To Find a Blue Moon:
2-1 Kyffhäuser Tower
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Background and Summary: The Party returns to Brunland in
order to explore Kyffhäuser Tower, an ancient structure that
Tse believed to be part of an ancient Hobgoblin defence network.
They are able to enter the Tower, and learn that it is a sentient
guardian of two worlds. It allows them to visit "Old Dafan",
where they find a desolate world and a vast, ancient, and damaged
power station. Snake-human abominations (Yuan Ti) are encountered
in the upper levels, while Trehellians are in the lower levels;
and they are responsible for the station's current problems. While
battling the Trehellians, the Party is able to revive two ancient
Hobgoblins - emergency staff for the station. With their help, the
Trehellians are defeated. Githi invaders, and where they are eventually
stranded.
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Dafan time:
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161 Quintilis 7 - Sextilis 24 (July 7 - August 24) |
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Real time:
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2008 November - 2009 June (sessions 96-120) |
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Starting members:
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Mei-Peng
(N4), Vishu
(Mk5), Aknot (F5), Kera
(NtC5), Riff (F5), Rehkel
(T5), X (MU5), Jett
(NtC4/F2), Marek (T5),
Sarah (WrC4), Artemisia
(B4) |
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(Session 96)
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| Quintilis 7 |
Party teleports from Ikon to Lüburg. |
| Quintilis 10 |
Party arrives in Funen. Make inquiries at
MU and Thieves guilds concerning the nearby Kyffhäuser Tower. |
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 Kyffhäuser
Tower as seen in Anglian tourist brochures from previous years. |
| Quintilis 11 |
Party walks up the hill to the Tower; they
locate a locked heavy door near its base. Marek finds he can pass
through the door by means of his Raido rune, and explores while
X studies up for a Knock spell. Marek is crisped by some giant
fire-breathing Toads and beats a hasty retreat. When X casts the Knock,
Riff and Sarah lead the charge, having consumed and cast some fire-protection,
clearly looking forward to relieving some pent-up frustration by means
of a good-old mindless combat. They charge into a clump of 5 Toads,
and get their butts crisped. Aided by several magic items being destroyed
in the incineration, Riff and Rehkel killed. It could have
been worse: X's recently recharged Wand of Fire was destroyed, but
did not release any of its charges (which would have thoroughly crisped
everyone) -- in fact, it temporarily transferred the charges to Artemisia's
bow, allowing her to shoot fireball arrows for the next 3 days. |
| (S97) |
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Party returns to town. Rehkel raised,
but not Riff (Speak with Dead revealed that he wished to stay
dead). Aknot finally figures out what the Thor rune on his palm can
do: cast invisible hammer-like blasts. |
| Quintilis 13 |
Return to the Tower. En route, they meet
an Elf who offers to show them fashion sense and how not to be obvious
in the woods: Antrayna
(R4) joins. Party enters tunnels at base of Tower; finds that
toad corpses have been messily eaten, and there are lots of bear-like
tracks about. |
| (S98) |
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The Party is jumped by 5 Owlbears. Vishu,
Antrayna and Sarah are badly mauled and bear-hugged; Vishu killed. |
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Party finds an extremely magical black door-shaped
feature at the base of the tower. When Rehkel chalks a Raido
rune on the door and X casts Knock, the black door vanishes, revealing
a passageway into the heart of the Tower. Antrayna goes in briefly,
returns to report what she saw, and then the black door returns and
the passageway vanishes. |
| (S99) |
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| Qunitilis 14 |
After resting the night, the Party opens
the black door again (leaving Vishu's corpse behind). They come to
a cavernous room 80' across with a domed ceiling. Artemisia notices
that the acoustics are phenomenal. One side chamber contains corpses
of Elves and Humans who died in combat several years ago; and also
one old Human warrior (Attok'To) with a large pet snake (Ssing-ai)
who cannot recall how he got there, nor how long he had been there. |
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Mei-Peng and Sarah begin to sense something,
almost like a memory they can't quite recall. Eventually Mei-Peng
determines that it is a psionic voice, talking to her in a language
she cannot understand. By means of Comprehend Languages, she
engages in a coversation with someone or something that is in the
Tower. The Voice says that this is one of 24 Towers around the world
which are responsible for protecting Dafan from the Githi, and that
they are currently working without error. It is aware that Dafan became
two worlds 254 years ago (both of which are accessible simply via
the front door), but that is of no concern to it as the Towers protect
both Dafans; likewise, earthquakes, vanishing populations, and changing
moons are not its concern. It denies that there are, or ever have
been artificial moons, saying that they were never required. The cause
of the split / duplication of Dafan is a time paradox caused by the
simultaneous presence of "the Mei-Peng" in two timeframes.
The way to resolve the time paradox is to remove Mei-Peng from the
two simultaneous timeframes. The Voice seems unaware that it is talking
with Mei-Peng, as it refers to her as a being or thing that is dead.
