A Terranovan Picnic

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: A Terranovan Picnic
GM: Martin
Season: Summer 801 WK

Party

1. Braegon – human male earth mage, party leader
2. Jade – human female warrior
3. Katerina – human female enchanter
4. Kryan – human male illusionist
5. Mary-M – cherub female namer
6. Rocsinger – elven male enchanter
7. Cyan – human male mind mage

Time on adventure

tbc 826 WK to tbc 826 WK

Employer

Don Pedro de Alvarado

Mission

Mission: To scout the activities of the northern Spawn army on Terranova and report back with reliable information such as their strength, destination, and intent

Mission Result

Complete success.

Learnt disposition, next destination, strength, tactics of northern Spawn army

Learnt Ahriman’s plans to slow and divert Spawn

Learnt what resource Ahriman was guarding

Learnt about Erehleine participation against Apollyon

Briefed all relevant parties with above information and received payment

Places visited

Seagate, Borovia, Kin Lu, Jade Dragon’s castle, Alfheim / Eidolon, Donna Silken, Elvish Isles, New Destiny, Donna Ana, Terranova (Dylath, Cobalt River, Uric, Raam, Draj, *** Mountains).

Knowledge gained

The beginning of the world

The end of the world

Elvish culture in Elfinberg, Borovia, Kin Lu, the Dragon Isles, Alfhiem, the Elvish Isles, Eastern North Terranova, Central North Terranova.

Survival amongst the Flora & Fauna of Northern Terranova

Magical Mists

Key words

Xanadu, Baal, Apollyon, Ahriman, Leviathan, Irin, Xanadu’s children, Yo Long, Terranova, Arcadia, Apocalyse, Armageddon, Ragnarok, Tokpa.

