with all these kids watch but the story is a bit nasty with a knight or noble which is a mage and bad things happen to him and dragons and all sorts of stuff. The puppet show is actually really good with exploding powder and minor magics but it is very entertaining but through the show Henie startes to get a bit unhappy as there appears to be a redheaded character in a lovely blue robe and that she is very displeased with the knight and some of the others come to the conclusion that the puppet show is about [[Engalton]] and [[Liessa Varden|Liessa]] no wonder Henie is a little worried as the story isn't very nice so at the end Mavric talks to the puppetter about why he is doing a show on [[Engalton]] and [[Liessa Varden|Liessa]] and he decided to run but Avric stopped him which was good because I was too tired to chase after him. Talking to Orly, that's his name, Orly we find that he is a roving puppetter but he has paint all over his shoes and looking at the puppet tent thingy we can see that it would be easy to transport paint around and stuff so we ask him about Mr Savage but he just says that he has been around for years and is a merchant but Orly seems to have a real fear of mimes as he is afraid that they are after him or his spot or something but finally Henie hypnotises Orly and we can get some proper information from him which as we said we are here to help and are his friends he asked that we him him get rid of the paint as he has been told people are looking for people who have paint and we ask why and he sayd that he has been paing the all the stuff and it works out that Arty has been getting him to the paint which makes sense because I think those arty people especially ones called Arty are just up to no good but then again Mr Savage is involved with everything so far and the others think that he might be doing it for Mr Savage too except for Vapric because he is an idiot and thinks that we need to talk with Mr Savage directly because he is probably just a nice person and we are just all wrong. Does not understand, he doesn't come up on DA, he is unlocatable, he is hiding himself for some reason and if we just ask him he will know we are looking for it and it could all be bad. We need much more information before we do that but anyways Orly sais that Arty had got him to paint story book scenes all for advertising upcoming shows and stuff but he didn't do the blue gate paining which we thought was different because the red used was very different and when he gave us the paint we could see that it was definitely not for Spot A and he then says that Mr Savage is a very hands on guy and does a lot of his own work and doesn't have a lot of staff and that he can get anything you want but we need to get back into Mrs Quic's so we organise to meet with Orly at the Dukes Arms so we can talk more later but then we discuss well argue about what to do with the paint but we decide if Mrs Quic has paintings up in her attic maybe she has paint or maybe she wouldn't notice if she had paint so we take it with us and then Vapric complains that it is too hard and that he needs his beauty sleep and then Avric comes out with a great comment that I have to put in the notes for history stake and that is

Avric to Vapric "for a human you are a pussy aren't you" hehehehehe.

Vapric decides that he should help rather than go and have his beauty sleep and pulls out a magic rope which just attaches itself to whatever we want and we can climb it so I make everybody unseen but Avric is still being funny say things like Vapour Vapour your so fast, Vapour Vapour your our man and stuff. It is all very funny but we all got up to the roof alright and we aren't seen but there is a lot of work to remove the tiles and wood to get in but we do it and nobody comes to look for us and we find the pictures ok and there are some really pretty ones and some crazy ones but Henie has to go and see Orly because he organised to see him soon so he heads off alone while the rest of us have a look around and we take a number of the pictures some good and some crazy ones so that we can get them DA'd and stuff maybe hang them in the pub or something and we leave the paint and head off but we have to come back tomorrow as we need to come and have a look at the paintings with Mrs Quic so if she notices anything missing she wont know it is us or anything.

So it is decided that Vapric and I should fly back to the guild to drop off the paintings and that the others will met up with Henie and Orly at the pub and we will meet up with the later.. YAYAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAY I get to fly I get to fly I get to fly I get to fly YAYAYYAYAY and we have so much fun getting back to the guild, I am glad Vapric likes flying it means he is good at something and it is soooo much fun so we drop off the paintings and ask then to do all the special checks to see if they are special or anything and we head back to the pub to find that Orly has been beaten up by his associates because he has been talking to us and that Henie has been feeding him and giving him alchol but as we are Orly's friend he doesn't understand why this guy doesn't like us.

So after dinner we decide we really should look at the house and alley that is the middle of the triangle of the three grandfather stones. This area is around the back of Flasher Street and down Crabbe Alley which isn't an area I remember but it looks pretty dodgy but Vapric still finds windows to check himself in, even if they are broken he really needs to do something with his hair because he keeps playing with it so it must be driving him crazy maybe he needs to put little plaits in it to get it out of his eyes or something I might need to suggest it to him but when we arrived at the alley there was a number of people standing around watching two people setup for a bit of a fight and it looked like one side was the dock boys and the others were from the abattoir and they were all in for a brawl so we after some discussion or some might say argument we decided to break it up which the view not to hurt anybody as it should just be a scuffle so I quicken the dwarves so we can go at better speed and be as fast as Vapric when it comes to making a defensive line but when Bodric calls Charge, only Henie, Bodric, Mavric and I move forward in the defensive line and yes there may not have been a lot of space between the four of us but we were fast quickness is the best but the call of charge made the guys who were circling each other and just kind of pushing each other to rush for each other until they realised it wasn't their friends saying charge and then they all turned around to face us and when we called out to lay down their weapons and nobody will get hurt they stepped up and tried to hit us so we had to defined ourselves and Vapric calls out to them asking them to drop their weapons and move to the sides of the alley and they didn't do that either so unfortunately we had to defend ourselves. We hit a lot of them except Mavric seems to have problems from the beginning and Vapric finally joins in too but Avric just casts some magic and I think she did that control person thingy because one of the leaders who was telling them to defend themselves all of a sudden he started telling them to lay down their weapons and stuff so that was a bit strange but the not hurting them didn't work very well even though we were trying not to hurt them one of the ones that I hit fell over on some blood and broke his hip, Vapric was a little excited and killed one but he can be resurrected, we hurt one of Avric's family competitors arm and the boss of the butcher is hurt by Bodric so we have a bit of repairing to do but in the end they all disperse and we are all ok so now we can look at the alley but Avric organises somebody to get a wagon and a healer because we really need to help the people we injured because we didn't mean to but it just happened that we hurt them and I feel bad because I didn't really hurt the one I was fighting he just slipped and hurt himself not my fault but we really need to fix the one Vapric killed because he obviously didn't know that Henie had already hurt him some and that two hits was one hit way to much! But the Watch arrived while waiting for the healer and a really smelly wagon arrived but as Avric and that were talking to the Watch and I mentioned to Henie that we really should have a look around while we can so I made myself unseen and unlocked the house that we thought was the middle and had a look around but I didn't see anything but then when I came out Avric and Henie didn't believe me so they went to the basement to have a look and see if there is another stone or something on the floor and were talking about digging up the basement because they couldn't find anything how silly is that maybe if we had an earth mage we could do it quickly but not if we are going to do it manually and it is a number of families house so I get them to leave the house and the others and the Watch are saying that there is nothing to see here and try and get everybody away and Vapric and Bodric fly back to the guild with two of the injured and one dead and let the local healer look after the sailor who injured his hand who may or may not work for Avric's families competitors.

But when Vapric and Bodric get back they have seen Austin who seems to be better and says that three stones to divinate makes sense so he will come out tomorrow and that the red paint that was different to the other has an illusion on it which is mildly magical with glamour to catch somebody's eye but don't know who's eye and that has a mild sensation similar to what Molly experienced but considering it was near the Mothers Lement where the sign was with the tear on it so it is expected but they said Austin said that it felt like it was god touched and that it was just a reside and stuff but,as we are so very very tired we head back to the inn to go to sleep but argue on what the play is about and the thoughts are:

1. That it is a really nice play and that everybody will like it even though nobody has heard of it or know anything about it.

2. That the play allows monsters come out

3. Might need guild members for something

4. That the emotions of the crowd might be needed

5. Sleep the whole crowd

6. Nasty ritual that does something (other than bring monsters) men in dresses making strange statements and stuff.

But Avric and I go to bed while the others argue and I can't be bothered to ask them if they came up with any other possibilities.

=== 4th Thaw ===

We all get up at different times with Avric, Vapric, Bodric and I heading up to the guild to talk to Austin and see the librarian and ask about any active investigations into Grandfather stones and they say that the mad hobbit that they had referred to before but he is off investigating other grandfather stones so we tell them to send a message to him to tell him we have some in Old Seagate that he would want to check them out and Bodie asks the Librarian some questions that makes him very nervous, all he asks is if there is a section that would show information about alternative Seagate's and he is sent off to a section of the library which is all about herbs but he says there is a hooded guy and that we need to look for Renove who is one of the 72 (whatever that means) but the hooded guy yells out don't look for Renove so Bodric said Ok we don't look for Renove and the others were saying that Bodric shouldn't continue to say that name but Bodric says that he has accidently created a second Seagate and they were sure it was an accident and that he wouldn't do it again and stuff but this is the alternative Seagate that provided the coin with the different King and they killer of kids and stuff but that is all Bodric told us. So we go and get Austin and we all fly yayyyyyayyayyayaya flying flying flying flying yayayayya down to the outskirts of Old Seagate near the docks but where they can't see us and organise for a picnic by the beach so that if Mr Savage arrives we have a cover but first we have to get Austin into look at the grandfather stone but they have built all this stuff around it and they are about to cover it so Avric does some fast talking with Bodric making a number of threats at the orc that is working there but we end up being able to come to an arrangement where Austin can go and sit in the mud in the structure to look at the rock, he doesn't look very happy about it but if it makes the headache go away he is willing to have a go so we start having a picnic while Vapric borrows a spade to do some strange defensive moves which look more like poses to show off his muscles, yuck, I just don't get humans but Austin does the divination find and just before he finishes Mavric and Henie turn up

They had gone to Arty's and there wasn't any answer so to make sure he was OK Mavric climbed up to his window and went in but Arty wasn't there so they didn't stay very long just locked up and headed down to the Theatre to see if he was there and he was and then Mavric went on and on and on about the play that they are doing because Arty was keen on getting her opinion as he has been changing it heaps and heaps so that is really strange but she got the run down on it but basically the play is about brothers which are possibly twins as they are arguing about who should be king but basically there is two brothers one is dashing and conniving and the other is thuggish and then there are two sisters one that is competent but plain and the youngest is a bit needy but she has an important reason because she is really really lonely and the older kids leave her out and ignore her and stuff so of course she has to be chatty and needy and stuff but then there is 5 Acts of play yes 5! So a I have put in a brief overview so that I don't bore anybody who reads it later.

Names of characters

Kings - TarPellagris

Steward - Selim

Dandy son - Clothio

Bully son - Carmaddras

1st daughter - Madragar

2nd daughter - Scintilla

Act 1
Is to get to know all the characters

Act 2
Messenger with the Kings will gets murdered and the will is still there but is it the real will and the older sister and the Kings steward have to keep the boys apart so they don't kill each other

Act 3
Looks like it is a dream sequence where the king is in the underworld and the family members are really nasty like the boys fight and the girls are really nasty to the king and stuff but luckily it is only a short act.

Act 4
Normal again but family is fighting in real life, two sons are blaming each other and stuff and then when the steward was helping the King he shows the steward he really isn't sick and that he was tricking the family to see who should be king and that he thinks the steward should be King and the steward who is normally a nice man yells at the king and is really mad and the King screams and throws himself off a cliff what an idiot

Act 5
The brothers kill each other and the older sister has the steward killed because he caused the King to kill himself and then too late she finds out that the king was at fault and not the steward and that she really loved the steward and she killed her true love so she throws herself off the cliff so everybody is dead except of the youngest so she is all alone rather than feeling lonely

But she is queen so she can make people her friend for sure.

So after the explanation of the play and while waiting for Austin to finish his divination we argue about what to do about Mr Savage always about Mr Savage and Vapric thinks everybody is nice as fluffy bunnies but he should know by now nobody is as nice as fluffy bunnies so Austin finishes and we go off to the Drake for lunch then have a look at doing the third divination but I need to go and talk to Mrs Quic about the paintings from the elven guy again so she doesn't think we went in there to have a look or anything and so Vapric, Henie, Mavric and Austin go off to the gibbet Avric, Bodric and I head off to Mrs Quic's but when we arrive the town guard are there because somebody had broken into Mrs Quic but as we work for the town guard too we told them we were there last night too and that there was lots of people around kids, the puppeteer or maybe it was a shapeshifter or Brownies because they like to steal stuff or giants or golems and stuff but they say Mrs Quic is complaining about dwarves and then she arrives and blames us but because we are there she doesn't think it is us and go back to the library in the guild to see what the names from the play are but they are only words from different languages and they don't know anything about the play even though we have more information and stuff they don't really know much do they name of the play characters of the play story line and still nothing but I go and talk to some friends who might know some stuff about Mr Savage had been involved in the original abattoir and came up with the modern ideas of chain gang of meat chopping but he got out of it not long after the children being killed stuff but most of his business deals seem to be on the level as much as merchants are and he can get lots of things that are very hard to find and they tell me I have to learn to get information better a bit quieter I have to visit again and find out what they mean.

So we really need the third divination so we head back to the others and not long after we arrive back Austin finished his divination and says he will give a full report but basically it is a consciousness that isn't aware of itself but is an entity and is enough to make a minor deity or god and wants to protect stuff and when Austin thinks of him he sees an old man mending a net and that its gentle influence has helped Old Seagate and what was here before it as has for thousands of years or something like that and that the locations of the stones don't matter and it does have some of what Molly had from the mad god but as it has been here for so long such a small influence is not a problem and the grandfather stones might be linked to gods and stuff but that they haven't been activated for its final purpose and that is triggered by bringing it together.

== Theatre's Patrons ==

*Sebastian Silverfoot
*Mr Oron Savage
*Sir Donald Jameson (employer with big mustache)
*Silas Kaddich
*Miss Euridice

Ephemeral Elephants

2026-06-06T03:53:54Z

Terryintransit:

== Summary==
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
Adventure: '''''Ephemeral Elephants''''' (a Merchant [of] Ivory Production)

GM: [[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]] 
Season: Spring 808 wk 
Night: Tuesday starting 16/09/08 
Location: Faulder Ave, Westmere 
Level: Upper-Medium to High (must have a high "weird" quotient) 
[[Middle Kingdom Loot, 808]]

[[Category: Michael Parkinson]][[Category: Scribe Notes]][[Category: Middle Kingdom]]
[[Category: Axis]]
[[Category: Kathleen]]
[[Category: Kit]]
[[Category: Braegon]]
[[Category: Mortimer]]
[[Category: Motley]]
[[Category: Naden]]
== Party ==

A party of '''Heroes & Scholars''', plus support staff (Friends & Beauties) to be vetted beforehand by "the '''''brother''''' of the God of Wyrm-slayers, ''a.k.a.'' God of Serpent-Slayers": the emphasis is on a variety of colleges & species. A Rank-8 healer is probably essential.

Confirmed or Interested Party members
# [[Axis]] Dragonmage (& attendant Exaltation of Larks) - Party Leader
# [[Kathleen|'Chesca]] - (Hardy Incense) Beauty
# [[Impetuous Hawk]] - Hero
# [[Braegon]] (Living STONE) - Hero, Healer, and Tactician
# [[Mortimer]] - Scholar
# [[Motley]] - Hero and Bro. GoSS
# [[Naden]] - Elf Friend

Most important: [[Middle Kingdom Statistics]], and [[Name and Persona]]

Useful: [[I get bonuses?]], and [[MK Colleges]]

=== Personae ===
; Ax Is, Dragonmage
: Hidden Dragon?

; HARDY Incense
:Her cloak changes according to whim
:Her whim changes according to circumstance

; Impetuous HAWK
:He wears a hat woven from the first skin shed by new bamboo shoots.
:His clothes are of yam from the wild cotton-tree.
:His belt is silk from an old silkworm, and from it hangs a broken set of shears.
:The straw sandals under his feet have straps torn from rotten sago trees.
:His face is round and innocent, with a gleam of youthful mischief in his eye.

; Living STONE
:Rough featured, plain speaking, man of the soil.
:His hands carry the gifts of life and death.
:Recognisable by his drab brown cloak, strange shield, and unusual mace

; White-Tiger GRAVES
:Possessed of unnatural beauty and grace,
:He fashions the elements into cunning devices.
:His white raiment reflects his mastery of metal.

; Motte LEA
: Of Uncertain height
: Reserved dress, colourful silks
: Just this guy, you know?

; Just BAGGAGE
:Ineptious, inextricable and inebriated servant of Master Dragonmage
:Lazy
:Surly
:Delinquent

== Guild Spiel (at Spring meeting 808): ==

Employer:   Party is hired by a being called Puppet who has come "to the Lower Planes" 
Payment:     One heart, plus whatever you seize from "the wilderness beyond the known world". 
Location:     off-plane, "The [[Middle Kingdom]]" & places beyond. 

Thus speaks Puppet:

''"O mighty Demons & Denizens of the Underworld, your humble supplicant travelled far for many years and has finally attained this lower plane where dwells the brother of the '''God of Wyrm-slayers''', long since vanished.''

''"In the Southwestern Wilderness beyond the civilised world, the natural food source of the Serpents is fast disappearing, so they are predating on the talking animals (I think this bizzare tongue you speak calls them go-blins, or gobblings, or something). That means trouble for the Empire since the goblins are very ugly and, though poor mages & fighters, they employ painful, fatal poisons & other forbidden war-tricks.''

''"The wise strategist '''Sleeping Dragon''' advised I should seek a variety of species of demons, especially of different colleges, to solve the mystery and preferably stop it. In payment whereof I offer the heart of this humble vessel and whatever you wish & can carry away from the Wilderness.''

''"In summary: the missing food source is called E-le-phant, which is like the mythical mammoth, but somewhat larger and less hairy. Serpents swallow elephants; fewer elephants causes serpents to devour other animals instead; other animals flee into the Empire and cause trouble."''

See guide on how to be [[Middle Kingdom Heroes]]

== Scribe Notes ==

=== Chapter 1: Hu, Wat, Wy? ===
''In a guild meeting room, a party meets with a confusion of names.''

Axis and Motley have been to this plane 3 years ago which equates to a couple of centuries of local time.
In the Middle Kingdoms the Dragons are equivalent to gods (venerated, powerful, and seldom seen), this makes Axis virtually a demi-god - a step or two above heroes and scholars.
Motley once carried a dragon bone which was later resurrected, the dragon was adopted mother of the 'God of Wyrm Slayers' in the MK, hence Motley being the Brother of the God of Serpent Slayers.
Last time they were there they had support from others of Motley's extended family, passing items, money, food, etc. through to the party on request.

Motley and Axis attempt to explain how MK works, guild philosophers fill in some of the blanks and aid the general confusion.

Axis is appointed Party Leader, Kit and Braegon are the closest we have to qualified Military Leaders, as for scribing, we are not sure whether any of us will be literate in MK so we agree to all remember as much as possible and consolidate and compare notes.

Puppet, our employer is escorted in.
He is a golem infused with the spirit of '''Level-State LOFTY''' a scholar of the hidden mountains and follower of Sleeping Dragon.
He offers us the golem body which has a 5lb heart of gold which he offers to us for our services, once he has no further need for the golem body.

Puppet attempts to explain the local political situation as well as the official issue which is the impending invasion of 'Talking Animals', he is not asking us to resolve the political issues but that probably would resolve the other issues if we happened to approach it that way.
To add to the confusion, Motley tries to get a history lesson on what has happened since he was last there, discovering that several of his clear memories are in fact of other worlds.

Puppet retires and his servant (a wood golem) tries to sort out our confusion.

The emperor rules the empire and is revered and loved by all. The only person who gets to see the emperor is the Chancellor/Prime Minister/Grand Vizier who also handles the menial task of actually governing the empire in the Emperor's name.

Some 200 years ago the ''previous'' Chancellor '''Table DIRECT''', burned the imperial capital and moved the imperial capital back to its old location further up the river. The new imperial palace (''Long-peaceful'') was rapidly expanded and is now the size of an average city. That Chancellor had Motley's Monastery razed and outlawed all of its residents/followers. Unusually, he provided an excuse for this action -- a great threat to the empire would arise from this Monastery. Our employer acquired what he needed for the ritual to bring us to MK from the ruins of that Monastery.

The current Chancellor, '''Grasp KIN''' (who, to give him his due, did attempt to assassinate Chancellor DIRECT long before it became fashionable) is considered to be corrupt and a traitor to the emperor by many provincial governors but none of them were willing to openly stand against him on their own.
An agreement was signed to stand together against the Chancellor; naturally this fell into the hands of the Chancellor who has now mobilised the army to crush each of the rebels named on the agreement.
Most of the provinces are withholding taxes as they need them to defend themselves from their rebellious neighbours.

Imperial Uncle '''Prepared-to SLAY''' was reportedly named the official representative of the Emperor; those that oppose the Chancellor choose to believe I.U. SLAY and support him in overthrowing the Chancellor. Of course,
I.U. SLAY is now branded a rebel, dismissed from his Provincial Governorship and is now being hunted by several imperial armies (controlled by the chancellor) in the central province.

MK is not connected to our planes in the normal ways we are used to. Previous groups have discovered they could not summon Elementals or Demons to MK.

Having dimensional pockets of any sort when going there would be bad, at the least they would break.

Any magics on us when we transition will last for about 60 times longer once we are there.

We will each need appropriate heroic names and personas so that we are recognised and respected as heroes and scholars in the MK.

To get to MK, our employer will perform a 3-day ritual, we will spend this time inside a large bronze bell. At the end of the ritual our spirits will leave our bodies and travel to the MK where we will manifest as Drow avatars of ourselves.
To get back we need to go through a similar ritual which will subjectively seem like 3-6 months for us.

Puppet has bought us some speed (TMR) potions to drink before we go through.

Motley suggests visiting his 'Auntie' to see if she can provide some crutches for transition and maybe some other support. Kit is unkeen on doing the ritual there as that would leave his spirit-less body in the hands of Forasites.

Braegon suggests drinking water from a village in the Siren Woods that is renowned for its (slow and clumsy) great thinkers before we transition. The effects only last one day so we would need to get there and drink during the last day of the ritual.
Performing the ritual there may be unwise as the local fae would almost certainly investigate and experiment with our spirit-less bodies.

=== Chapter 2: Eight in a Bell ===

; 2nd Thaw - 4th Thaw
The following morning we all gather inside the giant bronze bell and LOFTY starts his ritual.
Even with regular cantrips, illusions, and Braegons' fresh breath by the end of three days the inside of the bell feels very ripe.

During LOFTY's last rest-break we all sneak out to the village in Siren Woods, drink up large then stagger back before he awakes.

; MK Day 1
We come out in a cave, not where LOFTY expected us to arrive but he quickly realises that his allies must have moved the arrival point to somewhere that would be safe during the bright.
It is early dark, looking out from the cave we can see a walled city in the valley below us.

Performing our assorted transformations we take to the air and fly up river from the city, heading for a farm that is home to one LOFTY's allies '''"Master Water Mirror"''' [a nickname, such as would be granted to a powerful wayist mage, indicating that the Mind, like water, can only reflect when it is calm], whose formal name is Pennant MARSHALL, ITN ''Grasp-Virtue''. He behaves as if you already know he is a mindmage.

On the way we see armies encamped outside two towns, one appears to be besieging, the other mobilising to defend.

Master Water Mirror welcomes us, and escorts us through to a lake side palace that was not visible on approach (presumably a portal, dimensional pocket, illusionary terrain or similar).

He tells us about the progress of the imperial army, and of the new architecture that is getting installed whenever the Chancellor (now officially Prime Minister) replaces a Regional Governor with one of his own.

They are using some form of stone that prevents magic being cast, suppresses magic in effect and rapidly reduces the remaining duration of the suppressed magic (affecting everything up to and including permanent spells and rituals).
How they are manufacturing this stone or where it is coming from are closely guarded secrets held by a new guild that is directly controlled by the Prime Minister. Spies sent to find out more have not reported back.

We experiment and find we can stay awake during the bright, Ax Is is quickened, the rest of us are slowed.

=== Chapter 3: Flight to the Provinces ===

; MK Day 2
Performing our various transformations we board Ax IS and fly up river.
After about 8 hours (280 miles), Ax IS is hungry and needs to stop for a snack - a couple of Oxen should do.
BAGGAGE purchases the Oxen from a farmer, STONE sets up a fire pit and dining area then roasts the Oxen over a pool of magma.

After lunch we fly on and reach the town of '''Orange County''', in the Province of '''Benefit-State''', just before twilight.
We find an Inn near teh famous temple, dine, and then retire for the night.
The locals tell us we have just missed ''Luscious DREAMS & her vignettes'', a riské travelling dance troop, probably spies, and warn us that we should make the most of meat for dinner as it will be much more expensive further west. Enquiring further we find out that animals in the plateau to the west [the rest of Benefit-State] are poisonous to eat and animals that travel into the area become poisonous within a few days.
We ignore a disturbance outside during the bright, in the morning we find out it was a fire which the town guard dealt with.

; MK Day 3
Flying further upriver, we land for lunch and catch a local animal (a four-footed fowl) to experiment with.
It is tainted with something that is poisonous to us when we eat it, we find we can use items and abilities to become immune to the poison or cure it but the meat still tastes off.
Fortunately it is not poisonous nor foul tasting to Ax IS, so he is able to eat his fill while we stick to a vegetarian diet.

We reach '''Thorny-Paths''' a few hours before toolight; this is the most Southwestern city in the Empire. We land outside town and walk in like regular heroes.

Wandering through town we encounter a fight between two heroes; it takes a while and seems to follow some rules which we don't entirely understand.
One of the heroes is a senior member of Lord Stabilised's guard and he eventually wins with a trip-throw. Once he wanders off we introduce ourselves and heal the injury of the fallen hero, '''Full REST''' the unlucky.

Lord Stabilised's ''proper'' name is the '''Marquis of Stable''', which lies in North, beyond the Imperial Capital. Stable is considered ''nouveau riche'' and is a friend/supporter/lackey of the Chancellor.

REST is a master ranger, he often travels through the highlands and escorts groups (Human and Drow).
His vocal antipathy towards Stabilised and his men is what lead to the fight outside but his continued comments over drinks in the inn do not draw any new challenges.
The elephants are scarce recently (within the past few decades).
The wyrms travel through the ground, he has seen one once and survived by remaining high in a tree. They would each eat about 50 elephants a year.
Armour-Dillos are another significant danger, like giant armoured ant eaters, their hide is virtually invulnerable and they attack with their whip-like tongue.
He often deals with the ''talking animals'' (Humans) and is on good terms with one House based about 150 miles upriver that deals in tea.

Once REST has retired for the bright (slumped at the table in a drunken stupor), we retire to our rooms and then prepare to visit the human camp across the river.

In town we spy that Stables' guard are very active during the bright, investigation reveals that most of them are Human disguised as Drow.

Sneaking over the walls, we then tunnel to and under the river to a new cave under the encampment.
Adjusting their robes so they appear human like the ones above they emerge, enter the camp and chat with some of the locals.
They learn that these humans do not have anything to do with Stables' human guard, but they have observed them killing elephants in the mountains, removing the tusks and bones, and leaving the flesh to rot.

We leave a hidden entrance to our cave in a back room in the camp and head back towards town the same way we came.

=== Chapter 4: Splintered Incense and Baggage ===
; MK Day 4
Privately discussing plans we decide to go elephant hunter hunting in order to have some privacy to capture and question some of the Human-Drow Guards.

We then indiscreetly discuss elephant hunting and purchase supplies for an extended hunting trip in the mountains to ensure that the guards would find out what we're up to and hopefully set out after us.

Trying to blend in as 'normal' heroes the party purchases passage across the river in small boats, STONE and Ax IS travel under the river rather than risk sinking the small boats or being seen flying.

A short walk away from the river HAWK pulls horses out from behind Motte LEA, releases a couple that are too small and eventually has the group mounted to his satisfaction.

'''Laid Low by a Splinter'''

After around three hours of riding south at a brisk pace, there was a momentary darkening of the stars, and then a veritable shower of bamboo splinters rained down upon the party.
A single bamboo hair touched Incense's fair and sensitive skin, and she fell off her horse - not bespelled, not poisoned, but deeply naturally asleep. The party immediately circled wagons (or Walls of Stone), but as Motte LEA scouted from halfway up a tree, another burst of bamboo splinters was inbound. BAGGAGE threw himself over STONE, who was crouched over the fallen Incense, but STONE's mighty breath weapon knocked BAGGAGE several feet into the air as it scattered the bamboo shards, one of which BAGGAGE breathed in.
For all his legendary hardiness, BAGGAGE was also instantly comatose.

Motte LEA reported that the artillery attacks were coming from 300 yards up a wooded hill to our right, so we picked up our fallen comrades (well, Beauty & Friend -– Heroes seem to be immune to such trifling inconveniences as artillery), and marched up the hill towards the siege weapon.
Of course, we did it while tunnelling, which reduced our speed to around 10'/second.
The enemy sent two scouts down the hill towards our last known location.
We managed to tunnel under one, and he dropped at our feet, whereupon he was killed faster than the party leader and mil sci could say 'sleep him'.
Fortunately STONE found his fatal injuries were not that bad and Ax IS helped him sleep.
The other scout was highly invisible and off to one side, so we pushed on to the summit.

Ax IS scryed the enemy as we ambled along, and his report of a mage, several weird and Heroic fighters plus a half-dozen archers made us forcefully wake Baggage despite the risk of permanent brain damage.

To soften up the enemy, GRAVE let loose with an Earth Tremor under the bamboo siege weapon, which left the enemy all shook up. Then, on Stone's signal, the ground opened up beneath the enemy.
The twin Heroes (later identified as Double-Happy & Twin-Joy of the CENTIPED clan), the archers, and one Beauty disguised as an archer fell into our underground fighting pit, and were hit by a Flash of Light, a 12-target blindness curse and multiple force bolts.

STONE winced in pain as most of the archers died.
The Beauty let loose a couple of arrows while up-side-down and tumbling, and one of the twin Heroes got off a pre-emptive strike as we closed, but then Motte LEA and HAWK hit & killed two of them, and the remaining Hero on the surface ('Mr Toad') failed to keep his balance near the lip, and fell down the hole, accidentally mixing two immiscibly explosive liquids.
The rest of the enemy died in the explosion, and then BAGGAGE finished preparing his spell – I don't know why we risked brain damage to wake him, it being all over in 3 seconds flat.

Ax IS reports that of those he saw, there are three remaining archers above and the invisible scout is missing.

=== Chapter 5: Talking Animals ===

The fires are extinguished, an odd stone cube is recovered from Toad's ashes, STONE provides some ramps to the surface, and while Incense rouses from her slumber, HAWK and BAGGAGE head up to seek the surrender of the archers.

One of the archers informs us in no uncertain terms that they will fight the unholy soul-eaters to the death.
HAWK and BAGGAGE oblige, subduing them as the rest of the group arrives.

STONE and REST track the invisible scout to the edge of the river, assorted animals and rocks dive into the water to bring him out.

Questions to the conscious are met with stubborn silence or invective.
BAGGAGE compels the more seriously wounded to talk.

They are a mixed strike-force the '''Five Venoms Clan'''.
Their agent in the human trading town was suspicious of us as we passed and alerted his masters via something like wind-speech.
Led by the Master of the '''Toad''' sub-clan the strike unit wood-portalled from their Mountain fortress 600-ish miles SSE to intercept us.
As we got closer, Master Toad informed the unit that we were '''soul-eaters''', this inspired them in the same way that a nest of demonics inspires Michaelines.
Master Toad's cube is a holy relic that detects soul-eaters, each of the 5 masters of Five Venoms has a similar relic, it is part of their clans purpose to root out incursions of soul-eaters (the last one was about 350 years ago).
They expect other strike units to be coming after us as soon as they can be organised.

After a quick discussion and decisive leadership we decide to travel rapidly to visit the Tea clan.
Following a quick ride and flight, Hero REST introduces us and vouches for us which gets us invited in as welcome guests.
BAGGAGE is quickly dismissed and we take tea with the leaders of the clan -- especially their senior healer, '''Camellia'''.

Interpretting the evidence & discussion, we learn that a void cruiser came through a 'hole in the sky' about 350 years ago, plummeted and smashed into the ground. The survivors took refuge in a couple of mining settlements in the mountains and ate the souls of any they could get hold of. It was several decades before they were finally destroyed.

The Tea Clan are on the edge of the human settled areas, they have been here for about 45 centuries maintaining a low profile and trading high quality tea to the drow empire.

From the Tea Clan's records, Camellia advises that the first sign of the hunters was a suspicious military unit sighted 36 years ago: intentions unknown. Lord Stabe, ''as such'' (?), has only has a residence in Thorny-Paths for the past 23 years. Stable's guards are not seen out this way very often, 8 years ago they were in a valley a few miles away during the bright and slaughtered a lot of elephants, taking most of the bones, teeth, and tusks.
During the last 35 years quite a few human settlements have disappeared or been destroyed. Reports from further afield are imprecise but there was a copper mining village in the mountains only 40 miles away that was destroyed by Wyrms.

There are some human settlements on the coast and nearby islands, there are also some who live on floating towns - 1000' rafts with 20+ masts.

; MK Day 5

We fly up to the valley where the elephants were slaughtered. It is clear that magic was used to summon and then slaughter them all. The few small bones we can find have no intrinsic magical value that we can detect.

At the copper miners' village we find signs of giant Wyrms moving over the surface and several discontinuous 30' diameter tunnels of stone that look like they were eaten.
Following a hunch, White-Tiger rigs a water wheel to a trip hammer to set up a regular thumping on the ground.
Observing from a distance we wait, about six hours later a 200 yard long 50' diameter worm phases out of the ground and consumes the area of ground where the water wheel was.
Swooping in to DA before it phases back into the ground we learn that it is a millennia-old non-sentient animal.
After some speculation we decide we can't make any practical use of it and return to the tea clan.

=== Chapter 6: New Plane, Same Enemies ===

; MK Day 6
Further research and discussion.

; MK Day 7
Leading the way, STONE finds a short cut back to the mountains just across the river from Thorny-Paths.
There we dig in and created a shielded bunker.

A couple of hours later we wander back into the city and settle into our inn to drink away our disappointment in our failed hunt.

Wandering town in small discrete groups we learn that Stable's troops are on high alert as Stable (or maybe the Duchess) is in town.
The guards only leave the compound in units of 100, everything going in or out is thoroughly searched.
DAing the guards again we learn they are from Alusia, most of them have been here for 30+ years but some have travelled here more recently. The ones that have been here longer have lower ranked illusions making them seem Drow, however the most recent ones have no illusions, just disguised with the armour and face plate of helmet.

Motte LEA-fish swims up the drains into the ornamental lake within Stable's compound, there he finds a bound structure beneath the water, presumably where their most secret or most important goings-on are based.

; MK Day 8
Setting up an ambush of light, dark, and Calimar illusions we lurk beneath the street waiting for a unit to come by.
As the Calimar ambush goes off at street level, we invite three of the guards to join us below where REST delights in rendering them unconscious.
A short run later we are over the wall, back underground, and off to our bunker.

HAWK and GRAVES report that the ambushed unit reacted like crack troops and fired on the Calimar as soon as they saw it.

Once at the bunker, Incense gauges the style of armour of the guards as being from Alsine, one of the duchies of [[Raniterre]]. She had spent some time doing mitary training in the area a few years back so is able to direct the adjustment of our environment and costumes, then assume the role of a commander to debrief the guards.

This expedition is here to garner riches for Alsine at the command of the Duke of Alsine (aka Lord Stable) and the Duchess of Alsine (who is currently in the compound in Thorny-Paths).
They got here by following a void cruiser in their flying ship. They have two ships that can make the journey, one a "dreadnaught" the other called a transporter. The existence of the ships is a closely guarded state secret. We hypothesise they were created on another plane, and since the law of the dragons precludes any magical flying, these [[Aeir ships]] must use cavorite.
Initially they harvested ivory to sell back on Alusia, now they are also trading some Alusian goods and knowledge to the local Drow. Including Magnifying glass, and Bane-Rock from the Mountains of Madness which happens to be a lot more effective here (reducing the effect of all magic by 20 ranks).
The Duke and Duchess are spending quite a lot of time here themselves as they are more powerful here - college abilities above their normal limits and an additional elemental college. Duchess is rank 40 in E&E and rank 30 in Rune. The Duke gave up his illusion college and is now Bardic & Earth. This implies they are considered draconic in some way by the Middle Kingdom.

They use a tower named "Tower of Fortitude" to fly around catching the elephants. This tower Incense recalls from the walls of Alsine Citadel, as being of ancient Drow origin, probably consecrated to one of the ancient Drow dieties, with anti-undead flavour (to irk Nevar). The walls are 10' thick bound stone, overall dimensions 50'x50'x700' high, pagoda shaped. Some floors are bound wood, some stone. The floor levels & room heights are inconsistent & irratic (door max 7' height). One mage is in control of it to move. There will be many troops and bound air inside th tower. The tower has returned to Alsine once since it has been harvesting the ivory here, and came back with more troops since it was empty. The tower is now having to go further afield to reach the elephants.

Alsine troops grouped in 100 per Unit. There may be 5-10 mages (many colleges) per unit usually, but may not have as many in Middle Kingdom. Most wear chain, some lower ranks only improved leather, most officers in Plate. Chain unusual in MK, so is hidden under cloth/normal armour. Alsine is known as the military training ground for most of the Duchies in Raniterre, however there seem to be only those from Alsine in MK. Due to the time conversion rates, they have acheived rank 8 warrior, and many have higher ranks.

We speculate that the portal their ships are using is probably the 'hole in the sky' that the Tea Clan told us the void cruiser fell out of.

; MK Day 8
Before taking any further actions, we decide to report back to our employers now that we know what is going on.
STONE finds another short cut and after an 8 hour hike we are back at the farm of Master Water Mirror where we tell him almost everything we have learned.

Options from here:
* Steal / 'Sink' their flying ships
* Close the portal
* Capture/kill the Duke/Duchess
* See what we can do about the Bane Rock
* Investigate /capture tower
* Repopulate inner lands with elephants

=== Chapter 7: Bane Rock and Portals ===

; MK Day 9
To check out the bane rock we fly north-east to a city that has been recently pacified where we hope to find them importing bane rock for the governors palace.
One day by cart out of town we find the staging camp where the stone is being delivered to before being conventionally hauled into the city.
They have 2-500 guards at the camp depending on where they're at in the delivery cycle. We watch through the bright and see the rock being bought in by flying barge.
The barge is not locatable while loaded with rock but we can track it when it leaves and it seems to be heading towards Lord Stables' lands.

; MK Day 10
We find a bridge over a river on the cart road into town and prepare an ambush, as one of the last carts crosses, the bridge gives way spilling a cart and its load into the river.
Once things have settled down and the other carts have continued to the city we move in, avoid the guards, and quietly make off with three of the 400lb blocks.

Finding a short-cut back to a glade near Master Water Mirror's farm we start experimenting with the rock.

STONE is not able to convert it into something more useful (anti-bane or boon rock).
It affects anyone in direct contact or passing over it and any magic targeted at it, in greater quantity its range of effect increases.
It reduces the effective rank of all magic by 20 ranks, even affecting shaped items and racial talents.
It is very hard to damage, but with experimentation we discover that if it is reduced to less than about 200lb then the bane effect stops. Recombine the broken bits into one piece of 200lb or more and the effect resumes.
Cold Iron does not nullify or reduce its affect.

; MK Day 11
Having no immediate use for it we leave the three blocks in the care of Master Water Mirror and take a short-cut back to the Tea Clan where we get directions to the 'hole in the sky' that the void cruiser fell from.

; MK Day 12
A long flight later we reach the area. The portal is about a mile across and very high, well above where it is possible to breathe safely.
Ax IS flies STONE and GRAVES up to the portal and hovers while GRAVES divines the portal.
It is a portal to the void, it may be possible to shift it to another location in the Middle Kingdom from this side but closing it or moving it to another plane would need to be done from the void.

; MK Day 13
By short-cut and by wing we travel towards Lord Stable's lands to track down his three flying ships (barge, dreadnought, and tower) and assess which of them we could take or sink.

; MK Day 14
We decide to divert to visit the '''Jade Lady''' (sorry - can't remember her full title), a being of some power who occupied this world before the dragons arrived and is here keeping an eye on them.

We fly up to her home at the top of her mountain but find it empty.
Ax IS locates her back in the village we passed at the base of the mountain, so back down we go to see her there.

=== Chapter 8: A Dragon so hungry ... ===

The lady is taking tea with an old friend of Motte LEA's at the finest Tea House in town, we politely intrude and share info about what is going on.
The biggest surprise for us was the news about the Giant Pelican (6-700' wingspan) that Stable has bought through the portal.

After tea and a chat, '''old-friend-of-LEA''' (a wood mage) offers to portal us up to close to Stable's capital.
He portals us into a gully a couple of miles from the city, from there we spy the city for a while.
Our interest is immediately caught by the 700' tower sticking out of the middle of the city.
Deciding to see if we can get a closer look we make our discrete way down to the gates.

The gate guards inform us that the city is under martial lock-down and we may not enter without a pass.
We play the rules-don't-apply-to-heroes card to no great effect.
Ax IS' implication that he is a dragon, a cousin to Stable, and unimpressed at being denied causes a few guards to pale and find elsewhere to be but most hold firm and their Captain comes over to offer apologies.
The guard captain asks if we would wait at the shelter 8 miles back down the road while we wait for a message to be delivered to his lord, he then offers his horse to Ax IS to ease our trip.
Ax IS accepts the gift and promptly eats the horse in front of them.

With the gate now clear we wander into town, step through a recently vacated building and then merge with the other guards who are finding urgent business elsewhere.

At the gate and around the tower we find wards set to trigger on Non-Alusians who are not carrying a magical pass. While we are fine, we need to suppress them so that Full REST may pass without setting them off.

The Tower is near the centre of the city, the area around it is clear for over 100' and well guarded (~1,000 Rk8+ warriors).
DA'ing and spying from range we learnt that the tower is a near-indestructible Elven artefact from pre-War of Tears, the cavorite is near the base of it which is currently below ground level.

We withdraw from proximity to the tower before the patrols of elite troops and mind mages arrive, take a quick look around the city, then discretely leave over a side wall.

Once out of sight of the city we emerge and fly towards Stable's northern camp.
Setting up camp in a convenient cave where we can observe, we rest and watch the activity for the rest of the day and through the bright.

The Pelican is being fed cows and being trained (by a Black Dragon - presumably Stable) to eat them on dry land. It is from a plane called Aquatica.

There is no sign of the Dreadnought, nor of the skiff/barge. Locating the skiff we find it is back in the city we just left.

=== Chapter 9: Tea with a Black Dragon ===

; MK Day 15
Further delaying suicidal attacks on Stable we find a short cut back to the farm of Master Water Mirror to talk to him about consulting with Imperial Uncle.

; MK Day 16
We track down the 'rebel' army but get stuck dealing with (and trying not to kill) bureaucrats.

; MK Day 17
The letter from Master Water Mirror reaches Sleeping Dragon who organises for us to meet with him and Imperial Uncle.

We tell them what's really going on with Stable in the hopes that they will then be able to focus their military efforts on the issue.
They had been quite happy with Stable because he was a moderating force amongst the Chancellor's supporters, only providing token military support to the Chancellor.
Now that they know Stable has two Dragons on his side they are even more keen for him to keep out of the civil war.

Mortimer discusses several Mechanician and Philosophical advances with their philosophers to balance out (and devalue) those that Stable is providing to the Chancellor.

Imperial uncle's best suggestion is that they appoint us their official representatives to Stable so that we can spy, talk and trade under 'diplomatic protection'. Which means the rebels would be officially annoyed if we were all killed.

He also suggests that we track down Motte LEA's brother, the God of Serpent Slaying so that he can deal with the problem.
We believe this to mean that G.O.S.S. would be expected to slay Stable and his Aunty. We later work out that I.U. expects G.O.S.S. to slay the giant-phasing-ground-snakes so that the empire is not troubled by them or displaced talking animals.

; MK Day 18
Underwhelmed, we decide to consult with the local dragon-gods.
Heading to a god-mountain, Ax IS proceeds to meet with the local (black) dragon without us to convince them that Cavorite should be included in the flying ban.
The brief meeting (several hours) over fine tea can be summarised as "they don't care". Cavorite does not breach the letter of the law which is more important than the spirit of the ban.
Also some interesting asides about how the failure of kites and balloons to fly people is more about poor design than any enforcement of bans.

: Privately we conclude that the migration of dragons to the Middle Kingdom was not about seeking a higher path or refuge from the wars on Alusia, it was the dragons of Alusia banishing all of their litigators.

We finish the day in conversation with the Jade Lady, she is unable to tell us exactly where G.O.S.S. is which implies he is somewhere she cannot magically scry which implies one of the Banerock screened locations.

=== Chapter 10: Travelling Minstrels ===

High rank divination of the banerock reveals that it affects the Drow because we are semi-corporeal and it does not affect Stable's humans at all.
This makes any form of raid against Stable's banerock protected sites near-impossible as his troops magic will be rank 20-40 and ours will be rank 0 at best.

We decide to start scouting the banerock protected buildings for GOSS. The capitol seems most likely but we decide to test our troupe of troubadours playing 'new wave' (Carzalan) music on a couple of smaller cities before trying the capital.

; MK Day 19
Travelling quickly between cities we do three on the first day.
Our disguise works as we hoped, we are listened to and then promptly paid to move on.
Pub classics like "Seagate bridge is falling down" and "If my father owned an Inn" prove particularly unpopular.
Everyone assumes we are slightly inept spies, we are tested occasionally with odd pass phrases, passed information and probably disinformation which we randomly pass on at the next city.

At the third city we spot a couple of merchants who are Humans from Alusia, we mess with them for a while, implying there is competition to their trade from Alusia, then abduct them for some serious questioning.

They give us their routine answers revealing they are spies for Stable, giving up secrets about local troop movements and trade.
Then we start asking them about the stuff we're interested in. They don't know any more about Stable's plans apart from gaining wealth from the inter-planar trade.
The giant Pelican is for harvesting Elephants, Stable is focussed on getting it trained, then using it as much as he can while he can.
Their elephant raids are often disrupted by the arrival of Wyrms.
They know nothing about the abduction of GOSS.

We leave our prisoners hidden and seemingly dead (Petit Mort) which will keep them from reporting back for a month.

; MK Day 20
Moving on to the capital we can find no sign of GOSS from outside the imperial palace.
Getting inside is impossible, the entire place is bound earth, above is screened by a web of Rk 30+ death spells, intrusion above or below is promptly detected and promptly responded to with powerful non-standard magic.
In the course of investigating and testing the palace we learn that it was bound with socially undesirable Drow under the cover of a plague sweeping the city. We estimate that they sacrificed thousands of their own people to bind the palace.

Talking to the local spies we learn that while this is the last place that GOSS was seen, they think it unlikely that he would be held here, most likely he would be outside the empire somewhere.
Piecing together astrology and other clues indicating he is north of the empire, we decide to see if he is held by the Five Venoms south-east of the empire.

; MK Day 21
We travel to where we were ambushed and question the spirit of the head of Toad Clan.
He does not acknowledge their prisoner as the god of anything but he does confirm they are holding him on behalf of the Chancellor. While he was originally in a banerock coffin, they have since found a better use for the banerock so he should be locatable once we are in the right area. We get the location and head that way.

; MK Day 22
They are holding him in a monastery like building overlooking a training camp.
We observe their movements for a while and Ax IS locates exactly which tower and floor he is on.

After approaching underground, we tunnel out the tower he is held in, getting a pool of acid as a bonus.
Quickly fishing the hibernated GoSS out of the acid and brushing him off, we take our leave.

=== Chapter 11: Now what I heard is... ===

; MK Day 23
Party begins counter-intelligence activities: publicising the implicit threat in Stable's talking-animal army; wards illustrating the worm menace; etc.

By Day 30, Stable's forces have withdrawn from Thorny-Paths & his factors are negotiating to find a purchaser of the estate. Party enters the Compound, just ahead of the looting mobs, & finds Alusian materials (remnants of Packing crates etc) to convert into music boxes, etc. ...

After a fortnight, almost all Governors have pulled up their banerock and redeployed it in less dangerous ways

=== Chapter 12: Stable Bait for Venoms ===

The Five Venoms strike us as a a group of mercenary thugs and extortionists who would be good if only they had some demons to crusade against.
We decide to help out by illuminating to them the 'demonic' nature of Stable and his troops.

Donning appropriate disguises (including Ax IS and Prudence as black dragons) we brief the troops we captured from Thorny-Paths on the pre-emptive strike we must make on the Five Venoms before they discover we are really from another world.
The dragons fly us in, the troops from Thorny-Paths are dropped at the training camp (along with some Agony and Flash of Light) to disrupt the camp and ensure they are not able to effective aid the monastery we are about to assault.
We then fly up to the monastery, make a couple of passes dropping some earthquakes, flashes of light, agony, and assorted other party tricks.
Their reaction and defence is obviously stronger than we expected so we are forced to withdraw leaving 'our men' behind.

Having stirred up all we can, we decide it's time to head home.
The local end of the summoning is moved to master Water-Mirror's farm and we settle in for the next 6 months as the ritual is performed to return us home.

; 9th Thaw 808wk, W'ansday

We emerge from beneath the bell to find that about a week has passed since we first went in.

===What happened to GoSS===
Soon after Lord STABLE (Duke Xeno of Alsine) was elevated for his contributions to the Empire & Chancellor KIN's regime, he received the Imperial Monopoly on non-poisonous vermin by-products, considered an insignificant gesture at the time. But shortly before the elephant hunting began, the God of Serpent-Slayers (Prudence of Antecarzala) disappeared. In his own words:

"I was investigating the new Imperial Precinct at Long-Peaceful, especially the Banerock ... kingdom of the one-eyed & all that. I noticed that General Graceful PLUM, a trusted follower of the Chancellor, had a secretary that was both human & a skilled mind-mage assassin from the Centipede Clan. I followed him overconfidently, but lost him when he entered a temple. He must have double back, because the last thing I remember before you woke me up 30 years later was being hit by Lightning."

Lord CLOSE, Imperial Uncle SLAY's oath-brother confirmed that, about that time, General PLUM sent a secret message that he wanted to defect from the Chancellor's misguided faction & join the True Imperial cause but almost immediately PLUM's brother (his only remaining close relative) lost his head in a freak accident and Plum understandably lost his nerve. Spies have been re-questioned & apparently Plum's secretary-cum-counterassassin disappeared just beforehand.

''After you have finished the adventure'', you are informed that the '''human''' assassin from 5-venoms killed & is now '''masquerading''' as General Plum, who is still being sent on special missions on behalf of the Chancellor ... but no-one has ever witnessed Chancellor & General meet. Once again, a halo of plausible deniability encircles the Chancellor!

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==
=== Nominations ===
=== Quotes ===
'''Ax IS''': I once had an axe that always returned, but I lent it to a friend & it never came back.

So the leaders in this Drow civil war are KIN & SLAY. Are we sure some dragon somewhere isn't sniggering over that?

'''Mortimer''' (in shock): ... this means Stable is a Demonic entity. 
'''Motley''' (reassuringly): That's OK, you don't ''have'' to worship him.

'''Mortimer''' (to Sir Kit. in surprise): Actually you ''may'' be right. 
'''Chesca''' (Kit's wife): Don't tell him that!

'''Sir Kit''': How are you going to increase the Drow Population? 
'''Motley''': What? ''Personally''?

=== Hot and Not ===

== Reference Information ==
=== People ===
=== Places ===
Some relevant links on the background of the Marquis Stable:
* [[Raniterre]]
* [[Bretonnia]]
* [[Aeir Ships]]

=== Expenses ===

=== Standard Buffs ===
"A" = always on, "Y" = Yes please, "-" not required, blank = as required

{| border=0 cellspacing=2 |
|-
!width="150px" Align="Left"| Magic
!width="25px" Align="Left" | By
!width="25px" Align="Left" | Rk
!width="200px" Align="Left"| Effects
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ax
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Br
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ka
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ki
!width="30px" Align="Left" | MG
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Mot
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Na
|-
|Armour of Earth ||Br ||21 || +44% Def -2 Dam 21 Hrs ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||- ||
|-
|Enchant Armour ||Ax ||20 || +42% Def +1 AP 20.5 Hrs || || || || || || ||
|-
|Strength of Stone ||Br ||20 || +21 EN 41 Hrs ||Y ||A ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y
|-
|Fire Armour ||Br ||10 ||21 Hrs 44 Protection ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y
|-
|Disguise ||Ki ||21 || 42 Hrs || || ||A ||A || || ||
|-
|Choker || * || * ||Counterspells 4 Hrs || ||Fire || ||Mind || ||Nec ||
|-
|Faith || Ki || 13 ||MR 93%+ ||A ||A ||A ||A ||A ||- ||A
|-
|Quickness ||Ax ||? ||6 Targets, ?x[d-5] pulses || || || || || || ||
|-
|Spectral Weapon ||Na || 20 || +21 SC, +7 Dmg, 25 min || || ||Y ||- || || ||A
|-
|Trollskin ||Br ||13 ||Regen 1 EN/Pulse 95 Sec || || || || || || ||
|-
|Invisibility ||Ki ||21 || 3.5 Hrs || || || || || || ||
|-
|Multiple Images ||Ki ||10 || 3 images 11mins || || || || || || ||
|-
|Restoratives ||MG || || -?EN +?FT best before ? Sec || || || || || || ||
|-
|Enhance Enchantment ||Ax ||20 || +20 Ranks || || || || || || ||
|-
|Siren Woods Water || || || +5 / 10 for 50MK Days || || || || || || ||
|-
|TMR 'potion' || || || +3 TMR - duration ||colspan=7|6 potions.
|}
* * Chokers allow extended duration counterspells cast on self
* Most durations are assumed to be enhanced.
; Braegon's Anti-Scrying (while on ground)
: 3 Hex Radius, blocks magical scrying, blocks Locate, ESP, Telepathy < Rk 21
; Raphael's Faith (within 50' of Kit)
: A proportion of Kit's MR is shared with all PoL, non-pacted allies and innocents within 50'. 93% is a typical value - the exact MR will vary, mainly upwards.
;Multiple Image Wards
:Within 30 minutes of pitching camp, individual 2' diameter Multiple Image wards will be available for each party member (''excluding Motley''). Do not step in them until Quickened. They add 3 images.

; Duration Extensions at Transition
: 1 Alusian day = 60 MK days
: 1 Alusian hour = 2.5 actual MK days
: 1 Alusian minute = 1h 30m MK
: (36 MK hours in a MK day, but ''counted'' as less; 1 Alusian year = 90 MK years @ '''240''' MK days per year)

;<s>Forbidden Magic
* '''''Glove Magic'''''.
</s>
;Agility
If you aren't used to high Agility, consider re-reading the Combat Rules, or [[Kit%27s_Warrior_Guide#Extraordinary_Agility|this guide]].

=== Calendar ===

{| cellspacing=1 border=0 class="Season" id="Spring"
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Thaw]] (10)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Candlemansa]]
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
| The Carzalan Generals Ball
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Seedtime]] (11)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
| Rites of Thunor
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
| Equinox
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
| Eostre
| class=day | 18
| The Seagate Spring Ball
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|}

Category:Kit

2026-06-06T03:52:22Z

Terryintransit:

[[Kit]]

Ephemeral Elephants

2026-06-06T03:51:53Z

Terryintransit:

== Summary==
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
Adventure: '''''Ephemeral Elephants''''' (a Merchant [of] Ivory Production)

GM: [[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]] 
Season: Spring 808 wk 
Night: Tuesday starting 16/09/08 
Location: Faulder Ave, Westmere 
Level: Upper-Medium to High (must have a high "weird" quotient) 
[[Middle Kingdom Loot, 808]]

[[Category: Michael Parkinson]][[Category: Scribe Notes]][[Category: Middle Kingdom]]
[[Category: Axis]]
[[Category: 'Chesca]]
[[Category: Kit]]
[[Category: Braegon]]
[[Category: Mortimer]]
[[Category: Motley]]
[[Category: Naden]]
== Party ==

A party of '''Heroes & Scholars''', plus support staff (Friends & Beauties) to be vetted beforehand by "the '''''brother''''' of the God of Wyrm-slayers, ''a.k.a.'' God of Serpent-Slayers": the emphasis is on a variety of colleges & species. A Rank-8 healer is probably essential.

Confirmed or Interested Party members
# [[Axis]] Dragonmage (& attendant Exaltation of Larks) - Party Leader
# [['Chesca]] - (Hardy Incense) Beauty
# [[Impetuous Hawk]] - Hero
# [[Braegon]] (Living STONE) - Hero, Healer, and Tactician
# [[Mortimer]] - Scholar
# [[Motley]] - Hero and Bro. GoSS
# [[Naden]] - Elf Friend

Most important: [[Middle Kingdom Statistics]], and [[Name and Persona]]

Useful: [[I get bonuses?]], and [[MK Colleges]]

=== Personae ===
; Ax Is, Dragonmage
: Hidden Dragon?

; HARDY Incense
:Her cloak changes according to whim
:Her whim changes according to circumstance

; Impetuous HAWK
:He wears a hat woven from the first skin shed by new bamboo shoots.
:His clothes are of yam from the wild cotton-tree.
:His belt is silk from an old silkworm, and from it hangs a broken set of shears.
:The straw sandals under his feet have straps torn from rotten sago trees.
:His face is round and innocent, with a gleam of youthful mischief in his eye.

; Living STONE
:Rough featured, plain speaking, man of the soil.
:His hands carry the gifts of life and death.
:Recognisable by his drab brown cloak, strange shield, and unusual mace

; White-Tiger GRAVES
:Possessed of unnatural beauty and grace,
:He fashions the elements into cunning devices.
:His white raiment reflects his mastery of metal.

; Motte LEA
: Of Uncertain height
: Reserved dress, colourful silks
: Just this guy, you know?

; Just BAGGAGE
:Ineptious, inextricable and inebriated servant of Master Dragonmage
:Lazy
:Surly
:Delinquent

== Guild Spiel (at Spring meeting 808): ==

Employer:   Party is hired by a being called Puppet who has come "to the Lower Planes" 
Payment:     One heart, plus whatever you seize from "the wilderness beyond the known world". 
Location:     off-plane, "The [[Middle Kingdom]]" & places beyond. 

Thus speaks Puppet:

''"O mighty Demons & Denizens of the Underworld, your humble supplicant travelled far for many years and has finally attained this lower plane where dwells the brother of the '''God of Wyrm-slayers''', long since vanished.''

''"In the Southwestern Wilderness beyond the civilised world, the natural food source of the Serpents is fast disappearing, so they are predating on the talking animals (I think this bizzare tongue you speak calls them go-blins, or gobblings, or something). That means trouble for the Empire since the goblins are very ugly and, though poor mages & fighters, they employ painful, fatal poisons & other forbidden war-tricks.''

''"The wise strategist '''Sleeping Dragon''' advised I should seek a variety of species of demons, especially of different colleges, to solve the mystery and preferably stop it. In payment whereof I offer the heart of this humble vessel and whatever you wish & can carry away from the Wilderness.''

''"In summary: the missing food source is called E-le-phant, which is like the mythical mammoth, but somewhat larger and less hairy. Serpents swallow elephants; fewer elephants causes serpents to devour other animals instead; other animals flee into the Empire and cause trouble."''

See guide on how to be [[Middle Kingdom Heroes]]

== Scribe Notes ==

=== Chapter 1: Hu, Wat, Wy? ===
''In a guild meeting room, a party meets with a confusion of names.''

Axis and Motley have been to this plane 3 years ago which equates to a couple of centuries of local time.
In the Middle Kingdoms the Dragons are equivalent to gods (venerated, powerful, and seldom seen), this makes Axis virtually a demi-god - a step or two above heroes and scholars.
Motley once carried a dragon bone which was later resurrected, the dragon was adopted mother of the 'God of Wyrm Slayers' in the MK, hence Motley being the Brother of the God of Serpent Slayers.
Last time they were there they had support from others of Motley's extended family, passing items, money, food, etc. through to the party on request.

Motley and Axis attempt to explain how MK works, guild philosophers fill in some of the blanks and aid the general confusion.

Axis is appointed Party Leader, Kit and Braegon are the closest we have to qualified Military Leaders, as for scribing, we are not sure whether any of us will be literate in MK so we agree to all remember as much as possible and consolidate and compare notes.

Puppet, our employer is escorted in.
He is a golem infused with the spirit of '''Level-State LOFTY''' a scholar of the hidden mountains and follower of Sleeping Dragon.
He offers us the golem body which has a 5lb heart of gold which he offers to us for our services, once he has no further need for the golem body.

Puppet attempts to explain the local political situation as well as the official issue which is the impending invasion of 'Talking Animals', he is not asking us to resolve the political issues but that probably would resolve the other issues if we happened to approach it that way.
To add to the confusion, Motley tries to get a history lesson on what has happened since he was last there, discovering that several of his clear memories are in fact of other worlds.

Puppet retires and his servant (a wood golem) tries to sort out our confusion.

The emperor rules the empire and is revered and loved by all. The only person who gets to see the emperor is the Chancellor/Prime Minister/Grand Vizier who also handles the menial task of actually governing the empire in the Emperor's name.

Some 200 years ago the ''previous'' Chancellor '''Table DIRECT''', burned the imperial capital and moved the imperial capital back to its old location further up the river. The new imperial palace (''Long-peaceful'') was rapidly expanded and is now the size of an average city. That Chancellor had Motley's Monastery razed and outlawed all of its residents/followers. Unusually, he provided an excuse for this action -- a great threat to the empire would arise from this Monastery. Our employer acquired what he needed for the ritual to bring us to MK from the ruins of that Monastery.

The current Chancellor, '''Grasp KIN''' (who, to give him his due, did attempt to assassinate Chancellor DIRECT long before it became fashionable) is considered to be corrupt and a traitor to the emperor by many provincial governors but none of them were willing to openly stand against him on their own.
An agreement was signed to stand together against the Chancellor; naturally this fell into the hands of the Chancellor who has now mobilised the army to crush each of the rebels named on the agreement.
Most of the provinces are withholding taxes as they need them to defend themselves from their rebellious neighbours.

Imperial Uncle '''Prepared-to SLAY''' was reportedly named the official representative of the Emperor; those that oppose the Chancellor choose to believe I.U. SLAY and support him in overthrowing the Chancellor. Of course,
I.U. SLAY is now branded a rebel, dismissed from his Provincial Governorship and is now being hunted by several imperial armies (controlled by the chancellor) in the central province.

MK is not connected to our planes in the normal ways we are used to. Previous groups have discovered they could not summon Elementals or Demons to MK.

Having dimensional pockets of any sort when going there would be bad, at the least they would break.

Any magics on us when we transition will last for about 60 times longer once we are there.

We will each need appropriate heroic names and personas so that we are recognised and respected as heroes and scholars in the MK.

To get to MK, our employer will perform a 3-day ritual, we will spend this time inside a large bronze bell. At the end of the ritual our spirits will leave our bodies and travel to the MK where we will manifest as Drow avatars of ourselves.
To get back we need to go through a similar ritual which will subjectively seem like 3-6 months for us.

Puppet has bought us some speed (TMR) potions to drink before we go through.

Motley suggests visiting his 'Auntie' to see if she can provide some crutches for transition and maybe some other support. Kit is unkeen on doing the ritual there as that would leave his spirit-less body in the hands of Forasites.

Braegon suggests drinking water from a village in the Siren Woods that is renowned for its (slow and clumsy) great thinkers before we transition. The effects only last one day so we would need to get there and drink during the last day of the ritual.
Performing the ritual there may be unwise as the local fae would almost certainly investigate and experiment with our spirit-less bodies.

=== Chapter 2: Eight in a Bell ===

; 2nd Thaw - 4th Thaw
The following morning we all gather inside the giant bronze bell and LOFTY starts his ritual.
Even with regular cantrips, illusions, and Braegons' fresh breath by the end of three days the inside of the bell feels very ripe.

During LOFTY's last rest-break we all sneak out to the village in Siren Woods, drink up large then stagger back before he awakes.

; MK Day 1
We come out in a cave, not where LOFTY expected us to arrive but he quickly realises that his allies must have moved the arrival point to somewhere that would be safe during the bright.
It is early dark, looking out from the cave we can see a walled city in the valley below us.

Performing our assorted transformations we take to the air and fly up river from the city, heading for a farm that is home to one LOFTY's allies '''"Master Water Mirror"''' [a nickname, such as would be granted to a powerful wayist mage, indicating that the Mind, like water, can only reflect when it is calm], whose formal name is Pennant MARSHALL, ITN ''Grasp-Virtue''. He behaves as if you already know he is a mindmage.

On the way we see armies encamped outside two towns, one appears to be besieging, the other mobilising to defend.

Master Water Mirror welcomes us, and escorts us through to a lake side palace that was not visible on approach (presumably a portal, dimensional pocket, illusionary terrain or similar).

He tells us about the progress of the imperial army, and of the new architecture that is getting installed whenever the Chancellor (now officially Prime Minister) replaces a Regional Governor with one of his own.

They are using some form of stone that prevents magic being cast, suppresses magic in effect and rapidly reduces the remaining duration of the suppressed magic (affecting everything up to and including permanent spells and rituals).
How they are manufacturing this stone or where it is coming from are closely guarded secrets held by a new guild that is directly controlled by the Prime Minister. Spies sent to find out more have not reported back.

We experiment and find we can stay awake during the bright, Ax Is is quickened, the rest of us are slowed.

=== Chapter 3: Flight to the Provinces ===

; MK Day 2
Performing our various transformations we board Ax IS and fly up river.
After about 8 hours (280 miles), Ax IS is hungry and needs to stop for a snack - a couple of Oxen should do.
BAGGAGE purchases the Oxen from a farmer, STONE sets up a fire pit and dining area then roasts the Oxen over a pool of magma.

After lunch we fly on and reach the town of '''Orange County''', in the Province of '''Benefit-State''', just before twilight.
We find an Inn near teh famous temple, dine, and then retire for the night.
The locals tell us we have just missed ''Luscious DREAMS & her vignettes'', a riské travelling dance troop, probably spies, and warn us that we should make the most of meat for dinner as it will be much more expensive further west. Enquiring further we find out that animals in the plateau to the west [the rest of Benefit-State] are poisonous to eat and animals that travel into the area become poisonous within a few days.
We ignore a disturbance outside during the bright, in the morning we find out it was a fire which the town guard dealt with.

; MK Day 3
Flying further upriver, we land for lunch and catch a local animal (a four-footed fowl) to experiment with.
It is tainted with something that is poisonous to us when we eat it, we find we can use items and abilities to become immune to the poison or cure it but the meat still tastes off.
Fortunately it is not poisonous nor foul tasting to Ax IS, so he is able to eat his fill while we stick to a vegetarian diet.

We reach '''Thorny-Paths''' a few hours before toolight; this is the most Southwestern city in the Empire. We land outside town and walk in like regular heroes.

Wandering through town we encounter a fight between two heroes; it takes a while and seems to follow some rules which we don't entirely understand.
One of the heroes is a senior member of Lord Stabilised's guard and he eventually wins with a trip-throw. Once he wanders off we introduce ourselves and heal the injury of the fallen hero, '''Full REST''' the unlucky.

Lord Stabilised's ''proper'' name is the '''Marquis of Stable''', which lies in North, beyond the Imperial Capital. Stable is considered ''nouveau riche'' and is a friend/supporter/lackey of the Chancellor.

REST is a master ranger, he often travels through the highlands and escorts groups (Human and Drow).
His vocal antipathy towards Stabilised and his men is what lead to the fight outside but his continued comments over drinks in the inn do not draw any new challenges.
The elephants are scarce recently (within the past few decades).
The wyrms travel through the ground, he has seen one once and survived by remaining high in a tree. They would each eat about 50 elephants a year.
Armour-Dillos are another significant danger, like giant armoured ant eaters, their hide is virtually invulnerable and they attack with their whip-like tongue.
He often deals with the ''talking animals'' (Humans) and is on good terms with one House based about 150 miles upriver that deals in tea.

Once REST has retired for the bright (slumped at the table in a drunken stupor), we retire to our rooms and then prepare to visit the human camp across the river.

In town we spy that Stables' guard are very active during the bright, investigation reveals that most of them are Human disguised as Drow.

Sneaking over the walls, we then tunnel to and under the river to a new cave under the encampment.
Adjusting their robes so they appear human like the ones above they emerge, enter the camp and chat with some of the locals.
They learn that these humans do not have anything to do with Stables' human guard, but they have observed them killing elephants in the mountains, removing the tusks and bones, and leaving the flesh to rot.

We leave a hidden entrance to our cave in a back room in the camp and head back towards town the same way we came.

=== Chapter 4: Splintered Incense and Baggage ===
; MK Day 4
Privately discussing plans we decide to go elephant hunter hunting in order to have some privacy to capture and question some of the Human-Drow Guards.

We then indiscreetly discuss elephant hunting and purchase supplies for an extended hunting trip in the mountains to ensure that the guards would find out what we're up to and hopefully set out after us.

Trying to blend in as 'normal' heroes the party purchases passage across the river in small boats, STONE and Ax IS travel under the river rather than risk sinking the small boats or being seen flying.

A short walk away from the river HAWK pulls horses out from behind Motte LEA, releases a couple that are too small and eventually has the group mounted to his satisfaction.

'''Laid Low by a Splinter'''

After around three hours of riding south at a brisk pace, there was a momentary darkening of the stars, and then a veritable shower of bamboo splinters rained down upon the party.
A single bamboo hair touched Incense's fair and sensitive skin, and she fell off her horse - not bespelled, not poisoned, but deeply naturally asleep. The party immediately circled wagons (or Walls of Stone), but as Motte LEA scouted from halfway up a tree, another burst of bamboo splinters was inbound. BAGGAGE threw himself over STONE, who was crouched over the fallen Incense, but STONE's mighty breath weapon knocked BAGGAGE several feet into the air as it scattered the bamboo shards, one of which BAGGAGE breathed in.
For all his legendary hardiness, BAGGAGE was also instantly comatose.

Motte LEA reported that the artillery attacks were coming from 300 yards up a wooded hill to our right, so we picked up our fallen comrades (well, Beauty & Friend -– Heroes seem to be immune to such trifling inconveniences as artillery), and marched up the hill towards the siege weapon.
Of course, we did it while tunnelling, which reduced our speed to around 10'/second.
The enemy sent two scouts down the hill towards our last known location.
We managed to tunnel under one, and he dropped at our feet, whereupon he was killed faster than the party leader and mil sci could say 'sleep him'.
Fortunately STONE found his fatal injuries were not that bad and Ax IS helped him sleep.
The other scout was highly invisible and off to one side, so we pushed on to the summit.

Ax IS scryed the enemy as we ambled along, and his report of a mage, several weird and Heroic fighters plus a half-dozen archers made us forcefully wake Baggage despite the risk of permanent brain damage.

To soften up the enemy, GRAVE let loose with an Earth Tremor under the bamboo siege weapon, which left the enemy all shook up. Then, on Stone's signal, the ground opened up beneath the enemy.
The twin Heroes (later identified as Double-Happy & Twin-Joy of the CENTIPED clan), the archers, and one Beauty disguised as an archer fell into our underground fighting pit, and were hit by a Flash of Light, a 12-target blindness curse and multiple force bolts.

STONE winced in pain as most of the archers died.
The Beauty let loose a couple of arrows while up-side-down and tumbling, and one of the twin Heroes got off a pre-emptive strike as we closed, but then Motte LEA and HAWK hit & killed two of them, and the remaining Hero on the surface ('Mr Toad') failed to keep his balance near the lip, and fell down the hole, accidentally mixing two immiscibly explosive liquids.
The rest of the enemy died in the explosion, and then BAGGAGE finished preparing his spell – I don't know why we risked brain damage to wake him, it being all over in 3 seconds flat.

Ax IS reports that of those he saw, there are three remaining archers above and the invisible scout is missing.

=== Chapter 5: Talking Animals ===

The fires are extinguished, an odd stone cube is recovered from Toad's ashes, STONE provides some ramps to the surface, and while Incense rouses from her slumber, HAWK and BAGGAGE head up to seek the surrender of the archers.

One of the archers informs us in no uncertain terms that they will fight the unholy soul-eaters to the death.
HAWK and BAGGAGE oblige, subduing them as the rest of the group arrives.

STONE and REST track the invisible scout to the edge of the river, assorted animals and rocks dive into the water to bring him out.

Questions to the conscious are met with stubborn silence or invective.
BAGGAGE compels the more seriously wounded to talk.

They are a mixed strike-force the '''Five Venoms Clan'''.
Their agent in the human trading town was suspicious of us as we passed and alerted his masters via something like wind-speech.
Led by the Master of the '''Toad''' sub-clan the strike unit wood-portalled from their Mountain fortress 600-ish miles SSE to intercept us.
As we got closer, Master Toad informed the unit that we were '''soul-eaters''', this inspired them in the same way that a nest of demonics inspires Michaelines.
Master Toad's cube is a holy relic that detects soul-eaters, each of the 5 masters of Five Venoms has a similar relic, it is part of their clans purpose to root out incursions of soul-eaters (the last one was about 350 years ago).
They expect other strike units to be coming after us as soon as they can be organised.

After a quick discussion and decisive leadership we decide to travel rapidly to visit the Tea clan.
Following a quick ride and flight, Hero REST introduces us and vouches for us which gets us invited in as welcome guests.
BAGGAGE is quickly dismissed and we take tea with the leaders of the clan -- especially their senior healer, '''Camellia'''.

Interpretting the evidence & discussion, we learn that a void cruiser came through a 'hole in the sky' about 350 years ago, plummeted and smashed into the ground. The survivors took refuge in a couple of mining settlements in the mountains and ate the souls of any they could get hold of. It was several decades before they were finally destroyed.

The Tea Clan are on the edge of the human settled areas, they have been here for about 45 centuries maintaining a low profile and trading high quality tea to the drow empire.

From the Tea Clan's records, Camellia advises that the first sign of the hunters was a suspicious military unit sighted 36 years ago: intentions unknown. Lord Stabe, ''as such'' (?), has only has a residence in Thorny-Paths for the past 23 years. Stable's guards are not seen out this way very often, 8 years ago they were in a valley a few miles away during the bright and slaughtered a lot of elephants, taking most of the bones, teeth, and tusks.
During the last 35 years quite a few human settlements have disappeared or been destroyed. Reports from further afield are imprecise but there was a copper mining village in the mountains only 40 miles away that was destroyed by Wyrms.

There are some human settlements on the coast and nearby islands, there are also some who live on floating towns - 1000' rafts with 20+ masts.

; MK Day 5

We fly up to the valley where the elephants were slaughtered. It is clear that magic was used to summon and then slaughter them all. The few small bones we can find have no intrinsic magical value that we can detect.

At the copper miners' village we find signs of giant Wyrms moving over the surface and several discontinuous 30' diameter tunnels of stone that look like they were eaten.
Following a hunch, White-Tiger rigs a water wheel to a trip hammer to set up a regular thumping on the ground.
Observing from a distance we wait, about six hours later a 200 yard long 50' diameter worm phases out of the ground and consumes the area of ground where the water wheel was.
Swooping in to DA before it phases back into the ground we learn that it is a millennia-old non-sentient animal.
After some speculation we decide we can't make any practical use of it and return to the tea clan.

=== Chapter 6: New Plane, Same Enemies ===

; MK Day 6
Further research and discussion.

; MK Day 7
Leading the way, STONE finds a short cut back to the mountains just across the river from Thorny-Paths.
There we dig in and created a shielded bunker.

A couple of hours later we wander back into the city and settle into our inn to drink away our disappointment in our failed hunt.

Wandering town in small discrete groups we learn that Stable's troops are on high alert as Stable (or maybe the Duchess) is in town.
The guards only leave the compound in units of 100, everything going in or out is thoroughly searched.
DAing the guards again we learn they are from Alusia, most of them have been here for 30+ years but some have travelled here more recently. The ones that have been here longer have lower ranked illusions making them seem Drow, however the most recent ones have no illusions, just disguised with the armour and face plate of helmet.

Motte LEA-fish swims up the drains into the ornamental lake within Stable's compound, there he finds a bound structure beneath the water, presumably where their most secret or most important goings-on are based.

; MK Day 8
Setting up an ambush of light, dark, and Calimar illusions we lurk beneath the street waiting for a unit to come by.
As the Calimar ambush goes off at street level, we invite three of the guards to join us below where REST delights in rendering them unconscious.
A short run later we are over the wall, back underground, and off to our bunker.

HAWK and GRAVES report that the ambushed unit reacted like crack troops and fired on the Calimar as soon as they saw it.

Once at the bunker, Incense gauges the style of armour of the guards as being from Alsine, one of the duchies of [[Raniterre]]. She had spent some time doing mitary training in the area a few years back so is able to direct the adjustment of our environment and costumes, then assume the role of a commander to debrief the guards.

This expedition is here to garner riches for Alsine at the command of the Duke of Alsine (aka Lord Stable) and the Duchess of Alsine (who is currently in the compound in Thorny-Paths).
They got here by following a void cruiser in their flying ship. They have two ships that can make the journey, one a "dreadnaught" the other called a transporter. The existence of the ships is a closely guarded state secret. We hypothesise they were created on another plane, and since the law of the dragons precludes any magical flying, these [[Aeir ships]] must use cavorite.
Initially they harvested ivory to sell back on Alusia, now they are also trading some Alusian goods and knowledge to the local Drow. Including Magnifying glass, and Bane-Rock from the Mountains of Madness which happens to be a lot more effective here (reducing the effect of all magic by 20 ranks).
The Duke and Duchess are spending quite a lot of time here themselves as they are more powerful here - college abilities above their normal limits and an additional elemental college. Duchess is rank 40 in E&E and rank 30 in Rune. The Duke gave up his illusion college and is now Bardic & Earth. This implies they are considered draconic in some way by the Middle Kingdom.

They use a tower named "Tower of Fortitude" to fly around catching the elephants. This tower Incense recalls from the walls of Alsine Citadel, as being of ancient Drow origin, probably consecrated to one of the ancient Drow dieties, with anti-undead flavour (to irk Nevar). The walls are 10' thick bound stone, overall dimensions 50'x50'x700' high, pagoda shaped. Some floors are bound wood, some stone. The floor levels & room heights are inconsistent & irratic (door max 7' height). One mage is in control of it to move. There will be many troops and bound air inside th tower. The tower has returned to Alsine once since it has been harvesting the ivory here, and came back with more troops since it was empty. The tower is now having to go further afield to reach the elephants.

Alsine troops grouped in 100 per Unit. There may be 5-10 mages (many colleges) per unit usually, but may not have as many in Middle Kingdom. Most wear chain, some lower ranks only improved leather, most officers in Plate. Chain unusual in MK, so is hidden under cloth/normal armour. Alsine is known as the military training ground for most of the Duchies in Raniterre, however there seem to be only those from Alsine in MK. Due to the time conversion rates, they have acheived rank 8 warrior, and many have higher ranks.

We speculate that the portal their ships are using is probably the 'hole in the sky' that the Tea Clan told us the void cruiser fell out of.

; MK Day 8
Before taking any further actions, we decide to report back to our employers now that we know what is going on.
STONE finds another short cut and after an 8 hour hike we are back at the farm of Master Water Mirror where we tell him almost everything we have learned.

Options from here:
* Steal / 'Sink' their flying ships
* Close the portal
* Capture/kill the Duke/Duchess
* See what we can do about the Bane Rock
* Investigate /capture tower
* Repopulate inner lands with elephants

=== Chapter 7: Bane Rock and Portals ===

; MK Day 9
To check out the bane rock we fly north-east to a city that has been recently pacified where we hope to find them importing bane rock for the governors palace.
One day by cart out of town we find the staging camp where the stone is being delivered to before being conventionally hauled into the city.
They have 2-500 guards at the camp depending on where they're at in the delivery cycle. We watch through the bright and see the rock being bought in by flying barge.
The barge is not locatable while loaded with rock but we can track it when it leaves and it seems to be heading towards Lord Stables' lands.

; MK Day 10
We find a bridge over a river on the cart road into town and prepare an ambush, as one of the last carts crosses, the bridge gives way spilling a cart and its load into the river.
Once things have settled down and the other carts have continued to the city we move in, avoid the guards, and quietly make off with three of the 400lb blocks.

Finding a short-cut back to a glade near Master Water Mirror's farm we start experimenting with the rock.

STONE is not able to convert it into something more useful (anti-bane or boon rock).
It affects anyone in direct contact or passing over it and any magic targeted at it, in greater quantity its range of effect increases.
It reduces the effective rank of all magic by 20 ranks, even affecting shaped items and racial talents.
It is very hard to damage, but with experimentation we discover that if it is reduced to less than about 200lb then the bane effect stops. Recombine the broken bits into one piece of 200lb or more and the effect resumes.
Cold Iron does not nullify or reduce its affect.

; MK Day 11
Having no immediate use for it we leave the three blocks in the care of Master Water Mirror and take a short-cut back to the Tea Clan where we get directions to the 'hole in the sky' that the void cruiser fell from.

; MK Day 12
A long flight later we reach the area. The portal is about a mile across and very high, well above where it is possible to breathe safely.
Ax IS flies STONE and GRAVES up to the portal and hovers while GRAVES divines the portal.
It is a portal to the void, it may be possible to shift it to another location in the Middle Kingdom from this side but closing it or moving it to another plane would need to be done from the void.

; MK Day 13
By short-cut and by wing we travel towards Lord Stable's lands to track down his three flying ships (barge, dreadnought, and tower) and assess which of them we could take or sink.

; MK Day 14
We decide to divert to visit the '''Jade Lady''' (sorry - can't remember her full title), a being of some power who occupied this world before the dragons arrived and is here keeping an eye on them.

We fly up to her home at the top of her mountain but find it empty.
Ax IS locates her back in the village we passed at the base of the mountain, so back down we go to see her there.

=== Chapter 8: A Dragon so hungry ... ===

The lady is taking tea with an old friend of Motte LEA's at the finest Tea House in town, we politely intrude and share info about what is going on.
The biggest surprise for us was the news about the Giant Pelican (6-700' wingspan) that Stable has bought through the portal.

After tea and a chat, '''old-friend-of-LEA''' (a wood mage) offers to portal us up to close to Stable's capital.
He portals us into a gully a couple of miles from the city, from there we spy the city for a while.
Our interest is immediately caught by the 700' tower sticking out of the middle of the city.
Deciding to see if we can get a closer look we make our discrete way down to the gates.

The gate guards inform us that the city is under martial lock-down and we may not enter without a pass.
We play the rules-don't-apply-to-heroes card to no great effect.
Ax IS' implication that he is a dragon, a cousin to Stable, and unimpressed at being denied causes a few guards to pale and find elsewhere to be but most hold firm and their Captain comes over to offer apologies.
The guard captain asks if we would wait at the shelter 8 miles back down the road while we wait for a message to be delivered to his lord, he then offers his horse to Ax IS to ease our trip.
Ax IS accepts the gift and promptly eats the horse in front of them.

With the gate now clear we wander into town, step through a recently vacated building and then merge with the other guards who are finding urgent business elsewhere.

At the gate and around the tower we find wards set to trigger on Non-Alusians who are not carrying a magical pass. While we are fine, we need to suppress them so that Full REST may pass without setting them off.

The Tower is near the centre of the city, the area around it is clear for over 100' and well guarded (~1,000 Rk8+ warriors).
DA'ing and spying from range we learnt that the tower is a near-indestructible Elven artefact from pre-War of Tears, the cavorite is near the base of it which is currently below ground level.

We withdraw from proximity to the tower before the patrols of elite troops and mind mages arrive, take a quick look around the city, then discretely leave over a side wall.

Once out of sight of the city we emerge and fly towards Stable's northern camp.
Setting up camp in a convenient cave where we can observe, we rest and watch the activity for the rest of the day and through the bright.

The Pelican is being fed cows and being trained (by a Black Dragon - presumably Stable) to eat them on dry land. It is from a plane called Aquatica.

There is no sign of the Dreadnought, nor of the skiff/barge. Locating the skiff we find it is back in the city we just left.

=== Chapter 9: Tea with a Black Dragon ===

; MK Day 15
Further delaying suicidal attacks on Stable we find a short cut back to the farm of Master Water Mirror to talk to him about consulting with Imperial Uncle.

; MK Day 16
We track down the 'rebel' army but get stuck dealing with (and trying not to kill) bureaucrats.

; MK Day 17
The letter from Master Water Mirror reaches Sleeping Dragon who organises for us to meet with him and Imperial Uncle.

We tell them what's really going on with Stable in the hopes that they will then be able to focus their military efforts on the issue.
They had been quite happy with Stable because he was a moderating force amongst the Chancellor's supporters, only providing token military support to the Chancellor.
Now that they know Stable has two Dragons on his side they are even more keen for him to keep out of the civil war.

Mortimer discusses several Mechanician and Philosophical advances with their philosophers to balance out (and devalue) those that Stable is providing to the Chancellor.

Imperial uncle's best suggestion is that they appoint us their official representatives to Stable so that we can spy, talk and trade under 'diplomatic protection'. Which means the rebels would be officially annoyed if we were all killed.

He also suggests that we track down Motte LEA's brother, the God of Serpent Slaying so that he can deal with the problem.
We believe this to mean that G.O.S.S. would be expected to slay Stable and his Aunty. We later work out that I.U. expects G.O.S.S. to slay the giant-phasing-ground-snakes so that the empire is not troubled by them or displaced talking animals.

; MK Day 18
Underwhelmed, we decide to consult with the local dragon-gods.
Heading to a god-mountain, Ax IS proceeds to meet with the local (black) dragon without us to convince them that Cavorite should be included in the flying ban.
The brief meeting (several hours) over fine tea can be summarised as "they don't care". Cavorite does not breach the letter of the law which is more important than the spirit of the ban.
Also some interesting asides about how the failure of kites and balloons to fly people is more about poor design than any enforcement of bans.

: Privately we conclude that the migration of dragons to the Middle Kingdom was not about seeking a higher path or refuge from the wars on Alusia, it was the dragons of Alusia banishing all of their litigators.

We finish the day in conversation with the Jade Lady, she is unable to tell us exactly where G.O.S.S. is which implies he is somewhere she cannot magically scry which implies one of the Banerock screened locations.

=== Chapter 10: Travelling Minstrels ===

High rank divination of the banerock reveals that it affects the Drow because we are semi-corporeal and it does not affect Stable's humans at all.
This makes any form of raid against Stable's banerock protected sites near-impossible as his troops magic will be rank 20-40 and ours will be rank 0 at best.

We decide to start scouting the banerock protected buildings for GOSS. The capitol seems most likely but we decide to test our troupe of troubadours playing 'new wave' (Carzalan) music on a couple of smaller cities before trying the capital.

; MK Day 19
Travelling quickly between cities we do three on the first day.
Our disguise works as we hoped, we are listened to and then promptly paid to move on.
Pub classics like "Seagate bridge is falling down" and "If my father owned an Inn" prove particularly unpopular.
Everyone assumes we are slightly inept spies, we are tested occasionally with odd pass phrases, passed information and probably disinformation which we randomly pass on at the next city.

At the third city we spot a couple of merchants who are Humans from Alusia, we mess with them for a while, implying there is competition to their trade from Alusia, then abduct them for some serious questioning.

They give us their routine answers revealing they are spies for Stable, giving up secrets about local troop movements and trade.
Then we start asking them about the stuff we're interested in. They don't know any more about Stable's plans apart from gaining wealth from the inter-planar trade.
The giant Pelican is for harvesting Elephants, Stable is focussed on getting it trained, then using it as much as he can while he can.
Their elephant raids are often disrupted by the arrival of Wyrms.
They know nothing about the abduction of GOSS.

We leave our prisoners hidden and seemingly dead (Petit Mort) which will keep them from reporting back for a month.

; MK Day 20
Moving on to the capital we can find no sign of GOSS from outside the imperial palace.
Getting inside is impossible, the entire place is bound earth, above is screened by a web of Rk 30+ death spells, intrusion above or below is promptly detected and promptly responded to with powerful non-standard magic.
In the course of investigating and testing the palace we learn that it was bound with socially undesirable Drow under the cover of a plague sweeping the city. We estimate that they sacrificed thousands of their own people to bind the palace.

Talking to the local spies we learn that while this is the last place that GOSS was seen, they think it unlikely that he would be held here, most likely he would be outside the empire somewhere.
Piecing together astrology and other clues indicating he is north of the empire, we decide to see if he is held by the Five Venoms south-east of the empire.

; MK Day 21
We travel to where we were ambushed and question the spirit of the head of Toad Clan.
He does not acknowledge their prisoner as the god of anything but he does confirm they are holding him on behalf of the Chancellor. While he was originally in a banerock coffin, they have since found a better use for the banerock so he should be locatable once we are in the right area. We get the location and head that way.

; MK Day 22
They are holding him in a monastery like building overlooking a training camp.
We observe their movements for a while and Ax IS locates exactly which tower and floor he is on.

After approaching underground, we tunnel out the tower he is held in, getting a pool of acid as a bonus.
Quickly fishing the hibernated GoSS out of the acid and brushing him off, we take our leave.

=== Chapter 11: Now what I heard is... ===

; MK Day 23
Party begins counter-intelligence activities: publicising the implicit threat in Stable's talking-animal army; wards illustrating the worm menace; etc.

By Day 30, Stable's forces have withdrawn from Thorny-Paths & his factors are negotiating to find a purchaser of the estate. Party enters the Compound, just ahead of the looting mobs, & finds Alusian materials (remnants of Packing crates etc) to convert into music boxes, etc. ...

After a fortnight, almost all Governors have pulled up their banerock and redeployed it in less dangerous ways

=== Chapter 12: Stable Bait for Venoms ===

The Five Venoms strike us as a a group of mercenary thugs and extortionists who would be good if only they had some demons to crusade against.
We decide to help out by illuminating to them the 'demonic' nature of Stable and his troops.

Donning appropriate disguises (including Ax IS and Prudence as black dragons) we brief the troops we captured from Thorny-Paths on the pre-emptive strike we must make on the Five Venoms before they discover we are really from another world.
The dragons fly us in, the troops from Thorny-Paths are dropped at the training camp (along with some Agony and Flash of Light) to disrupt the camp and ensure they are not able to effective aid the monastery we are about to assault.
We then fly up to the monastery, make a couple of passes dropping some earthquakes, flashes of light, agony, and assorted other party tricks.
Their reaction and defence is obviously stronger than we expected so we are forced to withdraw leaving 'our men' behind.

Having stirred up all we can, we decide it's time to head home.
The local end of the summoning is moved to master Water-Mirror's farm and we settle in for the next 6 months as the ritual is performed to return us home.

; 9th Thaw 808wk, W'ansday

We emerge from beneath the bell to find that about a week has passed since we first went in.

===What happened to GoSS===
Soon after Lord STABLE (Duke Xeno of Alsine) was elevated for his contributions to the Empire & Chancellor KIN's regime, he received the Imperial Monopoly on non-poisonous vermin by-products, considered an insignificant gesture at the time. But shortly before the elephant hunting began, the God of Serpent-Slayers (Prudence of Antecarzala) disappeared. In his own words:

"I was investigating the new Imperial Precinct at Long-Peaceful, especially the Banerock ... kingdom of the one-eyed & all that. I noticed that General Graceful PLUM, a trusted follower of the Chancellor, had a secretary that was both human & a skilled mind-mage assassin from the Centipede Clan. I followed him overconfidently, but lost him when he entered a temple. He must have double back, because the last thing I remember before you woke me up 30 years later was being hit by Lightning."

Lord CLOSE, Imperial Uncle SLAY's oath-brother confirmed that, about that time, General PLUM sent a secret message that he wanted to defect from the Chancellor's misguided faction & join the True Imperial cause but almost immediately PLUM's brother (his only remaining close relative) lost his head in a freak accident and Plum understandably lost his nerve. Spies have been re-questioned & apparently Plum's secretary-cum-counterassassin disappeared just beforehand.

''After you have finished the adventure'', you are informed that the '''human''' assassin from 5-venoms killed & is now '''masquerading''' as General Plum, who is still being sent on special missions on behalf of the Chancellor ... but no-one has ever witnessed Chancellor & General meet. Once again, a halo of plausible deniability encircles the Chancellor!

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==
=== Nominations ===
=== Quotes ===
'''Ax IS''': I once had an axe that always returned, but I lent it to a friend & it never came back.

So the leaders in this Drow civil war are KIN & SLAY. Are we sure some dragon somewhere isn't sniggering over that?

'''Mortimer''' (in shock): ... this means Stable is a Demonic entity. 
'''Motley''' (reassuringly): That's OK, you don't ''have'' to worship him.

'''Mortimer''' (to Sir Kit. in surprise): Actually you ''may'' be right. 
'''Chesca''' (Kit's wife): Don't tell him that!

'''Sir Kit''': How are you going to increase the Drow Population? 
'''Motley''': What? ''Personally''?

=== Hot and Not ===

== Reference Information ==
=== People ===
=== Places ===
Some relevant links on the background of the Marquis Stable:
* [[Raniterre]]
* [[Bretonnia]]
* [[Aeir Ships]]

=== Expenses ===

=== Standard Buffs ===
"A" = always on, "Y" = Yes please, "-" not required, blank = as required

{| border=0 cellspacing=2 |
|-
!width="150px" Align="Left"| Magic
!width="25px" Align="Left" | By
!width="25px" Align="Left" | Rk
!width="200px" Align="Left"| Effects
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ax
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Br
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ka
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ki
!width="30px" Align="Left" | MG
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Mot
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Na
|-
|Armour of Earth ||Br ||21 || +44% Def -2 Dam 21 Hrs ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||- ||
|-
|Enchant Armour ||Ax ||20 || +42% Def +1 AP 20.5 Hrs || || || || || || ||
|-
|Strength of Stone ||Br ||20 || +21 EN 41 Hrs ||Y ||A ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y
|-
|Fire Armour ||Br ||10 ||21 Hrs 44 Protection ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y
|-
|Disguise ||Ki ||21 || 42 Hrs || || ||A ||A || || ||
|-
|Choker || * || * ||Counterspells 4 Hrs || ||Fire || ||Mind || ||Nec ||
|-
|Faith || Ki || 13 ||MR 93%+ ||A ||A ||A ||A ||A ||- ||A
|-
|Quickness ||Ax ||? ||6 Targets, ?x[d-5] pulses || || || || || || ||
|-
|Spectral Weapon ||Na || 20 || +21 SC, +7 Dmg, 25 min || || ||Y ||- || || ||A
|-
|Trollskin ||Br ||13 ||Regen 1 EN/Pulse 95 Sec || || || || || || ||
|-
|Invisibility ||Ki ||21 || 3.5 Hrs || || || || || || ||
|-
|Multiple Images ||Ki ||10 || 3 images 11mins || || || || || || ||
|-
|Restoratives ||MG || || -?EN +?FT best before ? Sec || || || || || || ||
|-
|Enhance Enchantment ||Ax ||20 || +20 Ranks || || || || || || ||
|-
|Siren Woods Water || || || +5 / 10 for 50MK Days || || || || || || ||
|-
|TMR 'potion' || || || +3 TMR - duration ||colspan=7|6 potions.
|}
* * Chokers allow extended duration counterspells cast on self
* Most durations are assumed to be enhanced.
; Braegon's Anti-Scrying (while on ground)
: 3 Hex Radius, blocks magical scrying, blocks Locate, ESP, Telepathy < Rk 21
; Raphael's Faith (within 50' of Kit)
: A proportion of Kit's MR is shared with all PoL, non-pacted allies and innocents within 50'. 93% is a typical value - the exact MR will vary, mainly upwards.
;Multiple Image Wards
:Within 30 minutes of pitching camp, individual 2' diameter Multiple Image wards will be available for each party member (''excluding Motley''). Do not step in them until Quickened. They add 3 images.

; Duration Extensions at Transition
: 1 Alusian day = 60 MK days
: 1 Alusian hour = 2.5 actual MK days
: 1 Alusian minute = 1h 30m MK
: (36 MK hours in a MK day, but ''counted'' as less; 1 Alusian year = 90 MK years @ '''240''' MK days per year)

;<s>Forbidden Magic
* '''''Glove Magic'''''.
</s>
;Agility
If you aren't used to high Agility, consider re-reading the Combat Rules, or [[Kit%27s_Warrior_Guide#Extraordinary_Agility|this guide]].

=== Calendar ===

{| cellspacing=1 border=0 class="Season" id="Spring"
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Thaw]] (10)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Candlemansa]]
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
| The Carzalan Generals Ball
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Seedtime]] (11)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
| Rites of Thunor
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
| Equinox
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
| Eostre
| class=day | 18
| The Seagate Spring Ball
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|}

Ephemeral Elephants

2026-06-06T03:50:44Z

Terryintransit:

== Summary==
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
Adventure: '''''Ephemeral Elephants''''' (a Merchant [of] Ivory Production)

GM: [[GM's#GM: Michael Parkinson|Michael Parkinson]] 
Season: Spring 808 wk 
Night: Tuesday starting 16/09/08 
Location: Faulder Ave, Westmere 
Level: Upper-Medium to High (must have a high "weird" quotient) 
[[Middle Kingdom Loot, 808]]

[[Category: Michael Parkinson]][[Category: Scribe Notes]][[Category: Middle Kingdom]]
[[Category: Axis]]
[[Category: 'Chesca]]
[[Category: Impetuous Hawk]]
[[Category: Braegon]]
[[Category: Mortimer]]
[[Category: Motley]]
[[Category: Naden]]
== Party ==

A party of '''Heroes & Scholars''', plus support staff (Friends & Beauties) to be vetted beforehand by "the '''''brother''''' of the God of Wyrm-slayers, ''a.k.a.'' God of Serpent-Slayers": the emphasis is on a variety of colleges & species. A Rank-8 healer is probably essential.

Confirmed or Interested Party members
# [[Axis]] Dragonmage (& attendant Exaltation of Larks) - Party Leader
# [['Chesca]] - (Hardy Incense) Beauty
# [[Impetuous Hawk]] - Hero
# [[Braegon]] (Living STONE) - Hero, Healer, and Tactician
# [[Mortimer]] - Scholar
# [[Motley]] - Hero and Bro. GoSS
# [[Naden]] - Elf Friend

Most important: [[Middle Kingdom Statistics]], and [[Name and Persona]]

Useful: [[I get bonuses?]], and [[MK Colleges]]

=== Personae ===
; Ax Is, Dragonmage
: Hidden Dragon?

; HARDY Incense
:Her cloak changes according to whim
:Her whim changes according to circumstance

; Impetuous HAWK
:He wears a hat woven from the first skin shed by new bamboo shoots.
:His clothes are of yam from the wild cotton-tree.
:His belt is silk from an old silkworm, and from it hangs a broken set of shears.
:The straw sandals under his feet have straps torn from rotten sago trees.
:His face is round and innocent, with a gleam of youthful mischief in his eye.

; Living STONE
:Rough featured, plain speaking, man of the soil.
:His hands carry the gifts of life and death.
:Recognisable by his drab brown cloak, strange shield, and unusual mace

; White-Tiger GRAVES
:Possessed of unnatural beauty and grace,
:He fashions the elements into cunning devices.
:His white raiment reflects his mastery of metal.

; Motte LEA
: Of Uncertain height
: Reserved dress, colourful silks
: Just this guy, you know?

; Just BAGGAGE
:Ineptious, inextricable and inebriated servant of Master Dragonmage
:Lazy
:Surly
:Delinquent

== Guild Spiel (at Spring meeting 808): ==

Employer:   Party is hired by a being called Puppet who has come "to the Lower Planes" 
Payment:     One heart, plus whatever you seize from "the wilderness beyond the known world". 
Location:     off-plane, "The [[Middle Kingdom]]" & places beyond. 

Thus speaks Puppet:

''"O mighty Demons & Denizens of the Underworld, your humble supplicant travelled far for many years and has finally attained this lower plane where dwells the brother of the '''God of Wyrm-slayers''', long since vanished.''

''"In the Southwestern Wilderness beyond the civilised world, the natural food source of the Serpents is fast disappearing, so they are predating on the talking animals (I think this bizzare tongue you speak calls them go-blins, or gobblings, or something). That means trouble for the Empire since the goblins are very ugly and, though poor mages & fighters, they employ painful, fatal poisons & other forbidden war-tricks.''

''"The wise strategist '''Sleeping Dragon''' advised I should seek a variety of species of demons, especially of different colleges, to solve the mystery and preferably stop it. In payment whereof I offer the heart of this humble vessel and whatever you wish & can carry away from the Wilderness.''

''"In summary: the missing food source is called E-le-phant, which is like the mythical mammoth, but somewhat larger and less hairy. Serpents swallow elephants; fewer elephants causes serpents to devour other animals instead; other animals flee into the Empire and cause trouble."''

See guide on how to be [[Middle Kingdom Heroes]]

== Scribe Notes ==

=== Chapter 1: Hu, Wat, Wy? ===
''In a guild meeting room, a party meets with a confusion of names.''

Axis and Motley have been to this plane 3 years ago which equates to a couple of centuries of local time.
In the Middle Kingdoms the Dragons are equivalent to gods (venerated, powerful, and seldom seen), this makes Axis virtually a demi-god - a step or two above heroes and scholars.
Motley once carried a dragon bone which was later resurrected, the dragon was adopted mother of the 'God of Wyrm Slayers' in the MK, hence Motley being the Brother of the God of Serpent Slayers.
Last time they were there they had support from others of Motley's extended family, passing items, money, food, etc. through to the party on request.

Motley and Axis attempt to explain how MK works, guild philosophers fill in some of the blanks and aid the general confusion.

Axis is appointed Party Leader, Kit and Braegon are the closest we have to qualified Military Leaders, as for scribing, we are not sure whether any of us will be literate in MK so we agree to all remember as much as possible and consolidate and compare notes.

Puppet, our employer is escorted in.
He is a golem infused with the spirit of '''Level-State LOFTY''' a scholar of the hidden mountains and follower of Sleeping Dragon.
He offers us the golem body which has a 5lb heart of gold which he offers to us for our services, once he has no further need for the golem body.

Puppet attempts to explain the local political situation as well as the official issue which is the impending invasion of 'Talking Animals', he is not asking us to resolve the political issues but that probably would resolve the other issues if we happened to approach it that way.
To add to the confusion, Motley tries to get a history lesson on what has happened since he was last there, discovering that several of his clear memories are in fact of other worlds.

Puppet retires and his servant (a wood golem) tries to sort out our confusion.

The emperor rules the empire and is revered and loved by all. The only person who gets to see the emperor is the Chancellor/Prime Minister/Grand Vizier who also handles the menial task of actually governing the empire in the Emperor's name.

Some 200 years ago the ''previous'' Chancellor '''Table DIRECT''', burned the imperial capital and moved the imperial capital back to its old location further up the river. The new imperial palace (''Long-peaceful'') was rapidly expanded and is now the size of an average city. That Chancellor had Motley's Monastery razed and outlawed all of its residents/followers. Unusually, he provided an excuse for this action -- a great threat to the empire would arise from this Monastery. Our employer acquired what he needed for the ritual to bring us to MK from the ruins of that Monastery.

The current Chancellor, '''Grasp KIN''' (who, to give him his due, did attempt to assassinate Chancellor DIRECT long before it became fashionable) is considered to be corrupt and a traitor to the emperor by many provincial governors but none of them were willing to openly stand against him on their own.
An agreement was signed to stand together against the Chancellor; naturally this fell into the hands of the Chancellor who has now mobilised the army to crush each of the rebels named on the agreement.
Most of the provinces are withholding taxes as they need them to defend themselves from their rebellious neighbours.

Imperial Uncle '''Prepared-to SLAY''' was reportedly named the official representative of the Emperor; those that oppose the Chancellor choose to believe I.U. SLAY and support him in overthrowing the Chancellor. Of course,
I.U. SLAY is now branded a rebel, dismissed from his Provincial Governorship and is now being hunted by several imperial armies (controlled by the chancellor) in the central province.

MK is not connected to our planes in the normal ways we are used to. Previous groups have discovered they could not summon Elementals or Demons to MK.

Having dimensional pockets of any sort when going there would be bad, at the least they would break.

Any magics on us when we transition will last for about 60 times longer once we are there.

We will each need appropriate heroic names and personas so that we are recognised and respected as heroes and scholars in the MK.

To get to MK, our employer will perform a 3-day ritual, we will spend this time inside a large bronze bell. At the end of the ritual our spirits will leave our bodies and travel to the MK where we will manifest as Drow avatars of ourselves.
To get back we need to go through a similar ritual which will subjectively seem like 3-6 months for us.

Puppet has bought us some speed (TMR) potions to drink before we go through.

Motley suggests visiting his 'Auntie' to see if she can provide some crutches for transition and maybe some other support. Kit is unkeen on doing the ritual there as that would leave his spirit-less body in the hands of Forasites.

Braegon suggests drinking water from a village in the Siren Woods that is renowned for its (slow and clumsy) great thinkers before we transition. The effects only last one day so we would need to get there and drink during the last day of the ritual.
Performing the ritual there may be unwise as the local fae would almost certainly investigate and experiment with our spirit-less bodies.

=== Chapter 2: Eight in a Bell ===

; 2nd Thaw - 4th Thaw
The following morning we all gather inside the giant bronze bell and LOFTY starts his ritual.
Even with regular cantrips, illusions, and Braegons' fresh breath by the end of three days the inside of the bell feels very ripe.

During LOFTY's last rest-break we all sneak out to the village in Siren Woods, drink up large then stagger back before he awakes.

; MK Day 1
We come out in a cave, not where LOFTY expected us to arrive but he quickly realises that his allies must have moved the arrival point to somewhere that would be safe during the bright.
It is early dark, looking out from the cave we can see a walled city in the valley below us.

Performing our assorted transformations we take to the air and fly up river from the city, heading for a farm that is home to one LOFTY's allies '''"Master Water Mirror"''' [a nickname, such as would be granted to a powerful wayist mage, indicating that the Mind, like water, can only reflect when it is calm], whose formal name is Pennant MARSHALL, ITN ''Grasp-Virtue''. He behaves as if you already know he is a mindmage.

On the way we see armies encamped outside two towns, one appears to be besieging, the other mobilising to defend.

Master Water Mirror welcomes us, and escorts us through to a lake side palace that was not visible on approach (presumably a portal, dimensional pocket, illusionary terrain or similar).

He tells us about the progress of the imperial army, and of the new architecture that is getting installed whenever the Chancellor (now officially Prime Minister) replaces a Regional Governor with one of his own.

They are using some form of stone that prevents magic being cast, suppresses magic in effect and rapidly reduces the remaining duration of the suppressed magic (affecting everything up to and including permanent spells and rituals).
How they are manufacturing this stone or where it is coming from are closely guarded secrets held by a new guild that is directly controlled by the Prime Minister. Spies sent to find out more have not reported back.

We experiment and find we can stay awake during the bright, Ax Is is quickened, the rest of us are slowed.

=== Chapter 3: Flight to the Provinces ===

; MK Day 2
Performing our various transformations we board Ax IS and fly up river.
After about 8 hours (280 miles), Ax IS is hungry and needs to stop for a snack - a couple of Oxen should do.
BAGGAGE purchases the Oxen from a farmer, STONE sets up a fire pit and dining area then roasts the Oxen over a pool of magma.

After lunch we fly on and reach the town of '''Orange County''', in the Province of '''Benefit-State''', just before twilight.
We find an Inn near teh famous temple, dine, and then retire for the night.
The locals tell us we have just missed ''Luscious DREAMS & her vignettes'', a riské travelling dance troop, probably spies, and warn us that we should make the most of meat for dinner as it will be much more expensive further west. Enquiring further we find out that animals in the plateau to the west [the rest of Benefit-State] are poisonous to eat and animals that travel into the area become poisonous within a few days.
We ignore a disturbance outside during the bright, in the morning we find out it was a fire which the town guard dealt with.

