Not just a simple comb

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Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Not just a simple comb
GM: Jono
Season: ~Autumn 821 WK
Night: Starting Monday the 8th of Mar 2021 at Stephen & Lisa's place.
Area: Western Kingdom & Brandenburg and Borovia.
Level: High
Info: Information from players for Jono
House Rules: Jono Quickness and Slowness
Playtest
Please note - Lowered specialisation to 1 per rank (from 3). See change log on last page of each doc.

Adventures related to this adventure are Operation Word, Liberty of County Palatine of Borovia and Half a crisp spring.

Dramatis Personae (preference will be given to those that have played on the previous games)
  1. Silverfoam Elven(m) Namer - Michael P. 22 PB Mil.Sci. Exp sheet
  2. Keshah Elven(m) Rune - Michael H. 20 PB Exp sheet
  3. Roderigo Halfling(m) Champion of the small folk - Michael M. 9 PB Exp sheet
  4. Braegon Human(m) Elementalist - Stephen. 14 PB Scribe Exp sheet
  5. Caprice Human(f) Thaumaturge - Kelsie. 20 PB P.L. Exp sheet
  6. Vychan Giant(m) Elementalist - Sean. 20 PB Exp sheet
  7. Kilroy Human(m) Rune - Dean. 14 PB Exp sheet

Employer

Morgor & Syrene

Mission
A group of adventurers, in good standing, skilled in the art of shaping time is needed to assist Morgor in dealing with the Dark Skies.
This is only one course of actions that is expected to work but others may also work.

1. Travel back to ~Winter 818 WK.
1A. Travel to County Borovia (the Pit)...
Borovia map
  • Steal & replace enchanted green collars on 3 specific slaves (to upper bosses - we get visions of them, one of them is Caprice) within the pit before any battle. We have 3 replacement collars from Morgor.
  • It would be helpful to have a fake replacement skull (Rune Poison skull).
  • Either way remove a skull (replace with fake if you can) of the second Dark Skies from the Infected Prince Smith. The skull is an item that the Dark Skies is after.
1B. Travel to Mount Ghakis in SW County Borovia (to blow the horns).
  • Gain the assistance of the Dark Skies or Red Crowns if needed.
  • Blow the enchanted Horns no earlier than the 14th Snow 818 WK. Snakes that open portals enslaved by the drow.
  • Under the protection (Blessing) of Death , kill Dilxae Baenath - The Fae Fallen Fawn (Pacted to Sitri), at the hand of the shortest of you. (If Rodrigo is dead this is Caprice)
  • A portal will open for one of Sitri's Lts to turn up and avenge the Fae. If you defeat Avenging Avatar quickly then you should be able to enter undetected into Sitri's realm.
  • Rescue Kitty and Purr with Keshah on hand. (They are 'doomed' to not die at the hand of someone that loves them when close to Keshah.)
  • Kill Sitri if needed.
  • Make sure this is done before the 'Days of Chaos'.
2. If you have time...
  • Find Peter (who was reduced to ash trapped in a moment of time as in the time tunnel)
  • The Fae near Ambrose Inn want Dilxae Baenath returned if possible.
  • Travel to the Shrivers and remove evil parts of Dilxae Baenath - The Fae Fallen Fawn, allowing the corpse to be given back to the Fae realm.
3. Travel back to Spring 819 WK...
and place a bag of items in the garden near the arch entrance to Morgor's lair (without the other guild parties seeing you).
4. If you still have time...
Morgor will give you dates and locations that the three living Janx have spent in the Shriven Hills.

Payment

An item to deal with the Ghost of the Janx.
Training of special skills.
Three large blocks of copper in a strange shape (500,000sp).
Loot from the adventurer

Scribe Notes

Meet & Greet in Seagate

With additional notes by Caprice

Turf townhouse Seagate

Sort out the administration requirements then head to Turf's place in Seagate.

Present are:

We are given several astrology readings.

The Janx seek to release Terminus from imprisonment (possibly) beneath Khatovar. Dust of death (from a specific location in the from the valley of death) stops them teleporting. Some were killed in the time tunnel, their ghosts still need to be dealt with.

Morgor & Matt believe the Janx are involved but from about 1 year ago they are protected from Astrology so it is hard to tell where/how. We killed 8 Janx, they think that there are 4 full strength Janx and 2 weaker ones who will be after us.

Sir Callus believes we have a 75% chance of surviving/succeeding.

Kilroy has a blade made of Typhon's shadow. Typhon is the leader of the Janx.

Caprice has some troubadours who were taken by the Moriquendi that she needs to rescue. Also her shaper dwarf friend was kidnapped. Ditto

Sigismund's Sceptre disrupts portals.

Vychan (being smart): Forge Dust of Death into weapons or armour using Kilroy's Forge?

The Twins give Kilroy & Keshah a pair of daggers, scrolls and instruction to kill one of the bad guys with and create a skull that will be appealing to Dark Skies.
Wasn't this to swap with the one at the forge of the infected prince smith, that the Dark Skies will want Kelsie (talk)

Head to Fates & Death

Matt takes us to visit his mothers (The Fates). Richard of Lunar is waiting with a couple of other armoured men.

We enter and talk to The Crone:

  • We should go to the luck lake, it's more pure this time. Take 3 or 4 vials between us.
  • Caprice should sacrifice the pure heart making the Janx's hearts vulnerable to K&K. The Janx key can be used to cut through (unlock) their defences.
  • Don't leave the two soul jars containing parts of the Janx laying around free.
  • Travel to Death now to seek his blessing - especially for Roderigo.
  • She is expecting Caprice, but with her daughter. Asking about Allegra and the closet, they say that they visited her and told her to bring her mother. Thus this may be another visit in the near future.

Matt takes us to Death:

  • He's expecting Roderigo, he reluctantly marks Roderigo.
  • He gives us directions to get the Dust of Death.
  • The Red Crowns (led by the Golden Crown), Dark Skies, and (Serpent) Priestesses have all come here within the past 3 weeks.
    • The Senators of decay have been moving pawns around at the direction of the Dark Skies, they bought the Red Crowns here. They were also concerned that the Moriquendi and the Elven crown were still at odds.
    • The priestesses wished to change Strahd's Sceptre to affect the living.
    • The Senators will try to kill us after we have killed the Janx.

Considering that Sitri's domain is "love" I decide that we should remove our hearts to protect us. Then that we need to replace them with something so that they won't grow back. Consider reptile hearts as they don't love and we would also benefit from the nine horns, but end up with the plan of replacing them with heart of ice. Referring to the first astrology reading about jars of hearts and ice inside your soul, this is clearly the correct answer.

Gathering Dust and Answers

Message from Mr Bamph via Roderigo's Spies
Roderigo & Braegon you should know a "short cut" in the Fastness that has not been used for years has started to be used once more by devils & imps. They have been coming and going into that area at night. They are a mix of servants from Furfur & Sitri. They have been at odds.
Also I have lost refused an assassination contract on Roderigo & Caprice for 250,000sp each if she is in the company of XYZ. This XYZ has happened. Others will take up the contract I am sure. Collect at - The Black Duck in Caulder town"
* Braegon looking at the above description it can only be referring to a small cave at location number 20.

Death's Ferryman raps his staff on the ground and the worlds fades to greys as we transition to the valley of death. We head down the narrow path, reminding each other to ignore all beyond the path.

We come to three clearings along the way:

  1. contains a bear (with 8 rows of teeth, spectral claws, etc.) chained to a rock
  2. a pool containing something...
  3. something else

After playing with the bear, we avoid them by going carefully around the edges. 3 side paths that lead to different temples. Eventually coming to an ash pit, danger, things in there seen and not seen. TK of containers that are resistant to age and time are partially successful. Kilroy is overly successful with his powerful binding, he sends most of it back before it kills him then folds up the cubic yard he keeps. We leave the way we came.

From the edge of Death's lake we get lost to Slippery Rock. Bind ourselves to Kilroy's plate. Divine the bound dust and Rodrigo's DEAD sausage worms.

We need metal containers to contain the dust, we buy Kilroy's Wife's new massive cauldron (3,000sp) to hold it in for now.

We precog opening Sitri's boxes with the Janx Key, it goes badly - darkness, whitefire, limbs flying.

Back to Turf's house in Seagate, Trevor Bamph is waiting for us. We talk to Morgor, Trevor, Anguitia, Syrene, ...

With Mind Speech on from Morgor, we head back to our quiet spot near Slippery Rock for Anguitia to bite Kilroy and give him visions. Brief distraction while Caprice dobs in some Dwarves and Anguitia pops out to kill them. Kilroy poisons himself with some of Anguitia's poison that we need to leave here later. We get the visions of the three people who's collars need to be swapped:

  • Sasha
  • Helga, Human maybe Half Elf (who had left a couple of days before Sasha)
  • Isgerth Cat Person

Also the background has clues to an en earlier time frame

Back to the house again to talk to Verina.

We spend the night, do some astrology, reading and healing.

Astrology

1 - Who will love Kitty and Purr and try to kill them in the presence of Keshah?
A - The Beautiful Prince Sitri
2 - What will the six eyed seer want for a gift? (So we don't have to go back twice)?
A - The heart of a Janx.
3 - What is an appropriate offering for the Asan Temple in the complex?
A -The sacrifice of a Jackal & Falcon under the blade of an onix knife.
4 - Who will be susceptible to distraction, allure and dream?
A - Those with an association with the 71 who value allure.
5 Rodrigo was given a ring by an undead creature out the back of Ambrose's inn. It was non-magical but distinctive. It is hidden in Caprice's unscryable pouch. Should we expose it to scrying?
Below what once was ground & when the night sky is filled with fire, the one that wears it may see a truth, but will be seen by all.
Keeping it in pouch for now
6 - The giants have taken two children from the forest & a small farm outside of Glissom town. Is this relevant?
A - No.
7 - What are The roots of adorn?
A - The roots of the plant that is poisoning the Drowning Deep.

Study

Q1 Investigate how to Resist Sitri's powers.
A1 Replace your heart with a frozen heart from the wave of life & Liquids Luck. Replace your blood with the wave of life & Liquids Luck.
A2 Live in a world of pain - only gained in the drowning deep of a body without flesh.
A3 Replace your heart with a pure heart.
Q2 Factions/relationships amongst the powers for enemies of our enemy
Furfur is attempting to reclaim Lust from Sitri's Realm..
Beleth wants to defeat Sitri.
Forneus wishes to flood, Sitri realm.
Seir & Ipos want Sitri to defeat Furfur.
Q3 Find out about libraries that might hold that knowledge relating to Sitri's ascension, especially elvish considering the demons were once elves
A rumoured secret old library is hidden by the President and Lord of Seekers - Foras.
Other available libraries listed by Braegon -
  • Silverfoam's half ton of books doesn't have anything more recent than the fall of the old Elven empire but it could have info on the various powerful elves and factions that we know later became demons - all depends on what you want to know about them.
  • Mt Everwhite
  • Elfheim
  • The formerly frozen university in northern terra nova.
  • A couple of Dragons of our acquaintance who date back to then.
Q6 What gods does the Asan Temple protect from?
A balance of Horus & Set
Q7 Why does the time dragon have statues of Kree, Braegon and Sasha, and Rodrigo
Communication
Can anyone get us hearts of ice - Dwarfs, Braegon?
The hearts should be made of Wave of Life water and Liquid Luck. The water that Vychan has is Wave of Life that "we" will put there later

Ask Anguitia

Can we get more charges added to the horns.
If necessary but she is reluctant
Can we get scales so that the horns work on us?
We don't need to; she can directly bite us for the same effect. But we decide against it, and to use the hearts of ice.

