O' give me a home

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Summary

Adventure: Ogre: give me a home
GM: Stephen
Season: Spring 822 wk
Night: Monday, starting 19th Sept.
Location: New Windsor
Level: High+

Party
  1. Bromli - Dwarven Fighter/Namer - played by Nick
  2. Serendipity - Elven Dark Mage - played by Lisa (scribe)
  3. Lila - Human Celestial/Air - played by Kelsie
  4. Keshah - Elven Rune Mage - played by Mike Haycock (military scientist)
Employer
Yarag of Klikeg
Mission
Our 3 main requests are:
  1. Find our people a new home
  2. Find us a new god so we can be lucky like you
  3. Help all of our people get there
  4. Don't let the confederation know where we have gone
Pay
Money, Potions, Potion Lore

Ref. The Hero's Quintet

Scribe Notes

Mission Briefing

Portals from Tower have been closed, no contact. Mirandelle is the mage who is draining the Ogre's world to get ours stable. From SwordWorld Confederation, generally unpopular. Bromli previously has fought these ogres.

Looking for us to repair their world but that may not work, so looking for a new home with gods they can be blessed by. They do not want to fight any more, unless they choose to. Would like coastline, rich jungle, fields or land which can be cleared, hills for hunting. Don't want troublesome neighbours or to drive other residents out. Gods - good ones who are powerful and will bless them. Legend says that they had evil gods and the Confederation freed them. In return, they offer their service endlessly as the Federation wishes to kill all the gods.

<50 people here on Aleusia, 10,000-12,000 back home plus their allies - orcs and goblins allied on their world, approx 20,000 of them.

Considering Terror Nova as a possible resettlement site. Kesha is going to research Orcish gods from Aleusia. Possible ogre worlds. Possible areas to resettle. Agree to recruit junior librarian to assist Kesha. Possibly Delph or lands to west of Mungodia? Decide to take him on a trip around the countryside.

Travelling South

We portal to Arabie. They aren't happy about our weapons and armour, so Kesha and Lila consult a mapseller while Bromli, Yarag and I amuse the other half of the guardsmen.

Kesha "We'll buy his map. And we'll buy a blank map." Lila "A piece of paper then?"

Yarag is a good flyer - he is a shock trooper - he normally gets dropped from 1000 feet and his armour absorbs the impact.

Desert

Overnight camp about 40ish miles south of Arabie. Disturbed by mega monster fight club - oversize gryphon (ears webbed with 3 spikes coming out of them - a bit more like a fin than an ear, somewhat aquatic; face shape a little different from normal and colouration is desert browns, a bit more leopard than lion) plus a "serpopard" (leopard/serpent. Leopard head with giant fangs; scales on its chest and neck long and snakelike and strikes like a cobra, plus a long serpentine tail with a barb on the end). Surrounded by normal sized versions of these creatures who are cheering them on. 50' wingspan on the gryphon and bodies are about 20' long.

A bird turns to us and says that we should not be there "Mortals should not watch the gods fight. It means death." The bird is a nightjay, DAs as long-lived sentient, strongest magic is doom. These are more avatars than gods, representing their peoples. They are fighting for control of the mountains. We leave before any dooms can be pronounced.

Large arid area, signs of drake fire as we fly. We identify it as a dangerous place to fly generally, but feel safer as it's night. Heading out of foothills into broken mountains which go up high. Flying through the valleys between the mountains which are bare of snow despite being 10-20,000' high.

Savannah

We head somewhat southwest towards the coast a couple of hundred miles across grassy plains. Notice villages every now and again but cannot determine what they are occupied by, although look somewhat human sized and perhaps a little primitive. We decide to rest in one of the abandoned villages. The village has a shallow well with no water at the moment. About a dozen dwellings - houses are thatched circular huts. Has been left in an orderly state - we assume nomadic peoples who occupy different villages at different times. We camp for a few hours in the copse and when we wake up, the well is full. Seems to be perfectly normal non-magical water.

