Lake Cartography

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Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Lake Cartography
GM: Greg Graydon
Season: Winter 793 WK

Party
Time on adventure
01/10/92 AP to 02/12/92 AP
Employer
Brian the Forester
Mission
To survey the area around Lake Clarke
Plane
Alusia
Places visited
Lake Clarke in the Barony of Clarkesville
Clarkesville Village
Elfenburg
Gracht
Borovia
Alfheim
Major NPCs encountered
Marcus & Andrew - Brian's assistants
Marion - Queen of the pixies
Sylvana - cat person
Myra - nixie
Queen Morolev - mere-elf
Baron Orville Clarke
Marion - Baroness
Peter, Paul, John, Wendy - the Baron's children
Steel - Earth elemental
Sapphire - Air elemental
Velanof - Captive water mage

Adventure Summary

30/09/92

Guild meeting time. Cartographer wanted an escort party to protect his team from 'minor irritants' as they surveyed Lake Clark in the Barony of Clarkesville.

Clarkesville is a tiny out of the way barony, located 1600 miles away in a NNE direction. The nearest well-known place is Mittelmarkhauptstadt which is 200 miles south of Clarkesville. According to Brian, the job should take about two months.

We were told that Clarkesville is a small barony with 3.5 thousand people in it. Principle imports and exports - none. A rather self sufficient place. No well known mages live there. A few tinkers go through occasionally and the merchant's mule train used to, until two years ago.

02/10/92

After preparing, left the Guild. After a while reached a field with a large spinny in it. Runeportal in the spinny. Arrived at shores of narrow lake, about 4 miles long. Met the other two cartographers. Reached area where first marker stone is.

03/10/92

Starflower and I went hunting and managed to get ourselves trapped in magical bubble. Saw visions of impending Armageddon somehow involving TDP. Darkness was used to get us out.

That night saw a glow under the surface of the lake.

04/10/92

Couldn't find clearing but suspect trees had been moved to fill it in. Moved off to a nearby tor which had a three sided pyramid on top. Told that two identical ones are on islands in the middle of the lake. Mortimer said that one face had the elven symbol for the Bel-Tan clan on it.

Found a tunnel running from the inside of the tor to the lake. Inside the tor was a room containing a big quartz, open casket containing something blue and amorphous - like a frozen pond. It was incredibly cold. He also spotted three wavy lines on the wall which was the elven sign for water.

After a divination we discovered that the 'ice' was a Water Elemental under the effects of a Rank 20 Air College Hibernation spell of indefinite duration - probably permanent. It had been there for nearly 48,000 years.

When we got back to the campsite, one of the tents had caught on fire. Caught some pixies. Was an accident. Ended up having a party with the pixies, including their queen, Marion. As the party progressed we were told that even 1,500 years ago there weren't many elves around here. The pyramids were remnants from when the Seven - a powerful group of human mages were around.

One, Velanef, a female water mage, had a disagreement with the others and the air mage, Valug, froze her water elemental. Mortimer added that an earlier Guild party had managed to wake up the Seven and had dealt to some of them. Marion also mentioned that there had been some disagreement between the elves and the humans and part of the land, near the lake, where the elves were living, had sunk. The elves retreated east to Alfheim.

12/10/92

Another glow was spotted in the lake. Kin investigated and found some caves 50' under the surface of the lake. Some of the party went to have a look and encountered aquatic elves. They were surprised to learn that the humans had forgotten them so decided to re-establish contact with the present Baron.

14/10/92

A catperson, Sylvana arrived at the campsite.

15/10/92

Started getting closer to the swamp.

20/10/92

Getting much closer. Brian told us they had a boathouse at the edge for a base. Occasionally they heard singing and someone would disappear. Also marker poles were being interfered with. Reached the boatshed by nightfall. Tried planting a marker pole surrounded by Hands of Earth. Some sort of sentience detected that was frightening Starflower.