The two Dafans are currently in temporal synchronisation; but there
was "time slippage" between them before, and there likely
will be so again in the future. While all systems are currently operating
within acceptable parameters, since the Dafan split there have been
irregularities in the power supply for this and several other Towers;
the Voice estimates that these irregularities may result in a power
failure, which it estimates would occur in 640 years, plus or minus
638 years. The power for this Tower comes from an underground power
station that lies a short distance away (3 kilometers northwest).
As for the Githi, they have attempted invasions of Dafan 4 times since
the Cataclysm; the first occurred 3 hours after the event, the last
about 160 years ago. |
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Mei-Peng disputes that the Towers are working
correctly. The Voice reaffirms that its self-diagnostic tests confirm
all is well; but if desired, the guests should proceed to the Control
Room to run further tests. Gentle lights appear on the curved wall,
flashing in a manner that point to a staircase that appears in what
was another black door in the hall. The Party proceeds up this staircase
(which turns out to be an escalator) to another 80' diameter domed
room. While Mei-Peng continues her conversation with The Voice, a
spiral staircase appears to "unwind" from the peak of the
ceiling. However, at the same time a pool of water appears to form
at the centre of the floor. Soon they see a large, hideous, tentacled
blob in the pool; pulling with it's dozens of tentacles, the blob
rolls towards the Party. The tentacles lash out, inflicting wounds
and numbness on those who fight; it is also psionic, and Sarah and
Mei-Peng find their minds being squeezed. In fairly short order, though,
the Party defeat the blob, which vanishes completely. |
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The Voice confirms Mei-Peng's guess that
the blog was a Shoggoth, a fearsome legendary beast. The Voice has
no idea how it got into the Tower, and is certain that it is the first
time one has been in the Tower. Artemisia's bardic lore reveals that
Shoggoths are generally known only in the context of the first Cataclysm
(4500 years ago) and, rarely, more recently in Vridi lands. However,
when X and others went to meet Kaija a few weeks ago, they learned
that Kaija had once been killed by a Shoggoth in Bone Hill. |
| (S100) |
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Going up the spiral staircase to the Control
Room, the Party is confronted with technology they cannot comprehend.
However, talking with the Voice eventually reveals a few things of
interest, in particular a display of the entire world showing the
location of every Tower. |
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More discussion ensues concerning the supposed
Time Paradox caused by Mei-Peng. They narrow down the two time frames
of the paradox to the day she died and 260 years ago (6 years before
the Cataclysm). |
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While some are studying the map and other
details of the Tower, others ask Attok'To more questions. A startling
revelation occurs, when he suddenly recalls and innocently blurts
out that he is Githi. At the same time, Kera is learning that the
snake, Ssing-ai, is not behaving like a real snake. Weapons are hastily
drawn, and Attok'To and his snake are attacked. X finds that she cannot
summon monsters. Sarah targets the snake and deals a mightly blow
that it barely notices; simultaneously, the Voice calmly informs Mei-Peng
that the snake is actually a "Sky Dragon", and that it is
guarding the Githi. Ssing-ai then opens its mouth, makes a soft sound,
and most of the Party is instantly paralysed. It then stares intently
at Sarah and psionically tells her to stand down or die. It explains
that the Githi is its prisoner, a traitor to his kind, and that it
is being escorted somewhere for reasons that it won't discuss; the
two have been trapped in the Tower for 21 years, as they cannot get
the Tower to open the door for the Githi (even to let it out). If
the Party can open the door, it figures that they can then leave.
The rest of the Party soon comes out of paralysis; Kera, obsessed
with dragons, fawningly cures Ssing-ai and apologises for Sarah's
attack. |
| (S101) |
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Antrayna attempts to go back down to the
larger chambers in the tower, and finds herself going up to a new
level. She finds a round room with windows all around, but the view
is not at all natural-looking. The landscape is dark and seemingly
lifeless, with just a few glowing patches; the sky is dark with no
sign of stars. There are glowing steams of light seemingly joining
some point just above the room off to the horizon in all directions;
speculation is that they may go to each of the other towers. |
| Quintilis 15 |
More talk with the Voice. The Party learns
that only one being has passed through the Tower since the cataclysm:
a Human/Elf hybrid, less than 2 years ago. The Party thinks this may
have been Lasgalen
Shikibu (a.k.a. "Leaf"), an adventurer of pre-Cataclysm
days known to Mei-Peng's mother; for previous inquiries in Funen had
revealed that one Elven type matching her description had come out
of the tower at around that time. The Tower reports that all of the
people with whom this person arrived in the Tower were killed by strange
insect-like bipeds, which the Tower then eliminated because they displayed
Githi-like behaviour. Asking Ssing-ai, the Party learns that it and
Attok'To had arrived in the Tower shortly after that battle; Ssing-ai
immobilised the one survivor and held it captive for 19 years, due
to suspicious acts towards Attok'To. When the captive finally convinced
Ssing-ai that she was merely trying to loot Attok'to, she was released;
