Destinations

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Summary

Adventure: Destinations
GM: Helen
Session: Winter 812
Night: Thursdays
Location 20 Pahi Place West Harbour
Level: Medium/high
Party:

Mission
Phaeton has copies of some 100 yr old Maps and the notes left by the Adventurer that made them. He and the others are curious to see where they will lead them.
Pay
Satisfied curiosity and a share in any discovery.

Phaeton's Notes

Objectives

Test the hypothesis that each plane has the same night sky and the same sidereal day. Also that the sun and moon are identical for each plane and are in the same place.
Determine the latitude and longitude of each Mithrian Portal and the distances between the ones on the same plane.
Determine the size and shape of each plane. Currently assuming them to be spheres.
Map the area around each portal and check for any nearby civilisations.
Determine where the other marked portals go.
Finding libraries with maps and other knowledge would be an additional bonus.
Find information that will help heal the Plane of Frigidia

Latitudes

Easily found by measuring the elevation of either the North or South Celestial Pole. Results so far:

S1: +57, S2: +27, S3: -29, S4: +28.3, S5 +28
I1: -09, I2: -12, I3: +57, I4: 0.
R1: -20, R2: +41.5, R3:? R4: -13, R5:? R6: +45
O1: -60, O2: -55, O3: +25, O4: -10
F1-4:+55, F11: +35, F12: +50(?)

Longitudes

This can be done by noting when a particular object crosses the meridian at one portal, using the portal to go to another portal on the same plane then timing how long it takes for the same object to reach the meridian. This method assumes there is not much time spent in transit. This also requires arbitrary zero points to be set. Currently these are: Sol1 (Paradise), Frigidia3 (Livingston Destination 0), Rue2 (Mordan), Iska2 and Omega3. Rue2 and Iska2 were chosen as they are the only ones on the plane currently visited by Guild Parties. At some point, the longitudes need to be synchronized across planes, presumably the N/S line where the sun reaches the meridian when it is on the ascending node.

Results:

S1: 0.0, S2: 59.06W, S3: 65.63E, S4: 150.94E, S5: 154.69E
I1: 126.0E, I2: 0.0, I3: 13.5E, I4: 108.0W
R1: 73.1E, R2:0.0, R3:33.75W(?) R4: 145.13W, R5:140.63W(?) R6:146.3W
O1: 0.0, O2: 85.5W, O3: 0.0, O4: 117E
F1-4: 0.0, F8: 54W(?), F9:49.5W(?), F11: 126W, F12: 103.5E(?)

Planar Shape and Size

Measure the differences in angles of the sun relative to the horizon at each portal since we know the distances between them (given on the Livingston maps). This will give us the east-west and north-south circumference and hence the radius. Preliminary measurements for Sol and Iska gives the east-west circumference as 16,000 miles. For comparison, Alusia's circumference is 25,000 miles east/west.

From the Astral, it has been observed that the planes are arranged in a line - or more likely, a ring. So far the order observed is Iska, Frigidia, Rue and Omega. All the planes were surrounded by the Astral Void which made seeing the plane beyond Iska and Omega difficult to identify although they were detected in the distance. Presumably that was Sol, seen in two different directions.

The Frigidia plane was bounded by a wall which was put up by the Guardians to isolate the plane and keep whatever was affecting Frigidia in.

Sidereal Day

Measure the the time it takes for a star to cross the meridian then come around and do it again. On Sol it works out to 23 hours and 56 minutes. Again Iska is a match.

Portal Names

The usual nomenclature for the portals on these planes is the initial letter of the plane or the plane name, followed by the number that Livingston assigned, being the order of discovery. However, it is more convenient to give them a name which describes the area around or a notable nearby feature. Currently named are:

S1 = Paradise, S2 = Oasis, S3 = Sooty's Jungle, S4 = Thar, S5 = Nomads
I1 = Swamp, I2 = Moorish (being the name of the local empire), I3 = Valley, I4 = Wolfen (the GTN of the local inhabitants)
R1 = Rue Desert, R2 = Mordren (the local continent), R4 = Mountain Jungle, R6 = Highway
F1 = Paeolithica, F3 = Mithros, F5 = Port City, F6 = Timbuktoo, F7 = Thar,

Unknown Portals

Sol4 is a ring portal which goes to Thar2. Rue3 and Rue4 are not part of the Mithrian System, neither is Frigidia portals 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10. Frigidia1 links to Paeolithica but it is believed it used to have another destination. Portal 2 and 5 are linked as do Portals 4 and 6. Portal 7 goes to Thar1. Portals 7 to 10 are unknown and may be deactivated Mithrian Portals although 9 and 10 are so close together it is unlikely both of them are Mithrian. Rue3 and 4 are also unknown.

Night Sky

Iska, Sol and Rue have the same night skies. However Frigidia doesn't. Frigidia's sky has been described as a reflection of the Iskan/Sol sky. The night sky on Omega is, as if, the map is upside down. The moons on Sol and Iska are also in the same place at the same time. The sun also is in the same location as seen from Sol or Iska. Rue may also match up given that the stars are the same. The moon on Omega is also rotated while the Frigidia moon is reflected compared to the other three.

No 'wanderers' have been observed on any of the five planes.

The night sky on Thar does not match the other planes. Not surprising given that it is not part of the Mithrain System.