Jungle

We fly in the heat of the day for about 60 miles and the savannah suddenly gives way to jungle. It is much more humid. We decide to skirt the edge of the jungle looking for a river as a good place to land and take off from. We bash through the jungle - minor small irritations but not issues for us. Camp for a while and it pours with rain. We head back out through the same path and then fly across towards the coast. Yarag likes the jungle, thinks it would do but would like some coastal area. Concerningly he mentions a spot for the confederation vessels to dock.

Swamp

We fly another 200 or so miles from the jungle and come to a river delta. Swampy land, alligators, snakes etc and Yarag doesn't like the area, not for them. We land in the edges of the swamp. Lila's elephant enjoys the mud. We continue to head south and east towards the coast. The swamp area is vast 400 miles or so across - more lizards as we get further east, and maybe a halfling village. We fly for 5 hours more with little significant change although the bay is getting deeper. We look for a beach or sandy inlet to land and camp. Lots of biting insects but again they don't bother us too much. Camp for the night on an inlet.

Beach

Fly pretty much due east. Come to more beach-like neighbourhood with jungle to the north. We can see masts ahead so cautiously investigate. There is a watch post, so these people are somewhat organised and careful. We remove wings and proceed with caution. Guards are speaking in Destinian. There is a full galleon anchored in the bay flying Destinian flags. A few smaller boats around. Some sort of trade going on - bundles being passed to and from the boats to the galleon. Looks like people from the swamp a bit to the west are trading here. This is a good harbour space with a river flowing down into the bay. Semi-permanent camp near to the stream; longer term shelters. Looks like it's used somewhat frequently.

We decide to talk to the guards. We successfully capture one but alert the trading party. We fly with our captive and are pursued by someone on wind walk. We head inland (due north), pursued by a Destinian ship. They fire a bolt of something at us which bursts and doesn't do much damage but causes us to be unable to draw mana. We land and question our prisoner. They trade all sorts of things with the humans and halflings but not the lizard people in the swamp. No goblinoids. Further east are the haunted cities - you go too far inland or away from the coast, but the ghosts drive you mad. There are reputed to be cities with gold in them, but those who have sought them return mad, if at all. An island appeared a decade ago inhabited by mad people with mad gods. Hindia is further to the east. South following the coast there is jungle for hundreds and hundreds of miles. There are mountains which have had their tops cut off which stick up out of the jungles. Many scouts have had a look but only some have returned. The nomadic tribes people say this is the land of the gods. These are dangerous gods, not friendly, and their worshippers go mad. Much further to the south near the end of the jungle, there is one of these mountain tops with a colony of mad elves living on it. No interest in trade or the outside world, happy to talk, but they are mad and worship the mad gods.

We discuss what to do and may mention that we are looking for a place for an army of ogres, then realise we haven't checked which other languages the guard speaks. Turns out common is one of his languages and he has understood everything, so instead of letting him go, we kill him.

A philosophical discussion around gods and beliefs arises. We talk, then fly back west only to find that the Destinian ship has travelled all the way up the inlet in the swamp. We fly a further 200 miles south and camp near the coast.

Lila goes up in a cloud to see more from above. We lose her temporarily. There is some flying, landing, splashing, boating, raining. We find a large inlet with a few villages but steep cliffs so not suitable for settling. We continue on towards the...

Tepuis

The first tepui we come to has pillars set up on the top of it. Pillars are 10' across and their aura is magical, nature of the magic = gateway. Other magic over the top is "border". Lila experiments by throwing coins across the border magic. They are torn apart by interdimensional forces but a partial coin flips back at her and sticks between her eyes. Bromli tosses a silver coin through the gateway and it disappears partway through.