whereupon it somehow left the Tower without Ssing-ai being able to
follow. |
| Qinitilis 16 |
The Party, finally healed up from the battle
with the Shoggoth, decides it is time to leave the Tower and visit
Old Dafan. They try to leave Ssing-ai and Attok'To behind, but do
not succeed. Outside, they find a hilltop that physically resembles
the one they climbed up, under a heavily overcast sky; but the vegetation
shows sign of a major forest fire perhaps 2 years ago. Upon exiting,
Ssing-ai gleefully changes into a large, silvery dragon; picks up
Attok'To, who now looks quite un-human, and flies off. |
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Moments later, 3 strange insect-like bipeds
(Thri-Kreen) jump into the midst of the Party, and attack. The Party
handily defeats them. |
| (S102) |
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The Party sees that a town lies roughly
where Funen lies in their world. But before they get very far, they
realise that more Thri-Kreen are bounding their way. Another battle
ensues. Many fumbles and misfires later, and after a feeble start
by the front line, the Party is victorious. However, during the battle,
X had summoned 3 critters she had never seen before (demons, actually);
they fought well, but with no opponents left, the surviving 2 spotted
something else downhill and waddled after it. Moments later a huge
boulder plasters one of the critters into the Tower wall, and 3 Stone
Giants make their presence known. Sarah gleefully charges; Aknot,
Antrayna, Artemisia, and Marek follow warily. En route, Antrayna takes
a boulder hit and stops charging (and almost stops living). Soon all
but Sarah are doubting the wisdom of this charge, and Mei-Peng (who
speaks Stone Giant, albeit poorly) attempts to negotiate with the
Giants. Sarah is wholloped once, and has Aknot trying to restrain
her, but is keen on fighting to the end. In the end Mei-Peng convinces
the Giants that the Party is not their enemy; the Giants in turn tell
her that the Thri-Kreen are guarding the tower and that the Party
might find some answers in the undead-infested town. |
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The Party walks to the town, and finds that
much of it lies in ruins. Mangled corpses fill the town square. The
only sign of life is on the walls of the castle in the centre of town.
Just before they get to the castle gate, night falls. Literally -
for the past 2 hours, it had been like a heavily overcast late afternoon,
but in just a brief moment it was night. After some hasty talk with
the guards, the Party is let into the castle; but they are restricted
to a guardhouse, as Dwarves and especially Elves are not trusted and
never allowed in. |
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The foreign nature of the Party is quickly
made obvious, which soon leads to an audience with His Grace, Duke
Matti von Karlson, ruler of (what is left of) Funen. They learn that
it has been less than 6 years since the Cataclysm struck this world;
and in these parts civilisation has been failing; wide-spread chaos
has descended, with little contact with other towns, let alone other
countries. The day-night cycle has become one of sudden dawn and sudden
nightfall; seasonal change is unpredicable, leading to massive crop
failures. Most of the city is overrun with undead; the living cower
in the castle. Their resources are minimal. There are no mages in
the castle; soon after the Cataclysm, the Mages Guild arrogantly removed
itself from the authority of the Duke; it is not known if many mages
are still alive, as only one has been seen in years, the despised
elven guild head, Mehillias. |
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The Party explains that they are here to
fix the world, briefly outlines what has been happening, and states
that they are looking for a "power station" that they believe
lies under Funen. When they explain that the Tower suddenly appeared
in their world soon after the Cataclysm, the Duke says that something
similar happened here - a large tunnel appeared in the deepest basement
of the Castle a few years ago. Nothing came out of it, but it was
worrying and thus bricked up. The Party decides that they should explore
that tunnel, to see if it leads to the power station. Marek provides
an excellent meal for the Duke, which helps keep the mood of the discussions
very cordial. The Party rests. |
| (S103) |
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Many members of
the Party decide to do some training. Most head back through the Tower
to the known world; X, Marek, and Jett stay put. X spends the days
flying over and fireballing the insect things. The returning group
finds that Vishu's body has been miraculously undisturbed where they
left it; they take the body with them and Vishu is raised.
Kera, as part of her 6th level training, learns how to shape-shift;
one of the forms that she can take is Faery Dragon, courtesy of the
Limited Wish granted by Valashi (see Bone
Hill). |
| (S104) |
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| Sextilis 4 |
Regrouped, the Party decides to deal with
the power source somewhere beneath the city. They open up the tunnel
underneath the castle, and meet hostile bizarre spell-casting snake/human
abominations (Yuan Ti); a fumble-filled battle ensues; Aknot is not
polymorphed into a fish, as happens to one of X's summoned critters. |
| (S105) |
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Exploring, the party finds a hole in the
ceiling. Marek crawls up, and is attacked by reptilian accupants;
Kera flies up (in dragon form) and finds a rough complex of rooms;
and based on that reconnaissance, X then casts a Fireball into
the rooms above. Having cleared the way, X levitates up; the rest
of the Party joins her, and they explore. They are attacked by many
large lizards with cameleon-like camouflage; all but one are killed.