It should be noted that they do not have the same night sky as Alusia.

Miscellaneous

Iska3 and Sol1 are very close with their latitude and longitudes. If they were both on the same plane, I3 would be 600 miles west of S1.
Frigidia is isolated from the others. There is no access from the Astral. What about the Ethereal?. Spirits cannot leave. It could be said that Frigidia is haunted by those who died there. The Nomads on Sol have stories of being led out of Frigidia by a dream. The wall around the plane also acts as a scryshield.
Iska3 was the portal visited by a Guild party on their way to Rue (cf Kidnappers will Rue the Day)
Livingston's maps do not cover the entire plane. If they did, I2 and I4 would only be a few hundred miles apart on the same river. This seems highly unlikely.
The area around I4 is inhabited by caninoids with the GTN of Wolfen. There is a treaty restricting 'flat-faces' off their territory to the other side of the local river.
The Nomads on Sol escaped from Frigidia through F11.
F12 (Destination 19) was detected on Frigidia using a Finding spell but did not show up on the portal locator used by the original expedition. The others did not show up at all and may have been destroyed.

Theories and Questions

The Mithrian Planes co-exist in the same place in three dimensional space/time but are separated by a short distance in the fourth spatial dimension. Hence it may be possible to use the Border Ethereal to get from one to the other. - Unproven as yet.
Each plane is separate but have identical firmaments. Does each plane have the sun located in the same spot in the sky? If not, this implies that they share the same orbit around the sun. Need to check for wanderers and see if there are retrograde motions to determine whether the system is heliocentric or geocentric. - No wanderers discovered.
The planes are arranged in such a way in n-dimensional space that they surround a central core of stars. - Unlikely.

Scribe Notes

Session One: 1 of Frost (Guild Meeting)

We are gathered to go on an exploration mission for Phaeton to explore the portals and where they go and map places and see what's there to see. Sounds like fun although it will be winter so a bit cold. We spend some time discussing our options of where to start and he mentions his idea of using Paradise as a base camp. More discussions about Frigidia and missing keepers and it's decided to visit the Library of the Dreamer first to seek knowledge of the areas. [The Library of the Great Dreamer is on Iska. Sooty also lent us Amulets of Jasper - P]

We make some shopping plans, go get geared up and plan to leave in the morning. I popped into Slippery Rock to get some skin changes and some Amethyst amulets. Can't be to careful with dealing with weird dream places. [I requested one amulet and two dozen R8 restoratives. Cost of 4000 for the amulet - P]

[Party leader/employer - me, Scribe - Menolly, Military Scientist - Starflower - P]

2 of Frost (Travels start)

We head off. Grendel assists with our travelling by warpgating us Pasifika completely missing the Sea of Grass and other places. Pasifika still looks rather battered, I mean we were only here a few weeks ago. It will probably take a while for it to recover from most of the population turning zombie and trying to eat you. Hopefully when we come back things will be on their way to recovery.

We head to the portal (which is a stone/rock circle formation) and portal through to Palaeolithica. Grendel warpgates us all to the next portal and we pause for a cup of tea and a bite to eat before heading through. The portal here is also like a giant stone/rock circle formation. And through we go to Frigidia. It's cold, we have wrapped up warmly. [There was also snow on Paolithica - but not so much - P]. This side of the portal comes out in a tunnel and this side actually looks more like a giant round circle standing up. We spend a wee bit of time re-studying the ring, checking out the vibes of the thing. My new talent thing pings back that it's a rune portal thing. Go figure.

Grendel warpgates us to the next portal in the cavern. We spend some time checking out the structure. This portal is shaped like a square box, with 4 pillars holding up a roof. The 4 pillars are covered in 20 runes in a sequence, and on the roof there is a 21st rune which isn't listed on the pillars. The pillars each repeat the same runes but in different locations. So if you are short, all the runes are in reach low down, and if you are super tall all the runes are in reach up high too. Very handy and well thought out really if you know there are many shapes of people going to use the portals. The rune on the roof is like a curvy H. http://dq.sf.org.nz/mithros21.gif That is apparently the rune for Frigidia, like a location rune. The ones on the pillars go to other locations. Weee, time to start working.

While Starflower and I are checking out the portal and it's runes, Sau Rus investigated a pile of bones in the cavern. They are from a dwarf from Omega who apparantly got eaten by Ogrins. He's able to talk to the spirit which appears to be stuck here. The spirit says he was captured by demons (ogrins) and brought here... it appears the spirit is stuck on this plane and can't leave to go where spirits are supposed to go. It might be something to do with the guardians being missing or the big spell thing that was done here to stop stuff. It's a low mana plane and broken. The spirit is very chatty and slightly revenant... since it's can't leave. We advised it should scare the ogrins when they come back here.

We say the right ritual words ("Great Mithros bless us and grant us safe passage to our destination"), touch the rune that looks like a trident standing up http://dq.sf.org.nz/mithros14.gif which is the rune for this portal that comes out near the Plains Nomads on Sol. The portal on this side looks like the square box one on Frigidia but most of the symbols have been smashed off the pillars. There are only 3 left, not even the Frigidea H so we can't go back using this portal. The 3 runes left are http://dq.sf.org.nz/mithros11.gif which goes to Sol and the desert and dwarfs portal, http://dq.sf.org.nz/mithros05.gif which goes to Sol and the Paradise portal and http://dq.sf.org.nz/mithros20.gif which goes to Sol and Sooty's jungle portal.