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsu0105.zip

Scribe Notes

The Briefing [Session 1] Our employer is Don Pedro de Alvarado, a swashbuckling Destinian, 5'10" with goatee beard, the captain of the Donna Silken, and 2 nd in command for Don Francisco Pizarro de Cordoba, the Governor of Terra Nova. The mission is to scout the activities of the northern Spawn army on Terranova and report back with reliable information such as their strength, destination, and intent. Information on a possible Erehleine / Drow alliance would also be appreciated. Hindering or stopping the army is outside the brief. We are to report our information to General Don Juan Velazquez de Leon, in Puerto Damieno, Don Alonzo Hernandez Puertocarrero at Puerto Bozo, Prince Gyronwy of the Elvish Isles, or Don Aldarado himself, but not to the Destinian Council of Ten. Our payment is 800 gold shillings each, half paid in advance, with a reduced tax rate of 15% on any salvaged items not already held by New Destiny, and passports of travel through the portal from the Elvish Isles to Puerto Bozo. The Guild of Seagate has also employed us (with the Destinians’ approval) to have a copy of the information gathered, paying us 200 sp per week each. We do some research into Terranovan sentients and Demonic Emperors (see Research before we start), and an Astrology reading on whether to visit Ahriman (see Astrology). Borovia [Session 2] On the second, we take a slow portal through the middle marches to Bergelfin (a.k.a. Elfinberg). We walk for around 3 hours through inter-dimensional mist (see Appendix on Fog). On our arrival at Bergelfin, we catch a coach to Borovia. The coach cost 60sp for a 10 hour one-way journey for 7. They use fast horses, and change them every few miles. The coach uses bound air suspension to reduce friction and discomfort. Arriving at Borovia at dusk, we wend our way through picturesque countryside until we approach the capital. We note & discuss a street running off to the northeast of the main road, which has unusual and distinctive architecture ending in a tolmen or cromlech wide enough for several people to pass through abreast. We elect to stay at the Blood on the Vine, the best of the local inns. We run into Mayor Ismak, who is not the usual stuffed shirt. On the third, we have an early start, leaving around 4am after breakfast. We walk down the street noted the night before, commenting on how the architecture moves from pseudo-Tudor through several disconcerting hybrids to a semi-oriental style, complete with upwards-curved eaves & paper lanterns. Bright light streams through the tolmen as we approach, and a mass of humanity presses about their mid- morning business as we walk through to the capital of Kin Lu. Kin Lu Most of the people on the street are humans, though many of the guards are Erehleine. We make our way to the nearest set of guards dressed in the ruling Tajin colours, and ask to see Lord Kokhan. After a certain amount of disbelief, we are escorted up the hill to his dwelling. As we climb the hill, the population ratio changes until most passers-by are armoured Erehleine. We are particularly obvious as westerners, complete with pale elves and a cherub. From here we see most of the extents of this city. It is huge – many hundreds of thousands of people, far bigger than anything in the baronies. This city is ruled by the house of Tajin, to whom Lord Kokhan belongs. After the usual delays, we are greeted by Lord Kokhan and invited to tea. Polite conversation ensues, with many of the party nervous by being surrounded by guards (the Atoning Scarlet Chrysanthemums) and maids (Succubi serving the Knightly Duke & the Valiant Marquis). Lord Kokhan is uncomfortable with our requests for information about events in Terranova, and is unsurprised about the Erehleine working with the Drow there. He is annoyingly non-specific and slightly tense. After a period, Lord Yo enters, in his Jade teabowl. He appears very friendly, informal, direct and honest on delicate issues, all with a charming old-man vagueness that must disarm many people. We all have lunch, and witness Lord Yo giving Lord Kokhan a teabowl that is probably an original Ori. Porcelain collection appears to be Lord Kokhan’s vice. Lord Yo presents us with a gold carp, perhaps 1½” long, that can remember a message, and then swim very fast back to him, in case of an urgent message. We learn a little about the different houses in Kin Lu. They include Tajin, the ruling house, which controls Iron and Rice and has blue & silver colours; Yokosama (mercenaries, black & gold), Amdijin (mages, black & orange). Amdijin often work with Yokosama. Three of the greatest