Kera convinces the survivor to leave the Party alone. |
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Exploring this upper level, the Party finds
the ancient remains of an apartment, complete with an extremely sophisticated
washroom. They also find 3 elevators and 3 staircases that lead down;
based on strange markings on a control panel, they conclude that they
are at the top of a many-floored complex. The floors are hexagonal
in shape, with each lower one larger than the one above it. |
| (S106) |
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| Sextilis 5 |
The Party goes down a staircase to the next
level. Exploring, they run into several Yuan Ti. A major battle ensues,
complicated by the arrival of more of the abominations. Various characters
have brief visions of becoming fish, but none do. Antrayna and Rehkel
are badly hurt, but in the end 13 Yuan Ti are killed. Lots of goodies
are found in their lair. |
| (S107) |
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| Sextilis 6 |
The Party finds a sealed room. Breaking
the lock, Sarah tumbles into the midst of three snakey undead. Thinking
they were just Zombies, various characters charge in; Vishu kicks
one and finds out that it was actually a Wight - so much for 5th level.
In the meantime, Kera turns the other Wight and the Spectre; and then
X tries out a new wand they found, and creates a brilliant flash of
light that vapourises the Wights and damages the Spectre (and blinds
much of the Party). Aknot, Jett, and Kera finish off the Spectre before
it is able to stock up on more levels. |
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While resting again, Artemisia examines
a sword wielded by one of the Wights and learns that it is a level
stealer previously owned by the elf 'Sheh (former adventuring companion
of Tse), was later responsible for the death of a Glantri archmage,
and was recently owned as a trophy by a Vampire south of Glantri.
Later that day, Vishu finds that her level loss was temporary - lucky
for her, Wights only keep levels when they intentionally touch their
victims. |
| Sextilis 7 |
Going down another flight of stairs, the
Party finds their way further down barred by a hefty metal door. The
lock is of a type Rehkel and Marek have never seen, and utterly defeats
their picking attempts. Mei-Peng finds that (with the aid of a Comprehend
Languages spell) she can psionically talk to the door; it tells
her that she needs a "security pass" to open the door, and
if she has misplaced hers she may obtain a temporary visitor's pass
at the front desk. Unfortunately, the front desk is on Level 1, Tier
1, several floors below here. Meanwhile, Marek tries to force the
lock with a dagger, and is painfully zapped for his trouble. The door
informs Mei-Peng that security will arrive to help deal with the door;
but no one arrives. Vishu then remembers that there was an unusual
piece of metal hanging around the neck of the Wight she kicked, which
had not been found. The Party returns to the scene of the battle;
and find an overlooked necklace where the Wight had been vapourised.
The thin hexagonal medallion turns out to be a key to the secure door. |
| (S108) |
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The Party proceeds downstairs. Hearing noises
below, X summons 5 small demons and lets them loose; they soon find
Bugbear corpses on the stairs. Entering the first door down, the Party
is surprised by 4 nasty cat-like beings (Displacer Beasts) and 2 Bugbears.
The Party kills them all, and then proceeds to search the otherwise
empty level. |
| (S109) |
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Temporarily halted by a locked door, Antrayna
spots company - 6 Bugbears attack the Party, and die quickly. Before
the Party progresses much further, 12 more Bugbears ambush them. They
are again victorious, and this time Mei-Peng captures 2 pets - one
charmed living Bugbear (Febl) and one raised dead one. Exploring further,
they find one region of the floor blocked by glowing red walls; surrounding
walls are warm. Marek goes ethereal in order to see what is beyond
a warm wall, and realises in the last moment that he would be entering
flames; and wisely retreats. |
| (S110) |
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| Sextilis 8 |
Febl informs Mei-Peng that there are many
Bugbears living one or two level below, and they work for some tall
humans who are further below. The Bugbears' role has been to let the
tall humans in, by means of touching things rather than hitting them.
Febl also says that on the level above (which the Party did not explore),
there have been Trolls, Rats, and Gnome. |
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So the Party goes up a level. 5 Trolls are
quickly found, and dispatched without too much difficulty. Peculiar
loot is found, but no Gnomes. In a back, outer wall, they find a tunnel
complex ... |
| (S111) |
which shows signs of Troll occupation, but
is unoccupied. It does, however, lead to the outdoors - a cave in
the side of the castle hill. Returning to the complex, the Party runs
into 5 Fire Toads; no one dies this time. |
| (S112) |
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| Sextilis 9 |
The Party is stumped by an out-of-place
locked door (an illusion that they never disbelieve). Marek goes ethereal,
and finds a room containing two Gnome corpses; ghostly figures rise
from them, and Marek hastily retreats. Antrayna digs a hole through
a wall, allowing the entire Party to enter the room with the corpses.