21/10/92

Went back out into the swamp. Noticed that the Hands of Earth looked odd. Instead of Earth they looked more like compost. They had been affected by a non-college decay effect which wasn't a spell, ritual or talent. The age of the Hands were 240 years and the decay had started soon after the Hands were put up. Also a finger on one of the Hands was missing and there were some deep scratch marks in it, like claws.

Starflower had determined the source of the fear so we punted over to the island that she was looking at. The island had another elvish tor on. What we found was a cavity, 25ft down, similar to the one under the other tor. The quartz box contained some sort of dark substance. There was an astrological glyph or chart on one wall. Looked like a picture of the Alusian solar system with an extra planet outside the others. But for some reason the sun was in the middle.

Some of the dark stuff was retrieved. According to the aura it was Elemental Darkness. Had to destroy it with light as the sample attacked with instense cold. Mortimer went to get more information from the Guild. According to the Guild Astrologer, the conjunction had to do with the Time of Darkness which appeared every 20,000 years. Also he had found out more about the Seven. As well as Air, Water, Fire and Earth, there was one of Life, one of Death, and one of Time. Only the Water Mage had survived and she was kept under confinement in Alfheim.

That night heard singing. Starflower wandered off. Followed. Found a bunch of nixies and a kraken. Kraken killed, nixies captured. After a while some aquatic elves turned up. Nixies wanted by the Lord of the Lake for causing trouble. Turned them over.

22/10/92

Surveyors started work in the swamp. That evening large kraken arrived with mere-elves and Queen Morolev. She rewarded us.

After dinner, Morolev told us the story of Dorian. A long time ago he had amassed a large army and went west to deal with an unknown threat. He had arranged with the human outpost to oversee the lands, including the elven city until he returned for a full accounting. It was not a popular decision but it was upheld. After he left, that was the last that was seen of him and his army.

The elves that remained argued that the humans should not be allowed to continue administering the lands. The Seven interfered and one of them flooded the city. Whoever it was then disappeared without reversing the incantation so the remaining elves left.

Presumably Clarkesville was all that was left of the original human settlement of several thousand. Also a curse had been placed on the land consisting of some sort of dark malevolent presence.

25/10/92

Finished the survey today.

26/10/92

Headed across the lake towards Clarkesville.

27/10/92

Reached Clarkesville. Met the Baron and his family. That night some elves turned up wanting to take TDP for questioning about some visions.

28/10/92

Went to cave to deliver survey resulted. Placed results on stone cube and figures transmitted to Alfheim. Saw an elemental transfer the taxes from one pile of money to another. Mortimer sent further messages. We were told to report to the Western Marshes Border area for debriefing.

Escorted by two elementals, Sapphire (Air) and Steel (Earth). Portalled to Seagate, then to Elvenburg, and Gracht. Headed to Alfheim border, fifty miles away at Borovia. Travelled into bordering mountain range. Reached western edge of Alfheim. Told by regal looking elf that we had stumbled into a sensitive area of elven security. Had to stay in Alfheim until cache moved.

29/10/92

Stayed in isolated chateau surrounded by forest. TDP joined us later.

29/11/92

Finally the cache had been moved so we could leave. The request to meet with the captured Water Mage had been approved. Went through elven security designed so we didn't know where we were. Ended up in limestone cavern. Found Water Mage in large gilded cage in very hot cavern surrounded by lava. Would only help us drain the Clarkesville swamp if we released her elemental.

No dice.

Finally get taken back to where we started. Escorted through mountains and out of Alfheim.

01/12/92

Arrived back at the Guild. Got a Namer to banish the Dark Elemental.