houses left Kin Lu because of Penjarre, and live in the Dragon Isles to the north, at war with Kin Lu. They have ridiculously huge ships. Lord Kokhan is uncomfortable at the mention of Yokosama activity and Amdijin portaling ability. We are offered a lift by Lord Yo. On the way out, we meet Captain Mishi, leader of the Atoning Scarlet Chrysanthemums, and learn how he can effortlessly defeat all but the deaf with his flute. The Jade Dragon’s Castle We head north in the Jade teabowl, increased in size to fit us all. It accelerates effortlessly to windwalk or fireflight speeds, and we admire the scenery for an hour until we close on the Jade Castle, which juts out from the ocean on a rock pinnacle. The Jade Castle has tens of stories, and appears hundreds of feet high until one draws closer and realises that it is built on a draconic scale. We land in a chamber and are suitably cowed and aware of our mere humanity. [Session 3] We have a look around Lord Yo’s castle. Most of the rooms are empty, with a few rooms crammed to the (very high) ceiling with “junk”. It looks like things have been swept away into these store rooms, higgledy-piggledy, just to leave the other rooms empty. Lord Ho went down into a sealed basement where he found us some "terribly useful" amulets of translation - Eldaranx3, Teleri (sea elf)x2, Titan, High Ogre, Naga, Centaur – not quite fulfilling our request to speak Drow, but his intention seems good. We have a good meal with Lord Yo and then are taken to a portal room, which connects with the Elven Portal Network. Some of the portals go to other planets, but most go to odd places on Alusia. Most of the portal links are broken, so to get from one portal to another often requires a circumlocutious route. We travel to the main portal outside the Alfheim capital. Lord Yo joins us, since he hasn't been there before. Our stop-over is in a cavern, on a pinnacle of rock with its own standing stones, and a staircase encircling it, which descends a long long way. The roof of the cavern is also a long long way up. It's very dark. Alfheim After being greeted by the somewhat surprised elven royal guards, we make our way by imperial barge (available to any travellers) to Eidolon, the floating city. I am a little disappointed to discover that two- thirds of the city is at water level in a large lake, connected by canals, but the flying portion is very impressive. After changing our money (8sp = 1 elven silver, 10 silver to the gold, 1,000 gold to the diamond note), we catch ferries across the canals and thence to the upper levels. The flying boats are very elegant. We procure an appointment with an Ambassador for the morrow, and then pass the time until nightfall staring through shop windows at exquisite goods with ridiculous prices. After a hard search, we find an extremely expensive restaurant, where Lord Yo shouts us dinner. As he gets more tipsy and loquacious, the rest of the party turn more philosophical, and then plain greedy, but Lord Yo is a dragon who can handle his drinks, and fends off the more impolite questions. See “Creation Myths”. [Session 4] Lord Yo wishes to send a party to ask Xanadu’s Children to return. This not only fulfils the prophecies leading to the end of the world, but means that Baal’s power can be matched by his siblings, who have collectively defeated him before. Lord Yo could open a portal between worlds, and Xanadu’s Children, when found, could open a return portal. This portal would be a serious affair, probably consuming all mana in a vast area, and could only be done occasionally. The current party all volunteer for this mission, but Braegon notes that if the Children of Xanadu and an army of winged elves have walked this path and not returned, a higher level party may be required, and Xanadu’s Herald (Axis) must be invited. The paucity of planar-travel magics in our party makes me concur. The next morning, Jade organises advance payment for her services from Lord Yo while the rest of us visit the Ambassador and try not to fall asleep. He can offer no help, but we give him lots of information anyway, to ease his disappointment. The afternoon is spent being rejected by various parts of their bureaucracy as we request to use their top-secret military portals. That evening (the 4 th ) we catch an imperial barge heading to Borovia, leaving Lord Yo to conduct his own business within Alfheim.. The next five days are peaceful, and we spend most of the 9th travelling through a tunnel/canal in the Alfheim mountains (?created by Kree?). That night we stay in the Blood on the Vine Inn again, then catch the morning coach to Bergelfin, and walk through the slow portal back to