The ghostly figures are not of any sort of undead that Mei-Peng recognises;
they appear to understand Gnomish speech, and seem to indicate that
they have been cursed. But when a Remove Curse is cast on one,
they attack. Several members take cold damage and feel very numb,
but in the end the ghosts are dissipated. After a good deal of looting,
Kera and Jett cast Death Prayers over the corpses; and Sarah
consecrates the room and builds a small memorial for the Gnomes (whose
names are found in their spell books: Amonti and Llado). |
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Artemisia finds a tunnel in a nearby wall
of rubble, well-hidden by an illusion. Marek finds that it leads through
and over a lot of rubble, eventually leading to a large room at least
30' below. The Party decides not to explore that way just yet. |
| Sextilis 10 |
Exploring further on the level, the Party
finds another corpse - this time of a Dwarf. Its skull has a round
hole in the forehead, and a deep blue gemstone of the same size is
found rattling around inside. Mei-Peng and X have suspicions that
this is a legendary "Drow Gem" - a magical item that bonds
itself to ones skull. Antrayna and Sarah are immediately offended
by its presence, and insist that the gem be destoyed. Mei-Peng argues
strenuously that it is a valuable asset; she casts an Identify
on it, and determines that it aids ones strength. Antrayna and
Sarah both try to smash the gem, but instead mash Mei-Peng's fingers;
in the meantime, Rehkel's deft fingers make off with the gem, and
the gem ends up in her forehead. Rehkel is pleased to find herself
stronger; X warns her that a Dispel Magic cast upon the gem
could easily kill Rehkel; and of course any Drow would likely take
great exception to seeing what she had. Rehkel remains pleased. Antrayna
and Sarah remain displeased. |
| (S113) |
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The Party decides to explore the tunnel
that Artemisia had found. Antrayna goes first, assuming that others
are following. However, the rest of the Party has been side-tracked
and is considering sending Marek, with magical protections, into another
region that is blocked off by glowing red walls; Sarah divines that
this would be very unwise, so Marek doesn't proceed. In the meantime,
Antrayna finds a small cave in the rubble, with large webs; she ignites
the webs, retreats, but finds a large spider blocking her exit. She
holds off the spider for a few rounds before the rest of the Party
finally joins her. With the arrival of reinforcements, the spider
vanishes; and then reappears overtop Rehkel. Rehkel is bit, and collapses,
and the spider vanishes again. Moments later, it reappears overtop
Marek; but he survives the bite and the party is able to chop down
the spider. |
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Continuing, the Party climbs down a rubble
embankment inside a huge room, following a hidden path. A Dwarf corpse
is found; Febl recognises it as one that the Bugbears had tossed here,
and thus determines that they have come down 2 floors and are now
on the boss's level. Kera, in dragon form, flies invisibly down one
hallway and spots tall humans (likely Trehellians -- first encountered
in the House on the Hill)
busy at some sort of workbench. The Party proceeds down another corridor,
and finds several doors that are unopenable. Mei-Peng touches one,
and finds that it speaks to her in Hobgoblin. With the aid of Comprehend
Languages, she is able to converse with the door. The door is
utterly obsessed with pleasing people by opening and closing; but
it is malfunctioning and thus in a state of near panic. Talking further,
Mei-Peng finds that the door can somehow access information about
other parts of the complex. She thus learns that "inferior makers"
have been doing things over the past 4 months, including breaking
things and likely causing a major fire that is raging uncontrolled
in several sections. There are some "true makers" hibernating
nearby - the door thinks they should be revived in order to fix things
... |
| (S114) |
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The Party sneaks into the "hibernation"
centre. On the floor, they find the remains of several Trehellians,
Bugbears, and a short Goblin-like being that had been burned to death
about 2 months ago; the Party cannot figure out why or how. Mei-Peng
is able to converse with a wall, and learns that 2 occupants -- Hobgoblins
-- are alive. They have the two revived, and have a round of introductions.
Hallgato, of rank Emergency Engineer, and Ell Diaf, of rank Emergency
Security, have been in suspended animation 97 millennia. Their forehead
tattoos (EE and ES) mark them as people who had failed in some major
task, and were rewarded with being put in suspended animation if and
until some emergency required their services. As Hobgoblins, they
are rather small -- merely 5'2"; and their hands have 6 fingers.
Communication at first is only via Comprehend Languages. They
recognise Marek as a Hobbit ("our ancestors made your kind for
gardening and cooking - a fine product of genetic engineering"),
and the Elves and Dwarves (clearly with suspicion in their eyes);
Humans, they finally decide, must be decendants of "Plains Runners";
and Aknot the Part-Orc is unrecognisable to them. Febl the Bugbear
puzzles them, especially as she treats them as living gods; they eventually
and begrudgingly accept her as some sort of degenate descendant. |
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The Party and their two guests retreat upstairs
via the hidden path. Hallgato has various party members talk with
a door (serving as a communication device for some sort of central
intelligence in the complex, hereafter "CIC"), and within
a few hours the door is able to translate between Hobgoblin, Elvish,
and Common. She also spends time trying to figure out what the Trehellians
are up to, by studying their dealings with CIC. Ell Diaf, in the meantime,
is accessing security logs and reprogramming defences in the complex. |
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Kera and Antrayna, both invisible, sneak
downstairs to spy on the Trehellians. A minotaur has little problem
tracking them (by scent), and attacks. Kera somehow succeeds in charming
it, and brings it back upstairs. |
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Kera and Antrayna return downstairs, and
via a door relay the Trehellian activities to the Party. Hallgato
arranges for CIC to suddenly reveal information that the Trehellians
had been seeking, causing many of them to gather excitedly around
an information console; then Ell Diaf has CIC incinerate the room,
turning 6 Trehellians into ash and blinding Antrayna who was watching
(Kera cures her). |
| (S115) |
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In the meantime, the rest of the Party (except
Hallgato and Vishu, who remain upstairs to handle communications)
sneaks downstairs in two groups, and charges into the control rooms
occupied by the Trehellians. Leading the way are two Ghouls, created
by Mei-Peng from the Trehellian corpses in the hibernation centre.