; MK Day 3
Flying further upriver, we land for lunch and catch a local animal (a four-footed fowl) to experiment with.
It is tainted with something that is poisonous to us when we eat it, we find we can use items and abilities to become immune to the poison or cure it but the meat still tastes off.
Fortunately it is not poisonous nor foul tasting to Ax IS, so he is able to eat his fill while we stick to a vegetarian diet.

We reach '''Thorny-Paths''' a few hours before toolight; this is the most Southwestern city in the Empire. We land outside town and walk in like regular heroes.

Wandering through town we encounter a fight between two heroes; it takes a while and seems to follow some rules which we don't entirely understand.
One of the heroes is a senior member of Lord Stabilised's guard and he eventually wins with a trip-throw. Once he wanders off we introduce ourselves and heal the injury of the fallen hero, '''Full REST''' the unlucky.

Lord Stabilised's ''proper'' name is the '''Marquis of Stable''', which lies in North, beyond the Imperial Capital. Stable is considered ''nouveau riche'' and is a friend/supporter/lackey of the Chancellor.

REST is a master ranger, he often travels through the highlands and escorts groups (Human and Drow).
His vocal antipathy towards Stabilised and his men is what lead to the fight outside but his continued comments over drinks in the inn do not draw any new challenges.
The elephants are scarce recently (within the past few decades).
The wyrms travel through the ground, he has seen one once and survived by remaining high in a tree. They would each eat about 50 elephants a year.
Armour-Dillos are another significant danger, like giant armoured ant eaters, their hide is virtually invulnerable and they attack with their whip-like tongue.
He often deals with the ''talking animals'' (Humans) and is on good terms with one House based about 150 miles upriver that deals in tea.

Once REST has retired for the bright (slumped at the table in a drunken stupor), we retire to our rooms and then prepare to visit the human camp across the river.

In town we spy that Stables' guard are very active during the bright, investigation reveals that most of them are Human disguised as Drow.

Sneaking over the walls, we then tunnel to and under the river to a new cave under the encampment.
Adjusting their robes so they appear human like the ones above they emerge, enter the camp and chat with some of the locals.
They learn that these humans do not have anything to do with Stables' human guard, but they have observed them killing elephants in the mountains, removing the tusks and bones, and leaving the flesh to rot.

We leave a hidden entrance to our cave in a back room in the camp and head back towards town the same way we came.

=== Chapter 4: Splintered Incense and Baggage ===
; MK Day 4
Privately discussing plans we decide to go elephant hunter hunting in order to have some privacy to capture and question some of the Human-Drow Guards.

We then indiscreetly discuss elephant hunting and purchase supplies for an extended hunting trip in the mountains to ensure that the guards would find out what we're up to and hopefully set out after us.

Trying to blend in as 'normal' heroes the party purchases passage across the river in small boats, STONE and Ax IS travel under the river rather than risk sinking the small boats or being seen flying.

A short walk away from the river HAWK pulls horses out from behind Motte LEA, releases a couple that are too small and eventually has the group mounted to his satisfaction.

'''Laid Low by a Splinter'''

After around three hours of riding south at a brisk pace, there was a momentary darkening of the stars, and then a veritable shower of bamboo splinters rained down upon the party.
A single bamboo hair touched Incense's fair and sensitive skin, and she fell off her horse - not bespelled, not poisoned, but deeply naturally asleep. The party immediately circled wagons (or Walls of Stone), but as Motte LEA scouted from halfway up a tree, another burst of bamboo splinters was inbound. BAGGAGE threw himself over STONE, who was crouched over the fallen Incense, but STONE's mighty breath weapon knocked BAGGAGE several feet into the air as it scattered the bamboo shards, one of which BAGGAGE breathed in.
For all his legendary hardiness, BAGGAGE was also instantly comatose.

Motte LEA reported that the artillery attacks were coming from 300 yards up a wooded hill to our right, so we picked up our fallen comrades (well, Beauty & Friend -– Heroes seem to be immune to such trifling inconveniences as artillery), and marched up the hill towards the siege weapon.
Of course, we did it while tunnelling, which reduced our speed to around 10'/second.
The enemy sent two scouts down the hill towards our last known location.
We managed to tunnel under one, and he dropped at our feet, whereupon he was killed faster than the party leader and mil sci could say 'sleep him'.
Fortunately STONE found his fatal injuries were not that bad and Ax IS helped him sleep.
The other scout was highly invisible and off to one side, so we pushed on to the summit.

Ax IS scryed the enemy as we ambled along, and his report of a mage, several weird and Heroic fighters plus a half-dozen archers made us forcefully wake Baggage despite the risk of permanent brain damage.

To soften up the enemy, GRAVE let loose with an Earth Tremor under the bamboo siege weapon, which left the enemy all shook up. Then, on Stone's signal, the ground opened up beneath the enemy.
The twin Heroes (later identified as Double-Happy & Twin-Joy of the CENTIPED clan), the archers, and one Beauty disguised as an archer fell into our underground fighting pit, and were hit by a Flash of Light, a 12-target blindness curse and multiple force bolts.

STONE winced in pain as most of the archers died.
The Beauty let loose a couple of arrows while up-side-down and tumbling, and one of the twin Heroes got off a pre-emptive strike as we closed, but then Motte LEA and HAWK hit & killed two of them, and the remaining Hero on the surface ('Mr Toad') failed to keep his balance near the lip, and fell down the hole, accidentally mixing two immiscibly explosive liquids.
The rest of the enemy died in the explosion, and then BAGGAGE finished preparing his spell – I don't know why we risked brain damage to wake him, it being all over in 3 seconds flat.

Ax IS reports that of those he saw, there are three remaining archers above and the invisible scout is missing.

=== Chapter 5: Talking Animals ===

The fires are extinguished, an odd stone cube is recovered from Toad's ashes, STONE provides some ramps to the surface, and while Incense rouses from her slumber, HAWK and BAGGAGE head up to seek the surrender of the archers.

One of the archers informs us in no uncertain terms that they will fight the unholy soul-eaters to the death.
HAWK and BAGGAGE oblige, subduing them as the rest of the group arrives.

STONE and REST track the invisible scout to the edge of the river, assorted animals and rocks dive into the water to bring him out.

Questions to the conscious are met with stubborn silence or invective.
BAGGAGE compels the more seriously wounded to talk.

They are a mixed strike-force the '''Five Venoms Clan'''.
Their agent in the human trading town was suspicious of us as we passed and alerted his masters via something like wind-speech.
Led by the Master of the '''Toad''' sub-clan the strike unit wood-portalled from their Mountain fortress 600-ish miles SSE to intercept us.
As we got closer, Master Toad informed the unit that we were '''soul-eaters''', this inspired them in the same way that a nest of demonics inspires Michaelines.
Master Toad's cube is a holy relic that detects soul-eaters, each of the 5 masters of Five Venoms has a similar relic, it is part of their clans purpose to root out incursions of soul-eaters (the last one was about 350 years ago).
They expect other strike units to be coming after us as soon as they can be organised.

After a quick discussion and decisive leadership we decide to travel rapidly to visit the Tea clan.
Following a quick ride and flight, Hero REST introduces us and vouches for us which gets us invited in as welcome guests.
BAGGAGE is quickly dismissed and we take tea with the leaders of the clan -- especially their senior healer, '''Camellia'''.

Interpretting the evidence & discussion, we learn that a void cruiser came through a 'hole in the sky' about 350 years ago, plummeted and smashed into the ground. The survivors took refuge in a couple of mining settlements in the mountains and ate the souls of any they could get hold of. It was several decades before they were finally destroyed.

The Tea Clan are on the edge of the human settled areas, they have been here for about 45 centuries maintaining a low profile and trading high quality tea to the drow empire.

From the Tea Clan's records, Camellia advises that the first sign of the hunters was a suspicious military unit sighted 36 years ago: intentions unknown. Lord Stabe, ''as such'' (?), has only has a residence in Thorny-Paths for the past 23 years. Stable's guards are not seen out this way very often, 8 years ago they were in a valley a few miles away during the bright and slaughtered a lot of elephants, taking most of the bones, teeth, and tusks.
During the last 35 years quite a few human settlements have disappeared or been destroyed. Reports from further afield are imprecise but there was a copper mining village in the mountains only 40 miles away that was destroyed by Wyrms.

There are some human settlements on the coast and nearby islands, there are also some who live on floating towns - 1000' rafts with 20+ masts.

; MK Day 5

We fly up to the valley where the elephants were slaughtered. It is clear that magic was used to summon and then slaughter them all. The few small bones we can find have no intrinsic magical value that we can detect.

At the copper miners' village we find signs of giant Wyrms moving over the surface and several discontinuous 30' diameter tunnels of stone that look like they were eaten.
Following a hunch, White-Tiger rigs a water wheel to a trip hammer to set up a regular thumping on the ground.
Observing from a distance we wait, about six hours later a 200 yard long 50' diameter worm phases out of the ground and consumes the area of ground where the water wheel was.
Swooping in to DA before it phases back into the ground we learn that it is a millennia-old non-sentient animal.
After some speculation we decide we can't make any practical use of it and return to the tea clan.

=== Chapter 6: New Plane, Same Enemies ===

; MK Day 6
Further research and discussion.

; MK Day 7
Leading the way, STONE finds a short cut back to the mountains just across the river from Thorny-Paths.
There we dig in and created a shielded bunker.

A couple of hours later we wander back into the city and settle into our inn to drink away our disappointment in our failed hunt.

Wandering town in small discrete groups we learn that Stable's troops are on high alert as Stable (or maybe the Duchess) is in town.
The guards only leave the compound in units of 100, everything going in or out is thoroughly searched.
DAing the guards again we learn they are from Alusia, most of them have been here for 30+ years but some have travelled here more recently. The ones that have been here longer have lower ranked illusions making them seem Drow, however the most recent ones have no illusions, just disguised with the armour and face plate of helmet.

Motte LEA-fish swims up the drains into the ornamental lake within Stable's compound, there he finds a bound structure beneath the water, presumably where their most secret or most important goings-on are based.

; MK Day 8
Setting up an ambush of light, dark, and Calimar illusions we lurk beneath the street waiting for a unit to come by.
As the Calimar ambush goes off at street level, we invite three of the guards to join us below where REST delights in rendering them unconscious.
A short run later we are over the wall, back underground, and off to our bunker.

HAWK and GRAVES report that the ambushed unit reacted like crack troops and fired on the Calimar as soon as they saw it.

Once at the bunker, Incense gauges the style of armour of the guards as being from Alsine, one of the duchies of [[Raniterre]]. She had spent some time doing mitary training in the area a few years back so is able to direct the adjustment of our environment and costumes, then assume the role of a commander to debrief the guards.

This expedition is here to garner riches for Alsine at the command of the Duke of Alsine (aka Lord Stable) and the Duchess of Alsine (who is currently in the compound in Thorny-Paths).
They got here by following a void cruiser in their flying ship. They have two ships that can make the journey, one a "dreadnaught" the other called a transporter. The existence of the ships is a closely guarded state secret. We hypothesise they were created on another plane, and since the law of the dragons precludes any magical flying, these [[Aeir ships]] must use cavorite.
Initially they harvested ivory to sell back on Alusia, now they are also trading some Alusian goods and knowledge to the local Drow. Including Magnifying glass, and Bane-Rock from the Mountains of Madness which happens to be a lot more effective here (reducing the effect of all magic by 20 ranks).
The Duke and Duchess are spending quite a lot of time here themselves as they are more powerful here - college abilities above their normal limits and an additional elemental college. Duchess is rank 40 in E&E and rank 30 in Rune. The Duke gave up his illusion college and is now Bardic & Earth. This implies they are considered draconic in some way by the Middle Kingdom.

They use a tower named "Tower of Fortitude" to fly around catching the elephants. This tower Incense recalls from the walls of Alsine Citadel, as being of ancient Drow origin, probably consecrated to one of the ancient Drow dieties, with anti-undead flavour (to irk Nevar). The walls are 10' thick bound stone, overall dimensions 50'x50'x700' high, pagoda shaped. Some floors are bound wood, some stone. The floor levels & room heights are inconsistent & irratic (door max 7' height). One mage is in control of it to move. There will be many troops and bound air inside th tower. The tower has returned to Alsine once since it has been harvesting the ivory here, and came back with more troops since it was empty. The tower is now having to go further afield to reach the elephants.

Alsine troops grouped in 100 per Unit. There may be 5-10 mages (many colleges) per unit usually, but may not have as many in Middle Kingdom. Most wear chain, some lower ranks only improved leather, most officers in Plate. Chain unusual in MK, so is hidden under cloth/normal armour. Alsine is known as the military training ground for most of the Duchies in Raniterre, however there seem to be only those from Alsine in MK. Due to the time conversion rates, they have acheived rank 8 warrior, and many have higher ranks.

We speculate that the portal their ships are using is probably the 'hole in the sky' that the Tea Clan told us the void cruiser fell out of.

; MK Day 8
Before taking any further actions, we decide to report back to our employers now that we know what is going on.
STONE finds another short cut and after an 8 hour hike we are back at the farm of Master Water Mirror where we tell him almost everything we have learned.

Options from here:
* Steal / 'Sink' their flying ships
* Close the portal
* Capture/kill the Duke/Duchess
* See what we can do about the Bane Rock
* Investigate /capture tower
* Repopulate inner lands with elephants

=== Chapter 7: Bane Rock and Portals ===

; MK Day 9
To check out the bane rock we fly north-east to a city that has been recently pacified where we hope to find them importing bane rock for the governors palace.
One day by cart out of town we find the staging camp where the stone is being delivered to before being conventionally hauled into the city.
They have 2-500 guards at the camp depending on where they're at in the delivery cycle. We watch through the bright and see the rock being bought in by flying barge.
The barge is not locatable while loaded with rock but we can track it when it leaves and it seems to be heading towards Lord Stables' lands.

; MK Day 10
We find a bridge over a river on the cart road into town and prepare an ambush, as one of the last carts crosses, the bridge gives way spilling a cart and its load into the river.
Once things have settled down and the other carts have continued to the city we move in, avoid the guards, and quietly make off with three of the 400lb blocks.

Finding a short-cut back to a glade near Master Water Mirror's farm we start experimenting with the rock.

STONE is not able to convert it into something more useful (anti-bane or boon rock).
It affects anyone in direct contact or passing over it and any magic targeted at it, in greater quantity its range of effect increases.
It reduces the effective rank of all magic by 20 ranks, even affecting shaped items and racial talents.
It is very hard to damage, but with experimentation we discover that if it is reduced to less than about 200lb then the bane effect stops. Recombine the broken bits into one piece of 200lb or more and the effect resumes.
Cold Iron does not nullify or reduce its affect.

; MK Day 11
Having no immediate use for it we leave the three blocks in the care of Master Water Mirror and take a short-cut back to the Tea Clan where we get directions to the 'hole in the sky' that the void cruiser fell from.

; MK Day 12
A long flight later we reach the area. The portal is about a mile across and very high, well above where it is possible to breathe safely.
Ax IS flies STONE and GRAVES up to the portal and hovers while GRAVES divines the portal.
It is a portal to the void, it may be possible to shift it to another location in the Middle Kingdom from this side but closing it or moving it to another plane would need to be done from the void.

; MK Day 13
By short-cut and by wing we travel towards Lord Stable's lands to track down his three flying ships (barge, dreadnought, and tower) and assess which of them we could take or sink.

; MK Day 14
We decide to divert to visit the '''Jade Lady''' (sorry - can't remember her full title), a being of some power who occupied this world before the dragons arrived and is here keeping an eye on them.

We fly up to her home at the top of her mountain but find it empty.
Ax IS locates her back in the village we passed at the base of the mountain, so back down we go to see her there.

=== Chapter 8: A Dragon so hungry ... ===

The lady is taking tea with an old friend of Motte LEA's at the finest Tea House in town, we politely intrude and share info about what is going on.
The biggest surprise for us was the news about the Giant Pelican (6-700' wingspan) that Stable has bought through the portal.

After tea and a chat, '''old-friend-of-LEA''' (a wood mage) offers to portal us up to close to Stable's capital.
He portals us into a gully a couple of miles from the city, from there we spy the city for a while.
Our interest is immediately caught by the 700' tower sticking out of the middle of the city.
Deciding to see if we can get a closer look we make our discrete way down to the gates.

The gate guards inform us that the city is under martial lock-down and we may not enter without a pass.
We play the rules-don't-apply-to-heroes card to no great effect.
Ax IS' implication that he is a dragon, a cousin to Stable, and unimpressed at being denied causes a few guards to pale and find elsewhere to be but most hold firm and their Captain comes over to offer apologies.
The guard captain asks if we would wait at the shelter 8 miles back down the road while we wait for a message to be delivered to his lord, he then offers his horse to Ax IS to ease our trip.
Ax IS accepts the gift and promptly eats the horse in front of them.

With the gate now clear we wander into town, step through a recently vacated building and then merge with the other guards who are finding urgent business elsewhere.

At the gate and around the tower we find wards set to trigger on Non-Alusians who are not carrying a magical pass. While we are fine, we need to suppress them so that Full REST may pass without setting them off.

The Tower is near the centre of the city, the area around it is clear for over 100' and well guarded (~1,000 Rk8+ warriors).
DA'ing and spying from range we learnt that the tower is a near-indestructible Elven artefact from pre-War of Tears, the cavorite is near the base of it which is currently below ground level.

We withdraw from proximity to the tower before the patrols of elite troops and mind mages arrive, take a quick look around the city, then discretely leave over a side wall.

Once out of sight of the city we emerge and fly towards Stable's northern camp.
Setting up camp in a convenient cave where we can observe, we rest and watch the activity for the rest of the day and through the bright.

The Pelican is being fed cows and being trained (by a Black Dragon - presumably Stable) to eat them on dry land. It is from a plane called Aquatica.

There is no sign of the Dreadnought, nor of the skiff/barge. Locating the skiff we find it is back in the city we just left.

=== Chapter 9: Tea with a Black Dragon ===

; MK Day 15
Further delaying suicidal attacks on Stable we find a short cut back to the farm of Master Water Mirror to talk to him about consulting with Imperial Uncle.

; MK Day 16
We track down the 'rebel' army but get stuck dealing with (and trying not to kill) bureaucrats.

; MK Day 17
The letter from Master Water Mirror reaches Sleeping Dragon who organises for us to meet with him and Imperial Uncle.

We tell them what's really going on with Stable in the hopes that they will then be able to focus their military efforts on the issue.
They had been quite happy with Stable because he was a moderating force amongst the Chancellor's supporters, only providing token military support to the Chancellor.
Now that they know Stable has two Dragons on his side they are even more keen for him to keep out of the civil war.

Mortimer discusses several Mechanician and Philosophical advances with their philosophers to balance out (and devalue) those that Stable is providing to the Chancellor.

Imperial uncle's best suggestion is that they appoint us their official representatives to Stable so that we can spy, talk and trade under 'diplomatic protection'. Which means the rebels would be officially annoyed if we were all killed.

He also suggests that we track down Motte LEA's brother, the God of Serpent Slaying so that he can deal with the problem.
We believe this to mean that G.O.S.S. would be expected to slay Stable and his Aunty. We later work out that I.U. expects G.O.S.S. to slay the giant-phasing-ground-snakes so that the empire is not troubled by them or displaced talking animals.

; MK Day 18
Underwhelmed, we decide to consult with the local dragon-gods.
Heading to a god-mountain, Ax IS proceeds to meet with the local (black) dragon without us to convince them that Cavorite should be included in the flying ban.
The brief meeting (several hours) over fine tea can be summarised as "they don't care". Cavorite does not breach the letter of the law which is more important than the spirit of the ban.
Also some interesting asides about how the failure of kites and balloons to fly people is more about poor design than any enforcement of bans.

: Privately we conclude that the migration of dragons to the Middle Kingdom was not about seeking a higher path or refuge from the wars on Alusia, it was the dragons of Alusia banishing all of their litigators.

We finish the day in conversation with the Jade Lady, she is unable to tell us exactly where G.O.S.S. is which implies he is somewhere she cannot magically scry which implies one of the Banerock screened locations.

=== Chapter 10: Travelling Minstrels ===

High rank divination of the banerock reveals that it affects the Drow because we are semi-corporeal and it does not affect Stable's humans at all.
This makes any form of raid against Stable's banerock protected sites near-impossible as his troops magic will be rank 20-40 and ours will be rank 0 at best.

We decide to start scouting the banerock protected buildings for GOSS. The capitol seems most likely but we decide to test our troupe of troubadours playing 'new wave' (Carzalan) music on a couple of smaller cities before trying the capital.

; MK Day 19
Travelling quickly between cities we do three on the first day.
Our disguise works as we hoped, we are listened to and then promptly paid to move on.
Pub classics like "Seagate bridge is falling down" and "If my father owned an Inn" prove particularly unpopular.
Everyone assumes we are slightly inept spies, we are tested occasionally with odd pass phrases, passed information and probably disinformation which we randomly pass on at the next city.

At the third city we spot a couple of merchants who are Humans from Alusia, we mess with them for a while, implying there is competition to their trade from Alusia, then abduct them for some serious questioning.

They give us their routine answers revealing they are spies for Stable, giving up secrets about local troop movements and trade.
Then we start asking them about the stuff we're interested in. They don't know any more about Stable's plans apart from gaining wealth from the inter-planar trade.
The giant Pelican is for harvesting Elephants, Stable is focussed on getting it trained, then using it as much as he can while he can.
Their elephant raids are often disrupted by the arrival of Wyrms.
They know nothing about the abduction of GOSS.

We leave our prisoners hidden and seemingly dead (Petit Mort) which will keep them from reporting back for a month.

; MK Day 20
Moving on to the capital we can find no sign of GOSS from outside the imperial palace.
Getting inside is impossible, the entire place is bound earth, above is screened by a web of Rk 30+ death spells, intrusion above or below is promptly detected and promptly responded to with powerful non-standard magic.
In the course of investigating and testing the palace we learn that it was bound with socially undesirable Drow under the cover of a plague sweeping the city. We estimate that they sacrificed thousands of their own people to bind the palace.

Talking to the local spies we learn that while this is the last place that GOSS was seen, they think it unlikely that he would be held here, most likely he would be outside the empire somewhere.
Piecing together astrology and other clues indicating he is north of the empire, we decide to see if he is held by the Five Venoms south-east of the empire.

; MK Day 21
We travel to where we were ambushed and question the spirit of the head of Toad Clan.
He does not acknowledge their prisoner as the god of anything but he does confirm they are holding him on behalf of the Chancellor. While he was originally in a banerock coffin, they have since found a better use for the banerock so he should be locatable once we are in the right area. We get the location and head that way.

; MK Day 22
They are holding him in a monastery like building overlooking a training camp.
We observe their movements for a while and Ax IS locates exactly which tower and floor he is on.

After approaching underground, we tunnel out the tower he is held in, getting a pool of acid as a bonus.
Quickly fishing the hibernated GoSS out of the acid and brushing him off, we take our leave.

=== Chapter 11: Now what I heard is... ===

; MK Day 23
Party begins counter-intelligence activities: publicising the implicit threat in Stable's talking-animal army; wards illustrating the worm menace; etc.

By Day 30, Stable's forces have withdrawn from Thorny-Paths & his factors are negotiating to find a purchaser of the estate. Party enters the Compound, just ahead of the looting mobs, & finds Alusian materials (remnants of Packing crates etc) to convert into music boxes, etc. ...

After a fortnight, almost all Governors have pulled up their banerock and redeployed it in less dangerous ways

=== Chapter 12: Stable Bait for Venoms ===

The Five Venoms strike us as a a group of mercenary thugs and extortionists who would be good if only they had some demons to crusade against.
We decide to help out by illuminating to them the 'demonic' nature of Stable and his troops.

Donning appropriate disguises (including Ax IS and Prudence as black dragons) we brief the troops we captured from Thorny-Paths on the pre-emptive strike we must make on the Five Venoms before they discover we are really from another world.
The dragons fly us in, the troops from Thorny-Paths are dropped at the training camp (along with some Agony and Flash of Light) to disrupt the camp and ensure they are not able to effective aid the monastery we are about to assault.
We then fly up to the monastery, make a couple of passes dropping some earthquakes, flashes of light, agony, and assorted other party tricks.
Their reaction and defence is obviously stronger than we expected so we are forced to withdraw leaving 'our men' behind.

Having stirred up all we can, we decide it's time to head home.
The local end of the summoning is moved to master Water-Mirror's farm and we settle in for the next 6 months as the ritual is performed to return us home.

; 9th Thaw 808wk, W'ansday

We emerge from beneath the bell to find that about a week has passed since we first went in.

===What happened to GoSS===
Soon after Lord STABLE (Duke Xeno of Alsine) was elevated for his contributions to the Empire & Chancellor KIN's regime, he received the Imperial Monopoly on non-poisonous vermin by-products, considered an insignificant gesture at the time. But shortly before the elephant hunting began, the God of Serpent-Slayers (Prudence of Antecarzala) disappeared. In his own words:

"I was investigating the new Imperial Precinct at Long-Peaceful, especially the Banerock ... kingdom of the one-eyed & all that. I noticed that General Graceful PLUM, a trusted follower of the Chancellor, had a secretary that was both human & a skilled mind-mage assassin from the Centipede Clan. I followed him overconfidently, but lost him when he entered a temple. He must have double back, because the last thing I remember before you woke me up 30 years later was being hit by Lightning."

Lord CLOSE, Imperial Uncle SLAY's oath-brother confirmed that, about that time, General PLUM sent a secret message that he wanted to defect from the Chancellor's misguided faction & join the True Imperial cause but almost immediately PLUM's brother (his only remaining close relative) lost his head in a freak accident and Plum understandably lost his nerve. Spies have been re-questioned & apparently Plum's secretary-cum-counterassassin disappeared just beforehand.

''After you have finished the adventure'', you are informed that the '''human''' assassin from 5-venoms killed & is now '''masquerading''' as General Plum, who is still being sent on special missions on behalf of the Chancellor ... but no-one has ever witnessed Chancellor & General meet. Once again, a halo of plausible deniability encircles the Chancellor!

== Nominations and SGT Snippets ==
=== Nominations ===
=== Quotes ===
'''Ax IS''': I once had an axe that always returned, but I lent it to a friend & it never came back.

So the leaders in this Drow civil war are KIN & SLAY. Are we sure some dragon somewhere isn't sniggering over that?

'''Mortimer''' (in shock): ... this means Stable is a Demonic entity. 
'''Motley''' (reassuringly): That's OK, you don't ''have'' to worship him.

'''Mortimer''' (to Sir Kit. in surprise): Actually you ''may'' be right. 
'''Chesca''' (Kit's wife): Don't tell him that!

'''Sir Kit''': How are you going to increase the Drow Population? 
'''Motley''': What? ''Personally''?

=== Hot and Not ===

== Reference Information ==
=== People ===
=== Places ===
Some relevant links on the background of the Marquis Stable:
* [[Raniterre]]
* [[Bretonnia]]
* [[Aeir Ships]]

=== Expenses ===

=== Standard Buffs ===
"A" = always on, "Y" = Yes please, "-" not required, blank = as required

{| border=0 cellspacing=2 |
|-
!width="150px" Align="Left"| Magic
!width="25px" Align="Left" | By
!width="25px" Align="Left" | Rk
!width="200px" Align="Left"| Effects
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ax
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Br
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ka
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Ki
!width="30px" Align="Left" | MG
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Mot
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Na
|-
|Armour of Earth ||Br ||21 || +44% Def -2 Dam 21 Hrs ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||- ||
|-
|Enchant Armour ||Ax ||20 || +42% Def +1 AP 20.5 Hrs || || || || || || ||
|-
|Strength of Stone ||Br ||20 || +21 EN 41 Hrs ||Y ||A ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y
|-
|Fire Armour ||Br ||10 ||21 Hrs 44 Protection ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y ||Y
|-
|Disguise ||Ki ||21 || 42 Hrs || || ||A ||A || || ||
|-
|Choker || * || * ||Counterspells 4 Hrs || ||Fire || ||Mind || ||Nec ||
|-
|Faith || Ki || 13 ||MR 93%+ ||A ||A ||A ||A ||A ||- ||A
|-
|Quickness ||Ax ||? ||6 Targets, ?x[d-5] pulses || || || || || || ||
|-
|Spectral Weapon ||Na || 20 || +21 SC, +7 Dmg, 25 min || || ||Y ||- || || ||A
|-
|Trollskin ||Br ||13 ||Regen 1 EN/Pulse 95 Sec || || || || || || ||
|-
|Invisibility ||Ki ||21 || 3.5 Hrs || || || || || || ||
|-
|Multiple Images ||Ki ||10 || 3 images 11mins || || || || || || ||
|-
|Restoratives ||MG || || -?EN +?FT best before ? Sec || || || || || || ||
|-
|Enhance Enchantment ||Ax ||20 || +20 Ranks || || || || || || ||
|-
|Siren Woods Water || || || +5 / 10 for 50MK Days || || || || || || ||
|-
|TMR 'potion' || || || +3 TMR - duration ||colspan=7|6 potions.
|}
* * Chokers allow extended duration counterspells cast on self
* Most durations are assumed to be enhanced.
; Braegon's Anti-Scrying (while on ground)
: 3 Hex Radius, blocks magical scrying, blocks Locate, ESP, Telepathy < Rk 21
; Raphael's Faith (within 50' of Kit)
: A proportion of Kit's MR is shared with all PoL, non-pacted allies and innocents within 50'. 93% is a typical value - the exact MR will vary, mainly upwards.
;Multiple Image Wards
:Within 30 minutes of pitching camp, individual 2' diameter Multiple Image wards will be available for each party member (''excluding Motley''). Do not step in them until Quickened. They add 3 images.

; Duration Extensions at Transition
: 1 Alusian day = 60 MK days
: 1 Alusian hour = 2.5 actual MK days
: 1 Alusian minute = 1h 30m MK
: (36 MK hours in a MK day, but ''counted'' as less; 1 Alusian year = 90 MK years @ '''240''' MK days per year)

;<s>Forbidden Magic
* '''''Glove Magic'''''.
</s>
;Agility
If you aren't used to high Agility, consider re-reading the Combat Rules, or [[Kit%27s_Warrior_Guide#Extraordinary_Agility|this guide]].

=== Calendar ===

{| cellspacing=1 border=0 class="Season" id="Spring"
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Thaw]] (10)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Candlemansa]]
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
| The Carzalan Generals Ball
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring 808wk''': [[Seedtime]] (11)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
| Rites of Thunor
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
| Equinox
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
| Eostre
| class=day | 18
| The Seagate Spring Ball
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|}

Rangiwhero Recon

2026-06-06T03:49:33Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Category:Keith Smith]][[Category:Pasifika]]
[[Category:Flamis]]
[[Category:Lizette]]
[[Category:Vanderhan]]
[[Category:Veor]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Spring 808 WK| Scribe notes]] 
<div style="float: right; width: 25%; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
== Summary ==
[[Category:Coral Sea]]
'''GM:''' Keith Smith 
'''Level:''' Medium (high?) 
'''Night:''' Mondays or Thursdays depending on circumstances 

'''Players:'''
* [[Flamis]] - Human female firemage played by Jacqui Smith - Scribe
* [[Lizette]] - Human female namer/healer played by Dylan
* [[Vanderhan]] - Human male warrior played by Scott
* [[Veor]] - Human male icemage played by Bernard

'''Briefing:''' 
A [[Pasifikan Guild of Adventurers | group]] from the local merfolk would like assistance from the Seagate Guild in scouting out the coast and near coast areas of [[Rangiwhero]] to look for any sahuagin threats. It is not intended that combat be initiated, but positions are to be scouted out and intelligence gathered so that strike forces can be sent in to take them out.

== Scribe Notes ==

=== 6 Seedtime ===
It was a month after the Guild Meeting, and I really wasn't expecting to find employers looking for adventurers at this late stage in the season, when I ran in to the Guild to see if there were any orders for me, and to catch up on the news. I headed along to Meeting Room One to see what was going on. Turned out to be a group of merfolk emissaries looking for some folk to scout out those Sahuagin scumbags that infest the South Seas around Rangiwhero. Sounded like fun for a Fire Mage with a trident so I settled in to listen.

Also present were:
* Lizette: Human female namer, healer and class "A" ditz. Got to keep an eye on her, she's got a reputation for getting entire parties into deep manure.
* Vanderhan: Human warrior, extra handy in a fight, and a good reliable man.
* Veor: Human ice mage, can be a bit bossy.

The merfolk were offering good gold and pearls of water-breathing, and it sounded like fun, and a good opportunity to try out this trident thing, as well as practicing my swimming. They were talking about us scouting the island, looking for "back-doors" on the land, but I'm betting we'll get wet. Apparently the Sahuagin had been spreading south and poaching on the merfolk's seaweed, and they were planning on a massive assault to throw them back in their own patch of pond. Which, of course, meant a bit of work for adventurers, sniffing out the waters – though they had a team of merfolk adventurers for the actual wet work as it were. These Sahuagin were by all accounts a right bunch of nutters, believing themselves to be the only true sentient species, and there was no negotiating with them.

After explaining that, the merfolk left the room, and we sorted out that I would be military scientist (predictably Lizette, who prefers not to melee, knows nothing of military science). And scribe as well, since she apparently does prefers not to write either. As for party leader, I think we selected Vanderhan – or was it Veor?
Anyhow, Veor wanted to ride down to Slippery Rock for some restoratives. I decided I'd better run and see Basalic at Bolton Bay, explain what had happened, and get some diamond weapon spells on my trident. I bought some of Grizelda's restoratives while I was there.

=== 8 Seedtime ===
At dawn we presented ourselves at dockside. There was little to be seen of the merfolk's vessel, for like an iceberg it was mostly underwater, being a submersible. Veor rapped on the hatch and a bleary-looking mermaid came out. Apparently we were early. Still it wasn't long before we safely stowed amidships in an air-filled compartment. The merfolk introduced themselves and explained that the vessel was propelled by elemental power. Curious, I looked at the vessel's aura, which told me that it was a construct, had ship strength magic on it, and had been grown. Very interesting.

We were told our voyage would take a week. I could see that we'd be getting stir-crazy in this cramped space, but that's common enough in the adventurer's life. We talked about the up-coming adventure, and Veor had the bright idea that we should meet with the merfolk military scientists before heading in to scout the island. We discussed this with the employers, and they agreed to make the arrangements.

=== 9-15 Seedtime – Travelling to Pasifika ===
It was, as I guessed, not an uncomfortable voyage, just boring and confined. We talked some more, and learned a lot more about the situation with the Merfolk and the Sahuagin. The more we found out, the more we realised that things were not looking good for the Merfolk. The Sahuagin already out-numbered them, and were breeding more warriors at a much faster rate than the Merfolk. They had entrenched themselves in at least one very defensible location to the south and were spreading from their established territory to the north. They were thought to be raiding the human population on Rangiwhero and the other Pasifikan islands, accounting for reports of missing persons at those locations.

At length, we decided that it would be more efficient for the merfolk to go and fetch the maps and military scientist notes from their city while we began scouting Rangiwhero. They would drop us off at the north-eastern tip of the island where the Michaeline enclave was located, and we would meet them two days later at the southern point, at the Trading Post.

=== 16 Seedtime - The Michaeline Outpost ===
We arrived at the northernmost point of Rangiwhero by mid-morning. The submersible dropped us off the coast around the headland from the Michaeline enclave, and we approached on foot. From a distance everything seemed normal. But as we walked closer it became evident that there was nobody tending to the orchards or vegetable gardens, and it seemed to me that they had been left untended for some time. When we came in sight of the enclosure we saw that the gates were broken, and there were signs that a battle had been fought here. Somebody had been very careful to clean up the evidence though, so as to make it seem that the site had simply been abandoned. There were no bodies, no bones, very little to be found, just a few shards of broken weapons and arrowheads.

What we did find told a disturbing story. There was a spearhead, made of whale bone, upon which a diamond-edged weapon spell had been cast, around six months ago. Veor examined it, and said that the carving was in the undersea style, and was likely to have been done by Sahuagin. When we entered the church we saw that there had been five altars here, one to each of the Powers of Light, even a tiny shrine to Sammael. The high altar, the biggest, was to Michael, and it was covered with what we realised was dried blood. Lizette divinated the church, and confirmed that it had been consecrated almost a decade ago, then had been desecrated some six months ago. Vanderhan went for a rummage in the vestry, and found the abbot's office. Hidden in a secret compartment under the desk he found the abbot's journal, along with a Michealine Holy Book and some coin. The journal spoke of disappearing people. The last entry made mention of bad weather, and "they are coming"...

I performed a flamesight ritual on a bloodied dagger we found, and saw a vision of the battle, of humans fighting these scaly shark men, the Sahuagin, It was obvious that the Sahuagin were not fighting as the usual bloodthirsty rabble, but in a coordinated fashion. Evidently, they have military scientists too, and this could not be a good thing.

On the beach we found fishing vessels and a larger ship, all of them holed. The wood had been warped by necromantic magic. Not a good thing. There was a really big shark tooth embedded in one boat, which had had animal growth cast on it. So they had Earth mages too. Which wasn't a good thing, either.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we were done examining the scene, and nobody wanted to spend the night there. This massacre had to be reported to the authorities at the Trading Post as soon as possible, so we decided we would run for it, and overnight there. Then we would make our way north by iceberg, surveying the coast as we went.

We arrived at the trading post at dusk, to find it rather more fortified that I remembered it, with a ditch and palisade under construction and guarded by what looked like mercenaries, some of them from Khoras. There was a large working party about to knock off for the night. We headed for the Inn, which was bigger than I recalled it. There were patrols in the streets, in threes. It was decided that I needed to learn the GTN for Sahuagin so as to set up wards against them in the village.

The Innkeeper was a friendly Pasifikan native, who explained that we were just in time for dinner, and that there were hot springs, so the lady, Lizette, could have her bath. The men stayed in the common room, while we enjoyed the hot water. Then we all shared in the roasted pig, fish, sweet potato and taro. Vanderhan was in a card game by the time we got back. Apparently a small party of locals were planning on taking out the Sahuagin raiders. There were caves about ten miles up the coast which were believed to be being occupied by the Sahuagin. We dissuade them from this, and talk for a while about how to make the trading post more defensible, and construct more weapons. Then we went back to our room and talked some more, before bed.

=== 17 Seedtime – The Ruins of Amphipolis ===
In the morning we went to see the town council. They were basically a bunch of merchants, and they weren't initially happy with the advice we had for them. This started with raising the price on Sahuagin heads, from thirty silver to five hundred. They agreed to that, and to the production of spears from ship masts, with obsidian tips. As we left, we saw a bat flying in with a small person riding it, that Vanderhan identified as Sir Lucy Glitterwing, a courier from Garrison on Khoras.

We set forth with our local guide to the caves. He described the cave system, as being a mostly underwater lava tube system with a number of entrances, the largest being the sea entrance, which would be a good ten feet across. There are nearby ruins, which may be the Sahuagin's target. We would go to the ruins and there perform my ritual of speaking to my other selves.

We knew we were getting close to the ruins, when we came around a ridge and saw a giant statue of a lion, perhaps a guardian, or a sentinel marking the edge of the city. The ruins themselves were just a short way further. They had the usual broken walls, shattered columns and ruined statuary I'd expected to see. Little wooden pegs and markers showed that the professional grave robbers they call archaeologists had been here. There was a central rectangular space surrounded by the stumps of columns that looked as if it might have been the city centre, and it was here that I made my fire and began my ritual. This time I got to have an actual conversation with my former self – a young female bard, with long strawberry blond hair, called Gabrielle, who had lived in this town, thousands of years ago.

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Amphipolis – trading port, trading in fish, grains, and pottery. Metal came in by ship from Thrace.
* ''Where was this town run from, and by whom?'' - A council of elder statesman – in the building with the columns, which is the acropolis
* ''Where did they store their weapons?'' - Most people kept their own weapons – swords staves etc – barracks near the walls – near the acropolis – and the necropolis underneath it
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - The temple to Hades – in the necropolis – underground tombs – tomb of Xena will be here – also the temple to Ares
* ''What significant artifacts were kept here and where?'' - Xena's chakram, sword and armour – probably in the necropolis.
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - Not much dealing with them – Poseidon preferred his children to keep away from the land – although the hero, Iolaus, met and fell in love with a mermaid. Never heard of Sahuagin.

Vanderhan found a plinth that looked as if it might move, and looking further, I found the lever to open it. Veor reasoned that we shouldn't use it, because that would make it more obvious. Then there was a slight tremor in the ground. I put my ear to the ground and heard some kind of sound. Strange, especially since the wind was from the west, and that made it unlikely that it was blowing through the tunnels. Our guide showed us to the entrance to the lava tubes. The entrance was a bit jagged and rough, and Veor suggested I use the gloves of shaping to make the entrance less jagged. I also took the precaution of wearing my heavy armour. There was another rumble in the ground, like a distant explosion. We went down into the lava tunnels. It was a bit tight for Vanderhan, and my helmet kept scraping the ceiling. Then, we came out into a wider tunnel where we found tracks – of booted feet, and clawed feet. Lizette said she could hear the faint sounds of digging – coming from the direction of the town. Then rumble, rumble down the tunnel came a pair of half-starved humans dressed in rags pulling a cart full of rocks, followed by a rather smallish sharkman. We retreated up the small tunnel, and prepared an ambush. It was all over very quickly. I softened up the sahuagin with a dose of dragonflames, and Vanderhan finished him off, while Veor blocked off the tunnel with ice.

The slaves proved to be from the trading post, and on learning there were more of them, being worked until they died, and then eaten, we decided without hesitation to go back and give those sahuagin a dose of their own medicine. Broiled shark, anyone?

We disguised ourselves, Vanderhan having a belt that gave him the illusory appearance of a sahuagin, and the rest of us in rags over light armour, or indeed, no armour. Vanderhan went first, then Veor and I followed, dragging and pushing the cart we'd acquired, between us. After a while we heard the sounds of digging, and then we were confronted by a big four-armed Sahuagin. He gurgled something at Vanderhan, who grunted in return. Obviously that wasn't enough, because the big guy came at Vanderhan, who dropped the illusion, and drew a big sword. The fight was on, and again it didn't last very long, as Vanderhan cut the Sahuagin apart, I tossed a dragonsmite at the sharkman, and Veor iced up and went in on the attack. The only real surprise was went the Sahuagin threw one of the charges they'd been using in their mining. And it went boom! Didn't hurt much more than your usual grenado though. We salvaged a couple of these, and used then and some ice to bring the tunnel down. After we'd brought out the slaves of course. Lizette was told in no uncertain times that she would heal the slaves when we go back to the trading post, and not before. Which was almost nightfall. There was just time to set some wards of Wall of Radiance against Sahuagin along the seafront. The night passed more or less uneventfully, save for a couple of sharks cruising in the lagoon.

=== 18 Seedtime – Voices in the Dark ===
The only thing that Lizette appeared to want to do in the morning was to go shopping. Not as if there was much to buy beyond a few parau and other souvenirs of the islands. We were told that the portal to Khoras was down, and they would be re-stocking when it opened. After that, we pulled out the maps and debated what to do next. We all agreed that it was likely that the Sahuagin were most probably trying to dig into graveyards for skeletons for their necromancer to animate, and that something needed to be done about this. The thought of the Sahuagin raising up ancient heroes to attack the merfolk was not a pleasant one, and something we really wanted to prevent.

We still needed to find their bases of operation, and decided to set up a base camp for ourselves somewhere in the north of the island, and somewhat inland. We picked a likely spot halfway between Mount Felicity and the coast, and checked it out with my crystal ball. A careful survey from above at a height showed some regularity, which might be ruins. A closer look proved that we were right.

We spent the next four hours running under wildfires, until we reached the target area. There was what looked like the ruins of some sort of circular keep atop a low hill, and here we built our camp, laying wards to protect it from both the Sahuagin and the undead. Veor reasoned that there had to be a village on the coast near here, for goods to be shipped to the larger habitations in the south. So we went to check it out. There was the ruins of a fishing village who had also had the caves where the dead were kept, raided. Steam could be seen rising from the shore to the south, which proved to be what happened when hot lava from Mount Felicity met the cold ocean, as we found when we got there. I went for a swim and had a word with a turtle, who told me that there was something weird going on in the big bay to the south, the one marked on our maps as Itimanuka Bay. However, it was getting late, so that would be tomorrow's expedition. We headed back to the hilltop ruins for the night. Of course, I got stuck on the midnight watch because I can see in the dark. I so hate that. First it was Vanderhan, then Lizette and I, then Veor.

It was near midnight when first I, then Lizette, heard a voice, calling out in common, crying for help, from the centre of the ruins. We prepared ourselves, and went to investigate. Shortly we came to a courtyard with a ancient well, and the ruins of a tower. The voice sounded as if it was coming from the well, so we looked down, and saw water some thirty feet down. I called out, and it transpired that it was indeed a ghost. She wanted us to free her, and it could be done by freeing her body, which was in a dungeon nearby. Apparently she was a slave girl, who had been wrongfully imprisoned for refusing to marry an oppressive overlord. We decided that exploring undead-infested dungeons in the middle of the night was a bad idea, and took our leave of her, with a promise to return.

=== 19 Seedtime – Baddies in the Bay ===
After breakfast we used wildfires to get close to Itimanuka Bay. This was a wide bay around a calm lagoon with a reef out to sea, and the ruins of a large town, which had most likely been a port to the north. Coconut palms lined the beach, and this area seemed rather more fertile than most of Rangiwhero. Lizette spotted an albatross. I tried talking to the seagulls, but they were less than helpful. We watched the sea and soon noticed the triangular fins of a large school of shark.

We waited until near midday to break out the crystal balls. First with Vanderhan. I picked a spot in the deepest part, two-thirds of the way out. There were numerous coral heads, and the occasional shark, but not as many fish as I'd expect. Then more sharks, and a Sahuagin, using a trident to catch stuff. Then I used my crystal to look more to the centre of the lagoon. There was an expanse of stone perhaps ten feet down, perhaps the top of a dome. I moved my point of view about five hundred feet, and confirmed that it was a dome. I saw a patrol of half a dozen Sahuagin accompanied by as many sharks. Curiously, these guards were carrying silvery metal weapons. Other Sahuagin headed past, perhaps heading for an entrance. Then I moved my viewpoint inside the dome, and found a room which appeared to be a place of Sahuagin worship, with a statue of Furcalor and a group of priests. We estimated there would be at least a hundred Sahuagin and fifty sharks here.

Veor next suggested we checked out the town, and see if the necropolis had been stripped of skeletons. It was obvious that they had. Doors were torn open, and sarcophagi broken. There was a fair amount of jewelry and coin here, together with few magical items, included a magical belt which was trapped warded or curse, a ring and some amulets.

We ran for the trading post, and we could see that there were more guards, many of them dressed like church knights, but wearing the symbol of a silver hammer. They looked quite professional. We went to the bar and found that the merfolk had been and gone. We left a message for them, with maps and the like. Dinner was on the house, as were drinks – a lovely mixture of coconut cream, pineapple juice and rum. We went to bed... and were awoken by Lizette, crying that there were Sahuagin, and my fire walls had been triggered. I fire-arced us closer, twice, until we were eighty feet away. Out to sea there was what looked like the commanders, and here were a bunch of sharkmen and undead.

Vanderhan let loose with his big crossbow, while Veor laid walls of ice, and I placed a fully ranked wall of fire next to the other one. Then we saw the water elemental coming. I dropped a couple of fireballs among the second rank of Sahuagin, while Vanderhan went in hand to hand, Veor put down some slippery ice at their feet, so they'd slide into the fire walls, and Lizette readied a banishment to get rid of the elemental. Meanwhile we hatched a plan to get the leaders.

We fire-arced to the edge of the sea, and Veor prepared to drop an ice-floe in the lagoon for us to stand on, while I prepared another fire-arc. Vanderhand shot the big one in the chest, and he fell into the water. The others cast magic and one of them backfired, because I was actively resisting. Then we fire-arced onto the iceberg, and entered melee with them. They died of it fairly quickly. We made sure the big one was dead too, and then rode the iceberg onto the shore.

Flamis: "I'm a fire mage, not an earth mage. There is a difference."

Veor: "I send my iceberg to go forth and multiply."
Vanderhan: "Iceberg sex?"

In return for resurrecting some of the foreign knights, Lizette is given special potions for each of us.

Lizette: "I'm qualified to do something stupid."

=== 20 Seedtime – Exploring the Western Coast ===

Needless to say, we slept in after the fight, and had a late breakfast. Lizette had to be dissuaded from performing excess resurrections before the day's expeditions. We set forth southwest past the portal to Paleolithica where we observed that the Khoras people had constructed a small keep for its protection.

We headed up to a cape where there were blowholes indicating underwater caves... but there was no real way to enter from above so we decided simply to inform the merfolk. At the next cape we found a series of hexagonal rock formations that Veor described as a "stairway to Valhalla", and I thought was called a "giant's causeway". We will name these places when we have time. There was little sign of reef anywhere along this coast.

Heading north we saw more rocky beaches and cliffs until we finally came to a proper sandy beach – only the sand was black. The waves were impressive, as were the sand dunes – and then we saw on a cliff inland, six faces carved in stone, and knew we had come to the Cliff of Heroes. There was my own face, Silverfoam, Rowan, Arnaud, Braegon, Grendel, and, of course, Drum. There were caves here, but only shallow ones. No ruins though.

A little further north, we saw the plains spreading away from the beach. Here we stopped for lunch. We found a ruined settlement inland, and explored, finding a small necropolis. At Veor's suggestion I got out my cushion, made an instant bonfire, and did my ritual.

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Attica –where they made the finest honey on the island. Also good for herbs, spices and aromatics. The soil was unusually fertile.
* ''Where was this town run from, and by whom?'' - Town council
* ''Where did they store their weapons?'' - Town guard, or in the guardhouses
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - Where they kept the honey and the cheeses. And mushrooms. Including truffles.
* ''What significant artefacts were kept here and where?'' - The mighty hoe of the gods? The fast plough of excavation?
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - They worshipped Poseidon – the big statue with the trident. Praying to him to control storms.

Lizette: "I'm not pleased with the powers right now."
Flamis: "You're not pleased with Liessa?"
Lizette: "Which one's Liessa?"

Lizette: So we're looking for a hopefully empty necropolis?
Veor: No, we're looking for a hopefully full necropolis?

We went to go check out the necropolis, and it was immediately obvious that the Sahuagin had been here, by the tracks. They had also defaced the plinth of Poseidon's statue with the symbol of Furcalor. That didn't survive a close encounter with my magic gloves. In a nearby cave we found rows and rows of clay jars. These were full of long musty grain. There were some long gone cheeses as well.

After sharing a hot lunch, we headed along the shore again, and found a series of cliffs. After the cliffs were another bunch of ruins. We judged we were now due west of Mount Felicity. There seemed to be a number of significant structures here, including a courtyard, statues, and a large necropolis. There was an aura over the area, which appeared to be designed to prevent the dead from being raised.

Lizette: "Apollo? He was the god of space launches, wasn't he?"

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Epidaurus – a hospital and school of medicine were here – dedicated to Asklepios.
* ''What abilities were associated with the powers here – Apollo, Asklepios?'' - Apollo was a sun god, a god of music and healing and prophecy. Hence there was an amphitheatre here. Asklepios was his son, and a god of healers.
* ''What significant people were buried here?'' - Hippocrates – the one who formulated the healer's oath.
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - The catacombs of the dead – the medical school under the hospital, and the cellars. Storage under the amphitheatre.
* ''What significant artefacts were kept here and where?'' - Healing artefacts mostly. Look under the hospital – which was right where I was sitting. Eversharp knives, and devices to aid healing.
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - Perhaps some treaties with the local merfolk.

We checked the necropolis, and found that everything was more or less intact. On learning that the aura was not actually a ward, I prepared some of my own anti-undead wards over it – which appeared to reinforce it. After Lizette divinated the consecrated area, she told us that one had the effect of inspiration, and the other of invigoration – and that's where we decided to sleep.

=== 21 Seedtime ===
In the morning we decided to see if we could find a way into the basement of the medical school. After some poking around we found a symbol on a wall that looked like a six-pointed star with a staff with a snake wrapped around it in the middle. Only it wasn't a wall, it was a secret door. Vanderhan got it open, and in we went. There was a spiral staircase leading downwards. We went down around thirty feet and came to a landing and another one of those symbols and concealed entrance. This had magic on it – a magical trap ward or curse, whose intended target was undead. As we approached closer we could see that it was glowing softly, and made of glowing crystals. It wasn't trapped, but it there was no obvious way to open it. I tried poking the symbol, and it glowed some more – and when we got Lizette to poke it, it glowed more, and opened. Beyond was a corridor, with three doors on either side, and a door at the end. Each side room had a crystal in the ceiling which glowed as we opened the door, a bed, and some stuff... a chamberpot and such like. The beds, the crystals and the chamberpots were all magical.

The end chamber was warded against undead, necromancers, and people pacted to powers of death. In the middle of room was a shadowy figure, which addressed us in some kind of ancient language saying: "Who seeks the Staff of Asklepios?". Lizette stepped up to answer, figuring it was a healing thing, an she wanted it. It wanted to know if she was pacted, and stated that it didn't know if this was possible to pact to Asklepios any more. So Lizette got to pick up the staff.

Flamis: "You should have DAed it before you picked it up, Lizette. It is usual."

We headed north – the coastline was pretty much the same, until we reached the forest. Now, that really shouldn't be there. Lizette reported traces of earth magic.... And I could see movement – small invisible things. We guessed they were fae of some sort. Veor called out, and one of them came to talk to us. Apparently this part of the island once belonged to them, and they were claiming it back. We offered to convey their claim to the humans in the south, and requested their help for the merfolk in their conflict with the Sahuagin. He also explained that the Sahuagin had been sighted in the far north, near the human city called Calydon.

We followed the coast, avoiding the forest. They came from the north, moons ago, a large school, stayed here a while, and headed south. The ruins here were apparently partly submerged.

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Calydon – a port city surrounded by swamp, and dedicated to Apollo.
* ''What was the name and role of the neighbouring submerged city?'' - Atlantis
* ''What significant people were buried here?'' - Unknown
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - Also unknown
* ''What significant artefacts were kept here and where?'' - Again unknown
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - No idea

After that we having completed our scouting mission, headed south. We camped for the night.

=== 22 Seedtime ===

Mid-morning we approached Amphipolis, and there was movement among the ruins. With a scrying glass, we learned that it was a bunch of undead being commanded by some Sahuagin to dig in the ruins. Using the crystal ball to keep watch on them in the meanwhile, Veor and I prepared to summon our elementals. Then we made final preparations – casting weapons of radiance and fire armours, all around, and immolation for us.

As we approached we ran into their wards. This was a pest, since one of them was a fear ward, which set our fire elemental running. Then, there was a forbiddance, which told us there was a namer in there somewhere. The ice elemental led us in, followed by Veor and Vanderhan. I cast firearc on myself and Lizette, and landed us on a fallen pillar, giving the party a two-pronged attack. This also allowed Lizette to shut down their namer with an area counterspell. Then she had to do it again because he moved. Veor cast ice projectiles, which had the effect of putting most of the bad guys off their spells.

Lizette had the clever idea of putting a necromantic counterspell under us, which would have the additional effect of preventing them putting a fire counterspell under us. I hosed two of the sahuagin mages with dragonflames, which had the effect of putting them off casting. The undead tried attacking us, which didn't do much good. The ice elemental pinned down the necromancer in close combat. Two of the other Sahuagin attempted to help him out, somewhat ineffectively. Then two sahuagin tried attacking me and Lizette. I conked mine on the head with my staff and stunned it – then whacked it in the chest, crushing its ribs and sending it flying. The one attacking Lizette was having rather more success as she attempted to evade with a dagger. Finally the elementals (my fire elemental had come back) finished off the necromancer between them. Except the necromancer kept bleeding. Turned out he had a trollskin item on him. We looted the bodies and then burned them.

Vanderhan: That's not an animate is it?
Flamis: No, but it'll hopefully be inanimate by the time you've finished with it.

Lizette: I don't think we should encourage namers being eaten by elementals.

We began by looking into the hole that we'd investigated before. It led to a tunnel, which we followed to a door. This had the symbol of a trident on it. Nobody could figure out how to open it until I placed my trident in the impression. Inside was a room with a bunch of tridents on the wall. This time Lizette did remember to detect the aura on the floor – it was warded against sentients not associated with Poseidon. Veor solved that by putting a sheet of ice on the floor. We got to examine the six tridents and took them with us – but did not open his sarcophagus.

Then we continued exploring the tomb complex. I started getting this odd feeling of being watched. We came to a door with an "X" on it. This was also warded, against creatures not born here. We got past that and Vanderhan opened the door. Inside there were two sarcophagi, a whole bunch of frescos, and a chakram hanging on the wall. Turned out the watcher was in fact Xena, who'd been alerted from the Elysian Fields. She suggested that we give the things we had found here to the merfolk, and move the sarcophagi to a more inland site.

We returned to Amphipolis and informed the personnel of the trading post, and the merfolk as to what we found. They had a present for Lizette – a lovely seashell bikini, which she refused to try on. So I did. I think Basalic will love it. We partied at the tavern, and slept the night.

=== 23 Seedtime ===
We went back to Amphipolis and checked out the tunnels. The Sahuagin had abandoned the area, and were all gone, the merfolk having pushed through almost as far as the eastern cape where the Powers of Light outpost had been. Then we ran north to the ruins where we entered the abandoned keep, after summoning a pair of elementals. We went down the stairs and found a guardian skeleton, which didn't survive long, and found the imprisoned girl. She appeared to be a ghost around a skeleton. Veor found the keys attached to the guards belt, and eventually got the manacles off. This released her, and she faded away, offering us her three dinars in thanks and recompense. That was fine. So we went back to the town, and that was basically that.

== Adventures ==
*[[User:Keith]] Winter 800

Rangiwhero Recon

2026-06-06T03:48:54Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Category:Keith Smith]][[Category:Pasifika]]
[[Category:Flamis]]
[[Category:Lizette]]
[[Category:Vanderhan]]
[[Category:Veor]]

<div style="float: right; width: 25%; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
== Summary ==
[[Category:Coral Sea]]
'''GM:''' Keith Smith 
'''Level:''' Medium (high?) 
'''Night:''' Mondays or Thursdays depending on circumstances 

'''Players:'''
* [[Flamis]] - Human female firemage played by Jacqui Smith - Scribe
* [[Lizette]] - Human female namer/healer played by Dylan
* [[Vanderhan]] - Human male warrior played by Scott
* [[Veor]] - Human male icemage played by Bernard

'''Briefing:''' 
A [[Pasifikan Guild of Adventurers | group]] from the local merfolk would like assistance from the Seagate Guild in scouting out the coast and near coast areas of [[Rangiwhero]] to look for any sahuagin threats. It is not intended that combat be initiated, but positions are to be scouted out and intelligence gathered so that strike forces can be sent in to take them out.

== Scribe Notes ==

=== 6 Seedtime ===
It was a month after the Guild Meeting, and I really wasn't expecting to find employers looking for adventurers at this late stage in the season, when I ran in to the Guild to see if there were any orders for me, and to catch up on the news. I headed along to Meeting Room One to see what was going on. Turned out to be a group of merfolk emissaries looking for some folk to scout out those Sahuagin scumbags that infest the South Seas around Rangiwhero. Sounded like fun for a Fire Mage with a trident so I settled in to listen.

Also present were:
* Lizette: Human female namer, healer and class "A" ditz. Got to keep an eye on her, she's got a reputation for getting entire parties into deep manure.
* Vanderhan: Human warrior, extra handy in a fight, and a good reliable man.
* Veor: Human ice mage, can be a bit bossy.

The merfolk were offering good gold and pearls of water-breathing, and it sounded like fun, and a good opportunity to try out this trident thing, as well as practicing my swimming. They were talking about us scouting the island, looking for "back-doors" on the land, but I'm betting we'll get wet. Apparently the Sahuagin had been spreading south and poaching on the merfolk's seaweed, and they were planning on a massive assault to throw them back in their own patch of pond. Which, of course, meant a bit of work for adventurers, sniffing out the waters – though they had a team of merfolk adventurers for the actual wet work as it were. These Sahuagin were by all accounts a right bunch of nutters, believing themselves to be the only true sentient species, and there was no negotiating with them.

After explaining that, the merfolk left the room, and we sorted out that I would be military scientist (predictably Lizette, who prefers not to melee, knows nothing of military science). And scribe as well, since she apparently does prefers not to write either. As for party leader, I think we selected Vanderhan – or was it Veor?
Anyhow, Veor wanted to ride down to Slippery Rock for some restoratives. I decided I'd better run and see Basalic at Bolton Bay, explain what had happened, and get some diamond weapon spells on my trident. I bought some of Grizelda's restoratives while I was there.

=== 8 Seedtime ===
At dawn we presented ourselves at dockside. There was little to be seen of the merfolk's vessel, for like an iceberg it was mostly underwater, being a submersible. Veor rapped on the hatch and a bleary-looking mermaid came out. Apparently we were early. Still it wasn't long before we safely stowed amidships in an air-filled compartment. The merfolk introduced themselves and explained that the vessel was propelled by elemental power. Curious, I looked at the vessel's aura, which told me that it was a construct, had ship strength magic on it, and had been grown. Very interesting.

We were told our voyage would take a week. I could see that we'd be getting stir-crazy in this cramped space, but that's common enough in the adventurer's life. We talked about the up-coming adventure, and Veor had the bright idea that we should meet with the merfolk military scientists before heading in to scout the island. We discussed this with the employers, and they agreed to make the arrangements.

=== 9-15 Seedtime – Travelling to Pasifika ===
It was, as I guessed, not an uncomfortable voyage, just boring and confined. We talked some more, and learned a lot more about the situation with the Merfolk and the Sahuagin. The more we found out, the more we realised that things were not looking good for the Merfolk. The Sahuagin already out-numbered them, and were breeding more warriors at a much faster rate than the Merfolk. They had entrenched themselves in at least one very defensible location to the south and were spreading from their established territory to the north. They were thought to be raiding the human population on Rangiwhero and the other Pasifikan islands, accounting for reports of missing persons at those locations.

At length, we decided that it would be more efficient for the merfolk to go and fetch the maps and military scientist notes from their city while we began scouting Rangiwhero. They would drop us off at the north-eastern tip of the island where the Michaeline enclave was located, and we would meet them two days later at the southern point, at the Trading Post.

=== 16 Seedtime - The Michaeline Outpost ===
We arrived at the northernmost point of Rangiwhero by mid-morning. The submersible dropped us off the coast around the headland from the Michaeline enclave, and we approached on foot. From a distance everything seemed normal. But as we walked closer it became evident that there was nobody tending to the orchards or vegetable gardens, and it seemed to me that they had been left untended for some time. When we came in sight of the enclosure we saw that the gates were broken, and there were signs that a battle had been fought here. Somebody had been very careful to clean up the evidence though, so as to make it seem that the site had simply been abandoned. There were no bodies, no bones, very little to be found, just a few shards of broken weapons and arrowheads.

What we did find told a disturbing story. There was a spearhead, made of whale bone, upon which a diamond-edged weapon spell had been cast, around six months ago. Veor examined it, and said that the carving was in the undersea style, and was likely to have been done by Sahuagin. When we entered the church we saw that there had been five altars here, one to each of the Powers of Light, even a tiny shrine to Sammael. The high altar, the biggest, was to Michael, and it was covered with what we realised was dried blood. Lizette divinated the church, and confirmed that it had been consecrated almost a decade ago, then had been desecrated some six months ago. Vanderhan went for a rummage in the vestry, and found the abbot's office. Hidden in a secret compartment under the desk he found the abbot's journal, along with a Michealine Holy Book and some coin. The journal spoke of disappearing people. The last entry made mention of bad weather, and "they are coming"...

I performed a flamesight ritual on a bloodied dagger we found, and saw a vision of the battle, of humans fighting these scaly shark men, the Sahuagin, It was obvious that the Sahuagin were not fighting as the usual bloodthirsty rabble, but in a coordinated fashion. Evidently, they have military scientists too, and this could not be a good thing.

On the beach we found fishing vessels and a larger ship, all of them holed. The wood had been warped by necromantic magic. Not a good thing. There was a really big shark tooth embedded in one boat, which had had animal growth cast on it. So they had Earth mages too. Which wasn't a good thing, either.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we were done examining the scene, and nobody wanted to spend the night there. This massacre had to be reported to the authorities at the Trading Post as soon as possible, so we decided we would run for it, and overnight there. Then we would make our way north by iceberg, surveying the coast as we went.

We arrived at the trading post at dusk, to find it rather more fortified that I remembered it, with a ditch and palisade under construction and guarded by what looked like mercenaries, some of them from Khoras. There was a large working party about to knock off for the night. We headed for the Inn, which was bigger than I recalled it. There were patrols in the streets, in threes. It was decided that I needed to learn the GTN for Sahuagin so as to set up wards against them in the village.

The Innkeeper was a friendly Pasifikan native, who explained that we were just in time for dinner, and that there were hot springs, so the lady, Lizette, could have her bath. The men stayed in the common room, while we enjoyed the hot water. Then we all shared in the roasted pig, fish, sweet potato and taro. Vanderhan was in a card game by the time we got back. Apparently a small party of locals were planning on taking out the Sahuagin raiders. There were caves about ten miles up the coast which were believed to be being occupied by the Sahuagin. We dissuade them from this, and talk for a while about how to make the trading post more defensible, and construct more weapons. Then we went back to our room and talked some more, before bed.

=== 17 Seedtime – The Ruins of Amphipolis ===
In the morning we went to see the town council. They were basically a bunch of merchants, and they weren't initially happy with the advice we had for them. This started with raising the price on Sahuagin heads, from thirty silver to five hundred. They agreed to that, and to the production of spears from ship masts, with obsidian tips. As we left, we saw a bat flying in with a small person riding it, that Vanderhan identified as Sir Lucy Glitterwing, a courier from Garrison on Khoras.

We set forth with our local guide to the caves. He described the cave system, as being a mostly underwater lava tube system with a number of entrances, the largest being the sea entrance, which would be a good ten feet across. There are nearby ruins, which may be the Sahuagin's target. We would go to the ruins and there perform my ritual of speaking to my other selves.

We knew we were getting close to the ruins, when we came around a ridge and saw a giant statue of a lion, perhaps a guardian, or a sentinel marking the edge of the city. The ruins themselves were just a short way further. They had the usual broken walls, shattered columns and ruined statuary I'd expected to see. Little wooden pegs and markers showed that the professional grave robbers they call archaeologists had been here. There was a central rectangular space surrounded by the stumps of columns that looked as if it might have been the city centre, and it was here that I made my fire and began my ritual. This time I got to have an actual conversation with my former self – a young female bard, with long strawberry blond hair, called Gabrielle, who had lived in this town, thousands of years ago.

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Amphipolis – trading port, trading in fish, grains, and pottery. Metal came in by ship from Thrace.
* ''Where was this town run from, and by whom?'' - A council of elder statesman – in the building with the columns, which is the acropolis
* ''Where did they store their weapons?'' - Most people kept their own weapons – swords staves etc – barracks near the walls – near the acropolis – and the necropolis underneath it
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - The temple to Hades – in the necropolis – underground tombs – tomb of Xena will be here – also the temple to Ares
* ''What significant artifacts were kept here and where?'' - Xena's chakram, sword and armour – probably in the necropolis.
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - Not much dealing with them – Poseidon preferred his children to keep away from the land – although the hero, Iolaus, met and fell in love with a mermaid. Never heard of Sahuagin.

Vanderhan found a plinth that looked as if it might move, and looking further, I found the lever to open it. Veor reasoned that we shouldn't use it, because that would make it more obvious. Then there was a slight tremor in the ground. I put my ear to the ground and heard some kind of sound. Strange, especially since the wind was from the west, and that made it unlikely that it was blowing through the tunnels. Our guide showed us to the entrance to the lava tubes. The entrance was a bit jagged and rough, and Veor suggested I use the gloves of shaping to make the entrance less jagged. I also took the precaution of wearing my heavy armour. There was another rumble in the ground, like a distant explosion. We went down into the lava tunnels. It was a bit tight for Vanderhan, and my helmet kept scraping the ceiling. Then, we came out into a wider tunnel where we found tracks – of booted feet, and clawed feet. Lizette said she could hear the faint sounds of digging – coming from the direction of the town. Then rumble, rumble down the tunnel came a pair of half-starved humans dressed in rags pulling a cart full of rocks, followed by a rather smallish sharkman. We retreated up the small tunnel, and prepared an ambush. It was all over very quickly. I softened up the sahuagin with a dose of dragonflames, and Vanderhan finished him off, while Veor blocked off the tunnel with ice.

The slaves proved to be from the trading post, and on learning there were more of them, being worked until they died, and then eaten, we decided without hesitation to go back and give those sahuagin a dose of their own medicine. Broiled shark, anyone?

We disguised ourselves, Vanderhan having a belt that gave him the illusory appearance of a sahuagin, and the rest of us in rags over light armour, or indeed, no armour. Vanderhan went first, then Veor and I followed, dragging and pushing the cart we'd acquired, between us. After a while we heard the sounds of digging, and then we were confronted by a big four-armed Sahuagin. He gurgled something at Vanderhan, who grunted in return. Obviously that wasn't enough, because the big guy came at Vanderhan, who dropped the illusion, and drew a big sword. The fight was on, and again it didn't last very long, as Vanderhan cut the Sahuagin apart, I tossed a dragonsmite at the sharkman, and Veor iced up and went in on the attack. The only real surprise was went the Sahuagin threw one of the charges they'd been using in their mining. And it went boom! Didn't hurt much more than your usual grenado though. We salvaged a couple of these, and used then and some ice to bring the tunnel down. After we'd brought out the slaves of course. Lizette was told in no uncertain times that she would heal the slaves when we go back to the trading post, and not before. Which was almost nightfall. There was just time to set some wards of Wall of Radiance against Sahuagin along the seafront. The night passed more or less uneventfully, save for a couple of sharks cruising in the lagoon.

=== 18 Seedtime – Voices in the Dark ===
The only thing that Lizette appeared to want to do in the morning was to go shopping. Not as if there was much to buy beyond a few parau and other souvenirs of the islands. We were told that the portal to Khoras was down, and they would be re-stocking when it opened. After that, we pulled out the maps and debated what to do next. We all agreed that it was likely that the Sahuagin were most probably trying to dig into graveyards for skeletons for their necromancer to animate, and that something needed to be done about this. The thought of the Sahuagin raising up ancient heroes to attack the merfolk was not a pleasant one, and something we really wanted to prevent.

We still needed to find their bases of operation, and decided to set up a base camp for ourselves somewhere in the north of the island, and somewhat inland. We picked a likely spot halfway between Mount Felicity and the coast, and checked it out with my crystal ball. A careful survey from above at a height showed some regularity, which might be ruins. A closer look proved that we were right.

We spent the next four hours running under wildfires, until we reached the target area. There was what looked like the ruins of some sort of circular keep atop a low hill, and here we built our camp, laying wards to protect it from both the Sahuagin and the undead. Veor reasoned that there had to be a village on the coast near here, for goods to be shipped to the larger habitations in the south. So we went to check it out. There was the ruins of a fishing village who had also had the caves where the dead were kept, raided. Steam could be seen rising from the shore to the south, which proved to be what happened when hot lava from Mount Felicity met the cold ocean, as we found when we got there. I went for a swim and had a word with a turtle, who told me that there was something weird going on in the big bay to the south, the one marked on our maps as Itimanuka Bay. However, it was getting late, so that would be tomorrow's expedition. We headed back to the hilltop ruins for the night. Of course, I got stuck on the midnight watch because I can see in the dark. I so hate that. First it was Vanderhan, then Lizette and I, then Veor.

It was near midnight when first I, then Lizette, heard a voice, calling out in common, crying for help, from the centre of the ruins. We prepared ourselves, and went to investigate. Shortly we came to a courtyard with a ancient well, and the ruins of a tower. The voice sounded as if it was coming from the well, so we looked down, and saw water some thirty feet down. I called out, and it transpired that it was indeed a ghost. She wanted us to free her, and it could be done by freeing her body, which was in a dungeon nearby. Apparently she was a slave girl, who had been wrongfully imprisoned for refusing to marry an oppressive overlord. We decided that exploring undead-infested dungeons in the middle of the night was a bad idea, and took our leave of her, with a promise to return.

=== 19 Seedtime – Baddies in the Bay ===
After breakfast we used wildfires to get close to Itimanuka Bay. This was a wide bay around a calm lagoon with a reef out to sea, and the ruins of a large town, which had most likely been a port to the north. Coconut palms lined the beach, and this area seemed rather more fertile than most of Rangiwhero. Lizette spotted an albatross. I tried talking to the seagulls, but they were less than helpful. We watched the sea and soon noticed the triangular fins of a large school of shark.

We waited until near midday to break out the crystal balls. First with Vanderhan. I picked a spot in the deepest part, two-thirds of the way out. There were numerous coral heads, and the occasional shark, but not as many fish as I'd expect. Then more sharks, and a Sahuagin, using a trident to catch stuff. Then I used my crystal to look more to the centre of the lagoon. There was an expanse of stone perhaps ten feet down, perhaps the top of a dome. I moved my point of view about five hundred feet, and confirmed that it was a dome. I saw a patrol of half a dozen Sahuagin accompanied by as many sharks. Curiously, these guards were carrying silvery metal weapons. Other Sahuagin headed past, perhaps heading for an entrance. Then I moved my viewpoint inside the dome, and found a room which appeared to be a place of Sahuagin worship, with a statue of Furcalor and a group of priests. We estimated there would be at least a hundred Sahuagin and fifty sharks here.

Veor next suggested we checked out the town, and see if the necropolis had been stripped of skeletons. It was obvious that they had. Doors were torn open, and sarcophagi broken. There was a fair amount of jewelry and coin here, together with few magical items, included a magical belt which was trapped warded or curse, a ring and some amulets.

We ran for the trading post, and we could see that there were more guards, many of them dressed like church knights, but wearing the symbol of a silver hammer. They looked quite professional. We went to the bar and found that the merfolk had been and gone. We left a message for them, with maps and the like. Dinner was on the house, as were drinks – a lovely mixture of coconut cream, pineapple juice and rum. We went to bed... and were awoken by Lizette, crying that there were Sahuagin, and my fire walls had been triggered. I fire-arced us closer, twice, until we were eighty feet away. Out to sea there was what looked like the commanders, and here were a bunch of sharkmen and undead.

Vanderhan let loose with his big crossbow, while Veor laid walls of ice, and I placed a fully ranked wall of fire next to the other one. Then we saw the water elemental coming. I dropped a couple of fireballs among the second rank of Sahuagin, while Vanderhan went in hand to hand, Veor put down some slippery ice at their feet, so they'd slide into the fire walls, and Lizette readied a banishment to get rid of the elemental. Meanwhile we hatched a plan to get the leaders.

We fire-arced to the edge of the sea, and Veor prepared to drop an ice-floe in the lagoon for us to stand on, while I prepared another fire-arc. Vanderhand shot the big one in the chest, and he fell into the water. The others cast magic and one of them backfired, because I was actively resisting. Then we fire-arced onto the iceberg, and entered melee with them. They died of it fairly quickly. We made sure the big one was dead too, and then rode the iceberg onto the shore.

Flamis: "I'm a fire mage, not an earth mage. There is a difference."

Veor: "I send my iceberg to go forth and multiply."
Vanderhan: "Iceberg sex?"

In return for resurrecting some of the foreign knights, Lizette is given special potions for each of us.

Lizette: "I'm qualified to do something stupid."

=== 20 Seedtime – Exploring the Western Coast ===

Needless to say, we slept in after the fight, and had a late breakfast. Lizette had to be dissuaded from performing excess resurrections before the day's expeditions. We set forth southwest past the portal to Paleolithica where we observed that the Khoras people had constructed a small keep for its protection.

We headed up to a cape where there were blowholes indicating underwater caves... but there was no real way to enter from above so we decided simply to inform the merfolk. At the next cape we found a series of hexagonal rock formations that Veor described as a "stairway to Valhalla", and I thought was called a "giant's causeway". We will name these places when we have time. There was little sign of reef anywhere along this coast.

Heading north we saw more rocky beaches and cliffs until we finally came to a proper sandy beach – only the sand was black. The waves were impressive, as were the sand dunes – and then we saw on a cliff inland, six faces carved in stone, and knew we had come to the Cliff of Heroes. There was my own face, Silverfoam, Rowan, Arnaud, Braegon, Grendel, and, of course, Drum. There were caves here, but only shallow ones. No ruins though.

A little further north, we saw the plains spreading away from the beach. Here we stopped for lunch. We found a ruined settlement inland, and explored, finding a small necropolis. At Veor's suggestion I got out my cushion, made an instant bonfire, and did my ritual.

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Attica –where they made the finest honey on the island. Also good for herbs, spices and aromatics. The soil was unusually fertile.
* ''Where was this town run from, and by whom?'' - Town council
* ''Where did they store their weapons?'' - Town guard, or in the guardhouses
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - Where they kept the honey and the cheeses. And mushrooms. Including truffles.
* ''What significant artefacts were kept here and where?'' - The mighty hoe of the gods? The fast plough of excavation?
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - They worshipped Poseidon – the big statue with the trident. Praying to him to control storms.

Lizette: "I'm not pleased with the powers right now."
Flamis: "You're not pleased with Liessa?"
Lizette: "Which one's Liessa?"

Lizette: So we're looking for a hopefully empty necropolis?
Veor: No, we're looking for a hopefully full necropolis?

We went to go check out the necropolis, and it was immediately obvious that the Sahuagin had been here, by the tracks. They had also defaced the plinth of Poseidon's statue with the symbol of Furcalor. That didn't survive a close encounter with my magic gloves. In a nearby cave we found rows and rows of clay jars. These were full of long musty grain. There were some long gone cheeses as well.

After sharing a hot lunch, we headed along the shore again, and found a series of cliffs. After the cliffs were another bunch of ruins. We judged we were now due west of Mount Felicity. There seemed to be a number of significant structures here, including a courtyard, statues, and a large necropolis. There was an aura over the area, which appeared to be designed to prevent the dead from being raised.

Lizette: "Apollo? He was the god of space launches, wasn't he?"

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Epidaurus – a hospital and school of medicine were here – dedicated to Asklepios.
* ''What abilities were associated with the powers here – Apollo, Asklepios?'' - Apollo was a sun god, a god of music and healing and prophecy. Hence there was an amphitheatre here. Asklepios was his son, and a god of healers.
* ''What significant people were buried here?'' - Hippocrates – the one who formulated the healer's oath.
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - The catacombs of the dead – the medical school under the hospital, and the cellars. Storage under the amphitheatre.
* ''What significant artefacts were kept here and where?'' - Healing artefacts mostly. Look under the hospital – which was right where I was sitting. Eversharp knives, and devices to aid healing.
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - Perhaps some treaties with the local merfolk.

We checked the necropolis, and found that everything was more or less intact. On learning that the aura was not actually a ward, I prepared some of my own anti-undead wards over it – which appeared to reinforce it. After Lizette divinated the consecrated area, she told us that one had the effect of inspiration, and the other of invigoration – and that's where we decided to sleep.

=== 21 Seedtime ===
In the morning we decided to see if we could find a way into the basement of the medical school. After some poking around we found a symbol on a wall that looked like a six-pointed star with a staff with a snake wrapped around it in the middle. Only it wasn't a wall, it was a secret door. Vanderhan got it open, and in we went. There was a spiral staircase leading downwards. We went down around thirty feet and came to a landing and another one of those symbols and concealed entrance. This had magic on it – a magical trap ward or curse, whose intended target was undead. As we approached closer we could see that it was glowing softly, and made of glowing crystals. It wasn't trapped, but it there was no obvious way to open it. I tried poking the symbol, and it glowed some more – and when we got Lizette to poke it, it glowed more, and opened. Beyond was a corridor, with three doors on either side, and a door at the end. Each side room had a crystal in the ceiling which glowed as we opened the door, a bed, and some stuff... a chamberpot and such like. The beds, the crystals and the chamberpots were all magical.

The end chamber was warded against undead, necromancers, and people pacted to powers of death. In the middle of room was a shadowy figure, which addressed us in some kind of ancient language saying: "Who seeks the Staff of Asklepios?". Lizette stepped up to answer, figuring it was a healing thing, an she wanted it. It wanted to know if she was pacted, and stated that it didn't know if this was possible to pact to Asklepios any more. So Lizette got to pick up the staff.

Flamis: "You should have DAed it before you picked it up, Lizette. It is usual."

We headed north – the coastline was pretty much the same, until we reached the forest. Now, that really shouldn't be there. Lizette reported traces of earth magic.... And I could see movement – small invisible things. We guessed they were fae of some sort. Veor called out, and one of them came to talk to us. Apparently this part of the island once belonged to them, and they were claiming it back. We offered to convey their claim to the humans in the south, and requested their help for the merfolk in their conflict with the Sahuagin. He also explained that the Sahuagin had been sighted in the far north, near the human city called Calydon.

We followed the coast, avoiding the forest. They came from the north, moons ago, a large school, stayed here a while, and headed south. The ruins here were apparently partly submerged.

Questions:
* ''What was the name and role of this place in ancient Pasifika?'' - Calydon – a port city surrounded by swamp, and dedicated to Apollo.
* ''What was the name and role of the neighbouring submerged city?'' - Atlantis
* ''What significant people were buried here?'' - Unknown
* ''What significant underground structures were here and where were they?'' - Also unknown
* ''What significant artefacts were kept here and where?'' - Again unknown
* ''In what way was this town connected with aquatic sentients?'' - No idea

After that we having completed our scouting mission, headed south. We camped for the night.

=== 22 Seedtime ===

Mid-morning we approached Amphipolis, and there was movement among the ruins. With a scrying glass, we learned that it was a bunch of undead being commanded by some Sahuagin to dig in the ruins. Using the crystal ball to keep watch on them in the meanwhile, Veor and I prepared to summon our elementals. Then we made final preparations – casting weapons of radiance and fire armours, all around, and immolation for us.

As we approached we ran into their wards. This was a pest, since one of them was a fear ward, which set our fire elemental running. Then, there was a forbiddance, which told us there was a namer in there somewhere. The ice elemental led us in, followed by Veor and Vanderhan. I cast firearc on myself and Lizette, and landed us on a fallen pillar, giving the party a two-pronged attack. This also allowed Lizette to shut down their namer with an area counterspell. Then she had to do it again because he moved. Veor cast ice projectiles, which had the effect of putting most of the bad guys off their spells.

Lizette had the clever idea of putting a necromantic counterspell under us, which would have the additional effect of preventing them putting a fire counterspell under us. I hosed two of the sahuagin mages with dragonflames, which had the effect of putting them off casting. The undead tried attacking us, which didn't do much good. The ice elemental pinned down the necromancer in close combat. Two of the other Sahuagin attempted to help him out, somewhat ineffectively. Then two sahuagin tried attacking me and Lizette. I conked mine on the head with my staff and stunned it – then whacked it in the chest, crushing its ribs and sending it flying. The one attacking Lizette was having rather more success as she attempted to evade with a dagger. Finally the elementals (my fire elemental had come back) finished off the necromancer between them. Except the necromancer kept bleeding. Turned out he had a trollskin item on him. We looted the bodies and then burned them.

Vanderhan: That's not an animate is it?
Flamis: No, but it'll hopefully be inanimate by the time you've finished with it.

Lizette: I don't think we should encourage namers being eaten by elementals.

We began by looking into the hole that we'd investigated before. It led to a tunnel, which we followed to a door. This had the symbol of a trident on it. Nobody could figure out how to open it until I placed my trident in the impression. Inside was a room with a bunch of tridents on the wall. This time Lizette did remember to detect the aura on the floor – it was warded against sentients not associated with Poseidon. Veor solved that by putting a sheet of ice on the floor. We got to examine the six tridents and took them with us – but did not open his sarcophagus.

Then we continued exploring the tomb complex. I started getting this odd feeling of being watched. We came to a door with an "X" on it. This was also warded, against creatures not born here. We got past that and Vanderhan opened the door. Inside there were two sarcophagi, a whole bunch of frescos, and a chakram hanging on the wall. Turned out the watcher was in fact Xena, who'd been alerted from the Elysian Fields. She suggested that we give the things we had found here to the merfolk, and move the sarcophagi to a more inland site.

We returned to Amphipolis and informed the personnel of the trading post, and the merfolk as to what we found. They had a present for Lizette – a lovely seashell bikini, which she refused to try on. So I did. I think Basalic will love it. We partied at the tavern, and slept the night.

=== 23 Seedtime ===
We went back to Amphipolis and checked out the tunnels. The Sahuagin had abandoned the area, and were all gone, the merfolk having pushed through almost as far as the eastern cape where the Powers of Light outpost had been. Then we ran north to the ruins where we entered the abandoned keep, after summoning a pair of elementals. We went down the stairs and found a guardian skeleton, which didn't survive long, and found the imprisoned girl. She appeared to be a ghost around a skeleton. Veor found the keys attached to the guards belt, and eventually got the manacles off. This released her, and she faded away, offering us her three dinars in thanks and recompense. That was fine. So we went back to the town, and that was basically that.

== Adventures ==
*[[User:Keith]] Winter 800

The Rights of Spring

2026-06-06T03:47:11Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Spring 808 WK| Scribe notes]] 

[[Category:William]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Clarissa d'Ornay]]
[[Category:Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature]]
[[Category:Akuji]]
[[Category:Prudence]]
[[Category:Serra Angelus]]
[[Category:WordSmith]]
'''Employer:''' Tarahell Alatáriël, the 23rd Legion of Alfhiem - He wants the peace kept. 
'''Level:''' Medium-ish 
'''Day:''' Monday - starting 15th Sept Changed to Tuesday as of 23rd Sept
'''Location:''' Royal Oak - 21A Oak Street 
 
Party:
 
# [[Clarissa d'Ornay]] (Party Leader)
# [[Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature|Eltan]] (Scribe)
# [[Akuji]]
# [[Prudence]] played by Julia
# [[Serra Angelus]], Elven pacifistic Earth Mage played by [[User:Michael|Michael Scott]]
# [[WordSmith]], a Dwarven [[:Category:Namer|Namer]] played by [[User:ErrolC|Errol]] (Mil Sci)

'''Mission:''' 
Preview - Elves, The Fair Folk, Gods, Monsters, Hey Nonny nonny and a lot of blood all over the place.
 
Preview for those who are paying attention - The Lady Anellia of Lalhaudh has resurrected the practice of the Spring Rites, a fertility festival dedicated to the Old Elven Gods. This heretical practice would normally be stomped down hard from Eidolon if it were not for a few mitigating factors, like the dragon, the hemidemisemi-approval of the Queen and a really big sword.
 
As a result the event will be well attended with interested parties from the royal court, the low courts, cultists, worshippers of old and new Elven Gods, fae (both flavours), dragons, beltans, lunatics, holy men, Gods, Goddesses and Daemons. Most of them will be armed, even more will have money. And while all have been asked to comport themselves in a civilized manner, that's a bit much to hope for given that the God's being honoured have only a vague understanding of civilization.
 
'''Related Scribe Notes''' 
Summer 808WK [[The Laughing Hills]] 
Autumn 808WK [[The Legacy of Kael]] 
Winter 808WK [[In Her Majesty's Somewhat Secret Service]] 

= Narrative =
== Day 1 ==

After a long and hearty conversation with a baker about the possabilities of getting more cream buns I realise I'm late for my meeting with an employer.
Rush into the room and greet Tarahell, the 23rd legion (who doesn't appreciate good food like I do).

Introductions are made and are as follows.

Akuji : A Budding Necromancer, who is a warrior for this outing, as long as he can keep his pants on.

Clarissa : A Goddess of pure beauty who seems to enjoying flirting with myself. Voted party leader as everyone kinda couldn't keep their eyes off her.

Wordsmith : A namer dorf who has a lovely crystal rodent. He's a little bit of a guild beast and creeps me out. Been here before and a volentary Mill-Sci.

Prudence : A youthful farmer girl who's dead keen on becoming a water mage but needs a little more practice.

Serra Angelus : A certain drunken earth mage, but at least she's been here before.

Eltan, The Reaver : My esteemed self, albit unwilling scribe, but tells it how it is. Earth mage, lover of fine food, friend to all plants and animals.

Roles if you missed them before.
Party leader : Clarissa
Mill-Sci : Wordmith
Scribe : Eltan

Mission:
To keep the peace during the spring rites. These rites are the ones that are semi-heritical due to being of the old gods ways and not of the "new" gods. Thus mostly banned by the Elven Crown.
Back to the events as they happened.

After a massive long list of people and factions to look out for including basically every elven family, provence and noble of note sending a representitive if not coming themselves. I got lost stareing at Clarissa's fine form so missed a lot of what was said, but it all seemed to make sence.
Also mentioned was that Lady Celeblothel is probably turning up and may make a bid to reclaim her "ownership" of the provence. Prehaps the biggest problem to arise that we see.

Pay: Standard guild rates, plus possible training from people in Lauder Provence.

Meeting over we wander off and get some more food, talk to Tarahell and agree to go Pub Crawling before getting down to business. Prudence knows a lot of decent pubs, Tarahell can drink like a real man, not a pansy elf. We lost Akuji to the temple of the One Horned God as was kinda expected. Clarissa kept things mostly under controll and in the morning we set off.

== DAY 2 ==

Alcomahol is bad... head hurts... need something like more cream doughnuts... or cream buns... or anything to eat.

Soothe pains around, people feel better, most of us are equipped and ready to go, off to meet our transport the ever so helpful Beriadan. Air mage who specialised in binding and traveling by clouds. Fast.. but dangeous.. no hand holds and I can't do anything!

We grab some of Al Fonses food baskets on the way out and head to Bergelfen. Once there we poke some of the Beltan elves we know and see how things are going, somehow Prudence makes herself a crystal glove for her right hand... and keeps it. It doesn't fit anyone else and after some pokeing is solid crystal to all ber her and has a replication prupose. Need to divinate to know more.

Some more pokeing with other people and we find out that the people we need to talk to are at the elfheim great university.

A quick trip over there and we're greeted by mobs of elven students in diplomatic debates with themselves and sometimes other groups of students. A wee struggle and we're inside and trying to track down a Scholar who's specialising in the study of the elven race (Master Tangleleaf) and it's current decline, with some information on the elven spring rights.

After being suggested we go and get the Scrolls of Kael which have been lost for some time we convince him to look at other races and how they breed / populate the world. After a long and interesting discussion we convinced him to run away with his partner to a secret location and have a romantic time in an attempt to have
children.

Brief panic as we realise we've just convinced the ONLY person in the elven empire who's paying attention and studying the decline of the elven race and who's reporting to the elven courts of this situation to run away with his partner, we convince him to stay instead.

Party debate happens about what just happened so we hurry after master Tangleleaf and convicne him to continue his work for the crown, Then run off with his wife. Disaster averted once again, but somehow I feel it was worth it, Clarissa running and well moveing was well worth the wait.

Tangeleafs brother, Tanglebones knows more of the Scrolls of Kael so we decided to go and talk to him. Unfortunately he wants to study me... and that is never pleasant.

We get to the portal to the Eidalon and the gates are closed and guarded, with many many students wanting to get hame but not allowed. Brief discussion with the guards and some pulling of rank and we're in. Unfortunately Eidalon is under some curfew so no-one is on the streets. It seems that the elven city has run out of food. That's a very silly thing to do.
Step 1, get to the Royal Court (without being arrested). We got accosted by guards but with Tarahiel around they seemed slightly hesitent to do anything to us and let us go free. To the Court we go.

Apon entering the court we get intoroduced.
* "Akuji from the south"
* "Eltan the Reaver"
* " Prudence of {forgotten, some help here}"
* "The Elven Justicar"
* "A mysterious stranger"

Wordsmith was outside talking to Tarahiel so didn't come in. The names didn't mean much to the elves but the last two got some worried looks from the party.

Looking around the court, we spotted Tanglebones, as he seemed to be one of the few non-kurf heads around and was sober. We talk to him in a private room and learn lots and lots. Akuji recives a token from him after asking some obscure questions about sex. The Scrolls of Kael we sent away by the royal crown and it's prophisised that apon their return the elven crown will fall. They're being "looked after" by Ice Giants far to the north due to a Royal Edict. They are everburning, and contain the history of the elven race plus much more on rituals and the gods. He also said that if we meet Anghammerbad again tell him "We know where Mara is", oh boy more secrets to deal with should we meet him again.

Tanglebones did something so abhorrently rude next that I was stunned. He leant down and with a sharp knife took a hair from my head. He's very spry and that caught me offgurd. Surely he should have courtly manners... will have to do something about this later.

After a little more talking tanglebones excused himself and parted out company so we went to the Keepter of Records to see if she could help us with more information... due to kurf she was unable to stand, talk or really do anything except giggle. Plan aborted so we leave the courts and head of the Guardians of the Tree.

Lavinir, the head preist there seemed to have his head screwed on and wasn't on kurf or anything else. Told us about the scrolls after we informed him of the iminent extinction of the elves.

The Scrolls of Kael are written af the Beghest of Kael, are the "original" ideas on how to be an elf, and after writeing them Kael departed for te sun, where he apparently is now.

I also learned that for an elf to give birth they need the services of a decent healer or both child and mother may die. I keep thinking we should teach elves to have litters, 4 babys at once would really help their population issues. Think that's my rodent side thinking though, declineing to suggest it as I might get badly told off. There was some talk about blessing a lake to somehow make Elven births better and Lavinir seemed rather keen for it even offing the sacrifice of his rather powerful staff to bless the lake. Before any more actions were taken on this effect we couldn't work out if it would work.

Standing here behind Clarissa, I have to itterate once again, she has a really really nice bum.

We bumped into the Keeper of Secrets there aswell, Master Torihel who after a brief talk gives Prudence a book but as neither she nor I can read Elven very well it seemed mosty inconsequential. Thanks to one of the elves in the party they translated it for us and it's "The Book of Niccoveilli the Skinless" and mostly consists of things like how to skin things alive and such. Niccoveilli is one of the 4 old gods. Along with Kael, the Laughing God and Sha'mez.

There is a fun philosiphical debate of why the elven race is in decline. It seems the old gods were all for reincarnation or rebirth, and the new gods take worthy souls and keep them in a semi heaven place. The former method of reincarnation seems to promote dieing as not bad and birth as a good thing, the latter seems to promote living as long as possible and potentially not having children as often for mostly selfish reasons.

Thanks to the two knowledgable people we are also now enlightened on how to make souls and the magic that is this. Basically have sex, get pregnant, have a baby, doesn't seem hard but somehow the elves are failing at this.

That evening Prudence seems really to want a portent, or something of the sort so it's elected that we will sleep in one of Eidelon's magestic groves.
That night Prudence gets a visit from the Archangle Michael and he says "Things you hear in this glade are essentially correct. The magic is in the person, not the item." And now, for the rest of the Season we all get +2Ma and +2WP.

== Some Days ==

== Day 7 ==
''What day is it? Never mind, bash on''

We decide to see if someone can give us a crash course in Erelheine manners and not-being-beheaded, and when we visit Lady Anellia she has the same idea and is going through a phrase book of frightening sounding exclamations. It looks like we are going to have to wing it. To Clarissa's annoyance, she thanks Akuji for driving off the High Elf Ladies with his antics at dinner the other night, as she has little in common with them and meal times are quite strained. We are to be invited back!

The Erelheine delegation arrives suddenly, and fortunately they are lead by the extremely well travelled Lord Yo(no relation). He is quite fluent in Elven and quite disinclined to sever anything at this time, though during the events that might change as he is competing personally. News of Akuji's fame has already spread to his ears (clearly their spies are competent) but he's aghast to be corrected that he serviced an entire cadre on the same evening. He immediately bustles off to increase his training regime. Clarissa's lip gets downright curly at witnessing the second Courtier coup by Akuji in ten minutes.

Oh, and he also left a message for Lucius from Lord Cochane that was very polite, but roughly translated as "Come on, if you think you're hard enough".

Later, at the local tree/pub we discover that an old acquaintance of Clarissa's from the South Haven Academy for Girls, Mistress High Treason, is also in town. Clarissa is a little put out when her enquiries after students are met an apology that Mistress High Treason is not so much an educator as a demon hunter extraordinaire, and states that her time as Head Mistress there was very successful in rooting out an avenue of corrupting high borne ladies before they married and the Guild contributed greatly during this time. The expression on Clarissa's face suggests that she's not quite as sure about that.

Mistress High Treason says she's here to ensure that the agent of the 72 do not disrupt the rite, and seems reassured that we've font of power like Prudence to protect us.

We decide it would be a good idea to check the countryside for nefarious goings-on. Akuji scouts his way into an Illusionary Terrain, spotting a pair of elves and the imp they summon. The imp jumps on Pru after does her Fire Breathing trick on it, but doesn't last long one WordSmith, his ferret, and Akuji's cat join in. Clarissa and Akuji charge in and around the elves, spreading confusion and despair, but not quickly enough to stop a devil being call forth. Fortunately WordSmith banishes it before it can do more than befuddle Akuji. The demon-worshipper backfiring himself into a stupor is enough to make the merc he had hired surrender.

WordSmith beats the Witch-smeller to the punch in removing the amnesia. Clarissa and the Church-ite take much pleasure and some time comparing interrogation techniques and extracting the following details:
* He was sent by [[Foras]] to observe the Spring Rites
* There are many powerful beings in the area
* Foras' plan to exploit the energy and confusion of the rites appears to have been thwarted for now.

We request that the Beltane scour the forest the next day for similar groups. They encounter and burn three groups. Akuji attempts to speak to the dead at the skirmish sites.
# [[Seir]] had 5 followers nearby. Their plan was to stop the ceremony at its climax, Call Master, and use the life force being concentrated. There is an agent in town giving them info via Whispering Wind.
# A single elf who Akuji cannot contact
# Two followers of [[Leraje]]. They planned to use an arrow imbued with "Theft" magical to disrupt the ceremony and siphon off the lifeforce.

We have an enlightening discussion about the various cultural techniques of cutting agents off from their Masters and do away with them.

*The local Elves remove their organs, cocoon and suspend them in a tree in a state of mummifying semi-death.
*The Unite Church types set fire to them in specific prescribed fashions so their Master cannot help them and they are as purified as can be hoped for.
*The Wild Elves send hunting spirits to hound the Agent's soul for all time so they never reach their Master.
*Akuji's nasty book involves something about turning them into leather goods.
*The Erelheine stockpile them so they can kill a large number at once and ensure they get a good turnout from the Master and this minions. And then they thump them.

Clarissa talks to a very helpful Wind, who has been used to communicate between the Seir-ites. They thought Akuji to be the best target. We get a description of the spy, and the building he uses. there is a bored Air Elemental about, and some buildings in the area have gone. High Treason 'takes up to much space' - this lines up with what Anghamerbad said about shape-changed dragons having dragon-sized auras.

= Quotes and MetaQuotes =

*Wordsmith - "Well, let's say this cream bun represents the normal amount of fertility magic in the Lalhaudh area. According to this morning's Divination, the current level in the city would be a cream bun 35 feet across weighing approximately six hundred pounds."

*Eltan - "That's a big bun."

*Pru: "I like fluid parties!"

= Items and Loot =

== Foolish Foras Follower ==
We shook down the amnesiaced devotee, and allocated as below:

* Invested Bone of Necrosis (Rk10, 3 charges)
** To Pru to provide a ranged option? WS has one already
* Broach of Featherfall (Rk5, ?? charges)
** To ???
* Waters of Healing (Rk20, 3 potions)
** To ???
* Ank of Greater Undead (Creating and Enslavement)
** Anyone but Akuji??

So, what are we doing about the unpaid mercenary willing to work for demon-worshippers?

= Private Notes from the Prodigal =

== Places to go and people to see ==

* At the Guild
** Tarahell Alatáriël, the 23rd Legion. Survivor of 30,000 years of soldiering and seems to locally define "quietly competent" where-ever he is. But he seems relatively detached and aloof from the events going on around us, I wonder why that is?
** After he calmly gives us the long list of "usual suspects", I begin to suspect combat fatigue.

* Bergelfen, and the Regency
** The Beltane are swarming here, trying to erect living crystal obelisks to fend off the Calimar in future. Pru shows some aptitude with the stuff, which stirs some excitement. I leave a note with the Bergraf to apologise.
** I run into Angela of Artemis house from my time at the [[Southhaven Academy for Girls]]. Apparently she will be at the Rites as well, along with others from Bowcourt and further afield. I'm glad to say the "event" that Arnaud precipitated does not appear to have soured our acquaintance, we have a lovely chat and promise to meet later.

* Aflheim University, Erlangene Province
** Rioting Students? Some internal strife about the Dean of magical Studies using the "Black Books of Prophesy".
** Master Tangleleaf, an amiably daffy scholar who is convinced that Elves are an endangered species and will be beyond saving in 1 to 5 centuries unless the Rites are performed and the properly maternal influences are spread.
** (Apparently Elven women can control their own fertility? I've wasted a lot of money of potions if that's the case. I feel especially foolish for bothering [[Mortimer]]. The little scamp.)
** The Book of Kael are said to contain the necessary information to the make the Rites effective, and he wants us to retrieve the five, 20 foot long (unrolled) scrolls, in perpetually burning cases. Apparently they have been good and lost for some considerable time. I don't doubt the recommended Elven sacrifice might have a bearing on that.
** For some reason we convince him to lead by example and escape the campus for a dirty weekend with a fellow researcher while we look.
** The portals are locked down, but we have enough credentials (and clout, thanks to the 23rd) to get past the guards and on the capital.

* Eidolon, the capital
** Beautiful (I manage to refrain from gawping like a yokel), but deserted. Apparently there is a curfew in force due to the... ...food shortage?
** I prevent Prue from paddling in the fountain.
** We head to the court to locate archivists and I am announced as "Mysterious Stranger" as I've been going about veiled. Another victory for "Team Subtle", I fear. Where's my hay-seed? (Note: All Kudos points were lost when Serra entered, the "Elven justicar") - No, I don't think that even the rest of weirdos will stop that from being noticed.
** The court largely appears to have invoked the appetite suppressing power of big piles of [[krrf]] to do their part during these hard times. (Out, damn'd shakes...)
** Asking about, we run into Master Tanglebones and have a horrifyingly seditious conversation in a private booth. Apparently the scrolls are prophesied to cause the fall of the Elven crown if they ever return and he thinks that'd be just peachy. They are also being guarded Ice Giants (or Trolls, it's unclear) in the frozen North by Royal edict for just that reason.
** We try and have conversation with the Keeper of Records, they don't appear to be able to inventory their own limbs. Laminiar is more helpful and sober.

Pru: "See! Portents!"

We still need actual copies of the edict and the prophesies if they are available. Not that I believe that twaddle, but if enough people do they could decide to "Smash the state" if we bring the these things back, I'd like to know why. And just how many sections we can expect to be sawn into. Y'know, for the shipping.

* Other raving loony stuff we heard while there?
** Elven hips are too small reliably deliver live offspring? A healer is required to guarantee the survival of mother and child?
** Despite Elves only going 7 months to term?
** Human surrogates are right out, as they gestate as Orcs?
** Kael departed for the Sun after importing the scrolls, which are a blueprint for being Elven?
** The New Gods are simply weak tea for the jaded inhabitants of the capital, remote and uninteresting for the merely rural, and the Wild Elves haven't changed their ways in the slightest.

Tangleleaf's theories are starting to sound more and more plausible, I fear.

* The Sacred Grove Great Guardian - Temple of Manwe
** Following the healer angle, we speak to Lady Malaestal, Chief Healer and Priestess. She corroborates much of what Tanglebones said, confirming that it is horrifyingly seditious.
** She considers, in a Healerly fashion, that stopping the rot with a sudden amputation is the best treatment for the patient.
*** (I'm not a Healer. She might not have meant it quite like that.)
** Akuji mixes up his lewd innuendo about staves with the idea of making a suitably enchanted "birthing pool", but it would be as logistically fraught as trying to organising the Empire's healers to cope with a sudden simultaneous spike in births.
*** He still manages to get his end away, so he his hearts clearly in the right place.

* The Keeper of Secrets / Antiquities
** Tarihel tells us about the Great Schism and the coming of the new gods.
*** The major philosophical / management difference appears to be the Old Gods encourage souls of Elves to re-incarnate but the New Gods have been collecting them "somewhere nice".
*** A fresh start definitely sounds more appealing, personally. Interesting, another thing that [[Cain]] was right about.
** He also says that something about he "invisible magic" of making souls has been lost. The basic physical elements remain (barely) as does the giving of names, but something is missing.
** He slips Akuji an illustrated book, bound in some rather fine leather, to do with "Nuckavalee the Skinless".
** According to him, the prophesy states that,
*** "The Books of Kael will be collected by a gang of fools and madmen, who will give them to the person who is least able to deal with the information." ( Weird, I mis-wrote the last word as "invitation" in my notes )
*** Apparently, we are destined to screw this up. That's a relief!
**** I jest. Destiny, schmestiny.
** He has a cryptic message for Anghamerbad. Mara, why do I know that name?
** We return to the grove to sleep, which is invigorating and restful.
*** Pru has a vision of Michael, reassuring her that the things discussed here are basically true. Isn't he aligned with the new gods? If not, what's he doing meddling with my watermage?

* Lalhaudh City, Lalhaudh Province
** In the morning, we portal to Lalhaudh and find the place pretty much deserted. More a citizen shortage than a food shortage. Estimate the place is at most between 10% and 2% of the population it once held.
** We barge into the chambers of the Lady E- while we is in conference with Anghamerbad and Heldor, a hot-blooded young Wild Elf who was counselling an immediate assault on the capital.
** They are not convinced, as they were trying to coordinate the influx of visitors for the Festival, but after he leaves they revealed that 8,000 years ago the Lord Protector of Lalhaudh and the 23rd (including or just Alatáriël at that point?) marched on the capital and overthrew the reigning monarch.
*** Historical precedent. A splendid accelerant to impulsive bloodshed.
** Anghamerbad tells more about the about the location of the scrolls (200 leagues North, killing cold, Ice Giant fortress etc) and illuminates some more points.
** We feed his interest in gossip by passing on Tarihel's comment about "knowing where Mara is" and that excites him greatly. (Mara. Where do I remember that name from?)
*** This dragon, though currently in Elven form seems very keen to encourage the recovery of the Elven population. I suspect it something to with the vaguely hungry expression he perpetually wears.
** In return(?), he says that my features remind him of Elves from Liesusen province. He probably has a taste for such things. I rather nervous about this news, and I'm not sure that it's just his enthusiasm.

* An interview with a solider.
** One Private Mirastel is sent to answer questions on behalf of the Beltane, by Sargeant Akulas
*** Did we meet him in Bergelfen? Did we ask to talk to someone, or is someone "using their initiative"? How should we interpret them only being able to spare a humble, if very fetching, Private?
** She helps fill in the yawning gap in our (well, mine anyway) knowledge about the Beltane;
** Their normal life span is only 500 years, but due to their constant rotation through combat missions against the Calamar the majority are only 50 to 75. The oldest is only 1500 years.
*** (Only? Even that seems disturbingly long to me...)
** Procreative rights are granted on the basis of campaigns fought, the children are raised (and trained) communally, and they return to active duty as soon as they can.
** And apparently, keeping the gene pool as diverse possible is priority because she invites Akuji to the barracks later.