Seagate. The Elven Isles At dawn on the 11th , we set out from Seagate in the Donna Silken with Don Alverado. A quick check indicates that we are actually heading in the correct compass direction, and I feel we have a chance of finding Terranova. However, I am aware that there are other major groupings of elves in Alusia that we have not yet visited, and fear we may end up in Azuria. As the sun rises on the 14 th , I realise that my fears are groundless – with the usual accuracy of Destinian navigation, we have arrived at the Elven Isles. We have lunch with Lord ###, a son of Prince Gyronwy, and possibly brother of Teleri Silverfoam. The afternoon passes as we leisurely cruise the Archipelago before disembarking upon a small conical island. Don Alverado and the party make their way to the top, where we are greeted by two fine Bowcourtian gentlemen, William & Henri (Gwillum & Onry, for you phoneticists). They are tuning the a stone circle, and (after checking we do not have portals into the minds of demons - which broke it last time), assure us that the portal is quite safe. At sunset, it automatically transports everying inside the portal to Terranova. At sunset in Terranova (not the same time), that portal sends its contents back to this portal. We are advised not to touch the stones, to stay in the middle, and learn that the effects only extend perhaps ten feet up. We portal through without problem (see Appendix on Fog). The Isle of New Destiny [Session 5] The other side of the portal is apparently stinking hot, and half our party immediately starts to perspire. We descend through “tame” jungle – leaving the path is still probably fatal – to the fortified town of Puerto Bozo. This town appears to have been started with high expectations, but by the time some of the foundations were laid, the heat and apathy got to the workers, and the whole place has a feeling of a shanty town. The governor, Don Alonzo Hernandez Puertocarrero, is a lazy slob sent out here 10 years ago for his misdeeds. He probably means well, but lacks backbone or wit. Most of the workers are blue saurians, but most of the people are Destinian peasant. There are few nobility – just visiting ship’s officers & the Governor. We arrange for the Donna Ana (due tomorrow) to be diverted to Casa Nova as the next step towards Dylath, then spend the afternoon examining the town. A pleasant sea fog arrives, cooling the town. We see Don Alverado off, back to the Elven Isles. He decides to leave alone, so we follow him secretly, and discover that the portal works both ways at Terranovan dusk. A large shipment of arms is portalled through and carried down to the docks. We do not know if the portal works at other times as well, or if the portal only goes to the Elven Isles. The next morning (the 15th ), the rangers are entertained by being shown a large number of hostile plants and animals in the jungle by a twitchy guard. Apparantly the mainland is far more dangerous. The Donna Ana Ominously, the fog is still there the next morning, and the Donna Ana must pull in at the Ship-wrights rather than the main dock, to avoid foundering. The Donna Ana is a huge ship, approximately 190’ long, with two repeating Ballistae (roughly one shot per second) on each of the fore- & aft-castles. The Captain is Captain Christobel, from Bowcourt (very unusual – must be good!).The officiers include Pilot Bartholomew Ruis, 2 nd officer Pedro de Gasca, and the Marine Captain Don Francisco Rodrigo de “FireHouse”, the only Don on board. Casa Nova is apparently a small town & ship-building yard founded by the Destinians during the time that Don Pizarro lost command due to falling foul of King Carlos (may he live forever), as Puerto Bozo was (politically) revolting. When all the differences were patched up again, Casa Nova was made into a satellite town. It is probably on an island at the northern-most end of the chain, and is only 1200 - 1500 miles south of Dylath. However, the Destinians will not take foreigners there, and are uncomfortable discussing its existence. It is possibly hidden by disorienting magic. On the 19th we land on an island which is a trading point for Destiny & Dylath. Two Drow vessels are present. As we are rowed ashore in a long-boat, a wyvern shoots out of the jungle towards us. The party blazes away with spells, the repeating Ballistae fire at it, hitting it a few times, but it keeps coming until it turns into a fish, hits the water, and a couple of Squarks rend it apart within seconds. Passage is arranged for us as part of the trade deal between the Destinians (selling iron weapons, particularly scimitars), and the Drow (selling spices, animal components).

