Telenet Adventure
Log
Part 3: Retrogressions
Split - Night's Dark Terror to
Valanyr's Hovel
12. Night's Dark Terror A
October 1987-January 1988
Background and summary: Drustan and Kevin break away, round
up some companions, and sail into one disaster after another
while trying to sort out a mystery involving the re-emergence of
a cult long thought extinct. Party loses just about every
major battle, and do their best to ignore opportunities to gain
information about why these seemingly random events are taking
place. Finally, the Party gets the necessary information; however,
by that time they are down to only 2 surviving characters,
and are forced to retreat and eventually start over.
Starting member (from Lost
Island of Castanamir via Beacon
Hill A): Drustan(F-4)
(picked up en route): Kevin(F-2)
| Jan 18 486 |
Drustan and Kevin decide to form their
own Party, and get away from the prophecies swirling around
the others. Begin recruiting help. |
| Jan 20 |
Some recruits arrive; Kayenne of
Shannydoon(MU-2/T-2) joins, from F-series,
along with Avenae Triele(NrC-4) and Sixfast Tinbright(P-4).
Party sets off from Ballydoon. |
| Jan 21 |
Ambushed by a band of Goblins; Party
backtracks, and thus becomes involved in adventure. |
| Jan 22 |
Several more battles with small bands
of Goblins; take refuge in a farmstead. |
| Party then goes up against 26 Goblins,
4 Hobgoblins, 4 Humans, and someone called "Ghnass",
and gets thrashed: Kevin, Sixfast, and Kayenne killed.
Drustan and Avenae grab the remains and flee, leaving the farmers
to finish the battle. |
| Jan 25 |
Sixfast raised at Ballydoon. |
| Jan 26 |
Party goes to a different city (Shilshenny)
and starts recruiting again: Khestor Thurbarton(NrC-2/F-2)
and Slickfingers Sam Cile(MU-2/T-2) join. |
| Jan 27 |
Back to Ballydoon; meet Penthesileah
here, trying to get a dead Trenellan raised. |
| Jan 30 |
Return to the same farmstead where
the big battle took place, and try to backtrack raiders to their
camp. |
| Feb 1 |
Find camp, kill most of the remaining
occupants, ignore the clues pointing to a greater mystery. |
| Feb 2 |
Back at farmstead, Khestor spends the
day (at less than 1/10 skill) trying to ride a horse. |
| To another camp with connections to
the first; subdue Kelenos, its leader, and kill everyone else. |
| Feb 3 |
Drustan drops Kelenos off at the farmstead
and returns to Party; Party never questions Kelenos and thus
again fails to learn of deeper significance to all this. |
| Feb 4 |
Into forest; "Vlack", an
Ice Wolf, and 5 Vampire Bats cause great distress ("near
total loss again") before dying. |
| Feb 5 |
Waylaid by a few Goblins; backtracking
leads to lair of another Goblin band, which Party wipes out. |
| Feb 6 |
Party slays 6 Pixies. Khestor licks
the Pixie blood off his sword, thoroughly offending Sixfast.
|
| Later, take on another 6 Pixies; this
time Party captures 3 but still doesn't ask them any questions. |
| Feb 7 |
Find a temple where no temple should
be; Party at last beginning to wonder if there's something behind
all these goings-on. Wade in and beat up 39 skeletons, then
get mugged by a couple of Bugbears. |
| Feb 8 |
Drustan somehow gets poisoned; rest
of Party battles 2 Gargoyles and barely wins. Once back outside,
the captive Pixies are "dealt with". |
| Feb 9 |
Drustan recovers; Party retreats. |
| Feb 10 |
For some reason, Party investigates
an old gold mine and finds a paralyzed Orc. Khestor saves its
life (and loses his cures for days for so doing) and Balzur(F-2)
joins. |
| A bunch of statues in the mine come
to life and attack; no problem. A few other odd creatures in
the mine are also taken out, and the Party gains 2 more Orc
pets for a while. However, the mine holds nothing of use. |
| Feb 11 |
Party tracks yet more Goblins into
a petrified forest, and to their lair on a small island where
they try to fight their way in. Battle takes place on a narrow
bridge; Party doing badly, so Sam puts oil on bridge and calls
for a retreat; Sixfast slips on the oil and falls into the water:
Sixfast killed by cold-water Piranha, and Avenae killed
when she dives in to save him. |
| Sixfast and Avenae buried nearby, once
combat ends. |
| Feb 12 |
Party spends days wandering around
the forest, but nobody wants anything to do with them. Finally
end up returning to the farmstead. |
| Feb 18 |
Almost to the farmstead, Drustan disappears
for about a minute and returns, having gated into Beacon
Hill A just long enough to win them a combat. |
| Party finally learns of the Hobgoblin
invasion, and decides to head back to town for more help. |
| Feb 23 |
Arrive at Kilkenny and find another
recruit: Nylund(R-3) joins. |
| Feb 24 |
To town of Maghee; spend a few days
getting armour made for Balzur, and leave on Feb 27. |
| Feb 29 |
Back to scene of latest disaster, and
this time Party wins the day, gaining entry to the island lair.