Sooty remembers that the Nomads mentioned about them being a displaced peoples but not when or where in terms of time of their arrival here, and if it links to the major exodus from Frigidia or from somewhere completely different. Sounds like a place to start for information so we head over the hill to where they usually camp. Except their campsite is completely empty, nothing or no-one there. So we figure we will set up camp ourselves and see who turns up.

Session Two 2 of Frost cont (at empty Nomad's Camp on Sol)

We are at the empty Nomad's camp. Starflower checks the area for signs of the nomads and works out no-one has been here recently. We make camp and discuss the job, the portals and what our priorities are. And it comes down to following in the footsteps of Livingston's diary. Using his and Astrid's records and notes to check each plane and each portal to see what we can find out. And to look for clues as to what befell Frigadea and her guardians with the idea of wanting to help repair the plane or at least help rescue the guardians if they are stuck on Frigadea.

Starflower uses some of the crystal balls and looks around the area to see if she can locate the Nomads. She finds them 200 miles to the SE. And makes maps.

Sooty views through the crystal ball that a river fjord to the north? of here looks like there was a scuffle and there are no guards. The horse nomads may have moved due to the Wolf clan conflicts.

We set up our watch roster and discuss our strengths for emergency circumstances and plan ahead for our job. We do some mapping of the area.

3 of Frost (at empty Nomad's Camp on Sol)

Morning dawns brightly and Starflower uses her magic teapot for breakfast drinks. Unfortunately it produces a carp and now I'm never drinking anything produced from it.

Phaeton gives us all star wings and wefly north. A bit west north west to see if we can find the wolf clan of the nomads. Don't spot anything so we land and have lunch and note any land features on our maps. We do see signs that there were cows here some time recently. We fly some more and eventually see a large herd of cows. We land somewhere obviously and decide to meet with them diplomatically. Sooty makes a horse for himself and SauRus. Grendal pulls out some Rhinos for him and Starflower. Phaeton has his own horse and I just walk with Borage.

The nomads approach and after we try a range of languages we work out bad dwarvish is the only one we have in common. And both groups wait until the higher up folks turn up. Eventually nomad riders turn up and we chat some more and we ask to join their campe for a time, they have meet some of us in the past. They agree and we join them.

We ride and arrive at their main camp and are lead to a big main tent (yurt) and spend the evening trading tales. We ask them about the portal and times gone by. They tell us about all tribes came through the portal. Their shamans back then had visions of grass lands and lead their people here. They talk about giants back in the old plane who did bad things. They talk about the five gods they give tribute to (Father, Mother, Dreamer, Warrior, (?)) which match the five gods we know about. They mention they give tribute at the summer solstice at the portal.

They tell us the tales of their coming to this plane. Rains that didn't come, grass shrivelled, magics becoming harder to use, giants huge hundreds of feet high coming out of the mountains, it becoming colder, giants eating the cows, filling and eating people, wars, shamans having dreams of portal and new grass lands through the portal. And once their people came through the shamans broke the portal so they don't go back. (nearby portal has had a number of the runes smashed off it.) No one was in these lands when they arrived. These tales are from 20 generations or more ago.

They also mention Rainbow, a special pattern that flues across the sky (in a straight line) not the usual rainbow. A guardian? Something new for us to look into.

Session Three: 4 of Frost (at new occupied Nomad's Camp on Sol)

We awake in the nomad's camp in a yurt they have loaned us while we stay.

Our goals for the job are gain information about solving the Frigadea mystery and map the portal network. Following sort of in Livingstone's footsteps.

Frigadea is bad if you are a dragon, you fall asleep. So having Starflower change while on the plane could be bad.

Today we spent the time exploring the portals on this plane. We breakfasted with the nomads and said we would be back for dinner. We then flew back to the portal and travelled through to each of the portals on Sol.

- Paradise portal. Portal is a square box portal, I DA all over the place while Phaeton makes his readings with Grendal's help. Starflower and SauRus map through crystals and Sooty and I keep watch. We have already mapped a lot of the area around the portal here so Starflower pops her crystals further west of the portal hills and plains and discovers the edge of a coast line. And an opposite bump. It appears that the waters edge of Paradise is part of a large bay.

- Oasis portal. Another square box portal, it's dark when we come through seeing it's on a different part of the plane. Starflower maps north, south and west of the portal. It appears to be all desert, nothing of note. To the east was mapped on an earlier job here.

- Jungle portal. Another square box portal, it's wet, green, lush and teeming with life. What you would expect of a jungle. The ferns around the portal have been cut/slashed back. A magical area around the portal to keep back the plants. Phaeton realises he also needs to keep a track of the moon phases, not just the stars. Starflower maps around the portal area as not much has been done here.

Then back to the oasis and the nomads portal for the night. We arrive back after dinner but we make do. Grendal does some lance work on the rhinos which stayed with the nomads, I try and get some language practise in to learn the nomads language. It doesn't have many common elements to any other language I know so far, so something new.

5 of Frost (at new occupied Nomad's Camp on Sol)

Today is Iska's turn for the portal hoping to make readings and do some mapping. We fly to the portal, then to Paradise, and then to Moorish portal on Iska.