Dylath

The Drow ships are 80’ coastal cutters, modified with TDP’s assistance to be ocean-going, and evolving towards Caravels. The Drow themselves look like slightly swarthy elves, not the black-as-their-souls kind on the other side of the ocean. The Drow Captain ?Kerising? and his crew prove to be fine sailing companions, if one can’t read minds. They give us plenty of freedom on the ship, and even exchange swords as a token of respect and lust for iron. To avoid any confusion, MaryM is disguised as a dwarf and the party pretend to be burly mercenaries escorting RocSinger on a Roc hunt. After three peaceful days sailing, we put into Dylath in the early afternoon of the 22nd . Dylath is set around a deep bay, with a large island in the centre, which is densely covered with mansions. The edge of the bay itself is home to the less-well off, and eventually ends up as slums in the lower hills. The bay is also the mouth of the Cobalt River, named after its brilliant (though poisonous) blue waters. [Session 6] We stay in town for five days. We observe a number of interesting events and deduce some facts – see Summary of Drow Cities. We meet up with some Fey traders, and when they learn we are strangers ourselves, they are helpful and offer to travel with us. We learn about their culture and oral traditions as well as some desert creatures. Cobalt River On the morning of the 27 th , we set off up the Cobalt river with 12 Crodlu – 6 carry extra water, as the Cobalt river is poisonous. The Fey run alongside effortlessly all day. They point out some desert ranger tips to our rangers. That night we start to build a large fortification to protect ourselves from bandits and wild creatures, and a free-willed and very old and large Earth Elemental turns up. After some tense negotiations with our Earth and E&E mages, we agree try a number of magics that may send it back to its home plane, as otherwise it will kill us or take some of our items. Eventually we draw it into the Ethereal Plane, which it does not like the look of, and it tries to change its mind half-way through the portal – a tense thirty seconds ensues before it is finally drawn all the way through. The next few days pass peacefully, with the fey showing a little more respect for us, and we learn more about them. Jade makes some friends amongst them. The temperature averages 45°. On the 3rd of Heat we approach the source of the Cobalt River, a waterfall pouring out of a rockface beneath the pass into the main Terranovan desert. The water is brilliantly blue and the air is laden with the metallic poison colouring the water. This metal is like copper, in the same way star-silver is like silver, or warpstone is like lead (not like true-silver or true-lead which are more powerful, but damaged, dangerous). We christen it star-copper. It has an essence of poison, like warpstone has an essence of change. We pass over the mountain pass and descend to the obsidian town of Marcla, complete with its open-cast mine and yellow lake of steaming sulphur. A number of the fey, and two of us enter the town – we are mistaken for Fey. We observer it in case we are captured in Uric, as all prisoners end up working the obsidian mines until they die – generally a short period. Uric In the evening on the 4 th of Heat we arrive outside Uric. [Session 7] The next morning we enter Uric, dressed as Fey. We spend a few hours observing local culture, (see Summary of Drow Cities) and are particularly fascinated by the Ziggurat being completed in the middle of the town. That afternoon, MaryM takes a closer look at the Ziggurat and comes up with some interesting theories. We decide to leave town before the local constabulary object to her thoughts. The 6th is spent in peaceful contemplation of Uric from a near-by rise while the Fey complete their mercantile transactions. They get particularly poor bargains, so decide to press inland to Raam the next day, and we agree to accompany them. [Session 8] On the 8th , we are ambushed by 60 slavers, 5 drow mages, 3 Praying Mantis warriors (###) and 4 Tizards. The Tizards are more of a concern than the rest put together, but are dealt with by Jade & Katerina and the sudden appearance of Casmar who describes himself as the Eternal Champion’s sidekick. He is unsurprised by an Armageddon man-against-the-gods scenario, and is expecting his boss Dante Godslayer to turn up shortly. Casmar tries to leave, but is trapped on this plane until the situation is resolved. He decides to join us. [Session 9] The rest of the slavers are then mopped up with a little magic and psychology. MaryM and Casmar share the kills fairly equally. On the 9 th through 11 th, two of the drow and their Mool servants escort us to their home city of Raam, and pay a ransom of half their weight in silver. Raam is undergoing a plague, so we decide to skirt around it to the south, while the fey head north east and the drow head north. The party and Casmar camp for the night of the 11th two miles south of Raam. [Session 10] Heading west towards Draj, we notice that the desert gets even hotter to the north – well over 50ºC. Yokosama Stronghold On the evening of the 13th we find the site of a battle by following vultures, and find 40 drow and human bodies and one Erehleine – Yamaguchi Tomori. MaryM soothes Tomori’s fevered brow until he comes around, and upon finding us charming