One Goblin escapes, however. |
| Party finds and cures a prisoner, and
finally gets some information about what's really going
on. |
| Feb 30 |
During the night, the escapee Goblin
- a 3rd-level Cleric - returns. Drustan on watch is "held",
and the Goblin merrily starts slitting throats of sleeping characters.
Sam killed; Balzur killed, and Drustan only survived
because the Goblin couldn't get through his armour. Fortunately,
Khestor wakes up when the knife gets to his throat, and is able
to kill its wielder. |
| Remains of Party press on, and get
attacked by 8 large ferrets; Drustan killed by one of
these! |
| Drustan's body taken by Human-ish creatures;
Khestor and Nylund (the entire remaining Party!) go through
great effort to recover it, slaying the 3 Human-like creatures
in the process. |
| Retreat; find Drustan's will, and realize
they can't read it. |
| Mar 3 |
Sam and Drustan buried on moors (though
parts of Drustan are kept). |
| Mar 6 |
Summon the Unicorn Tro-offe(from Drustan's
Quest), but he will not take Drustan's remains. |
| Mar 17 |
Arrive at Votansburg on the north coast
after a long journey, and get someone to read Drustan's will. |
| Mar 20 |
Drustan resurrected, followed
by a lengthy training break. |
Surviving members: Drustan(F-4), Khestor(NrC-3/F-3), Nylund(R-3)
New members: Avenae, Sixfast, Kayenne, Khestor, Sam, Balzur, Nylund
Retirees: none
Casualties: Kevin, Sixfast(twice - raised once), Kayenne, Avenae,
Sam, Balzur, (Drustan - resurrected)
Continuing party(to Night's Dark Terror B): Drustan, Khestor,
Nylund
13. Night's Dark Terror
B February-April 1988
Background and summary: by now, the Party knows its next
step is to find something (or someone) called Xitaqa. This will
lead them one step closer to the still-unknown mystery they
are trying to solve; with only this knowledge, they head back into
the Corkess wilderness, gathering an odd assortment of characters
as they go. Good thing, too, as of the starting characters only
Nylund would last the adventure, and he would promptly retire!
Starting members(from Night's Dark Terror
A): Drustan(F-4), Khestor(NrC-3/F-3), Nylund(R-3)
| Apr 5 486 |
Nylund returns from a trip to Wurgen
with information about Xitaqa and a new recruit: Cadfael(R-2/MU-2)
joins. |
| Apr 7 |
Emma(T-2) joins. |
| Apr 8 |
Party buys a boat and sails away, forgetting
(and leaving behind) their horses. |
| Apr 9 |
Bye(Mk-3) and Heyokas(F-3)
join by teleporting on to the boat directly from Trey
Hill. |
| Apr 17 |
Thinking they've got to the right area,
Party beaches their boat and heads inland. Before long, Nylund
realizes they've landed on an offshore island. |
| Apr 18 |
Spend the day fixing boat; leave that
night. |
| Apr 20 |
Hit land again and abandon boat. Sneak
into town of Kilkenny, but the townsfolk haven't forgotten them,
and all they hear is "Bugger off!". |
| Apr 23 |
Take out their frustrations on a Hill
Giant. |
| Apr 26 |
3 days of travel by night and resting
by day have taken the Party to many of the places they visited
last time here; everyone still thinks they're cursed, and don't
want to talk to them. |
| During the day, they encounter someone
called "Loshad" who tells them of Werewolves nearby. |
| Apr 28 |
Party meets and kills a mixed band
of Wolves and lycanthropic Humans. Drustan becomes infected. |
| May 1 |
Meet Loshad again; he gives them directions
to Xitaqa, now known to be a place.