02/12/92

Back at the Guild. Mission over

The Unexpurgated Basilic

Inchworm, Inchworm - Measuring the Marigolds

30/09/92

There were a few interesting adventures announced at the last Guild meeting, including one of the Guild Solar Mages requesting a rescue party for Spandex and Dramus. The entire assembly thought that was a HUGE joke. However the adventure I finally ended up on was a request by a couple of cartographers for an escort while they measured a lake. Apparently they wanted protection from 'minor irritants'. Once they had been cajoled into defining just what a 'minor irritant' was I was glad we weren't dealing with any major ones. Also they weren't paying very much i.e. ten silver pennies a day but Herkum managed to get them up to 20sp per day. They also added a combat bonus of 100 sp/day. My fellow adventurers on this trip were: Jhiselle de Bernard. She's a firemage, 5'3" in height with fiery burgundy hair. She was dressed in black, soft, leathers and carried a short sabre. On her head was a rather outlandish hat sporting several feathers. Kin - An E&E mage who was also on my last adventure. She's an Erelhein (a type of elf) who is 6'4" tall wearing dark dragonskin armour. He skin is dark and she also has long, dark, hair - when it's not under a helm. She told us she's a specialist E&E mage in Enchant Armours and Greater Enchantments. Corel - I had also adventured with this elf who had been nicknamed 'Lightning Bolt' for very good reasons, namely because he kept using them to the detriment of the party. He's an Air Mage T.D.P. Roberts - He introduced himself as a sailor and a boat builder as well as an E&E mage. He was a portly gentleman in a scarlet jacket, green boots, and wearing a scimitar. Starflower - Another one of this party I had adventured with before. She's an elven Mind mage, rather tall, with long auburn hair and wearing black armour. She also offered her services as a military scientist Mortimer - Finally I get to meet this guy that Flamis thinks so highly of. He's the top ranked mechanician in the Guild. He's also a 3'10" 70 pound halfling who is a Wicca Mage. As well as being a mechanician he has several other skills such as alchemist, healer, philosophy (mainly in magic and engineering) as the major ones. He also introduced us to his pet toad, called Flytrap. As for me, I'm Basalic, 5'10" human Earth mage. I was wearing mostly greens and browns and carrying a broadsword and a crossbow. Mainly I'm a ranger and geologist. The gentleman who hired us was called Brian the Forester and we were to protect him and his two assistants as they surveyed Lake Clark in the Barony of Clarkesville. Clarkesville is a tiny out of the way barony, located 1600 miles away in a NNE direction. The nearest well-known place is Middlemark Hzaltstach which is 200 miles south of Clarkesville. A rune portal was available for transport. According to Brian, the job should take about two months. They would provide dried meat, sweetmeats, and dried fruit. Plans were immediately made to live off the land when possible. Yes, there are wild animals in the area mainly rabbit, some deer and boar. Mortimer muttered something about apricots and cheese when boar was mentioned while Jhiselle started expressing longings for a steak. We were told that Clarkesville is a small barony with 3.5 thousand people in it. Principle imports and exports - none. A rather self sufficient place. No well known mages live there. A few tinkers go through occasionally and the merchant's mule train used to, until two years ago. Guess the route was unprofitable. We then elected our party leader, military scientist and scribe. Corel put his name forward which prompted lots of discussion. So we put it to the vote and Corel won. Starflower became Military Scientist while I became scribe. We then signed the Guild contract.

01/10/92

Most of the day was spent preparing. Since we were going by rune-portal I decided to leave my horse, Sod, in Flamis's tender care. Earlier, when the subject of horses had come up, I had mentioned I had one called Sod and Mortimer had wondered about the odd choice of name. I told him I had spoken to the animal and Sod was the closest translation from the original equine. That lead Mortimer to comment that maybe I had misunderstood what the reply had meant when I had asked the horses name and what in fact was said was 'Sod Off'. Hmmmm... During the day, I paid out 1000sp to Kin for a Rank 17 Greater Enchantment which would last until the next Guild meeting, found a fresh sprig of mistletoe, and paid the Earth College 600sp for a Lesser Enchantment which would also last three months. TDP also cast a Contingency spell on me which would activate my Trollskin spell if I was stunned, or took serious damage.