companions, he agrees to lead us to his base. The battle seems to have been one of equal numbers, so we are impressed that only one Erehleine was injured badly. Tomori belongs to the mercenary house of Yokosama, who with some Amdijin mages, have been in Terranova for 12-24 months, although significant forces have only been present for 3-4 months. Tomori takes us to the nearest Yokosama stronghold, which is a fortified bunker of shaped earth a few miles to the north of Draj. We meet Yamaguchi of Yamaguchi, Tomori’s leader, and are offered hospitality after a round of mutual runes of truth. Six clans of fifty-odd warriors each are here, along with Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Rune & Portal mages. They are their to fight the allies of the Spawn (frog demons, as they call them). Interestingly enough, they do not claim to fight drow, or that they are enemies of the Spawn, merely fighting their allies. They have not received any orders to halt the Spawn yet. They have been raiding against Draj, but could not take the city through siege or open warfare. The city of Draj is on an island in the silt swamp, connected by a causeway to the mainland. The God-King of Draj has not been seen for a while – he is believed dead or in hiding. The Draj nobles are primarily pro-Spawn. It is implied that the Erehleine may be responsible for some of the infighting in Raam and cities to the north-east. They claim that the Spawn uses plague and allow us to infer that the Spawn started the Raam plague. Yamaguchi shows us a prize they have captured – a “pistol” identical to those used by Ahriman’s dwarves. We analyse it and confirm its origins, although we are unsure whether Ahriman or another Demonic Emperor was involved. One of Ahriman’s Balrogs is known to have switched sides, and may have taken the technology with him. Most of the party visit the stables to see real horses after so long, then, it being after midnight, we retire. Scouting the Enemy The 15th finds us wearily back in the saddle, although some are mounted on horses for a rest. Poor planning indeed, to be 1000 miles into a desert on the Summer Solstice. We head south with a clan of Erelhein, picking up supplies from hidden caches. We scry to the south, and gain our first glimpses of the enemy. South of the desert is a range of hills, a continuation of the Red Hills we met to the east. Here too, the sky rains iron and acid. The hills rise into a 3,000 miles long east-west mountain range, splitting the desert from the central jungles. South of that is more hills, then rough, broken terrain, which eventually is covered by jungle. A river runs north-south and near-straight through the jungle and culminates in a swamp at the edge of the roughlands (an unlikely place for swamp). In this swamp is a series of temples forming a religious (as opposed to functional) city, once occupied by Saurians, but now a Shrine to Apollyon, controlled by Spawn priests. An army of 60 - 90,000 spawn and their saurian slaves occupy the swamp. We study their movements and patterns of activity closely. The camp is mostly open plan -- little in the way of huts/tents that a human army would need. The Spawn and Lizards seem happy to camp in the open. Some light weight looking cloths have been rigged up to provide shade. The only building of any real note is a small (30 foot on a side) pyramid that appears to be on a wheeled base. The pyramid glows faintly after dark. Its layout suggests a very highly ranked Mil Sci doing the planning, and is consistent with having mostly well disciplined troops (plus some irregulars -- saurians).here are some identifiable "regiments" quartered together – spawn dressed in similar "uniforms". These make up about a quarter of the troops. The remainder appear to have no specific uniform. No reptilian "bird"-life over-flies the camp. The occasional foggy-patch appears momentarily in the air above the camp when they try – we believe this is from air elemental; patrols. Some suspicious looking clouds hover high above the camp at all times. Spawn troops are observed entering a tunnel in the rough lands, and being carried out on stretchers, suffering from ?acid?, weapon and ?cave-in? injuries. One instance is seen of a large group of particularly hard looking Spawn accompanied by a variety of nasty giant-toad-like beasts and a brace of "Tizards" appearing in what appears to be a Solar Flare effect. Some of them are injured. There are three Naga, each with titanesque (30’ high) bodies on the tails of mighty serpents, and two Balrog of even greater dimension. One of the Balrog has a gold hand. MaryM has meet this Balrog before and destroyed his previous crystal prosthetic. These five appear to be the absolute leaders of the army. They stay close together in the centre of the camp. Spawn “colonels” receive their instructions from the five, and disseminate the instructions to the troops. There is no sign of Apollyon or Leviathan. While Apollyon may have been missed, we feel confident that Leviathan is unforgettable. Some Drow are observed in the camp. They appear to be nobles/ambassadors/advisors/something. Reading the Enemy [Session 11] As we travel south through the burning desert and rising foot hills, we spend our spare energy on astrology readings (se Astrology). There is much discussion, which I draw a veil over, as not to offend our gentle reader.