Several Minotaurs stand their ground, and about 10 Bugbears arrive
to fight; a major battle ensues. When a Fireball is cast, crisping
most of the Party, Mei-Peng finds out the pleasant way that a recently
looted ring she was wearing is a Ring of Fire Resistance - she survives.
X takes a Lightning Bolt and nearly dies. Febl dies. Ell Diaf
nimbly dodges all enemy fire, and displays his "divine"
presence to the Bugbears; they immediately turn upon the Trehellians.
The only enemy survivors are two Trehellians and a Minotaur, who escape
via an elevator; Ell Diaf gets CIC to stop the elevator, but not before
it arrives one floor up (the level where the Bubgears live, according
to Febl). Mei-Peng is all set to create more Ghouls and send them
up the elevator after the Trehellians, but Ell Diaf states that the
Ghouls would likely attack the Bugbears, who he seems now to consider
his allies (and certainly his responsibility), and thus he refuses
to allow the elevator to be used. So instead, the Party readies itself
to charge up via the stairs ... |
| (S116) |
|
| |
The Party trundles to a staircase. (Antrayna,
who didn't wait for the Party to decide what to do, heads up a nearer
staircase, and is able to track the progress of the Trehellians and
relay the information via Hallgato.) On the way, they come across
a large, well-made chest surrounded by several Bugbear corpses. Unable
to resist the lure, Rehkel approachs and finds out the hardway that
the chest is actually a Mimic; she is glued up to it, but deals it
a lot of damage; and with assistance from a few others, easily dispatches
it. In the meantime, the rest of the Party finds that the door at
the top of the stairs are blocked; so they head to another staircase.
By the time they get to the level where the Trehellians were last
detected, the foe has made it to a teleportation room and fled the
complex. Hallgato determines that they teleported a huge distance,
to a non-Hobgoblin teleport "landing pad". Not knowing what
reception they would receive if they pursued, the Party wisely decides
to send just Mei-Peng's "pets" -- 3 ghoulds -- with instructions
to attack any Trehellians they see. |
| |
With no enemy left to fight, the Party settles
down to a good round of looting. A large number of spell books are
found, plus luxurious Trehellian living quarters. Best of all (for
most of the Party), they find that the Trehellians had rebuilt a high-tech
kitchen and bath complex. Marek cooks a feast for the Party and the
30 or so Bugbears that have now become loyal followers of Ell Diaf
and Hallgato, and others have long-overdue baths and showers (even
Aknot!). Aknot is happy to eat "cow-man" (Minotaur). |
| Sextilis 11 |
The Party rests for while. Then they decide
to explore the lowest 4 levels of the complex, for Hallgato has found
signs in CIC of unusual activity down there over the past many years
(likely unrelated to the more recent incursion by Trehellians). Some
Bugbears report sighting some large creature over the past months,
and the Party suspects it to be a dragon. Nothing is found except
minor signs of some activity. While the rest of the Party returns
upstairs, Kera remains behind in one large room in Faerie Dragon form,
invisible; and much to her delight, a few hours later a dragon appears
out of thin air. It is an unusual dragon -- hairy, somewhat lion-like,
with relatively small wings. The dragon quickly senses an intruder,
has no difficulty seeing Kera, and calmly talks to her. Kera alerts
the Party via Sarah's psionics; they rush down, resist the urge to
attack (and die painfully), and instead join in the conversation.