Other fun things over the next few days
* I save Pru from being hunted and eviscerated by Wild Elves, but will probably have take possession of a hydra head at some point. I should have asked for something less drippy less drippy and more decorative.
** Mentions of the Groves of Miskael ( Mis-Kael?) containing Dryad's and some ominous stories about the "end of days, the Dryad's missing their Troll counterparts, the Dryad King (??) being the prisoner of the Low King and the forests sweeping over the land.
*** Sounds like there are Fae involved. In fact, the deserted houses are being plundered by Brownies, which is a bit backwards.
* Akuji is nearly worn down to a nub by two visits to the Beltane's barracks. I actually felt concerned for him.
** It sounds like the Beltane have a strong camaraderie, which makes me slightly envious. However, their militarism is so total that they will eventually either convince the Calamar to make a bit more effort (them falling back to their out-of-touch home base doesn't bode well), or they'll actually win by dint of throwing the metaphorical furniture out of all the Empire's windows and have to find someone else to fight afterwards. That won't end well.
* Eltan and Serra look up a local illusionist and we talk about the portal north.

The Ice Troll caves
*Semi-Elemental inhabitants, only one apparently patroling and completely taken in the illusions and a "bribe" of trail rations.
**The others we saa are frozen to the floor or walls in the chamber tha Akuji leads us to.
*The five scrolls of the Book of Kael are trapped in a block of bound ice, but are still blazing away merrily.
*we consider many plans to break/haul/"unmagic" the block but after a time Akuji sidles up to the block and whsitpers to the scrolls and they simply slide into his hands.
**No alarms or movement from the ice-bound Trolls, but we leave in Haste, just to be on the safe side.

Impromptu Scroll Swot Camp
*We fly south over the snows and find a relatively sheltered valley to assess what sort of ethnographic timebomb we have our hands on.
**Divination says they are genuine god-texts.
**They are very legible, even with my poor schooling, and seem to be written in only mildly archaic Elven.
**Each scroll deals with the different aspect;
#Histories of Kael and his brothers, and how they each ascended. All pretty tame stuff, but that might be just the weird human gods I'm used to.
#Assorted lifestyle tips including warfare, hunting,
#guiding and sharing secrets (of fire and magic) with the "lesser races",
#and assorted the rituals including causing the sun to rise and the Spring Festival/Games.
#The Future - this was mostly illegible, though some names could be discerned; Alatáriël's (or at least the 23rd's), Lucius, Serra Angelis. I didn't see mine, but I didn't look very hard. It'd be simpler if I wasn't there.
*Conspicuously absent are the following portions;
**Use of the wild hunt on anything other than "evil", defined as Drow, Undead(?), and off-planar things.
**Suppressing the "lesser races".
**Wholesale Elven sacrifice. Only the victor of the games is, subsequent to a night of celebration and ensuring his lineage with "his choice" of women, drugged to several storeys above the eyeballs, eviscerated with much rejoicing, and cremated a portion at a time. His, and in this case the sexism seems relatively constructive, spirit will also be blessed when it returns to it's next life.
*All in all they are surprisingly sensible, in a rather rustic old-timey fashion.
** I cannot believe I just wrote that. This pre-soap era stuff is pretty harrowing, but if the alternative is extinction, it might have to do. However, those clinging to the more modern interpretations might be in for a bit of a shock.

*We (well Serra, Akuji, and myself) spend most of the night poring over the texts and determine that they are fit to be released to Tangleleaf to double check our less than scholarly reasoning and do an authoritative version of the rite for the Spring Festival. I insist that we control access to the other scrolls for the moment, until we have a little more buy-in from the various factions.
**I do note that while Serra and Akuji can handle the scrolls without difficulty, I can't touch them due to the heat. This is despite the Resist Pain amulet and the Protection from Magical Fire I have. I might have an issue if I though of myself as a better role-model, but this is probably a good thing.
*The festival instructions are very detailed, down the the number of steps of on the greased pyramid climbing/brawling challenge. Much reference is made to dancing supporters, honour, and athletic prowess. Few if any have any thing to do with technical fouls or clothes. Should quite an event.
*Akuji is now passionately in favour of competing and personally carrying out both parts of the victory ceremony. I'm torn in number directions about this, but largely I troubled about having to report that I lost one of those in my charge in an ancient ceremony involving sex, drugs, and athletics.
**On the plus side, if he managed to win and called me up, well, I don't think that condoning the ghastly sacrifice would be such a big problem.

===Back to Lalhaudh===

*We drop of the scrolls so Tangleleaf can gin up the distributable version of the rites and entrust the scrolls and his safety to Tarahell Alatáriël. We ask him not to look at the other scrolls, other than the one that focuses on the military aspects of hunting monsters an the like.
*We hear that a delegation of High Elves, led by Lady Alas, have arrived and have brought one of the Royal Champions, Lothario. You know, the guys that need to be permanently sedated and fed with long spoons to stop them murdering their keepers?
**Serra DA's him and looses her mind and much of her clothing for a time.

Divinations
*Show that the Fertility magics are spiking locally, and it's still 4-5 weeks out?
**My prophylactic Potion and Curse effects are being eroded? This isn't good.
*It also suggests (along with Anghamerbad) that the magic will create an breeder reaction, which will very compelling. Also, fatal for the Death aspected around the place?
**That's pretty bad too. Also, Akuji exploding prematurely would pretty bad.
*But Life-Aspected Pru might be able to direct the power and protect the vulnerable? If she hasn't gone berserk too, of course.
*But it indicates that we are on the right track? How long has this "love vibe" been increasing?
**Should we check back and find when this pre-echo started?
**And take a break in another province with a lower background radiation level?

Prioritising Threats (hugely incomplete)
*Lothario definitely seems the most dangerous and least predictable single entity, and he is making Akuji very nervous as his chances to win the honour of eviscerating himself. Lothario seems ably equipped to beat him too it.
**Apparently his true love perished in sacrifice that shaped a demon. No wonder he's pissed.
*Lady Alas is the Queen's Assassin. Probably not a fluffy bunny either. Possibly a sign of how seriously the queen is taking the Rites although why she is 'accompanied by/accompanying', Lothario one of the empires 'Slayers' (who are only supposed to be let loose when there is serious threat to the elven nation) is beyond me.
*Random Wild Elves
...and just so I'm not missing anything,
*Sabrina - I understand she's troublesomely noble, but probably pragmatic enough understand our reasons. I'll try and get her peripherally included in the open of the rights, to help her get invested.
*Isil Eth - It's probably safer for everyone if she remains politically blameless, so she can step in to bargain for our release/sentences commuted/executions made painless or whatever.
*Lucius - Convincing Lady Anellia will likely take more effort, but will amount to the same thing. It might stick, too.
*Demons wishing to stop the ceremony going ahead - the demons 'upset' by the last party would love to take all the energy created by the ceremony and use it themselves. They have sent flunkies to spy out the situation and perhaps nobble the contenders.

Greeting & Arrivals
*We speak to Beryllia about separating the arriving groups and stationing Hobbit buffers in between them.
*We crash a dinner party of Lady Anellia's, with Lady Alas, her flunkies, and assorted Wild Elves.
** And when I say crash, I mean it. Akuji's descriptions and miming of the "after-party" drove Lady Anellia to the commode during the soup course and both Serra and Eltan "let slip' some revelations from the Books of Kael. We don't actually tell them that we've done anything terrible and I furiously try and paddle the conversation towards safer waters.
** The Wild Elves are mad for it though, and ask for more details once both Ladies have excused themselves.
*Erelheine deligation due shortly? Puts a crimp in our tour the provinces and decompress plan.

Cheer-leading and random Boosterism
*We try make sure that the Beltane understand that if they refrain from compating with the "civilians", that everyone will be let down. And they will be considered Big Chickens. Or squid lovers. Or something.

===I don't want to sound paranoid, but...===

* We've gotten a lot of information from Wild Elves, domesticated and otherwise, and people they have directed us to. I'd really rather not just trigger an otherwise avoidable bloody civil war a week after returning to what could be the place of my birth, if I could possibly help it.
** However, if there's good evidence that it might save my disappointingly stupid kin, it's probably worthwhile. Probably.

* Is it just me, or should have this happened centuries ago? I mean, I might be a bit hasty in my thinking from my "upbringing", but if these so-called radicals weren't so passive-aggressive, couldn't they have just yomped up to the snow lands, kicked the butts of the probably even-more-nearly-extinct Ice Trolls and had their revolution in a more timely fashion?
** So, either the existence or location of the scrolls are "new" information has just surfaced and everyone is digesting it, nobody can be bothered, it a "prophesy thing", or they'd rather not take the blame for sundering oldest civilisation on the plane.
*** I'm betting the latter, and I guess it could get you taken off a whole of Beltane Card lists. I guess.

===Prophesy vs Psychology===
* Let's see if I've got it right, regarding the Books of Kael.
# You dump some holy self-help manual somewhere inconvenient and proclaim that it will cause trouble if it's ever returned.
# Wait for someone with enough boxes in the Desperate/Fractious/Mad column ticked to decide things have "gone far enough" and to go there and recover it.
# Prophet!
* Basically, if the situation is bad enough for someone to look for them, it's bad enough for their appearance cause a revolt. I've got to commend this Kael fellow on his ingenuity.

= Calendar =
{| cellspacing=1 border=0 class="Season" id="Spring"
|-
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring''': [[Thaw]] (10)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Candlemansa]]
| class=day | 1
| width=75px height=54px | Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 3
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 4
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 5
| width=75px height=54px | The Carzalan Generals Ball
| class=day | 6
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
| width=75px height=54px | [[Sea_of_Grass#The_Travellers|New Spring festival]] in the [[Sea of Grass]]
| class=day | 8
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 9
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 10
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 11
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 12
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 13
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 15
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 16
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 17
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 18
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 19
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 20
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 22
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 23
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 24
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 25
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 26
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 27
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 29
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 30
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 1
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 2
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 3
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 4
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring''': [[Seedtime]] (11)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 6
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 7
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| width=75px height=54px | Rites of Thunor
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|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
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| width=75px height=54px | Equinox
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| width=75px height=54px | Eostre
| class=day | 18
| width=75px height=54px | The Seagate Spring Ball
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
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|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
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| class=day | 1
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| class=day | 2
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|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring''': [[Blossom]] (12)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
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|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
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|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
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| width=75px height=54px | Floralia
| class=day | 22
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|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
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| class=day | 30
| width=75px height=54px | Walpurgisnacht
|}

The Rights of Spring

2026-06-06T03:46:26Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:William]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Clarissa d'Ornay]]
[[Category:Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature]]
[[Category:Akuji]]
[[Category:Prudence]]
[[Category:Serra Angelus]]
[[Category:WordSmith]]
'''Employer:''' Tarahell Alatáriël, the 23rd Legion of Alfhiem - He wants the peace kept. 
'''Level:''' Medium-ish 
'''Day:''' Monday - starting 15th Sept Changed to Tuesday as of 23rd Sept
'''Location:''' Royal Oak - 21A Oak Street 
 
Party:
 
# [[Clarissa d'Ornay]] (Party Leader)
# [[Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature|Eltan]] (Scribe)
# [[Akuji]]
# [[Prudence]] played by Julia
# [[Serra Angelus]], Elven pacifistic Earth Mage played by [[User:Michael|Michael Scott]]
# [[WordSmith]], a Dwarven [[:Category:Namer|Namer]] played by [[User:ErrolC|Errol]] (Mil Sci)

'''Mission:''' 
Preview - Elves, The Fair Folk, Gods, Monsters, Hey Nonny nonny and a lot of blood all over the place.
 
Preview for those who are paying attention - The Lady Anellia of Lalhaudh has resurrected the practice of the Spring Rites, a fertility festival dedicated to the Old Elven Gods. This heretical practice would normally be stomped down hard from Eidolon if it were not for a few mitigating factors, like the dragon, the hemidemisemi-approval of the Queen and a really big sword.
 
As a result the event will be well attended with interested parties from the royal court, the low courts, cultists, worshippers of old and new Elven Gods, fae (both flavours), dragons, beltans, lunatics, holy men, Gods, Goddesses and Daemons. Most of them will be armed, even more will have money. And while all have been asked to comport themselves in a civilized manner, that's a bit much to hope for given that the God's being honoured have only a vague understanding of civilization.
 
'''Related Scribe Notes''' 
Summer 808WK [[The Laughing Hills]] 
Autumn 808WK [[The Legacy of Kael]] 
Winter 808WK [[In Her Majesty's Somewhat Secret Service]] 

= Narrative =
== Day 1 ==

After a long and hearty conversation with a baker about the possabilities of getting more cream buns I realise I'm late for my meeting with an employer.
Rush into the room and greet Tarahell, the 23rd legion (who doesn't appreciate good food like I do).

Introductions are made and are as follows.

Akuji : A Budding Necromancer, who is a warrior for this outing, as long as he can keep his pants on.

Clarissa : A Goddess of pure beauty who seems to enjoying flirting with myself. Voted party leader as everyone kinda couldn't keep their eyes off her.

Wordsmith : A namer dorf who has a lovely crystal rodent. He's a little bit of a guild beast and creeps me out. Been here before and a volentary Mill-Sci.

Prudence : A youthful farmer girl who's dead keen on becoming a water mage but needs a little more practice.

Serra Angelus : A certain drunken earth mage, but at least she's been here before.

Eltan, The Reaver : My esteemed self, albit unwilling scribe, but tells it how it is. Earth mage, lover of fine food, friend to all plants and animals.

Roles if you missed them before.
Party leader : Clarissa
Mill-Sci : Wordmith
Scribe : Eltan

Mission:
To keep the peace during the spring rites. These rites are the ones that are semi-heritical due to being of the old gods ways and not of the "new" gods. Thus mostly banned by the Elven Crown.
Back to the events as they happened.

After a massive long list of people and factions to look out for including basically every elven family, provence and noble of note sending a representitive if not coming themselves. I got lost stareing at Clarissa's fine form so missed a lot of what was said, but it all seemed to make sence.
Also mentioned was that Lady Celeblothel is probably turning up and may make a bid to reclaim her "ownership" of the provence. Prehaps the biggest problem to arise that we see.

Pay: Standard guild rates, plus possible training from people in Lauder Provence.

Meeting over we wander off and get some more food, talk to Tarahell and agree to go Pub Crawling before getting down to business. Prudence knows a lot of decent pubs, Tarahell can drink like a real man, not a pansy elf. We lost Akuji to the temple of the One Horned God as was kinda expected. Clarissa kept things mostly under controll and in the morning we set off.

== DAY 2 ==

Alcomahol is bad... head hurts... need something like more cream doughnuts... or cream buns... or anything to eat.

Soothe pains around, people feel better, most of us are equipped and ready to go, off to meet our transport the ever so helpful Beriadan. Air mage who specialised in binding and traveling by clouds. Fast.. but dangeous.. no hand holds and I can't do anything!

We grab some of Al Fonses food baskets on the way out and head to Bergelfen. Once there we poke some of the Beltan elves we know and see how things are going, somehow Prudence makes herself a crystal glove for her right hand... and keeps it. It doesn't fit anyone else and after some pokeing is solid crystal to all ber her and has a replication prupose. Need to divinate to know more.

Some more pokeing with other people and we find out that the people we need to talk to are at the elfheim great university.

A quick trip over there and we're greeted by mobs of elven students in diplomatic debates with themselves and sometimes other groups of students. A wee struggle and we're inside and trying to track down a Scholar who's specialising in the study of the elven race (Master Tangleleaf) and it's current decline, with some information on the elven spring rights.

After being suggested we go and get the Scrolls of Kael which have been lost for some time we convince him to look at other races and how they breed / populate the world. After a long and interesting discussion we convinced him to run away with his partner to a secret location and have a romantic time in an attempt to have
children.

Brief panic as we realise we've just convinced the ONLY person in the elven empire who's paying attention and studying the decline of the elven race and who's reporting to the elven courts of this situation to run away with his partner, we convince him to stay instead.

Party debate happens about what just happened so we hurry after master Tangleleaf and convicne him to continue his work for the crown, Then run off with his wife. Disaster averted once again, but somehow I feel it was worth it, Clarissa running and well moveing was well worth the wait.

Tangeleafs brother, Tanglebones knows more of the Scrolls of Kael so we decided to go and talk to him. Unfortunately he wants to study me... and that is never pleasant.

We get to the portal to the Eidalon and the gates are closed and guarded, with many many students wanting to get hame but not allowed. Brief discussion with the guards and some pulling of rank and we're in. Unfortunately Eidalon is under some curfew so no-one is on the streets. It seems that the elven city has run out of food. That's a very silly thing to do.
Step 1, get to the Royal Court (without being arrested). We got accosted by guards but with Tarahiel around they seemed slightly hesitent to do anything to us and let us go free. To the Court we go.

Apon entering the court we get intoroduced.
* "Akuji from the south"
* "Eltan the Reaver"
* " Prudence of {forgotten, some help here}"
* "The Elven Justicar"
* "A mysterious stranger"

Wordsmith was outside talking to Tarahiel so didn't come in. The names didn't mean much to the elves but the last two got some worried looks from the party.

Looking around the court, we spotted Tanglebones, as he seemed to be one of the few non-kurf heads around and was sober. We talk to him in a private room and learn lots and lots. Akuji recives a token from him after asking some obscure questions about sex. The Scrolls of Kael we sent away by the royal crown and it's prophisised that apon their return the elven crown will fall. They're being "looked after" by Ice Giants far to the north due to a Royal Edict. They are everburning, and contain the history of the elven race plus much more on rituals and the gods. He also said that if we meet Anghammerbad again tell him "We know where Mara is", oh boy more secrets to deal with should we meet him again.

Tanglebones did something so abhorrently rude next that I was stunned. He leant down and with a sharp knife took a hair from my head. He's very spry and that caught me offgurd. Surely he should have courtly manners... will have to do something about this later.

After a little more talking tanglebones excused himself and parted out company so we went to the Keepter of Records to see if she could help us with more information... due to kurf she was unable to stand, talk or really do anything except giggle. Plan aborted so we leave the courts and head of the Guardians of the Tree.

Lavinir, the head preist there seemed to have his head screwed on and wasn't on kurf or anything else. Told us about the scrolls after we informed him of the iminent extinction of the elves.

The Scrolls of Kael are written af the Beghest of Kael, are the "original" ideas on how to be an elf, and after writeing them Kael departed for te sun, where he apparently is now.

I also learned that for an elf to give birth they need the services of a decent healer or both child and mother may die. I keep thinking we should teach elves to have litters, 4 babys at once would really help their population issues. Think that's my rodent side thinking though, declineing to suggest it as I might get badly told off. There was some talk about blessing a lake to somehow make Elven births better and Lavinir seemed rather keen for it even offing the sacrifice of his rather powerful staff to bless the lake. Before any more actions were taken on this effect we couldn't work out if it would work.

Standing here behind Clarissa, I have to itterate once again, she has a really really nice bum.

We bumped into the Keeper of Secrets there aswell, Master Torihel who after a brief talk gives Prudence a book but as neither she nor I can read Elven very well it seemed mosty inconsequential. Thanks to one of the elves in the party they translated it for us and it's "The Book of Niccoveilli the Skinless" and mostly consists of things like how to skin things alive and such. Niccoveilli is one of the 4 old gods. Along with Kael, the Laughing God and Sha'mez.

There is a fun philosiphical debate of why the elven race is in decline. It seems the old gods were all for reincarnation or rebirth, and the new gods take worthy souls and keep them in a semi heaven place. The former method of reincarnation seems to promote dieing as not bad and birth as a good thing, the latter seems to promote living as long as possible and potentially not having children as often for mostly selfish reasons.

Thanks to the two knowledgable people we are also now enlightened on how to make souls and the magic that is this. Basically have sex, get pregnant, have a baby, doesn't seem hard but somehow the elves are failing at this.

That evening Prudence seems really to want a portent, or something of the sort so it's elected that we will sleep in one of Eidelon's magestic groves.
That night Prudence gets a visit from the Archangle Michael and he says "Things you hear in this glade are essentially correct. The magic is in the person, not the item." And now, for the rest of the Season we all get +2Ma and +2WP.

== Some Days ==

== Day 7 ==
''What day is it? Never mind, bash on''

We decide to see if someone can give us a crash course in Erelheine manners and not-being-beheaded, and when we visit Lady Anellia she has the same idea and is going through a phrase book of frightening sounding exclamations. It looks like we are going to have to wing it. To Clarissa's annoyance, she thanks Akuji for driving off the High Elf Ladies with his antics at dinner the other night, as she has little in common with them and meal times are quite strained. We are to be invited back!

The Erelheine delegation arrives suddenly, and fortunately they are lead by the extremely well travelled Lord Yo(no relation). He is quite fluent in Elven and quite disinclined to sever anything at this time, though during the events that might change as he is competing personally. News of Akuji's fame has already spread to his ears (clearly their spies are competent) but he's aghast to be corrected that he serviced an entire cadre on the same evening. He immediately bustles off to increase his training regime. Clarissa's lip gets downright curly at witnessing the second Courtier coup by Akuji in ten minutes.

Oh, and he also left a message for Lucius from Lord Cochane that was very polite, but roughly translated as "Come on, if you think you're hard enough".

Later, at the local tree/pub we discover that an old acquaintance of Clarissa's from the South Haven Academy for Girls, Mistress High Treason, is also in town. Clarissa is a little put out when her enquiries after students are met an apology that Mistress High Treason is not so much an educator as a demon hunter extraordinaire, and states that her time as Head Mistress there was very successful in rooting out an avenue of corrupting high borne ladies before they married and the Guild contributed greatly during this time. The expression on Clarissa's face suggests that she's not quite as sure about that.

Mistress High Treason says she's here to ensure that the agent of the 72 do not disrupt the rite, and seems reassured that we've font of power like Prudence to protect us.

We decide it would be a good idea to check the countryside for nefarious goings-on. Akuji scouts his way into an Illusionary Terrain, spotting a pair of elves and the imp they summon. The imp jumps on Pru after does her Fire Breathing trick on it, but doesn't last long one WordSmith, his ferret, and Akuji's cat join in. Clarissa and Akuji charge in and around the elves, spreading confusion and despair, but not quickly enough to stop a devil being call forth. Fortunately WordSmith banishes it before it can do more than befuddle Akuji. The demon-worshipper backfiring himself into a stupor is enough to make the merc he had hired surrender.

WordSmith beats the Witch-smeller to the punch in removing the amnesia. Clarissa and the Church-ite take much pleasure and some time comparing interrogation techniques and extracting the following details:
* He was sent by [[Foras]] to observe the Spring Rites
* There are many powerful beings in the area
* Foras' plan to exploit the energy and confusion of the rites appears to have been thwarted for now.

We request that the Beltane scour the forest the next day for similar groups. They encounter and burn three groups. Akuji attempts to speak to the dead at the skirmish sites.
# [[Seir]] had 5 followers nearby. Their plan was to stop the ceremony at its climax, Call Master, and use the life force being concentrated. There is an agent in town giving them info via Whispering Wind.
# A single elf who Akuji cannot contact
# Two followers of [[Leraje]]. They planned to use an arrow imbued with "Theft" magical to disrupt the ceremony and siphon off the lifeforce.

We have an enlightening discussion about the various cultural techniques of cutting agents off from their Masters and do away with them.

*The local Elves remove their organs, cocoon and suspend them in a tree in a state of mummifying semi-death.
*The Unite Church types set fire to them in specific prescribed fashions so their Master cannot help them and they are as purified as can be hoped for.
*The Wild Elves send hunting spirits to hound the Agent's soul for all time so they never reach their Master.
*Akuji's nasty book involves something about turning them into leather goods.
*The Erelheine stockpile them so they can kill a large number at once and ensure they get a good turnout from the Master and this minions. And then they thump them.

Clarissa talks to a very helpful Wind, who has been used to communicate between the Seir-ites. They thought Akuji to be the best target. We get a description of the spy, and the building he uses. there is a bored Air Elemental about, and some buildings in the area have gone. High Treason 'takes up to much space' - this lines up with what Anghamerbad said about shape-changed dragons having dragon-sized auras.

= Quotes and MetaQuotes =

*Wordsmith - "Well, let's say this cream bun represents the normal amount of fertility magic in the Lalhaudh area. According to this morning's Divination, the current level in the city would be a cream bun 35 feet across weighing approximately six hundred pounds."

*Eltan - "That's a big bun."

*Pru: "I like fluid parties!"

= Items and Loot =

== Foolish Foras Follower ==
We shook down the amnesiaced devotee, and allocated as below:

* Invested Bone of Necrosis (Rk10, 3 charges)
** To Pru to provide a ranged option? WS has one already
* Broach of Featherfall (Rk5, ?? charges)
** To ???
* Waters of Healing (Rk20, 3 potions)
** To ???
* Ank of Greater Undead (Creating and Enslavement)
** Anyone but Akuji??

So, what are we doing about the unpaid mercenary willing to work for demon-worshippers?

= Private Notes from the Prodigal =

== Places to go and people to see ==

* At the Guild
** Tarahell Alatáriël, the 23rd Legion. Survivor of 30,000 years of soldiering and seems to locally define "quietly competent" where-ever he is. But he seems relatively detached and aloof from the events going on around us, I wonder why that is?
** After he calmly gives us the long list of "usual suspects", I begin to suspect combat fatigue.

* Bergelfen, and the Regency
** The Beltane are swarming here, trying to erect living crystal obelisks to fend off the Calimar in future. Pru shows some aptitude with the stuff, which stirs some excitement. I leave a note with the Bergraf to apologise.
** I run into Angela of Artemis house from my time at the [[Southhaven Academy for Girls]]. Apparently she will be at the Rites as well, along with others from Bowcourt and further afield. I'm glad to say the "event" that Arnaud precipitated does not appear to have soured our acquaintance, we have a lovely chat and promise to meet later.

* Aflheim University, Erlangene Province
** Rioting Students? Some internal strife about the Dean of magical Studies using the "Black Books of Prophesy".
** Master Tangleleaf, an amiably daffy scholar who is convinced that Elves are an endangered species and will be beyond saving in 1 to 5 centuries unless the Rites are performed and the properly maternal influences are spread.
** (Apparently Elven women can control their own fertility? I've wasted a lot of money of potions if that's the case. I feel especially foolish for bothering [[Mortimer]]. The little scamp.)
** The Book of Kael are said to contain the necessary information to the make the Rites effective, and he wants us to retrieve the five, 20 foot long (unrolled) scrolls, in perpetually burning cases. Apparently they have been good and lost for some considerable time. I don't doubt the recommended Elven sacrifice might have a bearing on that.
** For some reason we convince him to lead by example and escape the campus for a dirty weekend with a fellow researcher while we look.
** The portals are locked down, but we have enough credentials (and clout, thanks to the 23rd) to get past the guards and on the capital.

* Eidolon, the capital
** Beautiful (I manage to refrain from gawping like a yokel), but deserted. Apparently there is a curfew in force due to the... ...food shortage?
** I prevent Prue from paddling in the fountain.
** We head to the court to locate archivists and I am announced as "Mysterious Stranger" as I've been going about veiled. Another victory for "Team Subtle", I fear. Where's my hay-seed? (Note: All Kudos points were lost when Serra entered, the "Elven justicar") - No, I don't think that even the rest of weirdos will stop that from being noticed.
** The court largely appears to have invoked the appetite suppressing power of big piles of [[krrf]] to do their part during these hard times. (Out, damn'd shakes...)
** Asking about, we run into Master Tanglebones and have a horrifyingly seditious conversation in a private booth. Apparently the scrolls are prophesied to cause the fall of the Elven crown if they ever return and he thinks that'd be just peachy. They are also being guarded Ice Giants (or Trolls, it's unclear) in the frozen North by Royal edict for just that reason.
** We try and have conversation with the Keeper of Records, they don't appear to be able to inventory their own limbs. Laminiar is more helpful and sober.

Pru: "See! Portents!"

We still need actual copies of the edict and the prophesies if they are available. Not that I believe that twaddle, but if enough people do they could decide to "Smash the state" if we bring the these things back, I'd like to know why. And just how many sections we can expect to be sawn into. Y'know, for the shipping.

* Other raving loony stuff we heard while there?
** Elven hips are too small reliably deliver live offspring? A healer is required to guarantee the survival of mother and child?
** Despite Elves only going 7 months to term?
** Human surrogates are right out, as they gestate as Orcs?
** Kael departed for the Sun after importing the scrolls, which are a blueprint for being Elven?
** The New Gods are simply weak tea for the jaded inhabitants of the capital, remote and uninteresting for the merely rural, and the Wild Elves haven't changed their ways in the slightest.

Tangleleaf's theories are starting to sound more and more plausible, I fear.

* The Sacred Grove Great Guardian - Temple of Manwe
** Following the healer angle, we speak to Lady Malaestal, Chief Healer and Priestess. She corroborates much of what Tanglebones said, confirming that it is horrifyingly seditious.
** She considers, in a Healerly fashion, that stopping the rot with a sudden amputation is the best treatment for the patient.
*** (I'm not a Healer. She might not have meant it quite like that.)
** Akuji mixes up his lewd innuendo about staves with the idea of making a suitably enchanted "birthing pool", but it would be as logistically fraught as trying to organising the Empire's healers to cope with a sudden simultaneous spike in births.
*** He still manages to get his end away, so he his hearts clearly in the right place.

* The Keeper of Secrets / Antiquities
** Tarihel tells us about the Great Schism and the coming of the new gods.
*** The major philosophical / management difference appears to be the Old Gods encourage souls of Elves to re-incarnate but the New Gods have been collecting them "somewhere nice".
*** A fresh start definitely sounds more appealing, personally. Interesting, another thing that [[Cain]] was right about.
** He also says that something about he "invisible magic" of making souls has been lost. The basic physical elements remain (barely) as does the giving of names, but something is missing.
** He slips Akuji an illustrated book, bound in some rather fine leather, to do with "Nuckavalee the Skinless".
** According to him, the prophesy states that,
*** "The Books of Kael will be collected by a gang of fools and madmen, who will give them to the person who is least able to deal with the information." ( Weird, I mis-wrote the last word as "invitation" in my notes )
*** Apparently, we are destined to screw this up. That's a relief!
**** I jest. Destiny, schmestiny.
** He has a cryptic message for Anghamerbad. Mara, why do I know that name?
** We return to the grove to sleep, which is invigorating and restful.
*** Pru has a vision of Michael, reassuring her that the things discussed here are basically true. Isn't he aligned with the new gods? If not, what's he doing meddling with my watermage?

* Lalhaudh City, Lalhaudh Province
** In the morning, we portal to Lalhaudh and find the place pretty much deserted. More a citizen shortage than a food shortage. Estimate the place is at most between 10% and 2% of the population it once held.
** We barge into the chambers of the Lady E- while we is in conference with Anghamerbad and Heldor, a hot-blooded young Wild Elf who was counselling an immediate assault on the capital.
** They are not convinced, as they were trying to coordinate the influx of visitors for the Festival, but after he leaves they revealed that 8,000 years ago the Lord Protector of Lalhaudh and the 23rd (including or just Alatáriël at that point?) marched on the capital and overthrew the reigning monarch.
*** Historical precedent. A splendid accelerant to impulsive bloodshed.
** Anghamerbad tells more about the about the location of the scrolls (200 leagues North, killing cold, Ice Giant fortress etc) and illuminates some more points.
** We feed his interest in gossip by passing on Tarihel's comment about "knowing where Mara is" and that excites him greatly. (Mara. Where do I remember that name from?)
*** This dragon, though currently in Elven form seems very keen to encourage the recovery of the Elven population. I suspect it something to with the vaguely hungry expression he perpetually wears.
** In return(?), he says that my features remind him of Elves from Liesusen province. He probably has a taste for such things. I rather nervous about this news, and I'm not sure that it's just his enthusiasm.

* An interview with a solider.
** One Private Mirastel is sent to answer questions on behalf of the Beltane, by Sargeant Akulas
*** Did we meet him in Bergelfen? Did we ask to talk to someone, or is someone "using their initiative"? How should we interpret them only being able to spare a humble, if very fetching, Private?
** She helps fill in the yawning gap in our (well, mine anyway) knowledge about the Beltane;
** Their normal life span is only 500 years, but due to their constant rotation through combat missions against the Calamar the majority are only 50 to 75. The oldest is only 1500 years.
*** (Only? Even that seems disturbingly long to me...)
** Procreative rights are granted on the basis of campaigns fought, the children are raised (and trained) communally, and they return to active duty as soon as they can.
** And apparently, keeping the gene pool as diverse possible is priority because she invites Akuji to the barracks later.

Other fun things over the next few days
* I save Pru from being hunted and eviscerated by Wild Elves, but will probably have take possession of a hydra head at some point. I should have asked for something less drippy less drippy and more decorative.
** Mentions of the Groves of Miskael ( Mis-Kael?) containing Dryad's and some ominous stories about the "end of days, the Dryad's missing their Troll counterparts, the Dryad King (??) being the prisoner of the Low King and the forests sweeping over the land.
*** Sounds like there are Fae involved. In fact, the deserted houses are being plundered by Brownies, which is a bit backwards.
* Akuji is nearly worn down to a nub by two visits to the Beltane's barracks. I actually felt concerned for him.
** It sounds like the Beltane have a strong camaraderie, which makes me slightly envious. However, their militarism is so total that they will eventually either convince the Calamar to make a bit more effort (them falling back to their out-of-touch home base doesn't bode well), or they'll actually win by dint of throwing the metaphorical furniture out of all the Empire's windows and have to find someone else to fight afterwards. That won't end well.
* Eltan and Serra look up a local illusionist and we talk about the portal north.

The Ice Troll caves
*Semi-Elemental inhabitants, only one apparently patroling and completely taken in the illusions and a "bribe" of trail rations.
**The others we saa are frozen to the floor or walls in the chamber tha Akuji leads us to.
*The five scrolls of the Book of Kael are trapped in a block of bound ice, but are still blazing away merrily.
*we consider many plans to break/haul/"unmagic" the block but after a time Akuji sidles up to the block and whsitpers to the scrolls and they simply slide into his hands.
**No alarms or movement from the ice-bound Trolls, but we leave in Haste, just to be on the safe side.

Impromptu Scroll Swot Camp
*We fly south over the snows and find a relatively sheltered valley to assess what sort of ethnographic timebomb we have our hands on.
**Divination says they are genuine god-texts.
**They are very legible, even with my poor schooling, and seem to be written in only mildly archaic Elven.
**Each scroll deals with the different aspect;
#Histories of Kael and his brothers, and how they each ascended. All pretty tame stuff, but that might be just the weird human gods I'm used to.
#Assorted lifestyle tips including warfare, hunting,
#guiding and sharing secrets (of fire and magic) with the "lesser races",
#and assorted the rituals including causing the sun to rise and the Spring Festival/Games.
#The Future - this was mostly illegible, though some names could be discerned; Alatáriël's (or at least the 23rd's), Lucius, Serra Angelis. I didn't see mine, but I didn't look very hard. It'd be simpler if I wasn't there.
*Conspicuously absent are the following portions;
**Use of the wild hunt on anything other than "evil", defined as Drow, Undead(?), and off-planar things.
**Suppressing the "lesser races".
**Wholesale Elven sacrifice. Only the victor of the games is, subsequent to a night of celebration and ensuring his lineage with "his choice" of women, drugged to several storeys above the eyeballs, eviscerated with much rejoicing, and cremated a portion at a time. His, and in this case the sexism seems relatively constructive, spirit will also be blessed when it returns to it's next life.
*All in all they are surprisingly sensible, in a rather rustic old-timey fashion.
** I cannot believe I just wrote that. This pre-soap era stuff is pretty harrowing, but if the alternative is extinction, it might have to do. However, those clinging to the more modern interpretations might be in for a bit of a shock.

*We (well Serra, Akuji, and myself) spend most of the night poring over the texts and determine that they are fit to be released to Tangleleaf to double check our less than scholarly reasoning and do an authoritative version of the rite for the Spring Festival. I insist that we control access to the other scrolls for the moment, until we have a little more buy-in from the various factions.
**I do note that while Serra and Akuji can handle the scrolls without difficulty, I can't touch them due to the heat. This is despite the Resist Pain amulet and the Protection from Magical Fire I have. I might have an issue if I though of myself as a better role-model, but this is probably a good thing.
*The festival instructions are very detailed, down the the number of steps of on the greased pyramid climbing/brawling challenge. Much reference is made to dancing supporters, honour, and athletic prowess. Few if any have any thing to do with technical fouls or clothes. Should quite an event.
*Akuji is now passionately in favour of competing and personally carrying out both parts of the victory ceremony. I'm torn in number directions about this, but largely I troubled about having to report that I lost one of those in my charge in an ancient ceremony involving sex, drugs, and athletics.
**On the plus side, if he managed to win and called me up, well, I don't think that condoning the ghastly sacrifice would be such a big problem.

===Back to Lalhaudh===

*We drop of the scrolls so Tangleleaf can gin up the distributable version of the rites and entrust the scrolls and his safety to Tarahell Alatáriël. We ask him not to look at the other scrolls, other than the one that focuses on the military aspects of hunting monsters an the like.
*We hear that a delegation of High Elves, led by Lady Alas, have arrived and have brought one of the Royal Champions, Lothario. You know, the guys that need to be permanently sedated and fed with long spoons to stop them murdering their keepers?
**Serra DA's him and looses her mind and much of her clothing for a time.

Divinations
*Show that the Fertility magics are spiking locally, and it's still 4-5 weeks out?
**My prophylactic Potion and Curse effects are being eroded? This isn't good.
*It also suggests (along with Anghamerbad) that the magic will create an breeder reaction, which will very compelling. Also, fatal for the Death aspected around the place?
**That's pretty bad too. Also, Akuji exploding prematurely would pretty bad.
*But Life-Aspected Pru might be able to direct the power and protect the vulnerable? If she hasn't gone berserk too, of course.
*But it indicates that we are on the right track? How long has this "love vibe" been increasing?
**Should we check back and find when this pre-echo started?
**And take a break in another province with a lower background radiation level?

Prioritising Threats (hugely incomplete)
*Lothario definitely seems the most dangerous and least predictable single entity, and he is making Akuji very nervous as his chances to win the honour of eviscerating himself. Lothario seems ably equipped to beat him too it.
**Apparently his true love perished in sacrifice that shaped a demon. No wonder he's pissed.
*Lady Alas is the Queen's Assassin. Probably not a fluffy bunny either. Possibly a sign of how seriously the queen is taking the Rites although why she is 'accompanied by/accompanying', Lothario one of the empires 'Slayers' (who are only supposed to be let loose when there is serious threat to the elven nation) is beyond me.
*Random Wild Elves
...and just so I'm not missing anything,
*Sabrina - I understand she's troublesomely noble, but probably pragmatic enough understand our reasons. I'll try and get her peripherally included in the open of the rights, to help her get invested.
*Isil Eth - It's probably safer for everyone if she remains politically blameless, so she can step in to bargain for our release/sentences commuted/executions made painless or whatever.
*Lucius - Convincing Lady Anellia will likely take more effort, but will amount to the same thing. It might stick, too.
*Demons wishing to stop the ceremony going ahead - the demons 'upset' by the last party would love to take all the energy created by the ceremony and use it themselves. They have sent flunkies to spy out the situation and perhaps nobble the contenders.

Greeting & Arrivals
*We speak to Beryllia about separating the arriving groups and stationing Hobbit buffers in between them.
*We crash a dinner party of Lady Anellia's, with Lady Alas, her flunkies, and assorted Wild Elves.
** And when I say crash, I mean it. Akuji's descriptions and miming of the "after-party" drove Lady Anellia to the commode during the soup course and both Serra and Eltan "let slip' some revelations from the Books of Kael. We don't actually tell them that we've done anything terrible and I furiously try and paddle the conversation towards safer waters.
** The Wild Elves are mad for it though, and ask for more details once both Ladies have excused themselves.
*Erelheine deligation due shortly? Puts a crimp in our tour the provinces and decompress plan.

Cheer-leading and random Boosterism
*We try make sure that the Beltane understand that if they refrain from compating with the "civilians", that everyone will be let down. And they will be considered Big Chickens. Or squid lovers. Or something.

===I don't want to sound paranoid, but...===

* We've gotten a lot of information from Wild Elves, domesticated and otherwise, and people they have directed us to. I'd really rather not just trigger an otherwise avoidable bloody civil war a week after returning to what could be the place of my birth, if I could possibly help it.
** However, if there's good evidence that it might save my disappointingly stupid kin, it's probably worthwhile. Probably.

* Is it just me, or should have this happened centuries ago? I mean, I might be a bit hasty in my thinking from my "upbringing", but if these so-called radicals weren't so passive-aggressive, couldn't they have just yomped up to the snow lands, kicked the butts of the probably even-more-nearly-extinct Ice Trolls and had their revolution in a more timely fashion?
** So, either the existence or location of the scrolls are "new" information has just surfaced and everyone is digesting it, nobody can be bothered, it a "prophesy thing", or they'd rather not take the blame for sundering oldest civilisation on the plane.
*** I'm betting the latter, and I guess it could get you taken off a whole of Beltane Card lists. I guess.

===Prophesy vs Psychology===
* Let's see if I've got it right, regarding the Books of Kael.
# You dump some holy self-help manual somewhere inconvenient and proclaim that it will cause trouble if it's ever returned.
# Wait for someone with enough boxes in the Desperate/Fractious/Mad column ticked to decide things have "gone far enough" and to go there and recover it.
# Prophet!
* Basically, if the situation is bad enough for someone to look for them, it's bad enough for their appearance cause a revolt. I've got to commend this Kael fellow on his ingenuity.

= Calendar =
{| cellspacing=1 border=0 class="Season" id="Spring"
|-
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring''': [[Thaw]] (10)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan="2" | [[Candlemansa]]
| class=day | 1
| width=75px height=54px | Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 3
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 4
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 5
| width=75px height=54px | The Carzalan Generals Ball
| class=day | 6
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
| width=75px height=54px | [[Sea_of_Grass#The_Travellers|New Spring festival]] in the [[Sea of Grass]]
| class=day | 8
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 9
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 10
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 11
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 12
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 13
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 15
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 16
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 17
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 18
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 19
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 20
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 22
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 23
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 24
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 25
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 26
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 27
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 29
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 30
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 1
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 2
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 3
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 4
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring''': [[Seedtime]] (11)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 6
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 7
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 8
| width=75px height=54px | Rites of Thunor
| class=day | 9
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 10
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 11
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 13
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 14
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 15
| width=75px height=54px | Equinox
| class=day | 16
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 17
| width=75px height=54px | Eostre
| class=day | 18
| width=75px height=54px | The Seagate Spring Ball
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 20
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 21
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 22
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 23
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 24
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 25
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 27
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 28
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 29
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 30
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 1
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 2
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
! colspan=15 | '''Spring''': [[Blossom]] (12)
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 4
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 5
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 6
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 7
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 8
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 9
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 10
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 11
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 12
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 13
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 14
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 15
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 16
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 17
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 18
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 19
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 20
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 21
| width=75px height=54px | Floralia
| class=day | 22
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 23
| width=75px height=54px |  
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 24
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 25
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 26
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 27
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 28
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 29
| width=75px height=54px |  
| class=day | 30
| width=75px height=54px | Walpurgisnacht
|}

Category:Kerry

2026-06-06T03:44:58Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Kerry"

[[Kerry]]

Fair-bound Ride

2026-06-06T03:44:33Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Struan Judd]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Imri]]
[[Category:Rumpelstilzchen]]
[[Category:Kerry]]
[[Category:Mario]]
[[Category:Pierre the Halfling]]
[[Category:Julius]]
[[Category:Ibrihim]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Spring 808 WK| Scribe notes]] 

== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Fair-bound Ride 
'''GM''': [[User:NeonGraal|Struan]] 
'''Session''': [[Spring]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Thursday - Starting 25/09/08 
'''Location''': Chez Ellis 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low]] 
; Party
* [[Imri]] - A water mage played by Rosemary
* [[Rumpelstilzchen]] a Hobbit E&E played by [[User:Pbinder|Philip Binder]]
* [[Kerry]] - A bunny Dark celestial played by Helen
* [[Mario]] - A lover of wine played by Dean
* [[Pierre the Halfling]]- An Illusionist played by Ian A.
* [[Julius]] - An E&E played by Barnaby.
* [[Ibrihim]] - An air mage played by Andrew

; Employer
: Harold Jr of Harold, Harold and Harold - Merchant House of [[Flugelheim]] (and elsewhere)
; Mission
: Provide Extraordinary security services for the transportation of a couple of items across Alusia.
; Pay
: Guild standard rates ( 100sp per wk each ) plus potentially some item discounts.

== Notes ==
===1st Thaw 808===
My first ever mission for The Guild and I get to be scribe! 
I get to be the Scribe because my Common is the best in the party. As I am a novice at both adventuring and at keeping records of them please forgive any errors or omissions I might make. I know that first I'm supposed to record the party, who holds what position and what it is we are to do as explained by our employer so here is that information. 

====The party====
[[Imri|Imri Athaliah]]; an Elvish woman from the Elvish Isles, she is a Water Mage and will be the Party Leader for the sea leg of our journey. 
[[Mario|Mario Valentino Pavoni]]; a male human from the Luna Empire, he is Mind mage and will Lead when we are dealing with merchants and their caravans as he is also a wine merchant. 
[[Ibrihim|Ibrihim Al Khalid]]; a human male from Arabie, he is an Air Mage and a carpet merchant. Ibrihim will be the party's Military scientist and command the party in military matters. 
[[Pierre the Halfling|Pierre]] is a male Halfling and Illusionist, he will be the cook. 
[[Julius]] a Human male is an E&E; he has a curved sword which seems to please Ibrihim. 
I am [[Kerry|Kerry Murdock]] a Human gentle woman from Rank; I'm a Dark Celestial Mage. I will be the Scribe and I don't have a sword, although if I did it would be one like Mario's, a Rapier. 

We will also have a Halfling called [[Rumpelstilzchen]] joining us but it seems he has managed to get lost some where between the guild meeting and the briefing. Guild Security assures us they will have him at the docks in time to board the ship before it sails tomorrow. 

====The mission====
Our Employer is [[Fair-bound Ride#Harold Jr|Harold Jr]]. of Harold, Harold and Harold a Merchant House of [[Flugelheim]] that The Guild sometimes sells unwanted Items to. And our Mission is to provide security during his transportation of a couple of items across Alusia though a portal to the plane of Helvus; to a Magical Item Fair that is being held there, where he will deliver them to his Grandfather; one of the senior Harolds. 
The items are a [[Fair-bound Ride#The Rabbit|Rabbit]] with strange magical powers one of its abilities seems to be preventing people from finding out what it does. Harold also believes it is not scryable or locatable and that these properties will help us protect the second item a large [[Fair-bound Ride#The Religious Artifact|Religious Artifact]]. 
Harold Jr. has reason to believe that someone will attempt to steal these items.

The rabbit is here in Seagate the artifact is in Flugelheim; we need to travel by ship with the rabbit to Flugelheim pickup a cart and collect the artifact. We then travel across Flugelheim to a portal, a trip of about 5 weeks, then on for several days more to the Fair. 
Harold says that when the fair closes at the end of Seedtime everyone attending will be magically returned home. 

====Other stuff====
Because all Harold's other employees (personal guard, cook and two porters) that were to accompany us have been frightened away by the mysterious magic rabbit Ibrihim and Mario have renegotiated the amount of the party's payment as the services we will be providing have been now extended from those originally agreed with the guild. 
We will now be receiving a total of 1400sp per week to be split by the party and a sum equal to 9 weeks payment has been deposited with the guild plus once at the Fair a further1000sp each will be paid to us. A lot of specialist merchant terminology got used to define this part of the payment, but as I understand it the party gets to spend the equivalent value 7000sp of the merchant houses money in local currency at the Fair, if we spend more than that we will owe the merchant house the balance to be paid on our return, however we will not be charged the usual interest, money changing or loan fees. 
Harold will pay the travel expenses and for food while we are in his employ. 
And the relevant local laws will apply to salvage and recovered property. 

Due to the loss of his employees we are to provide security for Harold and the rabbit at the Little Lama Inn in New Seagate tonight and help him get it and his luggage to the ship at the docks tomorrow morning before 10am. 

Watch order for tonight is:
#Imri and Mario, 8pm until 12 mid night.
#Julius and Kerry, midnight thru until 4am.
# Ibrihim and Pierre, 4am until 8 am.

After consulting with the rest of the party (except for the missing Rumpelstilzchen) Imri spent 150sp of party funds commissioning a overnight search by a guild researcher of the library records for any information on the plane Helvus and the Religious Cult the Artifact is associated with in Flugelheim. She will collect the report on their findings tomorrow before we sail. 

Ibrihim has commissioned an astrology reading this too will be collected tomorrow. [Q:Source of the Darkest Conspiracy we are entangled with] 

We will all need Carpets if we wish to fly and after watching Ibrihim's bargaining skills some of us choose to investigate alternate suppliers before committing to purchasing one of his. [6'x2.5' plain woven carpet available for 120sp (''wholesale rate, for friends''), 4'x2' carpets for hobbits are 80sp. A fine carpet with interwoven blessing of good fortune cost around 5 times that - I have only one of these available] 
Several of the party have bought healing potions from the Guild. 

Imri can create waters of healing if we need them, also as a safety precaution to help define the location of 'Home' for the party she has convinced the guild to cast some strong magic on her. Because of this Ibrihim has stated we should protect her from serious harm and not let her be killed as his healing abilities only extend to Soothing pain and Curing infections. 

===Seagate to Port Artz===
====Departure, 2nd Thaw.====
After breakfast Imri and Mario made a quick return trip to the Guild to collect Ibrihim's [[Fair-bound Ride#Astrology reading|Astrology]] reading and learn what the [[Fair-bound Ride#Research results|researcher]] had discovered about Helvus and the banned religion in Flugelheim. 
Julius bought a second bunny he named Decoy. Placed in the hutch with the other rabbit Decoy became very upset and panicked (even though we had them physically separated), so it was removed and carried though Seagate to the ship in Ibrihim's coat. A chicken coop was later obtained to use as a second rabbit cage; the chickens it had contained made a nice stew. 
Just after the nine in the morning with the hutch, Harold's trunk and six packs loaded on to a hired cart we arrived at the docks to find Rumpelstilzchen waiting for us with his donkey. 
Rumpelstilzchen is a very tall slim Halfling, a foot taller than Pierre he is almost as tall as a dwarf. He is an E&E and his best spell is quickness. 
Because of the extra animals Imri and Pierre obtained several days extra rations for rabbits, while the donkey and the contents of the cart where loaded on to our Ship. 
At 10:30 with the livestock safely shut in the hold we went below to sort out cabins and room mates while the crew set about putting the Ship to sea. 
With the crew occupied and under the cover of the noise of getting underway, we were able to share and discuss the results of the divination and research, as well as make arrangements for checking on the security of the cargo during the voyage. 

Ship board watches, 6 rotating, 4 hour shifts, one on two off. 
*Mario, Julius and Rumpelstilzchen, 8 until 12 – morning and evening. 
*Imri and Kerry, 12 – 4 
*Ibrihim and Pierre 4 - 8 

The ship is seaworthy but not as ship-shape as she could be and still shows some winter damage; in order to leave her northern home port this early in the season they have skimped on her preparation and only the most essential repairs have been completed. 

====Day 6 at sea, 7th Thaw.====
Most of the party adjusted to being at sea within a day or two although Pierre missed a few meals and Rumpelstilzchen still looks a little green. 
Over the first few days Rumpelstilzchen cast 3 month Greater Enchantments on the party, and Imri Water Proofed some of our gear (bedding, packs & cloaks), this should still be in effect long after we make port. 
We also practiced our skills (or lack there of in my case) with our weapons. 

As an experiment Rumpelstilzchen has tried but is unable to locate the Rabbit, its hutch or Imri, he is however able to locate Captain Charles. 
It has been discovered that all of us but Rumpelstilzchen have been dreaming a similar dream for the last 5 nights. In my case it involves dark shapes of writhing shadow swirling around a centre of shapeless darkness. But the image of something circling a center is common to all our dreams. 
Harold Jr's had been having the dream a few days longer, so with Mario's assistance was able to give the best detail, that was until he was asked if the dream was related to hunters and hunted and then he passed out. 
We conclude that these dreams may be tied to the Rabbit in some way as Rumpelstilzchen is the only one not having the dreams and the only one who has yet to formally meet the Rabbit. 
Julius tries repeatedly to locate Rumpelstilzchen to see if the two effects are related and after failing more than a dozen times and going deaf in the process it is concluded that Rumpelstilzchen can't be located. 

Ibrihim used healer empathy to sense the Rabbits emotions using Decoy as a base line; he said his impression is the Rabbit is frightened and hiding. 

====Racing the Storm.====
Towards late afternoon on the 7th Imri and Ibrihim report that the ship is headed into a storm and even with their assistance the ship would be unable to make Port Arts much before dawn when they were sure the storm would break. After consulting with Captain Charles who has no wish to navigate the harbour entrance in the dark with a storm breathing down his neck, they took a couple of carpets and flew off to lure the storm further out to sea. 
Thus having gained a little breathing space the ship sailed though the night and with a little push from Imri was arrived at Port Artz with the dawn on the 8th of Thaw. 

===Wagon Ho===
====8th Thaw, Port Artz====
Harold Jr. had arranged for transport and supplies for the next stage of the trip to be ready and waiting for him on his return to [[Fair-bound Ride#Port Artz|Port Artz]]. 
As soon as the ship docked Ibrihim, Julius and Pierre went ashore with Harold to collect these, while Imri, Mario, Rumpelstilzchen and I remained with the ship to protect our possessions and livestock and to oversea their safe off-loading. 

Within few hours of sailing into port we were safely heading west along the coast road accompanied by two strong carriage horses drawing a covered wagon. The wagon contains enough food and other supplies to support a party of ten for six weeks, as well as all the things we brought with us from Seagate, as a consequence there is currently very little free space left in the wagon and unless it's our turn to drive most of us get to walk along side; the two Halflings are able to ride double on Rumpelstilzchen's donkey. 

Due to our early arrival (both in the day and a day ahead of schedule) we hoped to be able to get well clear of the city before any potentially hostile parties were even aware Harold had returned, and to further confound them we chose to travel into the storm that was still threatening the area. 

After several unpleasant hours of travel in heavy rain and strong cold wind the storm passed (with a bit of a nudge from Ibrihim) and we were able to make a way-house half a days travel out of the city without incident. 
This way-house is a large barn like building with stalls for four horses, room to get the wagon under cover and a bunk room with a hearth in the rear. 

====9th Thaw====
From the way-house we travelled on following the coast to [[Fair-bound Ride#Krieger Abbey|Krieger Abbey]] which is built against the end of a blind canyon several miles off the main road, the turnoff was clearly identified with a stone marker. 

At some point during the race with the storm Imri's magic had gone awry and she had become afflicted with the dreaded brain rot. This had been picked up by our healers as part of a routine health check and as the Abbey had the means to cure her, Harold, Imri, and Ibrihim flew ahead to arrange for her to under go a curse removal. Meanwhile Julius, Mario, the two Halflings and I spent most of the day travelling with the wagon.
 

Once we were all gathered at the abbey we were shown to a reasonable sized internal room in which the [[Fair-bound Ride#The Religious Artefact|Artefact]] was stored, guarded by four chanting Monks. The Monks' ritual is supposed to keep any surviving members of the cult from locating the object, which is as Ibrihim suspected an altar complete with blood channels. 

We all got lesser from the Abbey's earth mage and Rumple acquired some holy water. 

====10th Thaw====
We arranged for the Artefact to be Divinated by [[Fair-bound Ride#Father Harper|Father Harper]] the Namer who had removed Imri's affliction, after Mario was able to sense the presence of the altar with ESP. 
From this we learned that the effect Mario felt was a form of devotion due to its tie to the demons, but the item itself is not an entity. The extent of the Altar's powers were confirmed, and the timing of its last ritual use established. As this was only three months ago it shows the cult has proved difficult to suppress, and seems highly likely someone is still out there looking for this thing. 

Mario made a second attempt to question Harold more about the dreams under Hypnotism. This questioning confirms that the effect is caused by the rabbit; she is the last of her kind and is hiding from hunters. She is not native to Alusia, coming here was a ploy to lose the hunters which seems to be working. 
We also thought [[Fair-bound Ride#Father Paul|Father Paul]] the Abbey's senior Earth mage talked to Rabbit itself; while the earth mage had trouble translating some of the things she told him (he lacked context) we learn that the rest off her kind were killed (probably by Demons but not the same ones the artefact is aligned to), and she survived because she is the very best at hiding. She believes she will be safe if she gets 'higher up' and someone has told her that if she sticks with Harold, although the trip might be scary he will take her to this safe place. We also learn that the rabbit understands our speech which will be useful, now if only I could understand her. 

As an alternate to slow wagon trip across [[Artzdorf]] the feasibility of taking a week or two off our travel time either by a member of the party carrying the both items while flying, or suspending them by rope between two people was investigated. 
Father Paul, the Abbey's senior Earth mage is much better with Elemental than he is with his Strength of Stone spell and was unable to provide any member of our party with sufficient extra strength to carry the Items (270-280lbs) without assistance even if they carried no other gear. 
Experiments were made with a much lighter weight suspended by rope between two people, and while Imri and I successfully flew with about a third the required weight, Mario and Ibrihim rather spectacularly dismounted their carpets when the rope pulled taunt between them at 30 mph. (They where saved from serious injury because they had a Feather fall too.) Several hours of practice later it was clear that a moment's distraction is enough to cause serious problems and that no one in the party is skilled enough at carpet flying to safely make flights of 3 or 4 hours carrying the items. 
Transporting the items by air it was decided, while possible, would be an emergency plan only. 

Ibrihim wishes me to record that Mario admitted Ibrihim is saner than he is. 
I believe Mario said "Saner heads prevail" as Ibrihim vetoed his plan. 

====11th Thaw====
Last nights Dream was different the perspective has changed I was inside the center there also seemed to be a wider gap between the circling shadows and the center. The others to are dreaming their versions of this new dream and Rumple is now having these dreams too. 
We had to rearrange the contents of the wagon so the weight of 250lbs of Marble as well as our other supplies was evenly spread over the load bed and yet we could still get at the items we need, this took some and we left the Abbey at a later hour than we had hoped. 
We are still heading west though the foot hills of the Eastern Great Ridge once clear of the ridge we will head north parallel to the Ridge for several weeks before taking the pass to [[Eltrandor]]. Our route is slightly circuitous as the most direct roads are not passable by a wagon, only small carts and mule trains. 

From this point on our watches on the road will be from 7 pm until 7am. 
Julius, Mario and Rumple first watch. 
Imri and Kerry second watch. 
Ibrihim and Pierre third watch. 

'''12th Thaw''' 
Spent last night in a way-station, but tonight we get to stay in a village Inn. The village is only a small place of around 20 houses on the edge of the plain, but as this is the main route between Port Artz and Artzdorf it has is an Inn. 
From here we could either take a longer loop around to the north though Artzdorf, or take a less used road north towards Minerstown. 

'''13th Thaw''' 
Took the less used road, it's shorter and although the roads not as good and therefore we will cover fewer miles in a day, we still save at least one day by not having to pass though the outer areas of the City of Artzdorf. 

====A Tangled Web====
Spent the night in another way-station these places all seem to follow a similar plan; this one is a large barn like building with stalls for four horses, a bunk room with a hearth, and a hay loft above the bulk room all down one side. There is space to get the wagon under cover on the other, with doors at either end. Rain is collected from the roof and stored in barrels provides a supply of water. 

During first watch some spiders tried to trap those sleeping in their beds with webs. 
Those on watch had to help us free, the silk of spiders the size of saucers is very strong, and (counting bodies later) there where at least three of them for each of us. 
There where six much larger spiders outside the building; these were as big as Pierre (who is 2ft 10 inches tall). 
All the spiders were being controlled by an invisible person hiding in a near by coppice; this person fled on star wings when it became obvious that we had the upper hand, for despite most of the party being blinded by a brilliant flash of light we were still able to squish or skewer all his/her large minions. 
Rumple tried to cast something at him/her just as he/she took off but it had no apparent effect, and although Ibrihim and Pierre gave chase they lost him/her in the dark, star wings are very hard to see against a night sky. 

Imri put the two surviving Large Spiders in a cage and Mario used his magic to revive one of them for questioning. We didn't learn much; it was after all just a big [[Fair-bound Ride#Spiders|spider]] and not a sentient creature, but we where able to confirm that its master was part of this banned cult and had been in contact with others who controlled the other creatures, but not in the last week. For the last week the spider and its master had been staking out this road which suggests that they hadn't got a fix on the Artifact up until this point but had been staking out possible routes and that the master may have gone to fetch help. 

Plans for losing people who can use wolves to track and ravens to search were made and a new direction of travel chosen. 

'''14th Thaw '''
Traveled west cross country, Ibrihim and Rumple scouting ahead to route find and keep us on course. By-passed the Inn on the main road to Artzdorf and made a rough camp. 
The dreams have changed again; the swirling searching mass has a spider web pattern to it.

===Mucking about in Boats===
Arrived in [[Fair-bound Ride#Ritzsump|Ritzsump]] late afternoon 15th Thaw. 
Imri and Harold arranged for passage up the River Ritz on a 60ft river barrage called the Lumbering Larry whose master is a man called Marcus. 
By the time it got dark our wagon, horses and donkey had been loaded on board and being drawn by hired tow horses we had left Ritzsump behind, along with our single surviving caged spider. 
Zane, the factor for Harold, Harold and Harold in Ritzsump will ship it to the city of Flugelhem in to be sold as an exotic pet. There was a danger the spider could be located and lead the cult to us so it's being used as a decoy. 

After dark with the tow horses handed to a relay station, Imri took over hauling the barge up river, by the time she stopped for some sleep we where within 10 miles of Ritzdorf. 
Our plan is simple by moving day and night we hope to out run any pursuit; by day the Lumbering Larry will look just like any other barge on the river being towed by horses, so as not to attract attention; at night Imri will take us as far as she can with magic. If agents of the cult spend the next week beating the bushes in the south we will have a good head start on the pass to Eltrandor. 

I spent the night practicing my magic Ibrihim would like my witchsight to last a little longer should we run into any more troublesome night visitors or invisible people. 
I also practiced creating my own darkness; one day this ability will enable me to cast in the day time. 

====A Conspiracy of Ravens====
Just after dawn on the 16th Thaw Marcus hired tow horses and someone to lead them and the Lumbering Larry passed though [[Fair-bound Ride#Ritzdorf|Ritzdorf]] while Imri and I slept. Marcus also showed the others how to steer the barge so it stayed in the proper position on the river for towing, once past Ritzdorf he too tried to get some sleep. 
Julius had a person who had been showing a suspicious amount of attention to the barge as it passed though Ritzdorf on locate. When about 10 am his locate suddenly showed this person to be heading east at high speed he and Pierre where sent flying off to follow. 
With Rumple to locate Julius the rest of us followed several minutes later, leaving Harold and the Items with Marcus and his barge slowly heading up river to Rhigelhelim. 
(At that point Imri and I had only been asleep for perhaps 3 hours at the most and due to the hurried departure had to finish dressing in flight.) 
After about an hour we caught up with Julius and Pierre; it seemed that whomever we where after was flying Northeast at about the same speed as the party. 
Since it was unlikely that we would over take our quarry before they landed our hope was that we would be able to capture him for questioning once he landed. 
Just after noon, having passed far to the north of the city of Artzdorf (its rocky spire was just visible on the horizon) as he landed to approach [[Fair-bound Ride#Minestown|Minestown]] on foot we where able to get ahead of our quarry and successfully ambush him and the two large black birds that where with him. We even managed to capture one of the birds alive; an Unseen Mario was able to fly it down and stun it. 

A quick search of our captive and his gear proved him to be wearing leather armour, a sabre and main-gauche and two silver rings; he was also carrying assorted standard travel gear along with several days travel rations and what could be ritual components. 

We had a seven hour layover hidden in a coppice about two miles out side of Minestown. During this time while those who would be casting our travel spells that night slept our prisoner was questioned using a combination of good old fashioned intimidation and magic. 

To summarize we learned that we had caught the celestial agent; he knew about the Illusionist's failed attack and when he had spotted us on the river he had flown to Minestown to meet up with the Air mage agent, who could cast a spell to communicate with the other 3 and summon them together to attack us. He had the same spell stored in two armbands, but these had insufficient range to reach everyone from Ritzdorf (they have a range of 200miles). 
We also learned how and where he was to contact the air mage, this information we gave to the town guard in Minestown when we turned our captive over to them. With luck the cult will loose yet another agent, and if he escapes his next few weeks should be spent running and hiding, not seeking us. (We made 1000 silver pennies in bounty on the celestial and another 250 silver for the information on the air mage) 
Due to Julius's skillful questioning and a little mind magic, the cultist believes that it was 3 or 4 bounty hunters that captured him. Further he will not remember seeing us on the river until around noon on the 17th by which time we should be back on dry land and heading for the pass. 

We then flew back to the barge which was just north of [[Fair-bound Ride #Rhigelheim|Rhigelheim]], and headed up stream while those who had been awake all day finally got some sleep. 
Having rested earlier Imri was able to keep the barge moving up river the rest of the night and into the early morning of the 17th of Thaw; by second breakfast we had almost reached the ford where the road from Mennerville crossed the river on its way to Hightown. Only another 15 or so miles up stream from this point are some rapids which are only navigable in times of flood the water level being too low for even so small a craft as we are using most of the time. 
Ibrihim had flown ahead alone to see if he could arrange for a bit of a flood, so we could extend our river journey another day or so. It had been arranged that we would rendezvous with him at the [[Fair-bound Ride#The Inn at the Ford|Inn]] by the ford where we would decide whether we would continue up river or take to the road again, therefore Imri kept the boat moving for another hour and around 9am the time Pierre calls brunch we where all reunited at the Inn to have just that. 

===Moon Magic===
After lunch on the 17th of Thaw we took our last trip on the Lumbering Larry. The rain over night and during the morning had caused the river to rise and Marcus our bargeman was able to direct Imri though the now flooded rapids which are part way though a canyon; the river at this point is less than 70ft wide. Maybe 25 miles up river from the Inn is a second ford where we were able to unload our wagon and horses. 

Over Lunch at the Inn, Ibrihim had told Imri of a talking cloud he had met during the night it said it was an aspect of [[Fair-bound Ride#Senorita Aqua|Aqua]] and invited him to visit its home. Aqua's [[Fair-bound Ride#Senorita Aqua|home]] is a pool at the base of the waterfall that is the outlet of the [[Fair-bound Ride#Lake of the Moon|Lake of the Moon]] and the start of the Ritz River. Realizing that Aqua was some sort of water entity, Ibrihim had declined to stay and chat since chatting would involve getting into the pool, not exactly the best idea for a lone air mage. 
During the afternoon Mario suggested that Imri (with company) talk to this Aqua and see if it was able to get our horses and wagon up the eastern river that flows into the Lake of the Moon saving us many days of slow travel over wilderness. However due to the late hour and the need to assist Marcus in getting the Lumbering Larry back down stream of the rapids this visit had to be postponed until the next day. 
Next morning Imri, Ibrihim and Julius went to visit [[Fair-bound Ride#Senorita Aqua|Senorita Aqua]] in her very deep rock pool at the head of the Ritz River, while she was unable to help us directly her power being mostly restricted to her pool she was able to direct Imri to a being called [[Fair-bound Ride#Selene|Selene]] who dwells on an island in the center of the Lake of the Moon, and give her a clue as to how to over come the disorientating mist that protects the island. 
Imri went alone to visit Selene as the trick to getting past the mist is to be deep underwater and neither of the others swim. She returned an hour later with some items and a plan for getting the wagon, horses and donkey up river. 

Back with the rest of the party Imri explained the plan she and Selene had settled on for getting us all up a river some ten miles of which flows underground. 
Firstly the two horses and the donkey would be turned into Seahorses, the wagon would be sealed inside a water proof giant seed pod, then Imri would use Mage current the same spell she had used to move the barge to move the pod the seahorses and whoever is traveling with her up the river, the rest of the party (the non swimmers) would fly. 
When we get as far up river as we want we just cut open the pod and counterspell the seahorses, and carry on our way hopefully having saved our selves another week on the road. 
I think Mario thought the plan sounded a bit like one of those tales the troubadours tell where the prince winds up running about with glass slippers looking for his true love, since he wanted to know if we had any. (Well, the inspiration for such tales has to come from somewhere.) 

*Items from Selene, 4 water chest nut, fruit thingies for turning horses to seahorses; 1 small mangrove seedpod that will grow to about 20ft across when triggered in water. 
*Imri also has 1 gallon (8 1pint doses) of magical water from Senorita Aqua. 

Spent the rest of the day getting to a point on the lake of the moon where we could launch and load our pod. 
Once at the lake Imri put the pod into the water to grow over night she was also excused from watch to get as much sleep as she could and I got partnered with Rumple. 
The dreams had changed again this time there are webs feathers fangs claws and eyes in the searching swirl and over all is a quarter moon. The feeling we get from the dream is that moon is protective and the searching creatures are far off. 

====Up and Under 19th Thaw====
We amended the plan slightly and Rumple and his donkey got to ride in the pod with the cart, and only the two horses became merhorses. 
As aquatic's the horses had horse heads with bodies like sea lions, they had gills but could breathe both above and below the water. 
I was a good thing we were to put the donkey in the pod as Imri forgot we needed help to load the wagon into the pod and changed the horses early. It's a lot harder to move a loaded wagon with just one donkey and human muscle, but would have been worse with manpower alone. 

Imri, Mario, Harold and I travel in the water, Pierre, Julius and Ibrihim travel by Air.
The lower part of the river is wide and deep and there was a place just before where it disappeared underground where we could moor the pod and stop for lunch. 
The underground section was totally underwater; the passages were easily wide enough for our pod and the only hazards are several sudden turns and a number of hard stone pillars. However by keeping your speed low you will have time to avoid these obstacles even with the limited range of visibility witchsight grants. 
Several miles up stream of the place the river flows underground is a large pool and 20ft high waterfall beyond this waterfall Ibrihim reported there where rapids and another waterfall and then a gorge where numerous streams fall over cliffs to create the head waters of the river. These streams are all snow melt judging from the temperature of the water. 
Unable to get our loaded pod any farther up stream we unloaded and camped overnight beside the river. 

On the 20th we headed east towards the pass to Eltrandor, on our second day of travel we found the overgrown remains of an old trail heading in the right direction which helped us make a few more miles each day. 
On the morning of the 25th we cross the river above Hightown by a disused possibly forgotten ford rather than the aging wooden bridge on the main road which we where worried about being ambushed on. Later in the day we found the main road and in the late afternoon three days later found ourselves looking at another bridge across a tributary of the river that we had crossed on the 25th. This time Imri whose turn it is to fly as scout can not locate another ford or alternate route we have to cross this bridge. 

===The Earth Mage and the Two Bears===
We camped a few miles short of bridge and well out of sight; the next day (29th Thaw) Mario spent sometime trying to get a precognition of what would happen when we crossed the bridge and reported that a short distance after the bridge we would be ambushed by the Earth Mage Agent and two bears, the battle in his vision was confusing and he could not tell who was winning, but the Earth Mage was using walls to block the trail. 

After some discussion although the bridge seems a better ambush point we decide that the bridge would be bad place for the Earth Mage as he would be unable to use magic and Mario's vision is probably correct. 
As Earth Mages can cast Blending and Walking unseen we sent Julius, Imri and Pierre flying ahead Unseen to scout the site of Mario's vision; from the air they can't see the bears or a mage in the early morning light but as the ground is covered in large rocks and bushes and the road lined with trees it wouldn't have been difficult to miss them while trying to avoid hitting a tree or the hillside. 
With the information gained from the scouting trip and Mario's vision we form a plan to out flank and ambush our would be ambushers. Leaving Rumple with his ability to put things to sleep with Harold on the cart the rest of us drop out of the sky and a very short while later we had killed the smaller bear, driven off the enormous 13 ft tall one and captured their Master. 
As soon as we landed it was evident why our scouts had not been able to spot the enemy from the air, they were hiding in a cave in the steep hillside. Hidden from the above by a large over hanging slab of rock and screened from the road by trees it is hard to see the north facing entrance from any angle until you are almost right outside. 
A narrow 7 ft high 30to 40 ft long passage curved down and around to the left before opening out into a cavern where or captive had set up camp. 
We searched both or prisoner and his camp, and other than mundane items like his weapons armour and camping equipment recovered a number of magical items (rings, an Amulet and a Bracelet). 
Later having moved on and camped early we questioned our captive and learned that Reese the E&E cultist with his snakes was camped at the base of the pass; by using the river and cutting across country we had avoided him. 
Ibrihim and Pierre few to [[Fair-bound Ride#High Town|High Town]] and returned with some of guards to take our prisoner off for trial and the reward for his capture and the information on the location of the E&E cultist. 
It was also arranged for our names and deeds to be passed on to the Companions a group of adventurous second sons from Noble houses that fancy themselves as some sort of heroes, but many act as couriers; the group runs a number of chapter houses across the country. 

On the 30th Thaw we crossed the boarder into northern [[Eltrandor]], there was no guard post but 2ft high whites stones stand either side of the road and in a line every 200 yards across the pass. 

===The End of the road===
10th seed time, over the last ten days we crossed part of northern [[Eltrandor]] avoiding major population centers; passed the boarder check into [[Cauldersfield]]. 
Once we crossed into Eltrandor the nightly dreams that we had been having since Seagate stopped. 
Well up a blind cannon Harold takes out a magical Key which he uses to locate and open a 15x15ft door in the cliff. On the other side is the plane of [[Fair-bound Ride#Helvus|Helvus]] and a city, the layout and buildings are similar to what one would expect to find in Arabie except that the local stone is of a different colour and the people speak a language which none of our party can place. 
Harold says the Alusian portal moves and that his family have the knowledge of where it likely to be found next. 
We met Henry, Harold's uncle at the Merchant houses out post in the City. 
We get a given a magical Translation Amulet to help us shop in the cities magical market, these devises only translate conversations you are engaged in not the general babble of the market which is useful as the more they are used the quicker these items wear out, it is expected that each one will work for at least a week. 

==Epilogue==

The Rabbit she got sold to a nice home that would take good care of her as the last of her kind. 

The fate of the Alter is unknown but the tie to the Ice demons was broken and the whole thing has lost a lot of its icy white glow. 

We got paid for 6 weeks work plus the spending money off plane and we also got a bonus, equal to another six weeks pay. 
The party all returned safely to Seagate, it seems it is recognizable magically as the home of us all regardless of where we were originally from. 

==Information==
====The Items====
=====The Rabbit=====
The Rabbit is very large mostly white in colour with a broad uneven stripe of black from one shoulder to the opposite hip and a slash of black across its face. 
It is housed in a small sturdy wooden hutch some 4 ft long 3ft wide and 1 1/2 ft high with a rush strewn floor. 
Kerry tried and failed to DA it, although Imri believes it may have DAed us all. 
(It should be noted that I'm not very good a DAing and my failure should not be seen as an indication that it can't be DAed.) 
Nor did it respond to attempts to Speak to Creatures of Dark or Speak to Enchanted Creatures although these did get more of a reaction than just talking to the rabbit in Common. 
Mario was unable to sense its mind. 
Julius and Imri could both see a slight blue sheen around the rabbit. 
Pierre also detected the presence of illusions on the creature. 

=====The Religious Artifact=====
The Religious Artifact according to Harold large and a cart is required to transport it, although he is not sure just what IT is. 
The religion with which it is associated is currently illegal in Flugelheim and has been so for the last 5 years. Its practices and priests have been suppressed and its followers strongly encouraged to convert; basically they have killed the priest and any that refuse to convert. Harold can't tell us who these people followed only that their religion was deemed bad and outlawed; hence the need to investigate Guild records. 
Ibrihim suggested the artifact may be a Sacrificial Alter, which if the case means we had better not let Pierre touch it, given his track record. 

'''IT is an alter''' a low white marble Sacrificial Alter with the five animals associated with the [[Fair-bound Ride#Research results|Ice demons]] carved on its sides. Its quite small for an alter being about 3ft long and maybe a little less than that wide, more something to bend a victim over than to lay them out on. 

It is still attuned to the Ice demons but removing it from this plane should break this tie. 
The alter is indestructible, and an Ice place of power is created by its presence; it is also hollow but the Namer at the Abbey said it didn't contain anything except a lot of mana which resulted in the place of power effect. 

The marble has been infused with a form of bound Ice. 
Due to the indestructibility of the alter it seems unlikely that the mana will inadvertently escape in the event that the item suffers and accident during transport. 

====Astrology reading====
'''Question:''' Source of the Darkest Conspiracy we are entangled with. 
'''Answer:''' 
Simple knowledge and unsimple people, 
Lasting places and ephemeral thoughts, 
Fanaticism abounds with considerable plans, 
To thwart those who are unopposed. 

====Research results====
'''Helvus:''' Very little hard information except that like the hells are lower planes, Helvus is a higher plane than Alusia but only by a step or two. Things there are likely to be more magical and fantastical but similar. 

'''The Banned Religion:''' it believed to be related to the cult of Five Ice Demons previously encountered by several guild parties. 
Between the winter of 803wk and the autumn of 804wk Five Ice demons and their agents attempted to turn Flugelheim into there own private Icy plane. Most of the populace was abducted and trapped within the plane called Icehaim, it seems a very experienced group of guild members was able to thwart their plans, and rescue much of the populace including the Royal Family. 

The Ice Demons were:
*Haze – whose animal minions were ravens, and whose agent was a Celestial.
*Picturesque – whose animal minions were spiders, and whose agent was an Illusionist.
*Storm – whose animal minions were polar bears (12' tall), and whose agent was Earth mage.
*Chill – whose animal minions were wolves, and whose agent was Air mage.
*Apathy – whose animal minions were furred ice snake, and whose agent was E&E

====Spiders====
The big spiders had an animal level aura, and had been collected from a nest that the Master kept, the smaller spiders came from a different nest near by; the spider couldn't find its way back to its nest or to its master. 
Normal prey for its kind would be large insects and mice, Halflings even ones as small as Pierre are too big. 
No one took particularly sick from spider bites, and any ill effects wore off quickly. 
The spider knew that the Master had had dealings with Masters of other creatures namely Birds, fury worm things, large 4 legged creature and even larger 4 legged creatures. 

===People and Places===
=====Harold Jr=====
Harold Jr is a human male in his late teens early 20s, he is about 5'8 or 9" tall while not strictly over weight he could kindly be described as soft, and a little on the heavy side. 
(''If anyone has any more to add to this description please do so'') 
As a Merchant he was no match for the party's negotiators although Mario was impressed by Harold's ability to evaluate the more subtle qualities of his fine wine. 
This is definitely his first assignment outside of Flugelheim and if it's not also his first solo assignment, he certainly hasn't had very many prior ones. 
He has however previously been though the portal to the Fair with his grandfather, so we are not relying on inaccurate maps or vague instructions to find our way. 

In the first few days after arriving in Flugelheim it was noted that Harold could see though the various forms Invisibility in the party, and had obviously flown before. (I wish I'd been able to see his Aura)

=====Father Harper=====
A priest at [[Fair-bound Ride#Krieger Abbey|Krieger Abbey]] Father Harper is a Namer. 

=====Father Paul=====
A priest at [[Fair-bound Ride#Krieger Abbey|Krieger Abbey]] Father Paul is an Earth mage. 
He put seasonal Lesser Enchantments on the party, has slightly higher than midling ranks with Strenght of Stone and is an expert at with the Earth elementals which he uses for plowing. 

=====Senorita Aqua =====

=====Selene=====

=====The Little Lama=====
An Inn located in new Seagate, is while not exactly slumming it is definitely for those traveling on a budget. As an Inn it has little to recommend it by way of fine dinning, notable beverages, or interesting ambiance. 
It is however a sound structure with good shutters on its windows, the surrounding alleys are reasonably clear of refuse and vagrants and the general area well patrolled. The buildings walls are not conducive to climbing and the depth of the roofs over hang is enough to make entry or exit that way challenging, its one security weakness is the proximity of a lean to stable to a second floor window. 

=====Port Artz=====
One of several major trading ports in this part of Alusia [[Artzdorf and Flugelheim#Port Artz|Port Artz]] covers a good part of the northern shore at the end of the sound, the south shore is undeveloped. There are Light houses on both sides of the ports entrance, at the end of the sound a river flows into the sea over a sizable waterfall. Another thing observed during our short visit was the width of the streets, these being at least three cart widths (room for two vehicles to pass and footpaths either side) which aided our swift departure against the incoming morning traffic. 
The city has some sort of weather controlling spell over it as it was observed that the weather was much calmer in that area as the storm passed over. 

=====Krieger Abbey=====
Is located about a days ride (one and a half by cart) west of Port Artz. Built against the end of a blind cannon several miles off the main road, the turnoff is clearly identified with a stone marker. 
It is not an Abbey of the western church, the priests there wear a circle divided into eighths with a dot in each eighth they call the Wheel of Life which we where told represents the eight gods and eight stations in life. 
At least some of the Priests are mages; we had dealing with Father Harper a Namer and Farther Paul an Earth mage, but it was implied there where others of other colleges at the Abbey as well as their apprentices. 
There where no Water mages however, to help Imri recover what the brain rot may have erased. 

=====Ritzsump =====
Is a walled port city at the mouth of the Ritz River. 
The wall is only low 6 ft high and 3 ft wide, there is a patrol on the wall. 
Inside the wall the city is like most other ports, it does not have the unusually wide streets we saw in Port Artz. 
Grain from the interior is exported though this port; it is barged down the river in barges up to 200ft in length and transferred to sea going vessels at the docks by cranes. 
The river barges use teams of either horses or oxen to tow them up river, these teams are often hired from specialist companies and changed at relay stations and don't work after dark. The tow companies don't like competition from magic. 

=====Ritzdorf =====
A walled city on the east bank of the Ritz river. 
Only one bridge crosses the river; on the west bank is a graveyard surrounded by a matching wall, this wall has no gates.

=====Minestown=====
Is a medium sized walled town on the edge of the eastern Great Ridge? A trading town it deals in mundane and precious metals. 
The gates are shut at night, but there is a postern gate with a peephole so late arrivals can not be that uncommon.

=====Rhigelheim=====
Is a walled trade city on the west bank of the River. Tariffs are charged to river traffic passing the city. The River runs though a gorge along side the city and is spanned by a wide bridge 50ft above the water level; there is a gatehouse at the east end of the bridge. 
There are elves among the guards on the walls of this city.

=====The Inn at the Ford=====

=====Lake of the Moon=====
=====High Town=====
Not a walled city however there are guard post on the main road.

=====Helvus=====
All that was seen of this plane was a single large city; the layout and buildings were similar to what one would expect to find in Arabie except that the local stone is of a different colour and the people spoke a language which none of our party could place.
It also seemed to be autumn on this part of the plane where it had been mid spring on Alusia.
The population was made up of Humans Elves Halflings and a Lizard type.
The magical market was huge with Weapon, Armour, and allsorts of magical oddities, on one side of the market were Merchant Guild Halls and on the other a Slave market. The Slaves seemed to be mostly of an economic nature and it was not permitted to remove them from the plane.

==Items collected by the Party==
* 2 Silver rings 
* a Sabre 
* a main-gauche 
* assorted standard travel gear along with several days travel rations and what could be ritual components 
* 2 Armbands with Wispering Wind 200 mile range 
* 1250 sp from the bounty on cultists 
* 4 water chestnuts -used two on the horses. 
* 1 plant pod - used to get up river and sent back to the lake. 
* 1 gallon (8 1pint doses) of magical water from Senorita Aqua- 2 used during trip up river 
* 3 Silver rings
* An Amulet
* A Bracelet
* a Sabre
* a main-gauche
* Soft leather Armour
* assorted standard travel gear along with several days travel rations
* A second 1250 sp from the bounty on cultists

== Calendar ==
{| cellspacing=1 width="100%" border=0 class="Season" id="Spring"
! colspan=15 | <h1>Spring</h1>
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| colspan=14 | [[Candlemansa]]
|-
! colspan=15 | [[Thaw]] (10)
|-
| colspan=3 height=54px |  
| class=day | 1 || Guild Meeting
| class=day | 2 || Depart Seagate
| class=day | 3 ||  
| class=day | 4 ||  
| class=day | 5 ||  
| class=day | 6 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 7 || Storms
| class=day | 8 || Arrive Port Artz
| class=day | 9 || Kreiger Abbey
| class=day | 10 || Flying practice
| class=day | 11 || On the road...
| class=day | 12 ||  
| class=day | 13 || Spiders Attack
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 14 ||  
| class=day | 15 || Ritzsump
| class=day | 16 || Raven Attack
| class=day | 17 || Breakfast at the Last Inn
| class=day | 18 || Lake of the Moon
| class=day | 19 || Seahorses & the Pod
| class=day | 20 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 21 ||  
| class=day | 22 ||  
| class=day | 23 ||  
| class=day | 24 ||  
| class=day | 25 || Ford Pass River
| class=day | 26 ||  
| class=day | 27 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 28 ||  
| class=day | 29 || Attack Bears 
| class=day | 30 || Cross boarder
| colspan=8 |  
|-
! colspan=15 | [[Seedtime]] (11)
|-
| colspan=7 height=54px |  
| class=day | 1 ||  
| class=day | 2 ||  
| class=day | 3 ||  
| class=day | 4 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 5 ||  
| class=day | 6 ||  
| class=day | 7 ||  
| class=day | 8 || Rites of Thunor
| class=day | 9 ||  
| class=day | 10 || Portalled off Plane
| class=day | 11 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 12 ||  
| class=day | 13 ||  
| class=day | 14 ||  
| class=day | 15 || Equinox
| class=day | 16 ||  
| class=day | 17 || Eostre
| class=day | 18 || The Seagate Spring Ball
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 19 ||  
| class=day | 20 ||  
| class=day | 21 ||  
| class=day | 22 ||  
| class=day | 23 ||  
| class=day | 24 ||  
| class=day | 25 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 26 ||  
| class=day | 27 ||  
| class=day | 28 ||  
| class=day | 29 ||  
| class=day | 30 ||  
| colspan=4 |  
|-
! colspan=15 | [[Blossom]] (12)
|-
| colspan=11 height=54px |  
| class=day | 1 ||  
| class=day | 2 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 3 ||  
| class=day | 4 ||  
| class=day | 5 ||  
| class=day | 6 ||  
| class=day | 7 ||  
| class=day | 8 ||  
| class=day | 9 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 10 ||  
| class=day | 11 ||  
| class=day | 12 ||  
| class=day | 13 ||  
| class=day | 14 ||  
| class=day | 15 ||  
| class=day | 16 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 17 ||  
| class=day | 18 ||  
| class=day | 19 ||  
| class=day | 20 ||  
| class=day | 21 || Floralia
| class=day | 22 ||  
| class=day | 23 ||  
|-
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 24 ||  
| class=day | 25 ||  
| class=day | 26 ||  
| class=day | 27 ||  
| class=day | 28 ||  
| class=day | 29 ||  
| class=day | 30 || Walpurgisnacht
|}

Save the Demon

2026-06-06T03:43:21Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Jeff Leddra]][[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Scribe_Notes#Spring_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
[[Category:Keshah]]
[[Category:Hamish]]
[[Category:Zanak]]
[[Category:Mira]]
[[Category:Elenna]]
[[Category:Falco]]
[[Category:Garrick]]
[[Category:Dwork]]
'''GM''' - Jeff Leddra 
'''Season''' Spring 808 WK 
'''Day''' - Wednesday 
'''Level''' - Medium

=Seagate Gatherings=
* [[Keshah]] - A Male Elf, known to discuss Philosophy after indulging in some discrete assassinations
* [[Hamish]] - A Human Wicker & handy with a butcher's knife
* [[Zanak]] - A Human Pirate, with some abilities to influence the mind and heal the body
* [[Mira]] - A Human Fighter with some Earth Magics
* [[Elenna]] - An E&E Mage. A shy human, not very pretty but quite practical
* [[Falco]] - A Human Celestial, known for disappearing when the going gets tough
* [[Garrick]] - A dwarf Illusionist, thief and alchemist
* [[Dwork]] - An Orc, likes the 4 Fs, Fire, Food and Fornication

In quieter moments Zanak can be seen scribbling notes documenting the events of the day

=Dear Diary=
==1st of Thaw - Mission Briefing ==
Guild Security have brought our party to a room where a Blue Dragon construct has appeared repeatedly saying "Will you help rescue my master?". Members of the guild have been divinating it while the guards fetched us.

The party questions the construct in the normal fashion. Dwork gets on the dragons bad side on only the second question. Falco rescues the day by saying he doesn't like Dwork either. The dragon seems to like Falco now and answers his questions to the best of his limited ability (he is a construct after all), followed each time by "Do you agree to help?". When the questions get a bit emotive the construct changes to a Blood Red Bird.

Guild Security has warned us not to agree too hastily as it is likely we will be transported to the dragons realm instantly.

Some clever questioning, and the results of the divination, reveal the constructs creator needs help to rescue his Demon Master and we would be transported to the Middle Realms. Whilst the constructs creator has little money he assures us the Demon Master will reward us handsomely with magical weapons and armour.

The party steps into a separate room and decides to take on the contract. Nothing is known of the Middle Realm so precautions need to be taken. We stock up on healing potions and each purchase a Greater Enchantment for 500SP.

Preparations begin...

==2nd of Thaw - Preparation==
We continue preparing through out the whole day

==3rd of Thaw - The Adventure Begins==
===Li Pao and Plum===
At daybreak we go back to the Blue Dragon Construct and ask a few more questions, then agree to help. The dragon is a bit perturbed we took so long but since no one else has agreed to help he accepts our offer.

There is a blinding flash of light and we find ourselves standing in a small room where the walls are made of paper. There is an old man sitting over the bowl from which the Blue Dragon was constructed. Placing bowls of steaming liquid on a table is a very pretty young lady.

The old man starts speaking and gesturing in a welcoming manner. Most of us stare blankly at him (Dwork at the young lady) with complete incomprehension. Fortunately Keshah identifies the language as Eralaine and is able to introduce the party members and explain that we don't understand the language.

Li Pao (the old man) introduces his daughter as Plum and offers to cast a spell to teach us all Eralaine (rank 7).

We all accept and after a moment we can understand him properly.

Plum offers the party a drink of tea. We all graciously accept, except Dwork. The tea has a calming/relaxing effect on us.

Li Pao asks Dwork to share in the tea. Dwork says no. He could have refused graciously but what can we say, he '''is''' an Ork.

Li Pao asks Dwork to step outside so the polite company can have a conversation. Dwork seems taken aback but finally steps outside, muttering about burning down the paper walls.

Garrick places an illusion on Dwork so he looks like an old woman and won't scare the locals.

Li Pao tells us about Kai Wren, his demon friend, who has gone missing.

===Kai Wren===
Kai Wren is a very powerful demon who is also known as a GodSlayer or Lord Kai.
He creates his own little pocket dimensions inside bottles and even lives in one.

He had a friend called Keith who was murdered by Hedge Demons. Kai Wren, seeking vengeance, learned that Tuvoone (a fellow demon known as the Smoke Ghost) had commissioned the Murder. Kai Wren, who already had a Spirit Sword crafted by Seven Fingers (Demon Weapon Maker), challenged Tuvoone to a Duel. (Spirit Swords are one of the few weapons capable of killing a specific demon)

Just as the Duel was about to start Tuvoones mother Vliss (of the Terrible Tongue) appeared and convinced Kai Wren that her son had been framed for the murder of Keith.

Kai Wren then left on a quest to seek out the true culprit who had commissioned his friends death.

He travelled to the Demon Realm to seek the advice of the Demon of the Towers of Light. This demon was one of a few who were born on the God plane and is well respected by both Demons and Gods. Here he sought to scry for the being responsible for framing Tuvoone.

This was the last message Li Pao had from Kai Wren before he went missing.

Li Pao has successfully scryed for Kai Wren and has located him on a feudal state called Barrecho. He appears to be drugged and has no powers left. Li Pao asks for the parties help in rescuing him.

We agree to help and Dwork is invited back in.

Both Li Pao and Plum will accompany us on this mission.

Li Pao is a Kite Maker and a powerful natural mage, although he is still untrained.

Plum is a master of Feng Shui.

Li Pao claims the bowl can transport us to Barrecho.

===A Hedge Demon Appears===
Meanwhile Garrick has been doing the unthinkable and has tried to help the party by casting an illusion so we all look like the indigenous peoples (Chinese).

Unfortunately he backfires and a Hedge Demon appears in the room. Hedge Demons are the degenerate children of Demons and take many forms. This one appears in the form of a dog and, after taking the party by surprise, it bolts out through the paper wall and disappears in the distance. Garrick then promises to be more careful, although we suspect he had his fingers crossed behind his back.

Elenna offers to cast a greater enchantment on our companions before we leave, which is gratefully accepted.

While the party is waiting we ask for more information on the realm and Demons in particular. Li Pao arranges for an expert in demonology

Plum serves some lunch and some more tea as the expert enters.

===A History Lessen===
Gods and Demons both existed in the same Realm.

There was a war between them and eventually the demons were defeated and ejected to the realm between the newly named God Realm and the Middle Realm, where the human worshippers live. The new realm is called the Demon Realm. It was a deserted wasteland but the demons found a small portal to the Middle Realm and over time brought back Chi (life force), materials and life forms. The Demon Realm became a place of wonder and beauty.

The Gods became jealous and sought to take over the Demon Realm.

The Gods waged war on the Demons but after an age it became obvious a stalemate had occurred.

Kai Wren fought an epic battle against the God Caarholdruarne and killed him. This was the turning point in the war as the Demons rallied and successfully fought the Gods back to their own realm. A truce was forged between the Demons and the Gods by Lite (the Demon of the Towers of Light). The most powerful weapons were sealed away in the Vaults, never to be used again.

The Demons and the Gods keep to their own realms mainly although the portal between the Demon Realm and the Middle Realm still exists in the far West of the Chin Empire.

===To Kai Wrens Home===
Li Pao mentions the Vault was damaged in a natural Cataclysm a few weeks ago.

Keshah casts RuneShield on Plum and then Li Pao, using the bowl, transports us to Kai Wrens estate.

Li Pao is concerned that the Dog Guardians are missing. These dogs were breed by the Gods to battle Demons but after the truce they were abandoned. Kai Wren befriended them and offered them a peaceful life on his mansion.

Li Pao enters the bottle world in which Kai Wren lives as he must ask permission from the Guardians before the rest of the party can enter safely. He reappears almost immediately in a distressed state. He quickly informs us one of the Dragon Guardians is dead and the whole dimension is disintegrating.

With a sense of urgency we enter as we need to get what clues to Kai Wrens location or plans before the bottle world collapses entirely.

Once inside we can see the grass is either dead or dying, the ocean is boiling, the mountains are crumbling and Kai Wrens Mansion is in ruins.

Between the Mansion and ourselves is a dark sphere. A figure steps out and races towards us. She has Black Armour and is gesturing wildly at us. Within seconds she is close enough for us to hear her shouting "...in danger ! Leave now...". She identifies herself as Spilling Moonbeams, the daughter of Seven Fingers, and she is betrothed to Kai Wren. This is news to Li Pao.

She says the enraged guardians are drawing on the power/structure of the pocket dimension to battle the invaders and this is causing the destruction we can see.

A humanoid creature pops up from behind a bush and begins to attack us. Spilling Moonbeams yells to us to follow her back to the sphere where we will be safe for the moment. We make it to safety and the creature wanders off.

Spilling Moonbeams admits she isn't officially betrothed, although Kai Wren and Seven Fingers have discussed the possibility of the betrothal.

She also confirms that Tuvoone and his mother Vliss captured Kai Wren after he left the Towers of Light. Lite may know more of Kai Wrens plans before he was captured and imprisoned.

Tuvoone and his troops were in the Bottle earlier and killed the Dragon Guardian but he has since left, leaving some of his troops.

Li Pao believes he can regain control of the remaining Guardians if he can get to the mansion to cast a spell. Spilling Moonbeams offers her armour as protection from Tuvoones troops. Li Pao braves the short trip to the mansion and successfully gains control of the Guardians. The remaining troops are quickly dispatched.

Plum asks Keshah to assist her in starting the healing process for the bottle dimension.

Spilling Moonbeams spends the afternoon talking to us. The most alarming piece of information shared is Tuvoone attacked with his own troops and with several Gods!

She offers (tells us) that she will be joining our party in the rescue attempt of Kai Wren.

Plum and Keshah are exhausted on their return in the late afternoon. He comments to us that Plum was drawing on his Fatigue.

We all enter the mansion and search for any valuables or clues to Kai Wrens mission.

Kai Wren had his own vault which appears to have been looted. Li Pao is upset that all Kai Wrens treasures have been taken. Some more diligent searching by Hamish reveals a small bottle amongst the debris. It has a golden dragon emblazoned on the outside. The bottle itself is sealed and where the glass is expected to be translucent it seems to be opaque. Curious! Li Pao has not seen this bottle before. After a few moments we establish there is another pocket universe contained within. Some debate is had as to who will hold the bottle for the rest of the adventure. Falco has quite a bit to say but no one seems to be listening to him. In the end Zanak quietly puts the bottle into his backpack.

Plum serves some more tea and remarks to Keshah that the clouds seem odd. This was not what she expected to see in the healing process. None of us have anything useful to offer and the subject quickly changes to leaving the bottle.

===Return to Li Pao's Home===
We all buff up before Li Pao concentrates and we disappear.

In a blinding flash we are deposited in the small room from which we entered this world. There are 3 Hedge Demons shuffling around the room, looking for more loot. There is a hole in the wall and there appears to be a whole mob of Hedge Demons outside. Being seasoned adventurers we take the small group inside by surprise, although Zanak privately thinks we are screwed.

Dwork leaps into attack mode and hits a Hedge Demon so hard it goes flying through the paper wall and lands unconscious in the canal.

Mira takes a wild swing to the Hedge Demon next to her but misses and lands a blow on Dwork instead.

Hamish strikes the last Hedge Demon.

Spilling Moonbeams leaps through the wall and 10 Hedge Demons burst into flame and become a pile of ashes. We are impressed !!! We suspect it is Hellfire and she obviously knows how to use it.

Garrick jumps through the hole in the wall in an effort to escape the wild swings of Mira.

The Hedge Demons seem insistent on the battle and leap into the fray.

Miras one attacks and knocks her claymore to the ground. This leaves an opening for Dwork and he dispatches it with a single blow.

Hamish is attacked before Zanak can knock it unconscious.

Garrick is leapt on by a Hedge Demon but he quickly and efficiently kills it. An insane laughter comes from him. He seems to be enjoying this too much.

Spilling Moonbeams incinerates another 10 Hedge Demons. They finally come to their senses and turn to flee.

Elenna casts Slow on the retreating creatures and 4 of them lag behind.

Garrick races up to one and hogties it while Spilling Moonbeam casually turns another 10 into ash. The rest disappear in all directions.

Garrick drags his captive back to the room. Keshah and Dwork search the bodies and find some coins. Keshah finds 6 large coins while Dwork finds 10 smaller ones. Li Pao explains they are Chi Coinage and contain Chi (Mana).

The captives are quickly interrogated and reveal they were hired by a Demon to trash the house and retrieve any bottles. They were to meet again in 20 minutes in the central park.

Garrick disguises us all.

Li Pao realizes his bowl is missing. Since we need the bowl to help free Kai Wren we offer to help him retrieve it. That is made more certain once Elenna locates the bowl in the same direction as the meeting with the Demon is scheduled.

===An Evening in Town===
There is no time like the present so we race off to the Demons last known location. It becomes obvious the bowl is in the same place.

It is about 5pm and the streets are deserted, although we can hear a large group of people in the distance. This is very unusual but since we are brave and stalwart adventurers we pay little heed to it.

We make it to the park and see 10 Hedge Demons between us and a 12 foot, ebony skinned, flaming eyed Demon.

We begin to contemplate our course of action but Spilling Moonbeams races through the small group and engages the Demon.

Keshah, Mira and Garrick race forward to engage the Hedge Demons.

Keshah and Mira strike an invisible barrier and bounce back. Both are hurt although they aren't stunned. Garrick manages to slip through the barrier, feels the effects of a curse, recognizes that his fellow combatants haven't got through, sees the group of Hedge Demons approaching him, and slips back through the barrier. He claims it is so he can guard Keshah and Mira till they can regain their feet but we suspect there is a generous portion of self preservation involved.

Spilling Moonbeams and the Demon are engaged in a ferocious battle. The pyrotechnics and smoke are enough to obscure them from us.

The Hedge Demons step through the barrier and engage our party.

Garrick kills one outright.

Elenna slows 4 of them. Garrick manages to strike 2 of them while Mira swings wildly again, missing the Hedge Demons completely and just barely missing Dwork, who has leapt forth into the battle. Dwork does hit one but the return blow stuns him.

Garrick and Mira kill another one each.

One of the hedge Demons indicates he wants to surrender but Zanak knocks him unconscious with a Mental Attack.

The battle in the middle of the park seems to have ceased. Both Spilling Moonbeam and the Demon have vanished.

The remaining Hedge Demons shape shift into fluffy bunnies and surrender.

Elenna finds Li Paos bowl in one of their bags along with 19 small coins.

While Zanak heals Dwork and Mira the group questions the captives.

It seems these Hedge Demons were hired by the flaming eyed Demon.

They heard him talking to himself (or maybe to an invisible demon) and the name Devor was mentioned. It seems that Devor has been to Kai Wrens bottle on occasion and had some information on the murder of Keith, Kai Wrens friend.

Zanak and Hamish work in concert to Heal the party and create Restoratives.

None of us have any idea where Spilling Moonbeam has disappeared to, but it seems likely she lost the battle and has been captured. Elenna can't locate her.

Plum thinks we have had a long day and need a bit of respite before we attempt to rescue Kai Wren. We follow her to a local restaurant. The meal is excellent and the company is very pleasing.

Dwork and Zanak go upstairs with a couple of friendly ladies but return within 10 minutes. Zanak seems quite happy and explains "hey I'm only 19, of course it isn't going to take long. And I got a pretty new dress for my collection".

Dwork seems less than happy. His lady moves along side Plum and makes a gesture. Both ladies have a little giggle, Plum explaining that Dwork had some issues "getting it up".

Falco seems disgusted with both Dwork and Zanak but no one else seems particularly surprised.

===Rescuing Kai Wren===
Li Pao prepares to use the bowl to transport us to Barrecho. Meantime we buff up. We are all Quickened and Invisible.

====Going In To the Demons Den====
Its about 9pm so we rent a room for the evening, just in case the bowl doesn't come with us we want it to be safe.

We plan to come out in the woods to the west of the main building but once we arrive we find ourselves right next to the east wall of the Reception Hall. Fortunately the bowl has come with us and Li Pao secures it away.

We remain still for a moment while 5 guards and their wolves pass us on the perimeter by the woods. The wolves don't scent us which is a great relief.

We head northwards along the wall and creep into the garden area. Mira comments she isn't very stealthy and we get inside quickly.

At that point several nubile maidens open a sliding door from the main building and enter the garden. They chat amongst themselves for a moment then head back inside muttering about "bad vibes" outside.

Zanak points out that this building is unlikely to be where Kai Wren is being held captive as nubile maidens and torture chambers don't normally go together. The group consensus is "lets get inside and try a locate spell" so Garrick and Hamish sneak ahead and enter through another sliding door.

The reception hall has a central courtyard with a corridor all round and rooms leading off that.

Plum feels that a Demon lives in this house. Her Feng Shui skills seem to be coming in quite handy...

Garrick and Hamish check the building layout and find an empty room just passed the servants quarters. We all head to the room. Falco stumbles and Elenna makes a noise. One of the servants comes into the hallway to investigate. He doesn't make it back because Garrick has knocked him out, dragging him into the empty room.

A quick discussion ensues about when will the other servants miss this one, so Dwork trots down the hallway and lobs a gas grenade into the servants rooms. All but one is quickly asleep and he is quickly subdued and tied up.

Li Pao does a ritual to locate Kai Wren and establishes he is in the Temple building, further to the south.

Dwork notices a large moth-like construct on the wall in the corner of our room. We realize our presence has been detected, presumably by all the magic we have been casting. Dwork, in typical Ork fashion, bashes the construct into dust, getting some up his nostrils in the process.

Outside we can hear the wolves howling. The room temperature seems to have dropped a few degrees. We can hear movement in the hallway outside our room.

These are not encouraging signs!!!

Mira tunnels through the southern wall and we peek out to see the Temple is about 180 feet away and is guarded by 20 archers. The Servants quarters are about 100 feet away with the Stables slightly closer but off to the east.

====They should have listened to Zanak====
The odds aren't looking good. If we step out of the room, even though we are invisible, we are likely to be scented by the giant wolves and attacked by an unknown number of well armed guards. Not to mention being pin cushioned by the archers.

We are in a small room with two solid stone walls to the south and east (baring the opening Mira just made) and only paper walls to the north and west. There are an unknown number of guards approaching from the hallway.

Falco masterfully regains control of the party and orders Mira to start Tunnelling a passage underground, heading south to the temple. Despite her protestations about her lack of skill it still seems to be the best option available. The rest of us spread out and prepare our most lethal spells.

The north west corner door is sliced open and a guard leaps in. Dwork explodes a Fireball behind him and captures four in the blast. Hamish throws up a Wall of Thorns from the middle of the north wall to the middle of the west wall, effectively cutting off the guards entrance.

Mira starts tunneling downwards and to the south.

A hail of arrows penetrates the southern entrance (Miras initial tunnel), ricocheting about and slightly wounding Keshah. Li Pao and Plum follow Mira into the tunnel while the paper walls burst into flame.

A guard bursts through the west wall, directly in front of Keshah and bumping into him. Keshah becomes visible and dispatches him quickly. Falco makes it to the entrance of the tunnel.

In quick succession another Fireball and Wall of Thorns are cast.

Pandemonium erupts as Mira backfires her tunneling and herself, Plum and Li Pao are forcibly ejected from the tunnel as it fills up. Falco, Hamish and Elenna are knocked down and it takes a moment for the six of them to recover and stand up again.

Meanwhile another fireball explodes in the hallway and a guard is knocked unconscious with a Mental Attack. Some guards have managed to get past the fireball area and have opened the north east paper wall. Garrick focuses on dispatching them with some very lethal darts. In the next few minutes he kills about five of them.

In the hallway we can hear the guard captains bellowing orders and more well armoured troops are arriving. Mira casts Tunneling again and unexpectedly the hole opens directly under her.

A wolf leaps into the fray from the stone opening on the south wall and a furious battle ensues with Keshah. This is no ordinary wolf as Keshah feels the influence of cold magic as well as the savage attack.

Hamish creates a third wall in an attempt to delay the remaining guards swamping us.

Dwork changes tack and lets loose a Firebolt on the wolf who howls in pain and rage.

Elenna has been casting Slow on the guards as they come into sight and manages to help block the entrances.

Falco has been casting Web of Darkness in the hallway, again slowing the advancing troops.

Keshah does a mighty attack on the wolf, who responds even harder and knocks Keshah unconscious. He lets out a blood curdling howl before turning to face the rest of the party. A wave of coldness permeates the room, doing more damage to the guards than the party.

Dwork gets another Firebolt off and the wolf explodes in a shower of icy daggers, again damaging the guards more than ourselves.

More guards, including a captain, fall asleep as another fireball explodes in what is left of the hallway. Dwork is getting very excited about the amount of flame in the building. The rest of us look a little worried.

Hamish races over to Keshah and pulls off a stunning feat of Healing to revive Keshah.

Falco pulls out the big guns and Shadow Holes remove a guard and a captain from the battle.

Keshah glances out the southern entrance and sees another wolf approaching with a squad of guards following behind. He quickly casts RuneWall to block the entrance but the wolf manages to get through.

Another well armoured guard approaches what remains of the north east wall and is savaged by Garrick.