We decide to go through the portal. We appear on the far side in a kind of damp swampland, not much undergrowth, tall trees. We are in minimal clothing with none of our stuff. Feels like high mana. Spells and talents can be used but some magic has been removed from us (e.g. my shadowform/ strength of darkness) and we can't access items that we would normally pull from other dimensions. No ranger bump of direction, and when I scratch an arrow in the ground to indicate where we came from, it disappears after a few minutes. Bromli divinates the place - our initial guess is it is a pocket plane of some sort. Kesha ESPs and there is around us a vast presence/ being.

We walk back the way we came and come out with our gear as normal. Our spells' durations have gone down by an hour. We move to the next pair of pillars and walk through to see what happens. We are on the top of the tepui which is exactly as we can see - it hasn't taken us through to the pocket plane. We run a few tests and it seems we are still on Aleusia. We progress across the top of the tepui and find a lot of interesting herbs. Kesha would like to spend some time with the herbs, but instead we gather a random sackful of plant matter. We walk until late afternoon and are considering camping when we come across a large hole in the middle of the tepui - about a mile across and roughly circular. Disappears down into darkness - sides not easily climbable.

Lila brings out one of her ravens who flies down for a couple of pulses then comes back saying it's weird down there. Makes his feathers stand on end. He does give us much information about what's down there. Bromli tries divinating himself - nothing he wouldn't expect to see, seems normal. He then does an ancient divination and discovers that 6 or 7 hours ago, there's a blank patch in the magical history. It's like nothing happened in that time. Kesha hypothesises that our avatar selves may have been in the pocket portal while we were physically here still.

We copse for the night after a hot meal. About midnight, Bromli observes a chill coming from the hole. Something seems to be flowing into the hole, but it is not coming from us. Bromli wakes us up. We agree he will divinate it (carefully, roped to one of us and sitting on Kesha's cushion). About a minute into the the divination, the flow stops. We think that it is sucking the souls of living beings who have died into the hole. Misty portions of multiple different auras/ people moving at reasonable speed. Went on for a couple of minutes.

I summon a Darkness Elemental. A spiky type arrives. We send it down to the hole with instructions to come back if there's anything interesting. After about 2 minutes, a bolt of darkness appears out of the hole, and my connection with the elemental is severed. We then try using a crystal of vision to see what we can in the hole. We have much less vision than we would expect to have - burning branch disappears quickly. We jump down we think 900' and all is blackness. We move the crystal back up again and then jump it around where we can see. We spot a path in the wall and follow it as far as we can, but all we can determine is that there is a path leading downwards - a narrow rock ledge 3-4' wide. Kesha makes his boat and floats it around looking for the start of the path. When the boat goes too far over the hole, it tips alarmingly.

Pretty much due south, there is a feature - a shallow cut. A circle about 19' across that slightly overlaps the edge - potentially a giant dark sphere or something like that. There is a 19' hole going almost straight down, mirroring the large hole in many ways. It's very quiet and still when we lean over the little hole - nothing from outside, very muted noises. When we throw a lighted branch in, it goes down to what we think is a bottom, and although it's darker quicker, it seems more normal than the large hole.

We decide that this tepui is not suitable for the trolls and we have investigated sufficiently. We will move on to the next tepui.

Jungle Travel

We fly in the boat above the trees until we are approached by a flying serpent - brown/green snake-like creature with wings, about 40' long and fast. DAs as an avatar of the Great Jungle Serpent God and strongest magic is its inherent serpentness. It is interested in us but only attacks us when we get close to it. We fly away at speed.

Tepui #2 Melimashitani, the place of devils

Taller, with jagged sides. Darker, spikier rock with bits which appear to have flaked off. The south eastern edge has a huge flow of water going off the edge of it. Plunges 1800' straight down. Flying over the top, about 10 miles across - the water volume seems too great for this area. Covered with the same black rock (obsidian) including spikes up to 50' tall. No obvious plant life and a rotten egg smell. We hypothesise volcanic or hell. We check for magic zones using rocks and DA. Kesha and Lila land, observing that there is a flattish area caused by something landing here. Kesha identifies rock as a form of obsidian however it has been shaped by maleficence. Does not look naturally shaped and formed. The stream smells of brimstone. Lila uses her alchemical skills to investigate and takes a sample of the liquid and crystals and a few other bits and pieces. Cleans the blades and tongs she is using.