The dragon has been teleporting in and out of the complex for years,
using it as a quiet refuge. It remembers the days of the "little
folk" -- the Hobgoblins of old -- and is surprised and pleased
to hear that one or two have returned. It agrees to work with Ell
Diaf and Hallgato on repairs to the power station, and then sends
the Party on its way. |
| |
Having nothing better to do with the remaining
corpses from the battle yesterday, Mei-Peng turns several into Ghouls
and has Ell Diaf teleport them to wherever the Trehellians fled. |
| (S117) |
|
| Sextilis 12 |
Kera instructs her charned Minotaur to stay
with the Hobgoblins (lots of food, good pay, no beatings). The Party
then sets off for Kyffhäuser Tower and home; Hallgato goes as
well, so as to assess the state of the Tower and, through it, that
of all other Towers. X flies invisibly ahead, expecting to find and
hoping to fireball Thri-Kreen (the insect-like bipeds that attacked
them when they first exited the Tower). When she arrives, she is almost
overtaken by flying Thri-Kreen, who somehow sensed her presence; avoiding
them, she summons Kera-as-dragon and tells the Party to hurry up (and
put on some fire protection). Kera soon arrives and starts up a Call
Lightning spell; by the time the Party arrives on foot, she has
killed most of the flyers and some of the grounders. A battle ensues
and the Party handily kills all of the Thri-Kreen. |
| |
The Party finds that the entrance to the
Tower has been buried in rubble. When they start to excavate, a huge
insect-like creature - an Anhkheg - bursts out and tries to eat Mei-Peng.
The Party chops the beast down in no time. However, when X cast a
Fireball on it, she almost kills Hallgato in the blast. |
| |
They complete the excavation, and Hallgato
leads them into the Tower. She clearly has no difficulty communicating
psionically with The Voice, and leads them up to the control room
on the 3rd level. While she settles down to a few hours of work, she
instructs The Voice to learn Elvish and Common from the Party. |
| |
That evening, Hallgato gives the Party a digest of what she has
learned from the Tower. The Tower network
is protecting not just two "parallel" worlds (this one
and the Party's homeworld), but four worlds. The names provided
by the Tower translate as "Wasteland", "Broken"
(formerly Dafan), "Normal" (Hobbitika), and "Paranoid".
Each represents a significantly likely future from the point of
view of the ancient Hobgoblins, based on what monumental decision
they made concerning the defences against the Kotja, a.k.a. Githi.
| |
a) Wasteland is what is left of the world when all but the
most powerful defences were constructed - they all ultimately
failed and were overrun by the Kotja. |
| |
b) Broken is the world of the artificial Moons - this world
- until recently called Dafan by its primary inhabitants. |
| |
c) Hobbitika is the world of the Towers, the world from which
comes the Party. (The name somehow relates to Hobbits, who incidentally
have something to do with the ice age that has recently begun
there.) |
| |
d) Paranoid is a world with both artificial Moons and Towers,
combining both of the ultimate defensive systems. |
Up until the recent cataclysm, Dafan and Hobbitika were the two
most likely futures. The demise of the articial Moons of Dafan led
to the Towers of Hobbitika to "reach out" and protect
Dafan - thus the sudden appearance of the Towers on Dafan. At first,
only these two worlds were interracting via the Towers. A few months
ago, however, the probability of the other two worlds (Wasteland
and Paranoid) suddenly increased; and this led to the Towers interracting
with those worlds as well. This last turn of events has put much
strain on the Towers, resulting in brief failures every 60 days
- one side-effect being the appearances of the large blue Moon.
|
| |
The ability of the Towers to "reach
out" and bind with and protect parallel worlds is an astounding
event, according to Hallgato, for they were never designed to do that.
It was a great benefit for Dafan, but now has become a liability;
for the strain of protecting four worlds is more than they can take.
A major problem is that Wasteland and Dafan have a naturally occurring
phenomenon known as "continental drift", which slowly changes
the very shape of the world. Towers, however, "anchor" continents
and prevent this drift. Thus the four worlds are gradually tending
to cease being identical in shape, exponentially increasing the strain
on the towers to bind the worlds together. |
| |
The cause of the recent problem was, in
the words of The Voice, "the Mei-Peng event". When Mei-Peng
died, and her spirit was captured by Krassos Gimlison at Bone Hill,
she interracted with another dead spirit there - that of Kaija Telva.
Kaija died in that same complex centuries ago; however, time doesn't
govern the dead nearly so neatly as it does the living. As well, Kaija
was killed by an extra-planar being - a Shoggoth (or was it *the*
Shoggoth?). Somehow this spiritual interraction influenced the choices
and actions of the ancient Hobgoblins, significantly increasing the
probability of non-standard world defences: thus Wasteland (representing
all the minor defence choices) and Paranoid (the combination of the
two biggest choices) became significant future possibilities. |
| |
The most obvious solution to the current
problem, according to the Tower, is to undo what it calls a time paradox.
Unfortunately, it has no idea how to do this. The Voice kindly points
out that killing Mei-Peng now, or even Kaija, would not prevent what
they have already done (in Mei-Peng's case, that of telling Kaija
that the artificial Moons were doomed; in Kaija's case, relaying that
information to associates who eventually went back in time to try
to change the defences of the Moons (see Back
in Time). |
| (S118) |
|
| Sextilis 13 |
So the Party and Hallgato discuss other
options, such as stopping the Towers from protecting so many worlds
simultaneously. Wasteland is already a lost cause, and Paranoid shouldn't
need any help; so if those two could be "pushed away", then
perhaps the Towers would be able to protect Hobbitika and Dafan. However,
the strain of continental drift will remain a growing problem. |
| Sextilis 14 |
Hallgato announces to the Party that she
can cut the connection with Wasteland, and offers to show her elegant
work live on the domed ceiling of the second floor of the tower. Antrayna
thinks this is a bad idea, and wants to leave the tower immediately;
Kera likewise wants to leave. After attempts fail to convince them
to stay, Hallgato lets them leave the Tower. Rehkel slips out as well
("there's no loot in the show and a very good chance that she
might not be able to get back to her loot if she stays"). The
Party watches an impressive demonstration of spatial engineering.