Zanak, who has given up casting Mental Attack, helps Keshah attack the second wolf, and surprises himself with how much damage a fire powered cutlass can do on a cold aspected wolf.

In the meantime Mira, with Plums Feng Shui assistance, has managed to successfully tunnel two thirds of the way to the Servants quarters. The group focuses on dispatching the wolf, with similarly devastating effects on everyone when it explodes. In the hallway we can see a very commanding human approaching.

We all drop into the tunnel but Dwork is caught unawares by the commanding figure and is blasted into the tunnel, severely wounded. In fact his blood appears to have turned to ice.

Li Pao closes the initial tunnel (the 30 foot drop) and together with Zanak they stabilize Dwork.

Li Pao also identifies the person as a Demon, presumably the owner/occupier of the estate.

Garrick managed to drag a captains body down into the tunnel and loots it for the armour and the sword, a wakizashi.

Zanaks reminds the party they should have listened to him when he surmised the Residence, with nubile maidens and servants, was not likely to be the place where powerful magics are performed while torturing captive Demons, such as Kai Wren.

====The Temple Spirit====
Mira completes the tunnel and we enter a cavern below the Temple from the far north.

The cavern itself seems to be natural but two stone rooms, perfectly square, have been built in the centre of the chamber. The rooms border a tiled square on the Western and Southern edges. The White tiles appear to have Black symbols written on them. The top left corner of the square has a fountain with a small amount of mist floating above it. There is a steel ladder going from the centre of the square directly up to the ceiling where a trap door is visible.

Standing in the centre of the tiled square is an 8 foot tall humanoid. He has brightly coloured skin and fangs. He appears to be a Temple Spirit but Li Pao doesn't recognize him. He turns to face the tunnel which has appeared behind him. Only Keshah is visible.

Zanak, Dwork and Elenna fail their spells, Falco casts ShadowHole but the Demon shrugs it off.

Mira fires a magical arrow at him. After a heated discussion on how effective it was we discover it has scratched his toenails.

The Demon smiles and disappears. The party has a whole second to think "hooray we won!" before he reappears in our midst. Immediately Hamish and Elenna feel the effects of Disease.

Hamish falls unconscious as his penis rots and falls off, sliding down his trouser leg and oozing to the floor.

Elenna's left breast decays into a rotting mass inside her bra.

Oh Crap !!!

In a matter of seconds our battle hardened group formulates a plan and executes it. Zanak and Falco focus on casting spells against it. Garrick drinks a Strength potion and the rest attack with physical weapons.

The battle is short lived but furious. With every attack our party makes another member feels the effects of Disease. By the end of the battle Hamish lies unconscious with the skin melting off his face and Elenna and Mira are both painfully rotting away.

Li Pao and Plum attempt to stabilize and heal Hamish. Zanak tries to stabilize Elenna and Keshah uses Rune Healing to assist the rest of the party.

Meanwhile Dwork, Garrick and Falco move into the centre of the room and investigate the tiled square area. The mist from the fountain appears to induce sleep. Dwork prepares a fireball while Garrick weakens the strength of the ladder, effectively changing it from steel to rope.
Falco checks the cubes and as expected the doors are locked and have magical traps, probably some form of Icy Death.

Li Pao identifies the symbols on the tiles as "the Writing of the Gods" and although he can't read them he does confirm they are not magical.

From the temple rooms above the cavern we can hear a huge number of guards approaching. The trap door opens and before anyone can leap through Dworks fireball erupts in their midst. The stench of burning flesh should be overpowering but some resilient guards drop through the trap door.

One drops straight to the floor in front of Dwork while the other attempts to climb down the swaying rope ladder. Keshah easily picks him off from range with his Bow and Arrow, and he tumbles to the floor.

Dwork engages the first guard, easily dispatching him. Zanak takes control of the second while Garrick plants some Cowtraps at the foot of the ladder.

A third and fourth guard leap into the cavern, aiming to soften their landing by crashing on Dwork, but they both miss and land in the cowtraps. Despite that they both attack Dwork and inflict enough damage for Dwork to swallow his pride and call out for help.

Garrick throws a Lust Grenado through the trapdoor. Based on the noises from above it seems to have an instant effect.

A fifth guards tries to climb down and again Keshah knocks him off with some superb archery skills. Unfortunately for Dwork this guard is feeling the effects of the lust grenade and leaps onto Dworks back. Dwork is momentarily stuck in a conundrum. The guard is trying to rip his armour off to "get down and busy" with him, he wants to get the guard off him because "he isn't into that sort of thing", but he also has to defend his front from the other 2 guards who won't give him a moments break.

Garrick leaps to Dworks rescue by engaging the guards from behind while Falco casts a column of darkness which blocks the trapdoor entrance, or at least prevents the remaining guards above from seeing down in to the cavern.

Meanwhile Zanaks controlled guard approaches the cell on the west side of the square and touches the door !!!

A huge icy blast erupts across the tiled square, effecting everyone except Garrick and Falco.
All the guards are dead, bar one. Garrick remedies that quickly.

Garrick, Dwork and Falco engage Zanak in a discussion about "couldn't you have waited till we were clear of the blast area?". Zanak doesn't seem too perturbed by the damage he has caused, but he is a pirate so what more should they expect. Causing a bit of Chaos is part of the trade after all...

Meanwhile Li Pao, Plum, Keshah and Zanak have been continuing to stabilize and heal Hamish, Elenna and Mira.

====Roasting the Guards====
Falco tries picking the lock but fails. Time seems to be against us so Mira tries to tunnel through the northern wall of the untrapped cell but her first attempt is unsuccessful.

The cavern has a natural entrance in the far North West corner which slopes upwards on a gentle curve. We can hear a huge number of guards approaching as the first dozen round the corner and fix their sights on the wounded party members at the northern edge of the cavern.

The party reacts swiftly and throws a succession of spells into the group. There are Webs of Darknes, Rune Walls, Fireballs, Mental Attacks, Blood Boil and Slow being cast as quickly as we possibly can.

This furious assault serves the dual purpose of blocking the entrance with slowed and dying guards, preventing them from reaching our wounded party members, but also buys some time for Mira to try Tunnelling again. The plan is to free Kai Wren and then use Falcos ShadowHoles to help us escape the blocked cavern.

It is a good plan especially once we realize we can hear the Ice Demon in the temple room above the cavern.

Two black garbed guards (ninjas?) drop down from the ceiling but are quickly dispatched. Curiously some tendrils of snowflakes appear from the column of darkness. There are 8 of them, one for each of us. This can't be good.

Mira finally gets a tunnel opened to the western cell. Inside is a bright shimmering shape. It seems to be expanding slowly. The energy and light can be seen from the main cavern and Li Pao calls out it is God related.
While Dwork and Garrick take care of the 2 Ninjas Mira prepares to enter the cell.
Falco launches a devastating BlackFire into the bunched guards in the north west corner and virtually wipes the whole lot out. The wounded and dying desperately try to escape back up the cavern entrance.

Mira and Falco decide to enter the Gods cell as a shortcut to the other cell, which must be Kai Wrens, as it seems too dangerous to come out and round to the other cell, particularly with the snowflakes tendrils increasing in size and length.

It seemed like a good plan at the time but straight away Falco disappears. Mira stumbles around for a moment then wisdom gets the better of her and she leaves the room. Li Pao closes the tunnel in the wall but a small white floating disk forms outside from a tendril that had already escaped the cell confines. It floats around Hamish as all hell breaks loose.

====The Ice Demon Enters====
It seems the only choice we have now is to rescue Kai Wren and hope he can help us escape. The group decides to gather by the Southern Cell (it must be Kai Wrens), even though we have to brave the snowflake tendrils.

Dwork strides into battle and, using his flaming glaive, hits the closest tendril. It retreats about half way back to the ceiling trapdoor but Dworks Flame is extinguished. He is not a happy Ork.

Keshah targets the trapdoor (the source of the tendrils) with some DragonFlame and inflicts enough damage to give us all a bit of breathing room. Garrick uses a firewand to shoot into the room above and the Ice Demon howls in Pain and Rage.

Elenna tries to locate Falco and Spilling MoonBeam but neither of them appear to be anywhere near.

Hamish uses his staff to block the trapdoor with a pile of bones. It is surprisingly effective.

Mira tunnels a hole into Kai Wrens cell. We can see a plain slab floor with an average sized human lying unconscious in the middle. The walls have Shields affixed. They are all solid colours, either Black, Gold, Silver or White. Closer inspection reveals them as construct entities. The room is filled by a green light.

Zanak takes control of the human and walks him out of the cell.

Half way across the cavern ceiling we can see cracks forming. The Ice Demon is making a lot of noise.

Li Pao identifies the human as Kai Wren. As he steps out of the green light he screams, collapses and starts dissolving. Mira and Zanak have time to say "not what we expected" as the roof collapses and the Ice Demon and some guards fall to the cavern floor. The Ice Demon appears to be incredibly fast and uses a Trident to pin Hamish to the ground by the leg. The snowflake tendrils have reemerged in to the room from the hole in the ceiling.

This does not look promising !!!

Mira and Zanak push Kai Wren back into the cell and the strange green light, which appears to have been keeping Kai Wren alive. Zanak enters the cell to help Kai Wren. The shields quickly detach from the walls and transform into cloaks. Zanak attempts to keep them busy while Li Pao and Plum try to save Kai Wren.

Hamish, who is already pinned to the ground, thinks he should do something to attack the Ice Demon. Unfortunately he takes too long and the Ice Demon skewers him with his sword and nearly ends his miserable life. The party doesn't take too kindly to this sort of treatment, although in quieter moments we wonder why since Hamish has spent most of the whole day either unconscious or stunned.

Dwork and Garrick both use fire spells and target the Demon, inadvertently hitting the white god essence disk floating by Hamish. The disk hums with excess energy and expands its size. A guard is enveloped by it and vanishes. Dwork is struck by the remaining guard. Keshah calls out for everyone to keep out of the path between himself and the Ice Demon as a ferocious DragonFlame erupts and envelopes the Demon. When the flames clear the Demon is but a crispy carcass lying on the floor. All the snowflakes by the Demon have been incinerated too, although they are still pouring in from the hole in the ceiling.

Dwork struggles with the guard till the god essence expands to touch the guard, who disappears.

Garrick races into the cell to save Zanak who has been put to sleep by the Gold cloak which has entwined him. Garrick hacks the Black cloak to tatters before succumbing to the Silver cloaks potent effects.

Keshah touches the god essence and attempts to banish it. Nothing happens.

Mira reaches the wall to the Gods cell and creates a tunnel through. Immediately a blinding flash of light escapes into the cavern and everyone except Keshah, Elenna, Garrick, Zanak and Kai Wren disappear. Keshah notices that the snowflakes seem to be unaffected by the godlight.
Within seconds Garrick, Zanak and Kai Wren disappear.

The snowflakes react to the loss of so many of their targets and begin firing huge amounts of ice daggers. Elennas rune shield fails and she falls unconscious, then disappears. Keshah struggles on for a few more seconds before disappearing. The god light retreats to the cell.

====Meanwhile on a Deserted Island====
Falco is mildly surprised to have been transported to another place but he retains his wits and remains unseen. The island is small, only about a 50 foot diameter, and has a black altar with a flame. Asides from that it is just a mound rising out of the ocean.

The ocean seems unnatural and appears quite viscous, not like regular water. The current seems to be circling the island and in the water swords and shields can be seen bobbing about.
The waves don't quite lap onto the beach properly. They appear to strike an invisible barrier.

In the distance Falco sees another island about half a mile away. It is too far away to discern any details.

After a moment two guards appear. Falco remains unseen and listens to them discussing this turn of events. They believe they have been transported to a "sideways dimension" and it is not a good thing as none have every returned.

The rest of the party arrives. Zanak and Garrick are still asleep, wrapped in the cloaks. Kai Wren starts melting again. Li Pao leaps to Kai Wrens defense and turns him to stone, halting the melting of his now human body.
Mira tries to free Garick and Zanak from the cloaks but is unsuccessful till Plum steps over and assists.

Falco becomes visible and calls for a truce with the two guards. The guards, realizing their imminent danger, gratefully agree to the truce. They quickly answer our questions about where we are and how we got here.

It seems the temple was devoted to Zaphand, a God of moderate power. The Ice Demon who currently rules the temple and its surrounding buildings is called Dialmial Musaki. He rules with an iron fist and suffers fools for only as long as it takes to extinguish their pathetic lives.
The island is surrounded by the World Creature and the barrier is the only thing stopping it from swamping the island.

Rising out of the waters a humanoid blobby shape (World Creature Semi Motal) manages to slip through the barrier, grabs one of the guards and drags him in to the swirling water. The guard screams in surprise and pain as the creature touches him. The scream is cut short as he hits the water and we see that the body is quickly dissolved. His armour and sword are all that remain, bobbing in the current.

We all retreat to the centre of the tiny island, being cautious not to bump into the altar.

We pay more attention to the water and we can now discern that what looked like waves cresting are actually more of the humanoid looking blobs seething up and down in the current. The current seems to be going faster.

A huge bolt of lightning erupts from the sky, even though there are no clouds. Our illusions and magical effects cease to exist. The fire on Dworks Glaive extinguishes but reignites after 10 seconds, as do our illusions.
Falco observes that the bolt of lightning occurs roughly every 5 minutes, since he saw one on his arrival.

A blob erupts from the seething waters and launches itself into the air, striking the domed barrier near the apex, and explodes. Nothing seems to leak through on to us.

We seem to have leaped from the frying pan into the fire. Falco sends a mechanical bird towards the other island. The bird has to fly at quite a height as the waters erupt several times with blobs trying to reach it. From the birds eye view Falco can see the other island has some old ruins. There is no flame or alter visible and the ocean seems to be lapping at the shore in a more natural fashion. The island appears to be a bit hazy.
Based on this information we decide it would be better to fly across to the other island than remain here.

Just then three humanoid blobs emerge from the seething ocean and penetrate the barrier. Hamish leaps forward and strikes one with his dagger. The creature turns into a full bodied human. Dwork fireballs them, knocking them back a bit.
Zanak, using his portal lizard, opens a portal back to the temple.

Mira, for reasons of her own, grabs one of the destroyed cloaks and hurls it on to the blazing fire on the altar. Garrick and Falco call out "take it off !!!" but it is too late. The fire gutters and goes out. The invisible barrier, the only thing holding the blobby creatures away from us and certain death, fails. Fortunately it was invisible and it may take the creatures a moment to comprehend what has just happened.
It turns out Mira was trying to feed the flames, thinking the barrier would strengthen.

Li Pao and Plum call out that they need help to move Kai Wren back through the portal. Being made of stone he is now quite heavy. Garrick dispatches the human blob, grabs Kai Wren and leaps through the open portal. Dwork lets loose a fireball through the open portal and destroys the visible snowflakes. The party follows Garricks lead and races for the portal.

The ocean has surged forward and is climbing to a crescendo looking to splatter across the whole island in one foul swoop.

In the last moments Falco and the remaining guard roll through as the portal snaps shut. Some of the corrosive blobs make it through. Luckily for Falco they land on the guard, whose heroic sacrifice is remembered in quieter moments, although some splatter lands on him. Zanak and Keshah stabilize him while Hamish and Garrick battle the cavern full of snowflakes. Hamish grabs the Ice Demons trident, applies some flame and opens a path through the snowflakes until he is overwhelmed and rendered unconscious again.
Dwork keeps an area free of snowflakes, by using his fireballs, for the party to huddle in. Garrick seems to be impervious to the snowflakes and their ice darts and performs an elegant dance of death through them, scything them down like wheat in the field.

====Escape From Barracho====
The snowflakes eventually fail and the group climbs the ladder through the trap door and into the room above. There is an altar which appears to have been the source of the snowflakes and dozens of scorched bodies. As we move forward to the next room we meet some more guards. Before a battle can ensue they prostrate themselves to us and babble about us being the new Lords and Masters of the estate. Garrick takes the lead and instructs them to make a private room available for our esteemed party and for refreshments to be served.

The way in which the guards and servants respond to us reaffirms what the other guards had said about the previous lord and how grateful they are to have a new, more generous master. They quickly find a cart to carry the statue of Kai Wren and our valuables.

We make our way back to the main residence and are escorted to the Ice Demons private chambers. The room itself is quite sparse. The only piece of furniture of import to us is a wooden chest, which is obviously trapped. Keshah feels lucky and attempts to open the chest. The rest of us stand well back.

Before we have a chance to marvel at Keshahs success a knock at the door is followed by a servant entering with the requested refreshments. He also informs us that some guests of the previous master have arrived at the outer gates and have demanded an audience. We quickly establish that the guests have not been informed of the previous masters demise and tell the servant to guide them to guest quarters where they are to wait till the master is finished his current endeavours. The group seems quite pleased with ourselves as this will buy us time to use Li Paos bowl to transport us back to his place.

Our basic plan is to rest and then take Kai Wren to some powerful allies like Seven Fingers (Spilling Moonbeams father and Kai Wrens friend) in the hope of finding a cure for him. For this we will need to leave this realm and enter the Demon Realm. The portal to there is in the North West of the land, in a vast desert.

Within moments we hear the shrieks of people as servant s and guards alike are being horribly killed by several very powerful figures. They are recognized immediately as Vliss and Tuvoone. Once again our well laid plans are rent into tatters.

Quickly all but Dwork, Keshah and Falco enter Kai Wens green dragon bottle. The remaining three cast shadow wings and fly us off in to the waiting darkness. Keshah casts Darkness over the estate in a further effort to mask our departure but glancing back he sees an eruption like a white flare, and silhouetted against the light are the forms of two giant bats.

We head in a North West direction, aiming for the towns that sit outside the Great Wall, so that we can gain passage to the desert and the portal. After flying a small distance it becomes obvious the following demons are catching up so we land in a secluded valley. Quickly Falco casts ShadowHoles on us and we disappear for 90 minutes. When we reappear the demons Vliss and Tuvoone are not anywhere near.

It is coming on midnight so we decide to put up a guard and rest till daybreak.

==4th of Thaw - A Quiet Day at the Tavern==
Inside the bottle Li Pao does a little scrying to establish what is happening outside. He sees peace and calm and so we venture out of the bottle. With the dawn of the new day our group feels quite refreshed.

Some of us are so relieved to have survived the previous day that our optimism levels are absurdly high. The day seems incredibly bright with possibilities. There is a cloudless sky and the birds chirp with the promise of a lazy autumn morning.

The group busies themselves with making a meal and some nice tea (thanks Plum). The plan is still to reach the portal to the Demon Realm and seek aid for Kai Wren.

To get there we need to pass through the Great Wall. There are several towns which border the wall and offer passage to the other side. Then we need to traverse the desert road to the portal, all the while watching for the nomadic tribes that call the desert their home. Whilst they are nomadic they still are quite warlike and savage. They frequently attack any small parties that they come across. Most caravans that shuttle goods to the demon realm are heavily guarded while on the "Silk Route".

Historically this was a thriving and industrious route as the demons, upon being displaced to the demon realm by the gods in the ancient wars, sort to transfer all manner of items to their realm to make it worth living in. They bought in raw materials for building and construction, trees to create a wilderness, grains and crops for farming, and all manner of animals to populate the realm. Within a very short time they had created a realm of wonder and beauty and the gods, being jealous of the demons success, started the second war, which only ended when Kai Wren slew the God Caarholdruarne.

The day starts in a relaxed manner while Li Pao uses his bowl to transport us to a city Plum has been to before, which is only about 30 miles from the great wall and the closest town with a passageway.

We appear in a secluded park near the center of the city. The city looks quite prosperous with its red lantern lines streets. The inhabitants scurry about taking little notice of a group of strangers. Plum guides us to a local hotel that she has frequented in her journeys. The innkeeper greets her warmly and offers us some rooms, fresh baths and hot food. Plum gossips to the innkeeper while we retire to the rooms. After a few minutes Plum follows upstairs laden with sweetbreads and cool refreshing drinks. While we take our fill of the treats Plum manages to free Garrick from his curse (when he cast a spell it had a random effect).

===Inside Kai Wrens Bottle===

Since we are all quite well rested we decide to take all our loot and put it in Kai Wrens bottle, along with most of the party, so it can be divinated in peace and Kai Wrens mansion can be explored further. Li Pao also plans to divinate the cause of Kai Wrens illness.

Dwork Zanak, Garrick and Hamish stay in the hotel room to guard the bottle.

Li Pao and Keshah are quickly able to sort out that Kai Wren has had all the "demon" sucked out of him, rendering him effectively human. It seems his enemies have used his bottle dimensions, which are a construct of his powers, to drain more energy from him than he can easily regenerate. They have also infected him with a magical (demonic) dissolving virus. We are going to need the services of a high level healer to save him.
It also appears that he has been under the effects of some magic for a very long time, possibly even hundreds of years. It seems like some sort of "love potion" is affecting him, but he is also "less social towards his fellow demons". The mystery deepens...

The loot in the chest from the Ice Demons estate has an orb of transportation, a healing crystal and some chi coins. The orb appears to be targeted on the demon realm. The healing crystal can restore limbs and has a one-off charge of healing 40 endurance points. There is also the possibility the crystal could heal Kai Wrens melted state. Each chi coin can be used to focus the energies needed to cast spells. In this way the caster doesn't use their own spell fatigue. Each coin holds 10 points of chi (mana).

The group inside the bottle feel very pleased with themselves and fail to notice the inn burning down outside the bottle.

Meanwhile Dwork, Zanak, Garrick and Hamish have got into a bit of strife !!!

===Outside Kai Wrens Bottle===
Shortly after the group enters the bottle Dwork, Zanak, Garrick and Hamish are quietly lounging around in the room discussing the women they have had and the numerous positions they have had them in.

A knock on the door reveals a merchant in a shabby black cloak. He offers us "the finest charms and magical objects money can buy". He looks shifty and the group want little to do with him. Zanak, being young and emboldened by the discussion of loose women, feels a bit cocky and engages the man in some silly conversation. Because of the groups mistrust Zanak attempts to get the man to enter the room so some "meaningful discussions" can be held. You know - things like, who told you we were here? Why are you spying on us? Surely the four of us can "convince" him to answer our questions.

The man is loath to enter the room. He seems a bit intimidated by the Ork with the flaming glaive for some reason. He quickly departs, asking us to join him in the bar for a drink and to properly see his merchandise.

The man is barely gone a minute before the door is completely ripped off its hinges and a huge dog leaps at Hamish's throat. The dog is followed by six armoured samurai warriors. We don't recognize the symbols on their armour.

The surprised Hamish is knocked down by the dog and bitten in the shoulder. The bite mark seems to be bigger than the mouth should have given. Garrick shouts out the beast appears to be concealed with an illusion.

One of the samurai throws a grenade and a purple flash of light leaves Garrick and Zanak blinded.

Garrick tries to attack the dog but misses and damages Hamish instead. The dog takes another deep bite into Hamish and his rune armour is the only thing which saves him from a critical blow. Dwork and a warrior battle, but in the confined room neither of them can get a lethal blow in. Zanak, unaccustomed to being blind, stands in the corner wondering what to do.

Garrick pulls out a grenade and hurls it at the samurai. He was hoping to get the sleep grenade but gets greek fire instead. The warriors leap around in a panic as flames erupt over them. Some splashback hits the dog, Hamish and Garrick. But Garrick isn't finished yet. He grabs another grenade and hurls it at the panicked warriors. Unfortunately the throw is very poorly aimed at it hits the roof, exploding and covering us all. Also it wasn't the sleep effect he wanted. We all become lusted towards our companions. The only ones to resist this are Dwork and a samurai, who engage each other in combat.

Things aren't looking good for Garrick. Somehow the dog has managed to get on top of him and the term "rough love" is as descriptive as Zanak can bear to write down.

Dwork disposes of the warrior and hurls some fireballs into the confusion, making mincemeat of the other samurai warriors. The dog is damaged slightly but doesn't seem too concerned.

Dwork pulls Hamish out from the bottom of the pile and tries to give him a healing potion, but the sight of Garrick being humped by the dog is just too much and he spills most of the bottles contents on the floor. Realizing that Hamish is again in serious trouble he focuses and manages to get another healing potion successfully down his throat.

The greek fire continues to expand as the building is made of wood and paper and within minutes the floor boards under Garrick, the dog and Zanak collapses and we fall through to the common area. The lust potion appears to have affected everyone down here too. The Innkeeper and one of the buxom barmaids are engaged in some gentle loving on the bartop, well certainly far more gentle than what Garrick is receiving anyway.

Dwork leaps through the hole in the floor, just after ascertaining that the bottle is safely in Hamishs possession. It would be truly unfortunate if the bottle was destroyed in the flames, particularly since we have no idea what would happen to the pocket universe which the rest of our group are currently inhabiting...

Dwork manages to roll Zanak off the top of the pile and batters the dog into unconsciousness.
The potion effects start to wear off so Dwork goes about putting out the fire in what is left of the hotel. Zanak and Garrick awake and Zanak, taking pity on the damaged body of Garrick, lays his hands on Garrick (in a non sexual way, let it be noted) and heals his physical wounds. The psychic wounds may take a lot longer to heal as even the sight of the dog sends Garrick into a whimpering curled up ball.

The innkeeper doesn't recognize the armour on the samurai either and demands we take them and ourselves some other place. Hamish, who seems to have a thing about butchering (we should remember that when he is on guard duty), threatens the innkeeper with telling his wife about the lusty romp with the serving girl unless he lets Hamish use the kitchen for his barbaric practices. The innkeeper reluctantly agrees, but insists we leave right after that.

Hamish ties up the legs of the dog and starts dragging him into the kitchen. The dog awakes and breaks the binding with ease and again takes a massive bite out of Hamish. Dwork leaps in and tries to subdue him again. Hamish manages to stab the dog with his enchanted dagger, causing him to become human, although the dog illusion is maintained. Dwork easily dispatches the dog and it reverts to its natural form. It is a "Diamond Scales Dog". The skin is as tough as diamonds and even though Hamish still wants to skin it (or something like that) we talk him out of it as the rest of the party appears from the bottle.

=== The Journey Continues===
The rest of the party seem a little surprised by the chaos which has been inflicted on the hotel in their brief absence and resolve to never leave the four of us alone again.

Plum does her best to placate the innkeeper but it seems the last little battle with the demon dog has frayed the innkeepers nerves and he demands we go, taking the bodies and armour with us. Hamish and Zanak quite fancy the armour and don a set each.

Keshah triggers the healing runes on Dwork, Zanak, Garrick and Hamish, because lets face it, they can use all the help they can get...

Keshah also gives the innkeeper 200 SP and he is a little happier, but not enough to have us stay a minute longer.

We leave.

We search the town and buy some rations, horses and a cart and generally prepare for the trip to the Great Wall. All the stuff we have bought is placed inside the bottle for safe keeping.

The plan is to fly half way there (we are currently about 30 miles away), land in a deserted area and interrogate the dead samurai, then rest for the evening.

The flight goes well and the interrogation reveals that the samurai warriors and the diamond dog were sent to kill us by none other than Tuvoone, Vliss's son. The name of the other demons in his party are unknown but the god seen with him is called Botis. The dog had been able to follow our portal and then sought us out by scent. Tuvoone has one more dog like this one.

==5th of Thaw - The Approach to the Demon Realm==
We awake fully rested on a high plateau. The surrounding lands are barren and despite the early morning coldness Plum predicts a nice sunny day with some light fluffy clouds floating about.
Plums previous experiences in the garrison town lead her to warn us of the dangerous nature of the townspeople and the surrounding areas.

Plum tells us to beware the Nomad tribes in the desert as they have weapons that cause fear and shields that deflect some magic. We also need to purchase some amulets to safely traverse the portal to the demon realm.

Garrick casts an illusion across our party so we all look like bodyguards to Plum and her aged father, who are merchants. Kai Wren goes back into the bottle and we ride the horses towards the town.

We pass a few caravans with carts, wagons and even some camels. They are all heavily guarded and each group gives the other a wide birth. There is little love lost between the guards of each caravan. Plums warning about the population of the upcoming town seems to be right on the button.

In the distance we can see the great wall rising. It stands about 20 feet tall and is wide enough for guards to walk several abreast while patrolling the area closest to the town.

The portion of the wall surrounded by the town is heavily garrisoned. The town itself is rather shabby looking, being formed of mud bricks and timber framing. There are several two story dwellings but from this distance they look weather beaten and barley sturdy enough to stand. Plum assures us the structures are safe.

As we approach the outer dwellings of the town we are accosted by some beggars. They are wearing tattered clothing and appear emaciated but they are also sprightly enough on their feet. At first we ignore them but their cries for coins become irritating and we tell them to be gone. Unexpectedly several of them spit at us. Dwork takes offence but Plum convinces him to ignore them. If he had left the safety of the party he would have been coaxed down a side alley and beset by dozens of them. As we enter the town proper we can hear the beggars laughing harshly at our backs.

As we approach the centre of the town we see the huge gates are closed. The best looking house so far is where the gate garrison is housed. Plum goes inside and negotiates for the required amulets. They are 100SP each and we get enough for all the party. Falco DAs them and notices they can be tracked. We suspect it is so we can be tracked while on the demon realm and if we take them off we might suffer some horrendous fate. Best to keep them on we think.

As we leave the building a crowd outside scatters. It seems we have attracted the attention of the local street urchins. As Plum leads us through the town to an inn she is familiar with called the "Demons Balls" we notice a large cloaked individual shadowing us. As we go round a corner Garrick slips off into the shadows and surprises the man as he comes round. The man doesn't fight or run and instead asks us if we could assist him in a business venture. He comes to the inn with us.

He gives a name but it is obviously fake. He has some business associates who need a package delivered to a particular demon faction in the demon realm. It needs to be dropped off by the Harp Sculpture. From there another agent will pick it up. Falco asks some more pointed questions as to the risk to our group and to the contents of the package. Eventually we learn it is a "sphere of information" and it is protected so only a particular demon can use it.

Falco and Garrick seem to be dubious about the request and decline to assist. Zanak, being young and foolhardy, accepts the offer and receives 1000SP. Now the group is committed to the action, and Zanak puts the money in the group pool.

The man departs and Plum introduces herself to the innkeeper. She makes it obvious we are seeking to join another caravan for added protection and he gives her some introductions to two caravan masters who happen to have rooms upstairs.

We go to the first room and are greeted (accosted might be a better description) by a big burly guy in black armour. He will only let our party leader in to see his master. Keshah steps forward as Plum is still downstairs securing rooms for us for the evening.

Keshah enters the room and is greeted by a short petite woman called Jianbua Mingxing. She pours some tea and asks what we have to offer her that is better than the other freelancers in town? Keshah demonstrates a simple magic spell and casts a runewall in the corner. She is unimpressed till her guard throws himself at it and is knocked flat on his back. After a bit more negotiating Keshah comes out with a signed contract for the 3 day journey at a rate of 50SP for each party member. They are to leave in the morning and we are to meet them at dawn. We should blend in well as the caravan size will be no more than any other normal one.

It is the mid afternoon so we start perusing the local market. Hamish buys a sparkling new butchery set and seems very proud of himself. Elenna purchases some exotic and common herbs and spices. She is also in quite a good mood.

We notice the street urchins are taking a particular interest in us so Falco stops one and asks why. After slipping him a few coins he reveals that other people are following us. He suspects they have been hired by a foreign samurai, who has been asking around for information on a group of strangers. Apparently the samurai will be back tonight to gather his information.

Elenna comes across a merchant, if he can be called that, with a small cage with a polecat in it. Elenna lets the group distract him while she speaks to the caged animal. It seems the polecat, a female, had been captured in the desert and only wants to be let free to get back to her mate. The scruffy fellow seems quite desperate to get rid of the creature and claims it can turn people into marble when it gets excited. The rest of us are busy laughing when Elenna confirms this. The polecat has said if Elenna frees her in the desert then she will be a gracious friend and will turn anyone Elenna dislikes to marble. The polecat suggests a few of the group members could be changed as they seem quite obnoxious. Elenna is undecided about freeing the polecat but Keshah steps up and offers the merchant some money. The merchant is ecstatic and dances around the corner proclaiming loudly about his windfall. Unfortunately for him a few misfits bash him on the head and steal his money. Our group doesn't seem that concerned. In fact some of us have a quiet chuckle.

The polecat seems to like Elenna and hangs around her.

=== Another Quiet Dinner is Interrupted===
We have a cunning plan.

Since we know there are people looking for us we will rent a room at the inn to make it simple for people to locate us. In the meantime though Keshah will have made a portal to the previous evenings camp site. In this way we hope to spare the town any ill effects of the search for us and to keep our pursuers confused.

Keshah wanders off out of town, unseen of course. He then flies to last nights camp site and performs the rune portal ritual. He sneaks back into town in time to have dinner with us prior to retiring for the evening. He needs only to cast the second rune portal in our room to open the portal to our previous evenings destination.

Dinner is served early at about 5pm, plenty of time before our mysterious samurai come back to locate us, or so we thought. Just as we are finishing the hot roast meal we see a fleeting glimpse of a samurai face at the inn window. We dash upstairs and Keshah begins the 1 minute version of the rune portal spell.

Just as he starts we hear a loud crashing sound below which is quickly followed by some horrendous blood curdling screams.

Hamish fills the hallway with a wall of thorns while Elenna casts quickness on all of our party. Before we have a chance to react any further the side wall disappears and some arrows come flying into the room, distracting Zanak. From our upper story vantage point we can see six armed bowmen and a large shaggy dog. This seems familiar !!!

One of the bowmen hurls a grenade into the room and a purple flash blinds Mira, Elenna and Hamish. Dwork responds by hurling a sleep grenade into their midst. Falco casts several webs of darkness and captures all but one. Zanak manages to take control of the dog, which we expect to be another demon diamond dog. Dwork does a fireball and Garrick throws some darts. Even the polecat gets into the action by spraying out of the hole in the wall and turning a few people to marble. Elenna would be impressed, if only she could see.

The surprise attack on us is quickly overcome but just as we start to relax the street outside becomes very dark. Shadows seem to be engulfing the area. In the shadows we can see some even darker forms. This is powerful magic and we know it has to be some demons.

Hamish, even though he is blind, manages to form another wall of thorns where our outer wall used to be. This slows down the shadows from outside but they are still seeping in through the mass of thorns. Keshah doesn't have time to complete his ritual so Falco casts wings on Keshah and himself. The rest of us follow Li Pao into Kai Wrens bottle, which Falco scoops up. They agree to meet at last nights campsite.

Falco casts Shadow Holes on Keshah and himself and as they disappear they realize the screams from the common area of the inn have stopped.

Two hours pass before we pop back into the real world. Falco is just east of the town and Keshah is slightly south west. As they glance back at the town they see the central area is in ruins, or at least what is visible outside the vast black column which seems to consume all the natural light.

Because the portal spell was never completed we feel reasonably safe in our campsite but we post double guards to be on the safe side.

Before we bunk down for the night we agree get up very early and use the cover of darkness to tunnel under the great wall several miles away from the town. From there we will meet up with the caravan on the road to the demon portal. Elenna gives the polecat an amulet to ward its dreams, for which it is very grateful. It snuggles up next to her.

==6th of Thaw - The Demon Portal Beckons - Day 1==
Keshah wakes up and seems to have a more commanding aura. He has a different plan and manages to convince most of the group it is a good idea.

Let it be noted Zanak argued against the change in plan. I suspect this is going to be another case of us barely surviving the day, if we are lucky.

We mosey on back to town and meet up with the caravan master Jianbua Mingxing in the central park. There are 3 caravans departing this morning, each looking to consist of about the same size and makeup. Ours has four well covered wagons and one long thin cart. There are some camel riders and six other guards.

The destruction in the town doesn't seem to have stopped the normal commerce of the garrison town and we approach the guarded gate. The guards do look a little edgy and question Jianbua Mingxing about her business. They allow our caravan to pass through but only after doing a spot check on the guards. They ask us individually where we have come from and our names. Elenna seems very nervous and gives out a girlish giggle. Coming from an illusion of a burly guard this seems suspicious. Hamish also seems to struggle coming up with a name. Both of them are detained while the rest of us pass through.

Elenna and Hamish are escorted to the main room of the garrison and ordered to drop their weapons. They are questioned and threatened with some torture unless they begin making some sense. Elenna starts talking about various torture techniques which throws the guards off for a moment.

They are escorted to a separate room and ordered to strip. The polecat, which has been curled up around Elennas neck, awakens and senses her friends distress. She sprays the six guards, causing three to turn to marble, then another two. The last remaining guard lets out a shout as he slices the polecat in half.

The door opens and more guards rush in.

===Meanwhile, Another Rescue Plan is Hatched===
We have journeyed about 5 minutes outside of the town, into the desert when we stop and ask Jianbua Mingxing about our fellow party members. Given last nights disaster in town it seems likely they will be found guilty of "something" and will probably be executed.

We have a short half-hearted debate about going back for them (we know we will but it seemed like fun), after all Hamish has spent most of this adventure unconscious with parts of his body rotting off, but Elenna has been genuinely useful.

Jianbua Mingxing tells us she will slow her caravan down a bit but we need to return in two hours or she will be too far into the desert for us to locate her. She also threatens us with dire consequences if we get caught and implicate her in any way.

Our plan (yes we have another one) is to put everyone except Keshah, Mira and Falco in the bottle. The remaining three will have an extra allusion so they look like garrison guardsmen. They will ride back and open a tunnel in the wall into the room where our friends are being held. Li Pao will scry for them and identify the right area. We will all join the battle and once they are freed, and their gear has been recovered, we will race into the desert on our speeded horses.

As plans go it seems relatively simple and straight forward. Based on our last couple of days though it will no doubt fall apart in the most catastrophic way imaginable.

===The Rescue Attempt===
Li Paos scrying shows them in a room with a three sided cage underground. They are naked and bound to the cage bars by some cold iron handcuffs. They are also trussed up a bit. They don't seem too comfortable. There is a third prisoner in the cell and it looks like his fortunes have been very low for quite some time. Based on the look of him we think he will smell really bad. None of us seem to keen on rescuing him.

Dwork asks Plum to do some positive feng shue to help Garrick in casting his new illusions. Plum is initially surprised that Dwork is recognizing the power of positive chi and mistakenly voices a belief that Dwork is more civilized than she thought. After our parties outbreak of laughter is brought under control Dwork is confused as to who to punish first, Plum for calling him civilized or the rest of us for knowing him so well that even the suggestion is a cause for amusement.

As luck would have it the first part of the plan works well. Keshah, Mira and Falco make it to the wall without incident. We know they are very close to the main gate so Keshah tries some ESP to locate the distressed emotions likely to emanate from our hapless party members. They seem to be slightly off to the right of the main gate.

The gate starts opening as Mira casts her first tunnel. She sadly backfires and becomes long sighted. The wall in front of her is a bit blurry. Her second attempt is much better and a tunnel forms on a gentle slope and opens into the top corner of the cell. A guard on the top of the gated part of the wall calls out "Hey. What are you doing down there?" Falco replies "we found a hole in the wall. We will investigate. You stay there and be on the lookout for raiders from the desert". Keshah, Mira and Falco enter the tunnel with their horses.

Keshah and Mira drop into the cell. There are two guards outside the cell and one of them races towards the stairs and the door. Falco casts a web of darkness across the stairs and traps the guard. The second guard is a few steps behind the first and starts hacking at the web, hoping to free his comrade and open his only escape path.

Mira casts another tunnel leading from the other cell corner upwards but just short of the ground level. Falco shadowholes the two guards while the rest of the party emerges in the first tunnel. Dwork and his flaming glaive spook the three horses. We aren't sure if it is the flames in the confined space which have unsettled them or the smell of an Ork but to play it safe Dwork heads back up the tunnel to provide cover for us if any gate guards get curious.

One of the horses leaps forward and drops into the cell then dashes up the newly formed tunnel, while Plum and Zanak calm the remaining two.

The door opens and Keshah and Mira use the first guard as an archery target. He doesn't look well. Falco finishes him off with another web which blocks the doorway and part of the outer room. A few more cries of alarm are heard from the doorway.

Garrick frees Hamish and Elenna by making the handcuffs all rubbery.

Elenna casts Quickness on the party in the cell and demands we get her clothes and gear from the room above. Hamish doesn't seem to have a problem with running round naked but he would like his newly purchased butchery set back...

Mira creates a tunnel through the ceiling but by the edge of the cage so Keshah can climb the cell walls and leap into the upper room. A guard unexpectedly drops through the hole and lands on Mira. The spiky bone armour she is wearing fills him with fear and he runs in to the second tunnel with the panicked horse.

Keshah encounters two guards still upstairs. Hamish, feeling the need to inflict some pain after the obvious beating he has received, casts blood boil on them. Keshah yells at them to seek a healer if they want to live. Both guards run away, not realizing there is no help for them. They will die in unspeakable agony. This makes Hamish very happy.

Dwork sees some guards poking their heads around the entrance to the tunnel and promptly fireballs them. After the initial screams die down he hears "bring the mage killers!!!".

Garrick casts something but backfires and a very nasty looking Hedge Demon appears. Garrick takes a moment to kill it, mostly thanks to the smite spell previously cast on us all by Keshah.

Dwork has summoned a large Black Jaguar and has commanded it to "kill the mages I point at".

Three beaver like creatures approach the entrance to the tunnel. Naturally Dwork fireballs them. Instead of the usual fire enhanced carnage all the energy seems to be sucked into the three creatures. This upsets Dwork so he commands the Jaguar to attack them instead. It leaps forward and engages the first one with its powerful jaws and sharp teeth. The creature explodes on the first bite. It looks like a miniature fireball. The Jaguar survives and tries to rend the second one, which promptly explodes too. Zanak manages to control the last one and orders it to leave the area.

Meanwhile Keshah, Hamish and Elenna have located their gear and have got fully dressed again. Their backpacks are also found but a few items seem to be missing.

The last remaining guard (the fearful one in the second tunnel) comes to his senses and asks us to knock him out or his buddies will think he is a coward. Garrick obliges.

In the momentary pause in hostilities we decide to all hop in the bottle, except for Mira, Keshah and Garrick. Keshah will trigger the runes of healing to help us all and Garrick will make us all invisible. Mira will complete the second tunnel and we will spring forward on the speeded horses and dash away, before the guards can mount an effective response.

As per normal the plan is well thought out but executed poorly.

The biggest problem is Mira backfiring three tunnels in a row. She is deafened and forcibly ejected from the tunnel as it fills up. Fortunately the rest of us escape out the first tunnel. The cell continues filling up (it is a bit of a shame for the third prisoner who we didn't untie but it didn't look like death was far away for him anyway). Mira and her horse are smothered in the first tunnel as it finally collapses, leaving her trapped only a few feet away from the surface.

Keshah casts some darkness to obscure our retreat but the remaining beaver creature is still close enough to absorb the spell effect.

Getting quite desperate Keshah summons an Earth Elemental, which takes everyone by surprise. The elemental is so huge and physically daunting that all the guards make a hasty retreat to safer places. Keshah commands the elemental to reach down and bring Mira and her horse to the surface.

Mira is in no fit state to sit astride her horse, evidenced by her falling off, and so the Elemental lifts her up and strides with us into the desert. The remaining guards and archers give us a wide berth, for which we are very grateful.

===An Evening with the Natives===
We catch up with the caravan in only an hour. Keshah dispels the Earth Elemental before we get back and because of the fun it has had it gives Keshah a rare living diamond. We divinate it later in the day and find out it is alive and it glows in the dark.

As sunset approaches we see a gathering of Centaurs in the distance. They appear to have the standard bows, shields and swords. They will probably have some battle mages in the clan. Jianbua Mingxing tells us they are very warlike and only respect strength. Any sign of weakness from us will only increase their natural aggression tendencies. So far they aren't taking any particular notice of our caravan or the other two.

Falco and Dwork are curious about the 40 foot long crate on the long thin wagon and ask Jianbua Mingxing about it at dinner. She is quite evasive and doesn't give us any straight answers.

After dinner the centaurs start massing a short distance away. Jianbua Mingxing and the other 2 caravan masters circle the wagons into a protective barrier.

An incredibly muscular centaur struts over towards our encampment and bellows out something. We can't understand him but his meaning becomes very clear when he fires an arrow into the centre of the camp. Dwork picks it up and Jianbua Mingxing identifies a character on the shaft as a challenge. Jianbua Mingxing explains the challenge is a "fight to the death" in single combat. If we accept then a 300foot wide circle will be formed and the two combatants will use any means necessary to win. It is quite clear to us that spells and dirty tricks are to be expected. Should a combatant try to flee the circle they will be ripped apart by the onlooking centaurs.

The debate goes on for a few minutes and the last one to see sense and to refuse the challenge is Dwork. Zanak is a little disappointed as he had been encouraging Dwork to "be an Ork" and to "show no fear". Zanak explains afterwards that he can't improve his Healer skills if he can't practice on wounded people, and it seemed like a very good way to get VERY wounded.

Dwork, feeling like his pride has been wounded, asks Garrick to make him 8 feet tall, just in case.

There are currently about 30 centaurs grouped together about half a mile away. They seem to be working themselves into a lather. Despite the fact there is a clear night sky and the moon is shining down Falco insists on giving witchsight to each party member as they take on guard duty.

Li Pao and Plum help Mira to overcome her deafness and long sightedness.

Now that the three caravans are in close proximity some socializing happens. Our caravan guards and the second caravan guards have done several journeys together and are quickly swapping stories around the campfires, not to mention a few jugs of ale. They don't seem too perturbed by the Centaur gathering or the offer of a challenge.

The guards of the third caravan are keeping slightly apart. They seem a bit more disciplined than the others and don't partake of any alcohol. They are also eyeing us up from their corner of the encampment. We get a few baleful stares if we look in their direction for too long. They are all dressed in black and just don't seem trustworthy or someone we would like to entrust our lives to. Keshah goes over to chat but returns after only a few minutes without learning anything useful.

Dwork notices another 30 centaurs joining the original group. We are outnumbered nearly two to one so Dwork takes a precaution and performs a ritual to wreathe his weapons in flame.

Another 20 centaurs arrive. By this point all the caravan guards are getting a bit nervous. Centaurs in this area are normally tribal and nomadic. For this many to join together is uncommon. They have started a very large bonfire and are definitely working themselves into a frenzy.

Another flaming arrow buries itself in the side of a wagon. Dwork quickly retrieves it. Jianbua Mingxing reads the attached note. The centaurs are demanding some objectionable cargo is destroyed within an hour or the centaur war party will descend on us, leaving no survivors. The three caravan masters quickly confer and discuss the general contents of the wagons to see which one the centaurs are all angry about. The third caravan master (Kung Hao) won't reveal what his contents are and storms off. His 20 black garbed guards take up defensive positions by their wagons. They are as concerned about us attacking them as the centaurs attacking.

Falco DAs them and gets a consistent necromancer theme from them all. The only good necromancer we have come across was a lady claiming to be a Seer on a previous adventure.

Jianbua Mingxing and the second caravan master engage Kung Hao in another round of discussions to distract him while Keshah casts a ghostly spectre to check out the wagons. Keshah is shocked by what he can see through the ghostly eyes. The wagons are filled with very young children. Other than being dead, they appear to be completely unharmed. He reports back to our party and the two returning caravan masters. No wonder the centaurs are wanting to attack. Even for us this is quite an abomination.

We quickly decide to separate ourselves from the third caravan but first we need to send a delegation to the centaurs so they don't mistake our leaving the camp for anything untoward.

===Elenna nearly gets Skewered===
Elenna casts "speak to enchanted animals" on herself and leads our party out to the halfway mark between our camp and the centaurs. A group of 20 centaurs detaches from the main party (not that they will be missed as another 50 centaurs appear on the horizon) and meets us in the middle neutral ground.

The largest centaur commands our attention. He is a good 2 feet taller than the other warriors and holds a huge two handed sword as if he was born to it. Around his neck hangs the petrified remains of six human heads. Elenna steps forward to engage him but he immediately barks some harsh commands at her. Even though she is surrounded by Garricks illusions of a burly male guard he recognizes her as a female and demands she grovel at his feet and kiss the dirt he walks on. Elenna shows some previously hidden gumption and refuses, standing her ground. He barks at her to grovel on the ground like any good female should or suffer the consequences. Elenna bows slightly towards him but offers nothing further.

The huge centaur, who we now recognize as the War Chief, is insulted by this behaviour and gestures for his warriors to skewer her on their spears. The blind shaman standing next to him quickly confers with the group and convinces them to hold off on killing her. The War Chief is still in an enraged state and swings at Elenna. She staggers under the unexpected blow but holds her ground. The centaur is surprised a mere female has remained standing and readies a further blow. Elenna realizes this approach is not getting us anywhere and lowers herself to the ground, opening herself to a killing blow should he choose to do so.

The war chief instantly regains control of himself and his demeanor changes to one of joy in victory. He commands Elenna to get back to her feet and talk to him like an honoured warrior. The rest of the party lets out a collective breath as the tension breaks.

The war chief, whose name we can't even begin to pronounce, demands that the wagons filled with children be destroyed. We inform him the caravan master and his guards are necromancers and the other two caravans want nothing to do with him. We plan to return to the camp and move our two caravans away. What the centaurs want to do with the necromancers is none of our business, and as we are peaceful merchants we would be very happy to be miles away from those evil people.

The war chief, pleased with Elennas courage and simple honesty, agrees to let us leave in peace. We have 30 minutes to make ourselves scarce. Elenna bows deeply to him and we return to the camp.

Kung Hao, upon hearing of the deal we have made with the barbaric centaurs, spits on us and demands that "you cowardly lot run from my sight and pray we never meet again!". He starts preparing some very nasty looking defensive spells.

We move on very quickly. Some foolhardy people want to stop just a mile away so we can see the battle but the groups common sense overrides this and we continue on for the whole night.

==7th of Thaw - The Demon Portal Beckons - Day 2==
As the dawn light begins shining we camp for a few hours to shake off the effects of our close call the previous evening.

At midday the group considers the actions for the rest of the daylight hours. Hamish is feeling quite emboldened and volunteers to be the leader for the day. The group discusses this and are finally swayed by Hamishs passionate plea that he hasn't been unconscious for several days now. Despite Falcos unease at this development we all agree to follow his lead (at least until he is knocked out again anyway).

The first thing Hamish does is use a crystal of vision to spy on the previous nights campsite. The campsite itself is shrouded in an unnatural blackness but the unmistakable column of smoke identifies that some heavy casualties have befallen the necromancers. The only moving forms are centaurs who are dragging their own dead to a massive bonfire by their original gathering site.

Hamish tries to talk us into going back to loot the necromancer camp but he is finally convinced that the centaurs might not look favourably on this. Jianbua Mingxing points out that we have signed a contract with her to be guards and since she is continuing to the portal then we are expected to accompany her.

The day passes uneventfully and in the evening more socialising occurs as the two caravans count their blessing on still being alive.

==8th of Thaw - The Demon Portal Beckons - Day 3==
Zanak, encouraged by the quietness of the previous day, talks the party into letting him be leader. Again Falco protests letting a young rogue of a pirate be in charge but Dwork speaks up on his behalf and quietly offers to Falco to "bash the pirate" if he causes any trouble. Zanak, despite the threat, feels petty good.

About midday a herd of 30 gazelle run passed. There appears to be a large grey cat following them. It would be at least 20 foot long and has a spiky tail, almost like a club. Hamish shoots one of the gazelle. The cat leaps on the dying gazelle and drags it away. Hamish is disappointed as he wanted to practice his butchery skills and to have some fresh meat for the evening dinner.

After another uneventful day Falco does a "night sky reading" and tells us that powerful enemies wait for us on the other side of the portal. He thinks we lack the required knowledge to defeat these enemies and the portends only show our deaths.

Li Pao and Plum, not so happy about this reading, try their own astrological augury. They get a slightly better result (well more optimistic anyway) and on the other side of the portal they see a park surrounded by a wall, a door, names and keys. We decide we need to know the names of the people with the keys to open the door.

Falco and Keshah, followed close behind by the rest of the party, talk to Jianbua Mingxing and ask about what lies on the other side of the portal. There is indeed a park, called the Origin Park, surrounded by a huge impregnable wall. The park itself is very beautiful and has a very high chi level. The trees, bushes and grasses are lush and vibrant, more so than their counterparts in most other regions of the world. There are sculptures of objects which the park builders found appealing imbued with magic. She rattles off a few which includes a large Harp statue.

Zanak remembers he has been paid to drop off the Sphere of Knowledge by this harp and asks for directions to it. Apparently the park isn't very big and all things are only a matter of several hundred feet apart.

Inside the park you can also find the occasional demon supervising the delivery of his or her wagons. Each wagon is directed to a large transportation disk in the centre of the park where they are unloaded. Once each caravan load is completely on the disk an amulet is placed on the disk which signals the appropriate Demon, who then triggers the disks teleportation abilities to their own estate.

Jianbua Mingxing is carrying goods to a demon called Bralack. The other caravan master is transporting ore and other materials to Seven Fingers.

We will be at the portal tomorrow so we decide to write a letter to Seven Fingers to include in the cargo, seeking his help in healing Kai Wren, just in case we strike any troubles and are unable to be teleported with the cargo to his estate.

==9th of Thaw - Through the Demon Portal==
Given that we are on the verge of reaching the portal you would think the group would be conserving their energy, knowing there is likely to be a battle in the park. But no. Hamish has been having a few drinks with a loud mouthed guard from the other caravan from the previous evening and has got himself into a bit of mischief.

===Hamish the Torturer===
The guard has been writing notes for a novel he hopes to publish. After all you don't want to be a guard all your life. He has a chapter on torture techniques and made the mistake of showing this to Hamish. Hamish, with his butchery skills, tells him he has much to learn about real torture techniques as what he has written seems a bit "soft and fluffy" and doesn't show a true intimate knowledge of the subject. The guard foolishly says to Hamish "how good are you at torture?" Hamish has some skills in this area and offers to demonstrate them on the guard-come-novelist. They have obviously had way too much to drink as neither of them sees the implications of this conversation.

After what was probably a full night of drinking, while the rest of us prepared the campsite to move on, Hamish and the guard find a quiet secluded corner. Within moments the quiet morning air is punctuated by the screams of the drunken guard. His fellow guards get to him before we do and witness their friend hanging upside down in midair, writhing in pain. One of the shocked guards cries out "Black Mage!" and runs off to get the caravan master. The others begin attacking Hamish. Being quite drunk himself he is unable to resist the half dozen experienced guards attacking him. He is quickly kneed in the groin and then kicked about. The guard being tortured drops to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably and swears to destroy his notes and take up another line of work.

By the time we get there the guards have trussed him up and are carrying him to the caravan masters for sentencing and punishment. It takes quite a bit of effort but we finally convince them to release Hamish to our care and supervision. To show our commitment to keeping him under control we cut him up a bit. (Zanak is happy to practice his Healer skills when the crowd dissipates). Dwork seems to be quite keen to slice a few appendages off but Plum points out how much effort she went to to stabilize him last time.

Other than that the day moves on without incident.

===Into the Portal===
The portal itself is in the bottom of a large crater about a quarter of a mile down. There are guardians to the portal, namely giant wolves, earth elementals, sand worms and rocs. They pay little heed to us as we move down the road to the portal. It seems the amulets we are all wearing protect us from the guardians as well as the effects of the portal passage.

The guards that have been here before see nothing untoward about the guardians.

When we make it to the bottom of the crater each wagon takes its turn going through the portal. As we step through we are assaulted by some green demon fire but the amulets absorb the damage. Once through we notice the amulets have gone quite dull. One of the guards mentions they are a single use item, ensuring people can't sneak through the portal multiple times.

The park is more lush and vibrant than anything we have seen before. Asides from the trees and bushes there are beautiful waterfalls and birds and animals of many descriptions. We appear to be in a natural amphitheatre with lots of tall statues. The bright shiny disk is in the centre. In the distance we can hear the sound of a harp playing.

The second caravan begins unloading its contents on the disk. It should take about 30 minutes to fully unload the contents of the various wagons before the master puts the amulet down to activate the teleportation spell.

Behind a tree Mira notices a humanoid with a solid top but an insubstantial bottom. He looks vaguely familiar but she doesn't have enough time to ponder it before she is distracted by Zanak and Falco arguing.

===Zanak does something REALLY Stupid===
Zanak wants to drop the Sphere of Knowledge off by the harp, as instructed, but Falco believes this is a really big mistake. Zanak reiterates that he was paid to do a job and by golly he will do it. Falco and Keshah want to stay by the disk and divinate it, and they don't want the party separated. After a heated debate Garrick, Dwork and Hamish agree to help Zanak deliver the sphere.

As a precaution Dwork casts a protection spell on himself but it backfires and gives him a heart attack. Zanak pauses a few minutes to ensure Dwork is ok. Elenna quickens the four departing party members, even though they are only going about 400 feet to the harp.

The group of four races to the harp and Zanak places the sphere at the base of the harp, still wrapped in the cloth. As he turns to leave the cloth covering the sphere bursts into flames and a brilliant continuous bolt of lightning streaks from the sphere to the portal. The sky begins to darken.

In a fit of desperation Zanak reaches down to retrieve the sphere, hoping the lightning will stop, but all he succeeds in doing is shocking himself unconscious. Dwork throws a blanket on the sphere but it bursts into flame. Then he picks Zanak up and races back to the main party and the disk. Garrick and Hamish bravely attempt to put a bound gold cloak under the sphere and, holding it on both sides, they scoop the orb up and race to the portal, hoping to toss it through before too much trouble happens. They manage that and then race towards the main party too.

In the sky above a dragon appears. On its back is a figure about 9 foot tall and purple, holding a lance. They are about 300 feet up and as they begin spiraling down a devastating bolt of lightning erupts over the area where Hamish and Garrick are. Garrick is knocked senseless by the blast while Hamish barely keeps his feet.

A second dragon and rider appear. He has a lance also.

Hamish, realizing another blast will surely kill both himself and Garrick, drags Garrick to the portal entrance and leaps through, knowing he can't get back.

The dragons spiral down towards the main party. Dwork and the unconscious Zanak have made it back and have leapt onto the disk, seeking some protection from the wagon contents.

Li Pao calls out to get the masters amulet (key) and trigger the teleportation spell to Seven Fingers. Mira, thinking quickly, leaps on the caravan master and knocks him to the ground on the disk, forcing the amulet to make contact and start the process. Unfortunately none of us know how long the process will take. The caravan master is trapped under Mira and is also in contact with her fear causing armour. Unfortunately for him he can't get away and nearly dies of fright.

A third dragon and rider appear.

We all crowd onto the disk hoping it will activate before the demons can assault us again. As per normal our luck is running extremely low and a lightning blast stuns most of us. Keshah is immune to lightning. A further blast kills Mira and Li Pao is looking pretty critical.

Keshah is our only hope as he quickly casts a spell and all the sentient beings in the immediate area are turned to stone. We resemble 6 foot high Menhirs, just like on the legendary Stonehenge. All except Mira that is because she is no longer sentient.

Meanwhile Hamish brings Garrick around. The guardians are no longer ignoring them and so they cast a fire arc which transports then about 315 feet up the side of the crater. They reach the top and cast all the defensive spells they know and then hide for a few minutes. The guardians seem to be ignoring them now so they resolve to return to the necromancer camp and search for some more amulets. Of course this will take at least two days as they are on foot now.

Back with the main party we are completely aware of our surroundings even though we are made of stone. One of the dragon riders throws some fireballs down on the remaining surviving humans and crisps them all. His rage is indiscriminate. Only two other guards were turned to stone with us. Everyone else is soon dead.

The three dragons land and the demons jump off to survey the damage. One of them kicks a stone over (one of the guards) but the stone remains intact. He is 8 feet tall and has furled golden wings. The larger of the three demons stands among us and tells the other demons off. He is the same humanoid Mira saw earlier and we now recognize him as Tuvoone, the Smoke Ghost. His bottom half is completely insubstantial and on his top half he wears some very antique armour. We suspect his armour will cause people to burst into flame on contact.

Falco is busy DAing them and realizes their major spells of attack resemble the celestial college of magic with things like "Flash of Light" and "Meteor Storm".

Tuvoone addresses us, even though we are indistinguishable from stone, and demands we give up Kai Wren. Kai Wren is in the bottle universe, which is in Plums possession, and is masked by the stone spell. Tuvoone believes we can respond and again demands Kai Wren in exchange for his being merciful on us. The fact that he follows that offer with a wicked smirk tells us what he really means.

The three demons are looking about a bit nervously as if the portal is about to bring through adversaries. They quickly search the caravans and smash up anything they find. After a few minutes they give up searching for Kai Wren and decide to take us, Mira included because of her unique armour, through the portal and to "have some fun with us". That sounds a bit ominous but we are all turned to stone. What can we do about anything? The demon with the golden wings pulls out an amulet and places it on the disk. He also takes an orb from his pocket and puts that on the disk too. A quick DA reveals the orb will remove any record of the destination of the teleportation. The disk starts humming and we teleport away.

===A Swim in the Pool===
We emerge in another crater. This one has lights going down the sides at regular intervals. In the center of the crater are 2 large black pyramids, one being balanced upside down on the pinnacle of the bottom one. It looks a bit like an hourglass from this distance. The vegetation in this area is quite sparse and the only creatures visible are manticores and black unicorns. There are some elementals around.

There are quite a few pools of water, each with an iron grate covering the top. In one we can see a Kraken.

Tuvoone looks leeringly at us and then at the pools. He wanders off.

Dwork uses his talent to start fires and ignites the clothes of the demon with the golden wings. The flames are put out quite quickly and all Dwork seems to have done is piss him off.

Tuvoone comes back with an unusual creature. It seems to be a "Gravity Elemental". It slowly picks us each up and drops us into the nearest pool. The pool is roughly 200 feet by 70 feet and 70 feet deep. Being stone we drop to the bottom only a short distance from the edge. In the distance we can see some fish with very sharp teeth (shadow piranha) and a very large squid (shadow squid). It looks about 50 feet long and is at the far edge of the pool.
An iron grate is placed on the top of the pool.

Tuvoone waits for the stone spell to wear off.

Miras body is dropped into a pile by the pyramid entrance. She has the ability to self resurrect within an hour and remains aware of her surroundings during that time. She still appears to be dead.

After two and a half hours the stone spell dissipates for all of our group except Li Pao and Plum. Asides from Zanak, Dwork, Keshah, Falco and Elenna there are two guards who suddenly find the ability to breathe quite difficult. Dwork has a ring of water breathing but the rest of us just hold our breath. Tuvoone laughs as we realize even if we can get to the surface the grate prevents us from getting any fresh air.

Keshah immediately swims to Li Pao and touches him. Li Pao vanishes. Plum is next to Li Pao and she vanishes when touched by Keshah too. He appears to be using a banishment spell.

Even from this depth we can hear Tuvoones cry of alarm as his "guests of honour" begin disappearing. Elenna casts slowness on Tuvoone, which catches him by surprise.

The piranha are swimming towards us. Their teeth look very nasty. Zanak controls each of the guards and swims them slowly towards the fish. The squid is moving slowly towards us too.

Falco casts a wall of light around our group which seems to keep the shadow piranha at a safe distance. The piranha swarm over one of the guards which acts as a distraction while Keshah banishes Zanak and then Dwork.

The squid shoots a dark jet of ink in the remaining party members direction and the area goes instantly dark. Keshah takes out some sticks which enable him to see in the darkness.

Falco casts another wall of light before being banished.

Just before Elenna can be touched by Keshah the squid comes close enough to wrap Elenna tightly in its tentacles. Its crush forces the breathe from her lungs and knocks her unconscious. Keshah manages to get to her side and attempts to banish her but she unconsciously resists. Keshah pauses for a moment. The squid gives another squeeze and Elenna dies. Keshah grabs her and then banishes himself. Elenna gets banished too as she is now an object in his possession.

==10th of Thaw - The Party is Separated==
Keshah, Falco, Dwork, Zanak, and the body of Elenna appear on the boundary between some mountains and a vast plain. The plain has a meandering river flowing through the centre. Elennas body is preserved by the use of a Spirit Feather.

Keshah and Falco recognize the area and claim we are on the Plains of Grass in the Broken Lands to the east of Seagate. The current area is known to belong to some shape changers who prefer the shape of Tigers.

The group starts flying back to Seagate.

==11th of Thaw - The Hamish and Garrick Adventure==
Hamish and Garrick make it back to the necromancer camp. They are still using concealment spells. There are 2 large columns of smoke. One from the necromancer camp and one from the centaur pyre. There is no sign of the centaurs so they begin searching the necromancer bodies for a few amulets. While searching they find no evidence of the dead children. The centaurs must have removed them or disposed of them.

After a thorough search they seem deflated when no amulets can be found.

As they prepare to leave they hear a voice calling for help. They locate a necromancer, and although he appears to be dead, there is no denying the voice belongs to him. He says his name is Que Ju Feng and that he is just pretending to be dead. He begs for some blood from Hamish to bring him back to proper life. Hamish refuses till some questions are answered. Que Ju Feng eagerly volunteers all sorts of information.

The children weren't really dead either. They were in a "feigned death" state, although he doesn't elaborate on how this was done. They were being taken to a demon called Devor who it turns out is a friend of Kai Wren.

There is also a cache of amulets hidden in a secret compartment in one of the wagons which wasn't completely destroyed in the battle. Garrick rushes over and locates the compartment but sees it is trapped. He peers inside the compartment and sees five amulets. Four of them are already blackened and useless. As he tries to remove the trap it explodes in his face. A huge amount of corrosive vomit hurls towards him. He manages to resist the effects and the vomit gets sucked back into the compartment.

Hamish and the Necromancer are having a thrilling conversation when Hamish mentions he isn't afraid of Dragons and Demons. Instantly a dragon riding demon appears in the sky. The necromancer calls out for Hamish to fulfill his end of the bargain and give him some blood but Hamish just laughs and refuses and says "what are you going to do about it?". The necromancer curses him. Garrick mumbles to himself, after witnessing this exchange, "keep your mouth shut or even more calamities will befall us".

The demon, spiraling down on the back of the black dragon, points a trident in Hamishs direction. Instantly the wagon beside him disintegrates. Hamish, still invisible like Garrick, hurls a curse at the dragon. It coughs and chokes and has trouble controlling its flight path. The demon points at another wagon and it too disintegrates. Hamish dives for cover by the necromancers body. A third time the demon points his trident. This time he hits Hamish and the surrounding area. Hamish manages to resist the effects of disintegration but Que Ju Feng is not so lucky. His agonized death scream is cut short. Hamish casts blindness on the demon and succeeds. The demon and dragon, both disorientated, vanish in a puff of smoke.

Garrick and Hamish confer on the next idea and decide to head back to the garrison to find some more amulets.

==12th of Thaw - Seagate==
Keshah, Falco, Dwork, Zanak and Elenna (her preserved body anyway) make it back to Seagate. The first thing they do is seek out someone to resurrect Elenna. Then they begin preparing themselves to get back to Plums world, although how they will achieve this, they have no idea.

==13th of Thaw - Plum Revives==
Plum reverts from stone to human form and wonders why Li Pao is still stone. She divinates him and realizes he will not turn back for nearly 3 months. She uses her powers to open the bottle and puts her father away for safe keeping. She now has to get both her father and Kai Wren some serious healing. She is on her own on another continent of her world and seeks out a quiet and secluded area to gather her thoughts. She chooses a plateau on the side of the mountain where the old ruins of a temple are barely standing. It is quite high up and the air is getting very crisp. In the distance she can see some short black haired barbarians but they don't appear to have noticed her.

She can't return to her normal home as Tuvoone and his allies are bound to be looking for her.

She realises her only hope is to get her fellow adventures back and continue the journey to Seven Fingers. She is not as experienced as her father but she tries to use the bowl to summon the adventures again.

==14th of Thaw - The Journey Continues==
Keshah, Falco, Dwork, Zanak and Elenna are enjoying a sumptuous breakfast when the blue dragon appears again and asks for their help. This time they are all prepared and accept the offer first time. They appear at Plums side and she faints from exhaustion.

After a few hours rest and some healing from Zanak and Keshah she sends the blue dragon to find Hamish and Garrick.

===What is your Name Hamish?===
After a long couple of days they make it back to the garrison town. Garrick casts an illusion so they look like the necromancer guards, all dressed in black. They wander up to the gates and explain that they were assaulted by the centaurs and are the only two survivors from the caravan. The town guards ask for their names and this time Hamish gives his real name. The guard captain consults the travel book, looks at Hamish, asks his name again, and on receiving the same name asks them to enter the guard house. They are told to sit still and wait for the commander to arrive.

Garrick asks the captain before he departs what the problem is. He replies that they are wearing the armour of the third caravan but their names are listed against the first one. He questions why they would be wearing someone else's armour when he never mentioned the first and second caravans as part of the assault.

The captain leaves. After a moment Hamish casts quickness on themselves, quickly followed by invisibility from Garrick. The remaining guards shout to raise the alarm and draw their weapons. They advance on the spot where Hamish was standing and swing wildly. Hamish gets struck but quickly darts aside and races out the door with Garrick.

They manage to avoid detection and get to the outskirts of the town.

By this stage it is early afternoon. The blue dragon appears and they gratefully accept its offer to bring them to Plum. They are elated to find the rest of the group, minus Mira. Plum offers to send the blue dragon after her to complete the party.

===Getting Mira Back===
Because she is sending it to the demon realm she asks Garrick to cast an illusion on the dragon and to alter its aura, before sending it on its mission.

For this journey she focuses all her training and mental energies. She commands the dragon to find Miras body first, then to seek out her gear. If it becomes too dangerous the dragon is to return with only Miras body.

The dragon disappears.

Minutes later Plum screams from a form of psychic attack and passes out. The bowl goes black.

Garrick casts multiple illusions on all the party members to assist should we be attacked. He backfires on Keshahs attempt though and suddenly finds his right arm turning to wood and sprouting flowers. This is not a good thing as his blood is really a poison and his wooden arm is now fighting for its life from the constant poison assault.

Zanak manages to wake Plum and despite a massive headache she confirms the blue dragon has been captured.

Meanwhile Keshah has begun divinating the bowl. Before he has a chance to complete the ritual Mira and the Blue Dragon reappear.

Mira is dressed in her armour and seems well enough, all things considered. She says she woke in the demons pyramid. She took her time to crawl out from under a pile of dead bodies, she didn't see any of us and then started to explore. Next thing she knows the blue dragon appears before her and they teleport back to Plum.

Most of us are a little skeptical, Dwork more so and voices an opinion about the blue dragon. Strangely the blue dragon is silent. On all our previous encounters with it we couldn't get it to shut up. Dwork asks if we should kill it. The blue dragon flies to the top of a mound of rock only a few feet away. The mound is about 8 feet tall and about 10 feet wide on the top.

Plum has been attempting to command the blue dragon via the bowl, but the bowl is still black.

It is 6am on this continent and as the sun rises in the east a long shadow is cast over our campsite. Falco uses this to hide himself.

Seven people sized whirlwinds appear completely surrounding the party. Inside each of the whirlwinds we can see hundreds of shards of ice and a pair of very sharp swords. The whirlwinds leap to the attack but manage to strike our illusions on all but Dwork and Keshah. Thanks Garrick! Dwork is stunned.

Hamish and Elenna quicken the party.

Garrick attacks the whirlwind moving towards Plum. It explodes and showers us with ice shards. Hamish strikes one with his polymorph dagger and it becomes human before being stunned.

Keshah banishes his Whirlwind opponent but is set upon by another one. Falco sneaks up behind it strikes it. Dwork is taken by surprise and battered twice by a whirlwind. He gets enraged and bellows "I HATE COLD BEINGS".

Mira is moving towards Zanak and his whirlwind. Zanak feels his danger sense kick in and casts mental attack on Mira. She resists and smacks him. The whirlwind moves on to another target. Mira smacks Zanak again and this time he turns into a frog. His danger sense really goes berserk now (as if he needed any more warnings about Mira) and he hops about trying to avoid Miras attempts to stand on him.

Plum dashes aside to get some protection from the mound the blue dragon is sitting on.

Falco, seeing the young pirates plight, attempts to shadowhole Mira and some of the whirlwinds. Only one of the whirlwinds disappears.

Garrick attacks and kills a whirlwind headed towards Elenna.

Hamish tries to cast harm entity on Mira but she resists. With a frustrated howl Mira leaps in the air and stomps down on the frog, squishing and killing him. Zanak turns back into a human. Only seconds later Falco successfully shadowholes Mira and one more of the whirlwinds.

Garrick kills the last of the whirlwinds just as 6 more appear. He leaps into the fray and engages one. Elenna slows most of the new enemies just before Falco shadowholes 3 of them. Dwork finally comes out of stun.

Keshah triggers the runes of healing and uses true sight on the blue dragon. He is recognized as a demon called Pigeon Eyes. Keshah shouts out the demon in disguise is the true enemy. Garrick and Dwork continue fighting the whirlwinds while Falco, Keshah and Elenna take on the demon.

Unfortunately for Elenna she backfires twice and starts hearing voices then loses a third of her spells to amnesia.

Keshah manages to get behind the demon and prepares to launch a devastating blow. Of course he fumbles and nearly drops his weapons. The demon laughs and smacks him.

Meanwhile a meteor storm has just crashed into Garrick, Dwork and Elenna and they all fall over.

Keshah manages to regain control of his weapons and hits the demon who gives up the illusion of the blue dragon and reverts to his normal shape of an 8 foot tall demon. Dwork looks up and thinks the demon is quite ugly which says quite a bit coming from an Ork.
Falco gets rid of the last of the whirlwinds and everyone concentrates on the remaining demon called Pigeon Eyes.

The demon faces Keshah and gets in a good blow. Keshah is saved by his rune armour. Garrick climbs the mound and, from behind, gets in a good blow. Keshah manages to knock him down and the demon tries to activate a wand to teleport himself away. Before the wans can activate though both Keshah and Garrick put in devastating blows that knock the demon unconscious. In fact he looks like he might almost be dead.

The group strip the demon and for safe measures Hamish pokes him with his polymorph dagger to make him human. That seems to have been the last straw though and the demon dies. Hamish feels a death curse affect him.

Garrick notices the time is 6 seconds past 6 minutes on the 6th hour. We think if we hadn't won this battle very bad things would have happened to us.

Keshah uses a resurrection potion to bring Zanak back and then feeds him a healing potion as well. Plum does a curse removal on Elenna and Garrick. Hamish, despite having 2 death curses, decides to "wing it".

Zanak really wants to kill Mira, or the thing that looked like Mira. The rest of the group just want to capture Mira. We all hop in the bottle except Keshah, Garrick and Falco, who fly up in the air and wait for the shadowhole to return Mira to our dimension.

Mira and the whirlwinds reappear but Mira vanishes immediately. Zanak feels very put out.

===Back to Seagate===
We are feeling a bit on the poorly side so the group asks Zanak to open a portal to Alusia. The lizard is able to follow the portal the blue dragon created when transferring us directly from the guild.

We take the time to seek help for Kai Wren and Li Pao. It takes a whole day but Kai Wren and Li Pao are restored and healed.

In the meantime the corpse of Pigeon Eyes is divinated. His spirit seems to be hanging around and we promise to resurrect him if he gives us information on Vliss and Tuvoone.
Dwork thinks he has better things to do.

Tuvoone has Mira and has turned her into a sex slave. Dworks attention is now fully focused on the mission at hand to rescue Mira and he seems quite keen to get on with it. We all wonder why since he is obviously afflicted with a curse which limits his sexual stamina.

More importantly Pigeon Eyes tells us what Vliss has been up to.

Vliss is one of the few remaining demons born on the god realm. Most of the demons, like her son Tuvoone, were born on the demon realm and the incidence of them being deformed at birth is high and growing each decade. The deformed ones are referred to as Hedge Demons. Whilst they have many demon attributes their inate power levels are being reduced with each successive generation. Tuvoone himself is half insubstantial. Vliss believes this is caused by the demon realm being of a lower chi level than the god realm.

Vliss has conspired with some of the younger gods to take over the god realm. The younger gods, like all children, see their parents failures and believe they can do the job much better. The elder gods though keep a fairly tight reign on the activities and responsibilities of the younger ones, knowing at some stage they will be toppled, as they did to their own parents.

Vliss, who had always had some affection for Kai Wren, managed to enchant him several hundred years ago and has had him making his little bottle universes. The plan is surprisingly simple. Since only a few demons can get through the portals to the god realm at any given time, and they are quite weak for a few days, she plans to use the bottles to house small armies. In this way she can transport her troops to the god realm in vast numbers with no reduction in their strength. Kai Wren is unique amongst the demons in that he can create these dimensions and the gods have no inkling of the threat they are faced with.

Vliss believes the additional chi of the so called "god realm", where both the elder gods and demons were born, will restore the power to her children and the demon race in general.

The only flaw in this plan is Kai Wren himself. Since he created the bottles with his own life force he could reabsorb them and her troop carrying bottle dimensions will be rendered useless. Her whole plan hinges on these bottles.

Kai Wrens allies, Seven Fingers, his daughter Spilling Moonbeams, and the demon Lite, were working with Kai Wren to locate the cache of bottle universes. Spilling Moonbeams had been turned by Vliss's promise of power in the god realm and she had been actively helping to stop our progress where possible.

Vliss and Tuvoone are very dangerous in combat but are a bit limited on the magical front, although they are probably more than a match for us. We need to get Kai Wren back up to his normal power levels so he can take on Vliss. Pigeon Eyes tells us the cache of bottles are on Vliss's estate on Li Paos and Plums world but he isn't sure where.

We rest of the remainder of the day till Kai Wren and Li Pao are restored. Dwork has had a set of Ninja Armour fitted for himself and he seems very pleased.

==15th of Thaw - The Final Phase==
Kai Wren confirms everything Pigeon Eyes has said and adds a few extra details.

To get his personal chi back he needs Li Pao to perform a ritual on any bottles in the vicinity. This process will take at least 30 minutes. It can be preformed on as many bottles as we can locate at once. He also says his personal chi was put into some bowls as well. In total there are 45 items we need to locate to get him back to full strength. He suspects these items will be secured I Vliss's personal bottle universe, which Kai Wren made for her many centuries ago. Every bottle Kai Wren has made he has added himself to the guest list so the guardians won't attack him. Assuming Vliss hasn't removed him from the list it should be simple enough to get in.

It should also be pointed out that breaking a bottle is very bad.

Kai Wren knows where Vliss's personal bottle is likely to be on her estate. There is a mausoleum guarded by zombies. No human would go near that place and according to Vliss they are "quite stupid and primitive creatures, good only for menial labour".

Seven Fingers and the demon of Lite would assist us if we could get a message to them. Unfortunately we have no way of doing that right now.

We decide it is time to rescue the real Mira from Devors estate on the Demon Realm. Pigeon Eyes confirms she and the Blue Dragon are in the black pyramid.

===Getting Mira Back - Part 2===
Pigeon Eyes, after being resurrected, decides to stay on Alusia for a few days to avoid all the unpleasant noise associated with turning to Kai Wrens side. He also helps strengthen Garricks illusions so we look more like minor demons. Devor doesn't have any humans on his estate either and we would standout like sore thumbs. The plan is that Kai Wren looks like a major character in Vliss's command structure so we can pass undisturbed through her guards.

Hamish makes a comment about Hedge Demons being rather easy to beat and low and behold one appears behind him. He really should learn to keep his mouth shut...

The hedge demon appears to be in love with him and it wraps its tentacles around him. One of them slides down the front of his trousers. Hamish appears a little perturbed by this hedge demon but Garrick and Dwork come to his rescue. They hack at the hedge demon and it vanishes. Hamish checks his nether regions and finds all is ok.

The lizard opens a portal back to where we captures the disguised Pigeon Eyes and then another one to Devors estate (where Pigeon Eyes had originally come from). With luck the portal opens in a room of the pyramid and Mira is lying on the floor naked. She screams out "Devor save me" before Garrick saps her. Elenna locates the Blue Dragon next door. Garrick casts multiple illusions on himself. Elenna sees Miras possessions in the corner next to the portal.

Zanak pulls his spare dress out of his backpack and picks up Mira. He intends to dress her before pushing her through the portal but Hamish opens the door leading to the Blue Dragon and is confronted by a Gorgon. Zanak just hurls the dress and her possessions through the portal with Mira. At least she is safe now.

The room we are in has four doors, one on each wall. The West one is now open and in the room we can see the gorgon guarding the blue dragon, which is suspended in a shimmering tower of light. The east door opens and a demon steps through casting a blinding flash of light. Only Falco, Hamish and Keshah resist it. Hamish strikes the gorgon with his polymorph dagger but the creature resists the transformation to human. Instead it stares into Hamish's eyes and turns him to stone. Keshah, who was standing next to the door, manages to resist the gorgons stare and kills it with a single blow.

Dwork swings wildly towards the demon but misses. The demon retaliates but there is no apparent effect on Dwork.

Inexplicably Garrick also casts a flash of light with the end result that now Falco and Keshah are also blind. Falco is very upset with Garrick and his attempt to shadow hole the demon fails.

The demon strikes Dwork twice and finally stuns him. Garrick manages to avoid a few hits and gets a few good blows in retaliation.

Meantime Keshah has been dragging the petrified Hamish back to the portal and pushes him through. Zanak has moved in to the west room and has picked up the gorgon body and used it to batter the blue dragon from the tower of light. The blue dragon races back to the portal and darts through.

The group starts retreating through the portal as quickly as they can. Garrick and Keshah hold up the rear and fight the demon and the shadowy shapes behind it. Garrick knocks the demon unconscious and while he engages the shadows Keshah picks up the demon and hurls it through the portal. The shadows seem to be casting blackfire but Garrick and Keshah resist each time. They finally make it through the portal and Zanaks lizard closes it before the shadows can come through.

===Scaring the Natives===
Unbeknownst to us there were some natives around in the ruins when we stepped through to Devor's estate. They look warily at the portal and in only moments a naked woman is hurled into their midst, closely followed by a pretty dress. Being barbarians they approach and begin poking the naked female to see if she is alive. If so she must be a present from the barbarian gods. Next a stone statue of a demon appears through the portal. It bounces on the soft ground but doesn't break. Startled they step back, wondering what the gods have in store for them.

Falco steps through and sees the handful of natives. They don't appear too aggressive so he attempts to talk to them, gesturing at them in a non threatening manner.

The barbarians look up from the naked woman and the stone demon to see a real live one appear. It barks at them and gestures wildly. They think "the gods aren't happy with us being here" and they turn tail and run away, keeping an eye out to see if they are being hunted down. All they see is more demons coming through the portal. They run even faster and spread tales of the coming invasion to their tribesmen.

===Into the Mausoleum===
Plum and Zanak heal Mira. Zanak hypnotises Mira to remove the implanted impulses to behave like a sex slave, much to Dworks irritation.
Zanak also heals the parties blindness while Keshah strips and searches the demon. Garrisk casts something that switches the stone effect from Hamish to the captured Demon. Very handy...

Zanaks lizard is quite tired after following so many portals and needs a rest for a few hours. Fortunately Li Pao says the bowl and Blue Dragon are back to normal and are quite capable of transporting us to the next destination.

Li Pao transports us to within 3 miles of the mausoleum. We find ourselves in a city park. Everything around us is dead. This really has the feel of a Necromancer haven. We don't fancy walking through this dreaded place and use the bowl again to get us only 50 feet away from the right building.

There is a fence surrounding the mausoleum. It is made of red metal and stands about 8 foot tall. We suspect a lot of the redness is rust. Nothing about the area seems very sturdy.

There are 20 zombies patrolling the mausoleum ground, if you can call aimlessly stumbling around patrolling.
Elenna casts invisibility on us all and we sneak around to the back gate. For once we have decided the better part of valour is to be unseen and unengaged in combat. Dwork feels a bit restless (he can see people to bash with his glaive) and Mira is still concerned about her lack of stealthiness.

Falco casts a tunnel of light to safeguard us from any zombies that come too close so we can get from the gate to the back door of the mausoleum. Of course the back door is warded with a summoning spell, but Mira shows her true worthiness to be a member of the party by pulling out a wand of necromantic special counters. Dwork is impressed, although we suspect he is still seeing her naked.

We open the back door and step in. There don't appear to be any traps but there is a separate room in the centre. It is completely dark inside. Keshah gives his sticks of light to Falco so the interior can be DA'ed. Inside the room is a pedestal with a white bottle. It is made of kaylan clay and is inscribed with patterns Kai Wren instantly recognizes as the bottle he gave to Vliss. In the room there are several shadow panthers. Kai Wren warns us that they can sense life in their darkened surroundings and have a talent for causing grievous harm.

Elena steps up to the mark and uses Telekinesis to lift the bottle and float it towards us.

Instantly the blackness from the room explodes out to fill the rest of the mausoleum. We can hear the panthers stalking forward, getting set to rip our throats out. Zanak nearly wets his pants as a shadowy form leaps at him.

Falco uses something to cast a blinding light at a very high level which dispels the shadow panthers darkened environment. Instantly the panthers melt away. Zanak is somewhat relieved and resolves not to mention his near mishap.

There is no noise from outside indicating we have been detected yet so Kai Wren gets us all into the bottle. You would have thought we would take it somewhere safe but apparently not...

Inside we see a mansion nestled in the centre of a lovely spring valley. We are surprised by Vliss's sense of taste in her environment. We had assumed since she is the big baddy she would have a castle with huge fortifications instead of a nice safe looking place.

Li Pao scrys a bit and locates the vault on the far side of the mansion next to the magnolia gardens. There are some humanoid looking guards but they are really constructs as we can see the sunlight glinting off them.

We planned to sneak across the valley but Mira is still to noisy so we opt to hop in Kai Wrens bottle again and have Falco fly over to the upper levels in his bird form, holding the bottle securely. He does this but lands on a balcony on the wrong side of the house. The balcony and the door seem safe and unwarded. This is all beginning to be a bit easy.

We all come out of the bottle in what looks like a guest bedroom. It is quite sumptuous and is easily the best looking room Zanak has ever seen. Vliss might be a baddy but she sure has good taste in furnishings.

We sneak out of the room and down the hallway to the far end and slip into another room, all without incident. Again this seems too easy.

We decide to loosen the floorboards and drop into the vaulted area but to our surprise the vault is made of solid chi. There is no way we are getting in except through the vault door, which needs to be accessed from the ground level near the gardens.

===Into the Vault===
After a few moments of checking out the area we all drop down to the garden and examine the door. The Magnolia garden is surrounded by 10 foot high stone walls with three solid wooden gates.

While Keshah divinates the vault door we all stand guard in the garden. Everytime Keshah tries to divinate something we get attacked so we are on full alert. Thirty minutes pass and we still appear to be unnoticed. We all have a strong sense of unease as this is way too easy.

The divination reveals the door shields teleportation spells going in and makes scrying a bit fuzzy. The warding of the door is an E&E spell. Elenna counterspells it with ease. Dwork searches for traps but finds nothing. Falco tries also and detects something but he can't be sure where or what it is. After some debate Keshah steps forward and opens the door. We all shield ourselves form the expected explosion but nothing happens. Too easy !!!

The room is 70 feet wide and 60 feet deep. There are paintings hanging on the walls of the same sort of garish, violent battle scenes as in the main building. There is a 4 foot high curved shelf in an arc shape near the back of the room. We can see 9 bottles and 2 bowls.

There are 2 stag beetles guarding the room. They stand about 8 feet tall and have 4 arms, each holding a katana. To an inexperienced Zanak they would look like a popular cartoon on Alusia called "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" but they are obviously not the friendly type. The battle is over before the guards can actually do anything. Falco shadow holes one. The other is assaulted by Hamish (Harm Entity), Keshah (smacks it really hard) and Mira, who gets in the killing blow.

Keshah uses true sight to examine the bottles and the room. The bottles have illusions on them, as does the back wall. Falco is getting a bit itchy and says we should leave as this is obviously a trap. The group ponders this for a moment. Dwork keeps an eye on the garden gates from near the vault entrance. Zanak and Keshah take the initiative and stride forward towards the shelf and the rear of the room.

===Tuvoones Challenge===
Suddenly the illusions are dispelled and we can see the room has doubled in length. There is another shelf at the rear with only a handful of bottles left on it. There is a large wooden chest on the floor, from which Kai Wren can feel his person chi emanating. Standing over the chest is Tuvoone. Mira howls in anguish and reaches into her pack for an item. There are 4 more stag beetles, 45 miniature unicorns (which Kai Wren identifies are mericorns) and 30 innocuous looking bubbles.

Tuvoone speaks in a commanding voice before the rest of can react. He demands Kai Wren face him in single combat. Kai Wren holds us back while he engages Tuvoone in some debate.

Tuvoone scoffs at the observation that a challenge would be unfair with Kai Wren in a human state and without his demon powers, particularly since Tuvoone has a spirit sword. He laughs maniacally as he says his mother asked him to remove the bottles and leave the vault before Kai Wren got there, but he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to slay someone who had killed a god.

This exchange took only a few seconds, which seems to have been long enough for Dwork, as he unleashes a fireball at Tuvoone and the creatures around him. He manages to hit Tuvoone, 2 stag beetles and kills 5 of the mericorns. The rest of the mericorns take offense at this and all target Dwork with energy blasts from their horns.

Hamish casts a spell at Tuvoone but it has no effect as it is absorbed by one of the bubbles. It looks like these bubbles are a form of anti-magic and can absorb any single target spell aimed at Tuvoone.

The 4 beetles start coming towards us. Keshah creates a zombie from the first beetle Mira had killed and sends him to attack. Garrick throws a greek fire grenade at a beetle, knocking it back a bit and roasting some more of the mericorns.

Tuvoone teleports to directly in front of Kai Wren and strikes a surprise blow against him. One of Kai Wrens images is destroyed. Thanks Garrick!

Falco casts blackfire on Tuvoone, Keshah (who Falco knows can resist it), some of the beetles and a bunch of the mericorns. Dwork releases his Jaguar again and sends it after the mericorns to wreck some havoc.

Tuvoone seems a bit surprised not to have killed Kai Wren outright on his first strike and by the damage he is taking from some fire spells. Zanak heads towards the door to be able to summon some Dire Wolves (he has been dying to do this all the adventure) but calls out that the vault is now hanging in a sideways dimension. Basically the vault is floating in a starry void on its own.

Mira activates the wand she got from her pack and a devastating blast of Dragonfire erupts across the room, engulfing Tuvoone and a good portion of his troops. Tuvoone manages to resist but this gives Kai Wren the opening he needs to thrust his sword up through Tuvoones smoky legs and into his unprotected torso. Tuvoone howls in pain as Kai Wren twists the blade.

Keshah gets a solid blow against Tuvoone. Tuvoone ignores him and stabs his spirit sword into Kai Wrens shoulder, forcing Kai Wren to stagger backwards and drop his own sword. The spirit sword doesn't kill him as he is mostly human at the moment.

Mira takes the opportunity to engage Tuvoone and in an enraged battle frenzy she strikes him with all her might. She does a fair bit of damage but Tuvoones armour is enchanted and sends a devastating bolt of energy coursing through her. She staggers back.

Garrick and Keshah get an attack in each and avoid the armours effects. Keshahs blow is enough to kill Tuvoone. The look of horror and surprise in his eyes is mirrored by Miras scream "NO ! I wanted to kill him !".

The rest of the guards are easily dispatched once they see their leader fall.

Zanak takes a few moments to heal Kai Wren and Dworks jaguar.

===Restoring Kai Wren===
Li Pao starts his ritual to move Kai Wrens chi back from the bottles and bowls into Kai Wren. These were all found in the wooden chest. While waiting Kai Wren examines the vault and the space outside. It is very clear this is a trap designed by a god and no normal means of escape will suffice. Even banishing will get us out, much to Keshahs disappointment.

We attempt to talk to Tuvoone's spirit (it can't escape either) and we ascertain this trap is why Vliss told Tuvoone to pack up everything and leave. Even if Tuvoone had survived he didn't have any means to escape either.

When Li Pao finishes the ritual and Kai Wren confirms he is back to full strength, we continue discussing options of escape. After a while Kai Wren says he has a way out. For the last 1000 years he has been working on a bottle which can grant wishes. Luckily for us this bottle is in the vault. It is orange and blue and slightly misshapen.
Dwork and Keshah want to know if it will grant them wishes. Kai Wren informs them it takes many centuries to learn to control the bottles powers. Dwork in particular is disappointed as he gives Mira and Elenna some sidelong lusty glances.

Kai Wren says he can get three wishes. The first is to escape this sideways universe, the second is to change the chi on the demon realms, and the third is reserved for an emergency. Changing the chi on the demon realm should enable the demons to become as powerful as if they were on the god realm, without the need of another realm spanning war. This should enable the future offspring to be fully powered, unlike the current children which often deform into hedge demons. He believes if he can crush the rebellion he can convince the remaining demons to follow his plan. For this he will need to gather some allies and engage Vliss's army.

We all hold hands as Kai Wren uses his first wish.

==16th of Thaw - The Final Battle==
===Crushing the Rebellion===
We reappear in the Towers of Lite where the Demon of Lite resides. The towers and spires are stunning in their architectural designs. They all shine with an inner light which sooths and calms us. This is a very high mana area.

Kai Wren and Lite move off to a separate room to discuss the battle strategy. We are escorted to the main dining hall and fed a sumptuous meal. After several hours even Dwork is full. We are then escorted to the living room where we take our time to recover from the best meal we have had in ages. After a few more hours Kai Wren and Lite return. They have discovered the staging point for the rebellion. It is under the Origin Park where we were attacked when going through the demon portal. There is an underground amphitheatre hidden beneath the rostrum.

Vliss is inside a bottle having a meeting with some other demons. Kai Wren can seal the bottle, keeping her trapped while we deal with the rebellious troops.

We decide to help Kai Wren and we quickly gather more allies like Seven Fingers and Spilling Moonbeams. Spilling Moonbeams has been with her father since she battled Tuvoone what seems like an age ago but was only a matter of days. She has been a double agent for her father and Kai Wren for some time and is thrilled to finally get into the battle.

We end up with a small band of about 30 beings when we get to the Origin Park. Kai Wren uses an amplified voice and demands the immediate surrender of the rebellion. Of course his demand is met by a stony silence till the rebellious troops emerge and commit to the battle. There are 5 strong looking demons, some temple dogs, 12 Fu Dogs and 20 sheep with what looks like acid dripping from their fangs. 5 gods emerge too. They are Moxabanshy, Wenobee, Zvichy, SkyWamish, and an unknown god with a boar head.

Kai Wren is assaulted by a very strong and menacing looking demon.

Our group is attacked by SkyWamish.

Hamish survives the first blow but finds his bones feel much weaker. Dwork gets hit by a lightning bolt and flies backwards, lying stunned on the ground. Falco and Elenna focus on the other Fu dogs approaching us and either shadow hole them or slow them. Garrick tries several times to hit SkyWamish and finally gets in a hit. The bolt of lightning from the god is reflected back towards SkyWamish but it bounces off him and hits Hamish. Hamish dies.

Garrick gets another good hit on the god and this time the lightning bolt reflects and hits Dwork, who still hasn't come out of stun from the first bolt. SkyWamish is receiving more damage than he expected from a group of mere mortals and counters with a devastating spinning attack with his enchanted katanas. Luckily for us all he misses everyone, proving even gods can have bad days.

Zanak, being quite useless when confronted with a God, glances around and sees our allies are outnumbered and on the verge of succumbing. In a brilliant flash all our enemies disappear. Kai Wren has used his third reserved wish to banish his opponents to the god realm, where no doubt the elder gods will be somewhat unimpressed by the treachery the younger gods and demons have been participating in.

===Kai Wren Battles Vliss===
Hamish self resurrects. He seems quite pleased with himself as all the death curses and other problems he has faced for the last few weeks are now gone.

Kai Wren and his fellow demon allies summon as many demons as they can to the park and then he opens the bottle Vliss was trapped in. He makes the offer of using his last wish to fix the chi in the demon realm, thus negating the need to invade the god realm and the associated war that will come from that. He also points out he thinks the demons are a much more structured race now that they have been living on the demon realm and the wonders they have achieved while being here. They have an hour to think this through. Finally he demands to fight Vliss in a challenge, regardless of the outcome of their vote.

Time passes very quickly as the group recuperates from the battle with SkyWamish. The demons come back with a resounding 75% in favour of Kai Wrens plan to avert another Demon/God war. They chant for him to be their leader but he declines, saying he wants to be alone for a while after today.

Vliss strides forward and accepts his challenge. Instantly they engage in the most ferocious battle Zanak has ever witnessed. Vliss is a master in most combat skills but a little weaker in her magic capabilities, while Kai Wren is a master of Magic and a bit weaker in his combat skills. The dance of death they engage in is actually a visual feast of lights and energy and twirling bodies. We are hard pressed to keep up with the blows and counter strikes.

The demons watch with a battle hardened fervour. This is a fight to the death and the victor will be respected in the ages old manner of the demon race. Even the loser will be remembered fondly for this is a battle among titans.

Eventually Vliss makes a mistakes and shape changes to avoid a killing strike from Kai Wren. She drops her sword and Kai Wren encases the spirit sword in Ice.

Vliss realises she has little hope of delivering a killing blow without her spirit sword but fights on to the end of her abilities. Finally she runs out of chi and shape changes to her favourite form of a 14 year old girl.

Vliss looks deeply into Kai Wrens eyes and begs him to kill her quickly, as is her right in the demon challenge. Kai Wren smiles fondly at her and quick as a flash spins around and delivers the final killing blow.

===Dworks Little Problem===
Vliss's allies bow down to Kai Wren and accept his offer of peace.

After a quickly assembled feast Kai Wren pulls our group aside and offers us a choice of reward. We can either have a "bag of holding" fashioned by Kai Wren, or he will pay Seven Fingers to make us each a magical piece of armour or a weapon. Most of us voice an opinion of some new armour but a few hold their tongues till later.

Plum takes Dwork aside and offers to cure his "erectile" problem. After a moment of soul searching Dwork agrees and they move aside for a "nice drink of tea".

She is Made of Truth

2026-06-06T03:42:17Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Jon McSpadden]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Sasha]]
[[Category:Braegon]]
[[Category:Engalton]]
[[Category:Erzsabet]]
[[Category:Serendipity]]
[[Scribe_Notes#Winter_808_WK|Scribe Notes]]
<div style="float: right; background-color: #FEFEC0; padding: 2px 5px 2px 5px; border: thin solid #666666;">
When my love swears that she is made of truth 
I do believe her, though I know she lies, 
That she might think me some untutor'd youth, 
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. 
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, 
Although she knows my days are past the best, 
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue: 
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd. 
But wherefore says she not she is unjust? 
And wherefore say not I that I am old? 
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust, 
And age in love loves not to have years told: 

Therefore I lie with her and she with me, 
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be. 
</div>
[[Image:Sasha-small.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Queen Aleksandra]]
The adventure takes place on the [[Alusia]] in (at least initially) [[Glissom]].
= Summary =
'''Adventure''': She is Made of Truth 
'''GM''': [[GM%27s#GM:_Jon_McSpadden|Jon Mc]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Wednesday night only 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | High]] 

This adventure is a follow on from [[The Fate of Queen Aleksandra]] and [[The Family Jewels]].
;Other Scribe notes of use 
*Spring 797 WK & Spring 798 WK [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/snsp9705/index.htm Prince of Darkness I] GM: Jon Scribe: Pent
; Party
# [[Sasha]] Party employer
# [[Braegon]] Military Scientist and Chief Hairdresser
# [[Engalton]] E1 Party Leader
# [[Erzsabet]] E2 Scribe
# [[Serendipity]] Party Morale officer

; Employer
: Queen Aleksandra.
; Mission
* Find out why the elves wanted to see Queen Aleksandra before she visited The Fates.
* Visit [[Anguitia]] to get Amulets that stop magic coming off at death.
* Check out the evil cult in Kirkul
* Get Discordia/Sekhmet off plane
; Pay
: Gratitude and friendship, loot and one gift out of Sasha's basement

= Scribe Notes =
==The Gathering==

On the first day of frost we are summoned before [[Kali the Nameless]] for a general pep talk about behaviour on adventure 
* In particular Kali notes that killing your family gets you hunted by the Furies
* Savnok has the powers of corruption and powers over tower, we should avoid him if we can
* We are not to bring the guilds name into disrepute
* And there was something about Elfheim ... I can't remember the exact wording but I am sure that Engalton does.
Kali lends me his boat. I am beginning to think this is standard behaviour and it is only the surprise on my fellow adventurers faces that lets me know that this does not happen on every adventure. Anyway it is a good sign that Kali does not warn me about dying. Kali appears today as an imposing middle aged somewhat handsome man. It has been arranged for us to sign our party agreement at the house of the Dean of Air, Etienne, a charming Elf living a mile or so up the Sweetwater.

=== The Aviary===
[[Image:Bird.jpg|200px|right|thumb|A Bird]]

[[Etienne|Etienne's house]] is frequented by a lot of birds and is light and airy, much like the man himself. We have a pleasant cup of tea and note the changes in each other since last we met. Serendipity is unknown to most of us so we are eager to make her acquaintance. Our host lends us 10 invested Vapour Breathing, so we can ease the passing of a revenant who can cast noxious vapours.

Sasha briefly reviews the scribe notes from the Prince of Darkness for us, telling us of a few people we may meet and a little about Glissom. She explains that she needs help as she has been summoned to see the elves in the Siren woods and she would also like to visit with the Naga Goddess near the Lunar empire.

We bind ourselves to Newhaven so we can be banished back there at any time, and portal to [[Glissom]].

===Glissom===
<div id="Glissom Arms" style="float: left; width: auto; border: none; text-align: center; margin: 2px 20px 2px 2px;">[[Image:Glissom-very-small.jpg]] 
</div>

Arriving at the court of [[Glissom]] we find King Doron is standing in the fire place. An attractive and pleasant man, he is pleased to see his wife Sasha and pleased that she has bought adventurers with her. We are introduced and explain that we are here to help Sasha with whatever the Elves need to see her for. Doron calls for Nurrien, an elf who resides at court, and we meet the children, and divinate them.

King Doron and Sasha have 5 children 

*The triplets born 803
Allegra - Spring Fire - she is a fire mage. She has some weird powers, she is immune to temporal and chaos abilities. Can't be warped or aged. Time always flows for her, ie time affecting abilities used around her, she gets to use too. She can see what is really there, invisibility and illusion do not work against her. These abilities where gained during the first two years of her life. 
Allegra has similar powers to Aim but no links to him. Whatever was done in the first two years of her life have made it so Allegra can never be turned into Aim. 
She can remember both the past as it now is, and the past that was before we visited the fates.

Alexander - Spring Water - will be a great military scientist

Adalwolf - Spring Earth - is very Charismatic

*Verina (girl) - Autumn Air born 805 - is going to be a Namer even if never trained, can see the truth of things, she is a bit pre and post cognitive. She can see the threads.

*Yvon (boy) - Life Aspected born Winter 807 - Will be a great healer, can heal with a touch and has a very strong life force.

==The Siren Woods==
[[Image:darkmap.gif|300px|thumb|right|A map ]]

Whilst we are divinating the princes and princesses Nurrien arrives. She goes to get Lyrisal, an elf who can lead people through trees, to take us to the Siren Woods.

Lyrisal arrives and sees us divinating the Children. She tells us; if the darkness gets Ivo then humans will die, and if the darkness gets Allegra then elves will die as well.

Presently we arrive in the Siren Woods, to our surprise we step out of a tree and there are 40 elves on the other side. We are introduced to Misopha, who it seems is the elf that wanted to talk to Sasha.

*Lyrisal tells us that it would be bad if Discordia got loose on plane. Last time she got loose the Gods got together and drugged her to get her off plane. Engalton admits to having summoned her, and recalls that they got the invocation from [[Anguitia]]. Lyrisal says something about Discordia will bring about the downfall of a Queen, Engalton thinks that this may have already happened with Rashak.

*Misopha tell us that she had wanted to talk to Sasha to tell her not to go and see the eternals, but she can tell from looking at us that the advice comes too late.

=== Fae Trouble ===

Misopha is a well dressed elf pleasing to the eye and dark of hair, upon her head rests a silver crown. She is pleased we have come to the forest as she has a problem with a Trauco. The Trauco is a male fae who hits trees with a hammer and leaves dents in them. The Siren Woods elves are keen for us to deal with this problem and take the Trauco away. We agree to do this and are given the run of the forest for this purpose.

It turns out that the Trauco is very handsome and seduces maidens. Maidens in this case are unmarried women and it is not necessary to have no knowledge of a man to be a maiden. He is a reflection of a God, created when a Queen lies with the God. The way to capture him is to see him before he sees you causing him to become be your slave for a year and a day. The children of a the maidens and the Trauco will be part faye, therefore faire of face, and full of grace. Unfortunately, Maidens who have known the Trauco will find mortal men pale in comparison. It appears we will need to move him far away from humans.

If there is a child from the union of the Queen and the God it is called a Cipitio, these the elves tell us are unhappy creatures. Misshapen.

====Information we are told about the Trauco====
*Misopha believes that neither she nor Sasha is not the queen involved. - the Queen who is responsible for this will eventually become a Sihuanaba
*The Queen will not become a Sihuanaba if 1) The King does not find out about her adultery with a God, 2) the Cipitio knows she loves it and loves her back.
*The Trauco appeared six months ago, when someone must have invoked the laws of the Gods
*The Trauco is a skilled forest creature and hard to track, he can not become invisible at will like some faye however he probably has some of the powers of his Father (the God).
*Any Maiden that lies with the Trauco, pines for him ever after. No mortal man will satisfy her again.
*Any mortal man that the Trauco sees first drops dead.
*The Trauco can bend the land like Braegon
*Seren is immune to the Trauco's effects as she is also a Faye

==== Other random information from the Siren Woods Elves====
* Adalwolf, Ivo, Allegra, etc are all of the blood (Doran's Royal Line)
* The elves seem pleased with the heirs
* The Sisters (Furies) are after Seren and she is hounded by Demons
* Shader was a demon and has lots of names
* Boroward is still in the area looking after the children - she is a succubus
* Allegra's protections are surprising, her extra abilities are because of the cradle, but her extra fire abilities are because of her bloodline
* fire scrying is a magic that the siren elves can teach all fire mages

Lirisal agrees to take us to the other side of the forest, where the Trauco was last seen

==The Trauco==
[[Image:Trauco2.JPG|200px|thumb|right]]
Following Lirisal we step out of a tree some distance away in to the Siren woods. We buff up and Braegon summons an Earth Elemental to help us track the Trauco. The Elemental who arrives to Braegon's summons is called Malachite and is very smart indeed, he locates the Trauco for us and we start preparing an ambush. Seren scouts ahead to give us advanced warning of it's approach. Braegon talks to the trees for an added advantage.

Amadusius foils our plans, he tips off the Trauco to our presence and waylays Seren until after the Trauco is upon us. Luckily the Trauco seems to like us, and we appear to be immune to most of it's abilities. Oddly a curse which has not shown up until this point becomes apparent upon Braegon, his finger nails have started to thicken and the hair upon his hands becomes more wiry. We chat with the Trauco about sending it somewhere else, however it appears it is in it's nature to seduce maidens and kill men so Engalton banishes it to Elysium.

The name of the god that the Trauco was most linked to is Aigisthas (or Goatstrength in common). He has a strong aura of lust about him but nothing was binding him to the forest.

It is decided that we should urgently divinate Braegon. He has a 32 MA curse upon him, which has been done by an adept of the college of Naming Incantations. This curse seems to be another invocation of the Laws, and someone is pointing the finger at him. Braegon is cursed to turn into a beast. We are all concerned about this and divinate the entire party.