Drugar

On the 20th we are in the red hills, having said sayonara to our escort. We decide that a raid on the Spawn camp would be fool-hardy in the extreme. After some more discussion, we decide not to attempt it anyway. We also conclude that seizing the god-king of Draj would be unproductive. Instead, we decide to contact the xenophobic Drugar. We change shape & appearance to Alusian dwarves with the assistance of Merlin, a friend of Rocsinger. Most of the party struggle to become accustomed to wearing bronze plate mail, particularly MaryM who misses her wings. We find some giant scorpion tracks and trace them back to a cave mouth. After some discussion we head down the passage. An earth elemental attacks us, but we befriend it. It leads us to a village of Drugar. They are surprised to see us, but only because they expect us to be with the main fighting force. After the gift of a Camelot™ iron mace to replace his rock-on-a-stick, the leader provides us with scorpion mounts and escorts us to the main army through labyrinthine passageways. This trip takes several hours. Eventually we arrive, tired and disorientated, at the main camp. We see a number of mutated Alusian dwarves in heavy plate, with extra tentacles, etc that we recognise as Ahriman’s followers. Ahriman [Session 12] Once the initial confusion and tension surrounding our appearance is defused, Captain Crozak is convinced or our helpfulness by learning of the location of the one-handed Balrog that used to be their master while Ahriman slept. After further discussion, we are taken to Takavashka, First General of the Sons of Ahriman via a Dark Portal. This very capable, approachable and pleasant gentleman (if one can call a shapeshifter Dwarf/Naga with two tails a gentleman) shows us around their War Room, and we exchange tactical information. The War room is full of warped dwarves – the higher commanders seem to be more warped. Most of them either have mind cloaks or are very resistant to magic – perhaps a quarter of them showed on telepathy. A number of free-willed earth elementals continually popped in and out of the cavern, updating the near- real-time tactical display of tunnel fighting on the large central table. We learn more about the fighting tactics of Spawn in tunnels -particularly the sub-race known as termites, and their use of air, water and earth elementals. We also hear of eagle Spawn, who plummet off clouds only their victims, and the Jaguar or Hugwa, who are stealth commando Spawn, which one can stand on before noticing – fortunately elementals have no such trouble detecting them. Takavishka believes that his troops can only hold back the Spawn army until the end of summer, and that they will probably break through somewhere to the south of Raam, as that is where the defence is weakest. We take a Dark Portal to 4,000 feet below the surface, where we talk about strategic goals and Takavishka tells us of how Ahriman plans to repay his debt to Xanadu. The details of this conversation are sensitive. We Dark Portal back to the main chamber, and decide that we have seen enough of Terranova. Casmar decides to stay on, awaiting the imminent arrival of Dante. We accept the very kind offer from Takavishka, and Dark Portal to a dwarven way station, then on to Ahriman’s “front door”, a huge carving of a demonic face in the side of the Worldspines. Foxcourt, Borderlay, the Elven Isles and Home By now it is dawn on the 21st back on Alusia. We head south through the mountains on foot towards Foxcourt, sleeping at a lonely Inn with a double-bitted axe over the door. We pick up our horses and ride to the Noir Coeur, or New Court barony (called by some the Heart of Darkness) on the 22 nd . The next three days, we ride towards Elfenberg, but change our minds part-way and pop in to visit our new friends William & Henri. We have a fine lunch there, then travel via mirror to the Elven Isles, where there is time for a wonderful breakfast with Prince Gyronwy. The rest of the 25th is spent giving a detailed report to him, then William returns us via Borderlay to a Seagate establishment, from whence we walk home. On the 26th , Axis & Braegon talk to Xanadu, and note that the 12 dragon statues surrounding his image have all turned to gold. The evening of the 27th is taken up with dinner with Yo Long, who flies off with Jade. The last we hear of either of them is Yo Long offering to teach Jade to be a Night Dragon.