Rains again the afternoon but not as heavily as previously so the wings keep working. Follow the creek which goes from the waterfall. Vegetation is stunted to either side of the river; goes all the way to the ocean and is poisonous all the way. Wider area of beach where sand is yellow from the brimstone and nothing growing. Lila acquires some crystals and confirms it is infernal brimstone rather than natural - could be refined into refined brimstone which could be used to make interplanar portals. Needs a few pounds to make something out of. We head further down the coast to a more friendly environment to camp with the resolve to gather more crystals in the morning. Good place to mine sulphur but not good for collecting brimstone. We leave a rune stick for a quick hop back. We head back up to the top of the Tepui, land safely and harvest some crystals - checking first to ensure they're not living. Make sure they're dry first before storing them in the chest. Spend about 3 hours, collect approx 10lbs of crystals for later use.

Coastal settlements

Lots of small villages and boats out in the ocean as we progress west and south. There's a large river coming down to meet the ocean. River is trending west. Wide and slow moving, fairly well-inhabited by dark-skinned humans and halflings or pygmies - villages every 5-10 miles apart on both banks. Easily navigable river but too populous for resettling Yarag's people. Some elven types, similarly dressed in minimal clothing. We land to talk - in the river and move towards the elf. Heavily accented elvish. The elf confirms:

  • Treasure and lost Cities are just stories. We will not find these.
  • If we are here for the leaves, they do not do that kind of trade. The leaves make people happy and forget to live so they waste away and die.
  • There is no room for 30,000 in these lands. They could go in the middle of this part of the land. There are special places in the middle that not many go to. If the tribe is respectful they could get their water from there not from the rivers. Water places, not mountains.
  • These lands are dangerous for our tribe. Dangers are the plants, the animals, the spirits, the ground.
  • Melimamawangu - place of many blessings. Pilgrims visit there. Pure blessed ones may seek blessings there. Someone who has appeased the land spirits. All land is connected and a wise person lives with and works with the cycles of the spirits and the balance of the land.
  • Most tepui are special places.
  • South there is the mountain of the crazy ones - they share ancestry with this one we are speaking with.
  • South of the crazy ones are the fey - little magical flying ones. They are tricksy and hard to deal with - best to not.
  • Common tongue is limited here.
  • Far west near the mountains and the other sea are green folk like goblins.

The Blessed River - Metouliobarekiwa

We find an excellent camping spot and there are interesting herbs and plants. Foraging is easy.

The tepui in the lake

A gentler tepui with a winding pilgrim's path in the middle of the lake. The land in the middle is about 2 miles across at the bottom, about a mile at the top. We fly across and land on the island at the bottom of the trail. Footprints don't stay in the sand. Took us 10 minutes to fly across what seems like 100 yards. We believe we've slightly shifted planes, although we are still on Aleusia. Lila lets her dogs out - they play for a bit but then don't like it - they say they're not from here. This is someone else's territory. We decide to take the trail - follow the rules and pattern as much as possible. Bromli is very well behaved and in full agreement with this plan.

We walk all day, but feel less tired than expected, so we continue walking all night. As the sun comes up, we realise we've completed one loop. We counted a few dozen loops. Our duration magics expired when we expected them to. Yarag asks why we keep stopping and looking around and we realise we've been distracted by the magics here. We decide to go back down, but Yarag will continue on as he seems to have been accepted here. We travel back down in 2 hours and notice that Yarag has slowed down a little. We camp and wait. Kesha begins the work of a permanent portal. Lila drinks the water; it's clear and sweet and has no aura. There is some philosophical discussion about whether we should be doing this at all. After a week, he returns. It was OK but weird. He got bored. He's going to send one of his wise ones to talk to them when they settle.