02/10/92

We met our employer in the courtyard, then made our way out of town. Starflower had bought a mule so Kin tossed a saddlebag on it. She also cast Enchant Armours all around. Mortimer also evicted a rather wet Flytrap from his pocket. The portal was located a short distance out of town in a large field that had a spinney in the middle. The rune stick was in the middle of the spinney. After going though it we appeared on the shores of a rather large, narrow, lake - about 4 miles long. I noticed some pumice stone on the shore and picked some up. We could see some islands on the lake. Two other people were waiting and were introduced as Marcus and Andrew. They were Brian's assistants. Both of them were wearing necklaces with sextant/pole symbol on them. Brian had one as well. It was explained that this is the symbol of the Cartographers Guild of Clarkesville. When asked how big the Guild was and how many members it had, Brian looked slightly embarrassed and mumbled 'Three'. There was a small jetty with a longboat at the shore which was our transport to the first marker stone. The mule looked like it was going to be stubborn but Kin said something to it (she can talk to the animals) and it obeyed everything she said. Brian explained some more about the job. The idea is to measure the area to see if it had changed from the last time it was done. This is so the landowners knew exactly how much land they had and could be taxed fairly. To do this they had a measuring chain that was 50 feet long. Brian also told us that much of the area we'd be covering was deciduous forest but there was some marshy areas. Brian mentioned that none of the islands were inhabited so there was no need to measure those. However he did mention the Lord of the Lake. He was rather evasive when pressed on the subject but he did say that a while ago, the Lord of the Lake owned everything in the area but an agreement had been reached that the Barony owned everything out of the water while the Lord had everything underwater. Brian also reckoned that the story of the Lord was a legend and may not be true. We reached the site on the lake shore where the first marker stone should be. We put up a camp near the lake shore then fanned out to find the first stone. It was a flat rock with markings scratched into it. The cartographers then pulled out the measuring chain and set to work. We all stared at it in amazement. No wonder they wanted protection. The chain was made out of dwarven silver. It had been a gift from a dwarven community a long time back. While the cartographers measured, we had a look about. Starflower went herb hunting while I went rock hunting. I managed to find lots of interesting rhyolites but little else. Also I was getting bothered by a pesky sparrow. Turned out to be Jhiselle, who had the talent to take on bird form. Kin went hunting and brought back a deer for dinner. We reckoned there was enough meat on it to last three days. Finally we set watches for the night. I took the first hour watch with Jhiselle overlapping for the last half hour.

