Return of the King

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Scribe Notes by The Party, a shared chore.
The adventure takes place on the Isles of Freedom

Summary

Adventure: Return of the King
GM: Mandos
Session: Autumn 806 wk
Night: Thursday night
Level: Medium/High

Party
  1. Thaeuss - Elven Binder played by Stephen.
  2. Kern Silvercrest - Elven adept of the Earth College played by Chris C. "Charge!" Mil Sci.
  3. Kin - Erelheine E&E, Ranger, Archer. She is played by Sue Turner.
  4. Kit - Human Illusionist played by Andrew Withy.
  5. Mortimer - A Halfling/Fae/Elf Warlock played by Martin Dickson. Party Leader.
  6. Everin - A Human Scholar played by Dean Ellis. "Supporting" MilSci.
  7. Tari - An Elven Earth Mage played by Michelle Ellis.
Employer
Dramus and the Guild
Mission
To return the crown prince of the Elvan lands on Ky'Thaan. Once trained by the Guild he was last seen heading off to eastern lands to become a mercenary 16 years ago.
A guild shipment of rare herbs used in the healing potions has also not arrived and astrology readings indicate the missing Prince and the Missing herbs may be connected.
Pay
Three Story, high class townhouse. Situated at Number 9 Potters Lane New Seagate. Fully Furnished. Previously valued at 90,000sp.
Less one room where the tower arrives and a new front door (9A).

House Rules

During this game a number of things are being trialed.

  1. Quickness played as written in rules.
  2. Slowness, alternate concept in test.
  3. Wargame combats without hexes
  4. Group Scribe notes and player driven Wiki additions.

Scribe Notes

1st Fruit 806

10am - The party comes together and introduce themselves before sitting down and listening to Dramus and Guild Security relate the reasons for our being here. After the briefing we spend a short period of time grabbing equipment or divesting ourselves of hot clothing and then head off to Dramus's residence at 9 Potters Lane, New Seagate. We arrive at the residence and are shown in by Smythe the Butler to Dramus's tower where we start our travels (first to Oz and then across to the other side of Alusia) during which time we undertake our desired rituals and drink some of Dramus's fine beverages.

2nd Fruit 806

Around 4am we exit the tower and double up so that we can fly at Mortimer's higher speed. Everin turns into a drooling dog to lighten the burden for Kern who is carrying him. We fly ESE for about 8 hours to the coast. There we set camp on a hill and stand watches.

Late 2nd Fruit to 7th Fruit

We fly for 10-12 hours per day roughly SE to Insel der Freiheit, stopping for the night either on small bits of land that we see or on boats conjured by Kit.

8th Fruit

This fine, hot morning sees us approaching our island destination and unlike the lush jungle we were led to expect the northern coast appears barren scrubland with brush and small stunted trees. To the south we can see mountain ranges and the start of the terrain we were led to expect. Mortimer tells us of columns of white light going from various places up and into the sky.

Only Mortimer can see the lights, they come from some of the buildings in the villages and towns, they vary in size/strength.

Map Info
Black dots are settlements of some size, small black dots being small settlements of 500-1000 people. Larger dots being significantly sized towns of 3-6000 people. (This information may not be accurate as information the Guild has is somewhat out of date) All of the towns show white beams emanating from them and a number of smaller settlements not displayed on the map also have the beams. The settlement in the bottom left corner of the map is the place where the large white beam is emanating from.

We cautiously fly near to the smallest village with a white light only to find that it has been deserted in a hurry. The light is emanating from (or terminating at) a small shrine no more than teen feet across. Stepping into the Shrine makes Mortimer feel refreshed and invigorated, Kit vanish for half a minute to be questioned by local powers, and has no effect on the rest of us. Investigations (DA, Ask the Dead, Communing with Powers) reveal that it is only slightly magical, primarily made of spirits, interferes with attempts to communicate with others powers, and it warned the villagers to flee because of our impending arrival.

We believe the people we want to find are in the south-eastern lands, we fly south east staying high over the central mountain chain, but get side-tracked by a temple in the mountains with the biggest white light Mortimer has seen so far. After the fighting monks in saffron robes greet us with arrow storms we resist storming their temple and continue our journey.

Nearing the end of our flight at dusk we land on the coast of an island where the trees grow close to the water and create a 30-foot boat from a freshly dead tree. Oddly there was no dead wood anywhere in the immediate environs, implying someone or something is caring for these woods.

An hour later with the boat built, sails created, and water screws installed, we spend the evening cruising around the coast to the major port that we guess is the home of the Paetas clan. The harbour is protected by basalt sea walls and a chain between them that we only just fit over. The taxman at the wharves charges us 4 gold for being visiting traders then directs us to an appropriate Inn and suggests we pay the harbour master our wharfage fees in the morning. The harbour master should be able to arrange a meeting with Captain Orientius.

9th Fruit

The day dawns with the promise of a new experience and yet another hot sticky day in the heat of Mid Alusia. We breakfast and head down to the Harbourmaster who we find simply allocates warehouse space and we are given space for our 'goods' in a nearby warehouse.

The harbourmaster directs us up the hill to see the Captain we are looking for. When we look up there to the top of the hill we see the governers palace and we are told we will find the captain there. We start our walk up the hill through the town and we could swear Everan loses 1/2 stone with the several hundred yard walk.

We arrive at the palace which has a lot more guards and other military types around and we are escorted to a waiting room where a scribe arrives to see to our wishes. When we tell him whom we'd like to see he states that he will see if the governer will see us. After some minutes in the pleasant waiting room we are shown to the presence of the governer who knows of the guild and appreciates its predicament but his supplier - The Riverman - is missing and it is he who enables the governer to supply the guild with its healing ingredients. If we were to find him he would be grateful but he is typically in the area bisected by the warring factions. We ask some more questions and then take our leave.