However, just as the line graphic representing Wasteland is cut, they
find themselves sinking into the floor; the last thing they hear from
Hallgato is "Oops. That isn't supposed to happen ...". They
fall some distance, and find themselves on the rocky top of the hill
and the Tower is gone. There is also no sign of Antrayna, Kera, and
Rehkel. |
| (S119) |
|
| |
Realising that something went very wrong
(either accidentally or intentionally), the Party heads back down
the hill to try and get some answers from Ell Diaf in the Power Station.
But the Troll tunnels end in deadends, and even the original hole
in the wall of the basement store-room of the castle is now just a
sold rock wall - the Power Station is gone, too. With much grumbling,
the Party decides to wait and see if the Tower returns; and in the
meantime, catch up on treasury and training. For the latter, and maybe
for some more information, half of the Party heads north to where
Jett remembers (on the other world) there being an Elvish community. |
| Sextilis 15-17 |
Days go by. Training commences, treasury
is divided as best as can be done (given that both Funen and the Elven
community on this world are too small to deal with some of the loot
they've acquired), and they watch for the Tower. |
| (S119) |
|
| Sextilis 18 |
In the evening, a sudden wind picks up,
and it starts to rain heavily. This is the first dramatic shift in
weather that the locals have seen in years. It being the day before
60 days since the last appearance of the Blue Moon (back on Hobbitika),
the Party realises that something dramatic is happening this time,
likely connected with the events in the Tower. |
| Sextilis 19 |
The heavy rain continues until noon - minor
floods are caused, but the locals are ecstatic about the rain. As
well, shortly before the rain ends, Antrayna, Kera, and Rehkel find
those of the Party in Funen. During the past days, they had been in
contact with Hallgato. Apparently she had not anticipated sufficiently
the after-effects of cutting Wasteland loose; the connections between
the remaining three worlds have changed significantly, resulting in
her losing those Party members who had been in the Tower. (Also during
those days, Antrayna, Kera, and Rehkel argued strenuously over the
fate of the level-draining sword that Antrayna had found in the Power
Station; in the end, she begrudgingly agreed to dispose of it for
destruction and recoup a nominal reward; both Rehkel and Antrayna
remain unhappy with each other over this ...) After a few days of
study, Hallgato figured out how to make a 3-hour connection with Broken;
Antrayna, Kera, and Rehkel went through, in hopes of rounding up the
rest of the Party before the connection closed. Those with the Elves
were too far away, but the ones in Funen could easily have made it
up the hill in time. However, when just minutes away the Tower vanished
again. |
| |
The entire Party regroups, grumbles about
Hallgatto, completes training and treasury, and plans their next move. |
| (S120) |
|
| |
Hallgato had told Rehkel's group that the
next possible "window" of connection would be in 5 days,
so the Party decides to wait. During that time, the weather is very
changeable, but quite "normal"- something that the locals
haven't seen in years. There is much dancing in the rain. As well,
the day cycle returns to normal. And the Blue Moon of old is seen
in the sky. |
| Sextilis 24 |
The Tower returns, filled with corpses.
Kotja (Githi) had somehow managed to invade the Tower when it was
last open to both worlds. Ell Diaf and 11 Bugbears were mortally wounded
or killed before Hallgato was able to activate Tower defences and
kill the 9 invaders. She then closed the Tower (just before the Party
arrived) and put the bodies of Ell Diaf and 2 Bugbears into statis
in the Power Station, in the hopes that they may be healed there.
This day, she made the connection extremely brief, and "parked"
the Tower entirely on Broken Dafan - until she can figure out how
to prevent invasions (which could take weeks or months), she will
not open the gateway. Thus for now, the Party is stranded on Broken
Dafan. |
| |
|
| Training |
Nearly every character gained a level; all
but Vishu train in or near Funen. |
|
Surviving members:
|
Mei-Peng (N5), Vishu
(Mk5), Aknot (F6), Kera
(NtC6), Rehkel (T6), X
(MU6), Jett (NtC5/F3), Marek
(T6), Sarah (WrC5), Artemisia
(B5), Antrayna (R5) |
|
New members:
|
Antrayna |
|
Casualties:
|
Riff, Rehkel (revived), Vishu (revived) |
|
Retirees:
|
|
|
Continuing party:
|
Mei-Peng, Vishu, Aknot, Kera, Rehkel, X, Jett, Marek, Sarah, Artemisia,
Antrayna
|
|