03/10/92

Today was a very odd day. Kin put Enhance Armours on us that needed it. Mainly we watched as the cartographers painstakingly measured the lakeshore. At this rate we would be moving at about 300 yards a day. Starflower got bored and decided to go blackberry hunting. Kin was thinking of going for a swim in the lake but changed her mind when she discovered how cold the water was. Mortimer reckoned the Baron could get more taxes by draining the lake. Somehow I don't think the Lord of the Lake, if he exists, would approve. I decided to go with Starflower and keep an eye on her. Shortly we found a clearing with a stump of a larch tree in the centre. The tree had been chopped down eighty years ago and, by counting rings, it had been growing for 260 years. Meanwhile Starflower had found some edible mushrooms. She also found some stones with carvings, seven of them spaced equally around the tree. So she uncovered some to look at the carvings more closely. According to her they could be some sort of elven script. The rocks also had a magical aura. As I attempted to step past the rock I hit something invisible and fell over backwards. Starflower soon discovered that we were in some sort of dome shaped invisible barrier, centred on the stump, running from stone to stone. She yelled for help. It didn't take long before Mortimer, Jhiselle and Kin arrived. Kin and Mortimer were able to fly so they attempted to find a top to the dome. No luck. We were totally enclosed. Starflower stuck her Bound Air sword through the barrier which produced a blue sparking effect as the invisible blade went through. Cutting a hole with it had no effect. I tried digging a hole but the barrier went underground as well. We soon found out that non-magical items could pass through the barrier but magical ones and entities couldn't. I tried pushing my Amulet of Luck through but failed. By experimenting they discovered that the barrier moves to join up uncovered rocks as other rocks are covered. Mortimer's first suggestion was for me to stand near a rock while he covered it up. Would the barrier reform behind me or would it push me? We tried it and I ended up flying twenty feet backwards. So much for that idea. Meanwhile Kin and Jhiselle had searched the rest of the clearing and discovered two more circles of rocks so the whole thing was three concentric circles around the stump. They wisely left them covered. Mortimer's next scheme was to cover all the rocks at once. Either the barrier would go down or, if someone wasn't fast enough, the barrier would contract to a single stone and we would get crushed. The only way we could determine what would happen was for Starflower to do a Limited Precog. As she prepared the spell, she noticed that the area in the circle was a High Mana zone. While doing the precog her face took on a very odd expression. According to the precog, covering all the rocks would cause an invasion of Alusia by Terra Novan drow. Now that was strange. Meanwhile I was able to determine that the runes in the rocks had been there for 54,000 years. While we pondered on that, I tried my own plan i.e. using a Tunnelling spell to punch a hole in the barrier. Instead of going through, the resulting trench followed the curve of the barrier. Also I had to quickly scramble out of the trench before it closed up. One thing we did notice though. The rocks were actually the tops of stone pillars. So much for using a Strength of Stone to pick one up and carry it away. Starflower tried another precog of us doing nothing, on Mortimer's suggestion. Again she got images of large drow armies and massive destruction. Added to that were wanted posters of TDP. The last image was of TDP playing a fiddle while a castle burned. She tried more precogs. More images of destruction. Massive armies all over the place. Drow invasion by ship helped by large kraken. Dwarven armies, elven armies, giants etc all locked in combat. Mages throwing spells. Even one army containing most of the Guild members including Mortimer riding a huge steam powered siege engine. A few Guild members were on the other side. Four horsemen riding. A rift opening up and seven balrogs stepping through followed by three huge figures, one of light, one of fire and one of shadow. These figures were strolling through the battle. The final vision was that of TDP seated at a table counting a chest full of money. The vision shrank back to reveal that TDP was surrounded by darkness. All was gone save the table and the one spot of light. So this is how the world ends. Not with a bang or a whimper, but the clink of coin against coin. Mortimer pondered on it for a bit and reckoned that what Starflower was getting were visions of the future and of the final battle between the Powers of Light and the Powers of Darkness i.e. Good and Evil, marking the end of everything. He identified the three beings of being the powerful demon emporers of legend. Fleeing to another plane wouldn't help as Armageddon, Ragnarok, or the Apocalypse, would occur on all planes at once. Also according the description that she gave us of TDP, it was only a few years away. Mortimer started a divination of the area using Tarot cards while the rest of us speculated what it all meant and what TDP had been doing when he was over in Terra Nova. Starflower had been on that mission but all she knew that he had stayed behind for three months to teach the drow there shipbuilding. Could his actions had been enough to tip the balance of power in their favour? We resolved to have a few words with him. After an hour or so, Mortimer had determined that the area was used to enhance ritual magic and the shield was there to protect the spellcaster from outside distractions. The shield was powered by natural sunlight or moonlight. All we had to do was to wait till nightfall. Either that or try covering up the area with a Darkness. He did so and we were able to crawl out. Once we got back to camp TDP was getting some very odd looks from us. He wanted to know why. We wanted to know what he had been up to with the drow on Terra Nova. As far as he was aware all he had done was to help bring forward their ship building program a few months. All the drow wanted to do was to trade peacefully with us. We told him about the precogs. He didn't look very happy, so we decided to go back and see if we could get some more information. First we had to wait for Jhiselle. She was in the circle doing ritual purification. Once Mortimer let her out, Starflower went in and did another precog, attempting to determine where TDP had got the money from. She saw visions of a drow ship launch, followed by trading at Seagate. Then more scenes of mass destruction, the three beings wandering around, an hourglass with the sands running out, the armies aging rapidly and dying and being replaced by forest. The three beings giving TDP a chest of gold and leaving him alone in the room. At the end nothing left but TDP counting the gold, surrounded by nothing. Not much else happened that day as we watched the cartographers making very slow progress. That night, while on watch, Jhiselle and I saw a glow under the surface of the lake water, like something had risen then sunk down again.

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