Prior to our leaving we meet another associate of the governer who advises us on a number of subjects and then offers some free advice about magic use before we leave and head off for a bath.

In the late afternoon we find ourselves aboard our boat again which we take out to sea and north to the main coast to find someplace to land out of normal sea traffic lanes. We land, disembark and then take flight into the interior before camping that night up a tree for safety (halfway between the ground level predators and the treetop predators) much to the chagrin of Everin who fears falling from the platform we have created.

10th Fruit

Another hot and steamy day dawns after a night of broken sleep (and watches) with the cacophony of jungle sounds and movements in the night from the local flora and fauna.

We move through the jungle to the river and create some small skiffs for travel downriver. We proceed at a pace with the current and come around a point to see a huge number of skiffs tied up together forming an impromptu wharf in the river and leading inland to what we assume is the capital of the province and where we seek to find Silverwind and or knowledge of him and the Riverman.

As we are about to disembark, we are met by an administrator who enquires what company we are part of. Following our unusual plan of going with the truth we inform him that we are here with a personal message for Silverwind. After an hour of messages going to and fro the administrator leads us and our escort of 30 armed men to the encampment where we are casually guarded by five competent looking elves and then introduced to Silverwind. He matches the descriptions we have been given, we establish our credentials through oblique reference to the guild and the use of his birth name. We pass on the message that Silver is required at home and that we have a way to get him there. Fortunately he seems happy to comply but he needs to rescue his consort Alicia first, then he and his 3,000 mercenaries will be ready to travel to his home. Silver offers help with tracking down the Riverman in return for our help to rescue Alicia.

Kern, T'mada (Everan), and Kit spend the afternoon with the army commanders as they plan the next stage of the campaign (actually a distraction to draw troops out so we can get in to rescue Alicia). Tobias (Mortimer) seeks out and talks with the two men in Silverwinds company who can see the white lights. They are Elven brothers who worship the old Elven gods, they believe that this is why they can see the lights. Kin is lost in Rangerly discussion with the scout that bought news of the Rivermans boat. Tari and Thaeuss spend the afternoon in the cool tent sipping iced wines.

After dinner one of Silverwinds bodyguards supplies us with Air magics, we refresh our own armour and strength magics, then we fly north to Tanjieng disguised as large buzzards, some of whom quack like ducks.

With remarkable lack of incident we land on punts in the river north of Tanjieng, float down to the docks, and then wander up to the north end of town where the Riverman's boat has been pulled ashore.

The boat has six 'runepegs' embedded in the gunnels, the magic in them is spent but four were a Runeportal, one was an illusion, and the one at the stern was an elemental binding on water. There are fresh food supplies and humanoid blood on the deck that is about 4 days old. Divination reveals that the runesticks were created using a branch of Rune magics similar to what was used to shield the room in Setagen from scrying. Everin performs a ritual to talk to the spirit of the boat, the spirit is visible to all of us and answers more questions than the ritual would normally allow.

From the spirit we learn that the boat and Riverman are two halves of the same spirit, the other half was removed four moonrises ago and is being held somewhere far to the north, possibly near or bu the mighty river. The little people who live below created the ship and may be able to help us. The people who sundered him are seeking the Great Rift.

Kern's investigation of the herbal packages still on the boat reveals a brown bark; as Mortimer is about to remove the runesticks, sparks from our camp-fire drift onto the open package which abruptly explodes. Fortunately nothing important is damaged, Mortimer removes the runesticks, and we make note to keep an eye out for the 'dragon powder' in the future.

At Thaeuss' suggestion Kin locates the spirit we conversed with and gets a split arrow, half points to the boat, the other half points north about 95 miles.

After two hours flight the Locate leads us to a manor house in a formerly-cultivated clearing just north of where the river starts. We land in the jungle and as a pack of monkeys we approach the building to investigate. As we close, several large cockroaches come to investigate us from the building. We fail to distract and divert them, and end up in a messy fight. A short while later we have several cooked and exploded bugs and a wall placed over the front door to stop reinforcements. Deciding that a frontal assault will never work, we start working on the external wall of the room where the Riverman is being held. Kern summons an uncontrolled Earth Elemental, forcing us to stay off the ground while they play tag for a few minutes. Kit seeks to create something heavy to drop and make a hole in the roof, and turns Mortimer into a dense and grumpy owl. Thaeuss gets out a prybar and removes several tiles from the roof, each one flinging itself at him as it is pried loose. With bloodied face, Thaeuss continues and removes the inner ceiling, whence he is promptly immersed in a dozen balls of corrosive cockroach spit. He is released barely conscious following some surgically accurate strikes of Kins claws. With a visible target, Kit moves the Riverman through the ethereal to get him out of the building. We flee as the giant ethereal elemental Kit summoned to assist engages the hearth spirit of the manor house in ethereal combat; the ethereal fight manifests for us as localised earthquakes.

The Riverman is entombed in some sort of solid bug spit cocoon, so we for fly two hours back down river and then we carve him out of his cocoon next to his boat. He is still unconscious and getting worse from some sort of magical poison. Everin and Mortimer are able to stabilise him but not cure him. We fly him back to Silver (the nearest Namer/Healer/Hand&aHalf wielder we know of) getting there a few hours after midnight, but Silver is not available. After some pushing a Trorc (Troll-Orc) namer-healer is found who starts his divination under Mortimer's supervision while the rest of us sleep.

11th Fruit

Most of us are awake by lunch and the divination/curse-removal is finished. The Riverman is no longer poisoned, his body will live while it is nailed to the table with True Silver spikes, but his spirit is missing. We carve the table down to a weight we can fly and then set off back to his boat optimistically hoping that recombining them will fix him up but it's not that easy.