Erzsabet and Engalton are cursed with being lost and we cannot find our ways home. Sasha is cursed to fall. All these curses are 32 MA and all are invoked by a Namer, using the Laws.

returning to Misopha's glade we have another brief discussion with the Elves there and ask some questions of our spirit guides
of note is that Modesty does not wish to say who the blood cult is trying to have reborn, however when not acting as an oracle suggests it might be Nun, but we shouldn't ask him about it or he will go blind..
*Rubizal or the King of the Mountain is the power than is pointing out our law breaking.
*The best way to deal with the problem is to sway him.
*We can perform some act of good as atonement if necessary
*We can repent and give up something of value to ourselves - however none of us feel particularly guilty so this won't work.

Seren asks some important questions of the oracle about her family
Sasha sends Zmeya to get some information to assist with her atonement.

We pop back to the guild briefly, Sasha collects a note from her Mother out of the guild vaults, the guild is worried about this note. Seren has some business with Mortimer.

We then return to Glissom to spend the night

==Day 2==

We have breakfast and Sasha spends some time with her children. Allegra is sad not to have contact with her grandmother but spends time with Nyssa.

===Visiting with Hadron===

Hadron is at court today as there is a council meeting. He is keen to talk with Sasha about "Our Grandmother" also known as the Lady of the Serpent or The Silver Rose, and the Lady of the Lake, so we arrange a private meeting.

Hadron is an extremely old man who has been life extended many times. We are concerned for his safety as the last time he touched Sasha he nearly dropped dead. Sasha wishes to show him the note from her mother, it is written on the skin of a dead imp (usually impossible on this plane). We check that we have a number of ways to resurrect him even if the base chance would be extremely low, and decide it is safe to show him the note.

Reminding Hadron that he wanted to talk about "Our Grandmother" he informs us that we need her scabbard or "You need it to protect your blood or you will loose your blood". Deducing that "Our Grandmother" is in fact Anguitia, we ask if we can just get the scabbard from her, to which he replies
*"You need her scabbard but she doesn't have it - the scabbard was lost during a battle
* find out the location of the scabbard in a good library - Sasha tells us that Rockwell has a good library
* Anguitia gave her sword and scabbard to a man that would be a great king, there are many versions of this tale. One of the names for the great king in this tale is "Arter".

Showing Hadron the note and asking about Sasha's mother
* He sees stones falling from the sky - this is the past
* She is driven to bring back the Skeleton Rider - who was once known as Baron Dumar, not the current one.
* She is Dumar's creature 
Can she be redeemed?? There is always hope
* Her weaknesses are - She cares for her children, and she is under the sway of Chaos
If she can effect Sasha through her blood ties can Sasha also effect her? Sasha can effect her through blood ties

'''The days of Chaos are coming'''
*What else will help against the Chaos magics - Make a shield from the Strange Wood - find something to stretch over it. Suspect it will stop most magics, will definitely stop fae magics. 
the plane of origin for strange wood is Legend (deduced from divinating the cradle) 
Sasha says that one of the Verain ships went to legend by getting lost in the fog, and they paid Count Azure a lot of money to get them home

Asking Questions about our curses and Rubizal
* He is the knight of Influence
* He is the knight of Satire
* He takes down those who are in positions of power and don't deserve it.
* He assists people who are being Maltreated by those in power.

At this point Lord Corbin arrives to take Sasha and Hadron to the council meeting.

=== Into the Library===

Sasha returns with Lord Rockwell, a hearty Dwarf with the library devoted to magical weapons. He agrees to help us find out about the scabbard. He seems a nice fellow a bit rough about the edges, Braegon seems very pleased to get away from court and drink his ale. He lives an hours walk out of town, we take a carriage.

On the way Rockwell tells us that the troll king has the scabbard we seek - The scabbard of Excalibur makes you immune to bleeding. I also look at a book on wound healer, Breagon relates a couple more tales of Engalton's daring feats with the sword for Rockwell's book.

===Anguitia===
[[Image:Anguitia.JPG|200px|thumb|left]]
Our next stop is to go see Anguitia, and ask about the scabbard. We arrive at her temple near the Lunar Empire; it is full of snakes and she is currently not at home. Asking one of her servants (a snake) we are told to look for her in the lake. Anguitia is easily found at the Lake. She looks like a Naga except that the snake portion is longer than that of any Naga I have met. She is not expecting us and does not have a task which we can perform to gain the amulets that certain of us want. If we want to make the amulets ourselves then it will take a very long time for most of us, less for Seren who has already started to learn alchemy.

She says that doing a small "good" will allow us to be let off our curses. She says that dealing with the Cult at Kirkul will easily be enough, and enough for the amulets as well. She would be happy to have the scabbard back, but only if it isn't needed, and is not concerned.

She can tell by looking at us, that Seren will become a creature of Vengeance or will be torn and dismembered by the Furies unless the curse is lifted off her.

Engalton asks about Discordia and is told that the summoning ritual which allowed Discordia to return to Alusia was not given to him by Anguitia, nor at her knowledge or behest. He is gifted with a vial of poison which can effect Discordia, but she is unlikely to fall for that one again, and we are warned of it's potency. Discordia, it seems, likes to dance in blood while appearing with the head of a lion. Anguitia advises that putting the poison into a vat of blood might work.

Our next plan is to see the Troll King. Arriving at a riverside in Caulder, Braegon announces it is bed time and we must all sleep on the dirt - what is more he won't build us a roof. I am not quite sure how this works because Engalton is party leader but we all camp out rough, something about getting soft and needing to be hard adventurers. Next morning Braegon is in rude health (I know this because I empathied him and sleeping on the wet cold ground doesn't give him colds).

==Day Three==

The Troll Kingdom is 5 hours flight from our camp, we make it there without incident. We are shown into a waiting room without trouble, as we have the great hero Braegon the Bold with us. Hours pass (probably 2) before a Shaman comes in to talk to us, it appears that the trolls have been trying to DA and Scry us with no success and have now decided to talk. We assure him that everything is okay and we ask for an audience with the Troll King

===The Troll King===

The Troll King has a very impressive honour guard, and is himself an obese Troll. Things must be going very well indeed for the Trolls. The Troll King offers us refreshments of live chickens, which after a brief conversation become dead charred chicken.

The Trolls did have the scabbard but it was stolen 3 months ago. The rocktrolls who guard the kings treasury feel asleep and the scabbard was stolen. This is odd because Rocktrolls don't sleep, and nothing else was stolen. We are not allowed into the Kings treasury to divinate, so a Rocktroll is bought to us to divinate so we can ascertain the nature of the sleep. Talking to the Rocktroll we discover that the remaining treasure in the treasury was rearranged into the shape of a mountain with little clouds circling it at the time of the theft. Also that this magic was cast by a Namer.

It is clear to us that this is the work of Rubizal... a Namer with a fixation for Mountains, who else can it be?

The trolls offer us an honour guard to help retrieve the scabbard if required, and offer a reward for the return of the scabbard if we find it. The King is not particularly concerned as the scabbard stops bleeding and trolls don't bleed.

===Yellow Emperor===

From the Troll kingdom Braegon leads us to Glissom. There we purchase Pots and Pans to take as gifts for Yellow Emperor, a wise shaman we have dealt with favourably before. I espy a particularly fine set of Needles which I think he will like.

Heading into the Mongodian swamp, the first thing we notice is that Yellow Emperor's hut has been cut down. The villagers all seem sickly and new barns have been erected. The village is in disorder and the villagers themselves appear to have turned to drink and ruin. A dusky maiden of negotiable virtue displays her assets to the men in our group, however getting no response she introduces us to a bar keeper in one of the new barns. The barkeep tells us that Yellow Emperor has moved up river.

Locating and flying to the Yellow Emperor's new village we are pleased to find he and his people are well. He tells us that some of his villagers preferred to stay in the old village and trade with the Destinians, who have bad teeth and need a lot of teeth medicine.

We learn

* The King of the Mountain is usually helpful
* He can be found on top of Mountains, usually requiring a hard journey. This is particularly true of magical mountains. 
We can try getting to him by,
Climbing the Sacred Mountain 
Going to hell and finding him in the mountains there 
Go to him through dream questing 

* The Blood Cultists will be trying to summon in the outsiders
* It is 10 days walk from the Village to the Sacred Mountain
* If we climb the mountain he is more likely to be there.
* We should cover the strange wood shields with Leviathan skin. Anything to protect the wood will be fine but Leviathan skin works best.

Yellow Emperor makes us each a fetish of protection vs horses, which might help against the Unicorn Duke.

===The Sacred Mountain===
[[Image:Two Towers.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Rube's Castle]]
We fly up the mountain to have words with Rube.
There is an unnatural storm swirling around the mountain, we fly over it to the mountain peak where we can see an obviously magical castle.

Landing is tricky in heavy turbulence and we are promptly met by Malachite the Earth Elemental.
He politely informs us that he has been summoned here to challenge us, we must defeat him and then the ice devils on the walls to enter and see Rube.
We discuss details and exchange pleasantries with Malachite while we cast our short-term magics, then promptly cut through his magical defences and banish him.

Meanwhile the Ice Devils have been loading and aiming their siege weaponry our way.
Deciding not to run the gauntlet of their weaponry we teleport to the top of the walls and lay into the devils. Within half a minute all 40 are bound or killed and we proceed into the castle without any further hindrance.

Rube thanks us for answering his invitation and dispatches a minion to the Eternals to retract his petition and hence lift our curses.

He tells us about a group who are trying to summon Duke Teer, and [[The Queen of Chaos]] (the blood cult of [[Kirkul]]) and how it would be beneficial to all mortals and the gods and powers that adhere to the compacts if the chaotic court (of Swords) were prevented from returning to our plane. Duke Teer has a piglike head and is a servant of Mabelode the Faceless, ([[The King of Swords]]) and associated with Arioch the insane [[The Knight of Swords]], Urleghn and Xiombiog. Rube tells us that these people are capable of killing the eternals (The Fates, Justice, Death etc).

Rubizal has acquired [[The Scabbard of Anguita]], and some strange-wood shields covered in Leviathan skin that should be of help to us.

He also suggests that the [[Sword of Solomon]] (Sham Shir-e Zomorodnegar) would be particularly useful if any of the Court of Swords did make it through as it is capable of killing the nameless. The sword is currently held by Justice the Queen of the Underworld (also known as Truth, Dyke, Ma'at, Mayet). Rube tells us inorder to get into the underworld we will need to identify the goddess's statues at the door. If we stab them all in the foot - Justice will be the one who cuts us down, Discordia will be the one who drinks our blood and the other goddess is deceit. He will not tell us the individual true names of Justice or Discordia.

Rube leaves the room, we trash it, kill some imps, 'steal' the shields and some books from his Library, then leave.

We take books on
* The Netherworld
* Gates
* Caverns
* Earth
* Going forth by day
* Amduat
* 3rd one from the top
* Aphrodite's Girdle
* Flying Through Gandiva

=== Yellow Emperor again ===
We land and discuss our next steps, the fly back to Yellow Emperor.
Sasha and Yellow Emperor go off into the jungle to perform a blood ritual to find out what has happened to Zmeya.
They return and report that he/she has been captured by Apep, Master of Snakes in the lands of the dead, who must be defeated in combat before she can be returned.

=== Shorapur and Drow Raids ===
We take the boat to Shorapur and ask the harbour master if he knows the location of Matt's ship.
He is not sure as they haven't been in port for over a week.

Flying south-east Sasha is able to locate someone on the ship and we head there.
Engalton is mildly concerned that the ship seems to be over the Drow City that Rashak used to be Queen of.

Matt is preparing to raid the Drow and invites us along, we decline but ask if he could help us get to the Temple of Justice, a moment later we are there and Matt is gone again.

=== Death and Justice ===
The temple is at the end of a barren valley, several groups are coming and going from worshipping at the temple, a priest surprised at our sudden appearance with a Titan offers us assistance.

We decline, and then approach the three statues at the end of the valley.
Ignoring Rube's advice for getting past them and taking the advice of the King of the North we ask them the appropriate indirect double-negative question, identify each of the statues and gain entrance to the lands of the dead.

Walk through darkness.
Swim.
Desert of snakes.
Sea of Fire, battle Apep to pass and free Zmeya.
And finally reach the place of Judgement.

We are expected and invited to a side-room to meet with Justice.
She approves of our quest and will loan us the Sword of Solomon if we are wise.

We demonstrate our wisdom in how we deal with and answer the riddles and quandaries posed by Justice and are given the sword. It is of note that we are also owed two favours by Justice. Serendipity carries the sword as she is the only one with skill in Scimitar.

Justice teaches us the laws of Magic, as we have some thought that we might use our boons to call down Justice upon Sinners. Also some people might need to be pardoned for their sins 
1. Thou shalt not kill by use of Magic 
2. Thou shalt not transform others 
3. Thou shalt not invade the mind of another 
4. thou shalt not enthrall another 
5. thou shalt not reach beyond the borders of life 
6. thou shalt not swim against the currents of time 
7. thou shalt not seek beyond the outer gates. 

We are shown the door back to the lands of the living and exit into the mortal Temple of Justice.
It is the following day and the priest is surprised to see us in the temple as he didn't see us enter.
We avoid the question, leave the temple and banish ourselves back to Carzala.

== Day 5 until 12 ==
=== Shield Training ===

Sasha and Erzsabet have no skill in shield, so we take a week out, mainly in Newhaven, to train them in the basics.

Erzsabet, Engalton and Sasha use the time to learn some names of Cultists from one of the books we took from Rube. In particular we learn the name Malachite so we can summon the earth elemental

* There are 320 names in the book
* 25 blood mages
* Some names which stand out as more complicated and old

Discussing options 
* We want to find the location and number of slaves
* location of the treasuries - Sasha knows this
* Blood cultists location - everywhere
* Ritual location
* Location of the "child" Vessel - and guardian Mind, (which we believe to be an aspect of Nun, Primordial Chaos rather than a created entity as the captured vampire believes)
* which ally have we overlooked
* organise Valkyrie attack
* Hive mind

A number of scrying crystals are borrowed from Nystral, a Dwarf Sasha knows:
*2 rank 20 crystals of vision
*one greeny yellow mana storing crystal, 10ft, regenerates 1ft per night
*one milky/silvery 24 sided rank 12 crystal of vision, shows what it thinks you should see
*one black with red flecks, stores a blow

We decide to try to acquire the hive mind, mentioned to us by [[Syrene]] on behalf of Matt Tumbledown during the previous adventure, to maximise the groups protections when we enter [[Kirkul]].
Then we will enter Kirkul by stealth, locate and poison as many of the blood vats as possible, recover two of the leaders we want to try to redeem, and destroy the eye.
Once stealth is no longer possible we will call in Sabrina to lead a general assault on [[Kirkul]].

==Day 13==
''Sasha scribes:''
===The Eye of the Queen===

We get lost to the Great Heart to find out about the Hymenoptera from Syrene (who rudely ignores Sasha and Braegon, she gets snootier every time we meet her).

There, we also meet some elves who are watching Seren's father and (at Matt's request) intercepting his land-shipments of slaves to Kirkul. We arrange to meet them outside of Kirkul.

We raid the bugs, killing the queen and some body guards, get the 'eye' (part of her brain) and some carapace. While the colony is in disarray we recover some dwarves and elves who were soon to be food, and leave them (once healed/resurrected) in the care of Syrene's elves.

Back in Seagate we get blessings from the Michaeline Bishop and potions from Shoka.

The other Engalton has arranged for Michaeline troops to take ship to Kirkul and join our assault.

==Day 14==
We go to visit the muses in Glissom. As we are about to enter the temple of Mimir, esp detects an Ape mind that I don't think should be there.

Some of the party learn from the muses. This involves wearing a cursed helmet and then having a curse removal and takes some time.

During this time we meet the Ape. He is an Avatar, the Blind Ape of Knowledge, also known as Destiny, so one of the Eternals. He says he's glad he followed us here because it was hidden. I think I'm in trouble again. He says he will leave once we have all left, and just sits there looking contemplative.

I look for the treasure that went down the hole last time I was here, but it is gone. I blame Kel, but it was probably the Succubi.

We walk to the village. The villagers appear clumsy and are involved in philosophical conversations. We sleep there.

==Day 15==
I drink some of the village water, which will last about 24 hours.

We call in Sabrina to share the 'eye' with us, cast assorted self-only magics to affect everyone, then head for the Five Sisters.

On the way to Kirkul we swing by Matt's ship to let him know we are going in. Unsure why, he mentions that the 'Eye of the Queen' he told us of before would be a bad thing in Kirkul as the insects worship Chaos. We call Sabrina back and the Rk 12 Healers cleanse everyone of the 'Eye'.

We meet the elves outside Kirkul.

Engalton ESPs to locate a cat that I earlier precogged in a crystal, and before we can talk to the elves (we must seem very rude), he teleports us over to it, as he has realised that it is Discordia. Engalton engages her in discussion over his duties as her high priest, Braegon offers her cream from the scone picnic, Sasha and Seren spike it with the sleeping draught from Anguita and to our surprise Discordia drinks the cream and falls over asleep. (We will not be able to poison the vats of blood in the city with it.)

Erzsabet removes some of her anti-scrying, picks up Discordia, and calls for Matt.
Matt takes us to Anguita, where we hand over the sleeping Discordia. Anguitia takes her and goes somewhere in haste.

Someone tells us that the 24 sided crystal as well as working over any range or time, can be used to open a gate to the outside, so we destroy it, then Matt drops us back to the elves.

They tell us that the protections of the city have increased. From about a mile out, mana is being drawn in. Scrying magic no longer works and casting can probably be detected.

===Into Kirkul===
Braegon prepares our route to the city overland (the earth elemental begins to flake as we get closer to the city, the mana is starting to be very low), while we wait till sunset, then we cast our buffs at a distance and I dance.

As we approach the city the stars are occluded by flying creatures, but they don't seem to notice us. We tunnel further, intersecting with some sewer outside of the walls. The earth elemental is dismissed in case it comes under control of the Eye.

We Tunnel under the wall and come up in an abandoned building, avoiding the Death Maggot in the cellar.

We sneak above ground towards a temple (Building ?), where the Eye was last seen.
Braegon uses tunnelling to remove a wall and accidentally releases 4 bound wights, but they are no match for us.
Approaching the building I Wizard's Eye inside. The Eye is not there, but there are four 12 foot tall creatures. My DA is sucked into them when I try it.

Engalton locates one of the Priests while I locate Claw Death. The arrows coincide. We make our way in that direction. No one pays us any attention, they seem to be heading to the south.

We reach building 61(?), where our arrows are pointing. Inside is Claw Death and 3 priests having a conversation. We open the door, and Compel (1) and Stasis (2) the priests. Claw Death ignores the spells. She says that she knows I am there and I should show myself. I ignore her.

Seren attacks her with Solomon's Sword, and she expands to 7 feet tall with tentacles. Seren's first blow cleaves her head in half, but no, the priest next to her is cloven instead. She passes off the next spec grev to one of our elf companions so they hide behind a wall of earth.

Braegon goes to assist Seren as she is being tentacled. A tentacle moves to Braegon, but he succeeds in a knock-out and Claw Death collapses to the ground. Engalton rushes over to the body and applies his soul jar amulet, but it now seems to contain "some chap". That would be Marden, her "ex"-husband.

Suddenly, I notice a tall, naked, bald, dark-skinned, unarmed man beside me. He looks at Seren and says "This will be interesting". I withdraw, while Seren attacks him with Solomon's Sword. We figure that this is the "Eye" in a different form (also known as Crawling Darkness).

He is fatally surprised to discover that she is doing damage to him, and is slashed a number of times, till he disintegrates into a puddle of grey slime on the floor.

Erzsabet and I leave the floor and Braegon leaps onto the ceiling in a very un-Earthmage-like manner. Engalton moves over to pick up the injured priest and I pick up Claw Death. One of the elves is touched by the slime, which oozes into his leg, so it is quickly amputated above the knee.

I land and put Claw Death down on a table.

Braegon, on the ceiling, notices that there is something slimy inside his armour, and drops to the floor. He undoes a couple of straps and Seren deftly pulls out a slimy, grey, slug-like thing.

I notice that my locate on mother now point to the "slug". I knew it! Told you she wasn't in the body.

The slug begins to insinuate itself into Seren's flesh. The Sword of Solomon just slips over it's surface. When she picks up her strangewood shield to scrape with, it detaches and she drops it. It immediately goes for her again and she catches it and balances it on the shield. Earth magics are used to enclose it it a casing of rock. The body is alive, breathing slowly, but fading.

We notice that the fatigue cost to cast is up to 8x.

Engalton tries ESP to check whether it is safe now that we defeated the "eye", and is drained 4ft per pulse until he counterspells it. There are a dozen humanoids outside forming up nervously to attack, and 4 points of nothing drawing in magic.

Wizards Eye outside show that they are rabble with no obvious leader, and that there are one of those 12 foot tall creatures at each corner, sparkling blue.

There is smoke visible and noise in two directions. That will be Sabrina and our Michaeline allies.

We tunnel out the wall and attack with Dragon Flames (investeds seem to have a reduced effect but casting seems to work fine)
Meanwhile, Seren and Engalton attack the absorbers with Solomon's Sword and a completely mundane weapon. Both pass through the creatures with sparks and seem to have little effect. Then Seren tries her shield and the creature vanishes in a shower of sparks. She moves onto the second creature and uses the shield but it just sparks and doesn't vanish.

A locate on Rufus has the arrow flickering from place to place, either he is teleporting or is in many places.

The fire mage elf casts into his endurance and creates a rank 96, 30 pulse duration, 330 damage column of cold over the whole area which leaves him bleeding out.
Engalton goes down for a moment and the rabble freeze and shatter.
Bedivere drags Engalton out.
The creature and its megahex with Seren are unaffected but Seren can't leave its vicinity without getting frozen.

Rufus seems to be narrowing his arc.

While we consider, Seren fights it, but it starts to grow and become more solid, absorbing the magic and hitting harder so she evades.

Engalton dispels the cold zone but the creature is now 28 feet tall.

Rufus stabilises in one direction.

The party attack the giant creature and I make Claw Death's body invisible.
Anyone without a strangewood shield or who passes through it or vice versa must resist or lose magic.
The giant dog loses all its buffs, feeding the creature, but Seren's items survive its punch.

We hear whistling, similar to "Meteor Strike" and can see a black cloud moving against the wind overhead, so those outside rush in. It turns out to be "Rain of Millstones", an angelic magic last seen at Barretskine. We take some collateral damage and hide in a lidded wall of iron till it finishes.

The smaller magic absorbing creatures are destroyed. Rufus goes erratic again.

===Emergence===
After five minutes, during which we loot the bodies and rebuff where necessary, we emerge from our bunker, to find the building in rubble.

In fact, the whole city in rubble.

We set off on foot across the city toward Rufus' location, which coincides with Engalton's new locate on Bliss. After a while they both disappear from range, and a new locate with 150 mile range fails to pick them up, so they have teleported.

The only leader we can still pick up is Cauldron Mike, who was looking after the "Mind" so we head for him. We find him under the rubble of building 13. The basement is covered with a huge slab of bound iron. We tunnel down through the mess to iron. While standing on it there is no mana and short duration magics fall off. We open the trapdoor. About ten foot in we can once again draw mana (in bound stone), but past the next bend the tunnel is lined in iron. We continue through this obvious trap and enter a room lined in bound iron where '''none''' of our magic works.

We see a black sphere (similar but not the same as the "mind") spinning inside some kind of mechanician frame. Hanging on the walls are many sets of iron shackles. It seems that this device has been drawing in teleporters into the shackles.

Cauldron Mike is here in ill-fitting armour and a strange helmet, as are ? two drow and six dangerous looking orcs.

This scares us more than maybe it should have in retrospect, and we negotiate a truce allowing them out with only what they can carry and three days before we will chase them, then we exit. Luckily there is the short space in the tunnel for casting the new tunnelling to get out.

Outside we meet the leader of the Michaeline contingent, who complains about the Heathens and undead we have allied with, and worries about us letting Cauldron Mike go, but we talk him down.

The Michaeline tells us that the enemy sent slabs of chaos stone at them, especially near the docks, which is why the called down the millstones, and they captured some fleeing enemy and secured the treasure they were carrying for the church.

We spend the day looting what is left of the city. We find the body of El Muerte. There are many areas of chaos taint remaining, where weird stuff happens, e.g. thing fall up. We will arrange for mechanicians (maybe Mortimer or MMHS) to bring out the device, which is too big to remove in one piece. There are 24 slaves intercepted by the elves, and we arrange that they will help settle Erszabet's land once it has been cleared.

We retire to the tower that the previous party used, to deal with mother. Divination of the body shows that it does not contain a soul. We open the stone containing the slug and put it in through the mouth. As she begins to regain consciousness Erszabet paralyses her by taking a lot of her magic resistance. Once I tell her to stop resisting, I sleep her, which takes effect with normal duration.

As we have her ITN, Erzsabet is able to do a true form ritual to remove the chaos taint and uses the sword to remove any remaining madness. She is now fine but remembers little of the past fifteen years.

We use our favours from Justice to bring us Rufus and Bliss, and tell us where they were. We apply the same treatment to Rufus as to Claudette, resulting in a four year old mind in a seventeen year old body. We then make our way to an island in the Isles of Adventure where we find the Vessel. It is a magical construct with no soul, so we kill it, burn it, and let the ashes wash away in the tide.

Of the enemy:
* we have slain the Avatar of Chaos
* we have destroyed one of the six Vessels
* we have redeemed Claw Death
* we have redeemed Rufus
* we have captured Bliss (what are we doing with her?)
* Cauldron Mike is on the loose
* El Muerte is dead
* Silver Blade is unaccounted for

Visit Anguitia's Temple. She is not there, but there is an amulet for each of us.

Back to the guild and we sleep.

= Nominations and SGT Snippets =

== Nominations ==
; Best Death

; Smartest

; Bravest

== Quotes ==

== Hot and Not ==
; Hot
* Silver Braiding
; Not

= Reference Information =
== People ==

== Places ==

== Standard Buffs ==
"A" = always on, "Y" = Yes please, "-" not required, blank = as required 

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!width="30px" Align="Left" | Br
!width="30px" Align="Left" | En
|width="30px" Align="Left" | Mod
|width="30px" Align="Left" | Cat1
|width="30px" Align="Left" | Cat2
|width="30px" Align="Left" | Ju
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Er
|width="30px" Align="Left" | E'Dog
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Se
!width="30px" Align="Left" | Sa
|width="30px" Align="Left" | S'Dog
|width="30px" Align="Left" | Zme
|-
| Armour of Earth || 21 || +44% Def -2 Dam 15 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -- || Y || Y || Y
|-
| Strength of Stone || 20 || +21 EN 30 Hrs || A || A || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y
|-
| Fire Armour || 10 || 20Hrs 44 Protection || Y || Y || A || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y
|-
| Witchsight || 14 || 12Hrs || Y || -- || A || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y
|-
| Strength of Darkness|| 19 || +11 for 290 mins || -- || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y ||Y || Y || -- || Y || Y || --
|-
| Quickness || 10 || 5 Targets, 20x[d-5] pulses|| || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
| Trollskin || 13 || Regen 1 EN/Pulse 95 Sec || || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
| Disguise || 11 || || 11 || || || || || || || || ||21|| ||
|-
| Mindcloak || || || Y || A || -- || -- || -- || A || Y || -- || Y || A || --|| --
|-
| Enhance Enchantment || 9 || +9 Rks || || || || || || || || || || || ||
|- valign="top"
| Shadow Wings || 10 || 40mph 11.5Hrs 460 miles || || || || || || || -- || || || -- || -- || --
|-
| Counterspells (Eng)# || || || Ne Wi || 2 || 2 || || || 2 || 2 || || 2 || 2 || || Ne Mi
|-
| Counterspells (Erz)# || || || || || || 2 || 2 || || || 2 || || Na Mi || Ne Mi ||
|-
| Choker || || Counterspells || Fi|| -- || -- || -- || -- || -- || NI SM|| -- || Mi|| E&E || -- ||--
|-
| Animal Growth || 6 || || || || || Y || Y || || || Y || || || Y ||
|}
* Most durations are assumed to be enhanced.
; Braegon's Anti-Scrying (while on ground)
: 2 Hex Radius, blocks magical scrying, blocks Locate < 17, appear as native animals to ESP/Telepathy

== Mil Sci ==

; Watches

; Marching Order

= Calendar =
{| cellspacing="1" class="Season" id="Winter"
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Frost (7)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day |
| Samhain
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting Seagate Glissom, Siren Woods
| class=day | 2
| Glissom Anguita
| class=day | 3
| Troll Kingdom Yellow Emperor Rube Justice
| class=day | 4
| Justice
| class=day | 5
| Newhaven - Shield Training
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
| Great Heart Insects
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
| Glissom - Muses
| class=day | 15
| Kirkul
| class=day | 16
| Kirkul
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|}
== Rewards ==
* EP: 28500
* SP: 35000

Final experience amounts were so close I have made them all 28500.

Steve has kindly written up the items for me and will organise a split by email shortly. Rolls have been generated by keen hands incase needed: Sasha 27, Erzabet 29, Braegon 37, Engleton 53, Seren 98.

Blood and Sand

2026-06-06T03:41:17Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Callum]] [[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Pierre]]
[[Category:Aryan]]
[[Category:Dalran]]
[[Category:Father_Rowan]]
[[Category:Lath]]
[[Category:GoK]]
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; font-size: smaller;">__TOC__</div>

<-- Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Winter_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
= Summary =
The adventure is to take place on Alusia. The employer comes from a shrine on the outskirts of [[Asan]] in the Desert of Sand and Time. 
'''Adventure''': Blood and Sand - Full 
'''GM''': [[GM%27s#GM:_Callum_Thorpe|Callum]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Tuesday 7:00pm till late. 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level|High Level]]. 
'''Location''': 31 Methuen Road, Avondale [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=31+Methuen+Rd,+Avondale,+Auckland+0600,+New+Zealand&sll=-36.,174.&sspn=0.,0.&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1 Map]. 

; Employer
A priest by the name of Sartep. A middle aged man with a very good tan, dressed in simple brown robes wearing sandals that appear to be made from reeds. He is carrying a staff fashioned from ebony, the head of which has been carved into a sheaf of corn entwined with a wagon wheel.

; Party
# [[Pierre]] a Water Mage & Cook, played by Andrew Luxton-Reilly - '''Party Leader'''.
# Count [[Aryan]] a Warrior, General, Hero, Swordmaster, Navigator, Aerogator, Lover, Drinker, and <strike>most powerfool mage!</strike> Occasionally influenced by [[User:Stephen|Stephen]] - '''Mil Sci'''.
# [[Dalran]] a Brave E&E, played by Chris Caulfield - '''Scribe'''.
# [[Father_Rowan|Canon Rowan Velcanthus]], a Wiccan priest of Chantris, played by [[Jim_Arona|Jim]].
# [[Lath]] an Air Mage, played by Jono Bean.
# [[GoK]] a Celestial Warrior, played by Hamish Brown.

;Time on adventure
:1st Frost 808 WK to 20th Frost 808 WK

;Mission
To recover a stolen idol ...

= Notes =

= Scribe Notes =
== 1st Frost - Start of Guild Employment and then cloud travel to Asan ==
* 9am: Guild meeting
* 10am: Party Meets employer and establishes party details
* 11am: Departs Seagate bound for Asan on Lath's cloud, travelling @ 100mph
Travel for the rest of the day, sleep and rest for most of the party as well as further discussions with Sartep.

== 2nd Frost - Asan - Investigations progress ==
* 1am: Arrive at Sartep's shrine in the Unknown Desert of Sand and Time
* 1.30am: Dalran starts ritual spell prep while party talks to dead and undertakes physical investigation
* 11.30am: Ritual finished and results reflected upon
Sleep at Sartep's Shrine until 4pm
* 4pm: We leave to head for the Westernmost Shrine run by Jaffe
* 4.30pm: We arrive at Jaffe's Shrine. Investigate the idol based there and memorize it for the future
A 'service' is underway and several of our party (Aryan, GoK and Fr Rowan) decide to participate while Lath, Pierre and I decide against it. A later DA shows that the 'service' drained the followers and that the energy drained travels away in an Easterly direction. It is at this point we decide to investigate what is in that direction which we also hypothesize is in the center of a pentagram. We depart Jaffe's Shrine at around 6pm.
* 6pm: We arrive at [[Blood and Sand#Ruins in the center of the pentagram|Pentagram Central Station]] where we fight with 4 large Sand/Earth elementals and flee from 3 very large Air Elementals. We establish that the controlling magic on the elementals is Rank 20+.
* 7pm: We find ourselves once more at Sartep's Shrine to regroup and reflect on the days events.
* 9.45pm: We are back at the ruins where we find no land based elementals and the air elementals seem not to notice us under our eddy effects. We espy a small fire on the edge of the ruins. We investigate and then chat with Petras for some time.
* 11pm: We take leave of Patras's campsite and proceed to the center of the ruins which appears to be a large plaza. The plaza is unusual and we judge it to have been a building previously but there is no sign of a building here. I send my face looking through the earth and finally some 500ft down I encounter something unexpected which causes my face to dissipate. Using a sand shovel we manage to 'dig' a shaft down the 500ft and discover fitted bound earth there which we are unable to penetrate. We leave but mark the spot to return later. Having nothing else to do we decide to make a start on looking for the foreigners and the D'resh raiders and so we fly off eastwards into the night looking for any signs of light or habitation.

== 3rd Frost - Asan - Discovery of Target, completion of Employment, Travel to Khatovar ==
* 2am: we espy a light in the desert and we descend to land on the lip of a '''Hidden Valley of the D'resh''' in a thin valley amongst some low hills. We undertake to watch the area for a short time and we also note the presence of a number of beings in the tents and we hope to have found the raiders of Sartep's shrine.
*3am: I start investigating each tent and discover the foreigners. Once I see them we attack and quickly overwhelm or kill them. We grab the bodies, equipment and anything else close to hand and flee the camp into the night away from the remaining raiders.
*4am: We resurrect the boss man James and undertake some questioning of him and his men. Investigation into their equipment is ineptly done by the famous forensic dark celestial mage, GoK and results in the complete loss of his primary arm up above his elbow. Moments later the arm is back but now he can't use his primary arm for 2 months. Facts are uncovered and decisions made. The foreigners were given the job of stealing the idol by Sebalius of Khatovar.
*8am: Start travel back to Sartep's shrine.
*3pm: Arrive at Sartep's Shrine and return the idol and are given the diamond as payment. '''GUILD ASSIGNED MISSION COMPLETED'''
*3.30pm: We use the rune-stick of our captives and portal to the '''Wolfpack Mercenary Company''' camp outside of Khatovar.
*4pm: We enter the '''Wolfpack Mercenary Company''' camp and discuss ransom for our captives. We are paid 10,000sp for their return.
*5pm: We walk to the gates of Khatovar, sign in and leave excessive weaponry and other such armaments as well as receiving the customary warnings about magic, fighting etc.
*6pm: We take rooms at the Dancing Dolphin Inn (100sp/night) near the gates and we spend the rest of the night at the Inn resting and relaxing.

== 4th Frost - Khatovar - Rest and Relaxation ==
* 8am: Send a message to Sebalius that we wish to talk at his convenience. He will see us at 6pm so we rest and sleep for the day.
* 6pm: We meet with [[Blood and Sand#Sebalius|Sebalius]] to discuss matter and learn that the idols are feeding the possible rebirth of an evil god who will not be pleasant to be around and will lay waste to where he rebirths. Without uttering a name, he leads us to believe that the entity in question is [[Blood and Sand#Yig, the Father of Serpents|'the Father of Serpents']]. The area in the center of the pentagram and where we found the hidden underground chamber is where an acolyte of the god is undertaking a long ritual to rebirth him. This acolyte is said to be a master elementalist and may have dominion over more than one element. He offers us employment to destroy the idols. Some of our party are informed that [[Jail_Break#Wilber|Wilber]] (a shaper) is no longer a member of the enchanters guild since their last visit.

== 5th Frost - Khatovar ==
*Check out the [[Blood and Sand#The Allied Traders|Allied Traders Guild]] and look for work.One of the contracts is on behalf of the [[Blood and Sand#The Enchanters Guild|Enchanters Guild]]. This contract is to restore their mine, which is no longer producing the gems they need for their craft. We leave Pierre at Khatovar to do some grocery shopping.

*We arrive at the mine and encounter a couple of [[Blood_and_Sand#Mining_Golems|mining golems]]. They appear to be controlled by [[Blood and Sand#Scorpiders|scorpiders]] which hang around their neck. We prevail.

*About 20 minutes further into the mine, we are surprised and attacked from above. We prevail and go outside the mine.

*Pierre has finally arrived, and GoK goes back to shop for clothes.

*About two dozen [[Blood and Sand#Brood Warriors|brood warriors]] attack us from the mine. We prevail.

*We search the mine for loot, and find a large, totem pole sized rune stick. It is a re-usable Rune Portal. Divination revealed that the other rune stick that was paired to create the portal was NNW, many hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles.

*We took the rune pole and the brood warrior's blood and report back to the Allied Trades guilds. We get the blood analysed because it damaged Aryan's and Pierre's magical cutlery.

*We hear about a recent rash of thefts in Khatovar. There are some interesting characteristics to these thefts.
# The thefts involve large, powerful magical items.
# The items are held in private hands, rather than belonging to states or large organisations (like the Guilds).
# No one seems to know who is behind the thefts.

==6th Frost - Khatovar ==
*We get our fee from the Enchanters.

*We find out that the Healers Guild is looking for something called the Eye of Auralius, a powerfully magical gem.

*Dalran spies and finds out that contraband is being shifted, but no one knows who is doing it. This is unusual.

*We visit the [[Blood and Sand#The Paper Guild|Paper Guild]] and speak with [[Blood and Sand#Gerald|Gerald]] to offer our services. He asks us for our information but is not interested in our help.

*We hear about a fellow called the [[Blood and Sand#The Smith|Smith]], who lives some 500 miles to the North, in the Twilight.
*We spend the rest of the day in Khatovar and plan to leave the next morning.

==7th Frost - Asan ==
*We steal the idols upon our return to Asan. The first four are recovered okay, but on the last one Pierre suffers the effects of a spell like Whirlwind Vortex that we call the Shears of the Wind. He traps it in his chest. Later, when he releases it, he is torn into 97 pieces.
: Being within 250' of the idols with hostile intent (or not being invited) triggers the Shears of the Wind spell (Instant death, torn into 2-200 pieces, resist vs Air Special for no effect).
: Removing the idol with only one protection bracelet results in additional resist vs air special at -100.

*We try to use a miracle to resurrect Pierre but fail because of the extent of the damage.

*When we have all of the idols together, they lose their form and look like shards of something (presumably the heart of a god).

*We take Pierre to Ambrose's Inn, and he agrees to help us but it will take a long time. We propose using the gem to accelerate the healing, he aks to see the gem, then before we can object he fits the shards together to form one large heart shaped gem. Light pulses gently within it. With a "this will do nicely" Ambrose tosses the heart of the god into the vat with Pierre. Not to be out-done, Lath throws her staff in the vat too. Ambrose tells us that he will be better in two days. We drink some beer.

== 8th Frost - Brandenburg ==
*We drink some more beer.

== 9th Frost - Brandenburg ==
*We drink some more beer.

== 10th Frost - Brandenburg > Asan ==
*We pull Pierre out of the beer with the other dregs.

*We head down to Pentagram Central Station, land nearby and kill the Air Elementals. We send Dalran's mining golems down to try and find a point of entrance in the bound earth.

*We meet Petras again. He has a research student with him called [[Blood and Sand#Lyndar|Lyndar]].

*We talk to them a while, they tell us nothing new but are very interested in everything we have found out.
* Lath and Aryan get bored with the conversation and attempt variants of the Sleep spell that requires that the head of the target be uncovered. Sadly, the material component of the spell bounced off some odd aura. With a brief gesture, both [[Blood and Sand#Petras|Petras]] and Lyndar are quickly covered by sand that slipped up their bodies. They wield scimitar-like extensions of mana. During the fight, two earth elementals appeared in their support. We slay Petras and one of the elementals. Lyndar and the other elemental flee in terror of F. Rowans sermons. Otherwise, we prevail.

*We communicate with the mining golems, and discovered they had been restrained by earth elementals. A third EE turns up and starts pouning on the golems. Rowan attempts to summon an elemental and the pounding stops. Dalran sends a couple of Spectral Warriors to deal to the EEs still holding the golems, they are released and shortly after the SWs are destroyed. The golems start the slow race with the elementals back to the surface.

The combat ends with a victory for us.

== 11th Frost ==

We fight in the basement of the Engravers guild to free Wilbur from his 'Plinth of Suffering' and Father Rowan dies in a blaze of flames. We flee via Teleport and then off to Lath's Island. 
On Laths Island we undertake some questioning of 'Wilbur' and the events leading up to his untimely demise. We discover he'd like to be ressurected if possible and holds no animosity towards the party for his death - which he saw as a release from the pain and agony anyway. We take Wilbur in a bucket and continue on our way to the guild via Winds, Wings, Clouds and Prayers.

== 12th Frost - Seagate - Tycho - Khatovar ==
6am: We arrive at the guild after passage through the portal from Adjepbar, post Laths Island. 
Arrangements are made for ressurections for Wilbur and the two female bodies we recovered in the same fight. 

Noon: We depart the guild via the portal to Tycho. 
We fly via cloud to Khatovar, arriving 10miles away by 6pm.
We land and undertake rituals to stop scrying on us as a group in our location and then as individuals to decrease our detectability by magical means - this takes the rest of the night.

== 13th Frost ==

1am: The rituals finish and we move to enter Khatovar by way of the sewers. We notice a new light is at the entrance of the sewers and are very wary of this new development. Enter the city proper by way of translocation via Gok. 

We find ourselves in an alley. Deciding to get some cover we enter a nearby house and subdue (no lethally) the inhabitants and reorganise ourselves. 

We quickly plan: The more subtle party members are to go to a local pub and see what info they can find about the target of our investigations - Sebalius. 

Not much is discovered but we note an exchange of information and decide to follow the 'information flow' to its suspected destination. As suspected the info makes its way to the Allied Traders Guild (ATG) and thus we follow it there. 

Dalran approaches the guild with a proposition of value. We want a place of safety in town for 2 days that is guarded from others by the ATG and that news of our latest presence doesn't become known for 2 days - esp from Sebalius and the Enchanters/Engravers Guilds. The cost is 10,000sp which we pay knowing the possible exorbitance of the price - but what price on establishing a relationship and good faith for future dealings! 

We get the ATG to contact the likely friend of Wilbur - Jermay and arrange a meeting for the morning. 
We sleep until 8am when we wake, eat and recast spells. 

9am: we meet with Jermay, who while sympathetic to our causes is a caustic, crochety old man wrapped up in his own world of texts and power. We do discuss the issues we are facing, warn him of the danger from Sebalius, what we are looking for as a result of questioning Wilbur in his deceased state and what we plan to do. 

10am: We see Jermay again and he has recovered the orbs from Wilbur's desk which are 10 orbs of 'Universal Solvent', a very dangerous substance indeed. 

11am: Wer re-enter the sewers and prepare to destroy the wall into the chambers using the 'Reavers Axe' we recovered last time we fought in this very room. Recast of short term magic is done and then Aryan starts 'cutting away' the wall with the Axe in a most efficient manner. Once the last section falls everyone charges into the Darkness beyond prepared to lay waste to the room and its defenders. We find the 'Grey Twins' are here and they have killed everyone here. We use 7 orbs of 'Universal Solvent' to destroy the plinth into a liquid metal goop and we save some of the resulting goop for later investigation. We 'clean' the room while there and take 3 intact male bodies for use at a later time. 

Noon: We find ourselves resting after an ardous morning. 

6pm: We meet with jermay and relate our findings 

7pm: The Grey twins arrive to take us to a 'duel' with the Heralds of Sebalius - to the death. 
The duel starts badly for us with magical darkness swamping our senses and runebaldes cutting some of us from the air and a number of nasty spells. Once the darkness dissipates the duel become smore of a level 'playing field' and we finish of the Heralds with the loss of Rowan. 

== 14th Frost ==

== 15th Frost ==

== 16th Frost ==

== 17th Frost ==

== 18th Frsot ==

== 19th Frost ==

== 20th Frost ==

== Information about the Visions of GoK, Canon Velcanthus & Lath ==

= Nominations and SGT Snippets =

== Nominations ==
; Best Death
* Pierre WWV into 97 pieces

; Smartest
* Lath's Plan to mind control a mind controlling bug to control a mining golem to tunnel into the bound earth - ''Not enacted''

; Bravest

== Quotes ==

== Hot and Not ==
; Hot
: Magical Divination
; Not
: Divining Dark Spheres by touch

= Reference Information =
== Information gained about the attack on the shrine ==
; 29th Vintage. Sartep's shrine is attacked and the idol there is stolen by raiders.

The D'resh affect flowing robes and veils, and they provided support for a small band of more professional infiltrators. Everyone's features were concealed, although the hands of two of the infiltrators were pale unlike those of the D'resh. Additionally, they spoke Common and had the accents of people who come from the North, beyond the sea.

Many of the raiders were 'torn apart and the remains scattered upon the winds' on their way to the shrine. It is likely to be the work of air elementals, not whirlwind vortex. The northern infiltrators seemed to have protection against the elementals, but it is not perfect.

After the idol was captured, the D'resh fled East, further into the Unknown Desert of Sands and Time. We guess that the northern infiltrators went with them at least some of the way.

==Visions, Prophecies & Presentiments==
*'''[[Visions]]'''
== Entities we met or have information on ==
===The Allied Traders===
A guild that offers mercenary tasks on behalf of other guilds.

===The Bone Singer===
The son of the previous High Priest of Yig. He seems to be able to use Naming Incantations and Necromancy. We have not found out anything else about him, and suspect him of being an ascetic.

===Brood Mother===
She was not seen, although egg spoor and the associated slime was spotted near the Rune Portal pole. We surmise she used the portal before we could get to her.

===Brood Warriors===
;[[Image:broodwarrior.gif|right|150 px]]
Insectoid humanoids with mandibles and claws. They have claw/claw/bite routines, and inflict damage of about D10+17 physical damage. The bite might only be usable in close. When we saw them, their TMR was 12, but they might have been Quickened. They have very high strike chances, in excess of 170% or so. They appear to have an increased chance of defeating armour or causing grievous wounds.

They were not affected by Knockout Gas, but then they may be especially resistant to it. They may also be resistant to poisons.

=== D'resh ===
The D'resh, a nomadic tribe who seem to practice banditry in the deserts surrounding [[Asan]]. They were hired to provide support on the raid of the shrine. The D'resh are feared for their vicious and calculated attacks and the abilities of their warriors.

===The Enchanters Guild===
A guild of mages who seem able to create shaped items. They own mines that produce fine metals and gems.

===Gerald===
A functionary in the Paper Guild who reports to the Commander of the Guard (the guild master).

===He Who Works Flame & Shade===
The son of the previous High Priest of Yig. He seems to be able to use Fire and Celestial Shadow magic. We believe that he is stealing magical items to raise power to summon Yig to Alusia, but don't know how.

=== James ===
A human, male fighter and leader of the foreigners who stole the idol from Sartep's shrine on 29th Vintage 808.

===Lyndar===
A woman posing as a research assistant of [[Blood and Sand#Petras|Petras]], in fact, we believe, a minion of the Elemental Master.

===The Master Elementalist===
The son of the previous High Priest of Yig, who seems able to draw upon Earth and Air magic. We believe that elementals that he summons are transubstantiated to Alusian air or earth, and we hypothesise that this has several benefits:
# the elementals cannot be banished to their plane of origin.
# the duration component of the spell is no longer limited by the concentration of the summoner.
# their combined EN & FT may exceed the usual values for elementals.

We believe he used the idols to draw on the worship of the Sartep's people to raise power, thus to summon Yig to Alusia.

===Mining Golems===
;[[Image:MiningGolem.jpg|right|250 px]]

Magma elementals encased in a crust, and it is this crust that is the golem. Immune or extremely resistant to fire. They are also immune to pain-based attacks. They have lots of armour and strength and will usually move into close when they attack. They have a claw/claw attack routine, and seem to do about D10+22 physical damage. Their TMR is about 6.

We believe that these things can move through the ground in the same way that earth elementals can, and so are not stopped by most walls, except, perhaps, a Wall of Iron.

When the crust is breached, the magma elemental is exposed which kills it. On its death, it inflicts damage in a similar way to Smoking Magma.

These golems are three hex creatures.

===The Paper Guild===
Khatovar's equivalent of Guild Security.

=== Petras ===
A human male of silver hair and middling years who is an archaeologist from the University of Ur in Asan. Short lived sentient, non pacted or colleged. His area of specialty is the ruins in the center of the pentagram.

;[[Image:Death_Scarabs_from_Hell.gif|right|150 px]]
It turns out that he is not an archaeologist from the University of Ur. In fact, he is, we believe, a minion of the Elemental Master. Basic abilities is some kind of damage reduction aura, which can be enhanced by drawing sand over his body. He has a strike chance somewhere in the vicinity of 175% or more and wields scimitar-like extensions of mana. These do damage on the order of D10+5, but they bypass armour and can be thrown. The range seems to be short, 'though.

This is a damage transfer, healing him for a like amount. The effectiveness of healing is quartered when trying to mend these wounds. It is possible that some part of the healing may be received by Petras.

On his destruction, he turned into a swarm of flesh-devouring death scarabs from the blackest pit of Tartarus.

He was attended by [[Blood and Sand#Lyndar|Lyndar]], who was graced with the same gifts, except for being a woman and younger.

=== Raven ===
A young, human female mage and one of the 2 leaders of the '''Wolfpack Mercenary Company'''. Has a carved staff covered in runes.

===Scorpiders===
;[[Image:Scorpider.jpg|right|90 px]]
These creatures are about the size of a small dog. They seem like a cross between a spider and a scorpion. They have a single attack with a strike chance of around 90%, which inflicts about D10+8 physical damage. It seemed like if they do effective damage, they drain something like D10+5 WP per successful attack, and adhere to you.

They may be able to control their victims if they drain sufficient WP.

=== Sebalius ===
A mage of Khatovar and a member of the Enchanters Guild. A young human male mage specializing in shaping shadows and portals.

===The Smith===
A weaponsmith & armourer who lives about 500 miles to the north, in Twilight. He is said to practice iron braiding, where rods of the metal are braided in the forging process to create weapons that have extremely hard and sharp edges, yet the core of the metal is resilient and flexible. His armour and weapons are much sought after.

=== Sunder ===
A male human fighter standing some 7ft tall. Dresses in Plate-mail and carries a large war hammer and a mirrored shield.

===Yig, the Father of Serpents ===
Although not a pan-dimensional entity, Yig is a Great Old One. He has manifested as a huge serpent in the visions of Canon Velcanthus.

== Time line ==
; 29th Vintage (Autumn)
The shrine overseen by Sartep is attacked and the idol stolen.
* 6 of the raiders die during the 'robbery' and their bodies are ripped apart by strong magic.
* The band of 30 raiders seem to have been led by up to 7 'foreigners' who instigated the raid. The foreigners seemed a well coordinated group who appear to have operated as a small group together before or are well aware of how to co-ordinate with their companions. The foreigners all were pale skinned and spoke common in a Western Kingdom accent or accented Lunar or the Northern end of the Western Kingdom. - ''We hypothesize that the foreigners are a group similar to ourselves possibly from Tac or Sanctuary''
** 2 of the foreigners wore light armour and carried light weapons
** 2 of the foreigners wore heavy armour and carried heavy weapons
** 1 of the foreigners had a weird shield on their arm which appeared to be a 'Targa shield'
** Braided cords across the wrists of the foreigners helped to protect against magic intrinsically protecting the idols for being moved/taken from their shrines.

; 2nd Frost (Winter)
Arrival at Sartep's Shrine, undertake investigations.
* Questioning of the dead raiders at Sartep's shrine reveals the following information
** The tribal D'resh raiders were hired by outsiders who said they would be protected against the shrines magic
** The outsiders were all human
** All the foreigners carried wolfs head with red eyes on them as tattoos or amulets etc. '' Some sort of ID''
** The outsiders came from the North across the sea.
** The tribal raiders have been employed for a month

Visions received by members of the party are not good ones and bode badly.
* '''[[Neumonorean Phantasms|Dreams of Gok]]'''
* '''[[The Vision of Canon Velcanthus|The Visions of Canon Velcanthus]]'''

Visit Westernmost shrine under Priest Jaffe, travel to ruins in center of area and battle Elementals

== Items or things ==
===Shrines to [[The Traveller]]===
These shrine seem to be semi-permanent structures made from local materials. These are built of Skins, local earthen bricks on stone or wooden poles. The sides can be rolled up and stored to air the shrines and they appear to cover an area of 60x60.
 
There appear to be 5 shrines in the Unknown Desert of Sand and Time. These are spaced some distance from each other. 
In Winter 808 a guild party came here and noticed that the shrines are spaced apart and make up the five points of a Pentagram. It was hypothesized that this shape was of significance and that in the centre of the Pentagram was a location of significance. Investigation in at least one shrine indicated that energy flowed from that shrine into what would be termed the center of the pentagram.
* Shrine overseen by Sartep
* Shrine overseen by Jaffe
* Shrine overseen by
* Shrine overseen by
* Shrine overseen by

===Idols===
These idols seem to be idiosyncratic depictions of [[The Traveller]] god in various poses that are similar but not exact copies in that the pose differs as do the 'accessories' carried by the god.
* The Idols are raised off the ground on a pedestal made from a milky white marble? The purpose of the pedestal is to channel the energy created during the religious services held near the shrine.
* The idols are fashioned from fragments of a god's heart. The heartless god at this time is unknown. The idols are made from a Milky Jade material. The purpose of the Idol is to drain energy away from and towards those worshiping the Idol. It also acts as an amplifying enhancement for 'religious' type magic.

Each idol is crudely made and represents
# a builder
#a sower
#a miner

== Places we went or found out about ==

;[[Asan]]
A very strictly controlled theocracy in a mostly desert based land, some 1500 miles south of Seagate.

;; Unknown Desert of Sand and Time
This desert is home to a large number of [[Asan Nomad tribes|Nomadic Tribes]] as well as at least 5 shrines dedicated to a god known as '''The Traveler''' or '''The Harvest''' and a number of other names.

;; Ruins in the center of the Pentagram
A small village that seems to have been mostly reclaimed by the desert sands as the walls are almost indistinguishable from the sand dunes and there are only a few 'imprints' of buildings still visible.

;; Hidden Valley of the D'resh
This valley is hidden amongst low hills, some 130m East of the center of the pentagram and a few miles north. We only spotted it by flying at night and looking for light from campfire etc. A locatable coin is hidden in the nearby rocks to enable a later visit by Dalran. The valley lies west to east, is some 1000ft in length and has a small 'lake' some 100ft across in its eastern end. There are a number of semi permanent tents there, some 12 in number and looks to house about 60 beings or more if new tents erected.

; [[Khatovar]]

;; Wolfpack Mercenary Camp
This small encampment is home to about 30-40 individuals and is home to the '''Wolfpack Mercenary Company'''. A well 'presented' small camp of good design and placement of defenses, strongpoints and watchtowers.
;Twilight
A place to the north of Khatovar, about 500 miles away. The Smith is reputed to live there.

== Standard Buffs ==

{|class="wikitable" style="width:70%;"
|-
! Always On: !! Aryan !! Dalran !! Gok !! Pierre !! Lath !! Rowan
|-
| Vapour Breathing || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Red x.png|15px]] || [[Image:Red x.png|15px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]]
|-
| Witchsight || Rk20 || Rk20 || Rk20 || Rk6 || Rk6 || Rk12
|-
| Eddy || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]]
|-
| Enchant Armour || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]]
|-
| Feather Falling || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Red x.png|15px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]]
|-
| Flying || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Red x.png|15px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Green-tick.gif|20px]] || [[Image:Red x.png|15px]]
|}

;Enhance Enchant (Dalran): Rk 20 ''Italics indicate additional time when enhanced''
;Enchant Armour (Dalran): Rk 19 +40% Def and 1 damage point absorbed 10 ''+9.5'' Hrs
;Barrier of Wind (Lathe):Rk 20 total +42 Def 10.5 ''+ 10'' Hrs
;[[Gathering_of_the_Fumes#Loot|Eddy]] (Lathe):Rk 12 +6% to BoW Def 13 ''+ 12'' Hrs
;Cloud + Air Elemental (Lathe) : 48+hrs 60+mph
;Flying (Lathe) :Rk 12 42+mph 6.5 ''+6'' Hrs
;Vapour Breathing (Lathe) :Rk 11 6 ''+5.5'' Hrs
;Feather Falling (Lathe) :Rk 8 4.5 ''+4'' Hrs
;Heat and Cold Protection (Lathe): Rk 16 +/-5 steps on heat scale -5 Damage from Heat/Cold 21 ''+20'' Hrs
;Witchsight (Gok): Rk 10
;Str of Darkness (Gok): Rk 8 +5PS 90 ''+80'' mins
;Shadow Wings (Gok): Rk?
;Waters of Healing (Pierre): Rk 9 [D-5]+9 250sp each for permanent ones
;Restoratives (Rowan): Rk 6 -8EN +16FT
;Enchant Weapon (Dalran): Rk 19 +20 SC +7 Dam for 24 ''+19'' mins
----
''Combat Only Buffs:''
;Quickness (Dalran)
:Rk 19
;Fast as the Wind (stacks with Quickness)
:Increase of +5 TMR up to a maximum of 12 TMR, and +6 IV for melee, for 36 Mins (102 Mins enhanced)
; Chantris Blessing (Rowan)
: +10 SC +10 vs Fear for 55 mins, '' 1 hrs 45 mins if duration enhanced''.
; Melee Only
: With Aryan as Mil Sci, anyone in melee gains +12 IV, +12 SC, +12 Def, and a free pass action for those engaged at end of pulse.
: Also when Aryan is engaged, everyone gets -12 dice modifier on checks vs Fright and -24 dm on the fright table roll.

== Mil Sci ==

; Watches
: Lath & Pierre
: Dalran & Aryan
: GoK & Rowan

; Marching Order

Aryan
Pierre Gok
Rowan
Dalran Lath

== Loot ==
; Sebalius' Wolfpack Mercenaries
* Bag of Holding/Devouring
* ? x Rk 15 Str of Stone Scrolls
* Ransom
* ...

; Shrines
* <s>God Heart</s> Stolen by Grey Twins

; Enchanters Mine
* 20,000sp

; First Assault on Engravers
* Prisoners: Engraver (Gr Summoner), 2 (female) grunts
* <s>Rune Sword</s> (Later Destroyed)
* Shadow Reaver (Big Great Axe) - Double damage, cuts anything, indestructible blade
* ...

; Second Assault on Engravers
* ? x Spell Snakes
* 8 x Engravers Robes
* 8 x Leather Armour
* ...

; Sebalius' Heralds
* 2 x Spell Snakes
* Plate Armour (His) - 11pt, castable, ...
* 2 x Cloaks of Defence
* 2 x Spell Anchor Broaches
* Lion Head - Catch/Store and Release Spells
* 3 x Ruby Crystals - stored spell prepares (one-use)
* Ruby Knuckles - use Enhance Enchant if within sight
* 2 x Striking Charms - each miss against an opponent adds 10% SC vs that opponent until a hit
* 3? x Shadow Darts - keep trying until they hit, 1 FT, 1 EN, 1 SG
* <s>Rune Sword</s> (Destroyed)
* ''? His Sword ?'' - Shadowy-flamey-soulsucking badness
* ''? Her Blades ?'' - Nice curves, poison delivery

; Sebalius
* Pavisse Wood (shelters from AOE magic)
* Dark Titan Skin and Bone
* Wand of Elemental Damage
* Shadow Seed (one use)
* Pendant of Specific Spell Immunity
* Bracelet of Spell Enhancement - +1 effective rank at EN cost
* Half-round Stone - Doubles area of passive AOE spells
* Small box made of Jade and Bone
* Shadow Dragon Skull Throne (Returned to F. Rowan)

=== Expenses ===
* Repair of Trident and Sword - <s>5,000sp</s> - Gratis from Enchanters
* Name of Wilbur's friend (Jermae) from Traders -
* Safe House at Allied Traders -
* Info on Sebalius' whereabouts -
* 2 x Rk 20 Light and 6 Potions - 46,000sp
* Resurrection of Pierre
* Resurrection of Wilbur

= Calendar =
{| cellspacing="1" class="Season" id="Winter"
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Frost (7)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day |
| Samhain
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting Seagate
| class=day | 2
| Asan
| class=day | 3
| The Hidden Valley of the D'resh,
Asan.
Contract complete
| class=day | 4
| Khatovar
| class=day | 5
| Mine of the Enchanters
| class=day | 6
| Khatovar
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
| Asan,
Ambrose's Inn

| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Snow (8)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
| Solstice
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
| Yuletide
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
| Days of Chaos
| class=day | 20
| 2nd DoC
| class=day | 21
| 3rd DoC
| class=day | 22
| 4th DoC
| class=day | 23
| 5th DoC
| class=day | 24
| 6th DoC
| class=day | 25
| 7th DoC
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
| 8th DoC
| class=day | 27
| 9th DoC
| class=day | 28
| 10th DoC
| class=day | 29
| 11th DoC
| class=day | 30
| Twelth Night
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Ice (9)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
| First Plough
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
|}

I met her in a dream

2026-06-06T03:39:58Z

Terryintransit:

{{Right|__TOC__}}
[[Category:Jill Mitchinson]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Jonas]]
[[Category:Vapour]]
[[Category:Peter Smith]]
[[Category:Sam_the_Ork]]
[[Category:Cher]]
[[Scribe_Notes#Winter_807_WK|Scribe Notes]] Skip to the [[I met her in a dream#Episodes|Important bits]]
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': I met her in a dream 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Jill Mitchinson|Jill Mitchinson]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Monday at Chez Mitchinson 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low/medium]] 
; Party

# [[Jonas]]
# [[Vapour]]
# [[Peter Smith]]
# [[Sam_the_Ork|Sam]]
# [[Cher]] - Played by Sean.
'''Adventure Full''

; Employer
: [[Ravens Keep#people|Father Francis D'Assini]]
; Mission
: Information/Answers/Solutions
; Pay
:TBD

== Points of Interest ==

=== Places been ===
; Old Oak behind 5th House in Row Street, Old Seagate
: (at the time) a Portal to Monastery at Dysarnton in [[Ravens Keep]] '''MIND THE LAWN'''

=== People met ===
; (Name Unknown)
: Head Gardener of Monastery at Dysarnton in [[Ravens Keep]]
; [[Ravens Keep#people|Father Francis D'Assini]]
: Corrupted ex-Urielite, or possibly the last shining hope of [[Ravens Keep]].
; Brother (Unknown)
: An assistant to D'Assini, and equally hard to classify.
; Innkeeper Surly of Hillcrest
: And his hot wenches (see [[Vapour]] for more details on them).
; The Traveller
: (''to meet soon'')

=== Information Gathered ===
* [[Dwarven Gods#Sons|Dissenic]] and [[Andrealphus]] are summoning evil into the area
* Someome is possessing, binding will and draining lifeforce of hundreds of humans and horses across the area.
* The binding/draining/possession is probably contagious
* The possession started a month ago, with the arrial of The Traveller.
* Fields are rotting, people are oppressed, the church is helpless.
* The Urielite Church has its own order of groundsmen, who care more about grass than humans.

=== Items Acquired ===
* some starfall stones from a summoning cairn.

== Episodes ==

=== Prelude ===

The Guild meeting rooms all seem the same, though the Guild Security representative is a little unusual.
He SMILES all the time and sometimes his smile gets even bigger.

We receive our instructions, we're to investigate some weird dreams being had by the inhabitants of [[Ravens Keep]], being employed by Father Francis D'Assini for the quite fair (or is it Guild standard) sum of 200sp per week.

As we're acquainting ourselves which each other, Sam gets a delivery of a note (which he has someone else read to him) and a candle. The note essentially says "You know what to do with this. Kron"

After sorting out the standard business of Party Leader (Peter), Military Scientist (Peter) and Scribe (Jonas) we also begin making plans for catching a ship up to Aladar and thence riding to [[Ravens Keep]]. As the Ship the "Lady P" doesn't depart until the next day we separate to do our own thing for the evening.

I (Jonas) agree to keep watch over Sam as he dreams with the aid of the Candle. When he awakes he says that he's been told of a portal around the back of 5 (Fish) Roe Street in Old Seagate. When we tell the others of this in the morning, Peter says we probably means Row Street as the only Fish Roe (or Row) he knows of is in New Seagate.

After some small hassles finding the correct back of the correct 5th house in Row Street, we pass through an old Dead(!) Oak and arrive out of another Oak onto an immaculate lawn at the back of the monastery outside of Dysarnton.

After much apologizing by Peter (and dissembling by Sam) we agree to help out repairing (as much as we can) the damage to the lawn. First we go to stable our horses. We notice that the stable-boy is very weak and Peter's warhorse refuses to enter the stables.

Peter begins searching for "evil" and Sam, Cher and I check out of magical influences.

We find many things that appear to be "tentacles of dark evil" from the ground and determine the answers to a few Aura questions:
{| width='100%'
! College
| Binder
! Power level
| Medium
|-
! Aligned to
| [[Dwarven Gods#Sons|Dissenic]]
! What plane bound to
| no answer
|-
! On same plane
| yes and No
! Can someone assume the burden of the bind will
| No
|-
! Last beyond death
| marginally
! distance to source
| variable
|-
! current and/or closest distance
| 30 mi
! direction
| North
|-
! pantheon of power
| Dwarven
! Rune associated
|  
|}

We also query one of the Brothers (name?) the head Gardener (while we're repairing his lawn)

About a month ago (1st of Harvest?) common people began being afflicted (isolated due to bad behaviour: petty thievery, lewdness and brutality)

Others have been having dreams of death, mayhem and destruction on a large scale. Sometimes this leads to the above bad behavior.

Appears contagious and indiscriminate. No deaths but some of those afflicted are bedridden and very frail.

Sam says: This Binding Will drains the life energy from the victims, keeping them barely alive, and controlling them like puppets. The victims spread the magic somehow - there are wards on several of the stalls in the stables. Horses and humans are the known targets. The power is spread to several places, on- and off-plane, and we can sense a direction and distance based on the energy flows from the aura. It's a life-drain plague.

Father D'Assini believes he's found the first agent, a traveler in Hillcrest.

We make plans for traveling through the night to catch the good Father in Hillcrest.

=== After the Monastery ===
Sam says: Jonas is sulking because he's a kittycat and prone to moods, so I am taking up my trusty crayon for the team.

It is only 6-7 miles to Hillcrest, along the bend of the river (see [[Ravens_Keep#Places|this map]]). We follow the ox path with my horse Judith leading the way, as she is the only one in the party with Witchsight. After an hour or so, we smell a terrible stench of corrupted, rotting vegetable matter and other foul noxious odours. We figure out it's the nearby field, so we climb over the levee and take a look. There is a bunch of investigation, maybe an hour or so. The results are:

* There are four small cairns of stones in the field, one at each corner.
* Some of the nearby fields have similar cairns.
* The cairns are magical, with summoning magics.
* The individual stones are magical – starfall.
* If you carefully remove the stones one-by-one, each is more unpleasant to touch hotter than the last, and a smell of sulphur is emitted.
* The last couple of rows of stones are too hot to hold.
* Kicking the cairn over leaves you flat on your back several feet away, and with a nasty case of leprosy.
* Removing the stones slowly only gives you a girly infection.
* When the last ring of stones is broken, a dark shadow starts leaching away back to the planes of Hell.
* This dark shadow is from [[Dwarven Gods#Sons|Dissenic]] and/or [[Andrealphus]]. An Old [[Dwarven Gods|Dwarven God]] and one of the [[Powers of Darkness]] working together!
* Placing a ring of four stones around the shadow is sufficient to keep it here – but then the summoning magic will slowly make it stronger.
* The darkness is the cause of the putrefaction in the fields.
* We break up a few cairns, but there are too many to contemplate destroying, and Peter wants to leave a few of the portals to hell to look at later.
* A Divinate on a cairn failed, and we decided not to linger any longer.

Buoyed by the knowledge that dark forces are building tiny disease-ridden stone summoning circles all across the countryside, we ride on. We reach Hillcrest around 4am, and have to doze on the hard road for an hour or two until the smell of baking bread wafts over from the village inn and Peter lets us disturb the humans. Walking in to the village, the Orc, Lizard, Knight, Viking and Stripper all get hostile stares, but we are not offended as the villagers are hostile and rude to each other as well. Many of them are also life-drained & will-bound to the forces of hell. We eventually get the horses stabled and have breakfast, while a message is sent to Father D'Assini to see if he will accept visitors. If he says 'no', we would be suspicious and see him anyway, but we have to go through the right process. Humans! The breakfast is poor, as the harvest has been bad – no fresh berries, and the gruel is from mouldy grain. The fish is OK, so maybe the waterways aren't affected. Even the stables have some possession wards running. We sleep for a few hours, except Peter, who cleans his armour. With no sleep, his decisions will keep getting worse.

Around 9am, we finally get a reply from the innkeeper that Father D'Assini will see us – he is in a tower 4 miles NE of Hillcrest. He warns us to come with extra caution; Peter says 'just ride normally'. We follow a cart track. As we enter a small stand of trees, I feel there is likely to be an ambush, so I warn the party and dismount. Only Peter is a good horseman, and the two earth mages and the lizard need to be on the ground to either fight or cast magic. We are attacked by more than a score of blacked wingéd things, which swoop in and leech onto our faces and those of our horses. We shred those that get close, while our horses rear and panic. Peter gallops in circles, trying to stab them with his lance. We group up and help each other and cast a couple of spells to take some of them down, and then when we have a breathing space and have removed the creatures from our horses, we mount up and head on out of the woods. The creatures are neither birds nor reptiles nor bats, but creatures of foul magic - not that we read their auras.

A couple of miles further along the cart track, we come over a rise and see a small keep, with a number of high-ranking Urielites hanging around the base. In this case, I mean literally hanging, as in by the neck on gibbets. We approach the tower, and are challenged by a Urielite Brother, who then orders us to come inside. Like good little lambs, we do so. Apparently the Father is going to be 'busy' for another half-hour, so we stable and brush down the horses to avoid being snubbed. Eventually we enter the main keep, where the Brother and Father D'Assini great us. D'Assini is a sorcerer with many magical trickets. There is a table of food, covered with cloth and warded – they claim this is they entire supply of food. The story is then laid on more thickly: apparently all the Urielites were hung for their own good, and for the safety of the countryside. There is a man upstairs, called The Traveller, who D'Assini is tending to. This is supposedly the source of the plague. After a short discussion, we are advised to leave all our magic items behind in the great hall, and to allow the Brother to 'ward' them, as otherwise The Traveller will turn them against us. We are assured that our own ward rituals will not protect the items fro the traveller's influence. The party meekly start stripping off their items. Once more, for the record, I will mention that Peter had no sleep last night, and was trained to believe and obey other members of the Urielite order, so our Leader and Military Strategist should not be held completely to blame. These notes have been left in Judith's saddle-bags, and she has been left free at the keep gate with strict instructions to wait until the party is ritually slaughtered or we come back corrupted, and then flee east and down river until she finds a nice master.

My rabbit and I have talked it through, and we will make our stand with the rest of the party; it is the only right thing to do.

===Meeting the Traveller===

===Ravenskeep Northward===

===Sidetracked by a God===
After disturbed dreams we awake and eat then check out the graves.
* Grandma Hodges
* Wallace Hodges

Buds growing near headstones on both graves. One has been here 30 hrs and also glows lavender to Sam. It's a rye grass that has protection from maelific influences. The other has protective herbal abilities.

The area around the graves is consecrated (15' x 8' with the graves near one end)

The wind is moving unnaturally and Vapour feels it's magical in nature. Sam doesn't think so but I think it's a remnant of a charming magic.

We head off towards the dwarven area up the magical stream

Party order changes slightly as we put Sam to the rear and bring myself near to the front.

A bit further along the path the stream cross the path and Vapour finds the source of the stream about a mile away but off the path to the West. We mark the crossing point ranger style.

A little bit later Sam has a strange urge to head off the path to the East.

Sam DA's himself and asks "Name of last magic to affect". A summoning.

We follow Sam's feelings. To a blossoming Cherry tree.

It's magical, and a portal possibly to nowhere. The rest of the party goes through before I can tell them this so I wait for the to return and tell me it's safe. After 5 minutes my curiosity gets the better of me and I go through. On the other side the grass has no plane of origin.

The grass is even yet unmown, the path even and well maintained. About 20 minutes along the path we cross over a ridgeline and see earthen defense works around a cottage. It has been burnt a little.

The squire gets encompassed by a glow that surrounds him and stop's my DA.

Whilst the house doesn't provide every whim it does provide needs and reasonable wants.

A couple of hour later the house creaks and the door opens and a small old human man walks in. He greets us as Sam and companions. He takes refreshment as we assemble.

Kron says praying doesn't work for him.

He tells us.
* Princess found her true love who was loved by another maid.
* The other maid committed suicide and her brother, having been dabbling with Dissenic, embarked on revenge.
* The other maid had made other arrangements and thus is still acting in the realm but through her younger sister.
* Urielites are targetted as they married the Princess and chosen against the wishes of his family and his betrothed's (the suicide) family too. He is of the family Silver-hammer and the suicide is called Roseanne.

Kron has a Priestess of some standing (higher than the two families). Actions are find sister and convince her to stop acting for sister and also convince brother to stop his vengence.

Brother to be given to Urielite court. The clan court is believed to be too riven to be just. He needs to be made aware of the grief he has wrought in his own grief.

The younger sister is being unduly influenced by the suicide.

Time is short and other forces are attempting to horn in on the situation.

We have to stay the night, ad the sleep is very refreshing, but about 5am there are sounds of battle outside.

Dawn brings an opening of the house.

Kron brings some amulets out.
* Squire's will aid him
* Peter's improves his detection of (this) evil
* Sam's will boost his willpower (against lust possibly)
* Mine will provide three extra shift per day (for almost a week)
* Vapour's will improve his wind sense and allow him to pick up the taint
* Cher's will allow the detection of evil magic and is tasked with assisting Peter justice with mercy and compassion.

He also give Sam a sack of nine candles of communion with him. If any of the rest of us must use them we need to wrap a hair around the wick before lighting (Cher should use a scale).

He sets up a portal for us to leave to a couple of hundred of yards up the path.

Greer is released as we cross the threshold leaving. We find the Oak along the path. Through the Oak we return.

Sam finds some dwarven tracks and Vapour sees something weird in the wind.

10 in squad from tracks. And they stay off the road.

We follow the tracks to the entrance to the dwarven caves.

===Meeting the Dwarves===
We arrive at the entrance to the Dwarven cave about 8am.

There are signs of a scuffle with some dwarven blood and a scorch from a Blackfire (Rk 15) with aspects of Phantasm on one half of the door. The other door had a ward triggered of Fear.

We open the right door (burnt), check the ward within (It's Mass Fear) and then Sam steps in and Panics.

In the room is an injured Dwarf, on an altar (most recently to Kron). It is a sanctified room.

We then go down the adjacent corridor, triggering a Harm Entity Ward (Sam resisted) and Hellfire Ward (Peter resists) in the junction. At the junction, to the right is a room with Warded with Wall of Stone. The corners in each direction have Hellfire wards in them. I (eventually) counterspell under where the wall would appear.

After checking through the door with transparency, we call out to the dwarves within and after some small discussion and the scroll from Kron they treat us as friends. We begin helping them and get their story.

Around midnight, about 15 dwarves they thought lost to them attacked and headed further in.

Peter pulls his finger out to pray and heal more. And Sam heals more with trollskin.

Hrothstar of the Rockmina Clan, priestess of Just gods including Kron but also interest in the Human religon of the Lady.

Peter' Prayers complete and the finger points to the tainted area during. He removes the taint from 3 of the affected and improves Greer.

Roseanne has five younger sisters. Jolie and Daria have been praying with Hrothstar occasionally. One brother, Tomsk has been doing a weird personal project in the family forge.

Courses of action:
* Visit brother – Convince him of excessiveness of his reaction
* Visit place of sisters burial / spirit / haunting and conscecrate
* Visit younger sister and remove the corruption
* Kill evil dwarves

===Through the Warrens===
From Cher.
As we ready for our trip through the dwarves complex, Peter and me spotted something black move across one of the corners of the room. I managed to get a D.E. off on it but came up not as magical, but as something with magic on it. Upon further investigation of the dwarfs who were in that part of the room, via healer empathy, found that they were drained. This led us to the conclusion that either a spectre or wrath was lurking about. Sam quickly put his pet crystal rabbit on guard and the rest of us reorganized the rest of the injured away from the walls.
When we finally were ready to leave we decided that we should travel in two groups. Us, with Maryfeather, in the lead group and the dwarfs follow behind.
The trip to the first on our list, the brother, started out to be a bit convoluted and narrow, but soon turned into more wider, but not much higher, tunnels. It is now that we placed our selves in a much better marching order. Peter and Vapour at the front, Greer, Maryfeather and Sam in the middle, and Jonas and me at the back.
We made good time, now that the tunnels were easier, only stopping to lower the wards and magical traps, and for some reason, Sam to doodle on the walls. It is not until we came across one particular trap, one that involved Maryfeather kneeling down, moving a brick, and flicking a switch, that I realized Sam was actually marking our way. Also this trap was quite interesting, it was at a t-intersection and when Maryfeather deactivated it a gate came down blocking the way. I noticed that it was magical and pointed it out, that's when Sam cleared his throat and spat at the gate, the spit sizzled when it hit.

(Sam's D.A.: Will this stop a wrath? Answer: No'ish)

After the entertaining sizzle it was only a short while until Maryfeather stopped us and said that we are coming up to and area, which is a trade area, and that the brother's shop is just off it.
Not wanting to draw attention to ourselves we formed a loose group, close to marching order, and carried on.
There was a fair amount of activity, but not too much, and made it across with no problems.
As we approached the corridor that his shop was down, we noticed that there was a sort of haze above the entranceway, which looked out of place. We were not exactly sure what it was but it was evil and, while not blocking, on the path we had to take. Peter had the plan to attack first and ask questions later; it was evil after all.
We approached...

Before Peter could get a hit, Vapour leapt forward, and the miasma tempted poor Vapour who seemed to temporarily resist the effects of the creature.
Next Peter got a mighty blow on it, and the Haze shrank. Brave Sam leap in to save Vapour, but but this conflicted with Vapour's clever plan to use a web to stop himself from going further down the corridor, and the effort of fighting off the miasma from their minds left them unable to cooperate. Peter battled on, landing another blow. Cher moved up to help, but it was too wily. MaryFeather joined in and started to prepare a spell. Meanwhile no one had noticed that when Cher moved up she had cut in front of Jonas, and her deadly threshing tail had sent him flying into a coil of rope, which he promptly got tangled in. Sam and Vapour managed to collectively wrench themselves loose of the rapidly weakening coercion, and threw themselves backwards, just as Peter stepped forward and finished off the mist. The pile of Vapour, Sam, and Peter took a while to untangle, and with Greer helping Jonas out of the rope, we were not at our most impressive.

We then went down the tunnel, finding the brother working at the forge.

As we were going down the tunnel, I was a bit worried about Vapor. He kept on dropping down on the floor, rolling about and crawling, then getting back up again. Either the Haze may have gotten to him or he was just being Vapor. Since the whole process was looked ever so stylish and cool, I think the latter was the case.

Before we got to the brothers forge we pass a couple of rooms opposite each other. To the left of us was a wool spinners workshop and to the right a leather workshop which seemed to be unoccupied.
Next was the brother's forge and opposite that was were he stored his coal and metal for smelting.
Having no further resistance we entered the workshop. It was occupied by four individuals. Two apprentice types, one sorting out coal/metal and the other working on something, the stoker keeping the fire going, and the brother.
Upon talking to the brother for a few seconds found that he was in the middle of something and he could not stop and have a longer chat. So we took the opportunity to do a bit of D.A.'s and D.E.'s.
Our results were that the apprentice shorting out the coal/metal was tainted, but not the brother. The apprentice's taint seemed to be coming from the metal they were using. Thou some of it was magical of it self, some of it was also tainted. Sam being a wise orc took some samples to study later. Peter, while watching the craftsmanship of the brother, did a sense evil and found that the brother had a conflict of his soul happening.
Once the brother had finished we were able to have a longer talk.

MaryFeather reassured him that we were trustworthy, and so he agreed to talk to us after finishing his work.We did not reveal how we knew, but said that we were investigating the taint since it was heavily infecting the outside areas and the trail lead back to him.

We explained the situation to [The Brother], who was quite sure that the method of "revenge" he planned could not have been the cause of corruption. In the interim though, we did notice he was currently being controlled magically.

Revealing more we said that something had taken that and twisted it and made it more than it should be.This was much for him to process and decided to take the matter to the head of the house, his father.

So more twisting warrens, and scraping of Peter's helmet, we arrived at the home of the family.
The brother knocked there was no answer. He knocked again still no answer, so he opened the door. Inside was dark which was unusual, but as our adjusted we saw that the placed had been trashed.

Before we could hold him back the brother rushed in shouting for his farther and mother. We also moved in taking a defensive stance. Seeing that who ever trashed the place had left, we immediately started tending to the injured. Sam, being the caring orc that he is, tended to the mother cradling her and checking to see if she was all right. Our other healer brought around the father, who was still grasping his axe. Being a bit disoriented upon coming to, he started to lash out at us. But with a few soft and reassuring words he calmed down and sarted to tell us what happened.

===All Dwarves are Crazy===

Session 8
6th (about 10 am)

The thieves took the Son's satchel. He runs into his room and we (Sam and I) follow. They got his God's Orb. And the activating scroll as well.

There is a commotion and we return into the main room to see Vapour and Cher fighting. I change, but Peter, Vapour and Merryfeather push Cher into one of Sam's Hands of Earth.

I DA Cher for duration of last magic to affect: Indefinite.

A hordette of dwarven maids enters, one gets caught in hands, then Sam puts up next set of hands. He puts some of the maids into hands and then MerryFeather and the Father start to try and calm things down.

Peter ventures into a back room an encounters some evil.

We leave and then Peter ask's Sam to tunnel through the wall and on third attempt causes a hole through his, Mine and Vapour's,. After a few (32) seconds of excruciating pain it ends and then we have trauma reactions for a minute or two.

When Sam recovers he tries again, and after bit backfires again and causes Himself and I to be very dense.

Meanwhile Cher has been fighting an evil in a back room for a bit and then legs it out of the rooms.

:''"That's it, next time I find unholy evil I'm not leaving it behind"- Peter''
:''"You don't pick up unholy evil with your bare (tiger) mouth" - Jonas''

The family regroups and spends an hour regrouping and then Merryfeather pops her head out and fills us in. We return the favour and recommend the family be moved whilst we clear the rooms out.

All of the daughters I can see have a taint of evil.

We discuss our plans then find the other small evil, a necklace. We put it and the coin purse in a satchel in the corner of the main room.

We open the door into the inner (girls) room. I DA the volume inside the door and see motes of Formerly living dwarf. Sam DA's the Pentacle and asks who it summons (Andrealphus). There's also sand on the floor. No circle and the triangle is in the pentacle.

Peter realises where he is, blushes and leaves. Sam searches the room some more, finds a few things and then finds a small metallic Peacock. He tosses it towards the doorway and it crosses the pentacle. . . . .

====Our Last Moments====
Sam found something under a bed, and flicked it towards the doorway. The metal figurine of Andrealphus went flying right into the centre of the pentacle ...

===Surviving the Vortex (just)===
Session 9 (Still later on the 6th)

The lights go out. And a rumbling sound starts. I hear a female voice inside my head. "Your mind is mine"
With my last free thought I choose to change to confuse her.

When I finish the voice is lessened, the smell is sulphurous and a friendly voice is nearby. After my Renove experiences I flee the area, bounding cleanly over Vapour but failing to skirt Peter.

Cher pulls Vapour out just as a claw slashes and catches on to Vapours upper back. Then he starts to slide back.
Vapour strikes a claw with a vial of holy water.
Cher begins the pull again, and I leap and latch Vapour with claw to his armour's leg
Peter helps and we manage to get Vapour out.

With Vapour out, Peter heads in to save Sam, Vapour gets up, Cher throws holy water.

Vapour heads in, slips into Peter and My leap doesn't land on the dresser cause it's not there and I skitter into the corner. The voice I my mind seduces me with succulent food and yummy catnip.

Peter hits, Vapour gets up and Sam changes. I'm still enthralled.

Vapour throws holy water. Peter gathers himself. Sam and I are still enthralled.

Peter strikes at the claw attached to him, Vapour throws a holy water, Sam recovers a little, I'm still enthralled.

Peter and Vapour prepare to attack, Cher enters the room. Sam recovers some more. Purrrrrr.

Peter and Vapour attack again, Cher moves in. Sam snags me as I'm going down and snaps me out of it.

Peter and Vapour continue attacking. Cher moves in some more. Sam and I reach the edge of the portal.

Vapour briefly succumbs and moves to the edge but is wedged, Cher slides in and strikes, Peter . I succumb and dive back in, Sam leaps after me and snaps at my tail.

Vapour begins to be dragged into the hole, but teleports away safely. Sam and I recover and clamber 'up' and Peter steps forward.

Quote: "I'm immune to such blandishments" - Peter the Knight as he steps into Hell.

Peter prays louder, Vapour hunts for rope to drag out the others, Sam and I reach the room proper, Cher recovers from edge and strikes.

I leap for the worst (non-dog) smell but am not able to hurt it. Sam circles the other way and encounters Peter. Vapour steps toward his mirror

Cher misses, Peter, Sam and I distract and wrench at the beasty. During this I start to feel better and stronger.

Cher strikes and hits me. OUCH! My heads clears quickly.

Then she hits me again. OUCH! (almost as bad)

She doesn't hit me a third time. So distract the gribbly some more.

It drops away and I bounce off it and hit something small and scaly.

We have all managed to escape and leave the area alone.

=== Session 10: Exorcism of Evil ===
We regroup and brush off, deciding to move forward with our original plan. Next Step is to visit the site of the sisters death and attempt to cleanse the area and release her spirit.
After visiting the Brother across town, we head back again to the now abandoned and closed-up apartment where she comitted suicide. 
There is a clear area of evil where the sister died, as a pool of blood.
Peter needs to perform the ritual for a full night. He stays in the room with his new Squire at his side praying with his shield ready. The rest of us stay outside and guard the entrance.

The area quickly becomes dark, with a glow surrounding Peter keeping the inky darkness at bay.

Furniture in the apartments starts to shake and fly around the room, and Cher decides to disintergrate a particularly scary looking chest of drawers in her nervousness

It becomes even darker, and we can only see the glow from Peter now in the room, with groans and other noises apparent at times

Meanwhile, we get an unfriendly visit from sister (Kelly) obviously under the influence of the evil spirit and out to get us. We subdue her and Sam uses his skills with women to make her unconscious for the duration of the night.

While we are are distracted by the exorcism, we discover that Kelly is being dragged away by the youngest sister, Shelly.
Vapour chases to stop this, and noticed that Kelly is being dragged towards an opening in the wall, seemingly oblivious to the fact that an same inky undead blackness waiting in the opening.

Vapour deals to the blackness with a couple of good hits, after which it retreats.

Shelly is very distressed and seems genuine in her reasons for trying to get Kelly away from us (after all, Kelly is now unconscious). We are unable to convincer of our good intentions, so she is also put to sleep discretely for her own safety.

The night continues. We have a number of hairy hell-creatures arrive, but managed to keep them at bay with a series of magical walls and barriers.

At the peak of the night, we decide to extract Peter's squire from the room, and he is in a bad way: He is filled with Evil and almost dead with most of his blood having been squeezed from him. We managed to stabilize him enough until we have time to remove the evil the next day.

Slowly, the evil is exorcised, and the darkness finally disipates...

===Investigations and Alarums===
Session 11 - Early on the 7th

After the tiring evening, dawn arrives and then breakfast.

The evenings rituals have removed the evil from the room, but much of it appears to gone into Peter's shield.

Merryfeather enquires how our night went and informs us that the SilverHammer brother is on our way to talk to us.

Greer's blessing by Peter ends with him still blind but otherwise better.

After Cher repairs the door there is a knocking and the brother (Sylvester) enter, he enquires after his missing sisters and then wakes the youngest first and talks to her quietly. After a little while he wakes Kelly (the elder sister). She's more disoriented and wonders why she's here "again". He then ushers his sisters out and leads them away.

We find the secret entrance into the passage where the girls were going to retreat to. The passage is quite short but the room behind the door has Alchemical apparatus, vials and books.

4 Books: DA from me: nature of the magic
1)Major curse. Doom of Death. Phrase
2)No answer. Mana Storage cast last.
3)No Aura. No answer.
4)Minor curse. Frostbite.
No taint present.

Sam says the opening words as he puts the first book into the sack (last, ie after the other books)
and it tries to open inside the sack.

Sam tunnels the other end of the corridor into the market and causes some disruption and we go unseen then run back an pull the spikes from the door.

We meetup with Sylvester and Merryfeather and head off somewhere to talk. Back to the SilverHammer rooms to fixup the summoning circle.

Back at the rooms we come clean about what we know (essentially the truth) about the situation.
Slyvester was creating and "blessing" alloys with vengence and forming them into items in common use by the peasant and church folk (No more then 80 items).

He has some samples for us to review. His Makers Mark is a hammer hitting a feather.

Book 1) bound in Dragon guts and contain a mild Dragon id. It contains recipes involving dragon bits and dragon effects.

After a couple of hours (and a failed and successful divination) Sylvester, Merryfeather and Shelly return. Merryfeather explains whats involved to Shelly.

Sam's despondent at not being able to have the blood-letting be of tantric nature.

After a flash of darkness, the pentagram begins to fade.

(It's now just after lunchtime)

=== Session 12 ===

=== Session 13 ===
Session 13
Now late afternoon on the 7th

Sam and Vapour go into talk to the family and to heal Peter. Sam is given a couple of potions, one for him for fatigue and one for the worst of his patients.

Sam tunnels and Sam and Cher looks out and see the Dwarven infantry are through there and they say they're dealing with the situation.

Sam puts down his good (K)night and gives him some healing.

We evacuate the family and injured in the direction of the chapel and then go round to deal with the crature.

We go through two checkpoints and then get into sight of the combat. We capture the greeblie with a Hands of Earth and the dwarves can more easily defeat it.

Then the dwarves and us move through into the occupied room and defeat the last two greeblies. The last one leaves a puddle of an oily substance. The oil float on water and they're going to try holy water on it.

We retire to some new apartments, have dinner, set watches and get some decent rest.

(Morning of the 8th)
Breakfast and Merryfeather fills us in on the limited events of the evening (Not much)

We head along to the Chapel. As the service moves from Kron into Uriel Peter joins in. We then retire with the family to talk about the situation.

The father thanks us (it goes on a bit long) and then gives us a chest and then Vapour present the family with a statue of himself.

"He doesn't steal" - Vapour "That's the point!" - Sam

Despite Sam and Vapour's willingness to attend the party tonight we can leave accompanied

Vapour casts flying on us all (3 casts). Cher finally admits (under confusion) that she's a Dragon.

We head for Ravenskeep.

On landing, Peter starts to sink into the marsh besides the river. I try to help him out but aren't strong enough until I cast a Hands and wrap the rope around it.

Walk into town arriving a bit after lunch. We spend the afternoon filling the bishop in on the situation.

Cher check the chest and it contains gold and gems

Then have dinner and rest the night. We then set out to find the tainted items in town. And then head out to the fields.

We start to carefully disassemble the cairns and instruct the acolytes and priests how to do so.

We spend the next day doing the same thing at the next town and again at the other town then on to the keep where the traveller is.

As we approach the tower, it's in worse repair.

Four knights charge from behind us, not touching the ground. Sam runs away and so I cast my Hands in front of them, but they basically charge through.

After we get to the gate, we see one knight firing lighting at shadows in the courtyard. Two knights clearing the ramparts and one heading towards where the traveller was. Peter follows the last knight.

After a couple of pulses Vapour and I (as Tiger) follow Peter. I am almost singed by a lightning and Vapour dodges cleanly.

When Cher follows she gets tagged by a lightning bolt.

Peter reaches the antechamber to find Father Francis and some other brothers unconscious and set-upon by some shadowy figures. He lays into the figures.

Vapour and I arrive shortly thereafter and with our (meager) assistance these shadowy figures are dispatched.

Peter then charges up to the (closed) door to the chamber where the Traveller had been held. He drops his shoulder charges. I leap, intending to add my strength and weight to his attempt to burst open the door.

My assistance isn't required and with only a small amount of damage to his armor Peter tumbles into the Traveller's room. I'm only a moment behind.

== Calendar of Events ==
{| cellspacing=1 width="100%" border=0 class="Season" id="Winter"
! colspan=15 | <h1>Winter</h1>
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| colspan=14 | {{Right|0}} [[Samhain]]
|- valign="top"
! colspan=15 | [[Frost]] (7)
|- valign="top"
! colspan=3 height=54px |  
| class=day | 1 || {{Right|0}} Guild Meeting [[#Prelude|Prelude]]
| class=day | 2 || {{Right|1}} [[#Prelude|Prelude]] [[#After_the_Monastery|After the Monastery]]
| class=day | 3 || {{Right|1}} [[#Meeting_the_Traveller|The Traveller]]
| class=day | 4 || {{Right|1}} [[#Ravenskeep_Northward|Ravenskeep Northward]]
| class=day | 5 || {{Right|1}} [[#Sidetracked_by_a_God|Sidetracked by a God]]
| class=day | 6 || {{Right|2}} [[#Meeting_the_Dwarves|Meeting the Dwarves]]
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 7 || {{Right|2}} [[#Investigations_and_Alarums|Investigations and Alarums]]
| class=day | 8 || {{Right|2}}
| class=day | 9 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 10 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 11 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 12 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 13 || {{Right|4}}
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 14 || {{Right|4}}
| class=day | 15 || {{Right|4}}
| class=day | 16 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 17 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 18 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 19 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 20 || {{Right|2}}
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 21 || {{Right|2}}
| class=day | 22 || {{Right|2}}
| class=day | 23 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 24 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 25 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 26 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 27 || {{Right|0}}
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 28 || {{Right|0}}
| class=day | 29 || {{Right|0}}
| class=day | 30 || {{Right|1}}
| colspan=8 |  
|}

I met her in a dream

2026-06-06T03:39:17Z

Terryintransit:

{{Right|__TOC__}}
[[Category:Jill Mitchinson]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]

[[Scribe_Notes#Winter_807_WK|Scribe Notes]] Skip to the [[I met her in a dream#Episodes|Important bits]]
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': I met her in a dream 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Jill Mitchinson|Jill Mitchinson]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Monday at Chez Mitchinson 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Low/medium]] 
; Party

# {[[Jonas]]
# [[Vapour]]
# [[Peter Smith]]
# [[Sam_the_Ork|Sam]]
# [[Cher]] - Played by Sean.
'''Adventure Full''

; Employer
: [[Ravens Keep#people|Father Francis D'Assini]]
; Mission
: Information/Answers/Solutions
; Pay
:TBD

== Points of Interest ==

=== Places been ===
; Old Oak behind 5th House in Row Street, Old Seagate
: (at the time) a Portal to Monastery at Dysarnton in [[Ravens Keep]] '''MIND THE LAWN'''

=== People met ===
; (Name Unknown)
: Head Gardener of Monastery at Dysarnton in [[Ravens Keep]]
; [[Ravens Keep#people|Father Francis D'Assini]]
: Corrupted ex-Urielite, or possibly the last shining hope of [[Ravens Keep]].
; Brother (Unknown)
: An assistant to D'Assini, and equally hard to classify.
; Innkeeper Surly of Hillcrest
: And his hot wenches (see [[Vapour]] for more details on them).
; The Traveller
: (''to meet soon'')

=== Information Gathered ===
* [[Dwarven Gods#Sons|Dissenic]] and [[Andrealphus]] are summoning evil into the area
* Someome is possessing, binding will and draining lifeforce of hundreds of humans and horses across the area.
* The binding/draining/possession is probably contagious
* The possession started a month ago, with the arrial of The Traveller.
* Fields are rotting, people are oppressed, the church is helpless.
* The Urielite Church has its own order of groundsmen, who care more about grass than humans.

=== Items Acquired ===
* some starfall stones from a summoning cairn.

== Episodes ==

=== Prelude ===

The Guild meeting rooms all seem the same, though the Guild Security representative is a little unusual.
He SMILES all the time and sometimes his smile gets even bigger.

We receive our instructions, we're to investigate some weird dreams being had by the inhabitants of [[Ravens Keep]], being employed by Father Francis D'Assini for the quite fair (or is it Guild standard) sum of 200sp per week.

As we're acquainting ourselves which each other, Sam gets a delivery of a note (which he has someone else read to him) and a candle. The note essentially says "You know what to do with this. Kron"

After sorting out the standard business of Party Leader (Peter), Military Scientist (Peter) and Scribe (Jonas) we also begin making plans for catching a ship up to Aladar and thence riding to [[Ravens Keep]]. As the Ship the "Lady P" doesn't depart until the next day we separate to do our own thing for the evening.

I (Jonas) agree to keep watch over Sam as he dreams with the aid of the Candle. When he awakes he says that he's been told of a portal around the back of 5 (Fish) Roe Street in Old Seagate. When we tell the others of this in the morning, Peter says we probably means Row Street as the only Fish Roe (or Row) he knows of is in New Seagate.

After some small hassles finding the correct back of the correct 5th house in Row Street, we pass through an old Dead(!) Oak and arrive out of another Oak onto an immaculate lawn at the back of the monastery outside of Dysarnton.

After much apologizing by Peter (and dissembling by Sam) we agree to help out repairing (as much as we can) the damage to the lawn. First we go to stable our horses. We notice that the stable-boy is very weak and Peter's warhorse refuses to enter the stables.

Peter begins searching for "evil" and Sam, Cher and I check out of magical influences.

We find many things that appear to be "tentacles of dark evil" from the ground and determine the answers to a few Aura questions:
{| width='100%'
! College
| Binder
! Power level
| Medium
|-
! Aligned to
| [[Dwarven Gods#Sons|Dissenic]]
! What plane bound to
| no answer
|-
! On same plane
| yes and No
! Can someone assume the burden of the bind will
| No
|-
! Last beyond death
| marginally
! distance to source
| variable
|-
! current and/or closest distance
| 30 mi
! direction
| North
|-
! pantheon of power
| Dwarven
! Rune associated
|  
|}

We also query one of the Brothers (name?) the head Gardener (while we're repairing his lawn)

About a month ago (1st of Harvest?) common people began being afflicted (isolated due to bad behaviour: petty thievery, lewdness and brutality)

Others have been having dreams of death, mayhem and destruction on a large scale. Sometimes this leads to the above bad behavior.

Appears contagious and indiscriminate. No deaths but some of those afflicted are bedridden and very frail.

Sam says: This Binding Will drains the life energy from the victims, keeping them barely alive, and controlling them like puppets. The victims spread the magic somehow - there are wards on several of the stalls in the stables. Horses and humans are the known targets. The power is spread to several places, on- and off-plane, and we can sense a direction and distance based on the energy flows from the aura. It's a life-drain plague.

Father D'Assini believes he's found the first agent, a traveler in Hillcrest.

We make plans for traveling through the night to catch the good Father in Hillcrest.

=== After the Monastery ===
Sam says: Jonas is sulking because he's a kittycat and prone to moods, so I am taking up my trusty crayon for the team.

It is only 6-7 miles to Hillcrest, along the bend of the river (see [[Ravens_Keep#Places|this map]]). We follow the ox path with my horse Judith leading the way, as she is the only one in the party with Witchsight. After an hour or so, we smell a terrible stench of corrupted, rotting vegetable matter and other foul noxious odours. We figure out it's the nearby field, so we climb over the levee and take a look. There is a bunch of investigation, maybe an hour or so. The results are:

* There are four small cairns of stones in the field, one at each corner.
* Some of the nearby fields have similar cairns.
* The cairns are magical, with summoning magics.
* The individual stones are magical – starfall.
* If you carefully remove the stones one-by-one, each is more unpleasant to touch hotter than the last, and a smell of sulphur is emitted.
* The last couple of rows of stones are too hot to hold.
* Kicking the cairn over leaves you flat on your back several feet away, and with a nasty case of leprosy.
* Removing the stones slowly only gives you a girly infection.
* When the last ring of stones is broken, a dark shadow starts leaching away back to the planes of Hell.
* This dark shadow is from [[Dwarven Gods#Sons|Dissenic]] and/or [[Andrealphus]]. An Old [[Dwarven Gods|Dwarven God]] and one of the [[Powers of Darkness]] working together!
* Placing a ring of four stones around the shadow is sufficient to keep it here – but then the summoning magic will slowly make it stronger.
* The darkness is the cause of the putrefaction in the fields.
* We break up a few cairns, but there are too many to contemplate destroying, and Peter wants to leave a few of the portals to hell to look at later.
* A Divinate on a cairn failed, and we decided not to linger any longer.

Buoyed by the knowledge that dark forces are building tiny disease-ridden stone summoning circles all across the countryside, we ride on. We reach Hillcrest around 4am, and have to doze on the hard road for an hour or two until the smell of baking bread wafts over from the village inn and Peter lets us disturb the humans. Walking in to the village, the Orc, Lizard, Knight, Viking and Stripper all get hostile stares, but we are not offended as the villagers are hostile and rude to each other as well. Many of them are also life-drained & will-bound to the forces of hell. We eventually get the horses stabled and have breakfast, while a message is sent to Father D'Assini to see if he will accept visitors. If he says 'no', we would be suspicious and see him anyway, but we have to go through the right process. Humans! The breakfast is poor, as the harvest has been bad – no fresh berries, and the gruel is from mouldy grain. The fish is OK, so maybe the waterways aren't affected. Even the stables have some possession wards running. We sleep for a few hours, except Peter, who cleans his armour. With no sleep, his decisions will keep getting worse.

Around 9am, we finally get a reply from the innkeeper that Father D'Assini will see us – he is in a tower 4 miles NE of Hillcrest. He warns us to come with extra caution; Peter says 'just ride normally'. We follow a cart track. As we enter a small stand of trees, I feel there is likely to be an ambush, so I warn the party and dismount. Only Peter is a good horseman, and the two earth mages and the lizard need to be on the ground to either fight or cast magic. We are attacked by more than a score of blacked wingéd things, which swoop in and leech onto our faces and those of our horses. We shred those that get close, while our horses rear and panic. Peter gallops in circles, trying to stab them with his lance. We group up and help each other and cast a couple of spells to take some of them down, and then when we have a breathing space and have removed the creatures from our horses, we mount up and head on out of the woods. The creatures are neither birds nor reptiles nor bats, but creatures of foul magic - not that we read their auras.

A couple of miles further along the cart track, we come over a rise and see a small keep, with a number of high-ranking Urielites hanging around the base. In this case, I mean literally hanging, as in by the neck on gibbets. We approach the tower, and are challenged by a Urielite Brother, who then orders us to come inside. Like good little lambs, we do so. Apparently the Father is going to be 'busy' for another half-hour, so we stable and brush down the horses to avoid being snubbed. Eventually we enter the main keep, where the Brother and Father D'Assini great us. D'Assini is a sorcerer with many magical trickets. There is a table of food, covered with cloth and warded – they claim this is they entire supply of food. The story is then laid on more thickly: apparently all the Urielites were hung for their own good, and for the safety of the countryside. There is a man upstairs, called The Traveller, who D'Assini is tending to. This is supposedly the source of the plague. After a short discussion, we are advised to leave all our magic items behind in the great hall, and to allow the Brother to 'ward' them, as otherwise The Traveller will turn them against us. We are assured that our own ward rituals will not protect the items fro the traveller's influence. The party meekly start stripping off their items. Once more, for the record, I will mention that Peter had no sleep last night, and was trained to believe and obey other members of the Urielite order, so our Leader and Military Strategist should not be held completely to blame. These notes have been left in Judith's saddle-bags, and she has been left free at the keep gate with strict instructions to wait until the party is ritually slaughtered or we come back corrupted, and then flee east and down river until she finds a nice master.

My rabbit and I have talked it through, and we will make our stand with the rest of the party; it is the only right thing to do.

===Meeting the Traveller===

===Ravenskeep Northward===

===Sidetracked by a God===
After disturbed dreams we awake and eat then check out the graves.
* Grandma Hodges
* Wallace Hodges

Buds growing near headstones on both graves. One has been here 30 hrs and also glows lavender to Sam. It's a rye grass that has protection from maelific influences. The other has protective herbal abilities.

The area around the graves is consecrated (15' x 8' with the graves near one end)

The wind is moving unnaturally and Vapour feels it's magical in nature. Sam doesn't think so but I think it's a remnant of a charming magic.

We head off towards the dwarven area up the magical stream

Party order changes slightly as we put Sam to the rear and bring myself near to the front.

A bit further along the path the stream cross the path and Vapour finds the source of the stream about a mile away but off the path to the West. We mark the crossing point ranger style.

A little bit later Sam has a strange urge to head off the path to the East.

Sam DA's himself and asks "Name of last magic to affect". A summoning.

We follow Sam's feelings. To a blossoming Cherry tree.

It's magical, and a portal possibly to nowhere. The rest of the party goes through before I can tell them this so I wait for the to return and tell me it's safe. After 5 minutes my curiosity gets the better of me and I go through. On the other side the grass has no plane of origin.

The grass is even yet unmown, the path even and well maintained. About 20 minutes along the path we cross over a ridgeline and see earthen defense works around a cottage. It has been burnt a little.

The squire gets encompassed by a glow that surrounds him and stop's my DA.

Whilst the house doesn't provide every whim it does provide needs and reasonable wants.

A couple of hour later the house creaks and the door opens and a small old human man walks in. He greets us as Sam and companions. He takes refreshment as we assemble.

Kron says praying doesn't work for him.

He tells us.
* Princess found her true love who was loved by another maid.
* The other maid committed suicide and her brother, having been dabbling with Dissenic, embarked on revenge.
* The other maid had made other arrangements and thus is still acting in the realm but through her younger sister.
* Urielites are targetted as they married the Princess and chosen against the wishes of his family and his betrothed's (the suicide) family too. He is of the family Silver-hammer and the suicide is called Roseanne.

Kron has a Priestess of some standing (higher than the two families). Actions are find sister and convince her to stop acting for sister and also convince brother to stop his vengence.

Brother to be given to Urielite court. The clan court is believed to be too riven to be just. He needs to be made aware of the grief he has wrought in his own grief.

The younger sister is being unduly influenced by the suicide.

Time is short and other forces are attempting to horn in on the situation.

We have to stay the night, ad the sleep is very refreshing, but about 5am there are sounds of battle outside.

Dawn brings an opening of the house.

Kron brings some amulets out.
* Squire's will aid him
* Peter's improves his detection of (this) evil
* Sam's will boost his willpower (against lust possibly)
* Mine will provide three extra shift per day (for almost a week)
* Vapour's will improve his wind sense and allow him to pick up the taint
* Cher's will allow the detection of evil magic and is tasked with assisting Peter justice with mercy and compassion.

He also give Sam a sack of nine candles of communion with him. If any of the rest of us must use them we need to wrap a hair around the wick before lighting (Cher should use a scale).

He sets up a portal for us to leave to a couple of hundred of yards up the path.

Greer is released as we cross the threshold leaving. We find the Oak along the path. Through the Oak we return.

Sam finds some dwarven tracks and Vapour sees something weird in the wind.

10 in squad from tracks. And they stay off the road.

We follow the tracks to the entrance to the dwarven caves.

===Meeting the Dwarves===
We arrive at the entrance to the Dwarven cave about 8am.