Luck and Hearts

Talk more in Seagate. Morgor supplies some items he has crafted. (Casting gems, weapon weights, jar for storing hearts) Verina supplies some 'trinkets' (bells from the pit containing various spells, the psotives spells work on everyone, negatives don't work on drow, multi target affect closest).

Portal to Pagan Mts where we trigger a ward, Walkabout to forest near Grobbenbonk's tower.

We hear noises (buzzing razors) and movement in the forest, lots of dead animals and insects implying TK Rage has been used recently, we scry the Red Crowns who appear to be under the command of a Senator of Decay.

We avoid them and head to the tower which has been recently damaged. Grobbenbonk and Dark Skies are there and aware of the others in the woods who they think are here for us.

We leave via Kilroy's portal to his manor near the Gatar Depression where we talk.

  • Two years ago, Vassago looked like Purr and Duchess Meredith.
  • Dark Skies will help us with the current matters, she wants 3 Senator's heads which will help her take command of the Moriquendi and eventually all of the Drow Empire.
  • The Sitri boxes contain the Lieutenants that Kitty and Purr replaced. Taking them to the time tunnel could be messy.

In Kilroy's house, Dark Skies uses Kilroy's Alchemy lab to enchant the Life Water with Luck to replace our hearts. And get some sleep.

Kilroy makes a metal box with Death Dust to hold the Janx Key, we head to the Shape of Fire's volcano in the Filgiso Forest, there Roderigo throws in precious gems and a magic key at the same time as we put the Janx Key into the box, making it undetectable.

Back in Kilroy's house, we spend a day replacing all of our hearts. Our hearts go into the jar supplied by Morgor who gives it to Syrene who takes it somewhere.

Matt takes us to the Lake of Luck, we collect 4 vials.

We do some experimentation with the Dust and Rune Magic, it can be included into Runes at time of casting but anyone under those effects will also be under the dust effect (Death point becomes 0 EN, not -ve half). It can be used with blood and bone to make runes that are permanent on your bones but that also means a permanent dust effect. It can be used with blood to make lead-like metal runes that can be used for Walls and similar external spells.

4th of Fruit 5:00 pm
We head to the south of the Fastness to scout (20) where the devils have been seen coming and going. Tracks of them emerging from the shortcut within the last few days (but at night) and going into it over a week ago.

A new (within a couple of years) vine covered tower is just north of here (19) where the cave to the Ellenic States used to be.

Morgor

What's up with him wanting to get rid of the shrivers in league with the time dragon (he said to come and ask again after the next visit from other version of party?
Won't happen soon but in the next 6 years.
How are we supposed to remove the slave collars to replace with duds that can be removed?
We Limited precog on these options with the new collars
  • Option 1 - Use the master key of the owner, steal it and return it afterwards. Can't test at this point but unlikely to work as would be pointless
  • Option 2 - Trickery with Windwalk/GaseousForm & possession of the collar. ❌ Tidy beheading, can be done by destroying a neck protecting item
  • Option 3 - Namer suppression of triggering while we swap them out. ❌ Won't unlock
  • Option 4 - Rodrigo's key ❌ turn everything except the wearer inside out
  • Option 5 - Caprice can pick the lock safely , but others trigger it. ✔️So replacement necklaces are made to be opened by Caprice.
Also fakes have a magical area effect to weaken non-drow allies of the drow against the Steelwind mace and Sabastian's dagger.
The weights that speed up a weapon should be used on these weapons at this time.
Is there any way to mitigate the effect of being in one place twice?
✔️Will not discuss but probably done.
They are keeping us in the dark as FFF has weapons (six scimitars) that can gain knowledge

Anguitia

Ask her to bite us for same effect as horns have.
We decide against it. Frozen hearts are better

Verina

What are the trinkets in the astrology reading? The three gems? Sitri's orbs?.
Some bells that she gives us

Elemental Twins

Can those not done get shadows woven by the ETs, to protect vs Janx shadow magic.
✔️Done

Grobbenbonk's Place

Meeting with the Dark Skies.
✔️Done. She helps us with some stuff.
She wants 3 heads of Sen of Dec to become ultra powerful.
She helps us with luck water for the hearts and making and inserting them.

Matt Tumbledown

While we were in Moriquendi, dealing with the Great Lie potion Aquilina saw a strange pattern of stars in the sky. She memorised it in case someone else could interpret it. She later asked Matt Tumbledown about the star message but he said that it was not meant for her. She stowed the memory in her memory crystal. Is it for us?
Yes, but later after the pit
Take us to the luck lake. The Fates said We should go to the luck lake, it's more pure this time. Take 3 or 4 vials between us.
✔️Done

Syrene

There was supposed to be an anti charm potion from Freya which we didn't get. I have a note that Syrene will have it.
Used in Calder.

Bamff

What does Bamff know? Is he constrained this season? Negotiate retainer to keep assassins off our back? Can we contract him to take out someone that will keep him employed and aid our cause?
Matt doesn't trust him and has put him on a mountain

Astrology/Study

What is Molin Torchholder looking for.
Not relevant
Who are the powerful drow in the jewel spider woods.
Opaque
How can Furfur help us.
By betraying the innocents
Figure out where to stash our hearts while we're not using them.
Morgor gives us a jar to put them in, which Syrene takes away.
Is the "Liquids Luck" for the ice heart and blood the water from the luck lake? If not, where do we get it.
We got it from Dark Skies
Who else looks like Purr and Duchess Meredithis
Varies with time. Lieutenant of Sitri (Purr) Vassago is the answer that is most likely to be relevant?
How to get the Sitri boxes open safely.
They contain the lieutenants of Sitri that K&P replaced. Will distort if taken through time tunnels and be bad. We leave them at the guild.

Misc Tasks

✔️Borrow the steelwind mace from Aryan against the Infected Prince Smith
✔️Borrow the dagger from Sebastain in Hugler's Ferry for Rodrigo to use against the Fallen Fae and/or Sitri
✔️Get lucky numbers from Seren
✔️Have Rodrigo to follow up in person in Sanctuary about the pit (should be in game and quick) Nothing useful found
✔️Make fake replacement skull (Rune Poison skull) to swap at the infected prince for the dark skies one.
✔️Replace our hearts and blood with ice and water
✔️Made a box with the death dust that hides the janx key

Fastness and Coffins

Sound of horses to the north turns out to be 6 faun devils, minions of Vassago, Fortified Imps of the Fallen.

  • Their master is in the tower at 19.
  • They mention their master has runes like Kilroy has on his forehead.
  • Knuckle Bones - Make foul alcohol.
  • Twig of Strange Fruit - allows Demonics to breed on other planes.
  • Desiccated Eyeballs - Implant to see the effects of Demonics.
  • Desiccated Testicles - put them on your chin to become more fertile.
  • Rock Chips - Temporarily allow (by implanting into major muscle groups) changing your plane of origin to the Drowning Deep.
  • 4 x Weevil Bread - the weevils actively resist spells for you.
  • Whale Foreskins - infinite writing skins on the inside.
  • 6 sets of 6 soul coins (-2 spent on booze)

Keeshah spots a rabbit mind that devours the spider trying to ambush it, turns out to be another devil, an amalgam of snakes, board, rabbit, dead rat head, ... formerly a minion of Forneus until thrown out, now working for a Lieutenant of Furfur who wants us to come visit to talk about overthrowing the current Furfur.

Head back to Seagate, speak to the twins, from 6pm till 1am the next day we drag the coffins to the Twin's Desert Training Temple.

6th Fruit 821WK

Spent the night with Dark Skies enhanced philosophy querying ascension music w.r.t Sitri: The only way for an individual to make music of ascension is to use an instrument made from a noble, the more noble the better. Caprice could twist herself into a very effective instrument.

First 3 Queens: Silguitia, Kitty, Aleksandra of Glissom.
Second 3 Queens: Meredithis, Purr, Vassago & Sitri.
Third 3 Queens: Meredithis, Drow Frozen Queen (Beleth), Elven Frozen Queen.

A Comb (probably an item of Demonic Regalia which is in Furfur's realm) is the item required to shape the queens hair for her to become an instrument of note.

Furfur wants Lust/Love/Avarice from Sitri's realm.

Vassago wants to the Queen of Glissom to enter the demonic realms and make herself into an instrument of change/destruction.

We curse those that need it, then we head to the temple to rest in the coffins, remove the curses after days and days in the boxes and get time training for those that need it taking another 56 days. This gives each party member a bonus of 13 to a primary attribute.

6th Fruit 821WK
We return to Seagate at 9:00pm on a warm night then back to the temple for further horn training.

7th Fruit 821WK
We return to Seagate at 10:00pm on a warm night.

Questions

✔️Ascension Rituals of Sitri to try to find leverage on him. Caprice has ascension and Sitri sub fields. She is specifically interested in the music involved so she can compose a counter to it. Others can look at it from a different angle.
✔️What the hell does a comb have to do with this?
Can make someone of royal blood into musical instrument using comb from Furfur's realm
✔️Vassago's regalia
Foras had the sceptre, Furfur may have it now
Crown got fed to Xel?
Sabrina has the goblet
Is the church of the one horned god a front for Sitri?
Probably. I listen to their music as an adjunct to my research.

Misc Tasks

✔️Check out the "short cut" in the Fastness that has not been used for years has started to be used once more by devils & imps, so that it is available to us later if required.
We now have soul coins so that we can activate it if we want to later. We also have invite from one of Silguitia's lieutenants who is against her
An agent of Vassago has a new tower nearby
✔️after book secret research use coffins for stat buffs at the temple of the elemental twins - 13pt to one stat
✔️Train those who haven't fought in the time tunnels - Don't need to use tunnels to do this

Misc Info

Dark Skies can throw straws into the air to be grasped at, need free hand
Love/lust/avarice = Elf/human/dwarf take on same concept
Check in my pouch of many things for the note tied with a velvet ribbon that tells how to open genuine necklace or where to find out how
  • Have instructions on how to open the Special Jade Collars used by the Drow.
  • You will face some underground foes, on the top of the mountain, who are waiting for the Horns. These powerful specter's are trapped in a buried cursed box that is hidden in a cave on the western side. I forget who, but one of the party said they could find it. Being invisible to undead obviously will help.
  • The Purr you have seen in the pit in Borova is not the real Purr by a blessed powerful agent of the Prince of Prophecy - Vassago.
  • Vassago has influence over Queen Meredithis of the Western Kingdom.
  • Sitri may gain control over one in the royal line of Glissom, unless protected by the Fire of Aim.
  • Furfur has agents (based out of Sanctuary & Caulder) looking for you to trap.

Swapping Necklaces in the Pit

The Copper Block we're being paid with grants Vychan and Roderigo a vision of a noble appearing demon who we identify as Cadazel (a.k.a. Cadazl) and they think he's very pleased us.