The Trorc Namer spoke a silvery strand linking his body to his spirit, we are unable to see this but some careful DA's give us a rough indication of where his spirit is. Following this trail we fly north with his body and refine the location down to a 30 mile radius area in the mountains of Northern Umshatar near the borders of Tanah Boemboe and Dajak. According to our maps, east of us are the twin Lakes of Regret, as the only places within range that are not mountainous jungle we decide to check those out first. The western lake is at the head of the Pasir River, the eastern lake is at the head of a river that could be the Mighty River which would match up with a clue from the boat spirit. We land near the eastern lake and walk in, Mortimer is bitten by a poisonous snake, Everin sucks the poison out and regrets swallowing instead of spitting, the jungle walk is made easier by a loam golem and spectral hand breaking the trail for us.

Two monks come out to greet us as we arrive and direct us to the Boneyard south of the village as the most likely place to find a missing spirit. There we discover Vidal who confirms he has the Riverman's spirit and has been paid to keep it secure, if we want it we need to outbid the bad guys. Unable to be certain we can take him out and get the spirit, we reluctantly trade with him and settle on a deal that is palatable to all but Kit. We complete the trade, Vidal breaks the rune-bone that is holding the spirit and the Riverman stirs.

A quick check by our healers reveal that the Riverman is barely alive, as if he had just been resurrected, and sleeping normally. We wander back towards the village while discussing options, Kin contemplates returning to talk to Vidal now that conversation is not a commercial transaction. Our discussion is overshadowed by the arrival of a large gold dragon that a few of us recognise as Roche. Roche ignores us, lands, changes into a humanoid form and enters the boneyard - presumably to talk to Vidal.

We decide to spend the night here, check out the Riverman, divinate those of us who consumed the blood, and potentially Kin and Mortimer could talk to Vidal again when Roche is finished with him. Kern takes Tari to the village and demonstrates the fine art of intimidating scared villagers into giving you food, then drops a gold coin in the mud to appease his guilt. Kit quickly constructs a large stone building for us to rest in. Thaeuss supplies the doors, shutters, an ice box, and cushions for the stone furniture on the west facing patio. We spend the evening with iced wines and ales, fine food, and divinations to help pass the time.

Our divinations lead us to believe that Vidal is a green dragon. Or a green dragon is one of the spirits that makes up the boneyard spirit, there is no way to confirm either way. They also reveal that Kit was changed in someway when he stepped into the gazebo and vanished on our first day on the island, and he has also backfired himself to the point where he is likely to backfire every time he casts.

12th Fruit

Thaeuss gets up well before dawn and starts a ritual to create a new puppet golem to replace the one traded to Vidal. Kin and Mortimer walk to the boneyard to talk to Vidal but find that the Ossuary is closed and nobody responds to knocking. The Riverman is recovering well but still sleeping.

Kin ensures that the Riverman will sleep throughout the flight, we contemplate taking some of the lake water with us but DA does not reveal its forgetful properties so there is no way to tell if it retains its properties away from the lake without a couple of test subjects.

The flight back to Tanjieng and the Riverman's boat is uneventful. We place the Riverman on his boat and he promptly wakes, stands up, and then dissipates. The spirit of the boat seems to be whole again, we talk to the boat and the Riverman appears again to talk with us, he seems well apart from being mad, we believe this is normal. He is heading off to collect his herbs, he is prepared to deal with the pirates should they try anything again, he rejects our offer of escourt, he doesn't want us sneaking after him, he will be back with his herbs within a month. We accidentally negotiate to trade one of Kerns swords for some of his Dragon Powder. Kern jumps from his boat after it reaches the river and emerges with several leeches attached, the Riverman moves upriver and then fades from view as he reaches the first bend in the river.

We spend the afternoon boating down the river, and then at dusk fly the rest of the way back to Silverwinds camp at Kandingan. We trade the Trorcs spikes back for Kits armour, Silver is still in the field somewhere. We discuss what to do for the next week or so and spend the night in our allocated tent.

13th Fruit

The Trorc healer tells us that Silver will be back in three days, after some hedging we discover that he is trusted by Silver with most of the truth and have a more open discussion. The Trorcs are responsible for getting us back through the portal, they know where it is in the mountains, they know its guardian and will negotiate our passage, they will travel with us to the other end of the portal, the Filgiso Forest, their home.

We also discuss the local sights and places of potential interest.

  • Tanah Spring is not far way, a small stream that is high mana.
  • The Plateau of Decay is next closest about 30 miles north of us.
  • The Karel Ridge to the nor-west is good hunting for fantastical beasts.
  • The Kota Drift is something that he has been interested in but hasn't got to yet.
  • The Katingan falls are 50-100 miles further west and rumoured to be a place of healing.
  • The Amar River is about 400 miles north of us, near the monks who greeted us with arrows.
  • At the northern tip is a hill which can change people into were-creatures.

We spend most of the morning discussing these and trying to decide between them and eventually settle on checking out Tanah Spring in the afternoon.

Kin finds the Pagata River fairly easily, we spend a few hours checking its tributaries until we find one that is high mana. Kern and Tari lose interest when it turns out to be low mana for earth mages. The rest of us investigate further. Thaeuss drinks some of the water and makes use of the high mana in it away from the stream and then succumbs to its soporific effect over the next hour, Kin and Mortimer are forced to evacuate with his sleeping form to stop the Vapour Spirit from consuming him. Everin summons the spirit, asks its name and finds out it likes being here becuase of the regular food supply. Everin loses interest and leaves the spirit lose while he flees with Tari and Kern. Kit, having paralysed himself while trying to communicate with the vapour tendrils, covers our retreat and ends up getting caught by the tendrils. Everins attempted control of the spirit distracts it enough that Kit can get away. Thaeuss recovers during the flight back and is himself again by the time we get back to Silverwinds camp. Mortimer has a water flask filled from the stream which still retains its magical properties, investigation reveals that it does not detect as a poison but that it is poisonous to our earth mages.