There are signs of a scuffle with some dwarven blood and a scorch from a Blackfire (Rk 15) with aspects of Phantasm on one half of the door. The other door had a ward triggered of Fear.

We open the right door (burnt), check the ward within (It's Mass Fear) and then Sam steps in and Panics.

In the room is an injured Dwarf, on an altar (most recently to Kron). It is a sanctified room.

We then go down the adjacent corridor, triggering a Harm Entity Ward (Sam resisted) and Hellfire Ward (Peter resists) in the junction. At the junction, to the right is a room with Warded with Wall of Stone. The corners in each direction have Hellfire wards in them. I (eventually) counterspell under where the wall would appear.

After checking through the door with transparency, we call out to the dwarves within and after some small discussion and the scroll from Kron they treat us as friends. We begin helping them and get their story.

Around midnight, about 15 dwarves they thought lost to them attacked and headed further in.

Peter pulls his finger out to pray and heal more. And Sam heals more with trollskin.

Hrothstar of the Rockmina Clan, priestess of Just gods including Kron but also interest in the Human religon of the Lady.

Peter' Prayers complete and the finger points to the tainted area during. He removes the taint from 3 of the affected and improves Greer.

Roseanne has five younger sisters. Jolie and Daria have been praying with Hrothstar occasionally. One brother, Tomsk has been doing a weird personal project in the family forge.

Courses of action:
* Visit brother – Convince him of excessiveness of his reaction
* Visit place of sisters burial / spirit / haunting and conscecrate
* Visit younger sister and remove the corruption
* Kill evil dwarves

===Through the Warrens===
From Cher.
As we ready for our trip through the dwarves complex, Peter and me spotted something black move across one of the corners of the room. I managed to get a D.E. off on it but came up not as magical, but as something with magic on it. Upon further investigation of the dwarfs who were in that part of the room, via healer empathy, found that they were drained. This led us to the conclusion that either a spectre or wrath was lurking about. Sam quickly put his pet crystal rabbit on guard and the rest of us reorganized the rest of the injured away from the walls.
When we finally were ready to leave we decided that we should travel in two groups. Us, with Maryfeather, in the lead group and the dwarfs follow behind.
The trip to the first on our list, the brother, started out to be a bit convoluted and narrow, but soon turned into more wider, but not much higher, tunnels. It is now that we placed our selves in a much better marching order. Peter and Vapour at the front, Greer, Maryfeather and Sam in the middle, and Jonas and me at the back.
We made good time, now that the tunnels were easier, only stopping to lower the wards and magical traps, and for some reason, Sam to doodle on the walls. It is not until we came across one particular trap, one that involved Maryfeather kneeling down, moving a brick, and flicking a switch, that I realized Sam was actually marking our way. Also this trap was quite interesting, it was at a t-intersection and when Maryfeather deactivated it a gate came down blocking the way. I noticed that it was magical and pointed it out, that's when Sam cleared his throat and spat at the gate, the spit sizzled when it hit.

(Sam's D.A.: Will this stop a wrath? Answer: No'ish)

After the entertaining sizzle it was only a short while until Maryfeather stopped us and said that we are coming up to and area, which is a trade area, and that the brother's shop is just off it.
Not wanting to draw attention to ourselves we formed a loose group, close to marching order, and carried on.
There was a fair amount of activity, but not too much, and made it across with no problems.
As we approached the corridor that his shop was down, we noticed that there was a sort of haze above the entranceway, which looked out of place. We were not exactly sure what it was but it was evil and, while not blocking, on the path we had to take. Peter had the plan to attack first and ask questions later; it was evil after all.
We approached...

Before Peter could get a hit, Vapour leapt forward, and the miasma tempted poor Vapour who seemed to temporarily resist the effects of the creature.
Next Peter got a mighty blow on it, and the Haze shrank. Brave Sam leap in to save Vapour, but but this conflicted with Vapour's clever plan to use a web to stop himself from going further down the corridor, and the effort of fighting off the miasma from their minds left them unable to cooperate. Peter battled on, landing another blow. Cher moved up to help, but it was too wily. MaryFeather joined in and started to prepare a spell. Meanwhile no one had noticed that when Cher moved up she had cut in front of Jonas, and her deadly threshing tail had sent him flying into a coil of rope, which he promptly got tangled in. Sam and Vapour managed to collectively wrench themselves loose of the rapidly weakening coercion, and threw themselves backwards, just as Peter stepped forward and finished off the mist. The pile of Vapour, Sam, and Peter took a while to untangle, and with Greer helping Jonas out of the rope, we were not at our most impressive.

We then went down the tunnel, finding the brother working at the forge.

As we were going down the tunnel, I was a bit worried about Vapor. He kept on dropping down on the floor, rolling about and crawling, then getting back up again. Either the Haze may have gotten to him or he was just being Vapor. Since the whole process was looked ever so stylish and cool, I think the latter was the case.

Before we got to the brothers forge we pass a couple of rooms opposite each other. To the left of us was a wool spinners workshop and to the right a leather workshop which seemed to be unoccupied.
Next was the brother's forge and opposite that was were he stored his coal and metal for smelting.
Having no further resistance we entered the workshop. It was occupied by four individuals. Two apprentice types, one sorting out coal/metal and the other working on something, the stoker keeping the fire going, and the brother.
Upon talking to the brother for a few seconds found that he was in the middle of something and he could not stop and have a longer chat. So we took the opportunity to do a bit of D.A.'s and D.E.'s.
Our results were that the apprentice shorting out the coal/metal was tainted, but not the brother. The apprentice's taint seemed to be coming from the metal they were using. Thou some of it was magical of it self, some of it was also tainted. Sam being a wise orc took some samples to study later. Peter, while watching the craftsmanship of the brother, did a sense evil and found that the brother had a conflict of his soul happening.
Once the brother had finished we were able to have a longer talk.

MaryFeather reassured him that we were trustworthy, and so he agreed to talk to us after finishing his work.We did not reveal how we knew, but said that we were investigating the taint since it was heavily infecting the outside areas and the trail lead back to him.

We explained the situation to [The Brother], who was quite sure that the method of "revenge" he planned could not have been the cause of corruption. In the interim though, we did notice he was currently being controlled magically.

Revealing more we said that something had taken that and twisted it and made it more than it should be.This was much for him to process and decided to take the matter to the head of the house, his father.

So more twisting warrens, and scraping of Peter's helmet, we arrived at the home of the family.
The brother knocked there was no answer. He knocked again still no answer, so he opened the door. Inside was dark which was unusual, but as our adjusted we saw that the placed had been trashed.

Before we could hold him back the brother rushed in shouting for his farther and mother. We also moved in taking a defensive stance. Seeing that who ever trashed the place had left, we immediately started tending to the injured. Sam, being the caring orc that he is, tended to the mother cradling her and checking to see if she was all right. Our other healer brought around the father, who was still grasping his axe. Being a bit disoriented upon coming to, he started to lash out at us. But with a few soft and reassuring words he calmed down and sarted to tell us what happened.

===All Dwarves are Crazy===

Session 8
6th (about 10 am)

The thieves took the Son's satchel. He runs into his room and we (Sam and I) follow. They got his God's Orb. And the activating scroll as well.

There is a commotion and we return into the main room to see Vapour and Cher fighting. I change, but Peter, Vapour and Merryfeather push Cher into one of Sam's Hands of Earth.

I DA Cher for duration of last magic to affect: Indefinite.

A hordette of dwarven maids enters, one gets caught in hands, then Sam puts up next set of hands. He puts some of the maids into hands and then MerryFeather and the Father start to try and calm things down.

Peter ventures into a back room an encounters some evil.

We leave and then Peter ask's Sam to tunnel through the wall and on third attempt causes a hole through his, Mine and Vapour's,. After a few (32) seconds of excruciating pain it ends and then we have trauma reactions for a minute or two.

When Sam recovers he tries again, and after bit backfires again and causes Himself and I to be very dense.

Meanwhile Cher has been fighting an evil in a back room for a bit and then legs it out of the rooms.

:''"That's it, next time I find unholy evil I'm not leaving it behind"- Peter''
:''"You don't pick up unholy evil with your bare (tiger) mouth" - Jonas''

The family regroups and spends an hour regrouping and then Merryfeather pops her head out and fills us in. We return the favour and recommend the family be moved whilst we clear the rooms out.

All of the daughters I can see have a taint of evil.

We discuss our plans then find the other small evil, a necklace. We put it and the coin purse in a satchel in the corner of the main room.

We open the door into the inner (girls) room. I DA the volume inside the door and see motes of Formerly living dwarf. Sam DA's the Pentacle and asks who it summons (Andrealphus). There's also sand on the floor. No circle and the triangle is in the pentacle.

Peter realises where he is, blushes and leaves. Sam searches the room some more, finds a few things and then finds a small metallic Peacock. He tosses it towards the doorway and it crosses the pentacle. . . . .

====Our Last Moments====
Sam found something under a bed, and flicked it towards the doorway. The metal figurine of Andrealphus went flying right into the centre of the pentacle ...

===Surviving the Vortex (just)===
Session 9 (Still later on the 6th)

The lights go out. And a rumbling sound starts. I hear a female voice inside my head. "Your mind is mine"
With my last free thought I choose to change to confuse her.

When I finish the voice is lessened, the smell is sulphurous and a friendly voice is nearby. After my Renove experiences I flee the area, bounding cleanly over Vapour but failing to skirt Peter.

Cher pulls Vapour out just as a claw slashes and catches on to Vapours upper back. Then he starts to slide back.
Vapour strikes a claw with a vial of holy water.
Cher begins the pull again, and I leap and latch Vapour with claw to his armour's leg
Peter helps and we manage to get Vapour out.

With Vapour out, Peter heads in to save Sam, Vapour gets up, Cher throws holy water.

Vapour heads in, slips into Peter and My leap doesn't land on the dresser cause it's not there and I skitter into the corner. The voice I my mind seduces me with succulent food and yummy catnip.

Peter hits, Vapour gets up and Sam changes. I'm still enthralled.

Vapour throws holy water. Peter gathers himself. Sam and I are still enthralled.

Peter strikes at the claw attached to him, Vapour throws a holy water, Sam recovers a little, I'm still enthralled.

Peter and Vapour prepare to attack, Cher enters the room. Sam recovers some more. Purrrrrr.

Peter and Vapour attack again, Cher moves in. Sam snags me as I'm going down and snaps me out of it.

Peter and Vapour continue attacking. Cher moves in some more. Sam and I reach the edge of the portal.

Vapour briefly succumbs and moves to the edge but is wedged, Cher slides in and strikes, Peter . I succumb and dive back in, Sam leaps after me and snaps at my tail.

Vapour begins to be dragged into the hole, but teleports away safely. Sam and I recover and clamber 'up' and Peter steps forward.

Quote: "I'm immune to such blandishments" - Peter the Knight as he steps into Hell.

Peter prays louder, Vapour hunts for rope to drag out the others, Sam and I reach the room proper, Cher recovers from edge and strikes.

I leap for the worst (non-dog) smell but am not able to hurt it. Sam circles the other way and encounters Peter. Vapour steps toward his mirror

Cher misses, Peter, Sam and I distract and wrench at the beasty. During this I start to feel better and stronger.

Cher strikes and hits me. OUCH! My heads clears quickly.

Then she hits me again. OUCH! (almost as bad)

She doesn't hit me a third time. So distract the gribbly some more.

It drops away and I bounce off it and hit something small and scaly.

We have all managed to escape and leave the area alone.

=== Session 10: Exorcism of Evil ===
We regroup and brush off, deciding to move forward with our original plan. Next Step is to visit the site of the sisters death and attempt to cleanse the area and release her spirit.
After visiting the Brother across town, we head back again to the now abandoned and closed-up apartment where she comitted suicide. 
There is a clear area of evil where the sister died, as a pool of blood.
Peter needs to perform the ritual for a full night. He stays in the room with his new Squire at his side praying with his shield ready. The rest of us stay outside and guard the entrance.

The area quickly becomes dark, with a glow surrounding Peter keeping the inky darkness at bay.

Furniture in the apartments starts to shake and fly around the room, and Cher decides to disintergrate a particularly scary looking chest of drawers in her nervousness

It becomes even darker, and we can only see the glow from Peter now in the room, with groans and other noises apparent at times

Meanwhile, we get an unfriendly visit from sister (Kelly) obviously under the influence of the evil spirit and out to get us. We subdue her and Sam uses his skills with women to make her unconscious for the duration of the night.

While we are are distracted by the exorcism, we discover that Kelly is being dragged away by the youngest sister, Shelly.
Vapour chases to stop this, and noticed that Kelly is being dragged towards an opening in the wall, seemingly oblivious to the fact that an same inky undead blackness waiting in the opening.

Vapour deals to the blackness with a couple of good hits, after which it retreats.

Shelly is very distressed and seems genuine in her reasons for trying to get Kelly away from us (after all, Kelly is now unconscious). We are unable to convincer of our good intentions, so she is also put to sleep discretely for her own safety.

The night continues. We have a number of hairy hell-creatures arrive, but managed to keep them at bay with a series of magical walls and barriers.

At the peak of the night, we decide to extract Peter's squire from the room, and he is in a bad way: He is filled with Evil and almost dead with most of his blood having been squeezed from him. We managed to stabilize him enough until we have time to remove the evil the next day.

Slowly, the evil is exorcised, and the darkness finally disipates...

===Investigations and Alarums===
Session 11 - Early on the 7th

After the tiring evening, dawn arrives and then breakfast.

The evenings rituals have removed the evil from the room, but much of it appears to gone into Peter's shield.

Merryfeather enquires how our night went and informs us that the SilverHammer brother is on our way to talk to us.

Greer's blessing by Peter ends with him still blind but otherwise better.

After Cher repairs the door there is a knocking and the brother (Sylvester) enter, he enquires after his missing sisters and then wakes the youngest first and talks to her quietly. After a little while he wakes Kelly (the elder sister). She's more disoriented and wonders why she's here "again". He then ushers his sisters out and leads them away.

We find the secret entrance into the passage where the girls were going to retreat to. The passage is quite short but the room behind the door has Alchemical apparatus, vials and books.

4 Books: DA from me: nature of the magic
1)Major curse. Doom of Death. Phrase
2)No answer. Mana Storage cast last.
3)No Aura. No answer.
4)Minor curse. Frostbite.
No taint present.

Sam says the opening words as he puts the first book into the sack (last, ie after the other books)
and it tries to open inside the sack.

Sam tunnels the other end of the corridor into the market and causes some disruption and we go unseen then run back an pull the spikes from the door.

We meetup with Sylvester and Merryfeather and head off somewhere to talk. Back to the SilverHammer rooms to fixup the summoning circle.

Back at the rooms we come clean about what we know (essentially the truth) about the situation.
Slyvester was creating and "blessing" alloys with vengence and forming them into items in common use by the peasant and church folk (No more then 80 items).

He has some samples for us to review. His Makers Mark is a hammer hitting a feather.

Book 1) bound in Dragon guts and contain a mild Dragon id. It contains recipes involving dragon bits and dragon effects.

After a couple of hours (and a failed and successful divination) Sylvester, Merryfeather and Shelly return. Merryfeather explains whats involved to Shelly.

Sam's despondent at not being able to have the blood-letting be of tantric nature.

After a flash of darkness, the pentagram begins to fade.

(It's now just after lunchtime)

=== Session 12 ===

=== Session 13 ===
Session 13
Now late afternoon on the 7th

Sam and Vapour go into talk to the family and to heal Peter. Sam is given a couple of potions, one for him for fatigue and one for the worst of his patients.

Sam tunnels and Sam and Cher looks out and see the Dwarven infantry are through there and they say they're dealing with the situation.

Sam puts down his good (K)night and gives him some healing.

We evacuate the family and injured in the direction of the chapel and then go round to deal with the crature.

We go through two checkpoints and then get into sight of the combat. We capture the greeblie with a Hands of Earth and the dwarves can more easily defeat it.

Then the dwarves and us move through into the occupied room and defeat the last two greeblies. The last one leaves a puddle of an oily substance. The oil float on water and they're going to try holy water on it.

We retire to some new apartments, have dinner, set watches and get some decent rest.

(Morning of the 8th)
Breakfast and Merryfeather fills us in on the limited events of the evening (Not much)

We head along to the Chapel. As the service moves from Kron into Uriel Peter joins in. We then retire with the family to talk about the situation.

The father thanks us (it goes on a bit long) and then gives us a chest and then Vapour present the family with a statue of himself.

"He doesn't steal" - Vapour "That's the point!" - Sam

Despite Sam and Vapour's willingness to attend the party tonight we can leave accompanied

Vapour casts flying on us all (3 casts). Cher finally admits (under confusion) that she's a Dragon.

We head for Ravenskeep.

On landing, Peter starts to sink into the marsh besides the river. I try to help him out but aren't strong enough until I cast a Hands and wrap the rope around it.

Walk into town arriving a bit after lunch. We spend the afternoon filling the bishop in on the situation.

Cher check the chest and it contains gold and gems

Then have dinner and rest the night. We then set out to find the tainted items in town. And then head out to the fields.

We start to carefully disassemble the cairns and instruct the acolytes and priests how to do so.

We spend the next day doing the same thing at the next town and again at the other town then on to the keep where the traveller is.

As we approach the tower, it's in worse repair.

Four knights charge from behind us, not touching the ground. Sam runs away and so I cast my Hands in front of them, but they basically charge through.

After we get to the gate, we see one knight firing lighting at shadows in the courtyard. Two knights clearing the ramparts and one heading towards where the traveller was. Peter follows the last knight.

After a couple of pulses Vapour and I (as Tiger) follow Peter. I am almost singed by a lightning and Vapour dodges cleanly.

When Cher follows she gets tagged by a lightning bolt.

Peter reaches the antechamber to find Father Francis and some other brothers unconscious and set-upon by some shadowy figures. He lays into the figures.

Vapour and I arrive shortly thereafter and with our (meager) assistance these shadowy figures are dispatched.

Peter then charges up to the (closed) door to the chamber where the Traveller had been held. He drops his shoulder charges. I leap, intending to add my strength and weight to his attempt to burst open the door.

My assistance isn't required and with only a small amount of damage to his armor Peter tumbles into the Traveller's room. I'm only a moment behind.

== Calendar of Events ==
{| cellspacing=1 width="100%" border=0 class="Season" id="Winter"
! colspan=15 | <h1>Winter</h1>
|-
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| colspan=14 | {{Right|0}} [[Samhain]]
|- valign="top"
! colspan=15 | [[Frost]] (7)
|- valign="top"
! colspan=3 height=54px |  
| class=day | 1 || {{Right|0}} Guild Meeting [[#Prelude|Prelude]]
| class=day | 2 || {{Right|1}} [[#Prelude|Prelude]] [[#After_the_Monastery|After the Monastery]]
| class=day | 3 || {{Right|1}} [[#Meeting_the_Traveller|The Traveller]]
| class=day | 4 || {{Right|1}} [[#Ravenskeep_Northward|Ravenskeep Northward]]
| class=day | 5 || {{Right|1}} [[#Sidetracked_by_a_God|Sidetracked by a God]]
| class=day | 6 || {{Right|2}} [[#Meeting_the_Dwarves|Meeting the Dwarves]]
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 7 || {{Right|2}} [[#Investigations_and_Alarums|Investigations and Alarums]]
| class=day | 8 || {{Right|2}}
| class=day | 9 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 10 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 11 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 12 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 13 || {{Right|4}}
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 14 || {{Right|4}}
| class=day | 15 || {{Right|4}}
| class=day | 16 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 17 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 18 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 19 || {{Right|3}}
| class=day | 20 || {{Right|2}}
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 21 || {{Right|2}}
| class=day | 22 || {{Right|2}}
| class=day | 23 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 24 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 25 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 26 || {{Right|1}}
| class=day | 27 || {{Right|0}}
|- valign="top"
| class="calMoon" height=54px | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 28 || {{Right|0}}
| class=day | 29 || {{Right|0}}
| class=day | 30 || {{Right|1}}
| colspan=8 |  
|}

In Her Majesty's Somewhat Secret Service

2026-06-06T03:38:39Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:William]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Isil Eth]]
[[Category:Silverfoam]]
[[Category:Naden]]
[[Category:Sabrina]]
[[Category:Amelia]]
[[Category:Bleyze]]
[[Category:Axis]]
[[Scribe_Notes#Winter_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': In Her Majesty's Somewhat Secret Service 
'''GM''': [[:Category:William Dymock|William Dymock]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Mostly Tuesdays - Nights shall be rather random due to erratic work schedule 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Extreme]] 
'''Location''': Chez Ellis, 34 Heretaunga Ave, Onehunga 
; Party

*[[Isil Eth]] - played by Ian Wood
*[[Silverfoam]] - played by Michael Parkinson (Mil Sci)
*[[Naden]] - played by Michael Young
*[[Sabrina]] - played by [[User:Dean|Dean Ellis]] (Party Leader) Suppose I better move to the frontline :-)
*[[Amelia]] - played by Rosemary Mansfield (Secondary Mil Sci)
*[[Bleyze]] - played by Craig Harper
*[[Axis]] - played by Greg Graydon

Scribe will be per session rotation starting in alphabetical order from Amelia

 
; Employer
: Her Majesty's Privy Councillor, Maristal
; Mission
: Alfhiem is a beautiful, utopian pardise where elves happily spend their years in idyllic pursuits. Life is perfect, serene and untroubled by the maladies that plague other lands. As a result, the adventurers are hired to see that this happy state of affairs is seen to be continuing.
; Pay
: Pay will be 30,000 each (payable in items or gold) and paid out of the Privy Purse (which still has some small change for these little tasks). Our employer's expectation that we will be able to solve all of Alfheim's problems in 3 days is gently refuted.

= Scribe Notes =
== 1st of Frost 808 Introduction ==
We organise guild contracts and set the
::'''1st Rule:''' No Smoking in the Elven Court.

A discussion on the current affairs in [[Alfheim]] indicates that the party recently in Alfheim, discovered a curse of apathy on all those resident within its borders, probably set by [[Savnok]] - Marquis of Corruption. However the written information seemed unclear. They also have bought the province of Lalhaudh and [[Lucius]] (as Lord Protector) to the active attention of the Court.

We then visit the Alfheim Embassy to discuss the contract. We note a force of [[Alfheim#Elvandar|Elvandar]] camped in the grounds. The meeting is held during a informal and energetic party.

Maristal says that there are a large number of issues facing Alfheim, and he believes that the most important issue is that they have no money because no-one is paying their taxes. He suggests that we should "take tea with the Queen" and spends some time describing the tax situation, and some of the other issues he sees as needing action.

; Unpaid Taxes
* The land taxes from each province are due every decade, but haven't been paid by most for hundreds of years. The only exceptions are the [[Elven Isles]] (3 provinces) which has paid once in the last century, and Lalhaudh which paid last quarter.
*Receiving taxes is the responsibility of the Most High Minister of the Counts, Basan.
*There are twenty-four provinces in Alfheim and three in the Elven Isles. The taxes are set at 50,000 sp, this figure has not changed for millennia (and we suspect wouldn't pay for the Queen's pocket handkerchiefs).
*Each province has an excuse for not paying the taxes, e.g.
**Nagarine cults, demon worshipers.
**a dragon,
**swarms of halflings causing agricultural disaster,
**giant beast men being lead by undead,
** there was a rumour that one of the excuses is "wild daffodils", but this wasn't mentioned by Maristal as a concern of his.
*One of the Elvandar provinces have sent troops in lieu of taxes, but they have previously requested not to do so.
*Maristal thinks it is especially important that all the provinces are seen to pay taxes this decade, because there is an unfortunate precedent set by the last time Lalhaudh was the only province to pay. In that instance shortly there after the Lord Protector of Lalhaudh removed the Queen's head. As Lalhaudh currently has a Lord Protector again; Maristal does not want history to repeat itself.

; Other Issues
*Lake Eidolon is bubbling (in patches) for no natural reason
*There is a movement agitating for the Queen of abdicate in favour of her heir the Princess
*A deputation from the Sword World ([Calamar]) was murdered at Court; and they don't know how it was done.
*The [[Beltan Elves]] have made demands of the crown: 12 flying ships, 18 nexus stones, and a fae ring for [[Elfenburg]] (aka Bergelfen). (we note that the University in Teranova probably has spare parts for flying ships).
*and the various issues used as excuses for not paying taxes.

Maristal says the Queen may have other priorities and we should present ourselves to the Master of Ceremonies in Eidolon to arrange Tea.

We ask for an introduction to Basan, but this is refused with gentle hints that the Most High Minister and the Privy Councillor are in competition, and the former will probably not freely assist us.

We return to the Guild to organise travelling, with a tentative plan:
*to go via Elfenburg and talk to the Beltan Elves
*then to travel to Eidolon (probably flying) and visit the Queen.
*we can probably use the unpaid taxes as an excuse to poke around the provinces asking nosy questions, but we need a writ or such.

We receive an invitation to dinner, followed by hunting, from Lady Nimue, who is the Lady of one of the [[Alfheim#Elvandar|Elvandar]] provinces. We meet her in one of Seagate's nicer restaurants.

Lady Nimue is visiting her cousin Carreanne, who is a guild member. Her company is booked on the slow portal to Elfenburg in the morning, as they are going to Eidolon. Lady Nimue is sending troops as taxes as she is highly concerned at the incursions into Alfheim that she feels are not being addressed forcefully enough. She offers us their escort to Elfenburg or further. As they will take several weeks to march from Elfenburg to Eidolon we accept only to the first.

The evenings hunting is with the Lady and a few of her attendants. As they are part of the Wild Hunt we arrange with the Seagate Guard to target a know nest of undead beyond the border.

== 2nd of Frost 808 Elfenberg ==
We caught the slow portal to Elfenberg. With a company of 150 [[Alfheim#Elvandar|Elvandar]] troops as escort nothing untoward happened.

On arrival at [[Elfenburg]] we visited the embassy. It was undergoing repairs after the attempted surgical strike by the [[Calamar]]. A bunch of Beltan workmen were being very industrious. They had cleared out the last five centuries accumulated bric-a-brac and were recreating the killing zones and arcs of fire so beloved of the Beltan elves. They are looking to put in a new fairy ring which will hopefully brighten the place up a bit. They have repainted the embassy in very austere colours. Its very drab and makes it look a bit dwarvish. We may need to add redecorating the embassy to our list of tasks.

[[Isil Eth]] seemed quite put out by the modifications to the embassy but it is one of her
houses. She lives in the attic. A very modest 4 floors which the workmen hadn't quite reached. We briefly discussed warding the place against the workmen.

We were heralded up the stairs by Amelia (like sheep) and presented before Force Commander Ellia of the Beltan. He is the head architect, decorator and colour consultant. He is a bit miffed that he has been relegated to this rural backwater to create hospitals, staging areas and fire up recruitment. He would rather be in the front line in Ruska in the Beltans war against the Calamar.

The Beltan elves want 6 ships, not 12 as previously quoted and they want to set up a series of Nexus stones to stop portals and summonings, Real time clocks so that no one is ever late and Fairy rings to stop multi-dimensional beings.

They are stressing the importance of the Calamar war as if its a good thing that Alfheim needs to be involved in.

In the Afternoon we went to see Aubrey the treasurer of Alfheim. Amelia had to do some urgent herb shopping and was last seen travelling rapidly away from the party. Aubrey was very upset about the dissappearance of the Chalice of Kwallier and appeared to blame the hobbits. Normally he would be right but this time it was the Calamar. Unfortunatley we were there when he caught a few hobbits and shook them down to see how much missing silver ware they had. We didn't know if healing them would be considered aiding and abetting.

== 2nd of Frost 808 MMH and Borovia ==
We detoured to MMH so that [[Isil Eth]] could pick up a few dresses. The rest of us took the opportunity to get something more courtly than field plate and hand and halves as well. Then a quick port to Borovia for [[Silverfoam]] to pick up a boat to sailing to Eidelon.

== 3rd of Frost 808 Eidelon ==
In Eidelon we bumped into [[Isil Eth]]'s father, The Warden of the Southern Marches.

He was quite put out at being recalled to Eidelon because of the recent attacks. It had spoiled a year of fishing. He's looking forward to retirement now that the Beltan are taking over the military and is hoping to get pensioned off soon. He appears to have succumbed to Savnoks curse. He mentions that while he has been recalled to Eidelon the Elvandar want the Warden of the Eastern marches and the guard withdrawn from the East and that hasn't happened. We convinced him to stay at his post and encourage the Eastern Warden to do like wise with his guard.

== some time later ==
We had tea with Aunty.
As we spoke the city came under attack, so we rushed to defend the court. Nasty things are phasing in and out and killing courtiers as they looked for the Stone of Rulership. A Nasty slit the throat of a courtier and began a ritual, whereon Amelia sured the dying courtier and the Nasty became stunned. Blyze charged and killed a fire Elemental!
We got outside in time to see a large pillar of basalt disappear into the void.
Interogating a captured Nasty we learn that Mousy, a Red Dragon, wanted the Stone and that the bassalt collumn as a transport ship for the Nasties. Mousy had told a story:
''When the lake befins to boil
The one on the throne will loose their head.''
So Mousy wanted the Stone taken from Aunty's head (where it normally is) and also wanted one of the infernal engines that holds the city in the air. I did not know we used magic to hold this city up, I just thought it floated. This is far to simple to be an astrology reading.
The Nasties were also told to look for ''Shool'' a Greater Summoner who talks to powers and knows many things.
We were also told:
*Watch for Old Masters = Calamar?
*Cold = farm (bury undergound and they will grow large and can be mined after many years) crystals for their spires
*Hot = seed field for foods
There are 15,000 Nasties
There are 25,000 Calamar all up.

Continuing our interupted Tea, Aunty would like us to rally the provinces to kill the miscreants.
We got permission to visit her at any time.

'''Discussions'''
''Coincidence?''
#An attack - opportune?
#A prophecy, which were two lines of common sense gibberish
#Mousy pointed them here: is Mousy a big threat?
#Red Dragon in provinces. = Mousy?
#Beltans know what defences should be in the city and these Nasties weakened those defences that are there
#Rallying the provinces
##Elven Apathy?
##Could the provinces see the weak capital as an opportunity to secede?
# Provinces claim they cannot cope
# Curse from a Demon - can we remove it? Big S? What happens if the curse is removed? How old is the curse?
#Beltan want to restore some of the old lore
#City shook 4 seconds after Aunty said "Big S's" name
#Elvandar elves want retrospection
#The Nasties took on their Basalt Pillar some people, pretties (=defences?) and support magics

''some options''
#Curse
#Mountain
#A province
#The greater summoner
#Research ELves and their status
#Restoration of Defences of Eidolon
#Talk to Unseelie Elves

== <Five> <Six> Seven! go wild in Munsterland ==

Isil Eth was off doing royal stuff, Bleyze was off polishing his knuckle bones and Axis just stepped out I suspect to shag that silver dragon we met earlier. The rest of us (Sabrina, Amelia, Silverfoam, Ajax and Naden) decided that we weren't quite up to slaying a dragon with half the party AWOL so we would investigate the Nagarine cults up north. We decided to disguise ourselves as a traveling Troubadour group as we all had some skills in this area. So we purchased 5 invested illusionist scrolls (to disguise Sabrina) for 6 Royals and hired a barge for the journey north.

We spent a week traveling north up the canals. stopping off to do a show at various towns long the way and gather local information. We learn that Munster is a province where much of Alfheim's heavy industry is located with mining in the eastern hills. Hazards, include Goblins, Gibbons and a certain red dragon we were trying to avoid who roams east of Koln in the foothills and mountains. He taxes travelers and miners but isn't found near the river much. We met the local sheriff, a staunch chap by the name of Lord Caldyr who agreed to accompany us against a village of Nagarine cultists that he hadn't been able to wipe out in the area.

We leave that night on Silverfoam's ship with Lord Caldyr and 9 of his friends. The ground is heavily snow covered making the approach to the village difficult. Amelia scouts the area in her bird form and finds 2 guards on each of two gates and 2 wandering guards. She narrowly avoids some tame gryphon's(?). We also determine there is some powerful pattern/effect, protecting the village which is pacted to [[Seir]], The Willing Prince. We decide to just sail the ship straight over the front gate so we can disembark at the entrance to the long house. After a few pre-combat spells and rituals, Ajax kicks the front door in and we clear the long house quickly apart from a couple of elves who ran out the far exits and two children we take captive. Approximately a dozen elves and two devils are dispatched.

Fortunately everyone (Bleyze, Isil Eth and Axis) turned up in the event and we found an underground place of horror. The demon prince Big S had created a type of creche, similar to the Calamar, but here people seemed to be drawn into a writhing mass of sentients, cruelly morphed with limbs and torsos all interwoven. The cult could force the cursed mass to spit out some sort of flesh golem's. We killed the creatures protecting it and then Sabrina turned the entire mass to stone to be dealt with later.(After divination we determined there was nothing we could do for the unfortunates trapped. We changed the horror into straw, blessed it and burnt it. Seemed to stop the screaming of the inhabitants, so that was good). There where two exits from the chamber. One lead to a portal to the Elemental Plane of Air, the other lead to a prison of sorts where 20 assorted women were fused into the floor while being tormented by Imps (who wisely fled). The women had been ravished by assorted demonic beings and were all now pregnant with foul campion offspring. Silverfoam was able to abort all of the cursed offspring and we freed all but one of the women (she had been slain when the fetus had erupted from her body on our first approach) who were being used in a satanic rite and Isil Eth called on Manwe, Varda and Yavanna to bless them and cure their futures (ease memories and so on). A bit of a Sacrifice but worth it. 

We cleared the rest of the village, divinated, looted etc (fortunately Sabrina had sealed the area so Big S et al were kept at some distance while we tidied up).

Off we went to do battle with Big S, whose companions included two rocs, three daemons, a air elemental and some others. Sabrina and Naden destroyed the daemons in close combat while we took on the rocs. Mental Attack seemed to work on one roc and Agony did for the other. Axis and Silverfoam banished the Air Elemental after it tenderized Naden a bit. Big S then took hold of Blyze and teleported with him to the bottom of a deep lake, abandoning him there. Sabrina prevented his twinkling eye so he went for Isil Eth after instantly resurrecting the slain roc. However she struck him with her Royal Rapier in her iconic hand (blessed relic) and destroyed him - for three months.

Naden charmed the remaining roc as a pet. Anyone have some spare Hippopotamus as food for a cute pet? It turns out that you can prevent Seir from teleporting away with you with an amulet made from the eyelash's of virgins, but of course we didn't have any, but we should get hold of some for next time.

Lord Caldyr gave us a letter to his wife, the countess ??? who is resident in Eidolon.

So we went to Eidonlon, via the lake to get Blyze who had almost walked out. He had found a (dead) saint/knight of St Michael, so he took his sword and holy symbol(dagger) as identifiers.

==Eidolon 2==
We breifed Aunty, spoke with the head of the Beltans (who will owe me a favour if we go to the west and bless an area) and with the Countess (who does owe me a favour). (one of the women we rescued was her cousin). 

An academician, Tangleweed, had been investigating the curse and it's effects. He alterted us to the existance of eight foci which maybe places or probably artifacts. These are scattered throughout the empire. He gave us a bunch of research to help us locate these. 

He also advised that the Elven peoples are declining in number, as we never replace those lost in tragedies. He surmised the race is doomed, possibly in the next few centuries. The only times the birth rate has increased was in rare instances of the Spring Rites of the Elder Gods. He thinks that if the Spring Rites were held thoughout Alfheim for a decade then the birth rate would rise enough to increase the population.

==Daffodils==
On about the 11th swe identified that the daffodils were not related to curse but a "blessing" from Sharmanez (elven trickster god). Amelia solved the daffodil problem.

We locate the priest of Sharmenez who has been spreading the daffodils and have words with him. The daffodils have been growing in the area for 100's of years and the impact of them has waxed and waned a number of times. This time is has just got completely out of hand. He tells us a few other useful things:
* Sharmenez can teach any language
* This priest knows how to build nexus stones
* He tells us how to find the Wizards Tower of Mythalagos
* He says that the eldar gods are tired and want to retire. (Isil Eth suggests we find an honorable way for their followers to transfer to newer gods and a way for the gods to retire gracefully. after all, what does a disgruntled god become? Demon? 72 are enough already.)

He gives us a "counter-name" for the daffodils that takes them completely out of existence. Silverfoam saying the name clears about 50' diametre of daffodils, but namers hear a large bell tone. We've been advised that namers are aware that something has been "un-named".

==Finding the Fergensee Foci==
We locate the Wizards tower where the black mage Mythalagos and the Queen of the Dryads have been cursed to be deeply in love with each other. Mythalagos is pacted to Palamides, but the foci for the Alfheim Curse is found in a long buried temple to Bune under the tower.

Everyone who touches or enters the tower becomes geased to "not rescue the queen". The local village is made up almost entirely of ex-adventures / mercenaries who have been caught in the geas and have worked out cunning ways of preventing allies of Mythalagos rescuing him. The baker, who used to be a bounty hunter/assassin is particually helpful.

We decide to break the love pact, making an ally of the Queen. Amelia gets caught in the geas for a while but a discrete sleep spell prevents unfortunate consequences.

==Episode the 10th==
The party removed over 100 miles so that the Greater Curse could be removed without interruption.Â But we were tracked down by the bounty-hunter/baker/assassin ... who offered us congratulations & fresh muffins.
Resolved: that the sub-committee/party will give the evil wizard (known as Mythallaghos) to the villagers to dispose of, given that they have tendered to soul-trap his spirit in its decaying body.Â Carried unanimously.
Speaking of soul-trapping, the Dryad Queen turned down Naden's marriage offer as she would rather marry a troll.Â On returning to the wizard's tower, we confirm the Geas is gone.Â We breach the space under the hill: ambiance is also creepy & oppressive & also drains 1 pt per pulse.Â So Naden instantly divinates the altar (very impressive).Â It hold the tormented spirits of two elves sacrificed by Bune cultists. The altar is confirmed to be one of the focuses of the Curse.Â Isil Eth releases the spirits & the altar crumbles.
Party proceeds to gut tower (especially its wine-cellar): alembics, books, booze, golems, a few tons of masonry, ... the usual looting.Â Many locals are preparing to leave, now that they are no longer Geased.Â We offer the baker a lift & take the Dryad Queen with us.Â

==13th of Frost-ish==
After quickly getting Aunty-approval, we visit Lady Fangbreaker to get permission to attempt to cure the death-crater in her land, which lie within Elvander territory.Â Apparently the trees within a mile or so of the crater's edge are "sickening".Â Permission granted.Â According to mythology the area was (Before Crater) a sacred site.
The crater is about 500' wide & moderately deep.Â It has a dark glassy surface; the centre has a death-aura & is demon-tainted (Malthus).Â Isil Eth goes into a trance to confirm that it is correct to purify the place.Â She learns the history:Â It was where some of the younger gods first beheld the world & a temple was consecrated there.Â The demons were jealous & Malthus rained down destruction.Â 
I.E.'s consecration weakens the taint but does not banish it.Â Naden speaks to spirits (Elwe & Maurhyn) who are impressed with the rapidity of our response to their attack — "Did you see what hit us?"Â After touching the ceremonial pick to glass, IE MolRecs the glassy slag to air & we eventually uncover an object.Â Divination reveals it is '''Kyanite''' (the same stuff that powered the Dark circle), which was forged by Malthus into a spearhead for the express purpose of destroying the holy site.Â Wielder gains Death-aspect, but must slay at least one sentient per day.Â Those whom it slays enter a moment of timeless twilight & their souls are detained indefinitely.Â It is confirmed as one of the focuses of the Curse. 
Although such items are traditionally stored in the guild vaults, we decide to destroy it.Â Bleyse gets it red-hot, but it is undamaged, so SF suggests dowsing it in cold water.Â This destroys the item & effect; the ensuing fine dust & slivers are carefully swept into several silk bags.
The Dryad Queen stays behind to re-pine.Â And after a thanksgiving feast, we decide to return to the frozen north (Seir-beria?) to destroy the connection with that demon code-named Sally, after some basic preparations (cladding the wine-bottles). 

==Back to the Nagarine Village==
Axis starts the usual subterranean Wiz-Eye search for the presumed Seirite artefact.Â It does not appear to be buried under the expected place.Â Silverfoam goes outside & looks directly up with his spyglass.Â The item is a sigil of Seir "buried" in the air, far above normal flying height.Â By various magical means most of the party goes up & confirms that fine wisps of cloud have been bound into an artefact that rains blessings on any Seirites dwelling below, but is also confirmed as one of the focuses of the Curse.Â It is too big for use to handle, but after talking politely to the inhabitants of the elemental plane of air, we persuade them to bring the sigil down in contact with the Earth, which destroys it.Â In thanks, Sabrina gave them a sword, Luftklinger. 

==Halflings and Rebels==
Our next target is North Lisoene the 'rebel province'. We want an respectable excuse to nosy around so we head to it's neighbour, Erfurt, a non-tax paying province, rumoured to be over run with halflings.

There ''are'' a lot of halflings in small villages all over the plains of Erfurt. The youngsters looking for training head to the towns and join the elvish households. The elves have no need to do any manual labour and have a very high standard of living (approching that of the wealthy in the southern provinces).

The elves have long forgotten managing resources as there is always plenty, and the halflings have no provincial wide politics but manage each village individually. They have contacts across the continent as adventurous youngsters are encouraged to travel.

Elves are rare outside of the towns and the halflings consider the countryside theirs. Every 60 years or so they start up a new village to absorb the increasing population. It will take a few more centuries for this to impact other provinces. The ratio of halflings to elves is about 4:1.

Any spare 'wealth' generated by the industrious halflings is absorbed by improving civic infrastruce; roads, canals, public buildings. This summer they want to start an aqueduct.

The provincial accounts are a complete mess so Isil Eth loans them her father's chancellor to sort it out.

The halflings mostly forget that they are part of the Elven Empire, and there is not much cash in the culture so the whole tax thing gets overlooked. We arrange with the Lady and the mayors of the larger villages to have a new holiday "Erfurt's Birthday" where the province gives a birthday gift to the Queen. This allows the paying of taxes to fit easily into halfling culture (where holidays are keenly appreciated and birthdays are occasions to give things away).

= Nominations and SGT Snippets =

== Nominations ==
; Best Death

; Smartest
# Silverfoam for his misdirection of Seir towards the orcs
# Silverfoam for finding Seir's airbourne curse
# Sabrina for actively resisting Seir's attempt to teleport her to the bottom of a lake

; Bravest

== Quotes ==

Isil Eth: So Alfhiem is beset by eight demons, a dragon AND daffoldils?
Axis to Naden: "Does this look necrotic to you?"
Isil Elth: "When are the Spring rites?" — Helpful elf: "In spring, Ma'am"
"Stowing Eight tons of slightly-used masonry with the rest of the loot -- this is so definitely an ''Ameila'' adventure"
Sabrina: But how do we get rid of the taint of 'Sally' [Seir]?" -- Bleyse: "Just burning ''enough'' villages should do it".

== Hot and Not ==
; Hot
# Demon Avatars going "pop" when you stab them
# Giant amonoids that are not calamar
; Not
# Demon Avatars taking you to the bottom of a lake

= Reference Information =
== People ==
Maristal, Privy Councillor to Her Majesty, the Queen of [[Alfheim]] 
Lady Nimue, lady of one of the [[Alfheim#Elvandar|Elvandar]] provinces of Alfheim 
Diametris, an Illusionist of Alfheim with the investment ritual. 
Lord Caldyr, a sheriff of Munster, one of the central northern provinces of Alfheim. 

== The Curse on Alfheim ==

The curse was originated with Savnok but is held in place with eight foci, each associated with a different demon.

The orginal conditions were that it would be lifted when the elves reunited; ie the Alfhiem elves and other splinter groups re-united with the drow.

Associations Known

{| border=0
! width="100px" align="left" | Demon
! width="100px" | Location
! align="left" | Focal Point & Notes
|-
| [[Savnok]] || || set the curse (we don't know if one of the foci is dedicated to him)
|-
| [[Foras]] || Eidolon || Queen's ring
|-
| [[Seir]] || Far North || Altar of Seir above one of the Nagarine cult villages
|-
| [[Malthus]] || Elvandar || Crater where temple to Manwe destroyed
|-
| [[Bune]] || Fergensee || Altar of Bune under the Mythalagos' Wizards Tower (association disguised as Mythalagos was pacted to Palimedes)
|-
| [[Leraje]] || North Lisone || Rebel Province
|-
| ??? || Lake District ||
|-
| ??? || The University ||
|-

|}

==Loot==

Two Handed Sword of Saint Cuthbert???- Ignores demonic defences. - Sabrina 
Holy Symbol of Saint Cuthbert??? Stick it through the heart of a demon and he will be trapped there until its removed. - Naden 
Amulet vs Demons - amulet that sheilds you from unwanted demonic attention

== Preliminary Report on the Alfheim Daffodil Issue ==
<div id="rotkTravel" style="float: right; width: auto; border: none; text-align: center; margin: 2px 20px 2px 2px;">
[[Image:Drawing1.jpg|250px]]</div>

 
[http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rmansfield/Wiki/AlfheimDaffodilReport.pdf Preliminary Report on the Alfheim Daffodil Issue] 
submitted by Amelia Pendragon. 

[http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rmansfield/Wiki/FergenseeDaffodil.pdf Herbalist Paper on the Fergensee Daffodils] 
Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus var. Fergensee 

[http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rmansfield/Wiki/DaffodilPotion.pdf Venenum recordationis gaudentis] 
Potion of Joyous Recollection
 
 

== Standard Buffs ==

=== Long Term (on all the time) ===
'''Enchant Armour''': Axis 
*Rank 20 +42 Def, +1 AP (Only required by Naden on request) 
'''Fire Armour''': Bleyze 
*Rank 20, 100 ablative points vs magical fire damage
'''Heat Shield''': Bleyze 
*Rank xx, reduces damage from cold by xx
'''Fire Proofing''': Bleyze 
*Protection vs normal fire

=== Short Term (pre combat stuff) ===
'''Quickness''': Axis 
*Rank xx, Two actions, +10 IV, xx secs 
'''Spectral Weapon''': Naden 
*Rank 20 +21 SC, +7 Dmg, 25 minutes (specific weapon) 
'''Counterspells''': Silverfoam, Sabrina 
*Rank 6+, >48 MR, xx minutes (specific college) 

=== Situational (may be in play) ===
'''Highlands Bonus''': Amelia 
only in effect when in a highlands terrain type
*+10 DEF vs melee or missles
*+10 INIT vs melee or missles
*+10 Strike chance with melee weapons
*+10 Perception
'''Senators Command Ring''': Silverfoam 
only in effect when in melee
*+10 DEF
*+10 Engaged IV
*+10 Strike chance
*Free Pass Action at end of Pulse

== Mil Sci ==

; Watches
:

; Marching Order
Sabrina
Amelia Axis
Isil Eth Silverfoam
Naden Bleyze

= Calendar =
this is not a complete list but just an indication of when we arrived some places and to calculate when we returned to Seagate.

{| cellspacing="1" class="Season" id="Winter"
| class="calMoon" |
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Frost (7)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day |
| Samhain
| class=day | 1
| Guild Meeting Seagate Dinner with Lady Nimue
| class=day | 2
| travel to Bergelven
| class=day | 3
| Eidolon
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
| Collecting Bleyze from Lake District
| class=day | 12
| In Fergensee freeing the Dryad Queen
| class=day | 13
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 14
| Erfurt
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
| North Lisoene
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
| Searching Shemanine
| class=day | 20
| Laughing God Hills
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 21
| Back to Shemanine
| class=day | 22
| Eidolon then Lake District
| class=day | 23
|
| class=day | 24
| Eidolon then Erlingen
| class=day | 25
| Eidolon
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Snow (8)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
| class=day | 3
| Ceremony to Destroy the Queen's Ring
| class=day | 4
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
|
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
| Return to Seagate
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
| Solstice
| class=day | 16
|
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
| Yuletide
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 19
| Days of Chaos
| class=day | 20
| 2nd DoC
| class=day | 21
| 3rd DoC
| class=day | 22
| 4th DoC
| class=day | 23
| 5th DoC
| class=day | 24
| 6th DoC
| class=day | 25
| 7th DoC
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 26
| 8th DoC
| class=day | 27
| 9th DoC
| class=day | 28
| 10th DoC
| class=day | 29
| 11th DoC
| class=day | 30
| Twelth Night
| class=day | 1
|
| class=day | 2
|
|-
! colspan=15 | Winter: Ice (9)
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day | 3
|
| class=day | 4
|
| class=day | 5
|
| class=day | 6
| First Plough
| class=day | 7
|
| class=day | 8
|
| class=day | 9
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 10
|
| class=day | 11
|
| class=day | 12
|
| class=day | 13
|
| class=day | 14
|
| class=day | 15
|
| class=day | 16
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 17
|
| class=day | 18
|
| class=day | 19
|
| class=day | 20
|
| class=day | 21
|
| class=day | 22
|
| class=day | 23
|
|-
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 24
|
| class=day | 25
|
| class=day | 26
|
| class=day | 27
|
| class=day | 28
|
| class=day | 29
|
| class=day | 30
|
|}

Revolving Doors

2026-06-06T03:37:04Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Dean Ellis]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Dramus]]
[[Category:Teeanna]]
[[Category:Clarissa d'Ornay]]
[[Category:Mortimer]]
[[Category:Tari]]
[[Category:TDP]]
[[Category:Kern Silvercrest]]

[[Scribe_Notes#Winter_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Revolving Doors 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Dean Ellis|Dean Ellis]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Wednesday night - Chez Ellis 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]] 
; Party

* [[Dramus]] ([[Dramus GM Information|GM Info]]), A [[Asheth|Fae Prince]] and [[Necromancer]] played by [[Mandos|Mandos]][[Category:Dramus]] - Party Leader
* [[Teeanna]]
* [[Clarissa d'Ornay]]
* [[Mortimer]] Graves - Halfling (or maybe Halfelf) Wicca
* [[Tari]] - An [[Elves|Elven]] [[Earth Magics|Earth Mage]] played by Michelle Ellis.
* [[TDP]], played by [[User:Phil Judd|Phil Judd]] - Human - E&E/Water
* [[Kern Silvercrest]] - Military Scientist
''Adventure Full''
; Employer
: [[Oz#Lord Carzon|Lord Carzon]]/[[Dramus]]
; Mission
: To sort out the issues caused by Dramus's Tower.
; Pay
: Shares of any treasure or loot recovered. Guaranteed to minimum value of 40 Guinea's each by Dramus.

== Mission Notes ==

(This document is in Elvish and printed a careful, slightly exaggerated hand with a number of corrections and few calligraphic flourishes. Little sketches of flowers and vines litter the margins.)

== The First of Frost WK 808 ==

Summoned by a letter from Dramus, I make my first visit to a Guild briefing room in years, make a few new acquaintances and meet old familiar faces from previous missions.

* Dramus - He really hasn't changed. We'll apparently he's a fairy prince now, actually has a [[Asheth|kingdom]] like he used to claim to, and is married to boot.
* Teeanna - The boots in question. (No, no need to be catty.) She seems a little sheltered, but very confident and self-assured. It could be the boots. They are pretty amazing.
* Kern - He's a family man now, though through a rather exotic sounding [[How Much for the Little Boy|set of circumstances]].
* Tari - [[:Category:Ranger|"Out-doorsy" type]], insists that she doesn't kill and eat her friends, and one of her friends is a Wyvern called "You bastard".
* TDP - the only human, poor thing, has recently taken up the being a Tank. Well, it'll be interested to see how that works with his famous nautical tendencies.
* Mortimer - still an inveterate [[:Category:Mechanician|tinkerer]], [[:Category:philosopher|philosopher]], and as cute as a button.

==Dramus' Tower Troubles==

Dramus explains that his summoning ritual for the [[Tower of Knowledge (OZ)|Tower of Knowledge]] is acting weirdly. It's been working more quickly that it should, the tower has been transporting between locations faster that it used to, and projecting the that doors it creates out of place, generally about 15 feet to the left(?).

He explains at some length that this may have been caused by a long string of poor decisions which includes;

* Repeatedly summoning the Tower on [[Plane_of_Haven|Haven]], a demon and undead infested plane, and having the undead hitch rides.
* Allowing said undead hitch-hikers to create a replica of the [[Frontiers of Alusia|Frontiers of Alusia]] and use it as a wacky, evil theme-park for Engalton and friends.
* Keeping the replica for some years afterwards, and using it to storage for subsequent undead stow-aways.
* Summoning the Tower into a Dwarven Council Chamber in a [[Brightrock|abandoned hold]] and it being attacked by wall Golems.
* Propagating an vegetable necromancer "ancient horror" in one of the rooms.
* Relying on a Agent of [[Savnok|Savnok]], Marquis of Corruption and Tower enthusiast, to create a high mana area for a speedy tower summoning.

but definitely does not include;

* His recent nuptials or his lovely wife Teeanna.
* Annoying [[Seir|Seir]].
* Becoming a fae Prince.

We mull this over at Alphonse's, along with the current topics of the troubles in [[Alfheim|Alfheim]], the difficulties of lineage, and mental illness.

Once suitably prepared for the rigours of adventuring we coach the two blocks back to Potters Lane, enter the tower, and are almost immediately on Oz.

{{divbox|#ffe||'''From Mortimer's Journal:''' I do not think that we should lightly dismiss the possibility that the psycho-reactive environs of the [[Tower of Knowledge (OZ)|dimensional tower]] may be being adversely affected by some form of mental derangement or impairment on the part of Dramus himself. Observation of his relatively recent behaviour in regards to areas of high magic raise concerns that he may not be fully in control of himself in these environs; a designator that must surely also be applied to the tower of knowledge and the highly charged Oz ambient mana level. His behaviour in these situations has shown worrisome recklessness and an apparently worsening addiction to ever increasingly dangerous levels of mana. I suspect that this behavioural change is related to his increasing fae-ness, and bears watching.}}

===Returning to Oz===

The door opens on the side a purple tower encircled by a spiralling stair case, and my Aerial Affinity tells me we are several miles from the ground. Apparently this is normal, but the mana in Oz is still incredibly difficult to
control and I managed to give myself Flying instead of Kern before Dramus decided that triggering would be faster.

Still, it's a thrill to be back and watching the clouds chasing each other in little clumps from place to place. As we feel the winds approaching, we jump off the tower and let them catch us as we fall.

The descent is exhilarating, and most of us pause for a quiet smoke at the bottom while Mortimer, currently an owl(?) catches up. During this time, no-one in Loonville pays much attention, as we are entirely too normal looking.

From there it's off to Lord Carzon's manor, a short walk to the north-west(?). Dramus fails to provide Teeanna with a coach, and it is widely speculated that he is scheming to get her out of those impressive boots of hers.

To my dismay, I realise that this was the location where, on my first adventure, that Dramus and I had given away vials of blood to this charming gentleman. The really galling part was that before were introduced I was incredibly suspicious of waht little we had heard of him and the immediately turned into a giggly mess when we actually met. Dramus has received access to his Tower for the donation, but I don't recall any such felicity from Carzon. I am very disappointed when I recall the Dramus' cavalier attitude to a new adventurers safety and I tell him so on the steps while a servant looks on.

We are led to a library, where Lord Carzon reclines on a chaise-lounge and greets us with drink and fine tobacco. I stifle my misgivings about our last encounter and try and keep up with the meta-physical discussion about the Tower issues.

===Lord Carzon Explains===

Explains that he a little miffed with Dramus, that is. He confirms that the Savnok's agent (he says "minion") intercepted the knowledge of the ritual and has been practising it and slowly growing more capable. If her passes it onto his Master, consequences are likely to be dire, and it accounts for some of "extra" doors that Dramus has been seeing.

Additionally, something is "riding" or growing more independent of Dramus' portion of the Tower of Knowledge, which is the same structure with one door per "official occupant" which they can cause to appear where they are capable of summoning it. The "new leaseholder" has been trying to split away only in recent months to years and has been causing a the Tower to be come less stable and "leave behind" doors as well.

There was a third problem, but I may have tangled it with other complicated ruminations, such as the mysterious corridor that Carzon has access to and the fact Dramus could have moved his door to the bottom of the Tower in Loonville by will alone. But, since there are currently at least two separate entities trying to carve their own stake on the tower, Carzon would like it fixed.

In deference to the Guilds mercenary nature he is willing reimburse the party, but points out that the problems was largely due to the various uses that Tower had been put to. Dramus is quick to offer his own, recently Fae-enhanced, blood and I felt sure he was about to offer someone else's. I though it was probably just the [[krrf|Azurian Blonde]] making me a bit jumpy, but Carzon explains that he using the blood to add species to Oz, and he hadn't found any Fae yet.

This prompts a slew of terrible questions that I manage to suppress until we are on our way out; Am I, in some weird way, a parent? An absentee parent at that? Did Dramus and I have children and not even know it?

This is all very troubling....

==Evicting the Unliving==

It makes sense that turfing out the undead from the giant replica of [[Seagate]] and the surrounding countryside should be the first stop, since the last lot tried to drive him mad and required [[Engalton|Engalton's]] intervention to sort it out.

To evaluate our approach we assist Dramus in series of experiments to determine the extent of his control and the malleability of the rooms in his tower.

===Changeling Rooms===

I volunteer my old room, on the basis that it's not going to needed again, and it should be nicely symbolic of a clean break if we end up making it disappear.

The rules boil down quite quickly though a series of tests with people, objects, animates, and cold iron being present in the room.

* Dramus knows when a room is occupied by a sentient and it severely effects how much he can sense within the room and prevents him from changing the room's format or an object in the room in a fashion that would interfere with them.

* The presence of Lesser undead, objects not created by the tower, and even cold iron do not "lock" the room as if it was properly occupied, and he can sense the void they occupy in the material that was created with the room. The objects are displaced he if changes the dimensions of the room.

* Teeana's Telepathy and ESP picks up entities in nearby rooms as if they were in a relative position to the corridor, despite many of the rooms totally overlapping. Unfortunately she backfires a Telepathy and the spell comes into effect with a gigantic range but slightly less than half the full arc 360 degree arc.

( I'm glad for the blessing that western Witch gave me and keep my thoughts amicable and peaceful while the Telepathy is directed in my direction. But since that's never worked for very long and the itchy feeling at the back of my neck is driving me mad, I move around to "get on her good side" as soon as I can.)

* The overall dimensions can be changed easily, and the substance and dimensions of existing objects can be altered ''if the alterations make sense'', which wasn't something I was personally expecting. Basically, if the scale is rational objects can be grown and shrunk; i.e. he could make an bed large or small enough to accommodate a hobbit or a giant, and he can change the patterns and materials as he chooses, but again only as it fits the context. Sadly this preclude shrinking the replica to a scale model or changing everything to glass.

* Teenna isn't up changing the colour of the drapes to match the carpet yet.

Our investigations are interrupted by [[Dramus#Granite|Granite]] announcing a visitor and Lord Carzon's man delivers us a number of vials of shimmering crystals.

These transpire to be [[Oz#Emerald_City|Ozma's]] Tears provided to us by Carzon in the hope that they will help. There is little confusion as to whether they originally intended for us, and this deepen with a DA question.

They are "Crocodile Tears" and as such, don't have the effects that others in the party have witnessed previously. They instead create a number of Crocodiles of "indeterminate size". Fascinating.

===Nightmare Seagate===

Whilst Teeanna's telepathy had such great range, we decided to venture forth into "Twiners Room" since that would give us the most preparation time for encountering any inhabitants. Dramus created a new door from the "Pub" room to the Seagate replica's version of the neighbouring house to 9a Potters Lane, as the only other leads through "Twiner's Room". He tries to sense what the occupant of the replica are up too, but he gets a hazy impression and effort drains him more than an afternoon's playing with the other rooms. We equip ourselves and head to see what he found so frightening.

It was an odd sort of Seagate, as there was no-one around. And it was misty, hard to see more than a block ahead. Teeanna reported various minds of rats and dogs, but nothing out of the usual. We found that this place must truly be a reflection of Dramus' nightmares - all the pubs were closed, with signs indicating they had run out of alcohol.

We headed toward the river and had got a faint, then stronger, smell of something metallic. Something iron like, something blood like, with other flesh and gore thrown into the mix for good measure. This was the river. Around this time Teanna had noticed a dozen or so minds around 400 yards away, which seemed normally hungry. Dramus tried locating an undead of the area, and very shortly afterwards Teeanna reported the minds were coming our way. We put up a couple of walls of stone as defence at the our end of the bridge, where we could only just make out the far end, expecting this to be a good defensive position. TDP reported through his wizard eye that they seemed to be slightly insubstantial and hovering a bit while they moved.

What we did not expect was them to do was swoop across the river below the bridge where we couldn't attack them, so many of them managed to engage us in melee. Teeanna had said the one being chased away by her phantasm was envisioning it as a creature of fire, and so she triggered a Hellfire, which took out a lot of the creatures, DA called them [[Ghast]]. There seemed to be one in charge, or at least slightly larger than the others, who got larger when a stream of corruption was cast at him. Those in agony were going to the river to feast on the gore to make them more energised. However, in the end, we prevailed, without major injury.

Post-mortem and post-post-mortem DAs furnished us with few interesting acts about our new friends.

Some of them originated from [[Plane_of_Haven|Haven]] and were several years dead, but the bulk were "recruited" locally, which happens to still be Oz despite the Towers appearance of having ceded from it's homeland, within the last seven months. They have no college and are sentient, but luckily do not drain life. We decided makes them approximately "Medium Undead". Their claws drip a venom that causes despair, while their eyes also mire the on-looker in apathy and helplessness. TDP was effected by their gaze even through his Wizard's Eye and the combination of that and the venom left Kern a helpless wreck, crawling on the ground.

It's being killed by the venom that turned the unfortunate wretches in these creatures, which are apparently controlled by something but we were unable to determine what the source was, or if it had a Rank we could try and outmatch.

* Dramus, on the "Bloodwater Bridge" in "Nightmare Seagate": "This isn't a good spot for a picnic."

===Under New Management===

We crossed the bridge and made our way in the direction of the Guild, to see if the place was in the grisly state reported by Engalton after his visit. The scenery was little different around the north side of the bridge, but the sun definitely rising and starting to strip away the thick fog that had surrounded us. It made the dishevelled state of the buildings a little clearer and started to give the breeze off the river a really interesting tang.

Mortimer spotted a sign, grimy and partially obscured, and muttered: "Oh my, I didn't think that they had a Guild too." Swiftly we were clustered around looking at a sign stating "Seagate Guild of Arachnids - Two Miles" and trying to nonchalantly direct Dramus' attention elsewhere.

Dramus was neither distracted for long or easily reassured that the words on the board could mean anything, and didn't necessarily refer to anything huge and starting with "S". But the Guild is one of the few landmarks and should be a good place to find some sort of clues, so we press on.

Teeanna's Telepathy started to pick up scattered groups of minds which she described, with what I though was was a impressive display of imagination, as the thoughts of peasant rousing to do morning chores. Though just to make sure that Dramus' imagination was not neglected his short-sword, Sting, starts to give off a distinct glow.

*Dramus - "Peasants aren't a threat."
*Mortimer - "Someone in your profession should be a little more sensitive to the idea of angry mobs."

The minds Teeanna senses seem clustered in little groups and thinking about their activities, but the activities she relates sound strange and exotic even to the rest of us. Tending maggots, checking the Fae Rings, and wrangling Brownies seem to be on the agenda. TDP's Eye scouts the nearest hovels, but the occupants and dwellings look normal, human, and properly rustic to him.

We select Kern and Tari as the least bizarre looking members of the party, and they go to speak to one of the farmers on Dramus' behest. Dramus charges them specifically to find out who they pay taxes to.

Jerry, a rabbit farmer, explains patiently that they part of a consortium of about 100 families, that they haven't heard of "feudal lords" before, and the farmers produce food and crafts which they trade with the Arachnid's Guild for manufactured goods. DAs are also telling us they they are all 23 months old and they also come from Oz.

Jerry also helpfully tells us that some of the farmers have Fae creature like Brownies and Sprites for their customers, who's gigantic spider-shaped building is now looming out of the mist at the top of the hill. At this point, I was a little concerned that Dramus might start foaming.

* <party> - "Do they talk?
* Jerry - "Weelll, they do twitter a bit."

Mortimer helpfully tinkers with the door of one of the rather capacious rabbit hutches and gets a couple of very, big bunnies for his assistance. He plonks them in a sack and we head up the hill further.

While most of the party are having a fascinating conversation (regarding the how this uncanny arrangement came to be, it's possible effects on Dramus' state of mind, the fashions in Alfheim this decade, and Tari's last visit with some other Elven guild members), Darmus and Teeanna attempt to find out more about the trade in Brownie flesh.

<div class=dramus style="background-color: #EEEEEE; font-family: Gothic, cursive; border: thin solid #333; ">
'''Notes from Tobias Pendleton, Scribe to Lord Dramus:'''On the request of Miss Clarissa I have placed quill to parchment to detail the later conversations with my Master in order to elucidate upon this point.

It appears that my Master and Mistress were most distressed by the thought of fae being farmed and set about investigating this aspect of the community. So distraught were after speaking to a Brownie farmer they asked him to leave their presence and when he refused my Master placed a 'petit mort' upon him.

(I note at this time there was no mention of this being removed and I shell endeavour to remind my Master that he should recover the farmer prior to its duration wearing off in case the farmer has been buried. I only hope they do not attempt an embalming. While it may seem vile that I do not mention this to my Master I do not believe he is in an appropriate state of mind to cope with this reminder at this time, and to mention it may cause further harm to his mental state.) - I write this in the hope miss Clarissa can assist with reminding him in exchange for her promise that he shall not see this confession.

Post removal of the farmer from the scene it appeared that investigations of the Fae rings continued however as neither my Master nor Mistress are blessed with 'DA' this took on a more direct approach which resulted in my Master being affected on a number of occasions by soporific magics and being rescued by his good lady wife who dragged him bodily from the fae ring.

This did result in the rescue of two Brownies and while my Master and Mistress were distressed at an inability to rescue more they felt that further investigation into the creation of the brownies was the next step. At this juncture I note my Mistress was very insistent on a visit to the 'Truth Pond' rather than any other course of action and as a result I am also concerned about her mental well-being. </div>

At some point, when reminiscing about the time I first met Dramus and when he employed me as a governess I mentioned that I wasn't entirely sure that his intentions towards me. Or women in general. During my (somewhat difficult) explanation to Tari what I meant, we discovered a common acquaintance with that shoddy little catamite, [[Albion_the_Mad|Albion]]. This got the nature of my suspicion across, but might have been overdoing it a little. Still, Tari doesn't seem like the type to gossip. I shouldn't taunt Mortimer though. No matter how appealing he looks, his '''looks''' can be quite unnerving.

Dramus seems somewhere between despondent and angry that there could be something like 8000 fae creature trapped in a sophorific state created by the mushroom ring pens on the twenty or so "ranches" in the community. Without easy access to a new door, he contents himself with rescuing the two brownies he was almost able to have a conversation with.

The origins of the creatures we've encountered suggests that something occurred nearly two years ago, which coincides with the date of Ozma's eleventy-eleventh birthday, her being kidnapped, poisoned with an apple, and her feverish dreams afflicted much of Oz with either lycanthropy or inversions of their normal personae. Possibly some of that influence was channelled through Dramus' personal fear and neurosis, which ties in with the fact that the cure was a kiss from a certain Fae Prince. Mortimer seems to think the whole thing has an air of faintly cute maliciousness, which he doesn't see completely divorced from the taunts of a young, imaginative girl in a mean-spirited mood. I'm more convinced this as been arranged, though probably manipulating the energies of the events described, to shape a very specific kind of torment, perhaps aimed at weakening the most externally of the various "Powers of Oz".

The fact that Dramus gets unaccountably modest when we mention this is, in itself, very worrying. Also, the biggest problem with my theory is that it would take someone who knew Dramus very well to so effectively "pull all his levers" as Mortimer puts it.

We are trying to decide who best to seek advice from first, a discussion in which someone raised the worrying spectre that Carzon my not entirely trust worthy as he may have been concealing information about Fae being "on Oz", when we note flyers in the distance. TDP, using a cunning contraption to enhance his sight, make out a flight of six wasps carrying suspiciously multi-limb riders to the... ...structure on of the hill.

Prompted by this and the advance of the morning light, we press back down the hill, treating ourselves to a view of the "Bloodwater" darkening the waters of Confederation Bay. Once back through number 9 Potters lane and into the Tower, Dramus takes us immediately to the west of Oz and states that we are going to the Truth Pond to check whether the Brownies that he rescued are really Brownies.

He's starting to act quite uncharacteristically, and when we have a small problem with the flying spells he behaves as though he doesn't trust me at all. I'm very worried that this artfully constructed paranoia of the Nightmare realm has started to unhinge him. Also, I'm quite concerned about the effects that Truth pond water might have on allegedly "imaginary" creatures. Or vice versa, for that matter. Maybe that was the intent all along?

And what happened to talking to the various wise denizens of Oz to get some advice?

===Fig-mint Brownies Aren't People?===

or

===Feeding His Fears===

I try and cajole everyone to to stop before we do anything rash, and suggest a picnic. Predictably this works, but the discussion seems a bit heated. Teeanna tells everyone off for carelessly mentioning "the s-word" in front of Dramus, and though the creatures were right there (and I hardly think that he was about to forget about them) it's good to see she's trying to take care of his welfare.

Teeanna - "I think it go right up to the point of rudeness for his friends to discuss them right in front of him. Even if we choose to ignore what you say, don't think that means we hear don't you."

Possibly it's the way that she couches the reproach, and I think I remembered it correctly, but Mortimer seems particularly nettled.

Mortimer - "I imagine it's a little like being savaged by a chihuahua."

Clarissa - "Remember that would be more of an issue for you than the rest of us."

One of TDP's Crystals start vibrating and from Tari's DA it appears that the Wicked Witch of the West has taken an interest in us. Mortimer starts twitching rather alarmingly. Apparently they are acquainted and he is one of her favourites.

(At some point some mentions that Dramus has a brother. I didn't even know that he still had family.)

A few at a time, people head down into the misty bowl containing the Truth Pond. It seems simpler not to object at this point, and try and screw up my own courage to do the same. It wasn't an unpleasant experience 13 years ago, but it changed the way I thought about myself in a fundamental way. Besides, what has truth got to do with my life at the moment?

I'm sure it's not germane to the rest of the adventure but everyone returns looking well, though Kern does come back rather muddy. But it didn't raise any more comment than my own choice to go naked, aside from the tattoos of course. It seems wiser than wearing the fur of a sentient cat.

Anyway, by the time I get back Teeanna has applied the collected Truth Water to a Brownie and some rabbits and they have both turned in small white pastilles with "D" printed on them. They DA as formerly living but have no GTN to speak of. Apparently, if you swallow them they are intrinsically supposed provide sustenance.

It seems clear that the Tower is producing them the same way they it provided for the inhabitants. Can we extended this logic to the humans and spiders? Should we return with the alarming pumping contraptions that Mortimer is already in a sketching in a frenzy, brimming with Truth Water and wash them away? Actually, do we even have the right? Teeanna seems to think we are entitled, but I could be more convinced. And what exactly is the Tower providing sustenance for? Is there an entire ecology in there?

The fact that it's inhabited will stop Dramus from making "Truth Rain" or the like, and we experiment with the blood collected from the "Bloodwater". It turns into simple water, presumably just being the liquid sustenance that the Tower produces.

At about this point we spy a group of flyers in the distance. It's very likely to be the WWOW and a troupe of flying monkeys according to Mortimer. He seems eager to leave before she arrives.

Clarissa - "Playing hard to get, are we?"
Mortimer - "We're not playing."

He also explains that "the first W is silent" in her name. At that, we consider that no-one here knows her real, just her title.

===Tea with (w)WoW===

The flyers draw near and the winged monkeys start scattering something that flutters down around our picnic site. As they settle, we see they are dark, glossy leaves and determine that they are Black Mistletoe (apparently for dampening magic) and the Lady herself descends. She looks different to what I personally remember, being a hunched, human woman, complete with a hooked nose and sundry warts. She is offered tea and sits down to chat.

And what do you know, she is '''extremely''' taken with Mortimer. She compliments him lavishly and says that she "loves the smell of curses in the morning." Mortimer is extremely charming in return, handling her with aplomb and delicacy without committing to anything onerous.

Once tea was finished and Mortimer had explained that we had to be about our urgent mission, we bade the WWOW goodbye and prepared to head back to the Tower. As a keepsake from the WWOW he received a single black rose, apparently dripping with Love Philtre. Kern thoughtfully collected the leaves before we left.

===An Audience with Ozma===

So as not to provoke further attention for Mortimer, we change our minds and decide to detour our of the western quarter head for the Emerald City and enquire after Ozma. The city is as bustling, lively, and painfully green as ever.

We are granted an audience, and Dramus is tackled-hug by an excited Ozma, who immediately marches everyone to her room to show us the painting she has been working on. It's spread from the canvas and along most of a wall.

She asks us if we liked the Tears that she made us especially, after the previous ones were greatly appreciated. We explain that we haven't had a chance to try them yet and skirt around the tricky subject that rather than making people skip around at high speed as the last ones had, these ones summon gigantic reptiles.

(Incidentally, Ozma doesn't know the WWoW's full name either.)

The rather exhausted looking Chancellor tells us that nothing much untoward or unusual has happened since the events of Ozma's 111th birthday, for which he looks greatly relieved. Teeanna foists a Sustenance Pill off on him and he enjoys it, and puts the flavour as part mint, part some sort of fruit. We eventually realise he must mean figs, and wonder at what malevolent agency is turning Dramus' figments into fig-mints.

Dramus, the famed Necromancer, enquiries about much needed help - "Do you know someone who can control undead over a large distance? Oh, that would be me."

At this point, we decide Twiner is definitely worth talking to as, even if he can't control the undead, he may simply have encountered them if they tried to leave through his room while Dramus was using his for a buffer zone.

===At Twiner's Retreat===

We return to the Tower and head through a door in the central "pub" entertaining area - straight in a foetid swamp. These adjacent rooms are really not very adjacent, I see. From a raised path surrounding the rank water and moss festooned trees, we watch as Dramus hails the Ancient Horror.

A figure rises slowly from the muck, clearly once a humanoid creature now a mouldering corpse covered in filth, mud, and tangled in some sort of roots. It speaks in halting, raspy tones but it's Elvish is near faultless.

There is some minor discussion about the rest of us not being food and it's "wellbeing", during which it becomes rather plain that Dramus has not visited in a quite a while, and what sort of environment it favours. Though the tower seems to suit it's basic requirements but it still feels the need to... ...propagate. I'm not sure I'm wild about finding out how it does that.

Regarding the undead in the adjacent room, Twiner becomes almost cagey and doesn't expand beyond the fact that it has seen "some". Dramus' neglect of his pet may be showing and we leave it be.

===An Unexpected Laundry Delivery===

Almost as soon as we've left, Granite announces that Dramus has a visitor, at the "Frontiers of Alusia" door. Unfortunately, the most he can tell about it is that it has lots of legs and wants in. I try and reassure Dramus as the others go to confront the visitor, but they return followed by an animated, walking chest which is exclaiming what sounds like "Help Feyan!"

It transpires that a chest, very much like this one, belonged to an adventurer name [[Feyan]] some years ago and apparently it wants us to rescue him in "In the woods" from "Nasty things!" It repeats its requests many times.

DAs verify that it basically matches what is remembered of the article and it survives being splashed with Truth Pond water. It is said that the chest can take us to the location instantly, if we climb into it. The big hitch is that, as Mortimer explains it, that you arrive but your equipment remains, apparently neatly pressed, in the container. And this includes weapons, amulets, and the like. And no, the chest doesn't travel instantly after you and has to walk.

Despite these many caveats, Dramus is rearing to go. Everyone else seems less certain...

Mortimer(?) - "I think it's smarter than most adventurers. Hell, it can do laundry!"

Mortimer Divinates the luggage revealing that it several decades old and it's magic appears similar in nature to a bag of holding, though rather more "leaky". It also can employ ancilliary cleaning magics but, more worryingly, it has been the target of magical attacks from Celestial, Necro, and Mind magic, though there are few other signs in evidence.

Teeanna attempts to divine the future regarding using the box to find Feyan, and receives a vision of her and Dramus hanging, naked and from their ankles, from a respectable distance up a healthy larch. This redoubles efforts persuade it to lead us instead, and despite the very convincing impression of malevolence it gives, either because of our wish to change it's plans or to punctuate the threat that faces Feyan, we manage to cajole it.

===Mob Mentality===

We return to "Nightmare Seagate" as evening is falling , Dramus fixing the door the Luggage wrecked as we pass through, and I cast flying on everyone, bar Mortimer and the box, so we can keep up with the latter. It goes much better than last lot, and I think I'm getting "mana-legs" back.

We are crossing the bridge before the winds arrive, but it gives Teeanna an opportunity to sprinkle some Truth Water on the Bloodwater's flow. It doesn't have much visible effect, and we might have to get a lot more. From there the Luggage' path is clearly to the top of the hill and will take it through the scattered farmsteads and to the Seagate Arachnids Guild.

The lively discussion about the application of the Truth Water and more violent solutions to the Farmers and Spiders, divided along lines of what boils down to authenticity. I tend more towards Mortimer's view that as they experience sentience and have memories of a life they should be treated as both sentient and living. Teeana and Dramus are more of the opinion that since they are counterfeits, essentially made of their magical food, they are not part of any moral equation.

Mortimer, Kern, and myself are deligated to jump ahead of the Luggage and try negotiate with Spiders, but befor we have gone very far we spot a torch-lit procession near the farmers homes. It's distinctly linear and keeping sombre pace, and Kern volunteers that it's probably for the Brownie Farmer that Dramus is likely to have Petit Morte'd during their encounter. We dash back to confirm this, but leave before the "they're just pills it doesn't matter if he gets buried" arguments rattle Mortimer too much.

The three of us head south again, leaving the others to continue to vandalise the Fairy corrals, actions which seem wildly at odds with the notion that these people, Brownies and Humans, are entirely fictional.

We flying over the procession and it's all too clear that they are heading towards a pyre, rather than a burial plot. We discuss schemes to snatch the body off the pyre, but when a DA reveals that the humans are as "notional" as the rabbits and brownies, it somewhat takes the wind out our sails.

Clarissa - "So we either leave him to burn, completely ignorant of his fate, or rescue him probably to have Dramus refuse to revive him, or Teeanna to turn him into a small white lozenge, or his kin kill him with a pitchfork for coming back from the dead, or his reality to shortly be collapsed if we succeed in the mission?"

We decide to try and at least gain some information from the farmers, and maybe drop some hints that the funeral is a little premature. Mortimer drops his Unseen and approaches the first family we met, but the recent events have made them slightly suspicious of strangers. There is a roar of outrage and cries of "Murderer!" and "Slayer!" and no amount of charming Mortimer seems likely to avoid further burnings tonight. We scarper and decide to see if the arachnids are more tractable.

While we are involved in this Dramus has gotten bored with busting mushrooms and has flown over the crowd dropping Truth Water onto them. We hear the confusion and chaos caused by farmers randomly "disappearing", but imagine it's our own hue and cry.

===Webs and Welcomes===

We land further up the hill and once we are within a few hundred feet of the entrance/mandibles, Kern notices a thread break as we pass. We can see these silken treads getting denser and denser as you near the Guild, so we decide to stop and see if this constitute "knocking". Sure enough, three spiders emerge from concealed trapdoor nearby, two huge black ones as tall and long as a horse but at least twice as bulky that DA as "Trapdoor Spiders" and a smaller reddish-brown "Red Widower" which is a Firemage. They all have objects taht could be armour or weapons of some sort fastened to their limbs and have other amulets are the like about them.

We hail the trio, and they chitter back. The red one, which appears to be in change, does something (?) and it is suddenly speaking in Mortimer's voice. We explain that we are hoping to aid the owner of an certain walking artefact. They are painfully aware of the existence of the Luggage, as it burst out of a new door in their Vaults and wrecked quite a few things in the process. During the conversation Luggage catches up with us and ploughs towards the entrance while being slowed, but by no means completely arrested, by a barrage of webs and spells from concealed apertures around the gatehouse formed by the head.

"Nameless" the Red Widower, assisted by Mr Smith and Smyth, assents that they happy to deal regarding us getting passage for the Luggage down the Vaults if try and minimise the damage it does and remove the extra door behind us. We return to the party with this proposal and visions of what we will have to do to Dramus to get him inside dancing in our heads.

===Changing the Curse of Events===

It takes a little doing, but Dramus accepts that best way to get him through the Guild would be for Mortimer to Damnum Minatum away his sense of sight and hearing and let us lead him through.

Actually, it was going start with a blindfold but once the Hypnotism from Teeanna takes, we think better about something that might fall off unexpectedly. They can share thoughts since they were married, so I imagine that is why he trusts her so implicitly.

? - "Can he see through your eyes?"

Teeanna - "No, I'm not a familiar of his."

The suggestion to stop him from resisting the curses is very effective. In fact, they both work far too well, leaving him also afflicted with a twitch, numbness, a nasty rash, and several warts.

At that point, we recall that Kern picked up the Black Mistletoe from the picnic with the WWoW. It's secondary effect to dampening magics appears to be that they enhance curses.

Mortimer - "Can you tell Dramus that it's all Kern's fault?"

Teeanna - "He can work that one out for himself."

I try stress that the effects of long term sensory deprivation can be mentally harmful, and advise that Teeanna reassures Dramus over the mind link they share. I think I managed to get the point across?

Teeanna - "He's in my world now...."

We fly up to the "SAG" with Teeanna carrying Dramus, and we find the spiders still struggling to control the Luggage, which seems to broken free a number of times and gotten closer each time.

There is some pretence of them charging us for allowing us in to shepherd the Luggage, but this falters the determinedly Luggage break free once more and we point out if we don't follow it may just emerge again looking for someone else to help. During this formality of small-talk while TDP calms the Luggage down, Mortimer also discovers that they undertake missions much like we do and, interestingly, they pay less tax than we do. We resolve not to pass this on to Dramus.

We are taken into the building, through a room filled with tiny spiders able to detect cursed things who show up Dramus and the sack of leaves very clearly, and down to the Vaults. Dramus' short-sword, Sting has started to glow very, very brightly and vibrate slightly. I take it off Dramus to keep it from touching anything flammable or one of our hosts. Between that and webs brushing our faces and hair, Dramus being numb is turning out to something of a blessing. Mortimer is adamant that Kern doesn't get to take credit for it however.

We are taken deeper in the complex, through some very large doors and into a room with a regular, rectangular wooden door, much like the ones in Dramus' living quarters, set into the rounded wall. It sticks out quite a lot as the previous doors have all been the match of the circular tunnels and made of some sort of thick web that parted somewhat like a curtain. It has been barred and is blocked by a pair of gigantic black beetles, while there are unfamiliar looking siege weapons pointed at it from the other side of the chamber. We ask a few questions and are told that it door was only noticed after the Luggage initially broke it open a few days ago and some undead have tried to break through since.

Dramus cannot sense the door, or more strictly can sense the absence of the door as a regular, smooth-edged hole. This seems to confirm that it's been purposely placed and fashioned, though what that means is another thing altogether. DAs tell us that door/portal leads to Oz as well and is two way. The spiders explain that they will need prior warning and a little time to open it and evacuate the room, leaving the beetles, so we can uncurse Dramus. While more observations are made, TDP and I try and distracted the Luggage with some of my articles of clothing while we simultaneously attempt to conceal Sting's blazing aura by wrapping it in my evening dress which handily changes into chain mail.

Once that is done, Dramus is re-cursed and the spider specialist is let in to unlock the door. It is a ancient looking creature that floats above the ground with each pair of its legs clasped together. It chitters and murmurs and each of the sigils on the wall around the door glow and fade in turn. The beetles move aside, but their numbers are bolstered by another two beetles and the bar is removed. Even after that and the spiders have retreated from the room again, TDP is obliged to use Opening before we can turn the handle. We have an hour to return, this way before they reseal the door as hard as they can, and Mortimer is presented with a glowing orb which fade before the time is passed.

Below us, on the other side is a desolate moon-lit landscape, with bare mountains, blasted plains and the ruins of a city. Dramus and Mortimer are immediately put in mind of Haven, and I'm filled with a dread I can't place. Just to cheer us up, Dramus notes that we are still inside the Tower and on Oz, but this place is completely alien to him and he has no control over it. Have we found the usurper's lair?

===Through the Scary Door===

We quickly discuss the different mechanics of created doors and summoned, while the luggage is already heading down the winding path to the bottom of the cliff. Apparently we can't summon the regular Tower "entrance door" to a point inside the tower, which this still is, without collapsing the universe or something. Normally Dramus is "just" joining to distant points within the tower with a another room. But here he can't do either. Talk about an academic discussion.

Mortimer - "It's not a real door, it's merely a place between two rooms."

Clarisa - "Like... a door?

Deciding to at last get our bearings before the door is firmly closed, we fly and follow the Luggage up the huge ravine and towards a fortification that stretches the full length of the valley. The fortifications appears to be facing up the valley and the Luggage is heading straight towards it. On the approach, Mortimer spots a figure limned in silver on one of the towers that make up the fort. It appears to be an insubstantial sentry and between Teena and Dramus we have at least 5 "sleepy" Greater Undead about. Mortimer isn't able to rouse it by addressing it, so we land and the Tari and Kern lash the slumped figure with DAs - apparently it's Nightgaunt cursed with eternal sleep and it's been an Undead for between 5 and 7 years. Below we hear a ominous noise of something heavy colliding with a large metal object.

Down through the trap door we find the other four, who have fallen through their rotting beds, and discover that the curse has to be redeemed in some way and they originated (became undead?) on Alusia. We descend further to discover that the sound is the Luggage battering itself on some huge brass doubles doors. It appears that they are a "pull", but with hands and a Opening from TDP we are able to do a little better.

The doors were at the far end of the fort that faces a steep rocky slope, but these doors open onto a forest path. Both sides of the door are "Oz" and the controlling entity of both reveals that it is contested between Dramus and "Spectre". Again the age of 5-7 years comes up.

The time we arrange with the spiders is starting to expire, so we head back, sending Mortimer ahead to see if he can negotiate an reasonable extension. Before we even get back he has made a deal for 7.5% of our salvage, 10 truesilver minimum in advance, to have the door opened 4 hours hence, then 4, the 12, 12, and finally 24. Maybe spiders can't appreciate how charming he is, but it's better than being locked out.

We return to the forest door, hastened by a low howl of many, many voices rising from the ruined city and noting the Luggage has gone ahead already, pass through and close the door behind us. Scouting quickly, TDP recognises the country as being south west of Cazarla, near Ruby Waters. Is it the same giant room? Dramus seems to think so, and TDP can locate Jerry the rabbit-farmer from near the SAG in a logical direction. We find the Luggage trampling the foliage in a clearing, apparently the last spot it "saw" Feyan. The tracks are devastated according to those with an inclination for rooting around in the undergrowth, and we have been on the go for nearly 24 hours, so we decide to camp.

Tari summons some inedible foxes and interrogates them about the surrounding terrain. Apparently the relative area of Ruby Waters gets avoided as it both "smells bad" and contains creatures higher on the food chain than they are. We set watches and pass the night. Predictably, I sleep badly and nearly forget myself when Dramus starts me awake. He's probably lucky that I know him well enough to recognise him when I'm half-awake. For that matter, so am I.

And for some reason they expect me to prepare breakfast. Clearly I'm not as infamous as I thought. Still, no-one is poisoned unexpectedly, so it turns out okay.

===The Ruby Wound===

We fly in the direction of the Ruby waters, but the lake isn't what we remember. It's been replaced by a vile looking mass of a roiling lava-like substance, but smelling of death and giving off less heat than it would if it was natural magma. There is a 300' dead zone around the "water's" edge and the trees at rim of this look far from healthy. The village is where we expect with the addition of a tall black tower, also surrounded by a deforested area, but the few inhabitants we see are very odd. One appears to a zombie with actual functioning bandages (rather than ceremonial wrappings) and there is skeleton with a splinted arm? We are quickly aware that we have stirred some commotion in the village, and see some more threatening figures moving about.

An Earth Elemental moves to collect a scoop of the ooze from the shore as a quartet of figures ready a pair of tatty looking griffons for flight. When they start dipping there arrows into the ooze being borne by the Elemental we decide to fly out sight, assume Invisibility and double back. The luggage is just arriving to provide a distraction, but the last we see of it is a hole opening in the earth and swallowing it whole.

We return to land at the edge of the woods, close to the tower, and as we fly in we see the griffon-riders circling, looking for us, and catch glimpses of invisible, undead crows as they briefly pass through Witch-sight range. Neither seem to have spotted us, and we swoop in to drop off the Earth mages to get some Elementals of our own going.

As we do this, TDP spots what he thinks is something invisible gathering and possibly consuming the ooze at the edge of the lake. Has the Elemental been made invisible, or is there something else out there capable of touching that stuff?

Dramus can sense that there are at least 5 Greater Undead and 20 Lesser Undead in the immediate vicinity, all in the region of the village. That and waning mood-lighting produced by the Tower, though it may or may not hinder the Undead, makes it clear that we'll need to formulate an effective plan and decide to repair to his portion of Tower to regroup.

We rise early and head back to the vicinity start to enact the scheme. Our numbers bolstered by Tari's Wyvern "You Bastard" and a pair of Earth Elementals who prepare fortifications, under Mortimer's directions. They are based around the Pentacle that Dramus prepares to summon 7 of the Lesser Undead away from the village and destroy them before we stage our assault. As the two ritual draws to a close, we cast our final spells and surround the ritual area to protect Dramus and Teeanna within the pentacle.

{{divbox|#F5F5F5||'''Dramus:''' Whoops!}}

It was a little surprising to have the howl of displacing air and moans of the Undead to be coming from behind us, inside the "protective" circle that those two were supposed to be sheltering in, but we took it all in our stride. The Undead were merely 3 Skeletons and 4 Zombies, and they disintegrated and a volley of blows and spell. I was very pleased to be able to rake three of them with a Lightning Bolt and have the end one explode. Despite the unanticipated problem, it had worked very well and as we were set up a good travelling distance from the village, we proceeded to try another round.

===The Burning Dead===

The second attempt "works" as planned, but the enemy have had two hours to prepare a nasty surprise. The Undead each arrive outside the pentacle, but appear in a gout of flame and a splash of putrescent, flaming ooze. I'm splashed by one that lands nearby, and the sticky mess scalds both my skin and something in the foul, dark flames attacks my mind. Holding in the panic, I slashed at the creature as it rose and though the hit was solid, the flames attacked my strength and left me feeling weakened. TDP was beside me in an instant and striking at foe, and he seemed to be having better luck resisting the flames malignant effects. The others are dealing to the rest of them and I was abandoning physically striking it in favour of a Lightning bolt when TDP struck it down. The rest were then roasted by Mortimer's Hellfire, but not injuring a few of us and draining Tari's Wyvern as well.

At least, I think that's how it went. I was considerably shaken by the ordeal, and had to compose myself for a while. The curse carried by the flames is going to be with me for at least two weeks if nothing is done, and our opponents are clearly on to what we are attempting to do. Dramus asserts that we need to consult the Witches of Oz for protections before going near a lake of the ooze, and we send the Elementals in to try and crush as many Undead as possible before we leave the area. TDP and Dramus scout the village on the way back, and this time the roster of the inhabitants is a little more clear.

Lesser Undead
*3x Skeletons
*3x Zombies
*2x Greater Zombies (Griffins?)

Greater Undead
*4x Wights
*1x Greater Spectre
*1x Wight Knight
*1x Wraith Lord

They leave the locale swiftly to bring us this rather daunting list. Through a Crystal TDP sees the Elementals arrive at the village, and start attacking the lesser Undead who have been placed in barrels full of the ooze and are constantly "basting" themselves to ensure that if we try summoning them again, we get plenty of ooze too. The Elementals start smashing barrels and their occupants, but the cowled figure that attending them advances and, as the original Elemental we saw emerges from the ground and drags down Kern's larger Elemental, it strikes Tari's smaller Elemental and it crumbles into dust.

We return to Oz and make our way to the southern quadrant. We quickly happen upon Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. There are some pleasantries, but I found it hard to pay attention to them. Glinda expressed a profound regret at not having experience with the Undead, but was coaxed into lending her expertise with protections and curses. She drew the willpower and strength sapping curses inflicted by the death-ooze into small crystals, isolating them from me until they could be lifted or expire normally. I will have to hang onto them, but I was able to start to pull myself together She also helped us by providing us with seven little boxes capable of drawing a curse from an individual into themselves before once apiece. During the discussion, the names of Carzon and [[Oz#Gayalette| Gayalette]] are bandied about.

Apparently, after given the hornets nest a jolly good stir, we'll spend a time taking tea with local Oz notables. I'm sure Mr Spectre will not have come up with any more nasty surprises by the time that's through.

{{divbox|#93CCEA||'''Marginilia:''' Tch. Now I'm just sounding bitchy. I'd better put my quill aside for a while. }}

{{divbox|#ffe||'''From Mortimer's Journal:''' I have informed Dramus that I wish to speak with Lord Carzon concerning the current situation, but have not fully informed him of my intent as I am concerned that he may react unfavourably. I plan to request of Lord Carzon that he extend his patronage to those inhabitants of Nightmare Carzala that we postulate were created, albeit inadvertently, by Princess Ozma during her poisoned banapple slumber, and that by topographical manipulation he relocate them from Oz-inside (of Dramus's tower) to Oz-outside, so that they may continue their existence, and perhaps, given the creative and unusual atmosphere of Oz, realise a full reality.

I believe that some of the others may be supportive of protecting and relocating the New Seagate-ites, Clarissa in particular expressed concerns about dismissing their plight based merely on their notional origins. Tari and TDP could, I feel, be talked into agreeing, and Kern... can no doubt be distracted with something shiny.

I find it troubling that with Dramus's level of philosophical understanding he seems unconcerned by their fate, and indeed even desirous of their destruction, as though their artificial origins are more relevant than their current apparent self awareness and sentience. This appears to me somewhat at odds with my previous observations of his beliefs and moral leanings, and adds further anxiety to my concerns regarding his mental state, although, due to his well known phobia, the existence of the Seagate Arachnids Guild may be exerting a serious unconscious pressure on him. Teanna appears to share his callous attitude towards the beings, and while this may be understandable given her shallow interests and lack of education, it does make me wonder if Dramus's mind may be being unduly influenced by their mental link. }}

Here began the tiki tour of the witches. First up is X the witch of the South. Who mentions that once in her territory (and similarly in the North) saying her name alerts her to our presence ans she comes to meet us. She give us a kiss on the cheek blessing which will absorb the next 5 curses cast on us.

Then the X the WWOE, an expert of alchemy, where we had tea and scones. Dramus & Mortimer presented her with a sample of the gloop from the 'lakel the undead had been spraying around. She dips one finger into it and then tastes it, saying its not something she's come across before. She agrees to make us something to help combat the undead and we agree to come back later that afternoon to do so.

Mortimer wants to visit Lord Carzon, but Dramus doesn't want to interrupt the man, and says we wait until we have actually achieved something and have something worthwhile to report.

So we head North to visit X, the witch of Life & earth stuff. We are flying in, and a flock of birds surround us, so we land and then are transported underground to a huge cave filled with glow worms - the land of the Illums. We chat, and she prepares us some tea that prevents damage from earth. Also an ablative protection against damage from undead.

Samples of the undead gloop and the bloody water from 'Seagate' are presented to her. She abhors the undead gloop, stating it is the antithesis of her and all she stands for. Tari muses on what could create something like this - perhaps it realtes to the Oz inversion she expereinced a few years back, where good turn to evil etc. X does eggs us onto trying the truth pond water on the gloop, and it all turns to normal water. This led TDP onto discussing with her where clouds get the rain from, and her suggesting she ask the clouds to help her by helping us. Apparently the clouds spend all day chatting amongst themselves and gathering up water from the land, then during the night they rain. When clouds start to argue amongst themselves storms happen. If the clouds could be persuaded to only gather water from the truth pond, then TDP could get them raining truthwater - as long it is on OZ, and Dramus' tower is still part Oz. She transports us as leaves to spend the night at Loonville, Dramus' tower point next to the Termites, and arranges to meet us in the morning. Clarissa sends a message to WOE apologising for our delay in return.

Next Day

We meet 20 clouds, and everyone but the pair of Fae can communicate with them with their magic. TDP takes charge of them, explaing the mission. They are very fired up, and have disputes as to which ten shall be the ones to go. The clouds tend toward bickering very easily which potentially leads to storms; care is need to keep them focussed. They demonstrate that 10 clouds can merge together to become one storm. We tell them to hold off until we get to the undead tower area. Mortimer zips back to WWOE and returns with a basket half filled with scones, and 5 green tipped stick and 5 red tipped stick each. which does something or rather I can't recall anymore....

===Tower Offense===

Having planted the three Earth Elemental's nearby, we swoop on the undead health spa, Mortimer knocking bits off the Tower with Earth Tremors and TDP sluicing the village and the lake with a Rain Storm drawn from the Truth pond. The Truth water doesn't seem to affect the village or those leaving the Tower, but the Lake starts to boil and steam impressively.

We land around the local Earth Elemental while our own three start to advance from the tree-line. We hammer it and it mimes punching us as slowly as it can, before being banished by TDPs specialised weapons. From there we move towards the figures drifting from the tower, but our view is soon obscured by a think mist of Noxious Vapours. We advance, shoulder to shoulder, while our Vapour
Breathing spells allow us to retain our composure and focus. Lightning and Phantasms leap forth to the obscured targets, and Agony, both undead focused and regular, wash across the field of battle.

Kern spies a ring of Runes between us and the misty figures, and a second Lightning Bolt splashes up the side of an invisible dome following the curve of the ring. Some experimentation proves that they have Forbidden magic from entering the ring. Between that, the low visibility, and the Agony the fight is quite a slog. Blackfire, Hellfire, and Spectral Warriors all make an appearance
multiple times. Here are some glimpses I saw in the confusion;

* Mortimer stayed aloft, directing us through the mist and raking the undead with Hellfire.

* TDP traded blows with a burly undead Wraith Lord, dual-wielding and throwing scimitars, before crippling his arm and sending him fleeing into the Tower. There he regenerates his arm from a barrel of ooze, but is felled by Kern and Teeanna.

* Kern battles the Wight Knight, along with random Wraiths, and soaks up more undeath draining than the rest of the party combined, before charging into the Tower after the Wraith Lord, after the Wight Knight flees by sinking into the ground. He is hotly pursued by the largest Earth Elemental, who makes a path for TDP into the chambers below the Tower, but he joins with this master.

* Teeanna weaves through a protective screen of Hands of Earth, casting Phantasms all the while, flanks a Wraith for quick backstab, before she charges into the Tower immediately after Kern. Very courageous efforts.

* Dramus keeps pouring Endurance Damage onto the major opponents via his Battle Leaven and exchanges the odd Spectral Warrior with the Greater Spectre.

* Tari and I hold the Wraiths at the middle of the line, largely struggling to connect with the little beggars slowed down as we are by the Agony. This at least keeps them occupied while Mortimer mops them up.

At the end, the Wight Knight and Greater Spectre merge with ground and flee, but the rest have fallen and we find the following things lying around.

* A pair of twinned, returning Scimitars.

* A amulet that provides ablative damage protection.

* A crystal of duplication that provides multiple effect in place of double and triples.

* A whip of celestial darkness that wraps targets in a web.

* 6 Un-restoratives. Probably not good for you.

Checking out the dungeon we find a sick and malnourished elf, resembling the famous Feyan, unconscious and shackled in manacles of darkness. Mortimer ramps up his light spell and the manacles shatter and the healers descend on him. While he's declared safe to be transported, we investigate the doorway in the Tower, which leads to an unremarkable spot in some woods. It quickly transpires that it's on "actual-Alusia" and a spot near Dramus cottage south of the Sweet Riding, explaining how they got in the first time.

We dig out the luggage with the Earth Elementals and ponder our next move. The usual disagreement between whether we should immediately chase the foe down or genocidally rain on the Arachnid Adventurer's parade while we still have clouds bulging to do it is put to bed by locates telling us that the fleeing Undead have gone though the portal. We figure from the direction that they are heading to the portal from the "Haven-esque" room, so they must have been travelling at a great speed.

We fly north and when we get to the "guild", both it and the attendant village have vanished, so we have to clean up the "Bloodwater" a little before before releasing the clouds on the other side of the faux-Seagate door into Loonvile. While we are there briefly, Mortimer spots what looks remarkably like a votive offering to a skinny, elven figure comprised of flies, bugs, and lizards. Dramus somehow fails to notice this development.

<div class=dramus style="background-color: #EEEEEE; font-family: Gothic, cursive; border: thin solid #333; ">
'''Notes from Tobias Pendleton, Scribe to Lord Dramus:'''While assisting my Master later that day I can without breaking confidence report that the votive offerings were indeed noticed by my Master and were of some concern. However as any gentleman knows (and ladies now I have informed Miss Clarissa) it is not done to discuss ones potential worshippers in public, particularly not in mixed company. </div>

===In"terror"ior Redecorating===

Back at the Guild, Feyan is declared to be need of nourishment and rest and that we shouldn't bother him for a bit, so Mortimer invites us to lunch at his Brastor homestead. His wife, Petal, declares that we are also in need of nourishment and nigh attempts to kill us with food and hospitality. I also remember a few mad conversations about how the crops of steam engines are coming along and pressing Cuckoos for oil, but that may have been a pastry-induced hallucination.

After we return to the Guild, Feyan is able to answer a few questions and says that he was innocently picking innocent herbs, saw a tiny out-of-the-way cottage, and decided to check it out. Beyond that he was mind controlled, drained, and tortured for three weeks, so he isn't able to give us much about the plans the Undead have. Dramus stars putting the hours to wrest control of the "Frontiers" room back, over the course of two nights closes the door between the room and Alusia and them shrinks it down until it's two exits of the "Haven-esque" room; the portal entrance from under the Arachnid Guild and the door South of the ruby waters, are the pinched waist of an hourglass directly facing each other. This should mean that if they decide to leave via one they will simply loop out the other and should slow down any counter-invasion.

After a night's rest, we prepare to tackle the desolate looking city via the door in the cliff face. We enter the antechamber that used to the "Frontiers" room and is now just 40' across, but it's clear the Undead have been busy. Telepathy, Empathy and Wizard's Eye are able to percolate through the door, and show us that they have surrounded the door in a sort of reverse fortification and we face the following.

* 4 Ghasts

* 4 Wights

* 3 Unfamiliar things, clinging to the cliff face.

* 2 Werewolf resembling things,

* 1 Ominous blue glow.

Given that everyone else resists one spell and then I resist a control person, all bets are on the glow being a Vampire or worse. Mortimer hands me a Mind cloak potion to save me from assaulting fellow party members and we ready to roll through the door and drop the fortifications with Tunnelings when most of us are slammed into the far wall by a TK Rage.

Definitely a Vampire.

The little fort is really a bird cage to stop us flying through easily and a raised ledge for the Undead to attack us from. Some spells like TDP's Sleep and Slow, and Teanna's Phantasms are able to leak between "room" though the aperture of the door the but we are going to have to rush them at some point, and they are waiting for it. A stone wall go up closer to the door, thanks to Kern and Tari, to hold us up against further TK Rages. I stand immediately behind the door, hoping to blunt any counter-rushes before we are set up.

Outside, there has been a strange development. The Wight and Ghasts have been badly affected by Undead Agony, Phantasm and hails of E&E spells, but one splits/explodes and a dashing figure, later identified as the "Dark Knight", appears. He is on Telepathy initially, and seems slightly surprised, as if he was summoned unexpectedly, but composed. He immediately starts making a nuisance of himself by reaching into the Undead and removing the spell effects that have placed on them. He also seem to be able to deflect spells onto nearby minions, which is extremely aggravating.

More spells are exchanged for a time, but when I get zapped thought he with a Disruption the nescessity to keep the upper hand is underlined. The line of sight and the ground on other side of the door has been badly constrained with Stone and Force(?) Walls, those have been undercut with Tunnelings, and Mortimer has been angling Earth Tremors through the other side, so an immediate rush seems unwise. Kern tries his luck and falls at the first hurdle.

A moment later, he is set upon by horrific skin creatures who try and envelop him. I lean far enough out the door to grab his foot and haul him back in, along with his new friends, which are trying to crawl under his skin. They are completely resistant to unarmed attacks, so I tear one off and dowse me and it in Greek Fire. Tari cleaves the other as it is held up for her, and Teanna unleashes a frightening Gargoyle to leap through the open door and join the fray.

The "Flensling" skin creatures keep a couple of us occupied for a time, my "curse charm" boxes soaking up several nasty somethings as I put mine down. Teeana Phantasms the third one as Dramus heals Kern. We then seize the initiative back when Mortimer Fire Arcs himself, Dramus, TDP, and Kern up to the left ledge and Kern and TDP hose down the majority of the creatures with Dragonflames investeds. At that time the weakened and trembling structure starts to peel away from the cliff.

The Dark Knight and the Vampire Lord fly off in separate directions, the latter pursued by Mortimer, bearing Dramus along. Tripled Hellfire blows and Dramus' Battle Leaven cause the Vampire Lord some suffering, the Dark Knight swaps places with him. Determine to stop the foe that can't bleed damage off to random passers-by, they double back to the Vampire Lords new flight path and continue the attack as he draws closer to the haunted, boarded-up city and escape. This happened two more times, but finally the Vampire exploded in an unsavoury cloud. The Dark Knight simply salutes and flies off and Mortimer and Dramus return, fatigued and triumphant, to the party.

We've been quickly checking the pile of rubble that remains of the fort/birdcage at the bottom of the cliff, but the rising tumult from the haunted city convinces Dramus to retreat to the safety of the tower, seal the door to this room together, and consider further schemes.

===Future Plans===

==Loot==

== Additional Information ==

Revolving Doors

2026-06-06T03:36:26Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Dean Ellis]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Dramus]]
[[Category:Teeanna]]
[[Category:Clarissa]]
[[Category:Mortimer]]
[[Category:Tari]]
[[Category:TDP]]
[[Category:Kern Silvercrest]]

[[Scribe_Notes#Winter_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Revolving Doors 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Dean Ellis|Dean Ellis]] 
'''Session''': [[Winter]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Wednesday night - Chez Ellis 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]] 
; Party

* [[Dramus]] ([[Dramus GM Information|GM Info]]), A [[Asheth|Fae Prince]] and [[Necromancer]] played by [[Mandos|Mandos]][[Category:Dramus]] - Party Leader
* [[Teeanna]]
* [[Clarissa]]
* [[Mortimer]] Graves - Halfling (or maybe Halfelf) Wicca
* [[Tari]] - An [[Elves|Elven]] [[Earth Magics|Earth Mage]] played by Michelle Ellis.
* [[TDP]], played by [[User:Phil Judd|Phil Judd]] - Human - E&E/Water
* [[Kern Silvercrest]] - Military Scientist
''Adventure Full''
; Employer
: [[Oz#Lord Carzon|Lord Carzon]]/[[Dramus]]
; Mission
: To sort out the issues caused by Dramus's Tower.
; Pay
: Shares of any treasure or loot recovered. Guaranteed to minimum value of 40 Guinea's each by Dramus.

== Mission Notes ==

(This document is in Elvish and printed a careful, slightly exaggerated hand with a number of corrections and few calligraphic flourishes. Little sketches of flowers and vines litter the margins.)

== The First of Frost WK 808 ==

Summoned by a letter from Dramus, I make my first visit to a Guild briefing room in years, make a few new acquaintances and meet old familiar faces from previous missions.