Track down the Hobbit who stole Vassago's Crown, he sold it in Novadom 10 days ago. It was three Giants with some Ogres, they turned up at the inn he was at and gave him gold for the crown (and not much choice). Turns out it was cursed dragon gold, he's been obsessed with lust and shacked up in Starflower's brothel failing to sate his lust.

Syrene Herbalist Potions: Duration 12 Hours; Effects +7 to one Stat. Or for Earth mages, either +6 Stat & +5 FT or +5 Stat & +10 FT.

Head to Morgor's time tunnel, entering via the old kitchen, 3 Shrivers here (maybe at Rodrigo's instruction from when he is/was working for the time dragon) collecting weighted stones.

We head into the nearest room to the abandoned kitchen which turns out to be a kitchen dedicated to smoking food.

Emerge 12th Blossom 817

Portal down to Borovia, sneak past the friendly defences, disguise and hypnotise ourselves then start our approach. Pretending to be irregular (non-Drow) troops out foraging we make our way into camp.

Changing our disguises to be healers and VIPs, we make our way to the tents to change the collars which goes well.

Next we head for the forge, passing bubbling blue pits, porcelain heads lining pits - apparently covering buried people, readied for mass sacrifices, possibly Furfur related.

We get to the forge, a wall filled with skulls facing the forge includes the one we need to swap out, we use a local goblin to do the job as that's the way it's done.

Heading back, we find a room filled with failed experiments (bodies with extra limbs, dipped in metal) to wait in until Kitty & Purr come out from the mines. We fake a message for Purr Foolish lover, desires a night of passion with Caprice, a Lt of Furfur (Cadazel), he has them entombed - currently. They're valuable and will probably get traded around, the bodies can be used to send messages/compulsions to them. Sitri's older comb could be with the same packrat that has their bodies. Vassago's sceptre, Furfur's crown, a trident from the deeps may be there too.

Whoever first controls their 3 queens can bring them together and form a triangle for a ritual of truth which will gather power at an elemental level. Gaining control of Seduction & Lust. Vassago wants Regret & Lust. Ritual needs to be done at the capital of the realm.

We come up with a plan for Kitty to be Sasha to satisfy Cadazel's obsession while Caprice is Kitty in Barovia, while we heist his stuff. We agree to return to do this next month.

NB Xanadu (Dragon God) is the Unborn of our astrology.

The Kitty/Caprice heist needs to be after 8th Meadow 818 when Little Dove escaped the camp and the 15th when Turf & Blackthorn grabbed Kitty.

Some research/remembered

  • Sitri Illusion, lust, love
  • Vassago naming, prophecy
  • Furfur Air, lust, prophecy
  • Beleth Fire submit to sexual desires (of another?), connected to the frozen queen destroyed last season by Silverfoam and party
  • Fornaeus Water
  • Phenex Mind hypnotic song

Thirteen feet and to trust your fifth look Aut 820

Does Morgor still believe that Blackthorn will kill the Senators of Decay. No A well dressed man running urchins leads us to stumble across a very sophisticated poisoning scheme aimed at the W.K. Queen, using a magically misdirecting copy of her dinner ware. We plant locatable ribbons and sticks in amongst the packaging to trace later and leave it as we found it. 818 02 Summer Heat Visited Elvish Embassy. Meet a bunch of elves. Get access permission to the Armoury for 30 years. Funds are available. 817 10 Spring Thaw Caprice was given a potion to remove 2 hours of memory. So it's OK if "she" knows that we are there, because "I" don't know what I used it for.

Preparation

Chat with Dark Skies
Ask Dark Skies about her relationship with the Senator's of Decay.
  • The Senators have a Sceptre that they believe gives them control of Dark Skies. She believes she's playing along and can break the control at any time. She keeps fobbing them off with ruses to keep herself safe
  • She also believes that they are controlling the Red Crown with the same device. The sceptre is similar to Strahd's sceptre that Braegon? has
  • The SoD have a portent that says that the Moriquendi and the Elves should be united by now
  • The Red Crowns work with portents and prophecy.
  • They have been around for about 1400 years, but became more effective when they got multiple crowns from the Armoury about 300 years ago. Starflower has one the same
  • They are historically from Terra Nova
  • They have been controlled by the SoD for about 6-8 years, which overlaps with them working with the drow

Questions

✔️Does Morgor still believe that Blackthorn will kill the Senators of Decay? No
✔️Is the poisoning scheme against Meredithis from Autumn 820 relevant (secret)? Yes. Need to ask more specific questions.
✔️Who has Vassago's crown (Secret)? A hobbit stole it, but Steve says it was fed to Zel. As attributes they are not destroyed. A member of the Court of the Western Kingdom has it.
The Hobbit Thief of Salamanca stole the Crown of Vassago from us, after we stole it from Vassago. Roderigo understands this person was in Seagate recently, spending up large in brothels'. We track him down and he is living it up in Starflower's high class brothel. He sold the crown about 2 weeks ago in Novadom. He has been cursed with insatiable lust and that has been reinforced by the curse on the dragon's gold that he was paid. The dragon is from the Gatar Depression/Watch area. Curse is 31MA which indicates that it is from Sitri or Vassagon rather than Furfur. His thief skill is extreme such that he was able to steal items from the party while tied to a chair. We just left him to it
✔️Did we use all 12 of the phoenix form charm immunity potions? They expired so were not written up as loot.
✔️One of the payments for this mission is a lump of copper that DAs NoM as perception or knowledge. Ask the hometeam or divinate for more info. Looking at the large odd shapes of copper by either Vychan (high) or Roderigo (low) both see a moment of clarity. They see a demonic male who's description matched that of Cadazl/Cadazel. He is pleased with us and has gained much power and prestige.
✔️How do we get into Furfur's realm for our meeting? As Delran did so we plan to go through Bremen into Cadazl's city
✔️How would the pure heart interact with the chastity belt/codpiece? Morgor advises to use it.
✔️Investigate the markings on the Sitri boxes that only I can see AFAIK? It is the same script and message as is on the doors that once protected Aims Fire. When you read it aloud it opens the doors, so probably would open the boxes.
✔️How are the janx hiding from prophecy (secret)? Or in the past ask how they will hide from prophecy (astrology)? They are no longer in normal time
✔️Will the ice water in our veins protect against fear? Yes, strong willed or iron willed, or cold as steel, events are possible
✔️Where and when can we acquire the Great Truth (secret)? The Truth you seek is held under the watchful eye of the Unborn in its last Temple known by the Ranger who will not grow old in the hills to the West. Xanadu is the Unborn (the first dragon). The Great Truth is at his temple in Swithan's Cove, Axis is Xanadu's only priest.
✔️Can we sacrifice Lizette's heart more than once (we expect not) (secret). No
Matt tells us the message over the skies in Moriquendi is for us and is "The fortunes of slaying the queen will go well"

Misc Tasks

✔️Each learned to play horns at the elemental temple so took and extra 9 weeks there.
✔️Get 1x7 point herbalism stat potions from Syrene and special ones for the earth mages.
✔️Give everybody a week with the range rock and the other two. We are in the coffins for 52 days which is more that 7*7.
❌See Seren again re new numbers for life aspect. Our fluctuating aspects make this impossible to read.
In discussion about where to return the skulls to Dark Skies. In this discussion she apologises to Kilroy, with the implication that she will do something to him before we meet in now again.

Replaced necklaces

✔️12 Blossom 817 we steal & replace enchanted green collars on Caprice, Isgerth and Helga within the pit with replacement collars from Morgor.
✔️We Remove the skull of the second Dark Skies from the Infected Prince Smith and replace with the fake Rune Poison skull.
We use hypnotism to foil danger sense or similar using
  • You have no intention of causing harm to any entity
  • You have no negative feelings towards any entity
  • You consider yourself to be harmless
✔️Meet with Kitty away from Purr (fake).
Let her know that Purr is fake. She says that their bodies (entombed for their protection), the comb (the tines independently DA as fate, luck, death etc), a trident, Furufr's crown, Vassago's sceptre are in Cadzal's place in Furfur's realm.
She thinks he is loyal to Silguitia and will use the items that he has recovered to return for brownie points. The Lieutenant looking to overthrow her is probably the insectoid demon Stempzl.
His weakness is passion and he is obsessed with Caprice. Kitty agrees to distract him by pretending to be Caprice for a few days and Caprice will take her place in the pit, while we all go raid his stash.
Date needs to be after 8th Meadow 818 when Little Dove escaped the camp and the 15th when Turf & Blackthorn grabbed Kitty.
About the three queen's sets, whoever succeeds will get the power of seduction and lust (regret and lust for Vassago). Whoever gets the three first will use them as three sides of a truesilver triangle, a ritual of truth, gathering of power at an elemental level, no longer controlled by borders. It has to happen in the capital of the demon's realm. They will be merged into one. Kitty seems to think this is a good idea, but we know and have told her that she will ask for help after she is rescued
✔️Rescued the troubadour, Mance, after she died that night. Took her to Seagate, True Formed her extra arms off, resurrected her and got her hibernated. We will come back for her later.
Travelled to Morgor's lair at the purging of the vampire nest plus 1 day to take the necklaces to him so he can modify them, but some of us are then so we have to wait about three days.

Borovia Pit to Furfur's Hell

Getting close to Morgor's those who were/are removing coffins start suffering so we send Kilroy ahead on his own to drop off the necklaces. He comes back with a detached arm & leg, he was attacked by Dark Skies. Now we know what she was apologising for. I reattach the limbs.

Into the tunnels and back 3 days, we drop off the Morgor Amulets for the vampire killing party.

Back again to just after we left, we encounter the same 3 shapers who look younger, Caprice works out what to tell them and Roderigo instructs them as we know he has/had.

10 miles through the mountains to the Time Dragon, we start walking. Night falls and about half way there we encounter some Dwarves known to Roderigo, Caprice and Keeshah.

Rest the night with the Dwarves in their stronghold.

13th Blossom 817

A long day ascending the mountain via switchbacks. Along a well formed path along the ridge, into a valley, through the waterfall (which strips illusions) then down through tunnels to see the time dragon. NB Statues of us and others.

We speak, claiming the rewards the Vampire hunting party just earned.

Roderigo is gifted a token to buy his release from capture if needed. And a barrel to curse coins for a cunning plan to do with Drow in the Elven Isles.
To rescue Peter, we need Sand Buckets, dragon coin to burn hole in them to drain the sand, set all (90) rooms to the same time, Caprice (and whoever else is in the same room) can then emerge to find all who have been trapped in the tunnels.
To get out... he's not sure, he needs to research for a couple of years, we can return later.
Tell the Dwarves - The Dragon wants tribute, the valley cleared of Ogres and Orcs.
14th Blossom 817

Head down the mountain. Drop message to Dwarves. Back to time tunnel.

8th Meadow 818

Emerge from the tunnel and make our way to Borovia.

9th Meadow 818

We whispering wind to Kitty to let her know we're here. Heading into the camp again disguised as scavengers, we meet up with Kitty in the mines.

We refresh the plan, she uses Keeshah's ring to forget it again then go to hell for two days.

Caprice starts her time in camp disguised as Kitty...

10th Meadow 818

... Caprice in camp disguised as Kitty...

11th Meadow 818

... Caprice in camp disguised as Kitty.