- Moorish portal. Tropical, a square portal like the ones on Sol. A 50ft clearing around the portal has been cut back but it's not magically circled like the ones on Sol.

- Valley portal. Another square portal, also cleared recently but not magically circled. Apparantly an adventure party has been through this portal, I haven't read the scribe notes so I'll have to look when I get back to see what they said about it.

- Swamp portal. An unknown portal, we prepared before going through but nothing of note at the other end. Another square box portal, not much cleared space around the portal, no magical area either. Vines and swamp plants overgrown on and around the portal. While mapping and star readings happen Sooty and SauRus clear the plants off the portal and around the area. Mapping reveals to the west there are mountains 20 to 30 miles away. To the north, east and south it's swamp and jungle. To the east there is also a river.

- Ruin City portal (Wulfen). Another unknown portal. Another stone square portal appears in an open plaza of old ruins. Jungle closing over ruins. Lots of jungle critters in the jungle itself, nothing in the ruins. The plaza has walls which are covered with decorations of elephants, monkeys, jungle life and all sorts. The stone plaza is bound earth via the earth college. All around the plaza are pyramids. The stairs leading up to each pyramid is also covered in decorations. Different decorations as the stairs lead up, all themed to the god it's dedicated to. Each pyramid is different. 6. We assume they are one for each of the five gods we know about and 1 more. The first stairway we check out is consecrated to a diety.

Pyramid 1 - early stair layers covered in decorations of people - Mithros (Lord of Light) Pyramid 2 - early stair layers covered in decorations of elephants - The Champion Pyramid 3 - early stair layers covered in decorations of griffins - The Dream King Pyramid 4 - early stair layers covered in decorations of monkeys - The Mother (Minos?) Pyramid 5 - early stair layers covered in decorations of dogs - Unseen One Pyramid 6 - early stair layers covered in decorations of crocodiles - unknown, a local diety perhaps?

We head to the Dream King pyramid, Sooty leads the way up and into the top part of the temple. It's an open pagoda area, with a blank altar and lots of carvings. It's empty and we can find no trap doors or entrances to any secret librarys or areas underneath. Sooty checks the back stairs as well and eventually goes to sleep to see if he dreams.

Starflower divinates, Phaeton star reads with Grendal's help, SauRus and I guard and watch.

Session Four: 5 of Frost cont (Ruined City on Iska)

6 of Frost (Ruined City on Iska)

Session Five: 6 of Frost cont (Ruined City on Iska)

Session Six: 6 of Frost cont (Valley portal on Iska)

7 of Frost (Halfling Village near Northport on Iska)

Session Seven: 7 of Frost cont (rented house in Northport in Iska)

Session Eight: 9 of Frost cont (rented house in Northport in Iska)

After visiting the Temple of Mithros we had lunch and spent the afternoon looking around the town. When back together without prying eyes or followers we discussed options for moving the girl from the Temple of the Mother to her home town.

10 of Frost (rented house in Northport in Iska) More shopping and wandering around town. I spent the day in the local library learning about the fish with the many teeth and some of the reptiles and lizards from this plane which are a bit different from other places. Plus practicing the writing and speaking of Moorish. I copy some of the interesting bits into my journal.

11 of Frost (rented house in Northport in Iska) In the morning we revisit all the temples we pilgrimed to previously, in the exact order. Hopefully the spies will think we are a bunch of tourists. We head to the Temple of the Unseen One to pick up the scribe notes we asked to be copied. We amble through the other temples previously. The Temple of the Champion was holding a class on sharpening your sword. We stopped and watched a while. It was very interesting. And then onto the Temple of the Mother. We were lead back to the office of the Crone where we could ask questions about if the temple was warded against warpgates. We were informed the gardens aren't so we get lead there, with the girl in tow and warpgate to the village of the Halflings party field. It's still early morning, so we use wild fires and run from the Halflings town to the girls village. The second village up the river with a wall around it.

The run is uneventful, we get to the village and she shows us where her family complex is. We deliver her home, get a note (receipt) to take back to the Temple of the Mother and spend the rest of the day in the village resting. More lunch is consumed, find the Inn, Phaeton has a nap, Sooty wards the Inn, I check out the local market and eventually we stay the night.

12 of Frost (village up river with walls on Iska) We walk out of the walled town in the morning beyond visual range, and Grendal warpgates us back to the Temple of the Mother's gardens. We surprise a few novices gardening. We deliver the receipt for the girl and wander out of the temple back into the capital. That way the spying eyes that are watching for the girl wont suspect us... cause we went in and came out...

We then head back to the Temple of Mithros and spend time looking at the pictures on the walls, just to carry on with our cover of people on pilgim. We head back to our rented house, have lunch, walk out of town, cast wings and fly to the portal. Time to head to head off again.

We travel to Sol to the Nomads portal, and fly to where the Nomads have camped. We pick up Grendal's rhinos and spend the night with the Nomad's.

13 of Frost (Nomad's camp on Sol) We breakfast with the Nomads, I'm getting better with the words for the breakfast foods. Head out of the camp, fly back to the Portal and now we are off to Rue. We portal to New Hope.

