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Background and Summary: The Party explores the spot where
two people suddenly appeared, and find a tunnel that takes them
to a forested place with no end.
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Dafan time:
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161 Sextilis 25 - Novatilis 14 (August 25 - November
14) |
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Real time:
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2009 June - August (sessions 120-127) |
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Starting members:
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Mei-Peng
(N5), Vishu
(Mk5), Aknot (F6), Kera
(NtC6), Rehkel (T6), X
(MU6), Jett (NtC5/F3), Marek
(T6), Sarah (WrC5), Artemisia
(B5), Antrayna (R5) |
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(Session 120)
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| Sextilis 25 |
The Party heads north to Mura, a small community
of Elves about 100 km to the north, where 'Sheh is rumoured to be. |
| Sextilis 27 |
Shortly before arriving at Mura, the Party
meets a long-lost adventurer: Kaylorelle
R'tllil. About a week ago, Kaylorelle awoke in a forest glade
near Mura. The last thing Kaylorelle remembered before that was looking
into the eyes of a Medusa; Mei-Peng recalls seeing before the Cataclysm
a town fountain in Tel Qa having a life-like statue of someone named
Kaylorelle, and now realises it really was this person (see Keep
on the Borderland). Kaylorelle has no idea how she got here,
and has decided to head back south to Ikon to resume her adventuring;
however, she agrees to accompany the Party back to Mura for a while,
but then heads to Funen. |
| (S121) |
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The Party meets 'Sheh,
a noteworthy adventurer from pre-Cataclysm Dafan. She has been in
Mura about 5 years now, trying to find her partner Eldor
(who vanished at the Cataclysm and whom she wants back) and her father
(whom she wants to kill). Vague clues had led her from Glantri, back
on Hobbitika about 100 years ago, south to the great forest Eald;
from there, she somehow simply arrived just outside Mura while walking;
she suspects Arlan
may have had a hand in this (having met her shortly before the mysterious
walk). |
| Sextilis 28 |
Hearing about the Tower, 'Sheh decides (and/or
is convinced) to go to it and talk with Hallgato; for she maybe able
to aid 'Sheh in her quests. X is determined that the Party begin to
round up as many other pre-Cataclysm adventurers as possible and park
them at the Tower, especially those that had dealings with the Hobgoblin
artificial moons - for example, James Tarcil whom the Party
has heard is busy building a castle in Noranglia. |
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However, first the Party heads a short distance
out of Mura: as both Kaylorelle and 'Sheh arrived at that spot under
unusual circumstances and from other worlds or times, it warrants
examining. They come to a small clearing in the woods. Antrayna finds
a circle of holes in the ground, perhaps where large standing stones
may have stood many years ago. As 'Sheh had mentioned that she had
previous encountered stone circles that allowed for time travel (see
Moon
Bog and Swordquest),
this looked relevant; even more suspicious was the fact that the local
elves had no knowledge of any stone circle here over the past millennia.
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Sarah detects faint magic at the centre
of the circle. Antrayna begins to dig there, hoping to find something
interesting. As she digs, the Party begins to notice that the ground
at the centre of the circle appears to be gradually turning into a
depression, and Antrayna and Sarah look to be further away than they
should be. By the time Antrayna gets down to some big rocks a couple
of feet down, she can't be seen by the Party and the Party looks to
be far away. Sarah then notices that a round grassy tunnel has appeared
beside her. At the same time, the rest of the Party finds that a circle
of 19 large menhirs (standing stones) have suddenly appeared in their
midst. |
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The Party enters the tunnel, and finds that
not only is the grass growing on the sides and ceiling of the tunnel,
they can walk on all surfaces as well. But soon the entrance closes
behind them. The tunnel opens into a smaller clearing by a road in
some other forest. It seems to be morning, with a nice blue sky, but
there is no sun. Kera-as-dragon flies up, and reports there is forest
all around, but there is no sun to be seen anywhere. |
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The Party follows the road for hours, noting
several side paths and some old tracks of possibly Elves; but otherwise
seeing nothing of interest. That is, until at dusk they come across
their own tracks, and conclude that something fishy is going on. They
climb up a small hill in order to camp out; some trees seem to take
exception and whack various party members. |
| (S122) |
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| Septilis 1 |
The descend the hill and explore some ruins
on the shore of a small lake. Jett goes out onto a stone jetty that
extends into the lake, and finds the spot divinely peaceful; so much
so, he is granted a divine answer to any question. He asks how to
leave the forest, and is told to head north to the "ruins of
the Dridanis temple" and as the Great Oak. The Party heads north,
often grinding their way through dense vegetation; as before, trees
occasionally whack unsuspecting people. By early evening, they come
to some walls; they retreat a bit and camp out. |
| Septilis 2 |
Exploring a building resembling some sort
of meeting hall, they are mugged by two enormous Owlbears. One grabs