|
| Mystral Nyoire(NrC-2/MU-2) joins
that afternoon. |
| May 2 |
Reach Xitaqa, get in a few small battles. |
| Join forces with a troop of 6 local
soldiers, one of whom would last long enough to become significant:
Number Five(F-1) joins. |
| May 4 |
Party's Saddle of Flying gets broken
and crash-lands, but everyone survives. Scouting has revealed
the next target to be someone named "Golthar". |
| That evening, Party charges Golthar's
hideaway. He easily escapes; Emma killed in the process.
Numerous small battles with Golthar underlings; a few of the
troops killed. |
| May 5 |
Someone named "Stefan", presumably
rescued from the holding, tells Party what they're up against,
and stays around as a guide for a few days. |
| May 9 |
After travelling around for a while,
Party clobbers, then cures, a Bear. |
| May 10 |
A "big combat" against something;
Party bashed around but everyone survives. |
| May 12 |
Visit some Gnomes, who will at least
talk to the Party. (unlike every other intelligent species around
here!) |
| May 15 |
Drustan's lycanthropy kicks in; he
attacks the Party as a Werewolf, and dies: Drustan killed.
|
| May 16 |
An Owlbear provides a good early-morning
workout. |
| A more significant fight against something
or other in afternoon, before arriving in town of Thainshold. |
| May 18 |
Khestor killed by something
or other. (cursed item in treasury?) |
| May 20 |
Khestor fails resurrection.
Party stays in Thainshold for a rest and training break. |
| May 23 |
Nylund leaves, and would end
up in Eyes of Berta. |
Surviving members: Nylund(R-4), Cadfael(R-2/MU-3), Bye(Mk-3),
Heyokas(F-3), Mystral(NrC-2/MU-2), Number Five(F-1)
New members: Cadfael, Emma, [Bye, Heyokas - from Trey
Hill], Mystral, Number Five
Retirees: Nylund(to Eyes of
Berta)
Casualties: Emma, Khestor; Drustan(revived after Diancecht's
Revenge)
Continuing party(to Lost Valley of Kartoblepas): Cadfael,
Bye, Heyokas, Mystral, Number Five
14. Lost Valley of Kartoblepas
April-July 1988
Background and summary: after all their chasing around during
the last 2 adventures, the Party now know their goal is in the
mountains, just beyond the head of a dangerous valley not far from
Thainshold, held by Gnolls. After much trouble (and more
than a few arguments), the Party reaches the valley head, but can
go no further as only 2 characters - Sonny and Carcinda -
remain. They abandon the quest, and sneak out of the valley; a
much later version of this same Party would eventually return
to battle the Gnolls: see Valley of the Gnolls.
The re-emerging cult that these adventures were supposed to
prevent did not in fact ever get going; the Party did just enough
damage (mostly in ignorance) that the cult couldn't quite
reach the "critical mass" needed for success.
Starting members(from Night's Dark Terror
B ): Cadfael(R-2/MU-3), Bye(Mk-3), Heyokas(F-3), Mystral(NrC-2/MU-2),
Number Five(F-1).
