Where Angels Fear to Tread

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This adventure will start on Alusia but will involve travel to The Lands of Chaos & Tanuel.At least one Ranger is required, and this would suit an adventurer who wanted to advance that Skill to Rank 8, 9, or 10. In addition, someone who can enter the Astral Plane and take others with them would be very useful.
Treaure will be distributed using the Loot Auction convention.
Some of the information here may be of use.

Summary

Adventure: Where Angels Fear to Tread
GM: Jim Arona
Session: Autumn 810wk
Night: Monday
Location Mangere/Albany
Level: High
Party:

  • Clementine Hobbit shapeshifter Bear and part-time Air Mage (Party Leader)
  • Starflower Elven/Drake Mind Mage (Military Scientist/Scribe)
  • Grendel Human Mind/Water Mage in elvish chain (First alternate Military Scientist)
  • Basalic Human male with greyish skin Earth Mage/Warrior
  • Eric the Dwarf (former Orc) Namer/Fighter/Alchemist - short and round with permanent helmet hair
  • Villa Human E&E rogue – non-combatant (withdrew injured)
  • Merco Hobbit Mind Mage - a replacement (withdrew but returned)
  • Erszabet Human Namer (withdrew confused)

Employer:
Guild Security (Division U)
Division U agrees to pay each member of the party two groats and to relieve them of their obligation to pay Guild Taxes for this season.

Scribe Notes

Synopsis

We travelled to the House Kerberoth on the Plane of Tanuel via the Astral and the Abyss. We learned that the problem was that certain entities were attempting to increase the level of certainty in the Planes of Chaos. One of these was The Lord of Similarities. We travelled on to House Tintagel, via the Ruins of the Sphinx, and killing sundry monsters including a Sand Dragon. On further exploring the Ruins of the Sphinx, and finding a Well of Life, we encountered a Basilisk, a naga, and Mister Wulf from the plane of Reich, and beat a retreat, heading on for House Tintagel. The Basilisk was a servant of The Lord of Serpents, indicating that he was also involved. After we told the Castellan of House Tintagel about the Well, he insisted in checking it out, so we returned to the Ruins of the Sphinx, and were pummeled by Mister Wulf and company together with some elementals, and were lucky to escape. We soon learned that the Well was a fake. When we got back we learned that the House Artifact of Tintagel, the Klepsydra, had been stolen. We tracked the thief, a Medeanite dancer named Jocasta down in the desert beyond Tintagel, called the Sands of Time, killed her, and retrieved the Klepsydra and the Calculus of Change. Shortly after this, we were told that we could not return to the Chaos Lands through House Tintagel because a Trackless Waste now blocked the way. This forced us to return the long way across the desert to Dioscura, the City of Hidden Gods, across (and under) the Midnight Sea, through the Seven Kingdoms, and back into the Chaos Lands through the Heights of Chaos. Under the Midnight Sea, we found a portal which led to a Middlemarch (a miniature plane) called Oubliette, where we freed an Immortal named Mark, who is Death's Champion. We reached the Heights of Chaos, and found a route through the Chaos Lands to House Kerberoth. There we learned that the Trackless Waste surrounded House Tintagel, and that the House was now under siege. We figured out a way to use the Klepsydra to fix time in the Trackless Waste so that we could cross it. When we reached House Tintagel, we found it was being bombed by fire angels from above, while Mister Wulf, the Basilisk and company were attacking the gates. We summoned Mark, and he took them down in a very brief time - except the Basilisk who somehow teleported away (which also caused the Trackless waste to decay, indicated he had created it). We entered House Tintagel, and returned the Klepsydra to the Castellan. He feared that there a traitor in the House, and asked us to protect the Klepsydra. We placed it in a crate inside an ice construction in a room in the barracks. It was attacked, but we defeated the attackers, in the process learning that the third Demon involved was Berith, the Savage Duke. The Lord of Similarities then attempted an attack on House Tintagel, which was foiled when we destroyed two of the Annis hags that he was intending to use to create a Gate to bring through his army. That done, and after learning that the Lord of Similarities had been cloning demons of the Abyss, resulting in genera of demons and therefore less uncertainty in the Abyss, we returned to the Guild.

Session 1

After the Guild Meeting, we got together in the Refectory where we met a short round fellow who told us to call him “Mr Classified”. He led us to the “Ready Room”, along a complex path, taking thirty minutes to get there. Villa checked the door for traps, and announced that it was safe. “Mr Classified” tore the door open and tossed an alchemical fire thing at the ceiling, at the same time calling out, “All right, Kang, you cunning oriental fiend!” He sat us down around a table. And then Kang appeared, carrying a tray.