Stepping away from us, Roderigo puts on his ring. He can see a broiling lights around the forge. We move closer and try again, he can now see there is a barrier around the forge of sacrificed Drow. He starts to coruscade.

We leave the camp (banishment to Kilroy's) then portal and walk about to the time tunnel. Side issues with Roderigo getting turned into a toad by Kilroy's wife after starting arguments within the party.

We get some sleep.

9th Meadow 818

We emerge from the tunnel and head back to the Pagan portal then to Bremen and through to hell.

Coming out in Furfur's realm on the road from Throlmanni to Rivinia, a couple of hours of travel by intent (WP 50) gets us to Elvenhold.

Walk into the city disguised as various types of devils. Make our way towards the palace in the middle of town. We get sandwiched between two groups of devils with ill intent who attack.

  • Took the necklaces back to Morgor after the purging of the vampire nest. Travelled to Morgor's lair at the purging of the vampire nest plus 1 day to take the necklaces to him so he can modify them, but some of us are then Kilroy goes in on his own. He comes back having done the task, but carrying some of his own limbs, since the dark skies didn't recognise him; that will be what she apologised for (hopefully)
  • Went back a couple of days and placed a bag of items in the garden near the arch entrance to Morgor's lair (without the other guild parties seeing you).
  • Visited the local dwarfs who talk about an alliance in their past and our future. They met my shaper who was going to visit the shrivers then the time dragon. The king was away so we met with his son and discussed an alliance with Glissom as if we had come in part way through a conversation.
  • Visited the time dragon since we are physically and temporally in the right place.
MA of his ward is 37.
He plans to curse the drow on the isles by swapping out the Destinian gold with cursed dragon gold, to which end he gives us a barrel (broken down) to funnel gold through.
Asking how to get to Peter trapped in the time tunnel he tells us to set the date in all ~90 rooms to the same date (he gives a coin to burn through the bottom of buckets to use to syncronise. I will be able to find any trapped denizens. I ask how to get out of the trap, but he doesn't know so agrees to research it. This will take a few years so we can go forward and find out. (He says he can multiply Rodrigo to a few).
He wants us to tell the dwarfs that he wants tribute and the area cleared of orcs and ogres.
He gives Rodrigo and twisted piece of metal as a promise of ransom.
He knows where my shaper is but is not saying yet.

Heist Started

Go to the pit 9th Meadow 818.
I spend some time with Kitty to learn routines, passwords and safe places.
Kitty is not under illusion. She carries a bunch of stuff so I put my stuff into her bags so I will have it with me while I take Kitty's place for a couple of days while she visits Cadzal in my place.
Quick trip to town to DA the snake priests for MR. The three visible at the time are 100.
Use a potion of telepathy to read Kitty's mind for disguise mind out of my future bag (thanks Vychan for the reminder).
Asking Kitty whether she has a college gives a confusing answer. She may have mine.
The rest of the party wait nearby in spaces hollowed out in the old parts of mines by Braegon.
Kitty comes back a couple of days later and we leave without getting any info from her re happening in Cadzael's zone.
On the way out the smoke above the forge is now fiery (and the area seems to be true seeing) so this appears to be the time and place to reveal Rodrigo's ring. He coruscades and sees that the forge is surrounded by an invisible wall/dome? of sacrificed drow. We rehide the ring and scarper by banishment.
We went back to the same date and went to Cazdal's city in Hel via Bremen to raid his stuff. Disguised as various devils and imps we walk through town and are attacked.

Descent into Lust

Fountain of Queen Aleksandra

Control some Devils, kill others, then Vychan's flood takes effect bringing the drowning deep here in a very destructive way. We start fleeing, Silverfoam casts Windwalk on everyone except himself and me (Braegon), I run through up and over buildings. Silverfoam is caught in the wave and killed by the demonic corrosive liquid.

The liquid recedes, I recover Silverfoam's body and stealthily scarper.

Getting back together away from the several blocks of destruction and death, resurrect and heal Silverfoam.

Make our way to the better parts of the city, upgrade our disguises to suit.

Scout for theorised secret entrances, find a perverse tunnel, buy our way into the basement of a brothel, tunnel through to the tunnel.

Opening the ways into the tunnel and under the castle walls are painfully intimate...

Hell Hound Kennels, Caprice is exuding liquid which is fertilising the land. We create a bath/palanquin to carry her in to avoid leaving an obvious trail.

Caprice's illusion keeps falling off her, we change our disguises to be a bunch of incubi guarding her.

Make our way down the stairs at the side of the courtyard, following locate on Purr's body. Deep basement. More curtains of liquid. Get through to the vault.

  • At Cazdal's city we are attacked by thugs. After a few pulses of combat, the flash flood cast by Vychan 😠 goes off and a fountaining flood of The Drowning Deep comes through. Silverfoam casts windwalk on most of us at full duration 😒, taking all but himself and Braegon out of the action. The water kills Silverfoam and he is nearly sucked down into the Drowning Deep by the receding "waters" and only manages to wash up on a pile of debris by some unnatural luck by Caprice. Braegon gathers him up, vacates the area and resurrects him with difficulty.
  • We find our way into some tunnels that access the castle. They are decorated with statues of Sasha, various erotica, bodily fluids and flesh-like materials
  • The mana level is high for me and low for everyone else, and as we approach the castle it becomes more and more high for me. I am trying to not use it as I don't want to become any more Furfur. My illusion of an incubus won't stick to me so I turn it off.
  • All elemental magic seems to be corrupted when cast.
  • Cadzal clearly has the hots for his boss and is substituting with Queen Aleksandra.
  • Following a locate by Kilroy, on Purr as he knew her before she was a succubus, takes us to a vault in below the castle.

Vault of Cadazel

The next door is covered by the edge of a 200' area of silence, an E&E Special Ward, and a complicated magical water trap. Caprice reaches into her pouch and pulls out the key which Kilroy recognises/claims as his magical key, we use both his current and future/past key in parallel with the right timing based on the water clock/trap.

Inside are the Red Crowns, Incubi and Succubi who are looting the place and are ready for us despite all of our protections and precautions, and they immediately attack. There is no air inside, the silence is also a illusionary terrain (only those inside the effect can target and only those outside can cast), and there is a disjunction in effect. Elemental effects and most other magic we use is corrupted. But they can cast and trigger and all of their abilities work (as far as we can tell). A hoard of on-standard phantasms attack the party. Some Red Crowns reflect/transfer magic and damage back onto us. They have portals in and out, they continue hauling loot out their portal during the fight while their allies portal in. Silverfoam is killed in the first round, the rest of us badly injured. I resurrect him. We still manage to make slow headway through them with Stasis until they remove all of the stasis effects.

They remove the disjunction effect and some bombs go off under Incubi and Succubi that have moved up to melee range. Then they replace the disjunction effect once again (this may have been poorly timed by the Red Crowns & Incubi and Succubi).

Kilroy gets his illusion removed and steps forward waving a flag to parley, we eventually negotiate a cease fire, they'll take what they want (the angels and some other stuff they've already taken) and leave.

  • Petrified Demonic Guards
  • 2 Paralysed Lts of Dicarbia - Maquis of the Pentacle
  • Dark Skies Skull
  • Etchings of the Queens Meredithis & Aleksandra
  • Harp Strings
  • 2 Human skulls - Janx
  • Sitri True Silver Pentagram
  • Kitty & Purr
  • Small box chained up in a cage... within which is the comb
  • Crown, Whip, Leathery Wing
  • Petrified Angels of Raphael which the Red Crowns are removing
  • Sisters of Lizette Summers & Troubadour Ella are in the Red Crowns
  • Vassago's Sceptre

Various trap stuff slows recovery of the crown.

We exit the room and banish back to Kilroy's Little World in Slippery Rock.

Kilroy has a massive headache. Kilroy recalls he was digging potatoes' when this happened. Quickly move away 5 miles.

Preserve and Itemise Kitty and Purr.

Resurrect Kate & Ella, send them to the guild for restoring their minds and true forms.

Portal back to the Shriven Hills south of the Pagan Mountains. Divination:

  • Dark Skies Skulls - they are skulls of previous Dark Skies, the current Dark Skies can use the skulls to gain the abilities of the previous ones.
  • Janx skulls have some of their power infused - the have tried to become avatars of themselves.
  • Caprice had a surge in power while in Furfur's realm which has receded.
  • Caprice-Furfur Liquid - Restorative to Caprice, dangerous to anyone else.
  • The Western Kingdom Crown is not magical.
  • Vassago's Sceptre, part of his regalia - currently inactive
  • Harp Strings of Furfur
  • Sitri's Royal Comb - nobles can use to create enchanted strings.

Vychan dies from contemplating etchings, I resurrect him but his heart needs more reinforcement.

Planning again in Seagate

Portal to time tunnel. Enter Morgor's Kitchen and spot three backpacks (with high quality noble children's clothing with a tailor mark from Glisson) on the deserted kitchen bench. We enter the tunnels, head to the backing room, and change time back to our current time, and leave.

8th Fruit

Portal to Seagate.

Backpacks full of clothes and mountain gear for Sasha's kids in the kitchen, we leave them alone.

In Seagate, back at Turf's, debrief and confusing conversations. Cadazel had an ability to copy/clone things exactly. We think the books are probably copies. Other things might be and the bodies might be but we decide we don't need to know.

We get a note that we need to deliver to the Sorceress in Silver to pass on to Turf. We will need to 'find' Kitty and Purr in a blue box in Sitri's realm before the beginning of this season. Morgor supplies us with the blue box.

3 Raphaelites arrive one after another

  1. From Northern Ranke, has a message for us. Gratuity of Angels will aid us in recovering our broken hearts.
  2. A seagate local, delivering Vychan's Trident and Caprice's Spear that have been recovered by an Angel
  3. From Brastor, delivering the Sceptre of Sigismund's regalia that Kilroy had concealed 3 years ago. Recovered by an Angel from The Drowning Deep. Asan's regalia is also in the bag.

We walk down to Old Seagate, looking for the ghosts known to be in the area. We spend the night hunting them down for Roderigo's revenant to feed on them.

9th Fruit

Start planning the horn blowing over breakfast.