| May 27 486 |
Sonny(R-3) joins by getting
drunk with the troopers several days in a row. |
| Jun 2 |
An man with an eyepatch, with a parrot
on his shoulder with an eyepatch, and a wolf with 2 eyepatches,
arrive in town looking for adventure. |
| Carcinda(NtC-2) joins for no
particular reason. |
| Jun 3 |
Umbrageous(I-1/Mk-3) joins,
claiming to be a Human Thief; this is the man with the eyepatch,
and he is anything but Human. Half-Skulk and half-Frostman,
the eyepatch was to prevent his inadvertently using his cone
of cold on innocents. The parrot is for show; the wolf really
is blind, and a pet. |
| Llewellyne ap Rhyse(WrC-2/F-2) joins
as well. |
| That evening, Sonny gets into a series
of barroom brawls and drags the troopers into things; they all
get run out of town, and rest of Party follows. |
| Jun 5 |
Cadfael and Mystral have the first
of what would be many firefights, as the Party heads toward
the valley. |
| Carcinda, Mystral, and Bye take out
a Troll. |
| Heyokas and the troopers find a nest
of Giant Rats the hard way: Heyokas killed along with
2 of the troops. |
| Another round of infighting follows,
involving everyone; Number Five leaves in disgust. |
| Jun 6 |
Various people try flying in a thick
fog; spend the day trying to find each other on the ground,
bickering once they do. |
| Jun 7 |
Sonny and Llewellyne get into an argument;
Llewellyne continues up the valley on his own. |
| Meanwhile, the rest of the Party get
mugged by Gnolls, and end up trapped on a small hill. Cadfael
and Bye killed, but Party manages to escape and
carry on, chased by Gnolls the whole way. |
| Party reaches head of valley. Road
goes into a tunnel that spirals upward to a bridge high above;
on reaching bridge, Party sees Llewellyne's corpse in middle
of bridge near a small stone building; Llewellyne killed.
However, Gnolls will not enter the tunnel below. |
Attempt to cross bridge produces a
very messy combat against 2 animated statues:
o Sonny climbs onto the
building twice and falls through the roof both times;
o Statues pound Party and
take little damage in return;
o Umbrageous pulls out
some Nystrul's Pigments and generates a hot-air balloon as a
last-ditch escape try; Carcinda backs into it, turns around,
and slashes it to ribbons;
o With this, Umbrageous
kills his wolf and parrot, gathers his gear, and departs: Umbrageous
leaves;
o Mystral gets driven back
into the tunnel, hoping for help from Umbrageous, but all she
finds is a dead wolf as Umbrageous has already left: Mystral
killed;
o Sonny and Carcinda, the
last 2 survivors, turn and flee down the tunnel. They escape
only because the waiting Gnolls are busy searching for Umbrageous. |
| Just when Sonny and Carcinda think
they're safe, a Giant Lizard attacks, but is easily slain. |
| Jun 8 |
S+C spend this day and the next hiding
in the valley and recovering. |
| Jun 9 |
An oddly-behaving rat attracts Carcinda's
attention; once it sees she's harmless, it polymorphs into a
Human, "Restillah". This strange individual seems
to be a Bard, but unknown to the Party is in fact an ancient
Elf with powers of shapeshifting and not much else going for
it. |
| Jun 10 |
Back up to bridge and defeat statues
by luring them over the bridge rail. Carry on to trail beyond,
then think better of it and retreat. |
| Jun 11 |
Trapped in tunnel by Gnolls in valley.
Restillah turns into an Ogre, is given some "peaceplant"
by Sonny, and goes into Gnoll camp never to be seen again.
Enough distraction occurs, however, that S+C can sneak by and
down the valley. |
| Jun 17 |
6 days later, S+C have managed to sneak
cautiously foot by foot down the foggy valley and get out. |
| Jun 18 |
Sonny finds 2 doses of a very rare
herb. |
| Jun 19 |
Arrive at Thainshold; Sonny still not
allowed back in, so goes off herb-hunting for days. |
| Jun 25 |
Hobgoblin invasion arrives and puts
Thainshold under siege; Sonny returns to find this. |
| Jul 1 |
Thainshold falls; many flee including
S+C. |
| Jul 3 |
Twice forced away from towns by invaders. |
| Jul 8 |
Heading around south end of mountains;
a major volcanic eruption provides entertainment. |
| Jul 10 |
Reach back of battlelines; cannot get
through for days. |
| Jul 14 |
Finally get through lines. |
| Jul 15 |
Arrive Widdershyn; Eyes
of Berta party had left town only a few hours previous. |
Surviving members: Sonny(R-3), Carcinda(NtC-3), Umbrageous(I-1/Mk-3),
Number Five(F-2)
New members: Sonny, Carcinda, Umbrageous, Llewellyne
Retirees: Number Five, Umbrageous
Casualties: Heyokas, Cadfael, Bye, Llewellyne, Mystral
Continuing party(to Valanyr's
Hovel): Sonny, Carcinda
So what becomes of Umbrageous?