New Hope Portal is a box construction like the others with 4 pillars with runes and the Rue/Nomad's symbol on the roof of the portal. Area around the portal is cleared but not magically so. It's situated on the continent of Mordred. Phaeton arranges his readings while Starflower and SauRus do some crystal gazing of the nearby areas with the plan to map any parts we haven't already mapped. Sooty and I get watch.

From the New Hope portal we jump to the desert of Rue. None of us have been here before so new things to look at. Desert Portal is a box construction like the others with 4 pillars with runes and the Rue/desert's symbol on the roof of the portal. No magical warding or protection around the portal space. It's hot, dusty, very tropical. More star gazing and area mapping is done.

From the Rue/desert portal we then travel to the Grasslands/Rue portal. Grasslands Portal is a box construction like the others with 4 pillars with runes and the Rue/Grasslands's symbol on the roof of the portal. Area around the portal is cleared but not magically so. No people, no volcanos, but we do see a road about 50 miles from the portal It travels east/west. Sooty and Sau Rus investigate while Starflower and I watch. The road is build with cobbles and appears to be well maintained. Sooty flies off along the road and after a short travel finds a marker stone with some scraggly writing on it. It also has pictures on it but since we can't understand the writing it's hard to work out the meanings.

From the Rue desert portal they travel to the 5th symbol. It comes out in a jungle area. The Jungle Portal is a box construction like the others with 4 pillars with runes and the Rue/Nomad's symbol on the roof of the portal. Area around the portal is cleared but not magically so. And the area has really big mosquitos. We map and watch until everyone has all the data they need. It's late evening, and it's raining. We can hear big mosquitos everywhere.

We portal back to New Hope to help Phaeton with the calculations.

We then warpgate to the Mordren portal and we are back into large crowds of people. It's evening once we arrive so we decide to dine in. Grendal leads us to a temple where we ask to speak to Father Thomas. He's not in and his assistant isn't sure if her will be back in the morning or not. So we go find a reasonable Inn and book rooms. Once in our rooms Grendal arranges for him and Phaeton to travel to Grendal's home to pass on respects to his wife and stay the night. They warpgate and the rest of us stay the night at the Inn.

Session Nine: 14 of Frost cont (Inn in Morden/New Hope on Rue)

We have breakfast while we wait for Grendal and Phaeton to arrive from Grendal's place. Grendal whispers sweet nothings into Starflower's collar so she can understand the language. We then head to the temple to see if Father Thomas is in the city or away. He's away so we ask to speak to the underlings and get lead to a room full of "scribblings" (scribe apprentices). The underling is called Herbert.

We ask him a number of questions, incase he knows if the temple has the answers.

- What rune was on the portal that the folks who now live here from Frigadea used? - Do you know the Guardians names from the original areas on Frigadea? - Is there a story of the exodus from Frigadea? (the first part) - Is there a story of the fleeing from Frigadea? - Were there elves on Frigadea? Do you know what happened to them?

A) The crescent moon was the rune from the area on Frigadea. B) Unknown, might be something Father Thomas knows or just for the high priests C) Story goes along the lines of the people were explorers and the land on Frigadea was crowded. They sent through an exploration to the new lands through the portal... younger sons of families etc. They came through and had been here for a time when the "disaster" happened on Frigadea so families fled through the portal to where their younger children/relatives were setting up. D) Yes there were elves.

We asked for an audience with the high priest to see if they knew any of the answers. It's for a month from next Wed... 16th Snow on a Frysday.

We head back to the Inn and Starflower does a search/location. Asking for the nearest source of information of Frigadea Guardians. It points to the hills over the far side of the mountains. Dwarfs perhaps or where Father Thomas might be digging for artifacts on his sabbatical. We work out we could actually travel there and find out. So We warp gate to Stone Mountain – a town of 300 pop where mining is a mainstay. It's one of the main sources of metals. We then teleport jump to the hills. A river valley closer to the info source area. We set up camp in a clearing near a forest. We use some crystal balls to map the area. Starflower looks again and is able to narrow the point a bit more. The new area has several villages nearby. Dwarf villages of 4 or 5 hourse. New locate spell points to a step-sided valley, with a stream running along the bottom, grass on the banks. The crystal balls show no ruins or buildings. There is cave entrance. Starflower looks closer, there isa tunnel heading into the hill, and the entrance is dragon-sized and there are footprints in the cave entrance. The cave is scry-shielded.

The pointer marks an area by some trees by a stream. So we portal there for a closer look. We discover a gentleman in some blue robes fishing.

The gentleman is a long lived sentient... orc. Grendal instroduces us to him as he and Sooty have meet him before. He is known as DiamondFlame, a dragon.

We are super polite, and he lets us ask questions... and some he answers.

He tells us the guardians of Frigadea are lost or stuck. Of the Guardians he tells us Komath is a follower of the Champion. He's was from around the empire of Kosh. Rainbow but nothing more, and a largeish big guy who's name escapes him. He has no idea about the fourth one.

Yes there were elves on Frigadea. Some went to Omega, some to Sol (families?) and some to Rue.

He also mentions that Shadow-walker has some of those people from an area of Frigadea which has/had no guardian labeled for that area... or can't remember who it was. Tamora (elven guardian) went through the portal and helped get the Moorish people through the portal.

He also chats to Phaeton about the night skys and mentions that Sol, Rue and Iska are the same sky but Frigadea and Omega are the sky reversed or inverted... but still the same. Wow.