* Dramus - He really hasn't changed. We'll apparently he's a fairy prince now, actually has a [[Asheth|kingdom]] like he used to claim to, and is married to boot.
* Teeanna - The boots in question. (No, no need to be catty.) She seems a little sheltered, but very confident and self-assured. It could be the boots. They are pretty amazing.
* Kern - He's a family man now, though through a rather exotic sounding [[How Much for the Little Boy|set of circumstances]].
* Tari - [[:Category:Ranger|"Out-doorsy" type]], insists that she doesn't kill and eat her friends, and one of her friends is a Wyvern called "You bastard".
* TDP - the only human, poor thing, has recently taken up the being a Tank. Well, it'll be interested to see how that works with his famous nautical tendencies.
* Mortimer - still an inveterate [[:Category:Mechanician|tinkerer]], [[:Category:philosopher|philosopher]], and as cute as a button.

==Dramus' Tower Troubles==

Dramus explains that his summoning ritual for the [[Tower of Knowledge (OZ)|Tower of Knowledge]] is acting weirdly. It's been working more quickly that it should, the tower has been transporting between locations faster that it used to, and projecting the that doors it creates out of place, generally about 15 feet to the left(?).

He explains at some length that this may have been caused by a long string of poor decisions which includes;

* Repeatedly summoning the Tower on [[Plane_of_Haven|Haven]], a demon and undead infested plane, and having the undead hitch rides.
* Allowing said undead hitch-hikers to create a replica of the [[Frontiers of Alusia|Frontiers of Alusia]] and use it as a wacky, evil theme-park for Engalton and friends.
* Keeping the replica for some years afterwards, and using it to storage for subsequent undead stow-aways.
* Summoning the Tower into a Dwarven Council Chamber in a [[Brightrock|abandoned hold]] and it being attacked by wall Golems.
* Propagating an vegetable necromancer "ancient horror" in one of the rooms.
* Relying on a Agent of [[Savnok|Savnok]], Marquis of Corruption and Tower enthusiast, to create a high mana area for a speedy tower summoning.

but definitely does not include;

* His recent nuptials or his lovely wife Teeanna.
* Annoying [[Seir|Seir]].
* Becoming a fae Prince.

We mull this over at Alphonse's, along with the current topics of the troubles in [[Alfheim|Alfheim]], the difficulties of lineage, and mental illness.

Once suitably prepared for the rigours of adventuring we coach the two blocks back to Potters Lane, enter the tower, and are almost immediately on Oz.

{{divbox|#ffe||'''From Mortimer's Journal:''' I do not think that we should lightly dismiss the possibility that the psycho-reactive environs of the [[Tower of Knowledge (OZ)|dimensional tower]] may be being adversely affected by some form of mental derangement or impairment on the part of Dramus himself. Observation of his relatively recent behaviour in regards to areas of high magic raise concerns that he may not be fully in control of himself in these environs; a designator that must surely also be applied to the tower of knowledge and the highly charged Oz ambient mana level. His behaviour in these situations has shown worrisome recklessness and an apparently worsening addiction to ever increasingly dangerous levels of mana. I suspect that this behavioural change is related to his increasing fae-ness, and bears watching.}}

===Returning to Oz===

The door opens on the side a purple tower encircled by a spiralling stair case, and my Aerial Affinity tells me we are several miles from the ground. Apparently this is normal, but the mana in Oz is still incredibly difficult to
control and I managed to give myself Flying instead of Kern before Dramus decided that triggering would be faster.

Still, it's a thrill to be back and watching the clouds chasing each other in little clumps from place to place. As we feel the winds approaching, we jump off the tower and let them catch us as we fall.

The descent is exhilarating, and most of us pause for a quiet smoke at the bottom while Mortimer, currently an owl(?) catches up. During this time, no-one in Loonville pays much attention, as we are entirely too normal looking.

From there it's off to Lord Carzon's manor, a short walk to the north-west(?). Dramus fails to provide Teeanna with a coach, and it is widely speculated that he is scheming to get her out of those impressive boots of hers.

To my dismay, I realise that this was the location where, on my first adventure, that Dramus and I had given away vials of blood to this charming gentleman. The really galling part was that before were introduced I was incredibly suspicious of waht little we had heard of him and the immediately turned into a giggly mess when we actually met. Dramus has received access to his Tower for the donation, but I don't recall any such felicity from Carzon. I am very disappointed when I recall the Dramus' cavalier attitude to a new adventurers safety and I tell him so on the steps while a servant looks on.

We are led to a library, where Lord Carzon reclines on a chaise-lounge and greets us with drink and fine tobacco. I stifle my misgivings about our last encounter and try and keep up with the meta-physical discussion about the Tower issues.

===Lord Carzon Explains===

Explains that he a little miffed with Dramus, that is. He confirms that the Savnok's agent (he says "minion") intercepted the knowledge of the ritual and has been practising it and slowly growing more capable. If her passes it onto his Master, consequences are likely to be dire, and it accounts for some of "extra" doors that Dramus has been seeing.

Additionally, something is "riding" or growing more independent of Dramus' portion of the Tower of Knowledge, which is the same structure with one door per "official occupant" which they can cause to appear where they are capable of summoning it. The "new leaseholder" has been trying to split away only in recent months to years and has been causing a the Tower to be come less stable and "leave behind" doors as well.

There was a third problem, but I may have tangled it with other complicated ruminations, such as the mysterious corridor that Carzon has access to and the fact Dramus could have moved his door to the bottom of the Tower in Loonville by will alone. But, since there are currently at least two separate entities trying to carve their own stake on the tower, Carzon would like it fixed.

In deference to the Guilds mercenary nature he is willing reimburse the party, but points out that the problems was largely due to the various uses that Tower had been put to. Dramus is quick to offer his own, recently Fae-enhanced, blood and I felt sure he was about to offer someone else's. I though it was probably just the [[krrf|Azurian Blonde]] making me a bit jumpy, but Carzon explains that he using the blood to add species to Oz, and he hadn't found any Fae yet.

This prompts a slew of terrible questions that I manage to suppress until we are on our way out; Am I, in some weird way, a parent? An absentee parent at that? Did Dramus and I have children and not even know it?

This is all very troubling....

==Evicting the Unliving==

It makes sense that turfing out the undead from the giant replica of [[Seagate]] and the surrounding countryside should be the first stop, since the last lot tried to drive him mad and required [[Engalton|Engalton's]] intervention to sort it out.

To evaluate our approach we assist Dramus in series of experiments to determine the extent of his control and the malleability of the rooms in his tower.

===Changeling Rooms===

I volunteer my old room, on the basis that it's not going to needed again, and it should be nicely symbolic of a clean break if we end up making it disappear.

The rules boil down quite quickly though a series of tests with people, objects, animates, and cold iron being present in the room.

* Dramus knows when a room is occupied by a sentient and it severely effects how much he can sense within the room and prevents him from changing the room's format or an object in the room in a fashion that would interfere with them.

* The presence of Lesser undead, objects not created by the tower, and even cold iron do not "lock" the room as if it was properly occupied, and he can sense the void they occupy in the material that was created with the room. The objects are displaced he if changes the dimensions of the room.

* Teeana's Telepathy and ESP picks up entities in nearby rooms as if they were in a relative position to the corridor, despite many of the rooms totally overlapping. Unfortunately she backfires a Telepathy and the spell comes into effect with a gigantic range but slightly less than half the full arc 360 degree arc.

( I'm glad for the blessing that western Witch gave me and keep my thoughts amicable and peaceful while the Telepathy is directed in my direction. But since that's never worked for very long and the itchy feeling at the back of my neck is driving me mad, I move around to "get on her good side" as soon as I can.)

* The overall dimensions can be changed easily, and the substance and dimensions of existing objects can be altered ''if the alterations make sense'', which wasn't something I was personally expecting. Basically, if the scale is rational objects can be grown and shrunk; i.e. he could make an bed large or small enough to accommodate a hobbit or a giant, and he can change the patterns and materials as he chooses, but again only as it fits the context. Sadly this preclude shrinking the replica to a scale model or changing everything to glass.

* Teenna isn't up changing the colour of the drapes to match the carpet yet.

Our investigations are interrupted by [[Dramus#Granite|Granite]] announcing a visitor and Lord Carzon's man delivers us a number of vials of shimmering crystals.

These transpire to be [[Oz#Emerald_City|Ozma's]] Tears provided to us by Carzon in the hope that they will help. There is little confusion as to whether they originally intended for us, and this deepen with a DA question.

They are "Crocodile Tears" and as such, don't have the effects that others in the party have witnessed previously. They instead create a number of Crocodiles of "indeterminate size". Fascinating.

===Nightmare Seagate===

Whilst Teeanna's telepathy had such great range, we decided to venture forth into "Twiners Room" since that would give us the most preparation time for encountering any inhabitants. Dramus created a new door from the "Pub" room to the Seagate replica's version of the neighbouring house to 9a Potters Lane, as the only other leads through "Twiner's Room". He tries to sense what the occupant of the replica are up too, but he gets a hazy impression and effort drains him more than an afternoon's playing with the other rooms. We equip ourselves and head to see what he found so frightening.

It was an odd sort of Seagate, as there was no-one around. And it was misty, hard to see more than a block ahead. Teeanna reported various minds of rats and dogs, but nothing out of the usual. We found that this place must truly be a reflection of Dramus' nightmares - all the pubs were closed, with signs indicating they had run out of alcohol.

We headed toward the river and had got a faint, then stronger, smell of something metallic. Something iron like, something blood like, with other flesh and gore thrown into the mix for good measure. This was the river. Around this time Teanna had noticed a dozen or so minds around 400 yards away, which seemed normally hungry. Dramus tried locating an undead of the area, and very shortly afterwards Teeanna reported the minds were coming our way. We put up a couple of walls of stone as defence at the our end of the bridge, where we could only just make out the far end, expecting this to be a good defensive position. TDP reported through his wizard eye that they seemed to be slightly insubstantial and hovering a bit while they moved.

What we did not expect was them to do was swoop across the river below the bridge where we couldn't attack them, so many of them managed to engage us in melee. Teeanna had said the one being chased away by her phantasm was envisioning it as a creature of fire, and so she triggered a Hellfire, which took out a lot of the creatures, DA called them [[Ghast]]. There seemed to be one in charge, or at least slightly larger than the others, who got larger when a stream of corruption was cast at him. Those in agony were going to the river to feast on the gore to make them more energised. However, in the end, we prevailed, without major injury.

Post-mortem and post-post-mortem DAs furnished us with few interesting acts about our new friends.

Some of them originated from [[Plane_of_Haven|Haven]] and were several years dead, but the bulk were "recruited" locally, which happens to still be Oz despite the Towers appearance of having ceded from it's homeland, within the last seven months. They have no college and are sentient, but luckily do not drain life. We decided makes them approximately "Medium Undead". Their claws drip a venom that causes despair, while their eyes also mire the on-looker in apathy and helplessness. TDP was effected by their gaze even through his Wizard's Eye and the combination of that and the venom left Kern a helpless wreck, crawling on the ground.

It's being killed by the venom that turned the unfortunate wretches in these creatures, which are apparently controlled by something but we were unable to determine what the source was, or if it had a Rank we could try and outmatch.

* Dramus, on the "Bloodwater Bridge" in "Nightmare Seagate": "This isn't a good spot for a picnic."

===Under New Management===

We crossed the bridge and made our way in the direction of the Guild, to see if the place was in the grisly state reported by Engalton after his visit. The scenery was little different around the north side of the bridge, but the sun definitely rising and starting to strip away the thick fog that had surrounded us. It made the dishevelled state of the buildings a little clearer and started to give the breeze off the river a really interesting tang.

Mortimer spotted a sign, grimy and partially obscured, and muttered: "Oh my, I didn't think that they had a Guild too." Swiftly we were clustered around looking at a sign stating "Seagate Guild of Arachnids - Two Miles" and trying to nonchalantly direct Dramus' attention elsewhere.

Dramus was neither distracted for long or easily reassured that the words on the board could mean anything, and didn't necessarily refer to anything huge and starting with "S". But the Guild is one of the few landmarks and should be a good place to find some sort of clues, so we press on.

Teeanna's Telepathy started to pick up scattered groups of minds which she described, with what I though was was a impressive display of imagination, as the thoughts of peasant rousing to do morning chores. Though just to make sure that Dramus' imagination was not neglected his short-sword, Sting, starts to give off a distinct glow.

*Dramus - "Peasants aren't a threat."
*Mortimer - "Someone in your profession should be a little more sensitive to the idea of angry mobs."

The minds Teeanna senses seem clustered in little groups and thinking about their activities, but the activities she relates sound strange and exotic even to the rest of us. Tending maggots, checking the Fae Rings, and wrangling Brownies seem to be on the agenda. TDP's Eye scouts the nearest hovels, but the occupants and dwellings look normal, human, and properly rustic to him.

We select Kern and Tari as the least bizarre looking members of the party, and they go to speak to one of the farmers on Dramus' behest. Dramus charges them specifically to find out who they pay taxes to.

Jerry, a rabbit farmer, explains patiently that they part of a consortium of about 100 families, that they haven't heard of "feudal lords" before, and the farmers produce food and crafts which they trade with the Arachnid's Guild for manufactured goods. DAs are also telling us they they are all 23 months old and they also come from Oz.

Jerry also helpfully tells us that some of the farmers have Fae creature like Brownies and Sprites for their customers, who's gigantic spider-shaped building is now looming out of the mist at the top of the hill. At this point, I was a little concerned that Dramus might start foaming.

* <party> - "Do they talk?
* Jerry - "Weelll, they do twitter a bit."

Mortimer helpfully tinkers with the door of one of the rather capacious rabbit hutches and gets a couple of very, big bunnies for his assistance. He plonks them in a sack and we head up the hill further.

While most of the party are having a fascinating conversation (regarding the how this uncanny arrangement came to be, it's possible effects on Dramus' state of mind, the fashions in Alfheim this decade, and Tari's last visit with some other Elven guild members), Darmus and Teeanna attempt to find out more about the trade in Brownie flesh.

<div class=dramus style="background-color: #EEEEEE; font-family: Gothic, cursive; border: thin solid #333; ">
'''Notes from Tobias Pendleton, Scribe to Lord Dramus:'''On the request of Miss Clarissa I have placed quill to parchment to detail the later conversations with my Master in order to elucidate upon this point.

It appears that my Master and Mistress were most distressed by the thought of fae being farmed and set about investigating this aspect of the community. So distraught were after speaking to a Brownie farmer they asked him to leave their presence and when he refused my Master placed a 'petit mort' upon him.

(I note at this time there was no mention of this being removed and I shell endeavour to remind my Master that he should recover the farmer prior to its duration wearing off in case the farmer has been buried. I only hope they do not attempt an embalming. While it may seem vile that I do not mention this to my Master I do not believe he is in an appropriate state of mind to cope with this reminder at this time, and to mention it may cause further harm to his mental state.) - I write this in the hope miss Clarissa can assist with reminding him in exchange for her promise that he shall not see this confession.

Post removal of the farmer from the scene it appeared that investigations of the Fae rings continued however as neither my Master nor Mistress are blessed with 'DA' this took on a more direct approach which resulted in my Master being affected on a number of occasions by soporific magics and being rescued by his good lady wife who dragged him bodily from the fae ring.

This did result in the rescue of two Brownies and while my Master and Mistress were distressed at an inability to rescue more they felt that further investigation into the creation of the brownies was the next step. At this juncture I note my Mistress was very insistent on a visit to the 'Truth Pond' rather than any other course of action and as a result I am also concerned about her mental well-being. </div>

At some point, when reminiscing about the time I first met Dramus and when he employed me as a governess I mentioned that I wasn't entirely sure that his intentions towards me. Or women in general. During my (somewhat difficult) explanation to Tari what I meant, we discovered a common acquaintance with that shoddy little catamite, [[Albion_the_Mad|Albion]]. This got the nature of my suspicion across, but might have been overdoing it a little. Still, Tari doesn't seem like the type to gossip. I shouldn't taunt Mortimer though. No matter how appealing he looks, his '''looks''' can be quite unnerving.

Dramus seems somewhere between despondent and angry that there could be something like 8000 fae creature trapped in a sophorific state created by the mushroom ring pens on the twenty or so "ranches" in the community. Without easy access to a new door, he contents himself with rescuing the two brownies he was almost able to have a conversation with.

The origins of the creatures we've encountered suggests that something occurred nearly two years ago, which coincides with the date of Ozma's eleventy-eleventh birthday, her being kidnapped, poisoned with an apple, and her feverish dreams afflicted much of Oz with either lycanthropy or inversions of their normal personae. Possibly some of that influence was channelled through Dramus' personal fear and neurosis, which ties in with the fact that the cure was a kiss from a certain Fae Prince. Mortimer seems to think the whole thing has an air of faintly cute maliciousness, which he doesn't see completely divorced from the taunts of a young, imaginative girl in a mean-spirited mood. I'm more convinced this as been arranged, though probably manipulating the energies of the events described, to shape a very specific kind of torment, perhaps aimed at weakening the most externally of the various "Powers of Oz".

The fact that Dramus gets unaccountably modest when we mention this is, in itself, very worrying. Also, the biggest problem with my theory is that it would take someone who knew Dramus very well to so effectively "pull all his levers" as Mortimer puts it.

We are trying to decide who best to seek advice from first, a discussion in which someone raised the worrying spectre that Carzon my not entirely trust worthy as he may have been concealing information about Fae being "on Oz", when we note flyers in the distance. TDP, using a cunning contraption to enhance his sight, make out a flight of six wasps carrying suspiciously multi-limb riders to the... ...structure on of the hill.

Prompted by this and the advance of the morning light, we press back down the hill, treating ourselves to a view of the "Bloodwater" darkening the waters of Confederation Bay. Once back through number 9 Potters lane and into the Tower, Dramus takes us immediately to the west of Oz and states that we are going to the Truth Pond to check whether the Brownies that he rescued are really Brownies.

He's starting to act quite uncharacteristically, and when we have a small problem with the flying spells he behaves as though he doesn't trust me at all. I'm very worried that this artfully constructed paranoia of the Nightmare realm has started to unhinge him. Also, I'm quite concerned about the effects that Truth pond water might have on allegedly "imaginary" creatures. Or vice versa, for that matter. Maybe that was the intent all along?

And what happened to talking to the various wise denizens of Oz to get some advice?

===Fig-mint Brownies Aren't People?===

or

===Feeding His Fears===

I try and cajole everyone to to stop before we do anything rash, and suggest a picnic. Predictably this works, but the discussion seems a bit heated. Teeanna tells everyone off for carelessly mentioning "the s-word" in front of Dramus, and though the creatures were right there (and I hardly think that he was about to forget about them) it's good to see she's trying to take care of his welfare.

Teeanna - "I think it go right up to the point of rudeness for his friends to discuss them right in front of him. Even if we choose to ignore what you say, don't think that means we hear don't you."

Possibly it's the way that she couches the reproach, and I think I remembered it correctly, but Mortimer seems particularly nettled.

Mortimer - "I imagine it's a little like being savaged by a chihuahua."

Clarissa - "Remember that would be more of an issue for you than the rest of us."

One of TDP's Crystals start vibrating and from Tari's DA it appears that the Wicked Witch of the West has taken an interest in us. Mortimer starts twitching rather alarmingly. Apparently they are acquainted and he is one of her favourites.

(At some point some mentions that Dramus has a brother. I didn't even know that he still had family.)

A few at a time, people head down into the misty bowl containing the Truth Pond. It seems simpler not to object at this point, and try and screw up my own courage to do the same. It wasn't an unpleasant experience 13 years ago, but it changed the way I thought about myself in a fundamental way. Besides, what has truth got to do with my life at the moment?

I'm sure it's not germane to the rest of the adventure but everyone returns looking well, though Kern does come back rather muddy. But it didn't raise any more comment than my own choice to go naked, aside from the tattoos of course. It seems wiser than wearing the fur of a sentient cat.

Anyway, by the time I get back Teeanna has applied the collected Truth Water to a Brownie and some rabbits and they have both turned in small white pastilles with "D" printed on them. They DA as formerly living but have no GTN to speak of. Apparently, if you swallow them they are intrinsically supposed provide sustenance.

It seems clear that the Tower is producing them the same way they it provided for the inhabitants. Can we extended this logic to the humans and spiders? Should we return with the alarming pumping contraptions that Mortimer is already in a sketching in a frenzy, brimming with Truth Water and wash them away? Actually, do we even have the right? Teeanna seems to think we are entitled, but I could be more convinced. And what exactly is the Tower providing sustenance for? Is there an entire ecology in there?

The fact that it's inhabited will stop Dramus from making "Truth Rain" or the like, and we experiment with the blood collected from the "Bloodwater". It turns into simple water, presumably just being the liquid sustenance that the Tower produces.

At about this point we spy a group of flyers in the distance. It's very likely to be the WWOW and a troupe of flying monkeys according to Mortimer. He seems eager to leave before she arrives.

Clarissa - "Playing hard to get, are we?"
Mortimer - "We're not playing."

He also explains that "the first W is silent" in her name. At that, we consider that no-one here knows her real, just her title.

===Tea with (w)WoW===

The flyers draw near and the winged monkeys start scattering something that flutters down around our picnic site. As they settle, we see they are dark, glossy leaves and determine that they are Black Mistletoe (apparently for dampening magic) and the Lady herself descends. She looks different to what I personally remember, being a hunched, human woman, complete with a hooked nose and sundry warts. She is offered tea and sits down to chat.

And what do you know, she is '''extremely''' taken with Mortimer. She compliments him lavishly and says that she "loves the smell of curses in the morning." Mortimer is extremely charming in return, handling her with aplomb and delicacy without committing to anything onerous.

Once tea was finished and Mortimer had explained that we had to be about our urgent mission, we bade the WWOW goodbye and prepared to head back to the Tower. As a keepsake from the WWOW he received a single black rose, apparently dripping with Love Philtre. Kern thoughtfully collected the leaves before we left.

===An Audience with Ozma===

So as not to provoke further attention for Mortimer, we change our minds and decide to detour our of the western quarter head for the Emerald City and enquire after Ozma. The city is as bustling, lively, and painfully green as ever.

We are granted an audience, and Dramus is tackled-hug by an excited Ozma, who immediately marches everyone to her room to show us the painting she has been working on. It's spread from the canvas and along most of a wall.

She asks us if we liked the Tears that she made us especially, after the previous ones were greatly appreciated. We explain that we haven't had a chance to try them yet and skirt around the tricky subject that rather than making people skip around at high speed as the last ones had, these ones summon gigantic reptiles.

(Incidentally, Ozma doesn't know the WWoW's full name either.)

The rather exhausted looking Chancellor tells us that nothing much untoward or unusual has happened since the events of Ozma's 111th birthday, for which he looks greatly relieved. Teeanna foists a Sustenance Pill off on him and he enjoys it, and puts the flavour as part mint, part some sort of fruit. We eventually realise he must mean figs, and wonder at what malevolent agency is turning Dramus' figments into fig-mints.

Dramus, the famed Necromancer, enquiries about much needed help - "Do you know someone who can control undead over a large distance? Oh, that would be me."

At this point, we decide Twiner is definitely worth talking to as, even if he can't control the undead, he may simply have encountered them if they tried to leave through his room while Dramus was using his for a buffer zone.

===At Twiner's Retreat===

We return to the Tower and head through a door in the central "pub" entertaining area - straight in a foetid swamp. These adjacent rooms are really not very adjacent, I see. From a raised path surrounding the rank water and moss festooned trees, we watch as Dramus hails the Ancient Horror.

A figure rises slowly from the muck, clearly once a humanoid creature now a mouldering corpse covered in filth, mud, and tangled in some sort of roots. It speaks in halting, raspy tones but it's Elvish is near faultless.

There is some minor discussion about the rest of us not being food and it's "wellbeing", during which it becomes rather plain that Dramus has not visited in a quite a while, and what sort of environment it favours. Though the tower seems to suit it's basic requirements but it still feels the need to... ...propagate. I'm not sure I'm wild about finding out how it does that.

Regarding the undead in the adjacent room, Twiner becomes almost cagey and doesn't expand beyond the fact that it has seen "some". Dramus' neglect of his pet may be showing and we leave it be.

===An Unexpected Laundry Delivery===

Almost as soon as we've left, Granite announces that Dramus has a visitor, at the "Frontiers of Alusia" door. Unfortunately, the most he can tell about it is that it has lots of legs and wants in. I try and reassure Dramus as the others go to confront the visitor, but they return followed by an animated, walking chest which is exclaiming what sounds like "Help Feyan!"

It transpires that a chest, very much like this one, belonged to an adventurer name [[Feyan]] some years ago and apparently it wants us to rescue him in "In the woods" from "Nasty things!" It repeats its requests many times.

DAs verify that it basically matches what is remembered of the article and it survives being splashed with Truth Pond water. It is said that the chest can take us to the location instantly, if we climb into it. The big hitch is that, as Mortimer explains it, that you arrive but your equipment remains, apparently neatly pressed, in the container. And this includes weapons, amulets, and the like. And no, the chest doesn't travel instantly after you and has to walk.

Despite these many caveats, Dramus is rearing to go. Everyone else seems less certain...

Mortimer(?) - "I think it's smarter than most adventurers. Hell, it can do laundry!"

Mortimer Divinates the luggage revealing that it several decades old and it's magic appears similar in nature to a bag of holding, though rather more "leaky". It also can employ ancilliary cleaning magics but, more worryingly, it has been the target of magical attacks from Celestial, Necro, and Mind magic, though there are few other signs in evidence.

Teeanna attempts to divine the future regarding using the box to find Feyan, and receives a vision of her and Dramus hanging, naked and from their ankles, from a respectable distance up a healthy larch. This redoubles efforts persuade it to lead us instead, and despite the very convincing impression of malevolence it gives, either because of our wish to change it's plans or to punctuate the threat that faces Feyan, we manage to cajole it.

===Mob Mentality===

We return to "Nightmare Seagate" as evening is falling , Dramus fixing the door the Luggage wrecked as we pass through, and I cast flying on everyone, bar Mortimer and the box, so we can keep up with the latter. It goes much better than last lot, and I think I'm getting "mana-legs" back.

We are crossing the bridge before the winds arrive, but it gives Teeanna an opportunity to sprinkle some Truth Water on the Bloodwater's flow. It doesn't have much visible effect, and we might have to get a lot more. From there the Luggage' path is clearly to the top of the hill and will take it through the scattered farmsteads and to the Seagate Arachnids Guild.

The lively discussion about the application of the Truth Water and more violent solutions to the Farmers and Spiders, divided along lines of what boils down to authenticity. I tend more towards Mortimer's view that as they experience sentience and have memories of a life they should be treated as both sentient and living. Teeana and Dramus are more of the opinion that since they are counterfeits, essentially made of their magical food, they are not part of any moral equation.

Mortimer, Kern, and myself are deligated to jump ahead of the Luggage and try negotiate with Spiders, but befor we have gone very far we spot a torch-lit procession near the farmers homes. It's distinctly linear and keeping sombre pace, and Kern volunteers that it's probably for the Brownie Farmer that Dramus is likely to have Petit Morte'd during their encounter. We dash back to confirm this, but leave before the "they're just pills it doesn't matter if he gets buried" arguments rattle Mortimer too much.

The three of us head south again, leaving the others to continue to vandalise the Fairy corrals, actions which seem wildly at odds with the notion that these people, Brownies and Humans, are entirely fictional.

We flying over the procession and it's all too clear that they are heading towards a pyre, rather than a burial plot. We discuss schemes to snatch the body off the pyre, but when a DA reveals that the humans are as "notional" as the rabbits and brownies, it somewhat takes the wind out our sails.

Clarissa - "So we either leave him to burn, completely ignorant of his fate, or rescue him probably to have Dramus refuse to revive him, or Teeanna to turn him into a small white lozenge, or his kin kill him with a pitchfork for coming back from the dead, or his reality to shortly be collapsed if we succeed in the mission?"

We decide to try and at least gain some information from the farmers, and maybe drop some hints that the funeral is a little premature. Mortimer drops his Unseen and approaches the first family we met, but the recent events have made them slightly suspicious of strangers. There is a roar of outrage and cries of "Murderer!" and "Slayer!" and no amount of charming Mortimer seems likely to avoid further burnings tonight. We scarper and decide to see if the arachnids are more tractable.

While we are involved in this Dramus has gotten bored with busting mushrooms and has flown over the crowd dropping Truth Water onto them. We hear the confusion and chaos caused by farmers randomly "disappearing", but imagine it's our own hue and cry.

===Webs and Welcomes===

We land further up the hill and once we are within a few hundred feet of the entrance/mandibles, Kern notices a thread break as we pass. We can see these silken treads getting denser and denser as you near the Guild, so we decide to stop and see if this constitute "knocking". Sure enough, three spiders emerge from concealed trapdoor nearby, two huge black ones as tall and long as a horse but at least twice as bulky that DA as "Trapdoor Spiders" and a smaller reddish-brown "Red Widower" which is a Firemage. They all have objects taht could be armour or weapons of some sort fastened to their limbs and have other amulets are the like about them.

We hail the trio, and they chitter back. The red one, which appears to be in change, does something (?) and it is suddenly speaking in Mortimer's voice. We explain that we are hoping to aid the owner of an certain walking artefact. They are painfully aware of the existence of the Luggage, as it burst out of a new door in their Vaults and wrecked quite a few things in the process. During the conversation Luggage catches up with us and ploughs towards the entrance while being slowed, but by no means completely arrested, by a barrage of webs and spells from concealed apertures around the gatehouse formed by the head.

"Nameless" the Red Widower, assisted by Mr Smith and Smyth, assents that they happy to deal regarding us getting passage for the Luggage down the Vaults if try and minimise the damage it does and remove the extra door behind us. We return to the party with this proposal and visions of what we will have to do to Dramus to get him inside dancing in our heads.

===Changing the Curse of Events===

It takes a little doing, but Dramus accepts that best way to get him through the Guild would be for Mortimer to Damnum Minatum away his sense of sight and hearing and let us lead him through.

Actually, it was going start with a blindfold but once the Hypnotism from Teeanna takes, we think better about something that might fall off unexpectedly. They can share thoughts since they were married, so I imagine that is why he trusts her so implicitly.

? - "Can he see through your eyes?"

Teeanna - "No, I'm not a familiar of his."

The suggestion to stop him from resisting the curses is very effective. In fact, they both work far too well, leaving him also afflicted with a twitch, numbness, a nasty rash, and several warts.

At that point, we recall that Kern picked up the Black Mistletoe from the picnic with the WWoW. It's secondary effect to dampening magics appears to be that they enhance curses.

Mortimer - "Can you tell Dramus that it's all Kern's fault?"

Teeanna - "He can work that one out for himself."

I try stress that the effects of long term sensory deprivation can be mentally harmful, and advise that Teeanna reassures Dramus over the mind link they share. I think I managed to get the point across?

Teeanna - "He's in my world now...."

We fly up to the "SAG" with Teeanna carrying Dramus, and we find the spiders still struggling to control the Luggage, which seems to broken free a number of times and gotten closer each time.

There is some pretence of them charging us for allowing us in to shepherd the Luggage, but this falters the determinedly Luggage break free once more and we point out if we don't follow it may just emerge again looking for someone else to help. During this formality of small-talk while TDP calms the Luggage down, Mortimer also discovers that they undertake missions much like we do and, interestingly, they pay less tax than we do. We resolve not to pass this on to Dramus.

We are taken into the building, through a room filled with tiny spiders able to detect cursed things who show up Dramus and the sack of leaves very clearly, and down to the Vaults. Dramus' short-sword, Sting has started to glow very, very brightly and vibrate slightly. I take it off Dramus to keep it from touching anything flammable or one of our hosts. Between that and webs brushing our faces and hair, Dramus being numb is turning out to something of a blessing. Mortimer is adamant that Kern doesn't get to take credit for it however.

We are taken deeper in the complex, through some very large doors and into a room with a regular, rectangular wooden door, much like the ones in Dramus' living quarters, set into the rounded wall. It sticks out quite a lot as the previous doors have all been the match of the circular tunnels and made of some sort of thick web that parted somewhat like a curtain. It has been barred and is blocked by a pair of gigantic black beetles, while there are unfamiliar looking siege weapons pointed at it from the other side of the chamber. We ask a few questions and are told that it door was only noticed after the Luggage initially broke it open a few days ago and some undead have tried to break through since.

Dramus cannot sense the door, or more strictly can sense the absence of the door as a regular, smooth-edged hole. This seems to confirm that it's been purposely placed and fashioned, though what that means is another thing altogether. DAs tell us that door/portal leads to Oz as well and is two way. The spiders explain that they will need prior warning and a little time to open it and evacuate the room, leaving the beetles, so we can uncurse Dramus. While more observations are made, TDP and I try and distracted the Luggage with some of my articles of clothing while we simultaneously attempt to conceal Sting's blazing aura by wrapping it in my evening dress which handily changes into chain mail.

Once that is done, Dramus is re-cursed and the spider specialist is let in to unlock the door. It is a ancient looking creature that floats above the ground with each pair of its legs clasped together. It chitters and murmurs and each of the sigils on the wall around the door glow and fade in turn. The beetles move aside, but their numbers are bolstered by another two beetles and the bar is removed. Even after that and the spiders have retreated from the room again, TDP is obliged to use Opening before we can turn the handle. We have an hour to return, this way before they reseal the door as hard as they can, and Mortimer is presented with a glowing orb which fade before the time is passed.

Below us, on the other side is a desolate moon-lit landscape, with bare mountains, blasted plains and the ruins of a city. Dramus and Mortimer are immediately put in mind of Haven, and I'm filled with a dread I can't place. Just to cheer us up, Dramus notes that we are still inside the Tower and on Oz, but this place is completely alien to him and he has no control over it. Have we found the usurper's lair?

===Through the Scary Door===

We quickly discuss the different mechanics of created doors and summoned, while the luggage is already heading down the winding path to the bottom of the cliff. Apparently we can't summon the regular Tower "entrance door" to a point inside the tower, which this still is, without collapsing the universe or something. Normally Dramus is "just" joining to distant points within the tower with a another room. But here he can't do either. Talk about an academic discussion.

Mortimer - "It's not a real door, it's merely a place between two rooms."

Clarisa - "Like... a door?

Deciding to at last get our bearings before the door is firmly closed, we fly and follow the Luggage up the huge ravine and towards a fortification that stretches the full length of the valley. The fortifications appears to be facing up the valley and the Luggage is heading straight towards it. On the approach, Mortimer spots a figure limned in silver on one of the towers that make up the fort. It appears to be an insubstantial sentry and between Teena and Dramus we have at least 5 "sleepy" Greater Undead about. Mortimer isn't able to rouse it by addressing it, so we land and the Tari and Kern lash the slumped figure with DAs - apparently it's Nightgaunt cursed with eternal sleep and it's been an Undead for between 5 and 7 years. Below we hear a ominous noise of something heavy colliding with a large metal object.

Down through the trap door we find the other four, who have fallen through their rotting beds, and discover that the curse has to be redeemed in some way and they originated (became undead?) on Alusia. We descend further to discover that the sound is the Luggage battering itself on some huge brass doubles doors. It appears that they are a "pull", but with hands and a Opening from TDP we are able to do a little better.

The doors were at the far end of the fort that faces a steep rocky slope, but these doors open onto a forest path. Both sides of the door are "Oz" and the controlling entity of both reveals that it is contested between Dramus and "Spectre". Again the age of 5-7 years comes up.

The time we arrange with the spiders is starting to expire, so we head back, sending Mortimer ahead to see if he can negotiate an reasonable extension. Before we even get back he has made a deal for 7.5% of our salvage, 10 truesilver minimum in advance, to have the door opened 4 hours hence, then 4, the 12, 12, and finally 24. Maybe spiders can't appreciate how charming he is, but it's better than being locked out.

We return to the forest door, hastened by a low howl of many, many voices rising from the ruined city and noting the Luggage has gone ahead already, pass through and close the door behind us. Scouting quickly, TDP recognises the country as being south west of Cazarla, near Ruby Waters. Is it the same giant room? Dramus seems to think so, and TDP can locate Jerry the rabbit-farmer from near the SAG in a logical direction. We find the Luggage trampling the foliage in a clearing, apparently the last spot it "saw" Feyan. The tracks are devastated according to those with an inclination for rooting around in the undergrowth, and we have been on the go for nearly 24 hours, so we decide to camp.

Tari summons some inedible foxes and interrogates them about the surrounding terrain. Apparently the relative area of Ruby Waters gets avoided as it both "smells bad" and contains creatures higher on the food chain than they are. We set watches and pass the night. Predictably, I sleep badly and nearly forget myself when Dramus starts me awake. He's probably lucky that I know him well enough to recognise him when I'm half-awake. For that matter, so am I.

And for some reason they expect me to prepare breakfast. Clearly I'm not as infamous as I thought. Still, no-one is poisoned unexpectedly, so it turns out okay.

===The Ruby Wound===

We fly in the direction of the Ruby waters, but the lake isn't what we remember. It's been replaced by a vile looking mass of a roiling lava-like substance, but smelling of death and giving off less heat than it would if it was natural magma. There is a 300' dead zone around the "water's" edge and the trees at rim of this look far from healthy. The village is where we expect with the addition of a tall black tower, also surrounded by a deforested area, but the few inhabitants we see are very odd. One appears to a zombie with actual functioning bandages (rather than ceremonial wrappings) and there is skeleton with a splinted arm? We are quickly aware that we have stirred some commotion in the village, and see some more threatening figures moving about.

An Earth Elemental moves to collect a scoop of the ooze from the shore as a quartet of figures ready a pair of tatty looking griffons for flight. When they start dipping there arrows into the ooze being borne by the Elemental we decide to fly out sight, assume Invisibility and double back. The luggage is just arriving to provide a distraction, but the last we see of it is a hole opening in the earth and swallowing it whole.

We return to land at the edge of the woods, close to the tower, and as we fly in we see the griffon-riders circling, looking for us, and catch glimpses of invisible, undead crows as they briefly pass through Witch-sight range. Neither seem to have spotted us, and we swoop in to drop off the Earth mages to get some Elementals of our own going.

As we do this, TDP spots what he thinks is something invisible gathering and possibly consuming the ooze at the edge of the lake. Has the Elemental been made invisible, or is there something else out there capable of touching that stuff?

Dramus can sense that there are at least 5 Greater Undead and 20 Lesser Undead in the immediate vicinity, all in the region of the village. That and waning mood-lighting produced by the Tower, though it may or may not hinder the Undead, makes it clear that we'll need to formulate an effective plan and decide to repair to his portion of Tower to regroup.

We rise early and head back to the vicinity start to enact the scheme. Our numbers bolstered by Tari's Wyvern "You Bastard" and a pair of Earth Elementals who prepare fortifications, under Mortimer's directions. They are based around the Pentacle that Dramus prepares to summon 7 of the Lesser Undead away from the village and destroy them before we stage our assault. As the two ritual draws to a close, we cast our final spells and surround the ritual area to protect Dramus and Teeanna within the pentacle.

{{divbox|#F5F5F5||'''Dramus:''' Whoops!}}

It was a little surprising to have the howl of displacing air and moans of the Undead to be coming from behind us, inside the "protective" circle that those two were supposed to be sheltering in, but we took it all in our stride. The Undead were merely 3 Skeletons and 4 Zombies, and they disintegrated and a volley of blows and spell. I was very pleased to be able to rake three of them with a Lightning Bolt and have the end one explode. Despite the unanticipated problem, it had worked very well and as we were set up a good travelling distance from the village, we proceeded to try another round.

===The Burning Dead===

The second attempt "works" as planned, but the enemy have had two hours to prepare a nasty surprise. The Undead each arrive outside the pentacle, but appear in a gout of flame and a splash of putrescent, flaming ooze. I'm splashed by one that lands nearby, and the sticky mess scalds both my skin and something in the foul, dark flames attacks my mind. Holding in the panic, I slashed at the creature as it rose and though the hit was solid, the flames attacked my strength and left me feeling weakened. TDP was beside me in an instant and striking at foe, and he seemed to be having better luck resisting the flames malignant effects. The others are dealing to the rest of them and I was abandoning physically striking it in favour of a Lightning bolt when TDP struck it down. The rest were then roasted by Mortimer's Hellfire, but not injuring a few of us and draining Tari's Wyvern as well.

At least, I think that's how it went. I was considerably shaken by the ordeal, and had to compose myself for a while. The curse carried by the flames is going to be with me for at least two weeks if nothing is done, and our opponents are clearly on to what we are attempting to do. Dramus asserts that we need to consult the Witches of Oz for protections before going near a lake of the ooze, and we send the Elementals in to try and crush as many Undead as possible before we leave the area. TDP and Dramus scout the village on the way back, and this time the roster of the inhabitants is a little more clear.

Lesser Undead
*3x Skeletons
*3x Zombies
*2x Greater Zombies (Griffins?)

Greater Undead
*4x Wights
*1x Greater Spectre
*1x Wight Knight
*1x Wraith Lord

They leave the locale swiftly to bring us this rather daunting list. Through a Crystal TDP sees the Elementals arrive at the village, and start attacking the lesser Undead who have been placed in barrels full of the ooze and are constantly "basting" themselves to ensure that if we try summoning them again, we get plenty of ooze too. The Elementals start smashing barrels and their occupants, but the cowled figure that attending them advances and, as the original Elemental we saw emerges from the ground and drags down Kern's larger Elemental, it strikes Tari's smaller Elemental and it crumbles into dust.

We return to Oz and make our way to the southern quadrant. We quickly happen upon Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. There are some pleasantries, but I found it hard to pay attention to them. Glinda expressed a profound regret at not having experience with the Undead, but was coaxed into lending her expertise with protections and curses. She drew the willpower and strength sapping curses inflicted by the death-ooze into small crystals, isolating them from me until they could be lifted or expire normally. I will have to hang onto them, but I was able to start to pull myself together She also helped us by providing us with seven little boxes capable of drawing a curse from an individual into themselves before once apiece. During the discussion, the names of Carzon and [[Oz#Gayalette| Gayalette]] are bandied about.

Apparently, after given the hornets nest a jolly good stir, we'll spend a time taking tea with local Oz notables. I'm sure Mr Spectre will not have come up with any more nasty surprises by the time that's through.

{{divbox|#93CCEA||'''Marginilia:''' Tch. Now I'm just sounding bitchy. I'd better put my quill aside for a while. }}

{{divbox|#ffe||'''From Mortimer's Journal:''' I have informed Dramus that I wish to speak with Lord Carzon concerning the current situation, but have not fully informed him of my intent as I am concerned that he may react unfavourably. I plan to request of Lord Carzon that he extend his patronage to those inhabitants of Nightmare Carzala that we postulate were created, albeit inadvertently, by Princess Ozma during her poisoned banapple slumber, and that by topographical manipulation he relocate them from Oz-inside (of Dramus's tower) to Oz-outside, so that they may continue their existence, and perhaps, given the creative and unusual atmosphere of Oz, realise a full reality.

I believe that some of the others may be supportive of protecting and relocating the New Seagate-ites, Clarissa in particular expressed concerns about dismissing their plight based merely on their notional origins. Tari and TDP could, I feel, be talked into agreeing, and Kern... can no doubt be distracted with something shiny.

I find it troubling that with Dramus's level of philosophical understanding he seems unconcerned by their fate, and indeed even desirous of their destruction, as though their artificial origins are more relevant than their current apparent self awareness and sentience. This appears to me somewhat at odds with my previous observations of his beliefs and moral leanings, and adds further anxiety to my concerns regarding his mental state, although, due to his well known phobia, the existence of the Seagate Arachnids Guild may be exerting a serious unconscious pressure on him. Teanna appears to share his callous attitude towards the beings, and while this may be understandable given her shallow interests and lack of education, it does make me wonder if Dramus's mind may be being unduly influenced by their mental link. }}

Here began the tiki tour of the witches. First up is X the witch of the South. Who mentions that once in her territory (and similarly in the North) saying her name alerts her to our presence ans she comes to meet us. She give us a kiss on the cheek blessing which will absorb the next 5 curses cast on us.

Then the X the WWOE, an expert of alchemy, where we had tea and scones. Dramus & Mortimer presented her with a sample of the gloop from the 'lakel the undead had been spraying around. She dips one finger into it and then tastes it, saying its not something she's come across before. She agrees to make us something to help combat the undead and we agree to come back later that afternoon to do so.

Mortimer wants to visit Lord Carzon, but Dramus doesn't want to interrupt the man, and says we wait until we have actually achieved something and have something worthwhile to report.

So we head North to visit X, the witch of Life & earth stuff. We are flying in, and a flock of birds surround us, so we land and then are transported underground to a huge cave filled with glow worms - the land of the Illums. We chat, and she prepares us some tea that prevents damage from earth. Also an ablative protection against damage from undead.

Samples of the undead gloop and the bloody water from 'Seagate' are presented to her. She abhors the undead gloop, stating it is the antithesis of her and all she stands for. Tari muses on what could create something like this - perhaps it realtes to the Oz inversion she expereinced a few years back, where good turn to evil etc. X does eggs us onto trying the truth pond water on the gloop, and it all turns to normal water. This led TDP onto discussing with her where clouds get the rain from, and her suggesting she ask the clouds to help her by helping us. Apparently the clouds spend all day chatting amongst themselves and gathering up water from the land, then during the night they rain. When clouds start to argue amongst themselves storms happen. If the clouds could be persuaded to only gather water from the truth pond, then TDP could get them raining truthwater - as long it is on OZ, and Dramus' tower is still part Oz. She transports us as leaves to spend the night at Loonville, Dramus' tower point next to the Termites, and arranges to meet us in the morning. Clarissa sends a message to WOE apologising for our delay in return.

Next Day

We meet 20 clouds, and everyone but the pair of Fae can communicate with them with their magic. TDP takes charge of them, explaing the mission. They are very fired up, and have disputes as to which ten shall be the ones to go. The clouds tend toward bickering very easily which potentially leads to storms; care is need to keep them focussed. They demonstrate that 10 clouds can merge together to become one storm. We tell them to hold off until we get to the undead tower area. Mortimer zips back to WWOE and returns with a basket half filled with scones, and 5 green tipped stick and 5 red tipped stick each. which does something or rather I can't recall anymore....

===Tower Offense===

Having planted the three Earth Elemental's nearby, we swoop on the undead health spa, Mortimer knocking bits off the Tower with Earth Tremors and TDP sluicing the village and the lake with a Rain Storm drawn from the Truth pond. The Truth water doesn't seem to affect the village or those leaving the Tower, but the Lake starts to boil and steam impressively.

We land around the local Earth Elemental while our own three start to advance from the tree-line. We hammer it and it mimes punching us as slowly as it can, before being banished by TDPs specialised weapons. From there we move towards the figures drifting from the tower, but our view is soon obscured by a think mist of Noxious Vapours. We advance, shoulder to shoulder, while our Vapour
Breathing spells allow us to retain our composure and focus. Lightning and Phantasms leap forth to the obscured targets, and Agony, both undead focused and regular, wash across the field of battle.

Kern spies a ring of Runes between us and the misty figures, and a second Lightning Bolt splashes up the side of an invisible dome following the curve of the ring. Some experimentation proves that they have Forbidden magic from entering the ring. Between that, the low visibility, and the Agony the fight is quite a slog. Blackfire, Hellfire, and Spectral Warriors all make an appearance
multiple times. Here are some glimpses I saw in the confusion;

* Mortimer stayed aloft, directing us through the mist and raking the undead with Hellfire.

* TDP traded blows with a burly undead Wraith Lord, dual-wielding and throwing scimitars, before crippling his arm and sending him fleeing into the Tower. There he regenerates his arm from a barrel of ooze, but is felled by Kern and Teeanna.

* Kern battles the Wight Knight, along with random Wraiths, and soaks up more undeath draining than the rest of the party combined, before charging into the Tower after the Wraith Lord, after the Wight Knight flees by sinking into the ground. He is hotly pursued by the largest Earth Elemental, who makes a path for TDP into the chambers below the Tower, but he joins with this master.

* Teeanna weaves through a protective screen of Hands of Earth, casting Phantasms all the while, flanks a Wraith for quick backstab, before she charges into the Tower immediately after Kern. Very courageous efforts.

* Dramus keeps pouring Endurance Damage onto the major opponents via his Battle Leaven and exchanges the odd Spectral Warrior with the Greater Spectre.

* Tari and I hold the Wraiths at the middle of the line, largely struggling to connect with the little beggars slowed down as we are by the Agony. This at least keeps them occupied while Mortimer mops them up.

At the end, the Wight Knight and Greater Spectre merge with ground and flee, but the rest have fallen and we find the following things lying around.

* A pair of twinned, returning Scimitars.

* A amulet that provides ablative damage protection.

* A crystal of duplication that provides multiple effect in place of double and triples.

* A whip of celestial darkness that wraps targets in a web.

* 6 Un-restoratives. Probably not good for you.

Checking out the dungeon we find a sick and malnourished elf, resembling the famous Feyan, unconscious and shackled in manacles of darkness. Mortimer ramps up his light spell and the manacles shatter and the healers descend on him. While he's declared safe to be transported, we investigate the doorway in the Tower, which leads to an unremarkable spot in some woods. It quickly transpires that it's on "actual-Alusia" and a spot near Dramus cottage south of the Sweet Riding, explaining how they got in the first time.

We dig out the luggage with the Earth Elementals and ponder our next move. The usual disagreement between whether we should immediately chase the foe down or genocidally rain on the Arachnid Adventurer's parade while we still have clouds bulging to do it is put to bed by locates telling us that the fleeing Undead have gone though the portal. We figure from the direction that they are heading to the portal from the "Haven-esque" room, so they must have been travelling at a great speed.

We fly north and when we get to the "guild", both it and the attendant village have vanished, so we have to clean up the "Bloodwater" a little before before releasing the clouds on the other side of the faux-Seagate door into Loonvile. While we are there briefly, Mortimer spots what looks remarkably like a votive offering to a skinny, elven figure comprised of flies, bugs, and lizards. Dramus somehow fails to notice this development.

<div class=dramus style="background-color: #EEEEEE; font-family: Gothic, cursive; border: thin solid #333; ">
'''Notes from Tobias Pendleton, Scribe to Lord Dramus:'''While assisting my Master later that day I can without breaking confidence report that the votive offerings were indeed noticed by my Master and were of some concern. However as any gentleman knows (and ladies now I have informed Miss Clarissa) it is not done to discuss ones potential worshippers in public, particularly not in mixed company. </div>

===In"terror"ior Redecorating===

Back at the Guild, Feyan is declared to be need of nourishment and rest and that we shouldn't bother him for a bit, so Mortimer invites us to lunch at his Brastor homestead. His wife, Petal, declares that we are also in need of nourishment and nigh attempts to kill us with food and hospitality. I also remember a few mad conversations about how the crops of steam engines are coming along and pressing Cuckoos for oil, but that may have been a pastry-induced hallucination.

After we return to the Guild, Feyan is able to answer a few questions and says that he was innocently picking innocent herbs, saw a tiny out-of-the-way cottage, and decided to check it out. Beyond that he was mind controlled, drained, and tortured for three weeks, so he isn't able to give us much about the plans the Undead have. Dramus stars putting the hours to wrest control of the "Frontiers" room back, over the course of two nights closes the door between the room and Alusia and them shrinks it down until it's two exits of the "Haven-esque" room; the portal entrance from under the Arachnid Guild and the door South of the ruby waters, are the pinched waist of an hourglass directly facing each other. This should mean that if they decide to leave via one they will simply loop out the other and should slow down any counter-invasion.

After a night's rest, we prepare to tackle the desolate looking city via the door in the cliff face. We enter the antechamber that used to the "Frontiers" room and is now just 40' across, but it's clear the Undead have been busy. Telepathy, Empathy and Wizard's Eye are able to percolate through the door, and show us that they have surrounded the door in a sort of reverse fortification and we face the following.

* 4 Ghasts

* 4 Wights

* 3 Unfamiliar things, clinging to the cliff face.

* 2 Werewolf resembling things,

* 1 Ominous blue glow.

Given that everyone else resists one spell and then I resist a control person, all bets are on the glow being a Vampire or worse. Mortimer hands me a Mind cloak potion to save me from assaulting fellow party members and we ready to roll through the door and drop the fortifications with Tunnelings when most of us are slammed into the far wall by a TK Rage.

Definitely a Vampire.

The little fort is really a bird cage to stop us flying through easily and a raised ledge for the Undead to attack us from. Some spells like TDP's Sleep and Slow, and Teanna's Phantasms are able to leak between "room" though the aperture of the door the but we are going to have to rush them at some point, and they are waiting for it. A stone wall go up closer to the door, thanks to Kern and Tari, to hold us up against further TK Rages. I stand immediately behind the door, hoping to blunt any counter-rushes before we are set up.

Outside, there has been a strange development. The Wight and Ghasts have been badly affected by Undead Agony, Phantasm and hails of E&E spells, but one splits/explodes and a dashing figure, later identified as the "Dark Knight", appears. He is on Telepathy initially, and seems slightly surprised, as if he was summoned unexpectedly, but composed. He immediately starts making a nuisance of himself by reaching into the Undead and removing the spell effects that have placed on them. He also seem to be able to deflect spells onto nearby minions, which is extremely aggravating.

More spells are exchanged for a time, but when I get zapped thought he with a Disruption the nescessity to keep the upper hand is underlined. The line of sight and the ground on other side of the door has been badly constrained with Stone and Force(?) Walls, those have been undercut with Tunnelings, and Mortimer has been angling Earth Tremors through the other side, so an immediate rush seems unwise. Kern tries his luck and falls at the first hurdle.

A moment later, he is set upon by horrific skin creatures who try and envelop him. I lean far enough out the door to grab his foot and haul him back in, along with his new friends, which are trying to crawl under his skin. They are completely resistant to unarmed attacks, so I tear one off and dowse me and it in Greek Fire. Tari cleaves the other as it is held up for her, and Teanna unleashes a frightening Gargoyle to leap through the open door and join the fray.

The "Flensling" skin creatures keep a couple of us occupied for a time, my "curse charm" boxes soaking up several nasty somethings as I put mine down. Teeana Phantasms the third one as Dramus heals Kern. We then seize the initiative back when Mortimer Fire Arcs himself, Dramus, TDP, and Kern up to the left ledge and Kern and TDP hose down the majority of the creatures with Dragonflames investeds. At that time the weakened and trembling structure starts to peel away from the cliff.

The Dark Knight and the Vampire Lord fly off in separate directions, the latter pursued by Mortimer, bearing Dramus along. Tripled Hellfire blows and Dramus' Battle Leaven cause the Vampire Lord some suffering, the Dark Knight swaps places with him. Determine to stop the foe that can't bleed damage off to random passers-by, they double back to the Vampire Lords new flight path and continue the attack as he draws closer to the haunted, boarded-up city and escape. This happened two more times, but finally the Vampire exploded in an unsavoury cloud. The Dark Knight simply salutes and flies off and Mortimer and Dramus return, fatigued and triumphant, to the party.

We've been quickly checking the pile of rubble that remains of the fort/birdcage at the bottom of the cliff, but the rising tumult from the haunted city convinces Dramus to retreat to the safety of the tower, seal the door to this room together, and consider further schemes.

===Future Plans===

==Loot==

== Additional Information ==

The Sun, The Moon, and the Piper's Song

2026-06-06T03:34:54Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; width: 35%; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Jacqui Smith]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Phaeton]]
[[Category:MDK]]
[[Category:Rowan]]
[[Category:Ben ]]
[[Category:Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature]]

Return to [[Scribe_Notes#winter_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 

=Summary=

'''Adventure''':The Sun, The Moon, and the Piper's Song 
'''GM''':Jacqui Smith 
'''Session''': Winter 808 
'''Night''': Tuesday (until July 29th) 
'''Level''':[[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium]] 
; Party
# [[Phaeton]]
# [[MDK]]
# [[Rowan]]
# [[Ben | Ben Gaul]]
# [[Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature | Eltan]]

=Scribe Notes=

== Session One (Snow Business) ==

=== 1st Frost 808 WK ===
Well, I thought I was in real trouble now. A matronly, and stern looking nun, known as Sister Bertha, had arrived from the High Abby of [[Diancecht]] in [[Caledonia]] and informed me I had to accompany her to see the High Priest. I really felt like an errant schoolboy that was being sent to the Headmaster's office. However, I was told that I could select some companions to come with me so I asked for volunteers.

Once in the meeting room, I explained the situation. On my last outing to the [[Insel_der_Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]] (''cf [[Skin Trade]]'') I got into situations where I had to bend my pact almost to breaking point and, even though the objective was to stop a plague, Diancecht had not been pleased. I now had to perform penance by performing three Great Acts of Healing, one of which had already been done. I presume the High Priest knew what the second one was going to be.

We introduced ourselves. Vanderhan also showed up bearing coffee. He was thinking of coming too but wasn't sure he was able to make it. It looked like he was doing a stint with Guild Security for experience.

Sister Bertha, who was also a Master Healer and Namer, had booked us passage on the ''Merry Damsel'', a cog. The trip should take a week. So we organised ourselves. Rowan became the Military Scientist and I was the scribe. No party leader yet, in fact Eltan suggested rotating the duty i.e. the first up every morning volunteers someone. Seemed like an interesting idea.

Before leaving, I obtained a six pack of restoratives from Grizelda

The trip was fairly uneventful. A storm brewed up on the third day but only MDK was showing ill effects. Ginger pills and acupressure dealt to that.

=== 8th Frost ===
Sailed up the Firth of Lorn, towards Stuart country. Our landing was the fishing village of Stonehaven, much to Eltan's relief. He then cast Lessers on all of us, each one lasting two weeks. Sister Bertha had a cart waiting for us and we set off, over the hill, and into a valley near Castle Stalker. In the valley below was a collection of buildings, the major one being the abbey. This was Kirkton Diancecht and the abby was the High Church of Diancecht for Caledonia.

We arrived just in time for dinner, marked by the sound of mournful wailing, the sound of the bagpipes. We were given a bath, got our clothes cleaned then presented ourselves for dinner. All the acolytes were wearing brown robes although, at the High Table, there was an elderly man wearing white robes. This was the High Priest, Cormagg Stuart. I was feeling rather conspicuous in my white robes and was wondering if I should be wearing brown instead.

We had an audience with him after dinner. He told us of a plague but the details were hazy. It was located in Brendan's Bridge inside Glen Lorne, located over the Firth from the abbey. He also asked us to be as non-violent as possible.

Night was spent in quarters at the abbey.

== Session Two (Who Killed Cocky and Robin) ==
=== 9th Frost ===
Next morning, we took the ferry over the Firth then headed inland, accompanied by Sister Bertha. Night was spent at a waystation. I did a Reading the Night Sky Ritual with the question "What is the nature of the plague?". What I got as an answer was "Once bitten, twice cursed. Examine a victim, you'll know the worst" That suggested lycanthropy.

=== 10th Frost ===
We carried on the next morning, moving through a forest, finally arriving at the village of Brendan's Bridge about mid morning. There were a large group of people in the middle of the village and it appeared that they were having an argument about who was going somewhere. It turned out, one of the villages, Angus, was out gathering firewood and he discovered a body, that of Robert MacIntosh, a shepherd. The body was in bits and pieces and was surrounded by dead sheep.

After Eltan bolstered us with Strengths of Stone, just to be on the safe side, we headed up there to have a look, with one of the village boys as a guide. Sure enough, we found a decomposing and chewed up body that had been dead for close to three weeks. There were teeth marks on some of the bones. Meanwhile MDK found the corpse of the dog. Residual between it's teeth indicated that it had attacked whatever had killed it's master. A DA told us that the residual came from a human.

Just then, we heard howling ... and we were rushed by a pack of large wolves. They were on us before I could get a Wall up so I had to switch to Bolts of Starfire. Two of the wolves breathed ice on us so I went for the theory that they were creatures of ice so conjured up red bolts. Meanwhile, Ben had changed to tiger form and was attacking one of the big wolves. It soon turned into a dogpile of two wolves, a tiger (Ben), a bear (Rowan's) and a dog (Eltan's). MDK was attacking a third, Eltan was on a fourth while Rowan and I were providing support. Sister Bertha also had ranged healing and was using it to keep us up as well as keeping the boy safe behind a ridge.

Two more blasts of ice breath and I was stuck with having to use my powerstone to power my spells. Fortunately, one bolt caused a wolf to dissipate. The others were managing to deal to the rest. Finally ..... it was all over.

We DAed the wolves. They were short lived sentient, their GTN was Lupus Hibernae (Winter Wolf) and their Plane of Origin was Stygia, the Fifth Plane of the Nine Hells. So, there had to be a summoner involved.

Finally we got the body of the shepherd and his dog back to the village for examination then burial. The residual in the dog's teeth indicated that there was lycanthropy curse on them, specifically wolf. So, was there a werewolf in the village? And .. how were we going to find the summoner?

Incidentally the next full moon is on the 14th.

== Session 3 (Where oh Were?) ==

The examination took place in the small clinic attached to the local church, in the attendance of Sister Kenner. We also found out that the village had 100 people in it, with 50 more in outlying farms etc. Once the examination was complete, we headed for the inn.

Conversation stopped when we walked in and, for a while it would have been possible to hear a pin drop. Most of the occupants were human although there was a dwarf and a halfling as well. MDK went over to talk to the dwarf and discovered he was the village blacksmith. Meanwhile I was in the process of getting a map of the village from the innkeeper. Rooms were organised and dinner, a meaty stew, was had.

=== 11th of Frost ===
Eltan's plan was to go and see the village priest, Father Cormack, but discovered he wasn't in. He had left early to visit the outlying farms. Meanwhile I gave the woodcutter's body one last check before pronouncing it ready for burial.

Our plan was to basically wander around, checking as many villagers as possible to see if there was anyone else that was cursed. We also wanted to get some supplies so our next stop was the general store. There, we met Osgar MacKintoch. Eltan and MDK was talking to him while I was checking the shelves, looking for wolfsbane, when MDK suddenly applied a sap to Osgar, knocking him out. It turned out that Osgar was also cursed with lycanthropy so we dragged him off to the church, initially explaining to Sister Kenner that there had been an accident.

Sister Bertha confirmed that there was a curse in effect. I thought I was going to have to start an eighteen hour ritual but Sister Bertha had a special one that would do the job in an hour. So, that was applied. Meanwhile I examined him for bite marks but found none. We did however discover that the curse had been caused by a wiccan spell, at MA 23. Probably Damnum Magnatum.

When we questioned him, he told us he had no recollections of being bitten or anything unusual. He had been delivering supplies to a few of the outlying farms. His last stop was the McClaren place, where the lady grew apples, and made the most delicious mead in the valley. It was fortunate that his horse knew the way home. I finally confessed to Sister Kenner exactly what was going on.

We suspected the mead for a while and Eltan bought the remainder of the stock .. all three bottles. Meanwhile I remembered I had been drinking mead the previous night, but there was no curse on me. So, that theory was busted. So .. which witch had Osgar offended?

The next stop was the smithy where we arranged for some silvered sling bullets and arrowheads. Daggers would take longer.

Our wandering through the village finally led us to the carpenters, where we discovered that one of the sons was also cursed. We explained that we had detected the start of a disease that was better treated as soon as possible so we took him to the church to be de-cursed. He had been nowhere where Osgar had been when he had been cursed, instead collecting wood from the McClarens, who were located in a completely different direction. So I guess we're dealing with a wandering wiccan with a bad temper.

We had been detecting a lot of 'Blessing the Unborn Child' spells as well but they were traced back to Sister Kenner. Those spells had a different MA than the curse, so she was initially eliminated as a suspect, although there was the chance that purification could raise her MA high enough to match.

We also discovered that Brigetta McCulloch, the wife of the tanner, had gone missing three weeks ago. She had gone to collect hides from a hunter family in the forest and hadn't come back. The tanner had looked for her, but no one had been home so he assumed they were out hunting. Also, since him and his wife had argued intensely earlier, it was possible she had run off.

== Session Four (High in the Hills is a Lonely Wiccan) ==

It was getting late by now, beside, being winter, it was getting dark early, earlier than Seagate. So we headed back to the inn. Most of the patrons were giving us some rather odd looks, and in a few cases, sour ones, but the innkeeper was friendly enough. To our surprise, he said that in our honour, dinner was haggis .. and it was going to be traditionally piped in. For some odd reason, while I was attempting to convince my companions that a haggis was a creature that lived in the wilds of Caledonia, Rowan remembered something she had to do.

The haggis, was actually a stuffed sheep's stomach .. sort of like a fat sausage, and had a rather interesting flavour, especially when washed down with mead. Rowan returned a short while later and we found out that she had rigged the wells, church door, and inn door to set off Bound Speech telling anyone who was cursed to seek out a healer. She had also set up some beads to react in proximity to a lycanthrope or a wiccan.

After dinner, I retreated to our rooms to do a Reading the Night Sky ritual. The question was, "Where are we most likely to find the source of the curse" What I got was a voice which sang "High in the hills is a lonely wiccan ... " It was annoying in two ways ... it was an answer I had sort of expected, and the voice sounded like [[Brigetta McLeod | Brigetta]] .... *sigh*.

Night passed without incident.

=== 12th Frost ===
We discovered early that Brother Cormack was still missing. It was possible he had decided to stay the night somewhere so, after reassuring Sister Kenner we would keep an eye open for him, we set off to follow some leads.

The first stop was the MacLaughlan farm. I told the farmer we were from the Church of Dianceht on a routine health inspection. At that, he put the crossbow away and let us in. It was discovered his wife was cursed but there was no magic. However, Sister Bertha discovered she had been bitten by a wolf at the night of the last full moon. She was greatly relieved to have the curse lifted.

Next was the Olgivie farm. We had to go back through the village and up another road to get there. No curses but we did manage to cure Granny Olgivie of her arthritis.

Following that, the MacTavish residence of husband and pregnant wife. Brother Cormack had been here yesterday so they were a bit surprised to see us. No curses. Mother and child doing well.

Further on up this road we saw what appeared to be a small longhouse with a rather large door. Surrounding that was an apple orchard. This proved to be the home of Morag Basalt of the Rockbiter clan, beekeeper, and brewer of apple meads and ciders. I was rather surprised to find out she had heard of me until we found out she was [[Grizelda | Grizelda's]] cousin and they communicate often. No college, no curse, last spell to impact Earth Healing'. Hm .. wonder who the Earth Mage is?

She hadn't seen Brother Cormack, in fact, she told us that they don't see eye to eye .. and that's not because of the height difference. She did tell us that Cormack and Kenner were actually husband and wife, and their daughter Morianney McFee, had gone missing about three years ago to seek her fortune. We didn't think she had turned up at the guild, although if she did, it was under a different name. She had run away rather than be forced to marry Osgar.

There were no tracks heading back to the village as we left, so we continued on up into the hills. The first shepherd's hut was empty but, eventually we found some sheep and a shepherdess. She was cursed, last spell to impact was Damnmagnatun, rank somewhere between 10 and 15.

Just then, it started snowing ... and there seemed to be no natural reason for it.

== Session Five (Snowflakes Keep Falling On My Head) ==

As the snow fell, three large humanoid creatures rose out of the snow and moved into the attack. Sister Bertha DAed them as Gigantus Nivosus (Snow Giant) and they were also from the plane of Stygia. They had a talent that was similar to the effects of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_freeze 'brain freeze'] as Eltan quickly found out. The shepherdess was absolutely terrified and was cowering among her sheep so Rowan protected her with a circular wall. Ben was in tigerform attacking one while MDK was taking potshots at the one who was tearing into a stunned Eltan. My attempt at shooting the third one with a red bolt, who was advancing on our position, had no visible effect. Just then, a fourth one rose out of the snow and we could hear a cackle in the distance.

Rowan stepped forward and bravely smacked it in the face with Eylor, blinding and stunning it. My attempt at putting a coruscade on her fizzled. Eltan, meanwhile, had recovered and had received healing from Sister Bertha. He was holding his own and tossed me a scroll case which I deftly caught. Inside it was a scroll of Quickness, three targets, so I quickened myself, Rowan and Ben. I really should get quite a few Quicknesses when I get back, preferably triggerable investments as they go off faster, but scrolls will do in a pinch. Maybe I should get Trollskin and Banishment investeds as well. Meanwhile Rowan had activated Bear who was also in the fray.

I coruscaded Rowan but, by now it was soon apparent that the fight was nearly over. Ben had taken a rather nasty chest wound but he had already taken one down and was tearing another to bits. As each creature died, it vanished, and much to MDK's annoyance, their weapons vanished too, even if they had been dropped. Bear was also badly damaged but Ben was able to fell that one before Bear was destroyed. The last one retreated back into the snow.

While Sister Bertha dealt to Ben's injuries, Rowan counterspelled her wall. The shepherdess was still absolutely terrified and nearly catatonic. Her curse had been on even before the last full moon and MDK discovered that her aura matched the tissue retrieved from the dead dog, showing she had been in wereform at least once, and possibly responsible for the deaths of Cocky and Robin. That incident had deeply traumatised her and injuries of the mind is something I can't cure. My recommendation, and one that Sister Bertha agreed with, is that she spends time at the temple of Diancecht for long term therapy. I put her to sleep and she was carried off the hills. It would be wrong to leave the sheep behind so we took those too,

It was late so we spent the night with Morag Basalt, who told us that the shepherdess' name was Graine McKintoch. The sheep were put in a pen around the back and, while Sister Bertha tended to Graine, I started working on Ben's injuries. My current hypothesis is that we are dealing with a psychotic and possibly deranged wiccan with a greater summoner familiar. Oh, and Morag's cousin, Wulfgar, is an Earth Mage.

== Session Six (By the Light of the Silvery Moon) ==
=== 13th Frost ===
The morning was spent healing Ben up to a stage where he was able to travel. Once that was done, we headed off back to town.

When we got there, we discovered another commotion, being a young man who was going on about the village well being 'hexed' as it talked to him. Yes he was cursed, as of two weeks ago. So both he and the shepherdess were taken to Sister Kenner for treatment.

Villager - "The well has a hex on it"
Rowan - "I'd rather call it a blessing"

He told us that he had been in the forest. east of the village getting wood. since he was a lumberjack, and had been with his brother. He didn't remember anything unusual so I tried DAing him to determine if there were any gaps in his memory that had been caused by an external influence. So much for that theory. Also Brother Cormack had still not returned and Sister Kenner was getting concerned.

After the healing had been completed, we took Sister Kenner aside and asked her about her daughter. She was rather reluctant but we were insistent. She had left home after she was rejected by Oskar, who she fancied. Sister Kenner had no idea where she could be now. So we asked about places that people would avoid. She directed us to a journal written by Andrew McPhee which detailed his explorations in the area. The journal mentioned a location in the mountains to the north-east of the village which was listed as a strange place. There were two pillars of ice, looking like frozen waterfalls. Beyond that were the remains of a stone circle marked with the symbol of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cailleach Cailleach], the Old Woman of Winter. It was an ill omened name and the place felt evil, so he didn't hang around. However, it was sounding like a really good place for a deranged wiccan to be.

While I was getting a description of the missing daughter, Ben had slipped off to get more information from the innkeeper. Meanwhile Eltan and MDK were having a talk with Oskar. He said that he had rejected Morinnay's advances because she wasn't his type. She had wanted him to go with her to her 'secret place' but he had refused. Unfortunately he didn't know where it was.

I had to finish off Ben's healing before we could do any further exploration and, by the time that was complete, it was getting late. Plus, I felt we had to stay near the village as tonight was the night before the full moon, and lycanthropes come out on the full moon and the nights on either side. This was the first night.

Rowan possessed an owl golem and went for a fly. I also put wings on MDK. A bit after midnight there was the howl of a werewolf so they headed off towards one of the outlying farms. There, they saw a savaged pig and a wolf form heading away. Rowan followed the wolf while MDK inspected the house. There, she found a terrified family, with the husband bitten and savagely attacked. So he went back to get the rest of us.

I went down to the farmhouse while the others dealt to the werewolf. Rowan had trapped it in a Bubble of Force so they strung a net around it and carried it out. Meanwhile I discovered that yes, the man was cursed, but the curse had not yet taken hold fully. But, just as a precaution, I rendered him unconscious for the next six hours. Hopefully he would not wake up until after moonset.

Once the werewolf was hanging up from a tree in a strength enhanced net, MDK and Eltan went to fetch Sister Bertha to do the quick curse removals. I was trying to see if I could use Light spells to nullify the effects of the moonlight and reverse the change to wolf form but I was having no success. Maybe I need to make my spell brighter. It was also apparent, by the time the others got back, that Sister Bertha was not used to all hours callouts. Still, I have to admit, she's not used to being an adventurer.

We couldn't find any magic on the werewolf that caused the curse so he had to assume he had been bitten at the last full moon. He turned out to be a hunter.

== Session Six (A Frosty Reception) ==

=== 14th Frost ===
Next morning, we were discussing means of trying to find out where exactly this frozen place was. I pulled out my Dalran Special Crystal of Vision and got a vision of it. Looking at the shadows told me the orientation of the view. Eltain with a Coruscade and StarWings on then flew up over the village and I changed the view through the crystal to look in the rough direction we thought the village was. Once we were able to see him, I attempted to calculate exactly how far and in what direction we had to fly to get there. I believe I got a fairly accurate answer although I probably could do with more knowledge of Navigation and Rangering. Mathematics can only go so far.

We flew to the site on Wings except for Rowan and Sister Bertha who used a carpet. As we landed in front of the cave that had the two frozen waterfalls on each side of it, a large winter drake and three smaller ones came out.

Large winter drake - "In the Name of Winter - Begone!"
MDK - In the Name of the Seagate Guild of Adventurers - Sod You Jimmeh!"

With that, battle was joined. Ben rushed forward and smacked into the large creature, whom Sister Bertha determined had a GTN of Draconis Tempest (Storm Drake) and the little ones were Vipera Hibernae (Winter Wyverns) All of them had Stygia as their Plane of Origin. I got a Quickness off on Ben, Eltan and myself before being attacked by one of the wyverns. MDK was up in the air shooting wyverns.

Finally, with a lot of teamwork, two of the wyverns were taken out with the third trapped in a Bubble of Force. Everyone then teamed up onto the Storm Drake who soon vanished.

We then entered the cave. It was dark in there. MDK went in first and nothing seemed to happen. So the rest of us followed. What we saw was Morianney preparing to sacrifice an unconscious Cormack on an altar. As we got closer to put a stop to this, three ice creatures stepped out of the walls. Also her imp familiar moved into the attack.

== Session Seven (The Piper's Song) ==

The ice creatures were proven to be some sort of undead especially when my Sunray hit one of them. Unfortunately, they were also rather resistant to subsequent blasts, and it was firing Ray of Colds back at me. It was a competition to see who would run out of spell fatigue which, unfortunately I lost, mainly because they were in consecrated ground to the Calleigh.

By the altar, Eltan had bravely gone into close with Morianney and a second of those ice undeads. At least it was stopping her from casting at us. Rowan sent Bear in to get Cormack off the ice alter, a task made more difficult by the fact that he was frozen to it by ice manacles. Rowan's Owl was engaged in aerial combat with the imp, and as her stone golem proved in effective against the undead Rowan sent it to help Eltan with the witch while she was in the process or creating another one. 
The third ice undead was being whalloped by Ben, and shot by MDK 

That ice demon finally went down freeing Ben up to help Eltan. Meanwhile Owl had been knocked out of the sky but Rowen countered by trapping the imp in a force bubble. She then took over the attacks on the ice undead I was having trouble with freeing me up to take a healing potion followed by a restorative. Bear managed to prise Cormack off the altar while the other two elementals were quickly dealt with. I went in there and rendered Morianney unconscious. Guess the Temple of Diancecht is about to get another long term patient

The last thing we had to do was to deconsecrate the area. That was done by a combination of Cormack's bagpipes, Sister Bertha's singing and my attempt to drum. This ritual was successful and the ice started to melt normally.

There was some mopping up to do to make sure there was no more lycanthropes about but after that, I had to spent time at the Temple of Diancecht, learning rituals I should know such as making holy water and consecrating ground, as well as Sister Bertha's quick remove curse ritual.

Well, that's two down, just one more major act of healing on Diancecht's service to do.

= Mil Sci =

'''Watches''': Two 6 hour watches paired, with Three 4 hour watches. 
6 hours: Ben then MDK 
4 hours: Eltan, Rowan, then Phaeton 

= The Village People =
* The Saucy Salmon Inn
** Brendan McAllister - innkeeper
** Fionna McAllister - Brendan's wife
** Fionn (brewer), Brenda (barmaid) and Roderick (stableboy) - Brendan and Fionna's children
* The Kirk
** Sister Kenna (wiccan, priestess of Brigid)
** Brother Cormag
* Smithy
** Duncan Hammersmith (dwarf journeyman smith)
* General Store
** Osgar McIntoch - storekeeper (was infected)
* Carpenter
** Niall Ogilve
** Angus & Artair (sons - Artair was infected)
* Woodcutters
** McClaren
* Apple cider maker
** Morag Basalt - giantess, beekeeper. Distantly related to a [[Grizelda | guildmember]].

Lessons in Enlightenment and Respect

2026-06-06T03:34:07Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Sooty]]
[[Category:Tanis Kerelon]]
[[Category:Pierre the Halfling]]
[[Category:Aaron]]
[[Category:Unknown Character]]
Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Winter 808 WK| Scribe notes]]

==Summary==
'''Adventure:''' Lessons in Enlightenment and Respect 
'''GM:''' Miles 
'''Session:''' Winter 808 wk 
'''Night:''' Thursday night 
'''Level:''' Low 

'''Party:''' 
#[[Sooty]], Male Elf, Fire mage, played by Bernard Mil Sci
#Brother Bodacious Rhythm, Male Human, Namer, played by Ian H.
#[[Tanis Kerelon]], Female Human, Air mage, played by Emily
#Elena, Female Human, E&E, played by Julie
#[[Pierre the Halfling|Pierre]], Male Halfling, Illusionist, played by Ian A. Scribe
#[[Aaron]] Ferret, Male human, E&E and Sword Swinger played by [[User:Helen|Helen Saggers]].

'''Employer:''' 
elven master (Ghul-than)

'''Mission:''' 
A you female elven trainee earth mage( Katrina) has been sent to the guild by elven master (Ghul-than) to recruit a group of resourceful adventures to help protect a forest damage and enlighten those responsible about the virtues of respecting nature.

'''Pay:'''

==Scribe Notes==
==1st Frost== Went to the guild meeting today and a lovely young lady elf called Katrina was requesting some help. How could one refuse such a request. After a quick snack off to one the meeting rooms I went. In the room was Tanis, a biggun girl who is an air mage. Elana another biggun girl, this time an enchanter. Aaron, a biggun boy with a big sword who is also an enchanter. There was my old friend Brother Bo, He names things and preaches the way of non violence and Jive. There was a strange looking biggun with pointy ears and many scars. He is called Sooty, a fire mage. The others say he is an elf but I am not fooled. Elves are much taller and prettier. He is to tell us what to do when the fights start, I hope he does not have much work. 
Katrina gives us some uncut jewels so we do some shopping before we leave getting 10 healing potions and 6 restoritives. We also are given Purple and Brown potions. The purple ones give plant magic the brown give Bark skin. 
We are going to a jungle east of KInlu. The nearest large city is Ker aderus. Common is only spoken by the traders and the guards. The rest speak Mayan. Troll and Elvish are also spoken. 
Katrina made us a portal and we went off. Brother Bo said we were still on Alusia. We saw a low stone wall surrounding a 700ft tree. The tree is a long lived sentient. This is an earth place of power. There were Elvin guards in light chain and Elvish gardeners. Beautiful young elvish woman everywhere. In the middle there is a portly elderly elf, he is Ghul-than. 
We are told someone is stealing rare and precious herbs. The most precious are around Mi Vale. He offers a map and guide for the two day walk. Some want to fly, they be mad. An older elvish woman offers herbalist training and Strength of stone of a week. 
Our Guide is a 5ft tall human called Karnac. He wants to know if we bring evil in our hearts. He begins a ritual and asks for a sacrifice. Says a bird would be good. Tanis summons some and one makes it past the zappy wall. The parrot is being sacrificed by a pacted entity and we are now one with the forest spirit.
(magic - forest spirit attuning, Durration Depends, Under control or influence of outside influence-yes)
Karnac tells us we must embrace life (before battle). There is to be a party. An evening of debauchery with food, young maidens, food, drink, food, drugs and food ensues. Most of us are not rude and participate. Aaron is most enthusiastic to join in. 

==2nd of Frost== 
Around first breakfast I wake with a hangover- must have been a goodnight. Sooty offers to cure hangovers. Aaron takes him up catches on fire and starts to scream for ages. Keeping the hangover seems like a good idea right now. 
Off into the jungle we go and we would be quickly lost were it not for Karnac. He brings down a spider monkey for first lunch and cooks it. It is not pacted. After much walking and not many meals we have another monkey for dinner. I can hear forest whispering. There is a lot of animal noises that keep the others awake. 
Somewhere between Hot Toddy and Reflection Sooty lets off a lightning bolt at a spider. 
==3rd of Frost== 
Sooty sights a goblin and we hear a cry of pain. We find a cave with gold coins scattered in the entrance looks like a trap. Apparently there are carnivorous plants out here. After being chased away by an illusionary Bear/nightmare we have Gibbon for lunch. The Trees are not happy. 
We neared the Glade between dinnertime and afternoon tea. Karnac asks if we want to go in now or wait till tomorrow. It is dangerous in there - undead, no big lizards, we must talk nicely to trees. We decide to go in now. 
Into the hole we go. There are odd looking stones and trees. It is dark down here at least 500ft below the general ground level. There is a request for me to provide a light source. Unfortunately I am an Illusionist we don't do light sources. There are odd looking stones and trees. Baby big lizard claw marks on the trees. 
We try to help the trees feel better. A bird is sacrificed on the 6' by 6' slab in the circle of stones. The stones are in a circle 50' across with about 30' beyond that . The stones look like canines(could be a big mouth). 
Drumming sounds start up. Goblins start to come down after us. They can't see us and think we are invisible. Elena starts to cast and a glass globe is thrown at her. A tree is covered in ice where it breaks. A Trolkin with two large lizards, (could have made marks on trees) on leads, starts to come down. She let them off the lead and Sooty ask if we want to fight them. The rest of us being smart runaway in the cave at the bottom and hide. 
A very bright light come out. It hurts me and Sooty and kills lizards and goblins start falling to the ground making splat sounds. All this makes the drums go further away. 
Brother Bo says that they are formally living Three Toed Lizard. They are not natural to this forest. 
'''Goblin Loot''' A small pouch 
An unusual looking dagger 
A crystal sphere 
A small bag of coins 
2 Steel collars - low level animal control 
Stone #2 Major magical ability - Valour

Karnac - There should be 'Dark Trees'. They move and protect the forest from axe people and those evil fire mages. He tells us the sacrifice to get the spirits to talk must be mammal not bird or insect. Gorilla be good sacrifice. 
Elena - " will you be our Gorilla? - to Brother Bo 
Troll good sacrifice, Dragon good sacrifice, Undead good sacrifice. 
About Supper time the DA of the glowing Alter - Very long lived sentient - Forest Mana
Major Magical ability - Unity of the forest 
After supper ,the alter begin to glow as shambling figure 8' tall tries to hit Stone One. Someone is giving it instructions in Elvish. Brother Bo and Aaron rush to attack the figure and are pacified. I am orders to attack the zombie from behind with my dagger rather than actively resisting the necromancer. Elenor is hit by some personal agony. I am hit by nasty magic then Skeletal rats then the Agony. Sooty turns all flamey and runs up to the necromancer and gives her a hug. Then he lets her go. Why?? The he refuses to allow us to sacrifice the zombie Why?? Is he in league with them?? To hurt to care right now. 
==4th of Frost== 
Later in the night there are lots of goblins. We are surrounded and they are pacted to the goblin god of war. They tell us that they are here to heal the circle and plants. They want to take us back to the Goblin Queen. The Goblins want to go to war against the elves because they blame the elves for the damage to the forest. 
The Goblin Sharman(Tarnac) has a staff with shrunken heads on it. He gets one of the heads to open it's mouth and I am healed. The other heads do Life Drain, Frozen Doom, Hellfire. 
There are three pyramids buried within the circle. We must destroy all three at the same time. Digging commences and around early morning tea we can see the three 1 foot high pyramids. Their greatest weakness is 1: To Crystals 2: to Sap of an Iron wood tree 3: Blood of a great Ape 
The ancient Div: for number 3 we need something made from the bones of a gorilla, head bound with sinews of an orangutan and the blood of a great ape.
The great apes live in Torah 80-100 miles from here. They are semi sentient very large ape creatures 
We must go see the Troll Queen in the Great Hole to explain what is happening. We have one week. The goblins also explain that the dart that was in Elena is not made by goblins. 
At second breakfast time another ancient div is started. Around morning tea Elves come down the path. There have been complaints from the mayor of Fillath(sp?) That is a trading Village 150 miles away. They are Calardorf, Corinth. They have heard of the Seagate adventures guild and are surprised that we are attuned to the forest. They tell us there is an ironwood tree in Cair Adris 450 miles from here. 
Around Elevensies we discover that for the crystal one we need the heart of a Drako, a 12' long lizard. We need to squeeze the heart over a crystal then something explodes. They have no magical abilities but there are rumors that they are semi sentient. 
For the other one we need bone from 5 sentient races glued together. 
The Elves leave and goblins come and ask why we haven't dealt with the necromancer lich thing. So we race off to the barrow. It is disturbed, pits are opened. Some of us are invisible but they can still see us. Karnac's hands start to glow. Sooty's blazing horse thing bashes its way in followed by salamanders. There is an explosion followed by a bigger explosion. I am nearly killed and the so are some of the others. The lich and the elf are ejected and die in a fiery spectacular. There is silver impaled in the trees 
The necro was making a super skeleton in it alchemists laboratory. We now have all the sentient bones we need. There is a bronze tablet - Nature of magic preservation. It is an old elvish pictographic language, not erilehe(SP?) - Instructions. Five black marble amphora are broken, they were spirit holding. Mmmm what have we let out. 
We take the case that Elena finds back to the circle. A pro gobbo thief opens the case and a dart shoots out but he is not hit. There are seven intact potions. 1 Identify weakness, 3damage reflection, 4 mindreading, 5 Improved troll skin.
We are told that if we remove the curse we will get a warrant to go into the Goblin kingdom unmolested. Tanis tries to use the magic stick but cannot find an Ironwood tree. So we decide to go to the Village. It is after dark however and everyone but Sooty thinks that Flying at night would be a bad idea. 
==5th of Frost== 
Sometime after midnight we wake upside down being interrogated by 4 elves. They are sisters of the forest. Two of them are male sisters of the forest. One is in well made chain the others are in leather. They ask us about useless bastard. It would appear that that is our employer. He is meant to be protecting the forest. That's our job now. They take sooty away none too gently. He could be in trouble some elves don't like orcs particularly orcish fire mages. He talks to them and comes back.
They give us some information - Lady Althesia may have some great ape blood. There are Drakas in a swampy area. Tree is 40-50 miles away. IT is difficult to get to. There are web spitting spiders that don't talk. Safest tree is near Troll Bones. Goblin Sharman can make spirit warrior. 
Malador - 
Peande- Water 
Haldor- Namer 
Chain- Earth 
They disappeared quietly into the forest and we had gibbon for breakfast. Then we fly to the village our guide says it fun to see people try to land. There was not a lot of landing space so I land nicely in the shallows. Elena does a spectacular splash/Crash to entertain the crowd on the bank of the river. There are birds in cages and goblins about. 

We are given strong beer and asked if anyone is a mind mage. Mind mages go in the cage. We are told that bards sing better with bits removed. We meet Gilath the Great Hunter of Apes. He is an old Goblin. 
Maldor is the best black smith, there is a 40ish elf called Grethe, A frost giant to get gems from, he has human slaves. I go to get beer and food. The trollkin behind the bar doesn't know that I am all grown up and seems to want to charge a lot for the drinks and food. When she hands it over all is explained. The beer comes in a gallon pot. Pints are big but this is enormous. I have to come back for the food. It is a whole leg of something huge. 
Sooty tries to drink Gilath under the table. Alarath is a good person Beast master and healer. Goblins are troublesome buggers. Hunting dogs (three toed lizards) can smell invisible. Drasalisk are like basalick except that they turn things to ice. Great Snaggle tooth is 80 ft long and likes sweet stuff. Gilath is tossing gold coins about. Aaron seems to be in a trance. Tanis and Elena are invited back to Gilath's for the evening but they seem reluctant to go. Sooty offer to instead but Gilath doesn't fancy him. 
We stagger down to the blacksmith. We buy a silvered axe head for 500 sp. Elena wants to trade silver and to buy a boomerang but they do not have one. I will have get some true silver before she make me a true silver dagger.
We meet the Frost Giant. He wants performers for the whole winter. Sooty offer a gift. A gift?? We buy some true silver. He has black metal, glow in the dark stones, a very heavy anti-mind-mage stone(maybe you hit them with it. They also dislike our employer. After Elana starts talking I realize that she is drunk. 
In the evening in the big common room we talk to the Frost Giants slave( Kree al). He is now free. He was partly sacrificed to the bound fire that sooty gave the Frost Giant. There is talk of war. Something has stirred up the forest. We need an anthill for proper questioning. We listen to tales of the Forest and Vale. 

Two elves scowling in the corner Bernice is a Necromancer, the other is not pacted. Later we find out he is an Earth mage. They ask Sooty if we are going to cause trouble. Sooty lies to them and says no. Sooty then tells the barman that one of the elves is a necromancer and advises them to just keep an eye on them rather than deal with them right now... 
==6th of Frost== 
In the night we wake up with the Hut down a thirty foot hole, An elemental throwing rocks down on us and general confusion about. As I am about to firerun out some evil mage freezes me. The hole is filling up with water and the others are struggling to swim. Aaron hauls me out as the Frost Giant hit the elemental and Brother Bo banished it. I struggled to point out where the invisible mages are. The Zombies are duly wacked with a flaming sword of our fighting E&E. Tanis Froze the river to show everyone where the mages where. The frost giant was powered up as the whole village began to fall down a hole. The unbelievers souls are being sacrificed to Kryon. The Frost Giant spattered the evil mages and one of their masters reclaimed their souls.
While we stand on the edge of the ruined village our goblin hunter friend offers to lead us for free.The rest of the villagers would really just like us to leave. They think that we are attracting the death and destruction. Also turns out that Elena is our interrogation specialist. 
We fly off to the great ape elf lady. We find a 50ft clearing near where we want to be and start to float down. Coconuts start to hit Sooty. They only hit Sooty so that's ok. There is a 20 foot tall ape with four arms and thick snowy white fur. Alongside him is the lady elf in blue. 
In exchange for some blood the great ape wants us to free his son. His son only has two hands so is called Two Hands. He is also an Albino. Two Hands has been taken by the Renegade Goblin clan. There are 100 to 150 of these goblins and they are rank 13th out of 13 clans. 
The elf lady turns us into goblins so we can sneak in.Aaron tells me that I must be pleased that I am bigger now. I tell her That
"Bigger is not Better"
After a while waking in we hear hunting "dogs" after us so we fly in. The guards are sleepy when approach so we feather fall in. but our feather falling falls off before we land so most of us land heavily. Sooty swings about on some over hanging chains which ends up causing all sorts of trouble.
The guards are drunk and the hunting dogs are large and scraggly. Sooty talks loudly and quickly so they send us in to shut him up. They also give us directions to the shaman called Stonehand. They have a plan to destroy the humans. Along the way we get some beer from the kitchen from some half gobos in chains. 
We go straight past the pit. Left, right and into the banana shaped cavern. Something is trying trying to make Sooty loyal to the gobbos and to tell the truth. Sooty convinces them we are here to inspect the prize they have captured so the recognition present will be suitable. We are shown to Two Hands past the wolves and bears. The gobos are bored and scared of Two Hands so they leave us alone. 
Sooty tries to convince Two Hands that we have been sent to help by his father. The gauntlet that we got earlier helps a lot. He is here to fight in a tournament. 
To free Two Hands Aaron uses an essence of Grizelda potion. She is a double biggun witch. Arron and Two Hands break the chain while Elana and I make everyone invisible. We get past the pit when the shaman spots us and all hell breaks loose. Elana is turned to stone and a wall is put up in our way before we get out. I put up a wall and then a stone gollum runs through it. Aaron hits it brother Bo gets the wall down and we get out of there only to get stuck on an extremely powerful sticky floor. It is almost enough to make you want to use those abominations called boots. We blow a horn and Two Hands' Dad comes charging up the path and into the goblins. He comes out, most of them don't.He brought out bear skins wolf skins a sack with rough cut stones, a silvery Raw metal ore. '''We forgot to get the treasury'''. 

After turning back from being goblins we still have some parasites. Sooty offers to use the cleaning flame but this time no one is that silly. After Sooty gets all clean our guide leads us in a ceremonial mud throwing so Sooty can blend in with the forest. 
We get skin changes to deal with the Dracalisc and some honey to help attract it. 
Potion 2 is Second Life (action replay) 
Improved trollskin - regenerate by absorbing life from those around you. 
Mind linking - 30 hours /number involved 
Damage reflection- 20 pulses 
Identify weakness - 1 hour identify weakness of one entity 
Animate plants - 10 hexs of plants. 
Potion of skill swap 
We discuss putting honey on a goblin as bait and fly back to the trading village. There Elena crashes again and we are told we should not stay the night. We take off along with our Goblin hunter to Gatorville. Gatorville is 200 miles away in the south east corner of the swamp. Tanis keeps running out of fatigue. She should learn cloud. 
We arrive after dark. The armed response is tempered once someone yells out" he's covered in honey." Sooty gains a friend. Big Ben is a gnome like creature very colourful and very interested in Sooty. There are only 30 or 40 people here, mostly male.
Others there include Glenda the trollkin. Karina the human hunter. Gnasher the one eared goblin. Garlic the half goblin. Justa the Human and Alagon the Human Ranger. 
We are fed saltwater croc, which tastes better after a few rough ales(which tastes better after a few rough ales).Turns out that Karina is not impressed very much by our great goblin hunter. After a few ales Glenda takes Bo aside suggestively. We don't see him again until morning. Tanis and Elena again refuse Gilath's hospitality. 
==7th Frost== 
Gator and lizard eggs are for breakfast. This place could use a better cook but no time to stop. I can see two blue spheres by Gilath. They are his pay per view audience. If we can still move after getting the drakalisc we will be rich. 
We get help to find the beastie. Gnasher will drive his boat out into the swamp. After a couple of hours Elena gets sudden onset Emphysema and asthma. Sooty suggests that cleansing flame will help. Elena buys his story. She seems to forget that he is completely insane and probably an orc. Elena promptly starts screaming and writhing in pain. This attracts the attention of the locals. This would not be so bad except the locals are 20 foot long crocodiles. Gnasher calls them Salties. 
We are then holed by the big crocodile and taking on water when luckily a piece of land appears. Unfortunately it is only 10 feet across but at least it isn't sinking. As Gnasher starts repairs we manage to drive off the crocodile.
At least it seem like it was us right up to the point at which an ice wall appeared around half the island followed by an ice roof. We now realize what it takes to drive off a 20 foot crocodile... a 120 foot long Drakalisc. Ohhh ahhh ummm. That would Snaggletooth the infamously bad tempered turn you to ice if see looks at you giant thing. We do what any right thinking adventuring party would do. We offer her sugar and honey. She wants more than we have so Tanis and Brother Bo fly to Gatorville to get two more barrels of honey(500sp). 
Gnasher seems to hiding behind Gilath who seems to be having a mild stroke. Snaggletooth is willing to show us to an uppity female drakalisc who is giving her trouble. She won't help defeat it but will turn us back from ice if we get the look from it. Gnasher refuses the offer of a ride on Snaggletooth and says he will wait here and fix the boat. 
On the way to our prey Brother Bo gives us counters against the ice except for him and Tanis who already have better ones on. He tells about the duration of the counters "''it lasts longer than you will live''". We also come up with a cunning plan, we use Elena as bait. 
I see the underwater entrance through the murk on the way in so we don't get ambushed from there. We are however a bit surprised by something it does that Snaggletooth didn't. This is best summed up by Brother Bo "IT FLIES ?". This was quickly followed by the drakalisc exploding. We find its heart and brain. Sooty consumes confirming his insanity followed by Elena. She is now a creature of Cold and Sooty looks stranger than usual. 
Inside the nest we find a short bow and a small quiver of arrows, a small shield and some dragon scales. Sooty then scrapes at the floor with his foot to discover that there is ice magic protecting something down there. I had to go outside to attract Snaggletooth's attention, she then lifted the roof of the nest and defrosted Sooty before he melted. If he had melted he would have died. We find 4 blue eggs which we give to Snaggletooth along with the honey I had left (this provides room in my pot for the heart and brain ). She could make it cold. 
Snaggletooth takes us back to the island where we found the remains of the boat and Gnasher. She then took us back to Gatorville and gave us some items including a blue cloak. Karnac tells us that he has a great gift. The people of Gatorville throw us a big party and much is drunk.
 
==8th Frost== 
We get off to the glade and meet the goblin shaman. We show him that we have all the materials for the ritual. He gives us a piece of wood with tassels. It is our pass into the goblin homeland. 
While we were away someone has reinforced the protection on the pyramids. He stone separation ritual will open up a portal and summon something. The portal is to Deeping Coom, the entrance from this world to the next. We think that there will be undead and maybe elementals. 
All this causes Bo to say "Oh my God". Then she turns up. Jive is beautiful and after a brief chat she takes Bo away for their life making ritual. 
Bo communes with the forest and finds that it needs a sacrifice he then debates religion with the goblin shaman. Then evil is detected. It is close and coming our way, so is a storm. After some changes of directions we work out that it is following Sooty. Then it starts to rain and sooty becomes unhappy. I think he has a cold. 
As we track the evil we see the Mist Wolves come out of the rain. They are being controlled and have been summoned by the elf like lady Mist Wraith. Aaron tried to charge the Wraith but went straight through. The mist wolves ignored a fake fiery wall but one of them got trapped in a circle of illusionary stone. This caused the mist wraith to curse her stupid minions, made a change from her cursing Sooty for killing her sister. 
With the downpour and the lightning things are decidedly dicey. When the wolves bite people start to turn misty. First Sooty, then Tanis but she turns back. I got bit and turned misty for a while. The Mist Wraith tried to suck Sooty in but Bo managed to stop it with namer walls. Aaron nearly suffocated in bound air but we had a spare wolf to bit him with. The Tanis uses her ice blade to finish off the last one. 
The wolves are sacrificed to the forest by Karnac. This makes the stones glows. Then after getting us demisted we have high tea. There are not enough meals around here. Could be worse, I could have eaten the Dracalisc brain and drunk his blood. I think that it has given Sooty "Mad Dragon Disease". He is becoming increasingly insane and probably orcish. 
Turns out that there were three sisters. Salis the Necro, Vila the Mist Wraith, and a third unknown. We come up with a plan. We will summon Vila rather than going in after her in the graveyard. The goblin shaman can summon her but it will be costly for him. The goblin guards move to the top of the hole. 
Just before midnight snack we gather in a circle and prepare to deal to her when she arrives. When she does she drains those that hit and lasts longer than we like. I made my way around the fight to prepare a potion for the fighters when our employer turns up being carried rather effortlessly by Katrina. Before we can stop her he is sacrificed on the altar. Now that can't be good. 
Aaron and Sooty wrestle with her on the altar with probably saved us from her staff but she was much stronger than them combined. Brother Bo, Tanis and Elena wrestled with her for the power of the Master of the Forest. I had to polish off the second sister (Sooty killed the first in the large explosion a couple of days ago) and I got a death curse. She was a greater undead so she does not count as a living soul. She had some nice chain and a magical rapier.
About this time the others remember that perhaps the Halfling Illusionist might have some willpower so I try to prevent her from taking all the power. The she leaves, walking backwards right over the top of me. I seem to have an awfully large amount of energy in at the moment. That and I seem to know some Herbal Lore. 
The goblin Shaman is so tired that he is going to sleep for a while, weeks maybe. The goblins send a runner to their queen for a new shaman. Now the bodyguard Razorback is our new interface with the goblins. 
Tomorrow we break the pyramids, defeat the hoards coming through the portal, and deal with a very angry and powerful super earthmage elf. All before we get a proper lunch. I go and dream with the forest and as I lie against the tree it swallows me up. 
==9th Frost== 
During the night Katrina tries to take my tree away with me still in it. Bo manages to stop it then I make it walk back to where it was. 
We discover that Katrina will be more powerful at noon. The forest is more active now and we are confused as to whether she is undead or not. Elena wants to power up the forest by sacrificing blood, our blood. When we question one pint she suggests two pints. I smack her up the side of the head with a branch and she seems to get a little less blood thirsty. Note: when you are in a tree hitting people with branches hurts them quite a lot. 
The new goblin shaman turned up. His name is flex and he is new is more ways than one. I think he graduated goblin shaman school yesterday maybe this morning. He says that we could get Tarrac out of the stone by putting our power into Tarrac.
Elena has a little problem. She cannot speak and will not be able to speak for some time. As our greaters are starting to wear off we should do something. Bo offers her a life with Jive, our goblin friends offer her a quick death. Strangely she chooses death over life. Bo even offers access to the wine and cheese evening on Tuesdays. 
We see if putting the power that Tanis grabbed into Tarrac to wake him up but it is not enough. Next we try the power Sooty took. Still not enough but at least it is out of the mad orcelf. In the end it takes some of the power I safeguarded to wake him up. 
Tarrac is not happy that they sent the junior shaman out to deal with such serious issues. He goes off and has an in depth argument with his bodyguard Razorback. Razorback seems remarkably unconcerned and smiles a lot now. 
It is now time to break the evil pyramids and open the portal to the other world. We do this early. Bo, Tanis and Elena break one pyramid each. This opens a portal on one side of the glade. We see a spirit elf, a blue skinned goblin and six liquorish goblins called Ebony Death. Nothing called death could possibly be good. Aaron rushes in to help out Elena, Tanis fires in ice balls, and I take a potion of damage reflection before charging in as well. 
The Blue goblin leaps on Sooty's efreeti with great glee and eats it. The Ebony Death get their claws into Elena then me. Elena goes down then the one on me dies from the reflection. Then I did something silly. Now if you ever get a large undead goblin's claws stuck in your back do not try to get them out yourself. I was turned into a Halfling blood fountain before Sooty healed me. 
After running out of cold ammo Tanis goes to help Razorback who is defending Tarrac on the altar from the blue goblin. When she went down Aaron stepped in. It was in some sort of battle frenzy. Razorback was moving very fast and Tarrac did not want to get involved. 
After Bo banished the Blue Goblin(that was a Barghest) Razorback got hit with a blast from the circle. Turns out that he was the goblin God of Death. He would have taken our souls if we had died. I got that close. One of them has left behind a scary magical scimitar. It has the bones of 50 different species in it and does extra damage against elves and creatures of light. Sooty says it is not a good as a tulwar. 
The spirit elf is still there. Sooty negotiates with her. She will accept a transfer of the power remaining in me to the Tarrac if we leave for Seagate and don't come back. Tarrac makes her go away so we can talk in private. He is not keen on staying around with her still after the power in the forest. 
We discuss going in after her but Sooty has suddenly come over all wussy.He does not want to put barrels of oil down he hole in the ground.Must be the Mad Dragon Disease again or it could that she is cute. Well cute for a megalomaniacal homicidal elf.
Some of the others and me are feeling a bit sore still so I think hard and they are all healed. Then we get protected by high ranked amour of earth and Strength of Stone for Elena. I should have done Trollskins or DTJs during the battle. I don't know what they are but they sound good. Tarrac wants to talk to me and sucks out some of the power stored in me. 
The Ebony Death starts to disappear so the others tell me to talk to one of the Ancient Dark Oaks to find out where they are going. The semi-sentient tree tells me that it is absorbing them. I feed it the rest of the Drakalisc brain that Sooty ate part of. Turns out that when you feed a dragon's brain to an extremely long lived semi-sentient tree it has the effect of turning the tree into an Extremely Long Lived Sentient. It certainly made it smarter; it now knows an awful lot about cream buns, gourmet cheese and other gastronomic phenomenon. 
It asks me to get Tarrac over near us. The tree sucks all the power out of the goblin shaman and then all the life. When we ask if we can have the shaman back the tree resurrects him. Then it asks for the power that I have been holding. I give the power to the tree and it does not drain my life away. I think I will miss the power it made me all warm and fuzzy inside. We now need to ask permission to enter the glade. 
The battles have made Katrina weaker. She only has Banshee wolves -extra bound. They have a weakness to fire and cold iron. So does Katrina apparently. Our Tree will stop her summoning elementals. We really need to find a name for our tree.
Sooty starts arguing with the tree, he does not want to sacrifice the evil elf to it or give the power of the master of the forest to our newly sentient tree. I think he may be suffering from his mad dragon disease again. The Tree would make a good master of the forest and if not it could kill us all where we stand anyway. We need to get Katrina's knowledge into the tree so we can get home to the guild. 
Before we go we get the tree to power up our troop of beserker goblins. Brother Bo is to detect wards and I am to detect traps. The goblin thief we had earlier would be handy but we do not have time to call him back. 
We plan for the assault on Katrina's lair. This includes Brother Bo's excellent advice,
"Don't let the fire mage anywhere near the loot. He will blow it up."
The description of Aaron
"he's like a grenardo". 
At the other end of the vale in another sink hole there is a tunnel. The entrance to this tunnel is a forbidding against plants. The inside of the tunnel is covered in formally living oak for 90ft. This oak is covered in Gargoyle friezes . As we go down the tunnel these turn out to be very dangerous. One turns a gobbo to water, another turns Elena's armor to flowers. Brother Bo's cloak is turned into some lovely bead work and mine is turned into some extraordinary feather creation. Sooty's clothes disappear. 
At the end of the tunnel is an octagonal room with a door on the other side, two passages and several mirrors. Inside the room are two large wolves and a fire. The room has entrapment magics and the mirrors steal souls. Tanis shoots a mirror and is sucked into the fire in the middle. The wolves turn out to be illusionary but the fire is real. Tanis shoot more mirrors (I think they have offended her). She gets to run before the four flesh golems advance from behind the mirrors.
The imps in the tunnel were still attacking and Elana's silvered tulwar is turned into a stick of celery. It is surprisingly ineffective against the imps and shatters. The golems line up nicely and Sooty deals to them. I discover that the magic in the room is down to three rune sticks under the fire. 
The door was an illusion and once counterspelled revealed a room with a chase lounge, and the elf upon that was surrounded by the roots of a stone tree. There were also a number of shrunken heads dangling from ropes. As one of the heads opened fire at me some were dealt to with fire and the others were destroyed by berserker goblins. We are starting to run out of berserker goblins. 
Tanis uses a potion to gain Katrina's binding with the forest. She then goes completely mad. She runs away up the tunnel. Elena tried to tackle her but got rooted to the ground. The imps all died. Tanis burst through the forbidding and promptly died. Lucky for her the tree spirit resurrected her and gave her some power. Katrina had disappeared and ghastly laughter was heard. 
Our last remaining goblin rushed down the passage on the left to deal to the Banshee wolves. I followed to help out but I could not hurt them. When Aaron turned up I withdrew and went to help with the ettin problem after picking up the scimitar from the fallen gobblin. 
The ettin had come from the passage to the right. He had a flaming 2 handed axe and a black anklet. He was huge weighting in at more than a ton and a half. Brother Bo had tried to forbid it but instead rolled around on the floor for a while. On his way up the tunnel he stood on the invisible rooted Elena. This did a little damage but nothing major. She then decided to attack him. This made her visible and a target. After some pounding and with Elena almost dead Sooty leapt into close with it. That was really brave and really stupid. Sooty died while Aaron and I pounded on the Ettin's back. When the Ettin finally went down it ensured that Sooty was dead by falling on him. 
After cutting out the Ettin's heart and sacrificing it to the forest my magic knowledge seemed to change. Most disconcerting it was. Tanis used her new power to resurrect the insanely brave Sooty. 
We found some gems amongst the bones in the ettin cave. Down the other passage we found three chambers. One had various stores in it. One had the remains of the wolves' handlers and the third had a pond. Hidden in the pond was a nasty little creature who tried to attack us. 
With some gills from Tanis implanted in my neck I gave chase with a flaming dagger. Round the U-Bend and up the stairs I went. I nicked the little beasty when we both notices the Greater Undead rising from the one of the Sarcophagi dressed in Eleven Jousting Plate. I ran and swam as fast I could but she was right behind me as I left the water. 
After a brief fight with agony thrown in for good measure she was defeated. It was Katrina again. After some cleaver thinking to prevent draining Sooty took the heart out and sacrificed/feed it to the forest. The forest started to feel really bad at this point. I think that this is what is called an Oops moment. We did however get a portal making device from the now super powerful malevolent tree. 
In the store room we found some interesting things. Two spheres had some silvery liquid to make leather as strong as steel and two lumps that were the ingredients for grenardos against the undead. There were also two spirit Jars containing the Strength and Virtue of the forest. Two rings were found. 
After this we went to loot the sarcophagi. After going round the bend and up the stairs Sooty and I found a figure on a stone chair. The figure said "you disposed of my acolyte". Not being the brave/insane sort I ran as soon as he started to speak. He beat me back to the rest of the party. He tried to seduce us with power and explained that it was going to be difficult to defeat the tree now. Sooty told him
"It was done with the best of intentions".
He would not tell us his name only that he was the '''Master of Trickery'''. 
As we flew out we saw the Dark Tree Ents spreading out into the forest. The scale was vast 120,000 square miles of forest now uninhabitable. The people in the trading village were forced into the river. The Great apes and the Goblins forced out. Apparently the healing herbs in the glade are gone replaced by the other sort of herbs. 
We had been told that it was to the east of Kinlu by Katrina earlier it came as little surprise and much relief that we were not in fact on Alusia at all. Still I think that there is more work for the guild on this plain. With the knowledge of which plain we were on in our possession Brother Bo Banished us back to the guild before we could do anymore damage. 
==Important Lessons==
1.When you have created a Malevonant Super Being it might not be such a good idea to keep sacrificing things to it. 
2.When a two ton monster is stomping on you on its way through do not become visible. 
3.Always check what plane you on when you go through a portal. Do not trust your employer. 
4.Elves are easy but they are also probably insane 
5.Don't ask how long conterspells will last as the "longer than you will live" answer may disturb. 