Heist

At Cazdal's city in Furfur's realm in Hel to raid his stuff. (These notes contain a little bit of post combat analysis using spy skill)

  • Cast locate for missing troubadours. Two of them, Kate and Ella, are in the vault. We retrieved them. Kate is the one flayed by Bluevane.
  • From five feet in front of the door the area is in silence. It is a volume about 200' square, so covering the whole of the vault.
  • Two people are required to unlock the door to the vault in sync
  • On opening the door we find that the vault is full of Red Crowns and controlled demonics (slowed). It is unclear why they are there at the same time as us, but we haven't done anything yet to foil precognition/prophecy
  • The area is airless and under a disjunction and an illusory terrain. It transpires that the airlessness is created by the Crowns using an item and the silence goes down at the same time that the air comes back, though is not exactly contiguous with it. The disjunction is dropped and recast by a team of two Crowns at one point. The Illusory Terrain appears to be part of the vault defences.
  • They have a portal into the room from an area of desert with a camp at a distance and a portal out covered in darkness so we can't see where it goes to.
  • The Crowns have petrified the local demonic guards.
  • When we open the door, it appears that they think that I am Furfur with minions and immediately start to bug out with loot.
  • I am the only one able to cast effectively into the room as I can see through the terrain to target while in the area with sound, but many of my spells are reflected back (sometimes onto other targets than myself), probably if they resist. This was the case on Crowns and demonic targets.
  • I can also cast without using fatigue and with extra targets. At one point I try to do an extra prepare and cast in the pulse, which works but damages my heart. Subsequently this becomes possible for the rest of the party. Unfortunately Vychan uses this one time too many (twice), takes percentile heart damage and is reduced to 1 point (it was a very useful cast though) which he subsequently wastes by thinking of centrefolds, and drops dead.
  • Trying or even thinking about using demonic power loses me heart points, while refusing the same when suggested by others gains them.
  • At one point what appeared to be a glass rod was broken and all stasised entities were able to move. It is apparently a temporary suppression as they all immediately made for the exit. Don't know whether this was time magic specific, my spell specific or general.
  • The Crowns seemed to specifically target Keshah (with 10 phantasms) and Silverfoam (with an assassin).
  • We decide to negotiate with them after this as we believe that they are working for the Senators of Decay under control and agree to each take what we came for and leave.
  • They rescue three petrified angels and subsequently credit/blame Kilroy (who gave his name) for this.
  • One of the Crowns is Lizette's sister and one of them is the sister of one of the troubadours found there. We convinced her to let us take her sister as we would be able to look after her better.
  • They do not seem to be out of their normal time.
  • We get bodies of Kitty and Purr as shapeshifters. Kitty does look like me, not like she originally did. We get a crown that appears to be Meredithis', the sceptre of Vassago, the comb that we were there for (which was seriously locked, including illusions and a monster who bowed to me), the two troubadours, three Furfur harp strings (pubic hair based) similar to Angela's strings, a Dark Skies skull, two Janx skulls, books of etchings of Meredithis and Sasha (the Crowns took another that was identical but unnamed), a sitri truesilver pentagram, a whip. There are also a couple of minions of Decarabia petrified
  • We have some of the liquid I was excreting.

Home Base

Q Why did they pick that particular mountain for the horn blowing?
A So that we can feed the spirits there to Rodrigo's revenant
Q Where does one get "precognitive protection".
A Syrene made these. They take a long time to make. They allow me to see futures and choose between them.
Gave the Dark Skies skull from the pit back to Dark Skies in the "now" so that we are sure to give it to the right version. I mentioned that we had found another and suggested we keep it just in case. We were then interrupted and it was left at that.
Get Turf to check the state of my ITN. He says that it is worn and ragged and that the use of the Chastity Belt etc is damaging to it so I shouldn't wear it. He adds 6 ranks to my ITN.
Q What gods does the AÅ¡an Temple protect from? A balance of Horus & Set. Is this relevant?
A Yes. Set = Sitri but I don't know who Horus relates to
Q The two great lies cannot exist, or at least be effective at the same time, Ask Matt(who told us about it originally (was actually the fates) when the original came into existence.
A He's not telling
  • Fed Rodrigo's revenant. There are ghosts in downtown Old Seagate that are a problem. "We" devour a few.
  • Rumour has it that Cadzael can copy things so the books are probably copies, maybe as backup to please his boss or to get some of the power himself. The bodies of K&P may also be copies which would explain why we are expected to find them in Sitri's realm. We decline to find out for sure.
  • Three priests turn up to thank "Kilroy" for saving the angels. They have been delayed until now by the fates. They bring him/us gifts, from the north a promise that his/our deeply broken hearts will be repaired for his/our great service, from Seagate my dragon slaying spear lost in a dragon at the Sun combat and Vychan's trident lost in the Drowning Deep, and from the south the regalia of AÅ¡an and WK that Kilroy had hidden in the sea but had been found by drowned sailors and gone to the Drowning Deep. The dwarfs take the regalia to the Superstition Mountains for safe keeping.
  • Dark Skies swaps back a Typhon's sword that she took from Kilroy in Morgor's lair when she chopped off his limbs. Don't know what that was about.
  • We will find K&P's bodies in a blue box in Sitri's realm according to a note ostensibly from the Sorceress in Silver, but actually created by Morgor. This has been ascertained to be true at a certain time and we have the blue box which has AÅ¡an style decoration so if need be we will make it true later.
  • Richard from the Lunar Empire gives us each a belt-fitting to make it easier for a rescue party to retrieve us.
  • Divinate Sasha: conduit, has grown in power and mana, could do many things when in demonic realms at the cost of her humanity. Would be King level in hell.
  • Liquid that I was excreting: power to renew herself, dangerous for others to handle, suicidally in love, not demonic, came from hell but not intrinsically corrupted. Drink or otherwise eg basting oneself in potion while in sunshine. Could use to add to heart points but could have problematic effects, reinforce my name, healing. Drinking would give non-specific more generalised results unless I am trained to focus, to have WP chance to direct - would take a week.
  • Morgor has a portal to the element of range, allowing him to add a component of range to shapings. Could potion it to give extra range on spells. We could use this to extend range on dealing with the bombs or to extend locate range to find K&P, I'm not sure whether we need it.
  • Dwarves give us 7 ingots of silver from the elves for expenses.

Seer, Horns and Asan

Matt takes us to a cave in the Gargoyle Mountains that leads to the Six-Eye Seer, we walk to the seer without event.

He has piles of burning tobacco filling his cavern - an experiment that didn't work as he doesn't breathe. We extinguish the leaves and educate him on the normal use of Tobacco.

We give him the Janx skulls, he will enchant them and trade them to the Time Dragon for Sasha's children.

Vassago is working with Decarabia, he has a debt to pay off.

The Seer can protect all of us from being foreseen on our next trip to hell, except Vychan, we need to visit Death for him to be protected.

We exit through a cave, back in the snowy mountains, walk-about to Death's lake, visit with Death. Vychan is loaned a broken staff to protect himself.

Banish back to Slippery Rock, the witches know Kilroy has recovered Lilith in some way and are pleased, they would like him to finish the job. Then to Seagate where we get divined. The soles of Silverfoam's feet are infected by the Drowning Deep, wherever he steps, there is a chance of demonic influence.

Travel to the Elemental Twins' temple. Silverfoam into a coffin to reduce the curse. Caprice learning Cello & how to use a special potuon of Caprice. The rest of us learning to dodge Throwing Darts.

Time Tunnel

Time tunnel.

Barovia pit

Borovia, the pit, we sneak down and counterspell and then granulate the stockpile of fire spheres.

Sneak out and head to the top of the mountain. A Beltane Elf is spying on the Drow there, we warn him but he opts to hang around while we cause trouble.

Roderigo finds and opens the Spectre chest, they emerge 4 per pulse, turns out they're formerly living Hearth Devils, one of them triggers an un-life grenado, we kill them all, catch the Grenado, drop it into the earth, it blows the top off the mountain.

We start setting up to blow the horns, a Dark Titan (Braegon & Caprice recognise from Khatovar) turns up and demands the dagger we need to use to slay the Fae Fallen Fawn. He insists on negotiating with Roderigo who is nearly kicked to death for his disrespectful remarks. They agree to meet up at Myrkyn's Castle on an island off the coast of Brandenberg in two months to hand over the dagger.

We blow the horns.

Banish to slippery rock, portal to Pagan Mts, back to our own time.

Back to Seagate. Dinner, bickering, rest.

Next night.

Strahd's crypt

Back in time to just after we killed Strahd, Twins take us to their temple in Asan, there we feather fall into the hole to end up in Strahd's crypt at the Gates of No Return. Head towards the Hall of Time, pit with nullification, lever on the far side to disable it.

Janx statues outside the temple of the gods. Light/time based puzzle/trap. We make ourselves invisible and walk past.

Magical barrier at the entrance, slays non-humans, Celestial Special. Pressurized floor lights the torches and sand starts trickling in.

We make the sacrifice to Hourus, he manifests, we request and gain protection from Sitri.

We make the sacrifice to Set, he manifests, we request and gain permission to enter and leave Sitri's realm.

Back the way we came to the Gates of No Return which Dark Skies allows us to use the gate in reverse.

Questions

Q Who does Horus relate to in "A balance of Horus & Set" Library in AÅ¡an if want to look there.
Two readings both critical successes
Reading 1 Reading 2
Angel hold on to me Angel hold on to me
Love is all around me Love is all around me
Angel hold on to me Family hold on to me
Or come closer Or come closer
To me To me
Don't go Don't go
Don't leave me Don't leave me
Angel hold on to me Allies hold on to me
Love is all around me Love is all around me
So sad that So sad that
You love her like the stars above You love her like the stars above
So sad that you love her So sad that you love her
Hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on
Ah ha ah ha hold on to me Ah ha ah ha hold on to me
Angel hold on to me She holds on to me
I come closer to you I come closer to you
It's paradise you take me to It's paradise you take me to
Q Is Morgor's shapechanger brother related to K&P.
A Sore point. Yes through his wife?
Q How long will it take to craft the human instrument.
A Days to weeks. I hire a renowned Luthier in Seagate.
Q Taking extra actions, was that possible because I made it so by suggesting it in "my realm" or can we burn heart points in general?
A The former
Q What particular threat are Keshah and Silverfoam to the Red Crowns that they specifically targeted them?

The Elf of the waves, baron of broken oaths,
holds the truth when blood is spilt,
demanding words once twisted by waves will burn the mind,
with conflicts and blood for all,
combat is painful and ...

The Elf fluent in runes,
weapon which calls for blood,
breads fear in the mind,
chaos & defeat by someone is given.

Q The message over the skies in Moriquendi is "The fortunes of slaying the queen will go well". What does this mean/relate to? Dark Skies says who do I want Verina trained by.
A glorious attempt on the Queen,
creates unity, space and grief,
breeding of vengeance,
foolishness and revenge,
six eyes, has seen, is seeing and will see,
Understanding comes at a terrible cost.
Q Can we retrieve Aim's fire without coming in contact with the janx? (book secret answer yes)
With the roar of lions,
the Janx are blind to the cats blood,
the moving of flames creates issues in the stars,
what is not seen, will invite no trouble,
oil on the water casts no shadow.
Q Is Decarabia relevant, if so how?
Good servants of the Marquis in the Pentacle,
sing songs of joy to your kin & blood,
birdsong brings happiness when grieving.
the gift of silver blue, silver white, twisted ruby, silver yellow, all gems,
will be helpful in defeating enemies of the Queens.
It looks like Decarabia is on our side and gave us those gems at the beginning of the season, maybe because birds like me.

Misc

The WK will be stronger with the regalia returned, but we can't trust them till we investigate further.
Illusions that can't be ended by counterspells can be suppressed by them.
Sitri is working with Vassago so if we don't cover ourselves from prophecy we will be in trouble.
  1. Possible methods
  2. The great lie eg We will not be in Sitri's realm at that time
  3. Bribe Vassago
  4. Talk to Blackthorn how he got it done
  5. Get protection from the six eyed seer.
  6. The great heart could protect us if Syrene was willing.
  7. Matt could take us to Dwarvish priests of Imther Stronghold
  8. Ask book: a naga that lives outside of drakenburg castle in a cave off the moat
  9. Getting removed from the weave.
  10. Having our names removed
We decide to go with number 4, and Matt takes us to the entrance to some caves (Gargoyle mountains, not where we have entered in the past) to visit the six eyed seer.