After killing his pet wolf and leaving the Party, he uses his
innate blending ability to sneak past the Gnolls at the base of
the tunnel. They are able to smell him, however, and he ends up
having to jump in the river and let it carry him away; unknowingly,
he provides a perfect distraction for Sonny and Carcinda in the
process. Like them, he too spends several days carefully sneaking
down the valley and out; from there, he disappears, and the rest
of his tale remains untold.
17. Valanyr's Hovel
August-December 1988
Background and summary: while passing through a forest on their
way to somewhere else, the Party takes refuge in a small run-down
cottage that is much more than it seems, and gets caught up unravelling
a twisted skein of events from the distant past to allow
the cottage's owner to become free of the prison her home has become.
Note that this time some of the characters that start the
adventure actually finish it...and in so doing, gain a powerful
ally for the future.
Starting members(from Lost Valley of Kartoblepas):
Sonny(R-3), Carcinda(NtC-3)
| Jul 16 486 |
One of the people who fled Thainshold
with S+C has proven useful enough to keep: Nazardene Duchamps(F-2)
joins. |
| Join in the move of Widdershyn to New
Widdershyn. |
| Jul 17 |
Shelanier(MU-3/T-3) joins while
Party is busy re-equipping themselves. |
| Jul 18 |
Leave New Widdershyn heading north
through forest. Weather turns awful by day's end; Party finds
an abandoned cottage and takes shelter here. |
| Various things in the cottage (e.g.
suits of armour) come to life and attack; Party easily defeats. |
| Carcinda picks up a blanket that fights
back: Carcinda killed by suffocation. |
| Jul 20 |
Reach border of Forlinden; closed to
non-Elves, so Shelanier goes in while others wait. |
| Jul 21 |
Carcinda raised. |
| Jul 22 |
Party allowed to pass through Forlinden
under escort; escort is Sirranon, who would reappear
later. |
| Jul 23 |
Continuing north from Forlinden, first
Nazardene and then others realize their progress is getting
more and more hampered; conclude they have somehow been "quest"ed
to go south, and are determined not to. |
| Jul 24 |
Sonny fights quest by becoming extremely
drunk, resulting in a major brawl within the Party. Shelanier
gives up and begins heading south while others painfully continue
north; Shelanier leaves, for now. |
| Jul 25 |
Party finds a small village and gets
some spells thrown here; this temporarily negates the quest. |
| Aug 1 |
Arrive Wurgen, stay until Aug 4, then
leave for Hasa. |
| Aug 10 |
Arrive Hasa, buy a Helm of Teleportation
here. |
| Aug 12 |
Find some Ogres near town; Nazardene
thrashed. |
| Aug 16 |
Sonny teleports (via Helm) to Ilarshei
and back; falls through 3 roofs while he's at it, and generates
a large hotel bill. |
| Aug 17 |
Sonny and Carcinda both teleport to
Ilarshei; only Carcinda returns: Sonny retires. (but
is still quested!) |
| Aug 19 |
Nazardene starts a bar brawl; gains
just enough ExP to bump, spends following week training. |
| Sep 5 |
Party back into Norstrum, attend a
large army gathering. Quest beginning to reassert itself. |
| Sep 9 |
Into Forlinden again; meet Shelanier
(who had been forcibly restrained here until locals could figure
out her problem) and Celandine Mercury(MU-1/T-2), who
joins. |
| Sep 10 |
Leave Forlinden; camp near the cottage. |
| Sep 12 |
After 2 days of thick fog, Party enters
the cottage. Trap door in floor opens by itself a few hours
later, and Party starts exploring. A bunch of armoured skeletons
try to interfere, but don't last long. |
| Someone else enters the cottage and
finds his way downstairs: Pugsley(R-3/MU-2) joins. |
| A miniature siege tower rolls out of
nowhere across the floor, followed by a Gnome: Fimble(NrC-4)
joins. He is confused about the date, as
he thinks it should be about 10 days in the future, and that
he should be held captive in a camp of Satyrs. |
| Sep 13 |
Party finds a magic teapot; unknown
to them it contains a genie...of a sort. But instead of rubbing
the teapot, Pugsley opens the lid and looks inside, and gets
sucked in as the original "genie" gets released elsewhere!