14th Fruit

In the morning we are invited to eat in the mess hall at the 3rd bell, Everin rarely leaves the mess hall for the rest of the day.

Over breakfast it is revealed that Kit and Kin were disturbed on watch by someone they knew, they woke Mortimer, then all went to sleep, Kit woke later, watched for a while, then woke others to continue normal watches. They have vague memories of a friend dropping by but no specific memories.

Divinations reveal that Kit, Kin, and Mortimer were affacted by a combination of Friendship, Innocence, Forgetting, and Pacifism spells, Kit was also protected by a Dream Guard (the pouch hanging at his neck is the physical component of this magic), and assaulted by 'Malign Dreams' magic which we suspect would have been fatal if not for the amulet. There seems to be three different colleges involved, one casting the charm type spells, one making the pouch, and the third attacking with the dream. The Malign Dream magic is very powerful, almost demonic level.

We come up with several theories and discuss it at length but nothing else can be confirmed.

The day is spent discussing, divinating, resting, training, and eating.

At dusk we fly back towards Setagen then follow the coast south heading towards Waringin. When we are about 10 miles north of Setagen we see a large red dragons head emerge from Laoet Volcano, the head appears to be a large image made of smoke and fire, as we continue SSW it slowly dissipates.

Several hours later we reach the mouth of the Katingan River, we fly north looking for a discrete camp site, when we are about 10 miles north of the city at the river mouth we are attacked by lightning and other air magics. Kern picks a landing site by power diving into a rice paddy, the rest of us land in the same area and prepare for assault. It doesn't happen, evidently satisfied that we are no longer flying the air spirit moves away. Kit experiments a bit on the river and discovers that the air spirit doesn't mind rapid movement it only attacks when flight magics are involved, regardless of the height.

We decide to camp on the ridge and find out in the morning if this is the right river before we venture further. Kit constructs a paved stone pergola incorporating the irrigation stream for us to spend the night in.

15th Fruit

Kin talks to some of the locals who are tending the rice and confirms that this is the Katingan River. We spend the day sleeping and resting in the Pergola.

After dusk we undergo several transformations (Mortimer to an Owl, Everin to a Dog, Thaeuss to a R&S Golem, and Kern using Thaeuss' weight negating item) to reduce the party weight and then Kit and Kin carry us all as we run/swim up river at 20 knots.

About 170 miles from the river mouth the river becomes too over grown to continue further at speed. Mortimer and Thaeuss cut down some small trees and larger tree limbs to clear an area on the bank, Everin forms them into a platform off the gound for us to spend the night on.

16th Fruit

In the morning Kit reports he has had another malign dream. The sequence was the same, starting in a church with demons and angels battling and bystanders being killed, then insects on a tree, then having his legs bitten off by the tree but being protected by a figurine of a copper dragon. As before there is no lasting physical damage.

Kern summons an elemental to clear a path for us beside the river, we follow it up stream for a couple of hours until we come to a clearing. <More paths should be made through these thick jungles and would be perfect places for trainee Earth Mages to bring their Elementals for walking practise. Surely logging these large trees is a worthwhile merchantile option and will be investigated soon!>

In the middle of the clearing is a pyramid that appears to be made from a single piece of obsidian. The source of the Katingan River is a stream that bubbles up from under the edge of the pyramid. DAs and the Divination reveal that the water is imbued with growth and regeneration earth magics, the enchantment fades quickly as the water flows away from the source. The pyramid is a hearth spirit similar to bug manor, the Earth Elemental is unable to sense the pyramid or its contents.

Cautiously entering the pyramid we see the stream bubbling up from a pool in the ground, flowing through the air into another pool which leads outside; a human performing a ritual within a pentagram; and 10 to 20 spirit roaches on guard, alert to anyone entering the pyramid. Ranged DAs reveal that the roaches are controlled by the insect-shaman who is currently summoning a nature spirit.

After some debate we agree to try interrupting the ritual in a non-lethal fashion, we set up some defences outside for when the roaches swarm out and then start the assault. The first volley of Agony, Flash of Light, Sleep, and Curses all bounce off a protective circle around the shaman, the roaches seem unaffected by Agony and turn our way (some soaking themselves in the stream to double their size).

Mortimer positions some skeletons between the bugs and us; Kin fires a volley of arrows into the room, one manages to breach the protection and take out the shamans left arm; Kit covers our retreat as our rear guard skeletons and stone golem go down under a deluge of bug spit; anyone flying outside is getting zapped by air magics; Tari's Wall of Stone seals the entrance; Everins Rod of Command gives him control of some bugs, 2 party members and the earth elemental.

The controlled bugs and elemental are sent in to fight other bugs while we prepare to deal with the remainder, things are going well until the Shaman turns into a 30' long cockroach. Everyone gets back out of the pyramid and the entrance is resealed with walls before the inevitable spit but the torrent of slime destroys the walls, presumably destroys everything within, destroys our outside defenses, entombs Everin in slime, coats Kit's back, sends the golem-in-a-bubble flying, and leaves Tari and Thaeuss standing in mid air where the pillar of stone used to be.

Kit catches Tari saving her from a potentially fatal fall, Thaeuss floats down getting zapped on his way down, Mortimer hellfires the slime off Everin and Kit, Kern flies (zap) to put healing magics on Everin and Kit, Kit manages to avoid death from poison and avoid killing anyone in his near-death beserker state. The Shaman seals the pyramid entrance with a wall of slime and we gain another breathing space.