==Mil Sci Stuffs==
===Watch Order===
3 even length watches. 
# Elena, Tanis.
# Sooty, Pierre.
# Aaron, Brother Bodacious.
===Jungle Marching Order===
# Native Guide.
# Aaron.
# Elena.
# Pierre
# Tanis.
# Brother Bodacious.
# Sooty.
===Cunning Tactics.===
# Charge: Everyone leap on the enemy, we are the Seagate Guild of Adventurers, Dragons fear us when we charge, even if they mistake us for more experienced members, don't give them time to think about it and notice we aren't Sabrina or Gok.
# Charge the other way: Used in situations where we gave them time to think about it and notice who we actually are.
# Diversion Tactics: Issue no instructions, let the enemy try to decipher our plan and tremble in fear at how they can percieve no tactics.
# Overwhelm them with Firepower: Kill them any way possible, including with your bare hands.
# Prepare the battlefield for days: If the enemy gives you enough time, you can make them kill themselves before they ever get to you on just the terrain, make them give you that time from fear of the Seagate Adventurers Guild name.
And above all. If your party member is fighting, stand beside them and fight as well. It always works.

Category:Skafloc

2026-06-06T03:32:41Z

Terryintransit: Created page with "Skafloc"

[[Skafloc]]

Alusian Innocents Abroad, The Evil Within

2026-06-06T03:32:04Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Melco]]
[[Category:Rumpelstilzchen]]
[[Category:The Lady Hope De Winter]]
[[Category:Daizy]]
[[Category:Skafloc]]
[[Category:Koffi]]
[[Category:Zanak]]
return to [[Scribe_Notes#Winter 808 WK| Scribe notes]] 
'''GM:''' Mark Simpson 
'''Time:''' Winter 808 WK 
'''Day:''' Wednesdays 
'''Level:''' Innocents 
=Seagate Gatherings=
* [[Melco]] – Human Shadow Celestial (with a variety of interesting skills). Great with an Axe.
* [[Rumpelstilzchen]] – a young Halfling of the College of Ensorcelments and Enchantments
* [[The Lady Hope De Winter]] - a petite white clad courtier (calls herself a seer)
* [[Daizy]] Pâquerette - a cowgirl, le fait d'aimer de s'amuser et appeler les noms de gens (yeeha)
* [[Skafloc]] valGalen - a woodlands elf, fresh (really fresh) from the forests
* [[Koffi]] – Gnome Binder (and his mate Bill the Clay Golem).
* [[Zanak]] – A pirate, with some abilities to influence the mind
In quieter moments Skafloc and Daizy can be seen scribling notes documenting the events of the day

=Dear Diary=
==1st of Frost – Mission Briefing ==
It was a strange group that gathered to meet their new employer – a Pirate (with hat and cutlass) and a cow girl (with lasso and hang-over), a bewildered looking elf, a cute kid with a big axe and three really short adventures: a white clad human woman with a regal air about her, a gnome (playing with a animated string doll) and a hobbit (cleaning his nails with a knife). A big clay guy stands silently at the wall.

'''Mr Baymen''' of the city of '''Middenheim''' told us of an invasion of his city-state by chaos forces lead by somebody called '''Acaron - The Lord of the End of Times'''. The army was driven off about a week ago, but still not obliterated, so he wants to pay us standard guild rates to go and discreetly investigate and (if possible) drive off any remaining taints of chaos. He'll provide a couple of items for planar travel and emergency communications, but he will be staying on Alusia – to deal with other business. We'll meet '''Father Burnwell''' (unfortunate name) when we get there - for further orientation.

Why discreetly? Well magic is a closed shop on this plane, and there are some groups (like the '''Church Knights of the Order of Sigma''' and the Order Olric) that will burn you at the stake if they think you are in any way chaos related (even reading the wrong sort of books!).

We use advances on our fees to get supplies and greaters (some elf called '''Lucius Lord Protector''' gave the shy elf a really good free greater). The guild proves a standard healing potion each and we decide on our cover story (out-of-city Chaos Consultants, newly arrived to offer the '''City Guard''' our services). We elect the courtier Lady Hope as our leader.

Some of the adventures have a last drink, but we all eventually retire to bed ''(er to sleep).''

==2nd of Frost – Olde Worlde Middenheim ==
;A Peaceful Forest Glade
We buff up and go through the portal - to arrive in an empty forest glade (no Father Burnwell?!). The elf heads quietly up the path - to meet a beastman chasing (and killing) a small child. Well, that gave us something to do! The Lady's spectral hand squashes Mr Evil to the ground and the rest hammer him with a barrage of magic and strikes. The Lady talks with the dead guy (seems to have a talent that way?!), but there's no common language. Alerted by distant shouts of fear, we head up the path to view a burning village with more rampaging beastmen. Lady Hope acquired another small child along the way, but has to sap the child to free herself for the investigation into the village (of course).
;A Village on Fire
We Battle and kill the beastmen in the village of Grevenfield 
We come across our contact, a priest called Bower, who is dead in the church. The villagers ask us if we are sent by Bower and we say we are. The alter boy speaks up and hands us a scared artifact of the church (of Sigma) and asks us to take it to Middenhelm. We discover that other beastmen had run off before we got there, chasing villagers, looting and rampaging. We decide to clear the bodies into a house, pack up the villages and head out of town before the beastmen come back. Lady Hope has a little girl, Leasel, in her care whose Aunty, Olivia, lives in Middenhelm.
;The road to Middenhelm
we investigate the artifact of Sigma on the road. We discover it is a picture of Sigma and is not magical as far as we can tell. We stop for the night at an Inn nine miles from town. We check the villagers and find one has been chaos tainted. It is an old taint and doesn't seem to be spreading. We also find to our regret that we can't do anything to fix the taint. We decide not to share our knowledge of her taint with anyone.
==3rd of Frost – The City of Middenheim: Darting Deaths & Investigations ==
We travel to Middenhelm uneventfully. we take the refugees into the city and check them in to the refugee camp. Lady Hope does some clever negotiations and gets the refugees to spread word of our rescue of their town. We find rooms in the Red Moon, cabaret and supper establishment. We talk to the bar keeper who tells us that rioting, looting and disease are rife in this city.
;Disturbing Events
We decide to head to the church first. We hand over the artifact to Father Morton who appears very excited. We get 25sp each and a church medallion in the shape of a Hammer. As we head off again some town guards come to see us and ask us to come and speak to their commander, Captain Alric Sholtzman. While we are talking to the captain an aide comes in and whispers in his ear, then we are arrested. Apparently Father Morton has been murdered and we were the last ones to see him alive. After our story has been checked out and they realise that we were with the guards or talking to the captain when the murder happened and we couldn't have done it, we are set free and promptly hired to find the murdered.
;The death of a Churchman
We had over to the church and discover that there is claw marks by the window and the priest was killed with a blow dart. The dart had mantacore poison on it. He was writing something at the time of death. We shade on a lower piece of paper and discover his writings. We head off to the guard and report our findings. We are shown 3 other darts from recent murders.
;Trouble in the city.
Three people have been killed by the same method. 
1) A Watchman outside the Theology College 
2) A Doorkeeper outside the engineers guild 
3) Unidentified person in the old(poor) quarter 

All were killed recently with Scaven darts. The captain tells us that there were scaven in the undercity during recent battles in the city. It is thought the undercity is blocked up by collapsing tunnels and sealing entrances.The watchman has been buried, the door keeper is with the dwarves, and the unidentified person is with the temple of the Moor.

We talk to an alchemist who looks at the poison but doesn't tell us anything.

We go to visit the dwarves. They are beside the temple of a dwarven god, across the roadis shops and they are by the Southern gates. There are some enterences by side alleys.The dwarves are unhelpful and suspicious and wont tell us anything.

We go to visit the Theology college. They wont leave us alone with the body of the watchman and they didn't notice anything was missing. We think that they probably wouldn't be able to tell what might be missing.
;Ambush Alley
As evening falls, we head back to the alley to see if we can gather some more information. Our Seer talks with the spirit of the murdered guy. It turns out he was some sort of vigilante – a protector of the city. He surprised a rat man heading down to the alley dead end – surprised him with a crossbow bolt to the body! That didn't stop Mr Rodent though. It returned the favour with a deadly poisoned blow dart. Skafloc spotted blood stains – leading from the crossbow bolt impact point to a sewer grate at the alley dead end. So, some of that mystery is cleared up.
;A Pirate in a Dress
Back at the inn, the pirate wears Lady Hope's second dress into the common room ('''didn't have a thing to wear'''). This attracts the attention of a large, free spending guy (Robert) who seems to like Zanak in a dress – lots of free drinks for the cabin boy.

Later we head out, to the murder sites – to see if we can hook up with any drunken, loose mouthed dwarves – but to no avail. We decide to head back to Ambush Alley tomorrow.

==4th of Frost – Under Worlde Middenheim: It Does Flow Downhill ==

We leave Lisel in the paid care of one of the wenches at the inn (Brunheilda) and head out. A 'Warpstone antidote' won't be available for a week, so we head back to the alley and the trail of blood down the sewer grate. The trail leads along a dark narrow tunnel path bordering a river of thick flowing sewage. The trail goes downstream, to where the flow goes through a sturdy gate - making a brown waterfall onto the fertile soil below. Just inside the gate the trail goes down a steep dark (but dry) tunnel through the sewer wall.

;Into the Dark
*Yes, we take all of the usual precautions (obscurement, invisibly, ropes) and head down the steep 30 foot slope
*Yes, we made noise getting down (Daizy tripped over her chaps) and alerted the waiting rat men
*Yes, the spell casters backfired A LOT (Skafloc caught himself in his own hands of earth)
*Yes, Melco charged to get some man-on-rat-with-axe action, but then fled in magic induced panic
*Yes, finally Daizy gets her counters down and we charge back in

;We nearly loose all Hope
Stop! A crossbow bolt comes out of the dark and hits our white lady. Poisoned, she desperately tries to take a waters of healing, but the rapid acting poison drops her – stunned. Daizy comes to the rescue, but Lady H is really annoyed at the nasty hole in her dress. Luckily it is still clean with no blood or dirt.

Rumple sleeps the leader, but a golem pound him awake up again (oops). Finally Melco, Rumplestiltskin and the golems get to grips with the last rat-men and the rat-mage and cut them down. Now, to get down to some serious searching and information gathering (two Skaven are still alive – and of course our seer can talk with the others)

Stop the press! We found the frame of the missing religious icon. We're definitely on the right track here.
; Dead-end interrogations
We spend a lot of time trying to get the rat guys to give us some clues to track down the next link up in their chain – but to no avail. We discover that the person that hired them to do these assassinations was a human (male) in the city, but that's about it. Very frustrating. We did gather the alarming fact that there was more of this 'warpstone' in tunnels beneath the sewer level, but that was about it.

On the trip back to the town guard, we had to protect our two prisoners from revolting citizens ('''lynch the skaven, lynch the skaven''') and belligerent guardsmen ('''just kill them now'''), but Captain Sholtzman threw them safely into holding cells.

The good news is that there is a 1000sp reward to be collected for bringing in the murdering Skaven. The bad news is that Lady Hope seems to have been afflicted by some sort of itching – not lady-like at all ''(cooties?)''. Turns out to be Galloping Scumpox – which luckily is easily curable.

The Captain gives us some interesting news: some unknown people turned up to give the nameless man (killed in the old quarter) a better funeral. He too is worried by the existence of warpstone beneath the city. Nasty stuff.

A bit of R&R back at the inn is interrupted by a messenger at the door – we are called to an audience at a '''Temple of Olric'''.
;Blood in the Forest and an Ancient Evil Artefact
{|border=0
|-
|''Deep in a dark forest, a huge standing stone towers atop a hill littered with human skulls. The monolith glows with a fiery aura as blood oozes from the rock, glistening as it pours down to coat the piled skulls.''

''A massive armoured figure stands impassive with shadowed eyes. It bears the markings of '''Korn – the Blood God''', and around its neck a chain bears a brass skull with glowing aware eyes. The menacing skull looks at you and your brain pounds with the words 'I shall be free'.''

''You awake – screaming.''
|-
|}
'''Father Renolf''' – a Priest of Olric introduces us to old '''Father Odo'''. The Father is blind with totally white eyes, but seems agile enough moving around. He's been repeatedly having this vivid threatening dream. When he awakes, he has a sense of direction to where the evil lies. The brass skull from his dream has been identified as an ancient evil artefact, and the Church would like us to accompany Odo to this source of evil (in the Draken Woods that surround the city) and if possible to neutralise it.

No problem – we'll leave tomorrow.

;Geirhart Crow
Before heading off for a goods night's sleep, we head off to look at the grave the now-named nameless man. The cash for the grave & grave stone was provided by some nameless followers of Sigma from the city. The head stone features crossed sword and hammer and a twinned tailed comet – apparently a common grave motif.

==5th of Frost – Forest Travels ==
We meet up with the good Father and after taking some time to divine the nature of his dreaming affliction we head out. His blindness is natural, and he has some sort of quasi-magic linking/communicating magic. Not hugely powerful – but about as strong as a human could manage (if he was really good).

Off we head to the West/North West up a forest road. Darkness falls - and we camp. Odo tosses and turns.
==6th of Frost – Forest Travels ==
Off we head to the West/North West through the forest. Darkness falls - and we camp. Odo tosses and turns even more.
==7th of Frost – Gosh, A Monolith on a Hill ==
Around noon we spy a large clearing in the trees, and the glimpse of a stone tower. Rumple puts up his crystal ball and we spy out a 200 ft clearing with a stone column capped hill in the middle. A large figure is seated in front of the stone. There are also 3 blackened circles in the clearing.

Looks like the place.
;A Forest Clearing - a Minotaur, a Mound and a Monolith
A Minotaur sits on the mound, but when he spots us, he blows a horn and charges. He is fought and defeated (thanks to Melco and his clay friends). No apparent allies arrive.

We check out the clearing – it contains circles of recently burnt bones (missing skulls) stones and lots of skulls on the mound. Looks like there has been some serious sacrificing going on here.

Around the back, there is a bone choked ramp down into the mound. Lady Hope uses her ''seer hand'' to shovel them out of the way.
; Descent into the mound
The wary adventures exercise all due caution in descending the ramp (detect traps and detect aura), but get it by a triggered spear trap (''ouch''), but also find a secret door into an inner chamber, where we are attacked by a couple of spectral 'blood' beings. Although we have few weapons that can hit them, they are despatched with the assistance of holy water.
In the process, we triggered a fountain of toxic blood, which one of the golems tried to smash – turning it into a sprinkler of toxic blood. Sigh. Koffi binds elements to close off the fountain - and the blood in the room gradually, mysteriously drains away
; Hobbit Scouting
Rumple scouts the blood fountain room - and is guided (''controlled?!)'' by voices to open another secret door. He advances into a throne room, but retreats before self-assembling piles of beastman bones. Yikes! More skeletons arrive – but the party advances and defeats the gathered bone men.
*To the left of the throne room is a trophy room (ancient banners and battered weapons).
*To the right is a crypt – a sarcophagus in the middle of a pool of blood (perhaps the place where the fountain of blood drained to)
; The Crypt
Koffi sends a golem wading through the blood, carrying Rumple. The golem pushes the lid off the sarcophagus – revealing a dead armoured chaos champion with a brass skull on a chain around his neck (red plate mail & two handed sword)

Rumple ''(unexpectedly)'' grabs the skull and chain. The golem grabs the two handed sword and returns.
; Divinations
Back out in the open (watching for beastmen centaurs spotted earlier) we divinate the skull: containment magic (not imprisoning), contains part of the soul of a demon, serious magic to destroy. We go back in and a golem gets the red plate mail (and cleans it) and one of the banners

Under Father Odo's urgings, we plan to travel back to the city tomorrow. It is late so we camp out a little way into the forest from the Obelisk clearing.
==8th of Frost – Forest Travels ==
In the early hours of the morning, it becomes apparent Rumple has not passed unscathed by his close contact with the skull. While sleeping, his will is tested (he fails) and he renews his efforts to be reunited with his 'precious' ''(that's hobbits for you).'' The skull (in turn) seems quite able to move it self out of containment. The Lady Hope is forced to render Rumple unconscious

Koffi has a strange dream – an indistinct bleeding figure in a twisted chaotic landscape asks/demands that Koffi does, well, something

Rumple is divinated: apparently his sleeping will was taken, so the Lady Hope does something which makes it seem like the Hobbit is dead

A dawn the hobbit is 'awoken' and we start marching, but two hours into the march, a high pitch shriek/scream emerges from the skull (in Zanak's backpack). It is not happy.
We head back with the screaming skull looking for some stone to mould to mute the skull. Skafloc scouts out the way, but fails to notice lurking beastmen, so once the party pauses, the beastmen attack – followed soon after by some Â½ horse beastmen.

Things got pretty desperate then. We fought on and may have been able to beat the beasties, but the arrival of three vigilantes of Sigma (friends of Gerhard Crow – RIP) meant we overcame without any party deaths. The vigilantes (lead by one Maffias Hoffer) had been following us from the city – ever since we were spotted checking out their dead mate's grave.

Good fighters, but not very friendly – that's for sure. We head back to the city as quickly as possible.
==9th of Frost – Back to the City ==
We head back to the city as quickly as possible.

Back at the city, we turn over the skill to the church and after drinking water (chaos tainted), Father Odo turned a bit beastly too, so we were forced to put him down. It turned out that person or persons unknown had put some warpstone in the church well, which could have this affect on people.

We stayed right away for water and planned to keep a watch on three wells that night – just in case this 'warpstone in the well' lark was becoming fashionable. The vigilantes were watching other city wells.
==10th of Frost – Wells & Warehouses; Olric & Sigma; The Sword and the Flail ==
A very busy day
* Well Watching did yield a warpstone wielding well waterer who spilled all his secrets to Lady Hope's gentle persuasions
* The trail led back to a warehouse where the warpstone wielding well waterer's coven gathered. We wiped them out without further clues
* On the way back, we were taken prisoner first by the Town Guards (as we were protectors of chaos!), then turned over to Plate Mail flunkies of the Order of Olric, who very rapidly stripped us of all weapons and magic and threw us into a cell ...
* .. which we escaped from (gathering all our gear in the process).

It turns out Maffias Hoffer (remember him) had busted up another chaos coven and made it out (wounded) with some sort of nasty black book. As Hoffer was associated with Sigma, the Order of Olric was taking the opportunity to take a pot shot at Sigma (the head dude of Olric is not a nice person)

* Sigma doesn't want to bust Hoffer out, because it would just cause a civil war which only chaos would benefit from, so we head to 'The Sword and the Flail' (where Hoffer had got the Black Book from) to look for evidence
* We bust up the remains of a coven and rescue one Johan Ofler (witness for the defence) who witnessed Hoffer's valiant single handed attack on the coven

== 11th of Frost – The Time of Trials ==
We were asked to take the skull to a mage, but it turns out we have the head of Ofler (witness for the defence) instead (how did that happen?!) and by the time we get back the Trial, the High Priest of Olric is summoning Korn.

We are fighting our way past the Teutonic guards when the temple of Olric reacts directly the high priest's blasphemy – by a blast of sacred flame which incinerates the high priest, Korn and the all the guards (including any and all items they may have been wearing or carrying). Inconsiderate temple that!

Well that wraps things up really. We spend the next couple of days heading back to our portal place and spend the next evening in our favourite Seagate watering hole.

=Administration=
==Standard Operating Procedures==
;Marching order
*Melco - axe wielding human
*Rumplestiltskin - small but fierce
*The Lady Hope - with her trusty sap
*Daizy - lasso at the ready
*Skafloc - sometimes scouting ahead unseen
*Koffi - and his golem friends
*Zanak - The Pirate and his scimitar
;Watches
*Zanak & Skafloc
*Melco & Kofee
*Rumple, Daizy and Lady Hope
'''Note:''' 30 min overlap at change of watch, so only one watcher changing at a time

;Buffs

==Treasure ==
;Seagate Guild
*7 x 10HP healing potions (1 each)
;Father Morton
*25 sp each
*Hammer Medallion (each)
;Skaven Treasure
* Blowpipe and darts
* Crossbow and bolts
* 30sp loot
* 1000sp reward
;Temple of Olric
* 4 x Holy Water grenados
;The Skull Crypt
* A two handed sword
* Red plate male
* A skull!

==Quotable Quotes ==
*'''Lady Hope:''' How may quarters does this city have anyway?

==Possible Adventure Nominations==
; Smartest
; Bravest
; Stupidest
; Best Death

Trials of the Tridents

2026-06-06T03:30:54Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Jono Bean]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Mebh]]
[[Category:Christopher]]
[[Category:Toledo Steele]]
[[Category:Amelia]]
[[Category:Flamis]]
[[Category:Pierre]]
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; font-size: smaller;">__TOC__</div>

<-- Return to [[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 
= Summary =
The adventure is to take place on Alusia on the outskirts of the [[Lunar Empire]], and the [[Islands of Adventure]]. 
'''Adventure''': Trials of the Tridents 
'''GM''': [[GM%27s#GM:_Jono Bean|Jono]] 
'''Session''': [[Autumn]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Tuesday 7:00pm till late. 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level|Medium / High Level]]. 
'''Location''': 31 Methuen Road, Avondale [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=31+Methuen+Rd,+Avondale,+Auckland+0600,+New+Zealand&sll=-36.899408,174.704281&sspn=0.011977,0.020084&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1 Map] 
'''Information''': [[Information from players for Jono]]

; Employer
[[Matt Tumbledown]] a Titan.

; Party
# [[Mebh]] a Warrior, played by Julia McSpadden.
# [[Christopher]] a Warrior, played by Michael Young.
# [[Toledo Steele]] a Warrior, played by Craig Harper.
# [[Amelia]] a Ranger, played by Rosemary Mansfield.
# [[Flamis]] a Fire mage, played by Jacqui Smith.
# [[Pierre]] a Cook, played by Andrew Luxton-Reilly.

;Mission
To complete some "Trials of the Trident" for [[Matt Tumbledown]].

= Notes =

== 1 Fruit 808 ==
=== Wherein we have Many Meetings ===
After the Guild Meeting, I was sent to Meeting Area A, which was an open courtyard to the west of the meeting rooms. There I met a group of my fellow adventurers. These were:
* Pierre - a rather ugly human male warrior in full cold iron plate, bedecked with weapons. He explained that he was a Water Mage, but half of his College was missing as we learned later.
* Mebh - an attractive female human warrior in very well made breastplate armour. She had some skills in air mages including the ability to enhance arrows and to create clouds to fly on.
* Christopher - a tall human male warrior, plain of appearance and dressed in green scaly armour, with a black cape, a sabre and a distinctive black ring. He had some skill in ice magics.
* Toledo Steel - a handsome male human warrior.
* Amelia - a female halfling and master ranger.
* And myself, I am Felicity de Valiante, called Flamis, a female human Fire Mage. I was wearing a belted robe over my chain-mail bikini, and a long black cloak. I was carrying my Rod of Fires, a black staff.

There were also three storm giants waiting there, looming over us, and I learned that it was expected of us to speak Giantish, a language of which I knew very little. Mebh, having been previously to the [[Lunar Empire]], highly respected there, and able to speak Lunar was a natural choice as Party Leader. I offered to be military scientist since I was the least likely to be in melee combat, and also scribe. We learned that we would have to go down to the harbour to meet our employer on his ship, and that we should be properly provisioned, and that we might require horses. I hurried back to the farm, and borrowed Basalic's Portable Hole, provisioning it with root vegetables, apples, dried fruits and pulses, salt pork, flour, oats, eggs, dried herbs and spices, along with my set of pots and pans, my small anvil, portable forge, toolkit, tents, campbed, blankets, rope and climbing equipment. I collected Flamefoot II, horses for Pierre and Toledo, and one of our specially bred halfling ponies for Amelia. Then we all followed the giants down to the harbour where a huge seven-masted [[Ships#Junk|Junk]] was moored called [[The East Winds of Tycho]]. On board we could see an enormous person, the titan called [[Matt Tumbledown]], the ship's owner, and our host.

We were told that we would set sail in three hours, and that the horses could be stabled on board. A human named Tally came to show us where to take the horses, and then showed us to our cabin, a large room with bunks for all of us. Meanwhile, Pierre and Mebh went to the butchers to get some steak and kidney, and came back with four buckets of kidneys and six sides of beef. These Christopher froze, and they insisted I make room for them all in the Hole.

[[Image:Seagate-to-Five-Sisters.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Five Sisters & Islands of Adventure]]Shortly after that we sailed out. It was a nice day, with a fair wind, but the ship was remarkably stable, and I soon became accustomed to the motion. Around 5pm the bell rang for dinner, which was a good and filling stew. Everybody here seemed to know Mebh, addressing her as the Winner of the Lunar Games. There were two other passengers, who said they were also guests of Matt's, and that they were spell-casters entering the Trial of the Twin Orbs. One admitted to being a Water mage, and I studied the other's aura, learning that his highest ranked spell was Shadowform. He was a Celestial mage then, and either of the dark or the shadow. They knew little about the Trials of the Tridents beyond the fact that they are the trials for warriors.

== 2-4 Fruit 808 ==
We passed [[Novadom]] around sunset and continued sailing down the coast of the [[Gatar Depression]] south towards the [[Five Sisters]].

[[Image:Adjepbar-Courtyard.jpg|150px|right|Northern wall of Adjepbar]]On the evening of the 3rd we moored at [[Adjepbar]], a port city in the [[Five Sisters]]. We were told that the ship would stay her for five days. I planned to make us some tridents. One of the giants gave me a shopping list for the ingredients I would need to make certain items which would help us communicate with the Giants, comprising six rubies of good size, six camel testicles, a pound of black myrrh, and a pound of unhatched locusts. To this was added a pound of rock salt and a pound of blue sand. We decided that it would be safer to do our shopping in the morning, and planned to be up bright and early.
===Shopping in the Heat in Adjepbar===
At 5am in the morning we were ready to head into the town. The crew presented Pierre with a suit of fine leather armour, saying that his plate would be far too conspicuous. We were told that there are pirates in port and that they wore blue sashes. They were to be avoided. We also obtained the address of a person who had succeeded in the Trials of the Tridents.

As we headed into town we found it already crowded with folk heading into market. We were immediately besieged by people wanting to sell food and things and services, but what we chose was the services of one person, a good guide for five silver (and worth every copper farthing). He took us to a clothier, a relative of some sort, who selected six sets of fine white embroidered robes in the local style, and asked 700 silver for them. I thought this was a bit steep, and attempted to barter, until I studied them and realised they were very well made. Now properly dressed, we went to get the camel's testicles (for 6sp), and then stopped a coffee shop for refreshments and conversation. We learned that the pirates were now infesting the areas of the market where we needed to go. So, after Christopher bought some coffee beans, and we purchased a guest gift of cinnamon rolls, we set off across the city to the residence of the person we wanted to speak to regarding the Trials of the Tridents.

[[Image:Adjepbar - Cafe.jpg|175px|left|thumb|Golden floor of the skies]]On reaching the area, we waited at a nearby tavern called the Golden floor of the skies, while our guide fetched the person. He was pleased with the cinnamon rolls, and we sat and talked, learning the following:
=== Regarding the Trials ===
* To enter we would need six ghoul heads to be presented at the temple (they might ask for the heads of six succubi, but that was said to be less common, and if they didn't like you).
* The first trial involved swimming down to kill a fish in a hole.
* In the second trial we would have to kill a crab.
* For the third trial we needed to kill an octopus (or similar cephalopod) in a pitch-black pit.
* The fourth task varies.
* For these first four tasks we would take our own tridents.
* The fifth task was difficult because we would have to go onto the minotaur island naked, and without any of our items (or else we would not come back). We should oil our bodies and dive on the western side of the island to obtain fine tridents broken from the coral that grew there. Then we would fight the minotaur enchanter with the wizard's eye in the ruined temple, who fights in the smoke.
* The setting for the sixth task, is a shipwreck infested with sharks, and the giant shark must be defeated. The sharks will all attack if there is 'any blood' in the water.
* In the seventh task, we need to attack griffins from below.
* The eighth task involves serpents.
* In the ninth task we would face Cloud Giants.
* He did not attempt the tenth trial, and few do. "Nine is fine"
* The number of trials attempted depended on the people.
* The "Trial of Twin Orbs" was for casters, and was so called because if an adept succeeded that person would be able to cast two spells and have them orbit until ready to be released.
* The blue sand allowed a master weaponsmith to create certain permanent magic items.

It was becoming extraordinarily hot, and the others were sweltering, so on the advice of our guide we went to the Dwarven tunnels. Predictably, the dwarves knew Mebh. They were able sell us forms of iron to make tridents, cold iron at 700sp, and caster iron at 500sp. They also offered tridents already made at master rank, at 1700sp for the cold iron ones (of which we purchased two), and 1100sp for the caster ones (we bought two of these). After we were shown to a table in an alcove, Christopher cast and the area suddenly became very cold. He explained that the mana level here was extremely low. Which was enough to put me off casting heat-proofing on the others. The dancers promptly left our area, and so did I, since I was more comfortable in the heat. Dwarves dancing on tables.... That's so very strange. So was the dwarven sculpted lunch they brought us. We took our leave around 3pm, to the sound of horns blowing from the minarets. These people wore red and our guide told use that they were fire-worshippers (some party members speculated that it may be the cult of Aim). Runners turned up with the rock salt and the locusts.

Everyone except me was exhausted from the heat when we went to get the myrrh, the rubies and the blue sand. Toledo fronted up with the 30,000 sp for the blue sand.

We had an excellent dinner at the tavern we had stopped at that morning, and returned to the ship around midnight.

=== Wherein I Make Coils ===
I spent the next three days turning the ingredients into coils which could be wound around our weapons (the giants wore theirs as ear-rings). They will allow their owner to speak a giant language heard at the rank of the speaker. Meanwhile, Mebh investigated the problem of the ghoul heads. She found a person who wanted to hire us to get a chest from a town called [[Shorapur]] which is infested with undead. Apparently the chest was full of the blue sand, and he would share half of it with us. We would have to wear black cloaks, and paint our boots blue so the undead would not see us.

== 8 Fruit ==
=== Wherein we Visit Shoraphur and Gather Some Ghoul Heads ===
As our boat approached [[Shorapur]] that evening, we could see smoke and dust rising in the air above the city. There appeared to be fighting in the east, residential fires in the west, and some kind of industry in the centre. Using my crystal ball I could see that the city was kidney-shaped, around a harbour. There was a river running north to east through the eastern outskirts, quarter of a mile wide at the mouth. The walled inner city around the port had been mostly restored. The jeweller's street was in the outer city to the east of the walls. Avoiding the port and possible Urielite entanglements, we could reach it from the western desert or from the river. The city was formerly noted for glassmaking.

Looking closer to the jewellers we could see that there were fires are deep in the cellars and underground. Dallow said there was coal and peat under this city. They so needed a good fire mage here! There was some furtive movement, perhaps looters.

Looking at the docks we could see people working hard, unloading supplies from a big ship. We pulled the boat into shore on the other side of the river beyond a promontory. We made a fire and Pierre made a hot meal of steak and kidney pie that made us all feel tougher. While dinner was cooking, a large walrus came up the beach and looks to us, followed by more walruses and seals. Amelia produced a magic facecloth, and I produced my magic comb, and together we got the salt out of everyone. We headed inland across the ruined fields. In the distance we could see ghouls prowling the fields. As we got closer we could see that the ground was riddled with pits.

Shortly after beginning to cross the fields, we encountered our first group of ghouls I dragon-flamed the central group and they fell to dust. Mebh slew another and it also disintegrated. Then they ran away, back into the ground. We got only one ghoul head out of that fight.

We proceeded further across the fields, and suddenly a mass of ghouls and skeletons came up out of the ground surrounding us. They attacked us, striking and draining, and were soon joined by imps and wraiths, and what seemed to be human necromancers controlling the lesser undead. The party fought back and I stamped my staff on the ground, casting a fireball at point-blank range. Then I couldn't cast because there wasn't any mana there any more so I fed a waters of healing to Toledo who was badly hurt. Pierre did a clever thing that resulted in me being teleported to one side of the combat so I could do the fireball thing again, destroying a whole bunch more. Then one of the undead hurt Mebh really badly so she couldn't stand. Pierre leapt around the battlefield spectacularly.... As did one of the big bad guys - who was promptly killed by Pierre. Another one tried to run away, until Christopher whacked him in the back. And then they all ran away, back into the holes. So we got to collect more ghoul heads, another six, which was ample. We dumped the heads... and some entire bodies in the portable hole, to be looted later. We used Mebh's tower shield as a stretcher, and carried her across the fields. Everything seemed to be keeping a respectful distance from us. I don't think they liked my fireballs. However, the imps had got Mebh and I with serious bad luck, reducing our strike chances and cast chances for next sixteen days.

We built a raft and crossed the river... then we made our way with little incident to the jeweller's street. Then we had to dig our way down to Dallow's strongroom, and claim the chest. We decided to be good and not try to loot the neighbours. It was midnight by the time we got back to the boat, and we were so tired. We cast off and weighed anchor. Pierre had to let loose two grievous injuries he had suffered in the fight and Amelia, Christopher and I rushed to aid him. Thanks to Amelia's skill, he survived, but had suffered a disfiguring facial injury.

== 9-18 Fruit ==
We got back to the great junk by lunchtime, and the entire boat was winched aboard. It was a relief to get back on board.

=== And so to the Temple of the Trials ===
[[Image:West of the Lunar Empire.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Western edge of the Lunar Empire]]We travelled along the Wild Coast anchoring for a day at [[Tycho City]], where Dallow left us, saying that he could sell the blue sand for us, for twice the usual price we could get. We could contact him back at [[Adjepbar]]. We turned left at [[Cognitam City|Cognitum]] and headed up the Esel River to the [[Inland Sea]]. Amelia and the ship's surgeon spent a lot of time healing Mebh and Pierre. We had the ghoul heads preserved and sorted the loot from the bodies, which we then chucked overboard for the sharks.

Pierre after suffering a horrific face injury: "Arghhh... I cannot taste properly"

== 19th fruit ==
'The East Winds of Tycho' moored off shore at Ajaal, a town by the mouth of the Esel River, on the southern shores of the Inland Sea. One of the giants made a flying cloud, and then we travelled six hours on it, into the [[Gargoyle Mountains]], to the [[Temple of the East Winds]]. A titan wearing a gladiator's helm came out and greeted us in the giantish tongue. He said that he needed six ghoul heads, and then we would begin, so we handed them over. He pointed at a watery pit, and asked who would be first, and Mebh stepped forward.

== 20 - 26 Fruit ==
=== 1st Trial ===
He told her to get a fish, with her trident. We all had to have a go, but it wasn't hard even for me. The first task complete, the next day he trained us and we all learned how to use the trident to the first rank of skill. He told us stories in the evenings. He informed us that this year the fourth trial would be tridents against fire salamanders. We learned that his name was Maxirus.

=== 2nd Trial ===
We went into the pit again, this time to kill crabs. Then Max spent the next two days teaching us trident to the second rank. All the time the Giants piled up fire wood.

Max told us that the third trial would be against a giant electric eel.

=== 3rd Trial ===
This was rather more difficult, but with Amelia going first, and her immunity to lightning, we all succeeded in only half a day. Then we took three days learning the third rank of trident.

For a few more days the Giants had been pilling up even more fire wood. On the evening of the third day, a man in fancy armour came up the hill carrying a shark's head. The titan shook his head. Evidently it was the wrong shark. He said his name was Callow, and he came from Tycho.

Needless to say, he knew of Mebh. He had fought the octopus, and described it as showing intelligence, wielding multiple tridents, using Water Magic, and turning the water black. We helped him get his friend's body up the top of the hill. Apparently, there was a witchdoctor over the next hill, who should be able to help.

=== 4th Trial ===
He told us a bit about the trial against the salamanders. He warned us to stand on the dark red ground, not the bright red. We should stay away from the wall because that would be where the salamanders come from. A fire counterspell would help keep the elementals at bay. He offered us to share some tea he had brought from Tycho.

Max asked to see Christopher's healing belt, thanked him for the ghoul heads, and made it work again. We all showed him our variously magical belts, and he duly admired them. Mebh, Christopher and Toledo showed him their depleted sashes and he brought us a fresh set of six for all of us. These provided superior strength, and protections against water magics, but made it hard to drink liquids.

About nine of the clock that evening, we had an unexpected visitor. [[Braegon]] came walking up the hill and joined us for supper. After which he generously resurrected the dead adventurer, who was a Namer called Cosra, and then cast some very useful spells on us, which would last until the morning.

''Mebh'': "Are you sure you're a Fire Mage?"
''Flamis'': "I'm a Fire Mage with a brain"
''Braegon'': "We're going to have to report you to the Fire College."

== 27 Fruit ==
=== Wherein we Visit the Plane of Fire ===
We are instructed that we would have to bring back six stony hearts. When the salamanders die only some of them will release these. We would therefore need to kill at least six salamanders in order to bring back the six stone hearts.

The giants made a portal to the plane of Elemental Fire. I cast counterspells on everyone, and we stepped through one by one, Toledo first, and were immediately beset by elemental creatures literally coming out of the walls, many of them actually salamanders in their natural form, and others wearing tiaras which were Greater Elementals, which we had been warned not to kill. I set about casting fire counterspells, while the others fought off and killed the creatures, collecting the crystalline hearts where they fell. It was most difficult for the water mage and the ice mage, both of whom were more vulnerable to the effects of the place. We had also to avoid glowing red pits in the surface of the rocky ground. I'd say the air was unhealthy too, but we had prepared for this expedition with vapour-breathing, fireproofing and fire armour spells, without which we would not have survived long. The creatures seemed much weaker when in the area of a counterspell, and were then easier to kill.

It was going remarkably well until I slipped and stood on one of the glowing red pits and found myself fully fifty feet away from the party.... And promptly was whacked on the head by one of these creatures. I think it must have been trying to squish me like a bug. I considered casting fire arc, but it was quicker to simply run for it, taking another concussive blow as I ran past another one. At this point we had seven of the gems, and so we ran for the gate, me first.

My poor head ached... and could somebody please fix my armour...? Apparently, none of the party were armourers. Amelia, at the titan's suggestion, went up the hill, to get some useful herbs. She reported a strange glow over the [[Lunar Empire]], which the titan said was the doing of the [[Moon Goddess]]. The titan told Pierre the location of the Temple of War. If War should be defeated, then the titan would divulge the location of other temples. For the Trial of the Twin Orbs, I was told, one must go to the Temple of the South Winds, to the south of the Lunar Empire. From the herbs she found, Amelia made a salve that helped cure my sore head and Pierre's sore shoulder remarkably quickly.

== 28 Fruit - 1 Harvest ==
The titan trained us in the fourth rank of trident.

One evening Max offered to take us to see the Temple of the Twin Orbs. From a distance, since that place was inhabited by a Dark Titan. It was a mostly ruinous temple in a desolate valley. I memorised the place so I would know it again.

When we got back we noticed that the giants seemed to be watching us speculatively. Mebh thought they were probably betting on our progress.
Max told us that the next trial would be the giant octopus. We had two choices. One was found in the deepest part of the Inland Sea.... The other lived in a lagoon in the Isles of Adventure. The giant octopus was described a savage, savage beast. The titan suggested that we cover ourselves in fat, because that would make its blows less severe.

== 2 Harvest ==
=== And so we go Back to Adjepbar ===

Early in the morning the giants made another cloud and took us back to the ship. One of the adventurers from Tycho told us that we should talk to Captain Eylea of the Value II about the location of a Giant Octopus for us to kill. We travelled back down the river Esel to [[Cognitum City|Cognitum]].

== 3-6 Harvest ==

We reached [[Tycho City|Tycho]] and docked there. Then we (with the exception of Mebh) went ashore and got some seal fat impregnated with rosemary. The armourer on the ship offered to fix my armour, but said we would need some cockatrice blood. Mebh offered some paste that would fix my armour, and Amelia made this paste work better. And with more of the paste, we were all given better protection.

== 7th Harvest ==
=== Wherein we Encounter Eylea and the Value II ===

When we arrived at [[Adjepbar]], Amelia spotted the Value II. It was flying the flag of the [[Ffenargh]]. Apparently Amelia had met Captain Eylea [http://dq.sf.org.nz/library/snwi8802.pdf previously]. One of the giants suggested that Pierre should investigate making a cave bat stew to help people see through the ink cloud. We went ashore to learn where to get cave bats. Pierre found out that the cave bats were in the caves to the north, in bandit country. We were told that we could hunt them, and it would only take half a day. Then we realised that Amelia had gone off. She had found Captain Eylea, and we were going to meet her at lunchtime.

We then went to see Dallow. First we showed him the last of the salamander crystals, and he offered to find out what it would be useful for. He confirmed that we would need the big hairy bats from the caves north of town. These would be hard to kill, because they make dreadful sounds.

We arrived at the pub in time for lunch. Mebh put 120sp on the bar, and we had a very nice lunch. They asked if we wanted cold rocks for our table. I checked the aura and they appeared to be a temperature alteration focus. So I suggested that Christopher cast a cooling spell while touching the rocks, and it worked very well.

Captain Eylea turned up around noon, highly agitated and complaining about the docking fees here. Even she had heard stories of Mebh. Apparently after the Lunar Games, the Drow ships came here, and sunk all the pirate ships, which explains why all the pirates are in this town making a nuisance of themselves. She wanted us at the ship by three, so we sent a runner off to buy some of the cave bats. Over lunch we learned that she was a Water Mage, and wore the symbol of St. Theodoric, a church of the Powers of Light. The runners came back with six cave bats at 115sp each. Dallow has been offered 17000sp and the deed to a sunken ship in exchange for the salamander heart crystal, apparently by a wizard who has been crafting some kind of Staff of Fires for the last four years, and needs this as the final component. He lives in the Gatar Depression. We asked Cosra to kindly divinate the blue sand, the salamander heart, the cave bat stew, and the items we got from the ghouls. He advised us to try to stab the octopus in the eyes, so it would not be able to cast.

We boarded the Value II and sailed south and west for the rest of that day and the following night, through a giant arch.

== 9th Harvest==
=== 5th Trial ===
=== They Called THAT an Octopus? ===
Shortly after dawn we arrived at an island that looked like a doughnut with a slice taken out of it, and had a steep and jagged island in the centre. The Captain cast buoyancy spells on us, and we were wearing our sashes. We used a dinghy to get ashore, and triggered an assortment of scrolls and invested items. Some of us also ate the cave bat stew, which was very tasty, though I think that I should have given it a miss.

We wandered the sandy shore of the atoll, until we came to a deep dark cave entrance. Dallow and Cosra offered to go in and pull out our remains if we didn't come out in an hour. They also drew us a map indicating where the giant octopus most often lurked, in the maze of water-filled caves below the island. They told us there were also a pair of big nasty sharks down there, one of them a hammerhead, and a colony of frogmen.

As we looked into the pool, Mebh said there was something moving in the water. Mebh and Toledo jumped in, and reported that it was an enormous sea anemone, easily avoided. Amelia noticed that there were some phosphorescent water plants floating in the water, providing us with a light source, and assured us that these were harmless. As we all entered the water, Amelia spotted things coming out of the kelp, large crustaceans of some kind... giant spider crabs. They attacked us and we fought back with our tridents. We swiftly killed the bigger ones and the little ones ate them. There was a lot of goop in the water, but Amelia said it wouldn't hurt us.

We carried on, and then we met the really big crabs. They were huge, and had some sort of barbed mandibles that stabbed people. Then Amelia spotted a denizen... a crab with a rider. One of them grabbed Christopher, but he was tough and fought back. I charged a large, as opposed to huge, crab near the denizen and killed it with one blow much to my astonishment. Then the denizen started harvesting its body. The water began to fill with black icky stuff, as Toledo hit one of the huge ones hard enough to make it back off, and Christopher and Pierre severely wounded another. Then Amelia reported something enormous coming through the kelp, sniffing at the ichor. Mebh stabbed the one that was fleeing and it stabbed her back. Then Toledo killed it. Several eels came out of its mouth as it died and the water turned black. It went quiet. The denizen left us alone, and we headed down the corridor, avoiding a number of sea anemone traps.

After about fifteen minutes we reached an enormous water-filled chamber. There was a good deal of kelp in this room, and a whole lot of huge sparkly jellyfish up near the ceiling, thirty feet up periodically sinking and rising, trailing fifteen feet. Further above them, Amelia spotted a gigantic twelve-armed cephalopod, which had to be the giant octopus. The philosophers would probably have wanted to call it a dodecapod, I suppose.

Suddenly, as Mebh stepped forward to observe the currents, the octopus jumped down at us, showing an unexpected alacrity. It fired enormous barbs at us from one of its tentacles, striking me, and taking down Pierre. Each of its twelve tentacles had an eye on it. Mebh swam up and attempted to hit one of the eyes. It responded by flinging darts back at her, and temporarily paralysed her. It tossed more darts at Toledo, and stunned him. Amelia swam up into the inky cloud, and hit it, wounding and disabling one of its tentacles. Toledo, Amelia, and Mebh struck it again, and then it fired at Toledo, and at the rest of us down the back. Then, having run out of darts, it lashed at Mebh, knocking her unconscious, and at then Toledo. Next it lashed at Amelia, striking her too. This was not going well.

Amelia whacked another arm almost asunder. So it concentrated on her, but fortunately missed most of its attacks. It went very black. Mebh chopped off another arm, which wasn't just an arm, being the third arm on the right, the hectocotylus, and it literally exploded all over her. So it concentrated its attacks on Mebh, even though Toledo removed another arm, and came down to bite her, and tried to eat her. So Pierre swapped places with Mebh, while Christopher healed her. I charged in and struck it from below, luckily severing another tentacle. Then Pierre stuck and disabled the eighth arm, drawing its remaining attacks to him, and then it was our turn. We all struck, and Amelia took off another arm.

Then the bubbling bits from where those darts had struck my armour earlier exploded, which was intensely painful, and I was so glad I had got Basalic to make me those Strength of Stone scrolls. And then the giant shark turned up, behind us. The octopus took down Pierre as he drew its attacks again, and then we destroyed all but one of its remaining arms. And next, according to Pierre, the shark addressed him in Lunar, saying he was too pretty to eat. Mebh struck the final blow, the last arm was pierced, then still more black goo spread throughout the area, and a bunch of little octopi swarmed over Mebh. We each took one with us. I spotted a sparkly butterfly-like thing and claimed it as my own. Finally we made our way made to the surface, fortunately without further event.

Darrow and Cosra greeted us with club sandwiches, and Pierre made tea. The Captain wanted to get away under cover of darkness, because she had seen sea griffins landing on the central island. Amelia checked over Mebh and discovered that she was infected with a bunch of parasites. Apparently we all have this. It was some kind of mark of success. We dried out the octopi on the beach, but the sparkly thing turned out to be no more than a shiny scale.

=== A Magnificent Celebration in Lunar City ===

At evening we returned on the dinghy to the ship to hear that the Captain had been fighting griffins. Then we sailed back to Adjebar in just two hours. There must be weird currents around here. We got back on board the junk, thanking Captain Eylea, and decided to celebrate on board. Matt Tumbledown was there, and he suggested we go ashore, and party there. What we didn't realise at first was that he meant Lunar City. He told us to dress up for going out on the town. One of the giants warned us to take nothing to Lunar City that was attached to any of the Powers.

The giants all dressed up in a sort of uniform, in a blue tabard over blue leather armour, which rather clashed with the ruddy complexions of the fire giants. Amelia and I wore the robes we purchased in Adjebar, Toledo and Christopher wore ship leathers, and Mebh got changed into her fancy Lunar armour. Matt did something, a heat haze rose up around us, and we found ourselves on the mountain plateau at the Temple of the East Winds. Max greeted us and asked if we would be back for more training in the morning. Mebh, at Matt's prompting, said we'd be there in the afternoon. "They have spoken," said Matt.

He raised the heat haze again, and we found ourselves in a beautifully well-manicured copse of trees. This was apparently the palace grounds. We followed after Matt, and went through some enormous gates into the Lunar City proper. The buildings in the city were also big, commonly three to four stories high.

We were led into one of these buildings that had a large central atrium. There was one table with giants we didn't know, and another table with giants we knew from the ship, and Matt led us there. There were maybe fifty giants, a few elves and halflings, and a couple of hundred humans in the courtyard. The seating was cleverly designed to allow conversation between persons of differing stature. We were first served a small bowl of a golden liquid that we forced ourselves to imbibe, fighting the after effects of the sash. It made me feel relaxed all over. I noticed these little signs on posts saying in Dwarvish, "No shouting at the staff". Next they brought us fine beer in tankards, all adorned with a pattern of a thousand little squares. They fetched menus for Amelia, Mebh and I, which had a long list of wines.

One of the humans came over and said that the headwaiter wanted to speak to our party leader, so Mebh went off to talk to him. People were staring and pointing at Mebh. When she returned she explained that we were guests of the house and did not need to worry about payment. He also had a gift for us from the giants, a chest with odd-shaped bottles of what we initially assumed was very fine liquor.

Meanwhile, bowls with nibbles appeared. Mebh came back and explained that she had bought some of Matt's favourite wine back in Seagate to present to Matt and the giants in return for their gifts. So we gave it to them, starting with the tallest people, which meant Matt was first. He told us to enjoy ourselves, and not drink too much, especially of the dwarvish wine. Personally, I didn't think that drinking too much was going to be much of a problem.

When Amelia and I looked at the strange-looking bottles in the chest, we saw that they were covered with dwarvish runes that described the makers, their lineage, and the ingredients. This seemed to indicate that these are not random alcoholic drinks, however superior, but magical potions. The dwarvish wine was very nice, tasting of fine wine, yet with the warmth of dwarven spirits. One of the giants chatted to Amelia, and suggests that she visits the Northern Temple at some stage, given her skills in not getting lost and her interest in plants. Some human guards in uniforms came and went. By midnight, when they brought out some more substantial foods; platters of roasted pork and poultry, the place was extremely crowded.

At half past midnight some other important people arrived. Toledo thought they were from the Palace. Around one in the morning, the desserts came out, and the music slowed and dropped in volume. The drinking carried on until about three in the morning, when we were told that rooms on the top floor were laid out for us. Breakfast would be served between five and six in the morning. So we had a final round, toasted Matt's hospitality, and headed up to bed. We were then shown to a well-appointed suite of rooms, with many curious plants

== 10-15th Harvest ==
=== More Training and Preparing ===
We were woken two hours later by the odours of breakfast cooking. The décor in the courtyard had been completely changed. New statues, new tabletops... These were laden with heated bread, eggs, bacon, and sausages and heated dried fruit. Matt arrived, wished us all a good morning, asked us if we'd enjoyed ourselves, and thanked us for not fighting the night before. We spent an hour over breakfast. I have to say that the fruit mixture was strange, but it made me feel much better.

When we were finished, the giants led us for a brisk five-mile walk through the city to an armoury. Matt exchanged bags with a dwarf, and led us back to the Inn. Matt settled up with the Innkeeper, giving him five ingots of some sort of metal. One odd thing - everyone we saw in the city wore clean and tidy, well-tailored clothing. You had to wonder where the beggars were. Mebh explained that everything was extraordinarily expensive in this part of the City.

Matt led us to a wrestling match, which was very interesting. It was a sport, not real combat, and a demonstration of skill. There were people betting on it and so on. Toledo noted that there were a couple of important-looking guardsmen watching us.

Matt thanked us for our company, complimented us, raised the heat-haze again, and we found ourselves back at the Temple of the East Winds. Max handed us each a trident with three different coloured prongs, and the training began again. I could see that these were very well made, even better than I could make. Analysing the aura, I could see that these tridents were magical, the purple prong with enchantment, the red with fire, and the white with ice. Amelia and I spent the evenings trying to identify the potions (without removing the seals), but all we could figure out was that they were designed to enhance weapons in some way.

On the evening of the fifth day Matt returned to collect us. He chatted to Max for a while, then came back and said he was ready to take us back to Adjebar. A heat haze arose and we were back on the junk. We went to talk to the friendly giant, who told us the potions were dwarven weapon-spirits. The ones with multiple heads were permanent, and needed to be opened in order from the highest to the lowest.

We asked for our horses to be put ashore so we could ride them for their exercise. They are brought across on slings, onto a barge, and onto the land. We went armed in case of bandits, and rode out along the coast road, past some mansions and into the desert. We encountered a patrol of guards who stopped when we greeted them. They confirmed that the road ahead was clear, and so we rode on. After an hour or so we rode back to the city. The horses, under the direction of Mebh's stallion, headed for an Inn having stables, where they could stay. At a cost - we were quoted 250sp a week for the warhorses, and 120sp a week for the palfreys.

Pierre eyed up some of the reptilian riding beasts stabled there with a view to soup, and was noticed, which led to dinner for six at the Inn, notably without lizard on the menu. Rather there was spit-roasted pork, slashed and stuffed with seasoned polenta instead. After we were served a big bunch of merchants and sailors arrived and it became apparent that the meat had been prepared for their party. But there was plenty for us too. At 35sp together it was good value.

Flamis: "You can do the lacerations, I'll do the roasting!"

Pierre: "Ah yes, the fruit from Seagate is well known."
Christopher: "And so are the nuts"

Having eaten our fill, we headed back to the ship. There was a circus in the centre of town. We avoided this, in case there were mimes. We hired a ferry, and returned safely to the junk.

When we got on board we saw that there was a raised sand pit, seven or eight feet on a side, and a few inches deep. Within we could see a model, an array of buildings - a sort of military scientist's sand castle. Clearly they were planning an assault. Their plans were good, but a little inflexible. Mebh gave us some hints. When we asked where it was, they told us that it was on a cloud. And we could not help them, because we would be storming the main island... on the ninth trial. Then we learned that we were doing the sixth, seventh, and eight trials on the next successive three days. One can only hope that none of us gets badly hurt.

We learned that there would be a shark in the island with the coral. We should kill the small sharks first.

The seventh trial would be against some mermen in a flooded castle, who are casters. We would need to gain a piece of knowledge from them regarding some kind of sea monster. On the clouds we would be fighting a cursed Cloud Giant, who hits extremely hard. They wanted to know if we had teleportation magic, and because of the wards Fire Arc would not qualify. The tenth trial would be fought halfway up the Block, and the very thought of that made Mebh quail. Somehow I did not think that we would be going that far.

After that I went to the stern castle where there was a fire. I sat and stared into the flames... and my other selves sent visions of what might come to pass.

===Visions of Pain to Come===

First I saw us fighting lots of little sharks, and then a giant shark came from above and attacked Mebh. This was plainly our quarry, and I will recognise it again. Then I saw the party in the desert, fighting these giant scorpions, deliberately getting stung, and then running away... It looked like the badlands north of Sanctuary.

Then I saw us fighting the sharks again. I could see that we had to kill all the little sharks before we could kill the big one... I'd seen this trick before. It could transfer its damage to its minions.

Finally, I saw us fighting what looked like pirates - one ugly brigand in particular who snuck up behind Mebh and attempted to knife her in the back. Him, I would remember. This must be the other hazard we would encounter on our way to the sharks.

At Mebh's insistence, I did the ritual twice more, first for the merfolk, and then for the minotaur.

I could not see where the flooded castle was, only getting the confused headache that I knew meant somewhere in the Isles of Adventure. Then I saw the merfolk with their magics and tridents... When I asked if we might negotiate with them, I saw myself in the flames, perhaps performing another ritual. When I asked what we might exchange for the information we need I saw bits of bodies, of Toledo and Christopher floating in rough water - so I guessed that would not be a useful approach. When I asked about precautions we should take I saw us in a dark chamber made of ruined ships, climbing across the top, each carrying some kind of kelp. When I asked where we would find the kelp, I saw us in the desert again, looking rather dehydrated, and I saw Mebh falling into a hole, and hordes of scorpions coming after us. And then Mebh found treasure in the hole, though she was skewered through the shoulder by a massive shard of stone.

As for the minotaur, rather risking another headache by asking where the island was, I asked how I would remember it, and then saw myself on a rocky island with my hands cut off. Not a promising start. When I asked what other hazards exist on the minotaur's island I saw us clambering over razor-sharp rocks and coral as we were being battered by strong and buffeting winds. So I asked what magic the Minotaur would use against us, I saw darkness and storm, and a torrent of seashells and broken coral rushing at us, evidently a form of the necromantic stream of corruption. It was when I asked what other special abilities the minotaur had that I got the biggest shock of the night, seeing something scything through my hands as I went to help an injured Mebh. Then, recovering from that, I asked what magics would be nullified by the minotaur's island, and then saw flashes of flower petals falling to the ground, only to wither and decay. I concluded that the place nullified life. As for what special precautions we should take facing the minotaur, I saw Toledo fishing for coral weapons.

After all that it wasn't after 3am I was finished and it took me and I got to sleep.

== 16 Harvest ==
=== Of Sand, Spiders, Scorpions and a Very Odd Hermit ===
And then the giants came to wake us up at 5am. I tried to go back to sleep, but then Toledo came and yelled at me so I had to get up. By 6:30 we went ashore, to be greeted by a bunch of people who wanted to carry our luggage. I didn't have any. We went to the Inn where our horses were stabled, and got rooms so I could sleep through the heat of the day. It cost 24sp for the day. First they served fruits and breads, and then I went to bed, hoping to get some sleep.

Meanwhile the party went to find the person who had succeeded in the trials. First they looked for the guide, and found him looking over some bad maps. He led them to the other fellow's house, and they had a third breakfast at a good Inn. They learned we needed to get the poison sacs and that the best way to get them was to get stung. These scorpions were huge, the size of wagons. There was a crazy old hermit who knows about them. As for the kelp, there is a famous pirate lair in a dead kraken where there is a market where we might be able to trade.

They woke me up around 3pm, and I explained about the wildfires. We decided to wildfires the horses, except Mebh's - because it could fly. After that and fireproofing horses and people, I was ready for a restorative and a Waters of Healing. Speaking of which, Pierre had made five Waters of Healing at Rank nine for each of us at cost during the journey here. I protested that I had plenty, but as it turned out, more didn't hurt.

After about half an hour, we came to a canyon. Our Guide told us we would need to stop going so fast and sneak past to avoid the hazards in the ravine. There were webs across the track, and I set fire to these. Ahead there was a black pool of liquid. We crossed through this without harm, and a mile or so later we came to a nest, canopied by spider-webs stretching for hundreds of feet. I set light to the web, and then all Hades broke loose... if Hades is full of spiders... and other things. Something stung me with some sort of necromantic acid... Mebh went and attacked an ogre-like creature and trampled it. I dragon-flamed and killed the thing that stung me, and Toledo killed another. Then one felled my horse under me, and Pierre's horse too. Mebh's warhorse finished off the ogre, and she came over to my side of the fight and clobbered a giant spider. Then the buzzing sound resolved itself into some flying creatures coming our way. One of them swooped down from behind me and picked me up. Desperately I realised I could not cast, and was about to trigger my cloak, when I felt Pierre swapping places with me, and began to prepare instead... and then the creature, burdened with Pierre's not inconsiderable weight, crashed into the ravine wall and expired. Mebh trampled the spider next to where I was now standing, as I prepared to cast again. One of the spiders spat something horrible at Christopher's warhorse, nearly taking him down. Toledo hit another of the winged things on the way through. I cast my Dragonsmite spell on the last giant spider, the one attacking Christopher, and it blew apart. We sorted ourselves out, and I cast cleansing flames, first on Christopher's warhorse, Storm, and then on the other horses. This burned off the nasty acidic necromantic stuff, preventing it doing further damage.

Half a mile later we came to a cave surrounded by patterns of coloured sand... we yelled and a shortish person in a dark robe came out. He lets us in, telling us to avoid the white sands. The guide offered to look after the horses while Mebh ferried us in. The hermit knew Mebh of course, and offered to tell her great things. He seemed to know all about why we were here, and about the scorpions. He told us to each fill a bowl with a little white sand, travel down the tunnel, avoiding the blue pond, and tip the white sand into the black pond. This we did without event.

He told us that we would be ambushed by scorpions at midnight, and we would have to run away on the horses because I wouldn't be able to cast. Mebh would be badly injured in the ruins and fall down a hole and find great treasure. The hermit really enjoyed the wine that Pierre brought. He offered us skin-changes for the horses. Apparently the hermit turns into a ravening monster every night. Pierre made a stew to make us more dexterous.

In the evening we headed out into the desert. It got quite chill, cold enough that Pierre put fire-armour on us. It was nearly midnight when we feel a chill in the air... I cast weapons of radiance, and felt the mana level drop to low.... Then at midnight the ground went dark, and a swarm of little scorpions came our way.... Followed by a bunch of big ones. One threw a sting from its tail at Pierre that sticks in him, and another killed his horse outright. A third got Christopher. We now had all the poison sacs we needed stuck in us, so we decided to run for it. The horses stomped on the little ones as they tried to climb up their legs. I had no choice but to quickcast fireball on the area using my staff, and Mebh rode through the big ones, trampling and fighting, thus creating an opening. Pierre clambered up behind Christopher and hung on for dear life as we ran through the gap to the east. A cloud of burnt stuff followed us as we galloped away, caused by some sort of magic generated by the giant scorpions. Mebh took to the air, and soon they gave up.

She then led us south and back towards the cave. After a while we came upon some ruins. We stopped, and Christopher started removing the barbs. Then suddenly the building beside Mebh exploded, and a shard took my left hand clean off at the wrist. There was a gigantic scorpion... and I had no fatigue to cast... (and again I would have been dead if it hadn't been for Basalic's scrolls) so we all hit it and it ran away back down its hole... Toledo went down the hole and found twelve gold coins and a scroll-case. Mebh had a chunk of stone sticking out of her shoulder... But I was bleeding and Christopher had to heal me first. And then we ran again... eventually the cloud stopped following us, and we got another brief respite.

Spike (Mebh's horse): He can feed me oats for a month...
Toledo: That's what stableboys are for.
Spike: Yeah, I know.

Then the spectral warriors came after us, and we ran again. There was lightning in the sky, and I began to think that something here didn't like flying things. And balls of lightning kept bouncing around. I guessed it didn't like running things either. Finally we got to rest. In the morning we went back to see the hermit, as we had promised. We learned that we were being chased by spectral scorpions and would die unless we got rid of them.

So, we ran the horses on wildfires all day to Shoraphur, where we knew there was consecrated ground, and made our way to a fortified Gabrielite chapter house with a church attached. This was once the city keep by the looks of it. There were a group of well-armed female guards who challenged us... Mebh explained that we were in need of consecrated ground, being pursued by foul magic, and they led us inside. The church was still being renovated. Inside, a brother of the order was waiting, and addressed us by name. Apparently Matt and the ship were in the harbour. The brother wanted to fix Pierre's face before my hand, saying it brought fear, and that I had insufficient leaning towards the church. I protested that I was brought up a Gabrielite. One of the nuns came to heal Mebh and the others, but they had no quick way to heal me. They made a fine portrait of Pierre, I am not sure why. By evening we were informed that the scorpion ghosts had arrived at the gates and been destroyed. Apparently they were after Toledo and Pierre for taking stuff from the ruins. Matt arrived with dinner, and we had trouble staying awake. We went back to the junk afterwards. Matt summoned [[Braegon]] to heal me. Braegon informed the group it would take around seven days to fix the hand. The party decided not to involve Braegon at this time. Braegon and Matt leave.

== 18 Harvest ==
=== More Preparations and Amelia goes Shopping ===
We slept and were awoken at 5am. At breakfast we spent a long time talking, mainly about how to get to the place where the shark would be found. Pierre asked one of the giants if we might borrow one of the ship's longboats, and this was arranged for later today. It would be fully provisioned for the eight of us. In discussing tactics I proposed using nets in order to hamper and contain the smaller sharks, and this suggestion was well received, and nets duly obtained. Within the confines of the sunken ship this should be quite effective. Mebh had skill in using nets, but ideally, we would prepare the netted area in advance and attract the sharks to it, trapping them in ground of our choosing.

Mebh learned that some dwarves were working on the scorpion venom in the ship's alchemy lab, and would be finished in four hours. Amelia discovered that there was a shop in the halfling quarter of [[Adjepbar]] that sold some form of magical potions, but only halflings could safely go there. Toledo took the chest with bottles to the dwarves to have them identified. I got to look at the coins Toledo found and, while they were not magical, they were exceedingly valuable, being worth perhaps ten thousand silver each, because of their size and rarity and the purity of the gold. Amelia learned that Callow has defence magics, which is one less thing we will need. We also learned from Callow that we could draw on ship's stores for restorative potions - only they are for giants and would do decidedly excessive amounts of endurance damage - the highest numbered ones enough to kill me outright.

Cosra came back with the tridents, explaining that they store one weapon spell on each of the prongs that don't run out until they are used. At the moment they were loaded with fairly low ranked weapon of flame, weapon of ice, and enchant weapon. Any combination of weapon spells could be used. They could also do earthquake damage when the butt end was thrust against a wall.

We felt the boat moving, and we were on our way back to Adjebar. Then a giant came offering to take Amelia to the hobbit quarter of Adjebar before lunch. Callow suggested selling the coins to a gold merchant in the dwarven tavern under Adjebar. Toledo helps Amelia hide the coin on her person, and off she goes. On the deck are a bunch of titans and storm giants, dressed up and ready to go.... Amelia ran back down and got properly dressed. Amelia was asked to hold one female giant's hand and the heat haze came up and took them away.

Toledo went back to the dwarves, and came back with the bottles labelled in common. For example: "A simple four-part weapon spirit." On each bottle there were similar instructions and expectations.... Potions that were to be consumed and would have unusual consequences... There were flavours written on the bottles too. Three of them were designed to summon a spirit hero (if drunken in the correct order) and the hero would aid the imbiber and then, in some way, enchant their weapons. There were also six two-part weapon spirits that have temporary effects allowing the weapons to affect specific things such as the unholy. Finally, there were three one and two-part weapon spirit to apply to blades that replicate weapon spell. I was rather annoyed because I'd seen what was on those bottles, and I must have been drunker than I thought, because the dwarvish was now perfectly clear.

So now we turned our attention to the scrollcase that had been brought out of the ruins. The exterior case was finely crafted, and worth over a thousand silver, but not magical and not trapped. There was a fine bone or ivory case inside the exterior wooden case. This did have an aura - of enchanting, of diminishment.... We gave it to Cosra to divinate - and learned that it had a case inside which if we put a valuable parchment inside will make a scroll of the last spell to benefit the user.

Amelia came back just before midday. She had some fifty doses of silversands for quickness, which would be put on the teeth (lasting a couple of weeks) and then licked off when it was needed, and would cost around 500sp per dose. She had some strength of stone investeds (4 scrolls x 3 charges), some six potions of same, and six basilisk eggs, which could be grated and added to a meal, which were a gift from the leaders of the halflings. She also had some unusual foodstuffs for Pierre to play with - olives inside snakeskins.

The scary thing was that the giants had captured a pair of human assassins who were after Amelia. Matt explained that there would soon be an opportunity to open certain Golden Gates, beyond which was found a demonic wasteland, where lay a corpse which needed to be recovered. He wanted some heroes who have completed the Trials to attempt this. So the assassins must have been sent by Matt's enemies. And probably those pirates I was anticipating running into as well.

After lunch we lowered the longboat off the boat, and with the services of a navigator from the junk (and Pierre, our party navigator) we managed to sail the little ship.

== 19 Harvest ==
=== 6th Trial ===
After a day of sailing south, we passed three low desert islands with birds, and some air elementals of some sort stirring up the sand. We caught up with some dolphins, Pierre and I talked to them, and they agreed to lead us to the sharks, after we convinced they that we were capable of winning. We sailed past islands with giant rock archways large enougth for a ship to travers. Other islands with thick green forests with camp fire smoke and the sound of drums coming from the island hills and forests. For about twelve hours they led us, until 4am the next morning, when they stopped and told us to rest.

== 20 Harvest ==
Around dawn we saw pirate sails in the east... and they would take maybe two hours to get here. We were in a lagoon with sandy shores, we saw some four masts sticking out of the water at odd angles. To the southeast we saw a mana storm gathering... curved lightning and all. This was going to be very tricky, and we wouldn't have a whole lot of time.

We went for the sharks first.... I noticed that Amelia had grown taller over the last few days, and had grown a metal arm. We prepared ourselves, waded into the water, and swam to the ship. The sunken ship was eighty feet long, and we could see there was a big hole in the side, under the water. There looked to be three decks, the uppermost deck being hampered with skeletons, nets and other debris. Getting in from the top looked impractical. The whole vessel was covered in barnacles and looked dark and ominous.

Mebh went first, and started to kick the wall to make the hole larger, then we moved in. The smaller sharks ignored us to begin with because there was no blood, and we concentrated on putting up nets without initiating attacks. The giant shark, our quarry, was lurking near the bow. Pierre went up through a hole to the upper deck and encountered a giant squid and more sharks. We continued netting off the various areas.

After we were satisfied with the nets on the lowest deck, Mebh, Christopher, and Pierre went through the hole to the upper deck. What we hadn't realised at this point was that there was another hole between the decks towards the bow where the big shark was. The squid let out an enormous screech, and all the sharks went nuts, moving rapidly and running away from it. The big shark went into a frenzy, getting sand everywhere and started heading for the forward hole to get to the upper deck. It poked around and came back down again. Meanwhile as they began laying nets on the upper deck, a swarm of smaller sharks went for Pierre, who came tumbling back down through the hole to where Toledo and I waited. The rest attacked Christopher, biting his back, then Amelia, and Mebh. The giant shark came back down and around, and started biting its way through one of the nets, and then took a hunk out of Toledo.

On the upper deck, Pierre killed one of the smaller sharks. Below, another came up behind me and I whacked it on the nose, as Christopher blocked off the big one with a wall of ice. The shark I had hit suddenly healed itself. That was going to be a nuisance. But not for long because Toledo and I killed it seconds later. The giant shark vanished and went upstairs, and bit Mebh. She evaded and it scraped over her, forcing her down onto the deck, smashed Pierre with its tail, and bit down on Callow, taking off his leg. Amelia healed him, as we started dropping nets and killing the smaller sharks. The big shark carried on squishing Mebh into the deck and slammed Pierre into the wall, creating a Pierre-shaped bruise on its flank.

Meanwhile Christopher killed a smaller shark, and then got tangled in a net, so the shark bit off his hand. Toledo went to rescue him, killing that shark and I killed the other one. Pierre swam down the hole nearby to lead the big shark away from the others and give them time to heal. He only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough time for the others upstairs to regroup. The big shark squished one of the little ones in order to get at Pierre, and practically broke his neck. Then it went back up to have a go at Amelia. Reasoning that the fastest way to get at the remaining small sharks would be to remove the wall of ice by attacking it with the butt of my trident, I did this, and the resulting concussion was most impressive (and rather painful). Then Toledo and I got to kill the smaller sharks that were nibbling on Pierre, but not before it bit off his hand. Meanwhile upstairs the big shark killed the brave Mebh. Then the last small shark came sniffing after Christopher, and Toledo killed it.

Then the big shark, having killed Cosra, came down the hole and went for Toledo. It dragged him sternwards, and suddenly there was a huge shark in front of me. Toledo hit it and then it bit me. That hurt! It tried to drag me across the deck, but the floor here had been cleared by the earlier detonation, and I was unharmed. So, in desperation, I turned the butt of my trident into the wall of shark and it disintegrated in an immense explosion of shark meat and more pain. I had not only killed the giant shark, but I had survived the experience, to my great surprise. Later I learned that Pierre had also been killed by the blast, but this had not been apparent because he immediately resurrected.

Amelia: "Enough to put you off shark fin soup for life."
Pierre: "I'm going to enjoy THIS shark fin soup"

Flamis: "There's enough shark in that thing to make a year's worth of bouillabaisse."

Then we healed those who were still alive and then we looted. Toledo found a number of corpses of other adventurers the sharks had killed, over the centuries. There were twenty-three additional tridents from earlier eras, seven bottles, three scrolls in cases, and around six thousand silver in coin of various denominations. By the time the looting was done, two hours later, the pirate ship had gone, though the mana storm was still sitting there. Perhaps they had run from the mana storm.

I studied the auras on the scrolls, (and later Cosra divinated everything). There was:
* "Brunhilda the Unforgiving's restoration." - restore life, fix all ailments.
* "Avoid Unpleasant Fate." - take away one bad thing, including death.
* "Restore Youth." - as it says.

Two of the bottles were labelled: One read "Gutrog's Grog" in Dwarvish, and the other "XXX" and these predictably proved to contain alcohol.
For two more of them, I could make out the auras through the glass. One had restoration re-enchantment reinvigoration - this would restore life etc, including greater enchantments and curses. The other read infertility, and had been made 422 years ago. It too would restore life, but also confer permanent infertility until death.

== 21 Harvest ==
A day later we got back to the junk. All three of the deceased were promptly resurrected, and Mebh was able to get her Greater Enchantment replaced. Pierre made a magnificent shark soup. Cosra was given the job of divinating the loot. The biggest problem was the unlabelled opaque bottles. We opened one of them, and a djinni in it. We had to remind him that we expected the traditional three wishes. After some discussion we decided to simply ask for improved healing for the remainder of the season. He assented, we thanked him, and then he picked up his bottle, wished us well, and left.

Fortunately, Amelia had collected an unusual type of seaweed that looked very much like the one I saw us carrying on the trial against the merfolk. Its aura signified that it had a restorative effect. Amelia sat down with me and was able to regrow my hand in just four hours. Curiously I felt a little lighter and tired afterwards. Then she did Pierre. That was even quicker. Toledo started playing with the pile of tridents. The first one he picked, the shiniest, would make its wielder respected, had some improvement to skill and damage, and would allow a person with superior skill to do multiple attacks. A couple more were worth looking at, and the others were mundane.

One of the giants told Amelia that the kelp, if kept moist, had some ability to absorb magic. For the first time, as we discussed this, the huge ship listed slightly. When we went to investigate we found lots of people running around. They said that a storm was coming, and it would be a bad one. We carefully battened down everything and stowed the bottles.

== 22 Harvest ==
I began to perform another questioning ritual, and somehow managed to set off a bunch of wards. One of the giants wanted to know what I was doing, but when I tried to explain it all, he rapidly lost interest. After breakfast, Amelia started fixing Christopher. Mebh went to talk to Matt, who suggested she talk to the winds about the minotaur. I helped Pierre get the boat ready for another journey.

== 23 Harvest ==
=== 7th Trial ===
After breakfast, we had the giants lower our boat, and we sailed out towards the islands. The sunrise that morning was purple - apparently an omen that something fantastical would die today. Mebh called up the winds and they told her which way we need to go to find the minotaur. The dark titans put the minotaur back every year. The winds and the airs were very dark there and it smelt bad. The minotaur was bad, and it ate people. We would have to kill it and bring its head back. The wind started to cry, making it rain and Mebh reassured it that we'd be okay.

After a few hours, we came to an island... we could see a ruin, where there was a group of humanoid figures with misshapen heads. The wind told Mebh that there were at least a dozen lesser minotaurs. The island was very rough, covered with sharp rocks and broken terrain.

We prepared ourselves with fire armour, shadowform, featherfall, vapour breathing, water breathing - and after finding a nearby island that wasn't the minotaur one, we triggered strength of stone. This went without incident until Pierre backfired and Christopher started to drown, until Mebh put a sash on him. The namer eventually removed the backfire, some hours later. Pierre decided to take the most powerful of the giant restorative potions, went grey and pale, bits of him splattered all over us, and then he resurrected again. I had to wonder if this was a deliberate attempt on the "Best Death" award.

Finally, we all stripped naked and oiled ourselves. Amelia and Mebh, as the best swimmers, flew to the western side of the island, and harvested a collection of branched coral "tridents" for us. They gathered a dozen or so over the next fifteen minutes, together with some lengths of kelp, some shells and some pearls. We could see that it would be not at all easy to climb those razor-blade rocks, but Amelia's climbing skill was superlative, and she was soon at the top, and lowering a rope of kelp to Mebh, who followed her up. Seeing them out of the water, we started flying towards the island. Amelia made a mat of kelp as a landing platform. We landed one by one and discovered the land was not nice. It was hard to stand without putting one's feet through the nasty sharp friable stuff. And it must have had cold iron in it, because if one got it stuck in one's flesh, it stopped one drawing mana. Then Christopher landed, covered in ice armour. A dark fog started to come out of one of the buildings.

Realising that it was a really bad thing that Christopher wasn't naked, and that the Dark Titans were probably going to come and kill us for his mistake, we flew for our lives. Then the Dark Titans appeared. The first one that went for Christopher, and thumped him most of the way to next week. Then a second one appeared, and swatted Toledo, so hard that he looked like a squished melon. The third appeared as a looming shadow, behind me where I had landed on the boat. And that was the last I knew of that. The titan had killed me... and I was in two pieces, half of me on the deck and half of me on the titan's great club. Meanwhile Christopher was also killed, and then Pierre got out the potion of reversing fate, drank it, and everything changed.

We were all alive, on the island where we started, and Christopher landed, this time without the ice armour. We cobbled together shoes from the kelp and choose coral "tridents". We cast weapon spells on them, and then we walked, rather gingerly, to the ruined building. We found an entrance, and within we could see there were a number of smaller minotaurs, and a whole lot of statues, evidently fellow adventurers from the tridents most carried, turned to stone. Mebh said she could smell the big Minotaur. Then the small minotaurs withdrew to the back, and the large Minotaur stepped up onto a broken plinth in the centre of the ruin.

Pierre initiated the combat by swapping places with the Minotaur, placing it right next to me. The namer placed an enchantment counterspell on the ground around us. I licked my teeth to quicken myself, and stepped back, preparing my spell. It kicked me, and then Mebh and Toledo and Christopher all hit it. It screamed back at them, responding with its petrification magic. Then I cast Dragonsmite on it, with rather more than the usual flash and bang, and the Minotaur fell down and died. That was quick, and much easier than we had expected.

Then we tried pulling the statues out of there. The first one we got out, the namer checked it, and it was going to come back to life in some weeks. Apparently these were this year's failed candidates. The smaller minotaurs avoided us. We looted the body of the big Minotaur, taking a nice-looking trident, a weird shield and a cloak, and also his head. Then we went back to the boat, and headed back to Adjebar.

A couple of hours later a storm brewed up. Mebh created a calm around us, but we still exhausted ourselves bailing and keeping ourselves afloat.

== 24 Harvest ==
=== 8th Trial ===
At dawn we found ourselves becalmed in a sargasso of assorted shipwrecks. Now, thinking again about the visions I had earlier, I realised that all I had to do was perform a flamesight ritual in this place, and view the writing on the wall, which would contain the information we needed.
I found myself looking out of a fire in a temple. There were merfolk there, lots of them, and murals, and writing on the wall in a strange script. Carefully I memorised it and wrote it down. The namer said our auras had changed, which meant that we had completed the eighth trial. That felt like cheating, but I was so very glad that we hadn't had to kill any merfolk.

We started heading back, and realised we had real problems. It turned out that there was a hole in the boat's hull, which I fixed with the aid of my gloves of shaping. Then I cobbled together some pumps and then everyone got to remove the excess water.

Mebh spoke with the wind, which said we needed sufficient salt to cover a person in order to return to Adjebar. We could buy this at Nagarel, a free port to the south.

== 25 Harvest ==
=== In which we A-Salted our Halfling! ===
At around eleven in the morning we arrived at Nagarel, which was a smallish port that looked somewhat like a pirate haven. Some people came and welcomed Mebh, including a bunch of foppish Destinians - and Mebh asked them about the salt. Apparently there was an easier route, but that involved going around the islands, and would take weeks. The leader of the Destinians was quietly introduced as Captain Candarol. Then we were all introduced. They seemed to regard Seagate adventurers as magnificent. It was five in the evening before we could get away. But we did get an ample supply of "vanilla" salt, together with a letter to take to the Guild. Apparently they want some professional grave-robbers to loot some ruins up the rivers to the south of here.

We decided to spend the night there, moored safely beside the Destinian ship. We all slept, deeply.

== 26 Harvest ==
We woke at 5am as usual, except Pierre and Toledo. So I purified and then I made a breakfast of date griddle scones and fresh fruit to show Pierre. Mebh had another chat with the wind and asked it about how the halfling covered with salt was to be used. It indicated that all we had to do would be to cover her up, and then the magic would work and we could travel on north. So we did this, and as far as we could tell, it worked.

We arrived at Adjebar by evening. The junk dominated the harbour, even though there were now two Destinian ships here. There were giants now actively guarding the ship, readying equipment and fully armed. They were plainly on edge about something. The first officer welcomed us back. Apparently they had fought an encounter the day we left.

=== In which we Ran the Gauntlet into the Temple ===
Matt came up on deck, and suggested that we went immediately to the Temple. He asked if any of us spoke Titan and then called a mage on deck to cast quickness on us. Then the heat haze came up and we found ourselves on top of a rock chimney (of a type technically called a tepui). Then the earth mage cast defence spells on us. When asked, Matt explained that he expected that we would be attacked at the temple - by seven Dark Titans - and there would be only three good titans. Then he handed us a potion bottle each and a gem. The gem would make us regenerate if dropped on the ground, and the potion could be used to cure the poison on the weapons. We told Matt about the using the Fate and he said that we were now immune to those three Dark Titans, and should therefore run past them.

Matt then said he would take us to a seer. The heat haze rose and we found ourselves up in the mountains on a tower where there was a huge bell. A woman came up and led us down the stairs and into a large throne room. Matt was announced in Giantish as a leader of the First Ones. There was a human woman on a huge ornate throne who bowed to Matt, and he asked her to find out what fate we avoided. She took us to a huge font and showed us a vision in the surface. There were seven Dark figures staring at us. They all looked back at us. Then the heat haze rose and we found ourselves back on the mountaintop.

We then worked on some serious planning - first we got Matt to teleport us in closer, so we could use my crystal of vision to have a look at the area in front of the temple. I was appalled. There were two monstrous storm giants, a dozen fire giants all lined up in a row, a dozen stone giants, a pair of high-ranked fire elementals and their attendant fie mages at the ends, and a big earth elemental front and centre. The entrance to the temple was blocked by a seventy-foot high, forty-foot wide, wall of fire. Further out there were two piles of sand that Matt suggested might contain djinn and efreeti bottles. There were also some strange shimmery walls there that neither the Namer nor I recognised. No way would we be able to fight our way through that lot.

After due deliberation, and final preparations such as the casting of counterspells, we decided to have Matt teleport us into the air close in by the cliff and use a combination of my fire arc spell and various teleport items and abilities (including my cloak which Amelia had borrowed). This worked excellently, except that one of the nightmares that Toledo summoned went for Amelia... but it was destroyed in the wall of fire as we ran through it and the nightmare followed.

The titan Max, and a short bald human woman whose appearance and attire indicated that she was one of the seers, came to meet us. We showed them the shark head, the minotaur head and the scroll, and they seemed very pleased with us. We explained that during our preparations, Matt had asked us to go unlock some doors at the castle while the giants were making their way back from here. She had some potions from the dwarves for us. Quite strange things - these clear bottles with wispy things inside. She explained that it was a special day for her, because she had been given a dispensation to speak.

We drank the potions and woosh we went up through an air vent for a far while, ending up in a cave where there was a dwarf waiting. Pierre and I overshot, and ended up outside. Matt came and got us. Then he asked if we were ready, and teleported us to the castle, instructing us we should cross the courtyard as quickly as possible. It was only then that I for one realised that we were about to face the ninth trial.

=== The Ninth Trial ===
Arriving at the castle we spotted a bunch of well-equipped guards across the courtyard, some of them Erelheine, and one an ogre. In midst of them stood a Lunar herald. Mebh said to make certain we did not hurt him. Pierre attempted to teleport and swap places with one of the mages, but a shimmery wall flashed into existence and blocked him. So we approved on foot... they readied weapons, and the herald stepped back. It got serious pretty fast - the wall was blocking my spells, and they had some nasty magics - an ogre rune mage nearly turned Mebh and Toledo to stone. The herald announced that Mebh the Magnificient and Herzog the Destroyer were locked in battle. There was one fellow dealing out some nasty air magics that tossed Christopher clear across the courtyard, and Herzog the ogre was evidently a rune mage. One of them died and his death curse caught both Toledo and Christopher, blinding them both. Another threw some nasty cold stuff at me, which I fortunately resisted (thank goodness for the choker of counterspells Mebh loaned me, and my heat shield which mopped up the rest of the damage). One of the Erelheine did a funky move, tossing his sword in the air and shouting something, and then hit everyone in that row.

A creature materialised behind Christopher, that the namer said was a fire banshee demon, and started burning him. I cast dragonsmite at the rune mage.... I saw him fall, and that was the last thing I saw for a while. Everything went dark, as the Rune Mage's death curse hit me - I had been cursed and blinded. Then the herald announced something about the lady Mebh being allowed to pass. I reached down and cast a fire special counterspell on the area in front of me, where the banshee-thing was, and it went away. Meanwhile the remaining Erelheine withdrew from combat. Amelia explained that the rune mage was their employer or something. Matt offered to store the bodies for us. The Erelheine went inside, through the big doors, and we followed. Toledo and I washed our faces in the font inside the door, under Amelia's direction, and we rapidly regained our sight.

Toledo: "Thank you, Amelia, you're a sight for sore eyes!"

In the centre of the enormous room was a standing lightning storm, and behind that there was a gigantic archway, and a set of colossal gold double doors. Matt explained that he was unable to pass that way, and gave Mebh some parting gifts, rings and armbands.

About a minute later, the storm giant turned up, descending out of that storm. We readied ourselves, and Toledo charged first. He struck the giant, and lightning frizzed all over him. Then, as the others advanced, the giant struck Toledo with his huge sword, and blinded him in his right eye. I cast dragonsmite at the giant, but it didn't seem to stun him - maybe he was deaf from all that thunder and lightning around him. He whacked Toledo again. There was a giant chiming sound, everything went quiet, and suddenly the giant and Amelia were carried a long way across the room by something like a lightning version of a fire arc. The giant declaimed, "A challenger has stepped forth." Then the winds picked up again. The giant swiped at Amelia, but she dodged, and then Toledo blinked across to where Amelia was fighting.... And hit it, and there was an enormous explosion of lightning and stuff. Amelia stood there looking frazzled, but Toledo was okay because he had borrowed Amelia's ring of protection against lightning. Then the giant was taken up into the storm around the roof. Toledo went to wash his eye in the font, and we heard fighting outside. As we approached the great doors, we heard a howling wind and a nasty sulphurous smell. I fireproofed everyone just in case.

Through the doors we saw before us a path, with a howling chasm of darkness and screaming horrors on either side. This, Pierre said, was the part of Hell called the Valley of Death. We should not leave the path, regardless of what we saw, most of which would be illusions designed to tempt us to leave the path. We walked for a while, and then we saw across the way some plains barbarians, and the captain we had met before, fighting some imps. But these were surely illusions. In the distance there were three crosses with people on them. We carried on walking, to the valley floor, where our path met the main path. I carefully memorised that spot.

Amelia the halfling in Hell: "I think I want supper later. Maybe days later."

We began walking towards the crucifixes, and we met some persons, who recognised Pierre. These were guides, and they knew of the body we were seeking. They said they would lead us to a place of safety, and took us into a fortress. They offered to fetch the corpse we sought, in exchange for our delivering a message to the Dark Titans. We agreed that it was likely we would meet one of them or their minions sometime soon. Their message came in the form of a shield. Apparently this would remind the Dark Titans that they had a weapon, and should return it. They brought a crystal ball, and showed us the person, whom Mebh said was called Richard the Inquisitor, lying next to a coffin. The guide went out to fetch the body, and this took an hour or so.

We spoke to the other man who was melting gold in a pot... casting it into coins, in a magical mould. We agree to cast some of our coins in this form. These coins can alter fate, and we ended up with twenty-seven of them. So we used one to bring back Richard, and then Amelia healed him. We talked to Richard, and learnt that he knew another way out. He named the guide as Estion, and went on to explain that he had been apparently been killed by the death curse of a vampire he had been fighting. Mebh introduced us. He added that his means of returning us would involve using some silver coins that would take us to the headquarters of the Lunar Inquisition, and we really shouldn't be carrying anything aligned to any of the Powers. Richard also asked for the date, and then told us "Velleron" was the current password, and would stop us getting killed.

== 27 Harvest ==
We used the coins, and found ourselves in a big room with an iron floor. The guards there were pleased to see Richard. They showed us the door fairly quickly, and we headed out, with one of the guards as an escort. We were in a large, seven-story building. We went out through a courtyard into a busy street, and found ourselves in Tycho City. Richard led us down to through main market square, where somebody tried to sell Mebh an elephant. Eventually we reached a courtyard where we could see fifteen giants and a titan - who was Matt. Matt proceeded to offer me long-term employment, but I declined, explained that I had a husband and family to get back to. We had some beer - quite good beer. Apparently in twenty minutes some assassins would figure out that Mebh was here and come after her.

So Matt offered to take us back. Then, the heat shimmer came up and we found ourselves on the plateau in front of the Temple. A single Dark Titan waited. He said he would not hurt us, today, and Mebh gave him the shield. Then he disappeared in a heat haze. Richard explained how the whole sequence of events had been set up, in case he failed against the vampire. He added that the Dark Titans would not now harm us, following the delivery of the shield. Pierre then offered to make dinner, especially for Richard.

We all headed into the temple, and reported in. Max said a dwarf had been here, saying we would be going to Lunar City to celebrate, and added we shouldn't drink too much before ten. The seeress offered to come with us and explain everything. It was only then that we realised that it was the middle of the afternoon of the next day... we'd somehow lost the better part of a day in Hell.

Matt took us to Lunar City, and we got some sleep, and Pierre made food, a nice eel stew. We had nice drinks too, with Richard. The seer explained that we might have triggered the tenth trial simply by coming here, but that we were not forced to do it. Richard cannot remember anyone who has completed the tenth trial - and we have brought the total number completing the ninth trial to eleven. We learned that Richard's favourite meal is "Bundaberg and Herring pie". Richard offered to bring us some things that would help. Matt took us to the location of the vampire's hoard and treasury, in the middle of a vast plain. Richard needed to retrieve one item, to turn over to the inquisition, but we could help ourselves to anything else we wanted.

= Nominations and SGT Snippets =

== Nominations ==
; Best Death

; Smartest

; Bravest

== Quotes ==

== Hot and Not ==
; Hot

Tridents 
Master Weaponsmith 
Master Chef 

; Not

Salamanders 

= Reference Information =

== People ==
* [[Matt Tumbledown]]
* [[Maxirus]]
* Captain Eylea of the [[Ffenargh]].

== Places ==
* [[Seagate]]
*[[Adjepbar]]
*[[Shorapur]]
*[[Islands of Adventure]]
*[[Lunar City]]

== Standard Buffs ==
"A" = always on, "Y" = Yes please, "-" not required, blank = as required

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!width="45px" Align="Left" | Mb
!width="45px" Align="Left" | Fm
!width="45px" Align="Left" | Cr
!width="45px" Align="Left" | TS
!width="45px" Align="Left" | Pe
|width="45px" Align="Left" | Aa

|-
| Vapour Breathing || 7 || 4 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Feather Fall || 7 || 4 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Fire Armour || 15|| 16 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Fire Proofing || 8|| 9 Hrs || Y || ? || ? || ? || ? || ? || -
|-
|}

== Mil Sci ==

; Watches
Amelia, Flamis, Toledo, Pierre, Mebh, Christopher
; Marching Order
Amelia, Flamis, Toledo, Pierre, Mebh, Christopher

== Loot ==

6x Fine White Embroidered Robes in the Adjebar Style

6x Weapon Rings of Giant Speech (made by Flamis, using 30000 sp worth of blue sand plus sundry other materials)

1 x Chest of blue sand

Sundry items looted from the undead at Shorapur (after looking at them it is 2,200 sp worth of stuff).

1 x fire salamander crystal (merchant in [[Adjepbar]] offered 17000 plus a map to find a treasure map for this)

3 tridents (from Braegen on loan)

6x [[Sash of the Dry Waters|Sash of the Dry Waters]], from the Titan [[Maxirus|Max]]: These provided superior strength, and protections against water magics, but made it hard to drink liquids.

6x [[Titan_Belt_of_Healing|Titan Belt of Healing]] from the Titan [[Maxirus|Max]] (extra endurance?)

Salve for bone healing (made by Amelia from herbs near the [[Temple of the East Winds]]). Changes the time for healing from hours to minutes.

Chest of assorted strange bottles containing oils for enhancing weapons

6x Trimagic Tridents (made in Lunar City gifted by Matt Tumbledown)

12 Golden Coins valued at ~10,000sp in Adjepbar.

Scroll case

6000 sp (from the shark boat)

12 Tridents

assorted potions

== Expenses ==

30,000 sp blue sands 
1,000 sp wine 
720sp Robes 
120 sp lunch 
40 sp lunch 
500 sp bats 
4 sp salt 
17 sp breads 
2,100 sp rubies 
6 sp Camels testicles 
7500 sp Waters of Healing 
24 sp lunch 
57 sp lunch 
500 sp Wine to fix Flamis armour 
690 sp Bats 
12480 Endurance sands (24 * 520sp) 
400 sp stabling palfreys for a week 
500 sp stabling war horses for a week 
120 sp lunch 
2000 sp Healing

Skin Trade

2026-06-06T03:29:42Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Mandos]][[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Category: Scribe Notes for Insel der Freiheit]][[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_808_WK|Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Skin Trade]]
[[Category:Everan]]
[[Category:Haann Uberreich]]
[[Category:Morgan the Orc]]
[[Category:Phaeton]]
[[Category:Victoria]]
[[Category:Cher]]
[[Category:Menolly]]
{| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=375 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
|+<big><big>'''Astrology'''</big></big>
|-
|Would someone please explain... 
The reason for this strange behaviour 
In exploitations name... 
We must be working for the skin trade. 
 
Healers of the revolution gave us, the potions we desired. 
Besides being absolutely painless its a question of compromise 
You've got steel, its so cool, 
Get angry at the shamen then go back you fool 
So big deal, its what rules 
When it comes to making money, say yes, please, thank you... 
|-
|}
 
The adventure takes place on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]]
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Skin Trade 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] 
'''Session''': [[Autumn]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Monday at Chez Ellis 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium/High]] 
'''Style''': Investigative 
; Party
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
# [[Everan]] - Scholar played by Dean Ellis
# [[Haann Uberreich]] - Mind Mage Played by Ben Taberner
# [[Morgan the Orc]] - Non-mage played by Cherie Nouwens
# [[Phaeton]] - Solar Celestial/Master Healer played by [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]] (Mil Sci)
# [[Victoria]] - Non-mage played by [[User:NeonGraal|Struan Judd]] (Leader)
# [[Cher]] played by Sean English.
# [[Menolly]] - Earth Mage played by Karen Dransfield.
 
; Employer
: To be confirmed.
; Mission
: In Winter 807 a plague swept through a number of Western Cities, spread by amulets and powered by a curse. The ritual was removed by a Guild party and a number of herbalists, physicians and healers managed to bring the plague under control. In summer 808 the plague has once again flared up this time in the main port town of [[Setagen]]. With ships leaving this port bound for the [[Dragon Isles]], [[Kinlu]], the [[Eastern Kingdoms]] and other places even further afield there is concern that this plague could spread around [[Alusia]].
:Fearing a similar cause as the previous plague the Guild has been asked to track the source of the illness and remove it. As well as tracking the ocean going vessels that left port just before the infection broke out.
; Pay
: To be confirmed.

;Date
The date on the isles on the day of the Guild meeting is 2 Elephant, 11th Day of Sihaide's Forge in the year 51 Green Tempest.

== Notes ==
=== People we've met ===
:Asath, a [[Filgiso Forest#Trorcs|Trorc]]
:[[Chaaff]], blue dragon of the Isles
:[[Gruselig]], the new Termite Shaman

=== Places we've been ===
:[[Filgiso Forest]]
:[[Insel der Freiheit]]
:[[Alice's Swamp]]

==Dates==
;19th Thaw - Shaman Kidnapped
;1st Meadow - Shaman Killed
;14th Meadow - Three Ships leave [[Setagen]]
;15th Meadow - Plague determined, quarantine put in place.
;16th Meadow - Cutters sent after ships.

== Scribe Notes ==
===Phaetons Notes===
Available in a [[Skin Trade Journal|single page]].
{{:Skin Trade Journal}}
===Menollys Notes===
Available in a [[Skin Trade alt|single page]].
{{:Skin Trade alt}}

Skin Trade

2026-06-06T03:29:26Z

Terryintransit:

[[Category:Mandos]][[Category:Scribe Notes]][[Category: Scribe Notes for Insel der Freiheit]][[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_808_WK|Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Skin Trade]]
[[Category:Everan]]
[[Category:Haann Uberreich]]
[[Category:[Morgan the Orc]]
[[Category:Phaeton]]
[[Category:Victoria]]
[[Category:Cher]]
[[Category:Menolly]]
{| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=375 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
|+<big><big>'''Astrology'''</big></big>
|-
|Would someone please explain... 
The reason for this strange behaviour 
In exploitations name... 
We must be working for the skin trade. 
 
Healers of the revolution gave us, the potions we desired. 
Besides being absolutely painless its a question of compromise 
You've got steel, its so cool, 
Get angry at the shamen then go back you fool 
So big deal, its what rules 
When it comes to making money, say yes, please, thank you... 
|-
|}
 
The adventure takes place on the [[Insel der Freiheit|Isles of Freedom]]
== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Skin Trade 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Mandos|Mandos]] 
'''Session''': [[Autumn]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Monday at Chez Ellis 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | Medium/High]] 
'''Style''': Investigative 
; Party
<div class="TOC">__TOC__</div>
# [[Everan]] - Scholar played by Dean Ellis
# [[Haann Uberreich]] - Mind Mage Played by Ben Taberner
# [[Morgan the Orc]] - Non-mage played by Cherie Nouwens
# [[Phaeton]] - Solar Celestial/Master Healer played by [[User:Keith | Keith Smith]] (Mil Sci)
# [[Victoria]] - Non-mage played by [[User:NeonGraal|Struan Judd]] (Leader)
# [[Cher]] played by Sean English.
# [[Menolly]] - Earth Mage played by Karen Dransfield.
 
; Employer
: To be confirmed.
; Mission
: In Winter 807 a plague swept through a number of Western Cities, spread by amulets and powered by a curse. The ritual was removed by a Guild party and a number of herbalists, physicians and healers managed to bring the plague under control. In summer 808 the plague has once again flared up this time in the main port town of [[Setagen]]. With ships leaving this port bound for the [[Dragon Isles]], [[Kinlu]], the [[Eastern Kingdoms]] and other places even further afield there is concern that this plague could spread around [[Alusia]].
:Fearing a similar cause as the previous plague the Guild has been asked to track the source of the illness and remove it. As well as tracking the ocean going vessels that left port just before the infection broke out.
; Pay
: To be confirmed.

;Date
The date on the isles on the day of the Guild meeting is 2 Elephant, 11th Day of Sihaide's Forge in the year 51 Green Tempest.

== Notes ==
=== People we've met ===
:Asath, a [[Filgiso Forest#Trorcs|Trorc]]
:[[Chaaff]], blue dragon of the Isles
:[[Gruselig]], the new Termite Shaman

=== Places we've been ===
:[[Filgiso Forest]]
:[[Insel der Freiheit]]
:[[Alice's Swamp]]

==Dates==
;19th Thaw - Shaman Kidnapped
;1st Meadow - Shaman Killed
;14th Meadow - Three Ships leave [[Setagen]]
;15th Meadow - Plague determined, quarantine put in place.
;16th Meadow - Cutters sent after ships.

== Scribe Notes ==
===Phaetons Notes===
Available in a [[Skin Trade Journal|single page]].
{{:Skin Trade Journal}}
===Menollys Notes===
Available in a [[Skin Trade alt|single page]].
{{:Skin Trade alt}}

Balrogs & Mithral

2026-06-06T03:27:04Z

Terryintransit:

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Hamish Brown]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Category:Shoka]]
[[Category:Viola]]
[[Category:Liessa Varden]]
[[Category:Isil Eth]]
[[Category:Engalton]]
[[Category:Erzsabet]]
[[Scribe_Notes#Autumn_808_WK|Scribe Notes]] 

= Summary =
'''Adventure''': Balrogs & Mythril 
'''GM''': [[:Category:Hamish Brown|Hamish]] 
'''Session''': [[Autumn]] 808 wk 
'''Night''': Wednesday nights 
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level | High (chance of permanent death)]] 
'''Location''': Jon & Julia's place in Avondale [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=13+Layard+St,+Avondale,+Auckland+0600,+New+Zealand&sll=-36.896765,174.703131&sspn=0.008511,0.014462&ie=UTF8&ll=-36.896765,174.702251&spn=0.008511,0.014462&z=16&iwloc=addr Map]
; Party

Party full

# [[Shoka]] (Human, Male, Air Mage) - Jon
# [[Viola]] (Human, Female, Illusionist) - Bridget
# [[Liessa Varden | Liessa]] (Human, Female, Mind Mage) - William
# [[Isil Eth]] (Elven, Female, Mind Mage) - Ian
# [[Engalton]] (Human, Male, Namer) - Jono
# [[Erzsabet]] (Human, Female, Namer) - Julia
;Plus
[[Engalton Modesty|Modesty]] (Skunk, Female, Healer) 
[[Erzsabet#Appearance|Bedevere]] (Dog, Male) 
[[Chesme]] (Gryphon, Female) 
[[Viola|Zephyr]] (Owl, Male) 
 
; Employer
: The Elves of [[Alfheim]].
; Mission
: Open up the way gates of old.
; Pay
: negotiable; depends upon the manner of our return, if we return 
'''Being a true and accurate account of the adventures of Shoka Blacktooth Esquire.'''

= Duesday 1 Fruit 808WK =
Having awoken too late to attend the Guild meeting I position myself in the hallways near the meeting chambers, watching the guild servants, noting which chambers receive the finest foods and wines. The room I choose has: [[Engalton|Engleton]], [[Liessa_Varden|Liessa]], [[Isil Eth]], [[Erzsabet]], [[Viola]], and a collection of animals inside. 

I nonchalantly take a seat and help myself to the wine. 
== The Party ==
Despite the fact that we all know each other very well, the Guild Rep insists on introductions. [[Viola]] is apparently no longer pacted to [[Renove]] (a good thing), has an Owl named Zephyr (supposedly to guide her) and is learning to be a Namer (so much for the owl's guidance). She seems more nervous than usual. [[Engalton|Engleton]] is his usual bombastic self, has a skunk which he calls his Modesty and informs us that he will be party leader, Modesty will be scribe, and [[Liessa_Varden|Liessa]] will be Military Scientist. Oh, he is a namer as well. [[Erzsabet]] has a wolfhound named Bedevere, and is also a namer. I introduce myself, [[Shoka]], a beginning Air Mage and no longer pacted to [[Seir]]. [[Chesme]] a gryphon (who can also appear as a human) will accompany me. [[Liessa_Varden|Liessa]] is her usual scary self, a Mind Mage. [[Isil Eth]] is an Elven Princess and a Mind Mage too. (I suspect she actually likes her family as she is no nearer to taking the throne; either that or she is just enjoying adventuring too much.) 

Despite the fact that my prohibition has expired no-one seems keen for me to be party leader. However, Modesty does call me aside and ask that as she will be busy being party leader and preventing [[Engalton|Engleton]] from doing anything silly, would I mind scribing for her?
== The Mission ==

= Nominations and SGT Snippets =

== Nominations ==
; Best Death

; Smartest

; Bravest

== Quotes ==

== Hot and Not ==
; Hot

; Not

= Reference Information =

== People ==
* The Queen of Alfheim

== Places ==
* [[Seagate]]
*[[Alfheim]]
*[[Stonesboro]]

== Standard Buffs ==
"A" = always on, "Y" = Yes please, "-" not required, blank = as required

{| border=0 cellspacing=2 |
!width="150px" Align="Left"| Magic !!width="25px" Align="Left" | Rk !! width="200px" Align="Left"|Effects
!width="45px" Align="Left" | E1
!width="45px" Align="Left" | E2
!width="45px" Align="Left" | Va
!width="45px" Align="Left" | V2
!width="45px" Align="Left" | B1
|width="45px" Align="Left" | B2
!width="45px" Align="Left" | Li
!width="45px" Align="Left" | IE
!width="45px" Align="Left" | Sh
|width="45px" Align="Left" | Ch
|-
| Vapour Breathing || 20 || 10 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Feather Fall || 7 || 4 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Mind Speech || 11?|| 2 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Mindcloak || 11 || 6 Hrs || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || Y || -
|-
| Counterspells || || From Eng. (Colleges) || || || || || || || || || || -
|-
| Herbalist Potions || 10 || +8 AG/MA for 2 Hrs || || || || || || || || || || -
|-
|}

== Mil Sci ==

; Watches
Engalton
Modesty
Viola
Zephyr
Isil Eth
Erzsabet
Bedevere
Liessa
Shoka
Chesme

; Marching Order
Engalton
Modesty
Viola
Zephyr
Isil Eth
Erzsabet
Bedevere
Liessa
Shoka
Chesme

== Loot ==

== Expenses ==