We have a picnic lunch, I gift him one of my special Dragon presents and we ask him if he would like us to stick around for some more time.

Session Ten:

14 of Frost (cont)

We finally bid DiamondFlame farewell as he didn't need us for anything and we headed off towards the nearest portal. We warpgated to the portal, then portaled to Iska near the hobbits/Moorish Empire. We then portal to the jungle spot. After spending such a long time warpgating and portaling and flying about we make camp and rest. We discuss what's to come at the library tree and have food. Some tea, then lunch, then dinner and discuss snakes and cats jumping on Starflower.

Day 15 We woke, had breakfast and flew closer to the temple tree. We then warpgated into the elven city/base of the tree of the super large consecrated temple tree bypassing the "outside" issues. I talked to the tree asking it where the best place to travel it's pathways was. It said the sunside so we walked around the tree and came to a opening tunnel area. So we headed in, in combat order. The tunnel opened into a big cavern with tunnels leading off. 5 tunnels in total.

The first tunnel we checked had stairs leading up and up into the tree. We figure that's the one we take after checking the rest... we back tracked to the main cavern.

The second tunnel had stairs leading down and down. And further down we found more tunnels branching off. We came to a spot where 2 tunnels branched off the main one, and they also branched off further down. We have assumed we are in the catacombs under the tree. There was a sarcophagus at the intersection. Looked like it had been recently (last few years) been disturbed. It's got a curse on it, of wrath of Sequera(sp?) if desecrated. Obviously you need to remove something from it for the curse to trigger, possibly like the one in that other library.

Saurus talks to a spirit in the area. Says it's a devote of the Unseen One. A few questions are asked with most of them giving no answer. When asked if we lift the lid on the sarcophagus if that will trigger the curse it says no. We decide to not go much further this time and head back to the main cavern.

The third tunnel lead us to empty priest quarters, cubicles etc. They were all full of tracks of cats and snakes and other small critters from the last few days.

The fourth tunnel lead us to more priest areas, offices, desks cubby holes but all empty just like the quarters. More tracks of things from the last few days.

We pause for some lunch and then head back up the first tunnel to travel up the tree. We travel up a distance and then come to a door that leads to the outside of the tree. The stairs and path continue up around the outside of the tree this time. The path is sturdy but there are creepers and vines and small plants along the edges of the steps. Very pretty but a convenient hiding spot for critters. Luckily we don't encounter any and find a new opening into the tree. We go in.

We walk into the temple of Great Mother. It's a big vaulted chapel, with goes a wee way up into the tree. It has statues of the Mother in her aspects, and pretty pictures on the walls. The crone, the maiden and the mother. There are 2 exits from the chapel area. 1 on each side of the mother statue. The 1st on the left leads to offices, work spaces etc. They are all empty. We find tracks but of only small critters. The 2nd door leads to what looks like living quarters but this too have been stripped clean. The rooms all have open windows and this far up the tree you get loads of views of tree branches and leave.

The temple area is consecrated to The Mother Goddess, the stairs and the other areas are also consecrated but to the Parthenon. Interesting. We eventually carry on up around the outside of the tree, heading up some more.

We eventually come to a part where the path branches off into more big solid branches leading up and away from the tree trunk. Massive branches. We continue going up. SauRus and Sooty say they lead off to empty quarters that we don't need to go to atm. More branch canopy and vines. We see orchids and other plants that companion grow.

We eventually come to a large platform where we can head either left or right around the tree trunk. We head left around the tree and come through the commercial centre of the emptied city. We travel through this and come to a new platform with a new entry into the tree. This new entry leads to an area consecrated to Mithros. There is a shadow of a curse on the doorway, triggered by desecration, by taking things the info comes back. We headed in.

We come into a different temple area which is consecrated to Mithros. There is an altar with a big sun disc by it. There are doors with possible exits on either side. Both have doors and the doors are closed. We get told that the upstairs is the abandoned living quarters which were used last time you visited here. And we check it out.

And the door leading down leads to the library. We head into the library. There are shelves of scrolls and books. A big table near the entrance looks like a space to set and read. There are several books stacks up on the table. SauRus and Sooty recognize them as the books their groups retrieved from Frigadea in an earlier job. They have black silk ribbons being used as bookmarks, which weren't there last time they saw the book. Perhaps the dragon they got the books for has been reading them and this bits are good. Or they could lead up to something else. These books are written in Draconic, which Starflower can read. She translates that the books are titled Journals 1, 3, 4. She also looks at some of the book marks and translates some of those pages.

One of the pages she translates talked about the writer traveling with a Guardian. They travel and talk and she's written this down and it's been marked. Grendal has this magical pen which can record all that Starflower is saying out loud and the pen writes down what she's saying into Rieckspeil(sp?)

We have dinner, prepare for sleeping at the top of the tree to see if we can learn anything about stuff, and so Sooty can see if he can get in touch with the dragon who was reading the books. Sooty, Grendal and Starflower will sleep to seek information. The rest of us will stay away and on watch. We use fire walking to climb over the barriers that SauRus and Sooty's group put up to stop the wandering cats and snakes. We head up the tree to the dream kin's temple. I put my amulet of amethyst onto Borage cause he's bound to need a nap and I don't want him to be scared or have nightmares.

Session Eleven:

15 of Frost (cont) evening - Iska - Dream King temple We head up the tree, 3 dreaming and 3 watching.