Vishu (a.k.a. Squishu or Crushu) and nearly squishes the life out
of her (as did the last Owlbear she met!); just before dying, she
is saved by Kera-as-dragon using her breath weapon on the beast, sending
it into a blissful and non-crushing state, and a cure from Jett. Otherwise,
the Party defeats the beasts with little difficulty. |
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Kera then takes a quite flight and determines
that a very large oak is nearby. This leads them to a walled compound
that proves difficult to enter. Antrayna eventually figures out how
to secure a grapnel hook over the wall to the backside of a gate,
and the Party enters the compound. Inside, they come to an enormous,
dense hedge of thorns that surrounds the Oak. |
| (S123) |
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X casts a Fly spell, and picks up
Artemisia (the most gifted speaker in the party); but as they fly
over the hedge with Kera-as-dragon, the spell abruptly ends. X casts
Feather Fall, but that fails as well. Artemisia pushes off
X, and the two fall to either edge of the hedge, are raked for significant
damage by the thorns, and fall to the ground. X and then Kera approach
the Oak. X touches it, and is able to speak with it. She is told that
the Party is not particularly welcome in the Oak's realm. However,
as they have not done any harm, they will be permitted to leave once
they have done a few clean-up tasks for the Oak. |
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First off, they are to "remove the
mutant bovine". Heading west, they camp out and are found by
a Gorgon. Kera and Aknot are turned to stone before the Party
can kill the beast. |
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Hauling the stoned corpses back to the Oak,
the Party inquires as to whether or not the Oak can help. It offers
to turn them into compost, or even reincarnate them; but the Party
declines. So the Oak summons a friend; Kera and Aknot are restored
to life by a Unicorn (who also heals Vishu, who was still very
much incurable). |
| (S124) |
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| Septilis 3 |
Next they go and "find the wand that
is a key". X uses Locate Object several times, and they
come to a bare river bank. An enormous Crayfish attacks, is defeated,
and then eaten for lunch. The wand is found in an underwater cave.
Confirming their suspicions, the Party finds that the wand opens doorways
through the hedge. |
| Septilis 4 |
"Dispatch the restless dead now sleeping"
is their next task. As the Party goes past where the Crayfish lived,
Artemisia discerns a most unusual and complex whistling sound coming
from a ruined building ahead. A large kitchen is filled with several
dozen corpses, plus a strange rocky thing on 4 "legs" (looking
a bit like a giant starfish) -- a Sussurus
-- which is the source of the whistling. Sarah decides on a pre-emptive
strike and whacks a corpse. All the corpse arise - Zombies, Ghouls,
Ghasts, Shadows, and Wights - and swarm the few Party members in the
kitchen. Aknot is paralysed by a Ghoul, and dragged out by Artemisia.
Antrayna bravely holds the door against 1 Wight, 2 Ghasts, 1 Shadow,
and several Zombies, while severely drained of strength and while
Party archers nearly fumble into her. X unleashes a blast of light
from her Wand of Illumination, which vapourises most of the undead.
The flash also blinds Antrayna, who still has (now smoking) opponents;
somehow Antrayna survives unscathed while the last undead are defeated.
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| (S125) |
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Other rooms in the building complex contain
a Wraith and a dozen large Spiders, which are all dispatched with
ease. |
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The Party returns to the Oak, who grants
the them the right to leave. With some difficulty, Artemisia is able
to lure the Sussurus to follow for some distance, but eventually and
reluctantly leaves it behind. They go to where they first arrived
in the woods; Jett notices an odd, subtle shimmering; they approach
and a round, grassy tunnel is revealed. |
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In the tunnel, the Party meets 3 small demons
(Manes) and 2 Driders. The Driders are phenomenally unlucky (with
most spells bypassing their magic resistance, and Antrayna scoring
several blind hits through darkness) and defeated with relative ease.
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The Party exits the tunnel and finds itself
in the clearing outside Mura. They walk into Mura and find, somewhat
to their surprise, that they have only been away for 4 days - time
ran normally where they had been. |
| (S126) |
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| Septilis 5 |
During the Party's absence, 'Sheh had met
with Mehillias and learned that he is undead - likely a Vampire. What
better trainer for Mei-Peng? She benefits immensely from his knowledge,
and even lives to tell the tale. She also is given a souvenir - a
hand from a dessicated Hobgoblin corpse that Mehillias has displayed
on a wall. Said Mehillias: "It had been nosing around the castle;
rather suspicious I thought. When I captured it, it babbled that it
could fix the world. Of course I killed it. Quite ... filling, it
was." |
| Training |
Septilis 5-21: Mei-Peng, Artemisia, and
Rehkel. Vishu and Sarah cannot find trainers yet. |
| Septilis 21 |
Party leaves Mura and heads to where James
(Charles George John Edward William Tarcil the 3rd), of Old Dafan
fame, has been building a castle. |
| Septilis 26 |
En route, they meet up with an adventuring
group. They are led by Olaf Hammermann, a priest of Thor; they are
scouring the countryside for undead, in order to lay them to rest.