{Note: this is the worst sightseeing company that I have used and will not be purchasing another of their tours -- Mortimer)

While we are healing and discussing bug extermination methods a small hole opens in the slime wall and a pixie like creature flies out. The bug shaman negotiates with us via the small bound spirit seeking to avoid further conflict. He apologises for his overly zealous guard bugs but would like to be left alone to continue his rituals (which are none of our business). After lots of discussion he fills and seals two barrels of spring water for us and we agree to leave.

Our hasty departure involves a leisurly lunch, carving a couple of barrels out of trees, divination, and rituals of communication with the temple spirit. Mortimer, Kit, and Everin all relate similar information from their spiritual communications.

insert first hand account here...

As we finally head out back down the track we made arriving, Kerns elemental drags the 15' diameter 30' long log behind us to cover our tracks, but the laughter is too incapacitating so the elemental is banished and the log left behind.

Back at our camp we create some dead wood, lash it together as a raft in the river, then start converting it into a proper river boat as we spend the rest of the day floating down river.

17th Fruit

A night and day spent cruising down river in our increasingly sophisticated river yacht, waving at locals, eating, drinking, reading, and resting.

After dusk we reach the river mouth and continue out to sea for a few miles before risking taking to the air once again.

Due to the extra weight of the spring water barrels we need to fly at carpet speed, better navigation now that we know the route saves some time and we arrive back at Silverwinds camp around dawn.

18th Fruit

After breakfast we sleep most of the day, jaunt out to the mana stream to collect a couple of barrels of mana water, and the catch up with Silver over dinner.

He says that thanks to our activities and contacts of the past few days, the guardians of the portal will not charge us for its use and we are welcome to use it again in the future. We guess this means that the portal guardians are allied with the dragons, riverman, or just enemies of the bug shamen.

Silver has tracked Alicia to a guard tower on the southern edge of Alice's Swamp, the tower is lightly guarded. As he is having moral qualms over comitting the locals to an offensive and then leaving, Silver asks if we can go in without a distraction. Naturally we are confident that we can achieve the rescue with or without the distraction.

After the standard enhancement spells are cast, we fly back east to the coast, follow it around until we are south of the swamp, then fly in to within a couple of miles of the tower. This area is primarily grain and maize fields, disguised as generic gaurds we walk down the road towards the tower, once close enough we scry the tower and count a dozen or so guards stationed outside. We pause to add some refinement to our initial plan of walking up, levelling the tower, and leaving with Alicia while they are still suprised.

We decide to go with the plan that Kern has been presenting for everything since we arrived, summon an elemental, dig in to under the tower, then attack from beneath. In retrospect the plan was followed, but we should have inserted 'control the elemental' between steps 1 and 2. With the uncontrolled elemental lurking somewhere Kern summons and controls another Elemental and sends it after the first. Unwilling to go with any undergound based plan while Elementals are fighting we go with plan C. Flying round the tower to the edge of the swamp Thaeuss creates half a dozen 'loam golems' (accidentally turning himself into one first), Kit makes the rest of the party look like loam golems, and we all shamble towards the tower playing the part of relatively mundane creatures from the swamp.

The plan is that the guards that come out to deal with us will be taken out and replaced by the party who will return as the victorious guards and walk inside. As we shamble forward we see that the guards are already retreating inside, as we get closer we are spotted by guards on the roof who start firing volleys of flaming arrows at us. The golems take the majority of the damage and we start them moaning to cover our spell casting. A Flash of Light and Rk 20 Light later their arrows are a lot less accurate but the golems are still going down to them. Everin detects a greater undead somewhere behind us in the swamp, Mortimer shakes up the ground around the tower with an earthquake, Kin returns a few volleys of arrows, the guards release greek fire down the walls catching a Thaeuss posessed golem in the inferno then start clearing the roof. With the party covered by Necro counterspells as previously arranged, Everin drops an Agony which seems to go off twice in the same area. Kit and Kin land on the tower to intercept the guards before they can close the roof access, Mortimer and Kern fly the others up to the roof except for Everin who is too busy orgasmically enjoying his double agony. Tari heals Thaeuss; Kern, Kin, and Kit charge down the stairs after the retreating guards; Mortimer goes to pick up Everin only to find a pile of freshly disturbed earth where Everin used to be. Kern and Kin slay a couple of guards, Kit races past to cut off their retreat, the remaining few surrender.

On the ground floor Kit finds the ground is disturbed, lots of guards are dead from bludgeoning and a few appear to be dieing from something else. Alicia is bound in a cage suspended from the ceiling, while Kit is informing her of her rescue she frees herself from her bonds and cage, walks accross the ceiling and picks up her clothes and equipment from a nearby table. It turns out that Alicia had poisoned the guards healing potions, then when Kern's rogue Earth Elemental turned up and started beating on the guards the injured ones drank their potions and were poisoned. The distraction and choas caused by Kerns elemental was sufficient for Alicia to accomplish her own rescue once she was aware Silverwind required her presence.

Meanwhile Kern removed the surface dirt and found Everins body at the bottom of a freshly dug cone in the ground, the lurking elemental grabs him as he cautiously lifts Everin out, Mortimer rescues him from the Elemental with a quick jaunt off plane, Kin hauls Everin out and all return to the tower roof. Tari and Thaeuss disarm the prisoners and leave them on the safe middle floor waiting for rescue, then check the corpses and find they all had and used one charge invested E&E combat magics. Thaeuss packs up the corpses of the three Elven guards and Everin, then with Alicia flying in wind dervish form the party take flight for Silverwinds camp.