He wants the two Janx skulls to trade with the dragon for the royal children of Glissom, whom he plans to train so we hand them over. It seems that the children will be caught trying to burgle the dragon. I'm not sure which children or when this occurs; it's hard enough trying to keep track of my own timeline.

The seer will protect us from prophecy in Sitri's realm the next time we are there.
He also gives Rodrigo a sword that allows him to kill without anyone thinking the worse of him, to slay a rival candidate.
Vassago is working with Decarabia because of a debt to be repaid.
The seer wants demon blood but we don't have it yet.
I don't ask for the "Understanding that comes at a terrible cost."
Vychan will need to be hidden by death so we go there and death gives him a staff to carry in each hand which is made of death and will kill someone who tries to get info on Vychan. There are two because two will be looking for him.
Vychan is asked for two coins on death's boat, and so is Silverfoam so I ask him who he also has with him. It turns out that his soles are corrupted by the deep and there is a low chance every time he steps that an imp or something will turn up. Back at Seagate we get his feet fixed and all of his other stuff checked and fixed.
A songbird turned up at slippery rock with the good news that we had rescued (partially so far) Lillith. Decarabia.
I learn Cello & how to use the special potion of Caprice.

Blow the Horns

We travel to Mount Ghakis in SW County Borovia to blow the enchanted Horns on the 14th Snow 818 WK.
We destroy the bombs before we blow the horns (or we would kill many innocents and all drop dead) using fire counterspells and Vychan's granulate air/liquid spell "You will face some underground foes, on the top of the mountain, who are waiting for the Horns. These powerful specter's are trapped in a buried cursed box that is hidden in a cave on the western side. I forget who, but one of the party said they could find it. Being invisible to undead obviously will help."
Some of us are invisible to them, enough that we are a tempting target so that they will come out and we can nab them. Rodrigo opens the box and the revenant consumes the first four to come out, but more come out so we have to kill them and close the box. They are not spectres but Hearth Devils, formerly living and animated. They are immune to fatigue damage and do whitefire. As they are not spectres they do not drain. They have been there 122 years.
A Dark Titan turns up and wants to parlay about Sabastian's dagger which he believes is owed to him. He thinks that we have already used it on the Fae Fallen Fawn, because we will do that earlier. We agree to give it to him at Myrkyn's Castle in two months, ie middle of Thaw 818
We blow the horns with a range of 50 miles and since we are not at the top of the peak the range is about 550 miles so I use the decrease to reduce the resistance by 500.

Strahd's Tomb

Travel to 19th of Snow 818, First of the Days of Chaos, which is just after we killed Strahd and cleared out part of the complex. The elemental twins take us to Asan and we drop down the Gate of No Return. We sacrifice to Horus and get protection from Sitri, and sacrifice to Set for Free Passage, into, through and out of Sitri's realm. Luckily Dark Skies is able to translate for us as they speak a language that none of us does. We are able to leave via the Gate of No Return as Vychan suggests that Dark Skies can reverse it.

Deals and Drow at the Fates

Back to our time and back to Seagate.

Halflings are waiting for us at Turf's, they tell us a dangerous type asked to be arrested by the Seagate Guard and said to send for us. We know him as Rubezal, a minion of Vassago.

We agree to trade:

  • the wing for Vassago's previous and continued work to sabotage the rituals involving mortal queens and control of the Demonic and mortal realms via lust.
  • Vassago's token which may be used as ransom in the demonic realms for the two crates containing Sitri's Lts.
  • Map and guide to Sitri's city (Valderin's Gate), 2 Gems of Decarabia's Lts.

We meet with Clementine, brief her on the information we've discovered regarding Queen Meredithis. She says that might explain some of the Queens actions in opposing the King's movements of the WK armies to aid Bowcourt.

Back at Turf's, Caprice, Silverfoam, the Luthier and I head off to The Elemental Twins Temple to create the Cello.

Kilroy heads into the Seagate Market to meet the Succubus Belili that has been lurking, inviting her back to Turf's they chat. Acting on behalf of Decarabia (and independently, Avatar of Discordia aka Isis and Sehkmet), she tells them Furfur has corrupted Lilith with the intent of leading the Slippery Rock Coven astray. The now freed serpents are going to do something with an unwise item (we presume The Great Truth) at Xanadu's temple.

We use the time tunnel to head back to Snow 818. Rune portal to Glissom, meet Alegra. We step through her closet to the Fates Temple into a bunch on Drow who immediately attack.

Back to Base

Went back to our time and to Seagate. We are immediately accosted by King's Rapiers who tell us that the guard have arrested a guy for being creepy who has asked to see us. He is Rubezal, a minion of Vassago.
We trade V's wing, Decarabia's minions and Sitri's minions for Vassago's previous and continued work to sabotage the rituals involving mortal queens and control of the Demonic and mortal realms via lust, Vassago's token which may be used as ransom in the demonic realms which will be near the city and a map and guide to Sitri's city which he will give us when we enter the realm.
Vassago and Decarabia's debt involves broken love.
I also spot Belili in the street.
I spend about three weeks at the Elemental Twins' temple with Braegon and the "renowned" Luthier (who is an exile from the WK who was banished for an indiscretion) to be made into a cello (two ribs are left over). Silverfoam also spent the time to learn my ITN with a geas not to release it unless instructed by me, Braegon or Doron. I borrowed Silverfoam's fancy luxury tent and he had to sleep outside. It's good to be queen.
Meanwhile the others meet with Belili who (making sure to tell them to verify everything because what she is saying may not be true) claiming to be representing Decarabia, tells them that Lillith is corrupted by Furfur to lead them astray and provide dodgy amulets to the guild. Discordia (who is the same as Dark Skies, Isis and Sekhmet sent her to pass on this info). There is another agent about who has been here 4-5 years. Kilroy will break one of his knees. She mentions the temple in Swithan's Cove and says that the serpent mages wish to do something with an unwise item. She makes an innuendoed request of Sasha who will know where to find her.
I look in my future bag for info about the drow spirit barrier but there isn't anything.
Darkskies mends my heart back to base strength.
Put the weights on the correct weapons

Trouble at the Fates

On prompting by Verina we portaled back to Glissom before the time that I visited and the children were sick with an illness turning them to stone, while Peter and Wolf are in the mountains. We find Allegra on the wall and she tells Keshah to come back in a couple of years (from Winter 818) re another sad elf in the forest, then she leads us through the closet to the fates.
We arrive via a side entrance to find that there are some Drow there, from the armies up north, meeting with one of the fates so there are two fates in the room (looking surprised which is concerning).
The drow attack us so we respond, trying to avoid spilling blood (we believe that it is bad luck to spill blood here, but they believe that it is bad luck to lose here). We have a good start as Vychan starts by stabbing one through the eye and all five, including their leaders, that I cast stasis on succumb.
They respond with a volley of seeking arrows from outside, an armies worth, with petrifaction poison, blindness poison and massive damage poison.

Killing the Fawn

The party and Vychan (on that flank) was attacked. Vychan slayed an attacker with a blow through the eye. We wall off the Drow, drop darkness, disjunction, saturated earth. They fire arrows, throw grenados and cast silence.

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse arrive and the Drow give way to them. They seem unwilling to enter.

The Fates (Crone & Maid) say Vychan is no longer welcome, implying since he killed someone he is somehow responsible for the death. Cryptic remarks from the Fates about Vychan having failed his quest (from before he unstitched himself), the Drow being here being his fault, and the Four Horseman being here too.

The Fates (Crone & Maid) are clearly agitated and glace at Dark Skies and tell her she is not welcome, or since he carries the sticks of death he is not welcome or since he is a servant of Death he is not welcome - its unclear. They then make opposing demands for Allegra's training, Caprice opts for a compromise.

Caprice free the Drow. The Drow are of house Caleentooth from Caleen Runes and a sub-clan & ally of Caleen. The Titans of Grief (Senators of Decay) have a staff which allows them to control the Four Horseman, it would be best if they were relieved of it.

The Fates told the Drow their quest would fail, their next foe would beat them to the prize. We've just fulfilled this.

The Drow have a way of sending messages to us via the Destinian Ambassador in Seagate. We part ways, the Drow outside, us back to Glissom. Dark Skies apologies for accompanying the group to see the Fates and she should have seen the problems it would create.

Allegra heads to bed, Caprice starts to have headaches, we find an unoccupied section of wilderness to cure and repair ourselves.

Back to the time tunnel, to the right time for the death of the Fae Fallen Fawn.

Then Kilroy Rune Portal to Borovia and sneak in.

As the sun sets, we watch and scout, Purr makes her way to meet us and reports that Vassago is taking Queen Meredith's doppelgänger to the forge in about 4 hours.

The Infected Prince Smith is responsible for the soul barrier around the forge, this is for Beleth.

We sneak in, wait in the ritual area for Kitty and Purr to join us, then head to the 3rd best ambush spot to set up our attack.

We take out all of the guards in round one, the Fae Fallen Fawn in round two, have some trouble with the copies of people created whenever we attack the Fawn.

The Demonic Lt steps out of the portal in a gout of flame, Roderigo (blamelessly) negotiates for the Devil to step aside.

We step through the portal to Sitri's Hell.

Still with the Fates

Once we have blocked up the entrance the drow let off some silence and darkness areas from outside. Wizards eye outside Rodrigo sees four large humanoids on horses approaching, one further behind.
The fates tell me the reason they brought us here now is that I have a year and a day to find a mentor for Allegra. My choices are (Crone) the Six Eyed Seer from now and (Maid) the Time Dragon and I will find a time to start from. When I suggest what about both they say that now they can give her protection.
The two fates are mixed up due to the presence of Dark Skies (who is an aspect of Discordia) so they are not agreeing with each other and are in a bad mood. They are angry that she is here and also angry at Vychan.
They say that Rodrigo should help him Vychan as a balance because Rodrigo is blameless and everything is Vychan's fault. A failed quest from before he unstitched himself from the weave has brought the drow here with the horsemen. Also killing in this area is bad.
We loot the fallen drow then unstasis and talk to the leader. He is Quilgar Caleentooth, a mercenary.
The Fates told them that their quest would fail, their next foe would beat them to the prize. This was us when we killed Strahd later this month.
The drow have gathered the horsemen as they are sought by the Senators of Decay who they know as the Titans of Grief. The senators of decay have a staff that will control the horsemen, so we should steal it. As ransom he agrees to possibly leave the western kingdom once their current contract is complete. He has an arrangement with the Destinian ambassador in Seagate so will send info to him about possible future activity, that we can intercept. He would like a group to help Silverfoam in his homeland (the Elvish Isles).
We unstasis the rest and leave the same way we came. Then we do some divination and remove the stone disease from the party. We leave Glissom when I start having headaches and become non-functioning. This is another visit as we are a few days earlier than the one we have already done.