They exchange many a tale, with two Bards - Artemisia and Grunslag
Golden-Tongue - ensuring that the Party's exploits are well accounted.
Olaf is quite impressed by the thorn rune on Aknot's palm, as it is
a sign of Thor. All in all, a pleasant day is spent before both groups
head their respective ways. |
| (S127) |
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| Skirophorion 11 |
After travelling 400 km mostly through totally
vacant former farmland, the Party finally arrives at Gwllwn. An impressive,
half-built castle dominates the bustling town. Stopped by unusual
castle guards resembling Minotaurs - half human, half bison critters
named Battiliks. The Party is easily able to get James' attention,
with mention of moons and 'Sheh. |
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Lord James,
Earl of the Stafford lands of Middle Anglia, has been a Very Busy
Man since the cataclysm. Besides building a huge castle, he rules
one of the few modestly prosperous and growing regions of Noranglia.
He has good connections with the rulers of Nordartia and Noranglia,
through his wife Kostbera who is daughter of Jark Karlsefni of Jorvik
and cousin to the young Queen
Elsa in Wolsingham (and former apprentice in Gandalf's temple
to Danu in Wolsingham). |
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Of those on the Party's list of past adventurers,
James can provide a few updates: Belladonna
lives in Gwllwn (under the watchful eye of town guards). 'Sheh, Leaf,
Shauna,
and Skyboot
all passed through Gwllwn in past years; the latter two on unknown
missions of some sort. Simon,
Jarl of Siffjord, visits a couple of times a year. Haldir
is alive in Ikon. A year ago, Gandalf
made a brief return visit to his temple in Wolsingham: he ranted for
about 10 minutes about Demons and some wasteland and fallen companions
(his arms being full of their weapons and armour), then vanishing
as suddenly as he arrived. James thought the description of the wasteland
sounded a lot like a world he visited years ago (see Valashi's
Wand). |
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This is all very good, the Party thinks
- but none of this is recent and/or local news. James also says that
Eldor
had been here about 2 months ago. He arrived from the east (the same
direction as came the Party) and spent time with mages in Gwllwn discussing
"other planes". He then departed that way, saying he was
trying to return to "his" Glantri. |
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Vishu finds Monks in Gwllwn and is finally
able to train. Sarah learns that there are Dwarves nearby, and goes
there for training. |
| Skir. 23 |
Before Sarah returns, the next full moon
occurs. Some of the prophecies relating to "the
Poem of Twelve" suggested that this date would be eventful
in a bad way. But nothing obvious happens at all, much to everyone's
relief. Telepathic conversation with Hallgato reveals that there was
a slight increase in power usage by the Tower, but nothing more. |
| Skir. 25 |
The Party is underwhelmed by the number
of adventurers of old that they've been able to find, especially ones
that dealt with the artificial satellites. They come to believe that
the Hobgoblin that Mehillias found slinking around Funen must have
been Ell Kara, who most definitely knew much about the satellites.
Bringing her back to life, however, would require a Resurrection
spell, something that very few Clerics can cast. The nearest likely
location for such a powerful person is Wolsingham; so off they go
to there, armed with a letter of introduction by Lady Kostbera. |
| Novatilis 14 |
Arrive in Wolsingham. The Party convinces
a powerful Cleric to revive the dead Hobgoblin. The spell is a success,
but the recipient is male and most definitely not Ell Kara. Torgo
is his name. He doesn't know Ell Kara, but does seem to know about
artificial satellites and multiple worlds. He is dismayed to learn
that Mehillias killed him (and took all his gear), and vows to kill
him. The fact that Mehillias is a Vampire doesn't dissuade Torgo in
the least. The Party decides that the best thing to do with Torgo
is to send him to Hallgato and 'Sheh at the Tower - his knowledge
might be useful to them, and it is close to Mehillias. |
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Surviving members:
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Mei-Peng (N6), Vishu
(Mk6), Aknot (F6), Kera
(NtC6), Rehkel (T7), X
(MU6), Jett (NtC5/F3), Marek
(T6), Sarah (WrC6), Artemisia
(B6), Antrayna (R5) |
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New members:
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Casualties:
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Kera, Aknot (both petrified, then revived) |
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Retirees:
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Continuing party:
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Mei-Peng, Vishu, Aknot, Kera, Rehkel, X, Jett, Marek, Sarah, Artemisia,
Antrayna
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