On arrival Alicia goes straight to Silvers tent, we briefly check we rescued the right person then head to the Trorcs to get Everin resurrected before getting some sleep.

19th Fruit

Silver comes to see us in the morning, he will be moving out with his army tomorrow. While Elves could travel with him the others in our party could not, he suggests we meet him in Serawak in five days time to go through the portal together.

We decide to skip any further tourism side trips and flay up to the Boneyard for another chat with Vidal. Vidal is home and hospitable providing lunch while we trade information with him. We learn that

  • The bug mage (Shareal) that we met at Katingan Springs is the only cockroach shaman around so he was almost certainly involved in the abduction of the Riverman.
  • Vidal thinks the Riverman was abducted by the 'Seekers of the great rift' to draw a guild party into the region to add to the general combat and choas in the region. Unfortuantely for them we did not live up to our reputation. With the withdrawl of 3,000 mercenaries the war in the region is more likely to scale down than up.
  • There are many levels of factions in operation on the island, Vidal and his allies are in the region to preserve the status of something that is none of our business.
  • The Greater Spirits are allied guardians, they would prefer if we did not assault or disturb them again as we did with the elemental assault on Bug Manor at the head of the Kandingan River. Vidal healed it after he found out about our encounter with it.

After dinner we fly east to the coast, then fly through most of the night up the eastern coast mapping it as we go.

20th Fruit

After a brief rest for breakfast we continue up the east coast arriving at the northern most point late in the morning. We believe this is the place associated with shape changing on the night of the full moon. Some investigation is done while we rest for the bulk of the day. This area is affected by the Salt Attracting Curse of Serawak, it is also a place of power for all earth mages. Kit finishes making his maps permanent in an odd mood and abducts Kern into the ethereal where they see a dead tree with a withered werewolf in a gibbet. Kit climbs the tree and is about to try releasing the werewolf when the duration expires and they return to the normal world, then promptly falls into an exhausted sleep.

On awaking we decide not to play further with this place and resume our widdershins mapping flight.

On the way down the coast we see and smell a lot of smoke from charcoal fires, following it inland we find a town with four highly advanced iron smelters. We follow the trail of their produce to a port town where most of it is stored in huge warehouses. One of the warehouses is partially over the water. Investigating we find that they are building a massive steam powered ship out of iron, Mortimer estimates that they have about a year to go before they are finished.

Ship Information as deduced by observation
  1. Length: 322 ft
  2. Beam (width): 50 ft 6 in
  3. Height (main deck to keel): 32 ft 6 in

We guess and later confirm that this is Sherazar, Mortimer and Thaeuss note this as something for later investigation.

A few hours before dawn we stop, eat, and briefly rest.

21st Fruit

Late morning Kin recognises the area of Serawak where we first arrived and attempts a locate on Silver. He is barely within range, we decide to continue our coastal route until we are closer. A couple of hours later we divert inland and shortly after all but Mortimer and Kit start to hear unintelligible voices in their heads. Kin finds this the most disconcerting as she is used to being able to understand all speech. The locate indicates that Silver is at the top of the mountain straight ahead of us, we deduce that this is The Kapit Spirit that drives people mad as they approach and we need to go to the middle of it to get home.

As the most used to having unpleasant voices in his head Thaeuss volunteers to see how bad the effect gets. Mortimer flies him in, with Kit following to see what happens. Initially the effect is bearable then moves up to the equivalent of an agony, then gets to the point that Thaeuss is incapacitated by the pain and delusions. Unaffected, Mortimer continues on and they shortly reach a quiet centre, Thaeuss recovers quickly brushing off the delusional/real bat that had attached itself to his torso.

Silverwinds army is encamped at the top of the mountain (they portalled in). Thaeuss relaxes in our designated tent while Mortimer and Kit return to bring the others in. Most of the party decide to be slept for the journey, Everin wants to experience it all but fails to remain conscious for the entire journey and takes a few hours afterwards before he is fully recovered.

We are woken a few hours before midnight as the army packs up and prepares to enter the portal which is within a cavern complex. Walking to the portal we see a Blue Dragon is a side cavern. The Trorcs are performing some sort of ritual to activate the portal, at midnight it becomes active, appearing as a vertical sheet of moonlit water, on the otherside we can see the caverns of the Trorcs in the Filgiso Forest.

22nd Fruit

Once the army has come through we find we are at the south west end of the Filgiso. We fly north to Dramus estates with two elves from Silvers army who will be able to create a portal to bring the others through. Leaving them at the estates we fly on to Seagate to find Dramus. He is not home in Seagate but we leave a message with his butler and head off for brunch, as we are finishing Dramus arrives. We inform Dramus of the arrival of his brother, fiance, and army at his estates then head back to the guild for debriefing and eventually back to our various homes.

Mission Targets

Silver

Names
Prince Sholaes os vaeli sai si vaer, roughly translates to 'Bringer of Peace to the Realm'.
Silver, alias when at the guild.
Silverwind, alias as mercenary captain.
Description
Elven Male 7'2", familial resemblance to Dramus (as he was when he joined the guild).
Abilities
Namer
Healer? We believe he can resurrect.
Warrior/MilSci
His Aura constantly changes giving false readings.

He was trained as a Namer at the guild, did not adventure as a guild member, left to work as a Mercenary in the Far East (NW of the Dragon Isles & Kinlu).

Working for Umshatar, comanding their armies, based at the capitol as at 10th Fruit 806wk.