Killing the Fae Fallen Fawn

We travel a little back or forward in time (need to check to see which) to the first week of snow 818.
Outside the pit we meet Purr who has a note from me telling her to find out stuff and report to us here. She seems to be the real one and says that the fake Purr from a while back was actually Meredithis. She says that Vassago is having the doppelganger of Meredithis taken to the forge in about four hours from now to have extra arms put on her, "to make her the same as Purr and the real one". She says that I told her to trade her wings for the extra arms about four weeks ago, and she shows us that she indeed has four arms. We decide not to grab it and take it with us to the capital of Sitri's realm, because that is too close to having all the parts of a set in the place for the ritual. We can come back before then if necessary.
The infected prince smith has an agreement with Beleth and the soul barrier is "trapping"
The fawn is currently in her tent with about 24 others, three or four of whom are commanders, the rest entertainers.
We enter the pit by climbing down the side and avoiding the traps because the effect of the smoke that reveals truth is larger and stronger than before and even renders mundane disguises unbelievable.
We meet up with Kitty and Purr (the Succubi versions), wait for about two hours and ambush the Fawn on her way to the forge because any "drow tactics" such as tricking her into being alone or vulnerable would set off her specific danger sense. We know that she has two fighting arms and two casting arms and that she likes to double everyone in the area, thus dividing their stats, abilities, armour etc and they run amok. A fireball then clears them away.
We don't do the deed in the forge so the Drow spirit barrier is irrelevant at this point. I forget to make sure that Helga and Isgerth are in place, maybe they are anyway.
The Greater Summoner counterspell we put under her stops her from dividing us, but any attack on her does so and hurting a copy sends all the damage to the original. Rodrigo takes her down, after the three defended attacks by Caprice and Kilroy, using Sabastian's dagger and under the protection of Death.
A portal opens for one of Sitri's Lts to turn up and avenge the Fae. As Rodrigo is wielding the sword of not being blamed he makes friends with the Avenging Avatar who lets us enter undetected into Sitri's realm. He was told that he would meet someone who would help him remove an ally of Vassago and that there would be "hot queen action"

Into Sitri's City

Apparently beautiful fields, river, city in the distance, mostly illusions over the nastier realties. We see Rubezal impaled on spikes, he got bored waiting and insulted Sitri, the spikes through the guts were natural consequences. Also a broken coffin (Rube's). We rescue Rube, have some temporal confusion but work it out.

Kilroy locates Kitty & Purr's bodies and the box in the direction of the city.

A nasty storm is heading our way. With intent (and enormous will power and master Ranger) we walk the 40 miles to the city in 15 minutes.

Gates and many portals through the city require Binder Special to supress the alarm wards.

Make our way to the hall of the hexhead council, Silverfoam in a palanquin disguised as Sitri and wearing Sitri's amulet. He commands the summoner to come and perform the ritual.

Heading towards Goats Bridge, Silverfoam stops being Sitri under cover of some fog so we stop attracting too much attention.

Over the bridge, the aftertaste of goat's milk in our mouths. Further south to Stingsworth, to the top of the large phallic tower, to gather musicians.

Hellcats (Leopards) have picked up our scent (as something that doesn't fit) and attack, we deal with them but have trouble with the 300+ goblins they send in with magical traps. Vychan is killed and resurrected. Caprice takes command of the orchestra and drives off the remnants.

Starting the Ritual

Kilroy scouts ahead as we meander back through the city with the orchestra to the ritual island (Nullworth).

We lead the orchestra into the ritual building. Decarbria minions influence the Yaks of the Beleth Merchants against the orchestra, we move faster.

Wards, protections, guards, curtains like Morgor's (which is interesting). Ritual chamber (140' across), incubi, succubi, ritualists, imps with burning pitchforks, ...

Ritual will take dozens of hours, maybe a day or two.

Hobbit Thief we rescued in Vassago's realm (who stole Vassago's sceptre) turns up, we talk he's been hired to take the books of etchings, we says that's not on, argue, he flees.


Instructions for myself (Caprice)

  1. A terrible war between Sitri and Beleth has stopped for the time being. The blue coffins are the same as the box that you have. Those of the Fallen are being returned to Sitri given the recent delicate peace between Sitri and Beleth.
  2. Take the blue coffin you have with Kitty and Purr in it to be used in the Triangle Ritual of Queens in the city.
  3. In the bag is also the Amulet of Sitri.
  4. Someone looking like Sitri can wear it and all will think it is Sitri.
  5. The Greater Summoner Succubi named - Summoner of the Blood Dancing King can be found in the Hall of the Hex Council.
  6. Those in the city are vulnerable to charm or simple orders by Sitri.
  7. The party is not.
  8. Keep an eye on Kitty and Purr.
  9. DarkSkies is not an issue.
  10. You need to take Kitty & Purr to the Summoner of the Blood Dancing King to the Spellcage in the Nullworth.
  11. Black cats are meant to be good luck.
  12. Spy out the area with Kilroy being of Demonic Aura so will not trigger any alarms.
  13. Spy out the area with invisibility to Demonics also.
  14. Those with Kilroy not in control collars should act charmed, but countering wards on blue archways is needed (Binder Special Counter spell to temporarily suppress the ward).
  15. You will be able to order/charm the other instruments to assist you in a ritual.
  16. They can be found in the large tower building in StringsWorth.
  17. Once you have the Blood Dancing King and the other instruments.
  18. Do the Triangle Ritual of Queens (with the coffin & Purr & Sitri ) in the Spellcage, on the ritual floor.
  19. Sitri will feel this change of magic in the realm, and soon come to investigate.
  20. Aim to fail it (with the coffin of Purr) and Sitri feeling this will use most of her demonic power within the realm to change it to succeed, and you get DarkSkies to reverse the failure once again.
  21. Sitri will be very very unhappy at this.
  22. Once Sitri is on the island of NullWorth, use the music, shape the realm to create issues for Sitri to get to the party.
  23. Your music will prevent the diminished Sitri from shaping the world to simply wipe out the party on the spot.
  24. Get Rodrego to steal the Amulet from Sitri with the Janx Key & sword in combat with her for later use in your bag.
  25. Rodrego needs to act from stealth (as in from invisibility to demonics).
  26. Drive Sitri off from the ritual floor and leave.
  27. Some notes -
  28. The destruction of Kitty & Purr to save Kesha is ok, we will get them back freed on Alusia.
  29. Getting Rodrego to kill Summoner of the Blood Dancing King and remove the corpse is useful.
  30. Counter Spells for Binder, Bard and E&E are useful but not critical.
  31. Darkness & Light and playing on the fear of Beleth maybe useful.
  32. Good luck.


Kilroy scouting

A lot of info coming your way. Have broken into 3 pieces:
Part 1 - Path to the Ritual site
Part 2 - Averting Carnage at Ritual Site
Part 3 - Plans within Plans and how to ensure our success


Part 1 - Path to the Ritual site

This is fairly straightforward. You have about 600yards to cover, with a choice of three guarded arch gates in the way, and a food riot area to avoid undue attention within
I think the orchestra can take a moment to pull themselves together and start moving purposefully towards the ritual site. They are expected there soon, so there is nothing out of the ordinary about them moving that way. The rest of the party should go invisible to demons and accompany them. There is likely an enhanced alert level, especially in the general area after the fracas we have just completed, so I have arranged a distraction west of our line of travel, which will draw attention towards the westerly of the three guarded gates, meaning the easterly of the three should be targeted to go through. Remember the arches still have the standard ward to disable.
Once through, the next neighborhood has had some sort of food riot involving tomatoes and watermelons. There is a lot of clean up work happening with lots of guards and quelled rioters. I have plotted a path through using alleys and side streets.
Once through there you will be able to cross the bridge to the island that houses a whole bunch of buildings, one of which houses the ritual site. Again, you are expected, so there should be no requirement to dissemble much to get to this point. Another arch at the entry to the island, another ward to disable.
Then the complexity gets turned up a number of notches....

Part 2 - Averting Carnage at the Ritual site

My take on the general layout is lots of tall buildings of various functions on the edge of the island all facing onto a central area some 400 yards across. One of the buildings is our target point, being the ritual place, another seems concerned with spell/ritual components, another with spell/ritual artefacts, others unknown

Belith has a strong presence of 'merchants' in the main courtyard on the island delivering many carts laden with 'spell/ritual components'. One of the merchants is a disguised, currently human, dark titan and he carries a burning artefact which I think is a shaped Janx. I get the feeling that not only is it an artefact shaped from a Janx to provide power to the wielder, but that it can also transform into an actual Janx. Currently the aura is formerly living.
My working hypothesis/thoughts are as follows:

  • Way too coincidental that they are right here, right now, in numbers, with carts that could contain all manner of stuff
  • I think once the orchestra enters the open area and moves towards the ritual building, bad stuff will happen
  • Major alchemical/herbal/magic destruction will rain down from the carts, attacks from the 'merchants', etc
  • Destruction of most of the orchestra, the ritual area, the ritualists, etc, is part of Beliths win condition
  • Meanwhile amongst the carnage, the dark titan grabs as many key ingredients as possible (Kitty x 2, Purr x 2, Caprice, Meredithis (see Part 3)) and scarpers, another win for Belith
  • I am about 90% certain on this hypothesis, but obviously open to different interpretations

I think
> Vassago wants to the Queen of Glissom to enter the demonic realms and make herself into an instrument of change/destruction.
is a reference to Caprice needing the power to stop exactly this event.
Party Thoughts Needed - We need to come up with the right music to preemptively play to defeat this carnage, or clever alternate options to avert this carnage. It is not just about avoiding dying, we need to also not have the main island areas and ritualists destroyed, so defusing (pun intended) the situation somehow seems the best course.

Then the complexity gets turned up so far the dial breaks.... :-)

Part 3 - Plans within Plans and how to ensure our success

As mentioned above, I have seen an obvious Belith contingent and my belief is that they are here to disrupt the ritual, destroy key elements, and steal others, very much in line with Mad Duke chaos
So, assuming all the main players are in the game and present I have looked out for their presence, and/or thought through their machinations to come up with the following:
Decrabia/Vassago (putting them together at the moment, may need to be separated)
There is a Mereditihis clone/look alike in one of the upper windows of the building I associate with spell/ritual artefacts
There is a strong Decrabia vibe coming off her and that building
My hypothesis is that Decrabia/Vassago is wanting us to succeed with our plan, and insert Meredithis and Vassago so that 'Second 3 Queens: Meredithis, Purr, Vassago & Sitri.' could be enacted making the ritual succeed fully
Additionally the ritual itself takes place in a pentagram. I posit that it (the pentagram) has been subverted by Decrabia to redirect successful energies elsewhere
This fits a minor demon using subtlety and their own powers to win without requiring conflict, all while under a a pall of prophetic uncertainty from Vassago so no one sees it coming
It also fits that Vassago will have forseen the carnage above, which needs to be averted for this plan to succeed, and hence has ensured that Caprice is in the form she is to stop it
There are Vassago agents in the city, I have used one to help create the distraction.
Furfur
No obvious presence but I am certain she is here.
My hypothesis is she is in the area or already one of the ritualists, my money is on the leader. Who best to insert themselves at the last minute, enabling First Three Queens for a successful ritual
Of course, per the above, I think this success also gets redirected, but now we have multiple parties working towards a successful ritual, contrary to our plans
And, we cannot afford the ritual to succeed as the effects on the 'ingredients', such as Caprice, is BAD
Sitri
Obviously present, also wants the ritual to succeed, also may not know of the Decrabia divert (assuming I am right on this divert, note to self, take a look at pentacle for exactly this)

Currently I see the following likely new sequence (which by the way seems too easy and therefore wrong :-))

  • We thwart the Belith carnage and enact the ritual planning it to fail
  • One of either Furfur or Vassago steps in and pushes the ritual to succeed
  • Sitri intervenes and changes to fail
  • Sitri turns up to enact the ritual to succeed
  • We use the orchestra and the anti Sitri harmony to block and diminish, loot and leave

Alternatively:

  • We thwart the Belith carnage and enact the ritual planning it to fail
  • Furfur steps in and pushes the ritual to succeed (prophesised by Vassago)
  • Sitri intervenes and changes to fail
  • Sitri turns up to enact the ritual to succeed
  • We use the orchestra and the anti Sitri harmony and possibly Dark Skies to block and diminish, planning to loot and leave
  • Vassago jumps in and enacts the ritual while everyone is distracted and depowered (Sitri diminished, Dark Skies may have already been used)

This feels more likely, Vassago and/or Decrabia win, Furfur and Sitri diminished

Party Thoughts Needed - So, taking into account the above, and assuming I am on the right track, how do we succeed? Remember it needs to be something that prophetic beings will not see coming.