Someone then thinks of rubbing the pot, producing a gaseous
Pugsley who cannot grant wishes and is now bound to the pot,
and very annoyed. He disappears back inside. |
| Minutes later, Pugsley, desperate to
get out of the pot, pulls out a small magic item that when activated
turns into a flying horse, and activates it. This generates
(or tries to) a full-size horse inside a small and very magical
teapot, with deadly and extremely messy results! Pugsley
killed; Celandine killed, and both horse and teapot essentially
vapourized. |
| Sep 14 |
Speak with dead thrown on Celandine;
she can't decide whether to come back to life, so Party leaves
her dead. |
| Somehow, Samantha(NtC-4/T-5) joins,
having stumbled on the Party while coming from S-series.
Also, Nathan(R-2/MU-2) joins. |
| Once Samantha hears what just happened
to Pugsley, nothing can stop her from trying to recover him;
and - after much effort - she manages to get a small piece of
him back into flesh form, instead of gas. She then takes this
bit outside and, using a Wand she had found, resurrects Pugsley. |
| Somehow, Nathan manages to get himself
gated to the Negative Material Plane during all this; Nathan
leaves. |
| Sep 15 |
Fimble puts on the wrong Cloak and
becomes female; changes name to Cymbal. |
| Party goes back into basement of cottage,
and finds it occupied by a Human female: Valanyr(I-18).
She tells Party some of what's going on; she was the "genie"
released when Pugsley went in the teapot, and this is her house,
but thanks to an old curse she cannot leave it. She turns out
to be hundreds of years old. |
| Various characters pick up various
curses; most are easily dealt with, but Pugsley is slowed.
Deciding he's had enough of this place, Pugsley leaves.
He would soon turn up in Dolmen
Moor, for a very short time. |
| Meanwhile, Valanyr is busy telling
the remaining Party how to start about breaking the curse; they
must go through a gate and deal with what lies on the other
side. Fimble and Nazardene go through, and are shocked to find
Nathan awaiting them; Nathan rejoins. Carcinda and Shelanier,
meanwhile, have to wait until Samantha gets finished an all-world
temper tantrum once she realizes Pugsley has left. |
| Sep 16 |
Find an exact replica of the cottage
on the other plane; explore, and kill off various annoying occupants. |
| Carcinda manages to lose a hand during
one of these battles; sacrificing a Staff of Curing gets it
back. |
| Sep 17 |
Continue cleaning out the riff-raff. |
| Sep 18 |
Find a room with 7 statues in it; statues
animate and attack, and beat the Party back. |
| On a second attempt, statues defeated.
When all have fallen, 7 beams of light shoot out from walls
where statues were, each a different colour, and combine at
center into a piercing beam shooting straight up into the ceiling.
Having no idea what this means, Party continues exploring. |
| Sep 20 |
Party finally goes outside and notices
a rainbow that wasn't there before. They move to investigate,
and as each person reaches it, it sweeps them upwards, eventually
to land back near Valanyr's cottage on Telenet. |
| Dec 22 |
The Party has lost about 3 months while
off-world. |
| Dec 23 |
Back to cottage, long chat with now-uncursed
Valanyr. She gives each Party member a gift, in thanks. |
| Dec 26 |
After a few days of fun in the snow,
Party leaves for Widdershyn, arriving on Dec 28. |
| Dec 29 |
Party tries to get local MU guild and
Thieves' guild mad at each other; use the distraction to steal
8 identify-grade pearls, then sort and divide their treasury. |
Surviving members: Carcinda(NtC-4), Nazardene(F-3), Shelanier(MU-3/T-3),
Samantha(NtC-4/T-5), Cymbal(NrC-4),
Nathan(R-2/MU-2), Pugsley(R-3/MU-2), Sonny(R-3)
New members: Nazardene, Shelanier, Celandine; Samantha(from Rescue
of Drustan via S-series),
Fimble(from Dolmen Moor),
Nathan, Pugsley(from Rescue
of Drustan via P-series)
Retirees: Sonny; Pugsley(to Dolmen
Moor)
Casualties: Celandine, (Carcinda - raised, Pugsley - resurrected)
Continuing party(to Monastery of
Mystery): Carcinda, Nazardene, Shelanier, Samantha, Cymbal(ex-Fimble),
Nathan
|