Frequently accompanied by his personal guard, all Elves, competent warriors and most are mages:

Estil
6'1" Elven Male. Generally dressed is worn leathers (beneath which can be seen a glint of metallic armour) and carrying a Hand & half. He is a skilled Air Mage and has a number of other talents and out of college spells.
Feather Fall - Rk13
Flight - Rk15
Enhance Enchant - Rk9.
Romair
6'2" Elven Male. Earth Mage. Wearing loose trousers and an open shirt he carries a Hand & half. One arm is covered in intricate dragon tattoos.
Kyserin
6'4" Erelheine Male. Mind Mage. Brother to Shimarl. Dressed in the traditional fighting gear of a Kinlu Warrior with no house markings, he carries 2 Nodachi in back scabbards.
Shimarl
6'2" Erelheine Male. Enchanter Brother to Kyserin. Dressed in the traditional fighting gear of a Kinlu Warrior with no house markings, he has a Katana at his side.
Kraleth
5'8" Elven Male. Necromancer. A heavily scarred with dark skin, he is dressed in a light plate mail covered with the Tabard of the Mercenary Company. Carries 2 battle axes one on his back the other at his belt.

Alicia

Alicia is an Elven assassin, member of Silverwinds company, and consort to Sholaes.

Held captive since 803wk by Aulia, believed to be at the Fabia Estates or in the Kings Palace. Rescued on the 18th from a tower at the southern end of Alice's Swamp.

  • Has a very effective chameleon cloak
  • Can walk on walls/ceilings
  • Turns into a wind dervish to fly at fast speeds (~50 mph).

Orientalis Papinius Paetas

Sole captain responsible for shipping Melilotus beans to Kinlu. A one foot cube of beans is purchased every quarter, value 20-30,000sp. Govenor of Setagen.

His supplier (The Riverman) of the Melilotus beans (and many other rare herbs) didn't turn up when he was due with the last couple of deliveries. His deliveries are made annually and so he has been out of touch for around 13 months. The Riverman operates in the area that is in the middle of the civil war, they have little reliable information and nobody willing to go investigate.

The Riverman

The Riverman plies a trade route every year down the Mahakam river system through Umshatar, Mercato, and to Tanah Boemboe. Last seen in Setagen at his usual delivery time, late summer 804wk. His boat was found drifting north of Tanjieng about 7th Fruit. The Riverman was rescued from captivity by Spirit Cockroaches.

Usual Locations
Autumn - Unknown, presumed harvesting herbs.
Winter - Upper Mahakam river
Spring - Lower Mahakam river
Summer - Lower Mahakam river and Setagen.

The Riverman and his boat are two halves of the same spirit/entity. The boat was created by the little people who live below.

Beastiary and People

Spirit Cockroaches

Three foot long giant cockroaches! Move fast (TMR 8+), high defence (100-ish), bite hard enough to get through plate, hit high-defence fighters, spit Spirit Slime with high accuracy up to 40 feet, explode when they die.

The Spirit Slime is alive, it entangles (reducing MD and AG), melts clothes and armour, and is lethally poisonous. Fastest way to get rid of it is to kill it, which requires magical weapons or damaging spells.

Shireel is the only known shaman specialisng in cockroaches. He is able to transform into the 20' long cockroach with a powerful torrent of spirit slime 'breath weapon'.

Dragons

According to the Trorc Healer there are 5 Dragons who live in this region.

  1. A Green - Vidal
  2. A Blue - Lives in caverns on a mountain in Serawak. Guards the portal to the Filgiso Forest.
  3. A Red - Lives near one of the volcanoes, probably Laoet Volcano. Possibly harmful - someone, probably involved with a Red Dragon, tried to kill party members via death dreams. Information from the Copper dragon pointed to mortal followers as the agressors rather than a dragon.
  4. A Copper - Lives to the north somewhere. Helpful, protective, possibly an analogue to Gabriel.
  5. ?

Roche, a gold has also been seen in the area but we assume he is not one of the 5 locals.

Vidal of the Boneyard

South of the village next to the eastern Lake of Regret is a building full of bones.

Within the building is a genus-loci / amalgam-spirit that has many names but introduced itself to us as Vidal.

We observed Vidal take the form and exhibit the aura of a vampire, an Erelheine, a winged Angel, a lich, and also as we left, that of an old man. Whether these are spirits that are part of Vidal, or subordinate spirits under his control, or merely evidence of an advanced shape-shifting ability is not known. We additionally believe Vidal to be a Green Dragon, but we do not know whether he lives with the spirit or is part of it.

He is able to do the same sort of Rune-Variant magics we have seen before and may have access to other colleges.

Vidal claims to be a neutral broker of information and services and did nothing in his dealings with us to contradict this. All of his information and services come at a price and he seems interesting in unusual and complex trades. He appears primarily interested in spirit magics and politics of the local notables (including dragons).

He has a shriving-related ability - he extracts blood, emphasises an ability in the blood, then someone who drinks it will gain some of the ability or potentially have it enhanced if they drink their own invigorated blood. This does not seem to diminish the skill/ability of the donor, as happens with the shrivers we are used to.

Note: Divination revealed those who drank had drunk the blood of a Green Dragon.

Vidal is known to have powerful enemies on the island who want him dead. He can read minds and talk in them. He appears to have magic from most colleges - certainly he now has some ability with written magics, E&E Quickness, Dark Binding animation/possession, and Necro Agony, thanks to the party. He appears to already have all Earth magics.

One overly zealous member of the party claims that Vidal tests peoples' consent to evil and that those with a will to darkness should be careful. He may or may not be an eastern analogue of Sammael.

Vidal's sense of humour can involve winding people up to see if they snap.

Reference Material

Astrology Readings

These reading were performed by two seperate astrologers, one by the request of Dramus and the other by the Guild Herbalists. Both appear to be excepts from a famous poem, written by a Claudiaus Mitchalius in 534WK. The poet lived his youth in the Lunar Empire but left home and lived the rest of his life on Insel der Freiheit.