We decide to follow the river beyond the tepui inland. The river has become a more normal jungle river. There are minimal people, although we see occasional signs of life. This has been occupied at some points in time, but mostly overgrown by jungle. We investigate some stonework - there is a cursed space! About 400' across, nature of the magic is doom. Kesha's ESP picks up half a dozen minds about 200' in who have been there 50,000 years - ancient ruins and minds. Eldaran writing - theme is for heinous crimes and unspeakable acts, ye shall be bound here until the end of days. Let none disturb. We should stay well clear of this place.

Fly on. The river branches a bit more as we go westerly. Lots of tributaries and there is more spread. The land is gradually rising as we head inland. We choose to follow westward as much as possible. Yarag agrees that there is potential in this area but we need to do more scouting on the ground. We spend a half day checking out this area and then will head further westward to see if we can find the place which the elf was talking about. Overnight, Bromli lets us know about lights in the swamp. We decide these are will o the wisps and we should stay away from them. A couple of hours later, Bromli advises us of spirits moving around to the north of us. Kesha reckons they are the ghosts of those lured into the swamp by the lights.

Places and People

Loot

Mil Sci

Watch Order
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
? ? ? ?
? ? ?


Skirmish Formations (Front)
Default

1 2
3 4
5 6

Double File

1 2
3 4
5 6

Single File

1
2
3
4
5
6

Buffs

'A = Always on.

Long Term

Long Term (assumed always on)
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Br Li Se Ke
Shadowform (Se) 20 +42 def melee, ranged; +21 def close 10.5 hrs
Rune Armour (Ke) 20 +25% Def +5 AP 1 SG 10.5 hrs
Willow Healing (Ke) 8 3 EN per pulse x 9 pulses 16 Hrs
Greater Heart Rune (Ke) 20 heals 13 EN 21 days
Smite (Ke) 20 Resist or D+21, knocked prone, stunned 21 h
Rune of Truth (Ke) 13 PC + 26 + Greater % to spot illusions/hidden/disguised 14 Hrs
Fire Armour (L+) 10 44 ablative fire protection 11 Hrs
Fireproofing (L+) 10 Fireproofing 11 Hrs
spell (caster)

Short Term

Short Term - Cast as Needed
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Br Li Se Ke
Strength of Darkness (Se) 19 +11 PS 200 min
Feather Falling (Li) 6 Fall no more than 5'/pulse 5.5 hrs
Shadow Wings (Se) 10 40 mph, 220 miles range 5.5 hrs
Witchsight (Se) 15 8 hours
Lightning Strike (Li) 5 [D-4]+7, save for 1/2 5hrs
Barrier of Wind (Li) 4 20 def vs missiles, 15 in melee or close 150mins
Walking Unseen(Li) 6 7 hrs
Rune Weapon (Ke) 20 +[D-5]+7 Acid dam x D pulses 25 mins
Darkness (Se) 25 Lots of darkness for quite a while

Senses

Ambush/danger senses/skills/magic
Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Br Li Se Ke
Sense Danger %
Ranger Detect Ambush % Base %, -5*OppRk, SpecArea +6%

Misc Buffs

Lila lucky number = 10

Mil Sci Raise Morale
+0 WP

Calendar

Spring: Thaw 822 (10)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Candlemansa 1 Guild Meeting 2 Research and planning 3 Portals to Arabie 4 Mega monster fight club 5 Savannah 6 Jungle
7 Swamp 8 Beach 9 Tepui 10 Tepui #2 and coastal villages 11 The Blessed River 12 The Tepui in the Lake 13 TITL
14 TITL 15 TITL 16 TITL 17 TITL 18 TITL 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
Spring: Seedtime 822 (11)
5 6 7 8 Rites of Thunor 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 Equinox 16 17 Eostre 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 1 2
Spring: Blossom 822 (12)
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 Floralia 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Walpurgisnacht