The Terrible Ritual

We make our way to a storage room on the 3rd floor to hide for most of the ritual.

2 hours in they wheel in a statue of Agares on a turtle bound in chains (about 15' across). - He is an agent of change, can inspire terror, find things that are hidden, and cause earthquakes.

The Hobbit Thief gets caught and dragged off.

Sitri arrives looking pissed, he has ripped the spine from one of the ritualists. Growls at Lts, drags a couple of them out. Rumble outside between Beleth Merchants and Sitri's people. Square is sealed off, flooded with flammable liquids and set alight, then purges after a while.

Dark Titan teleports into the ritual, kills a few ritualists, is blinded with daggers by the Lts, blinks out again.

The Hobbit Thief returns, breaks chains on Agares statue then covers his work, strings a web of deception over the ritual area below the cherub-devil-archers.

Sitri returns bringing a Meredithis, she is bound to an altar at one point of the ritual. The Purr body is bound to an altar at another point. Sitri's throne is at the third point.

An hour to go

Kitchens below the ritual room is taken by old men on turtles & war bears. They make their way into the ritual room and go for the Agares statue and release it. Agares turns into a hawk and flies out causing terror and chaos.

We re-invis and get ready to go. I resurrect Purr and Kitty.

We make our way down to the balcony. Banish Meredithis but she gets caught in the chains that are now covering the exits.

Decarbria assassins rune portal in and their portal collapses behind them.

We mess with the ritual, Sitri burns power to make it work, Dark Skies makes it fail!

Devils engage some of us, control of some of them swings back and forth.

The Thief makes off with a lot of stuff.

The stone turtle gets turned back to 'flesh' and leaves.

We engage Sitri, steal his amulet (to give to our past selves), kill his priest and take his body.

Sitri leaves, we briefly loot then banish out.

Buffs & Mil Sci

'A = Always on.

Long Term

Long Term (assumed always on)
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Si Ki Br Ke Ro Ca Vy
Strength of Stone (Br) 20 +20 EN 21 hrs Y Y A Y Y Y Y
Armour of Earth (Br) 21 +44 Def, 2 DR 12 hrs Y
Rune Armour (Ki) 20 +25 Def, +5 AP, 2 SG 10.5 hrs Y Y - Y Y Y Y
Fire Armour (Br) 20 100 Ablative Mag. Fire 21 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Heat Shield (Br) 9 40 Ablative Mag. Cold 10 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Fire Proofing (Br) 17 Prot. Normal Fire 6 less Dmg 18 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Cold Resistance - Water (Br) 18 Prot -36°C 5 Less Damage 19 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Wind & Water Proofing (Si) 20 Dry, protection from Rainstorm 63 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Water Breathing (Si) 20 Breathe and see in water. Talk PC hexes. 21 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Buoyancy (Br) 6 Up/down 17'/pulse, withstand pressure 3½ hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Vapour Breathing (Br) 6 Safely breathe any gas 3½ hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Witchsight (Br) 20 See Invis, see in dark 150' or 75' inside. 10½ hrs Y Y Y Y Y
Willow Healing (Ke) 8 3 end per pulse x 9 pulses 16 Hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Greater Heart Rune (Ke) 20 heals 13 end 21 days Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Smite (Ke/Ki) 20 Resist or D+21, knocked prone, stunned 21 h Y Y Y Y Y Y
Blessing F.(Br) 6 +50 vs Disease/Infection +30 Fertility 7 Mo Y Y Y Y Y
Disguise (Ca) 20 ht+/-20%, wt+/-40%,PB+/-12, voice and clothing, race and gender 21/41 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

Durations Enhance Enchant: Caprice has rank 15, Kilroy has 'once a day' Rk 20 enhance available. That will last 110 seconds, so should be able to cover our daily buffs. Please include enhanced durations where appropriate. Vychan has a rock - If used to cast magic the result will be a triple effect and if the roll is a 60 or more then the caster is an extra target of the spell. So most daily buffs will be at approx x6 duration.

Short Term

Short Term - Cast as Needed
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Si Ki Br Ke Ro Ca Vy
Mind Special Counter (Si) 20 +90% MR 26-35 min Y Y Y Y Y Y
Feather Fall (Br) 6 Fall no more than 5'/pulse 3½ hrs
Star Wings (Br) 6 36 mph 3½ hrs
Ice Traversal (Br) 6 2 Targets +3 TMR 2 1/3 hrs
Enhance Enchantment (Ca) 15 up to +15 Ranks spell duration 17 pulses
Invisibility (Ro) 20 105 mins
Enchant Weapon(Ro) 20 +21 SC / +7 dam 25 mins
Rune Weapon (Ke) 20 +[D-5]+7 Acid dam x D pulses 25 mins
Quickness (Ca) 18 IV + 25, TMR+7 (Max 18) 78 pulses Y
Kilroy's Tea
+1 Spell Rank; +10% Melee SC & Def; +1 Mana Level; +2 FT; +2 WP

Senses

Ambush/danger senses/skills/magic
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Si Ki Br Ke Ro Ca Vy
Sense Danger % 71% 91%
Ranger Detect Ambush % Base %, -5*OppRk, SpecArea +6% 149% 124% 203% 135%
Thief/Assassin Sixth Sense % BC 10+2xPC+5xRk 128% 122% 132%
Sense Intent % Sense ill intent toward self or party 100' range or 20' when asleep self only 104%

Self only

Self Only
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Si Ki Br Ke Ro Ca Vy
Mind Shield * +10+2/rk% vs M.Att. 1+2/rk hrs 11 Y
Evil Eye * rk penalty to victim's resistance rk+1 days 15
Fall Banding or similar 6 Land on earth without damage 7 hrs Y Y
Elemental Transformation (Br) 15 +3 DR +3 U.dmg -2 AG -2 MD -1 TMR Move through earth 16 hrs Y
Tracking (Br) 20 Tremor Sense 100' 42 Days Y
Detect Traps & Snares (Br) 10 +20% to detect Traps/Ambushes within 70' in Nat. Env. 22 hrs Y
Shapechange (Ki) 20 Change into normal animal/avian/aquatic 21 hours Y
Heart of the Mountain (Ki) 6 Swap FT for EN as free action 7 hours Y
Dissolution Of Violence (Ki) 11 17% chance of avoiding blow 12 hours Y

Misc Buffs

Greater Enchantment rank 20 (Ro)
Hair Braiding (Rk 9 Skill) (200sp 1oz silver ribbon per person/time)
Sometimes (takes 30 mins per person per day): +50% resistance vs Charm (Demonic, Spells, Bardic Voice). -25% melee damage from attacks from behind. Enhance Duration of one 2+ hour spell until next dawn. Stealth +10% 20'r. Unaffected by Awe or Fear for 5 mins from first exposure.
Rarely (takes 1 hour per person per day) +3 AG (or +2 over racial max).
Anti-scrying (Rk 21 Spell)
Braegon + 3 hex radius while on the ground. Undetectable to scrying (including Wizards Eye); Blocks Rk 20 (or lower) Locate, Telepathy, ESP.
Herbalist (Rk 7) Meals/Broth
4FT for meal or 5FT for broth/tea
Communication Diamonds and Web
Diamonds - Caprice has 4 and Kilroy has 3, whispering earrings, range 600'
Everyone tagged by Caprice so she can talk with them within 200 miles
Naked Dancing
by Caprice(assuming Lipstick): At night party gains +21 to MR and Ft, Caprice +46
Martial hymn on voice (1 pass action /2 pulse from Mask of Shailah)
by Caprice: +48 SC, followers of PoL +3 dam, agents of PoL regen 1 per pulse (with Braegon's support)
Psaltery of Psilence
sneaking at 1/2 TMR
by Caprice: negates stealth penalties of armour, doubles racial stealth bonuses, triples spy and assassin stealth bonuses
Silverfoam Holy Defence
35 def, -20 stealth (sparkling), against unholy, reflects 21 dam per strike and spec grevs. Self Only, Potions at ~7,000sp each.
Night-Owl's Egg Pan - Caprice
When an egg is poached in it, the person eating the egg will be able to stay awake until dawn if they wish without ill effect. This can only be used every second night on the same entity.
Healer Dampen Pain - Keshah
Increases amount required to stun by 20
Roderigo Sausages
Cook & eat the sausages then for 12 hours, Thieves gain a dice mod on Thief Skill Checks.

Watch Order

To be modified since egg pan allows 1 person to do whole watch

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Silverfoam Braegon Roderigo Caprice
Keshah Kilroy Vychan

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Default

Kilroy Vychan Keshah
Braegon Silverfoam
Roderigo Caprice

Double File

Vychan Kilroy
Keshah Braegon
Silverfoam Roderigo
Caprice

Single File

Vychan
Kilroy
Keshah
Braegon
Silverfoam
Roderigo
Caprice

Astrology

Lucky Numbers (Seren)
Braegon Kilroy Caprice Silverfoam Roderigo Vychan
56 & 96 20 & 72 36 63 & 98 62 05

Calendar

Autumn 821 WK: Fruit (4)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Lugnasad 1 Guild Meeting Seagate, Fates, Death, Slippery Rock 2 Grobbenbonk, Rivenheart, Slippery Rock (Alchemy) 3 Filgiso, Slippery Rock (Hearts) 4 Seagate, Luck Lake, Fastness 5 Spend the night reading a cursed book, some time away. 6 Return to the Seagate from training temple
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
Autumn 821 WK: Harvest (5)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 Equinox 16 17 18
19 Harvest Moon .. 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 1 2
Autumn 821 WK: Vintage (6)
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 Blood Moon 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Beerfest



Winter: 818 WK Frost (7)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Samhain 1 Guild Meeting 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
Winter: 818 WK Snow (8)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Honoured guest portal to Borovia.
12 13 Dark Skies portals into Borovia. 14 Ritual of opening. 15 Open the Crypt. Solstice 16 17 The Duke of Carzala's Winter Ball 18 Yuletide
19 Days of Chaos 20 DoC2 21 DoC3 22 DoC4 23 DoC5 24 DoC6 25 DoC7
26 DoC8 27 DoC9 28 DoC10 29 DoC11 30 Twelfth Night 1 2
Winter: 818 WK Ice (9)
3 4 5 6 First Plough 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30