Where is Prince Sholaes os vaeli sai si vaer?

A prince am I of ancestry renowned,
Illustrious name my royal sire hath found.
When Sirius did in spring its light display,
A child was born, and Tiger marked the day.
When first upon my face my lord's eye glanced,
For me auspicious names he straight advanced,
Denoting that in me Heaven's marks divine
Should with the virtues of the earth combine.
With lavished innate qualities indued,
By art and skill my talents I renewed;
Angelic herbs and sweet selineas too,
And orchids late that by the water grew,
I wove for ornament; till creeping Time,
Like water flowing, stole away my prime.
Melilotus of the glade I plucked at dawn,
At eve beside the stream took winter-thorn.
Without delay the sun and moon sped fast,
In swift succession spring and autumn passed;
The fallen flowers lay scattered on the ground,
The dusk might fall before my dream was found.

What has happened to our melilotus shipments?

Three ancient kings there were so pure and true
That round them every fragrant flower grew;
Cassia and pepper of the mountain-side
With melilotus white in clusters vied.
Two monarchs then, who high renown received,
Followed the kingly way, their goal achieved.
Two princes proud by lust their reign abused,
Sought easier path, and their own steps confused.
The faction for illict pleasure longed;
Dreadful their way where hidden perils thronged.
Danger against myself could not appal,
But feared I lest my sovereign's sceptre fall.

Items, Loot, and Lasting Effects

  • Kit is changed by his encounter with the spirits in the temple.
  • Mortimer, Kin, Thaeuss, Tari, Kern and Everin are changed by drinking Vidal's blood magic.
  • We have been affected by contact with the Green Dragon, Vidal.
  • One standard waterskin full of water from Tanah Spring -- gives high mana for one spell and induces a deep and restful sleep.
  • The Riverman will give us some Dragon Powder in exchange for one of Kerns swords.
  • Two kegs of mana water from Tanah Spring.
  • Two kegs of growth water from Katingen Spring - Traded to pay off debts incurred for ressurections.

Costs

  • 2 weeks of meals for 7 from top chefs (including Alphonse) in Seagate, itemised for travel.
  • Ice and chilled wines, itemised for travel.
  • Tropical tents (waterproof tops, mosquito net sides), itemised for travel.
  • Bolts of linen and fine wool for trade, itemised for travel. Sold at market in Setagen for sufficient profit to cover most food and travel expenses.
  • 20 Guineas (~5,000sp) for divination/curse removal on the Riverman. It was double this prior to us releasing the Riverman to resume his trade. Paid for with kegs from Katingen Spring.
  • a "long sword" of (currently) undisclosed properties belonging to Kern that was taken by the Riverman in return (we think) for a shipment of "dragon powder".

Calendar

Autumn: Fruit (4)
  Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Waning Lugnasad 1 Guild Meeting
Seagate, Briefing, Tower Portal.
2 Exit Portal, Fly ESE. 3 Fly SE. 4 Fly SE. 5 Fly SE. 6 Fly SE.
New Moon 7 Fly SE. 8 Insel der Freiheit
Serawak, fly SE over island to
Tanah Boemboe, sail to Setagen.
9 Setagen Meet Gov.
Fly to Umshatar.
Camp north of Kandingan.
10 Kandingan (Silver)
Fly => Tanjieng => Bug Manor => Tanjieng => Kandingan.
11 Kandingan => Tanjieng => Lakes of Regret & The Boneyard 12 Boneyard => Tanjieng => Kandingan 13 Kandingan & Tanah Spring
Waxing 14 Kandingan, Night flight to Waringin 15 Night 'flight' up Katingan River 16 Katingan Spring 17 Boating down Katingan River, fly back to camp 18 Jaunt to Tanah Spring
Fly to Alice's Swamp
Rescue Alicia.
19 Visit Vidal.
Fly north along east coast.
20 Fly south along west coast.
Full Moon 21 Reach the portal. 22 Filgiso Forest => Seagate.

Mil Sci

In the event of combat the likely frontline fighter will be Kern, with secondary combat support from Kin and Tari with their Archery. Support mages are Thaeuss, Mortimer, and Everan. Kit will employ diversionary harrassment tactics.

Initially Kern will be Mil Sci for the group for the first pulse but once he is engaged he will pass the honour onto Everan who will no doubt be far from the combat and able to use his skill more effectively while Kern wades into the fray.

Watch Times

  • 6pm-10pm Kit
  • 10pm-2am Kern
  • 2am-6am Kin
  • 6pm-8pm Mortimer
  • 8pm-12pm Thaeuss
  • 12pm-4am Everan
  • 4am-6am Tari

This is the new watch schedule so all can understand

You known when you change things to make them less complicated and give people less hours on watch you'd expect a little gratritude but no, they still complain. Some people are never satisfied!

Standard Magics

Linking Lifeforce toRangeFigurine Held By
Kern 700 MilesThaeuss
Kin 1400 MilesThaeuss
Mortimer 700 MilesThaeuss
Kit 700 MilesThaeuss
Everin 1400 MilesThaeuss
Tari 2100 MilesThaeuss
Thaeuss 2100 MilesKin
Mortimers' Instill Flight up to 65mph for up to 13 Hours per day.
Mortimer, Kin, Kern, Kit
Kerns' Armour of Earth
Kern and Tari
Enchant Armour +42% Def +1AP for 10.5 Hours
Kin, Mortimer, Thaeuss, Everin, Kit
Strength of Stone +18 EN for 19 Hours
Kern, Kin, Mortimer, Tari, Thaeuss, Kit, Everin
Disguise Illusions (as agreed) for 22 hours or 4 days.
Kern, Kin, Mortimer, Tari, Thaeuss, Kit, Everin