Sooty (bothering a dragon) got an engaged signal. Starflower was asking where in the library she would find information got an image of a particular corner of the library. Grendal asked about where the next source of information on Frigadea could be found got a blocked/fuzzy can't get to it reply.

So after an odd night we head back to the library where some of us sleep and others begin the search. With the library all in Eldarin which most of us can't read it's a little tricky. Grendal knows a wee bit, and there were the journals on the main table in Draconic.

Starflower investigates the corner from her vision and find a collection of odds and ends books in other languages. A curio collection we guess. There are some dwarven books on mining, some orc books on cooking humanoids, draconic poetry and at least 1 book as a translation dictionary which looks like it's to teach Draconic to people who read Eldarin. When the rest of us wake up we all all spend the next 5 days reading, researching and doing what translations we can.

Starflower translates the journal part where the book marks are, and we make copies of these. Grendal studies the magic college books, Phaeton looks for books with diagrams of the night sky in them, I study the dwarven books and look/copy some of the recognisable bits in some of the beast books, and SauRus also studies the dwarven books. Sooty gets Starflower to translate some of the draconic poetry and he continues to try dreaming every night.

At the end of day 21 we pack up, clean up, Phaeton leaves a copy of his starchart maps with the journals, we leave a letter for the dragon and we warpgate back to the city to our rented house. And collapse in a heap and sleep the night.

22 of Frost We revisit the scribes at the library that we set investigating our key words. Some real and some random words. Rainbow: nothing new was discovered, just reinforcement of the info we had. Kormath: Guardian of the old place, same information we knew. Servants of the Gods: same information we knew. Guardians: Shadowwalker, Taimora, (fred), (bob) Taimora: elf, guardian across the sea to the east. And the random names, Kazeem: nothing. Parsnip: vege to the north good for stews.

As thanks for the work we offer the old head scribe a chance to have his eyes and joints mended and he accepts. We arrange for him to visit us in our town house the next day.

As per our other visits we do the rounds and visit the other temples. When we visit the Mother temple we notice the same watchers still there. We buy a pile of fresh food and stuff and the market and head back to the house.

23 and 24 of Frost We spend the next 2 days healing the scribe. Starflower also shapes a rock like portal looking device and tries to use it to locate the missing portals on Frigadea. The spell works but she gets no reading at all, not even of the portal that we know the location of. She redoes the spell for a portal on this plane and it works fine so we discuss the possibility that the barrier around Frigadea could be blocking the spell and for her to have another try when we go back to Frigadea. Maybe this is also what blocked Grendal's dreaming.

We discuss options of going to Omega or Frigadea next.

Session Twelve:

25 of Frost - morning - Iska Over breakfast we discuss Omega and reread Livingstone's notes on Omega and it's portals. We pack up, and travel to the moorish portal, and then prepare for the worst and head through the portal.

It is pre-dawn when we arrive. It's another square box portal, not warded around the portal. Some viewing crystals are used to look around and Starflower begins mapping what she can see. There are mountains to the south, east and west of here. To the north is a forest and valley. The valley is mist-covered. There are rivers coming down from the mountains which head to/through the valley area. It's currently covered in mists.

We decide to look around and go for a work into the valley's direction. Wasting some hours before the mists clear so we can have a better look. We stop and do some more mapping. Starflower spots some villages along the banks of the big river that winds through the valley. Villages on one side of the river have walls and fortification. The villages on the other side don't.

We decide to approach the closest vollage and wild fire through the jungle to get there. We stop at the outer edge of the clearing of the village and walk towards the entry gates. We meet up with some guards at the gate and we try to communicate with them. Firstly in common, and elvish. They don't seem to understand. We try trader, moorish, elf. Eventually some chainmailed guards/knights turn up. He tries to talk in his language which we think is some sort of giant. Eventually they call on someone and a dwarf gets thrust at us. His touch is the same as hours so we converse with the business about trading.

The dwarf tells us he's from north of here and comes to trade with the people of this village metal/weapons for wood. He also mends things while he's here. We get him to be a translator for us fora while since we can't speak to them. Grendel turns his merchant cap on and dicovers they hunt bear from time to time. And they have a fur from the largest creature ever. They have 3 bear skins that he's interested in. We barter and trade for the furs and I trade beads and braid and other related things.

We eventually run out of questions and things to trade. We chat to the dwarf some more. "No elfs here", dwarf never seen any. The dwarves have homes in the mountains. He mentioned giants, ogres, fae in the forests, goblins,. There are several dwarf groups in the mountains trading in metals, glass and other high end tradeable goods. The village of humans primative, no written language. Purhaps these are from Frigadea but we would need more information about them. We discuss gods and where the humans came from wth the dwarf while trading. Grendal gets 2 of the bear rugs and other furs of interest.

We fly back to the portal, and after another brief pause while Phaeton re-views the stars, we prep and head through the portal to the next Omega location. We arrive lunchtime in a spring/summer climate. Another square stone portal, area around portal isn't warded. It's forest again. A mixture of woods similiar to last portal. North, west and east are forests. South is mountains. While observing the area through crystal balls it's noticed that there are some beaver lakes in the forest areas. Not huge ones, but some.

Starflower searches for humanoids with her seeking skills, and finds some humanoids off into the forest... we figure fae and don't go looking.

We then portal again and end up in a rocky desert, half way up a mountain. More mountains around. It's another stone portal with no warding around it. It's hot and tropical and late evening here when we arrive. Phaeton sets up and does readings. We search the immediate area for danger. Spot tracks of goats, camels and lizards but there doesn't appear to be anyone around here.

Session Thirteen:

25 of Frost - late in the day - Omega We went through a stone portal. Portal was intact, area not warded. Scrubby grass area, windborn, open and night time somewhere in the tropics. We do our usual testing before leaving the portal and find no undead and no minds close by. There are mountains nearby, and one is hot/volcanic about 70 miles north east of here. Is seems wastelands are around the portal area.

We make camp while Phaeton maps the stars, sleep and night passes.

26 Frost - Omega We map around the portal in the morning light. Grasslands on the other sides of the mountains.

We then portal back to Sol to the Nomads portal.

We make with the flying to the ring portal - in a mountain - we fly towards the mountains some more, going around the side of the mountains. We land on a ledge in the mountains and walk through a portal into a desert on Thar.

Portal area is stones, piles of stones (the east one) it's a doorway portal, on a different portal system to the others we have been exploring. We explore the other side. It has a ward around it for fires larger than camp fires, to extinguish them. Obviously to help against large scrub fires. It is rather desolate here. We then continue to flying, west wards this time to another portal which has a similiar ward around it and through the portal is Frigdea.

This portal on Thar leads to the Ruin City on Frigadea. The ruined city where the hordes of undead where that chased Sau Rus and Sooty last time they were here ste.. borrowing the journals. Plan is to travel through so Grendal can get a visual of the area for a future visits or as a get away location on Frigadea if things get sticky. So plan is to pop in, view and pop back.

We pop through, portal still works, we end up in a cold, windy windswept ruin city. SauRus checks for undead but doesn't notice any in close distances. The portal comes out in a paves square about 300 ft across. It's a ring portal with ramps leading to it. And there is cross roads of a sort. A bit north/south road, and a west/east road. It's cold and gray and unpleasant. We stick around while Grendal does his special view thing, and we pop back to Thar. Success :)

We then fly back to the other oasis portal on That, pop back through to Sol and fly back to the Nomad's portal on Sol. Then through that portal to another of Sol'd spots, so we can travel back to the usual Frigadea portal.

Sorrty DA's the nomad's portal about repairing the smashed runes on the portal. Gets no answer. We make camp, Starflower's teapot steals tea leaves from somewhere local and makes actual tea... I'm still not drinking from that thing...

27th day of Frost - Sol at Nomad's camp. We prepare for going to Frigadea, a new portal location. We then use the portal to Sol/desert and then to Frigadea with the crescent symbol. It works. We end up on Frigadea. It's plains, mid morning, the portal isn't warded. It's a box shape, all intact. Dry, cold and grey day. At a distance we can see a building of somesort. Farmhouse we think. We check for undead and sentients in the area, get nothing. Borage can't smell anything either completely devoid of smells. We check for tracks, none. So we go to investigate the building. It's empty. Starflower uses her "find" ability and tries to locate portals... gets the one we came through. Using a map and the symbols for portals we know are supposed to be here she checks each symbol in turn. Gets no response for the person looking symbol or the horned head symbol. The X symbol gets a yes ping on the very edge of the map. No-where near thye other portals. Not sure how accurate this ability is though but something to look into with a future party.

Sooty reads the history of the soot from the chimney in the house, gets images of large white hairy creatures moving around, about a dozen camping when the soot was applied to the chimney.

Starflower also searches for Kormath, gets no answer.

So we wrap up what we find there, head back through the portal to the cavern on Frigadea and finish the star mapping for Phaeton. We discuss home options. Starflower and Phaeton will head back to Alusia, Saurus and Sooty back to talk to the librarians, Grendal to Rue and me back to the Nomads for a wee while. I would like to try and learn their language. Might make researching their history a bit more easier. And I'll catch a lift back with Grendal when he heads to the Guild meeting. Loads to think about for the future.

Quotes

Sau Rus - "Phaeton took subtlty lessons from Mebh" (Note. I was riding a unicorn. Starflower and Grendel were on war rhinos)

Phaeton - "That's the worst case of dandruff I've ever seen" (after Sooty backfired and ash was raining on him) "

Sooty - "He's my necromancer. Not letting the evil mind mage have my necromancer" when referring to Sau Rus who was knocked out after back firing a spell and turning to the dark side...

Starflower's definition of apprentice scribes - "Scribblings"

Calendar

Winter: Frost 812 (7)
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday	Sunday
		Samhain	1	Guild Meeting	2	Travel to Sol	3		4		5	6
	7		8		9		10		11		12	13
	14		15		16		17		18		19	20
	21		22		23		24		25		26	27
	28		29		30		1		2		3	4
Winter: Snow 812 (8)
	5		6		7		8		9		10	11
	12		13		14		15	Solstice	16		17	18	Yuletide
	19	Days of Chaos	20		21		22		23		24	25
	26		27		28		29		30	Twelth Night	1	2
Winter: Ice 812 (9)
	3		4		5		6	First Plough	7		8	9
	10		11		12		13		14		15	16
	17		18		19		20		21		22	23
	24		25		26		27		28		29	30