As we took refreshments, “Mr Classified” began to explain that unexplained alterations were happening on the Plane of Tanuel – in particular in the Chaos Realms. There was a change in the degree of randomness – things were becoming less uncertain and the level of certainty was rising. Their plan was to send some adventurers, namely our party, to the Abyss through the Astral, thence to Chaos. To illustrate this he displayed a very basic map. He went on to explain that in Chaos we would use our route-finding skills (fortunately I am a Master Ranger). Our route would be true for us. The danger would be that if one became lost in Chaos, one might never find the way out. We would rendezvous at the market festival at Kerberoth in two weeks time, where we would meet Lord Tirwh the Chaos Lord, Head of House Kerberoth. If we were caught, the Guild would disavow our actions - we should indicate we were from Tac. We were given two scrolls made by Princess Isil-Ith that would enable us to travel to the Astral and also given the opportunity to purchase three potions of Tincture of Aconite and Passionflower each. Our official employer would be the guild’s Division U, and our payment was simply that we would not be taxed.

We were led out to the courtyard, and were given two groats each as a token payment. Clementine and Grendel read the scrolls and we found ourselves on the astral. The guild buildings were somewhat mistily visible. Since we knew that intent would take us where we needed to go, we set forth, with great intent, to the Abyss.

And so, after an hour, we came to a precipitous drop, at least a mile down. This was the Abyss. Those who could, shape-changed to flying forms, Villa used a sort of massive telekinesis on himself, and Clementine cast feather-fall on Basalic and Grendel. However, that was so slow, I ended up ferrying them down. Below us was dry and stony ground. The light was red, emanating from a large crack in the sky. Creatures were backlit by the crack as they flew across it.

As we landed, we could see a strange wobble on the horizon which turned into a hoard of weird creatures, some long-legged, some flying, and even a huge red rolling thing. Some of them looked mechanised. They moved past, and we saw that the rolling thing had big spiky blades inside. Basalic cast some walls as a defensive position just in case, but we decided not to attack and let them pass. ESP told me they were afraid… very afraid so we rapidly concluded that running from whatever they were running from was a GOOD idea.

Basalic cast strength on me so I could carry him more easily, and Eric gave Grendel something to turn him into a cheetah then we ran for it. As we fled, we could see what looked like a rainbow gone mad. A Chaos Wind someone determined.

   Clementine – “Never leave home without your Celestial”.

The wind flowed through the valley, tearing creatures apart, and was fully half a mile high! So we all took to the air and tried to climb as rapidly as possible. Then, above us, we saw an immense silver dragon carrying an apparently human woman performing some kind of ritual towards the wind. Perhaps she was controlling the Wind of Chaos, perhaps not… Her stern expression reminded me of Lady Liessa. We decided not to annoy her. However she spied us as we attempted to climb over the rainbow Wind of Chaos. She sent another wind over to investigate, and I suppose it must have pronounced us harmless because it went away. After some minutes she appeared to complete the ritual and the rainbow wind dispersed. She landed and collected bits of broken demon. We collected some samples too… but carefully, and out of her sight.

We carried on through the Abyss, seeing many strange and disquieting things, and making a point of avoiding them. We suffered from neither hunger nor thirst, though we did become tired and had to rest. Eventually, after a couple of weeks, we found ourselves somewhere. We saw ahead a steep hill leading to a mesa, before which stood a huge orichalcum arch, covered with magical writing. There was a garrison there, of big devilish chaps with really big weapons. Beyond the arch, a path snaked up the hill. Clementine smelled green and uncertainty on the air. We started to go through – Basalic was allowed, though they looked at his legs and remarked that he was crippled. I was stopped, because of my appearance. They sent for someone to check me over and a human-appearing personage with big dogs came down. He looked me over, and then allowed us all to pass.

We headed up the hill, passing pools that smelt green, glowing and uncertain – apparently they would make a person uncertain to the second degree if drunk. Grendel and Eric decided to attempt the alchemist thing and collect some – the glass went all weird and uncertain…

Ahead, we saw a road leading to a large keep. There was bunting along both sides of the road. Inside we met Turf, Naden and Callis of the Guild and shared this information. Turf collected our ITNs – apparently there was considerable benefit to this. We learnt that the woman on the dragon was a Mal'eboniran sorceress bitch, and that I looked like a Mal'eboniran…. And Basalic looked like a Kerberite… Eric pointed out a Tin Soldier, who looked human and whose ability is tinkering. He had marvellous toys for sale – and he was evidently a Binder. Clementine asked many questions about an item she has. He gave her a toy soldier. Abruptly we realised that Villa was missing – and had been missing for some time - nothing new about that. There were many interesting things for sale, but many of them were extremely expensive. Apparently the best place for weapons would be the Silken Bazaar in Hell… as long as you have body parts to exchange in payment. An alchemist had some interesting potions that protect against cold and heat (at a cost = 5000sp for 15 hours, 15 points protection). They have Blank Phylacteries, which are useful spell storage devices. A purple-skinned Mal'eboniran woman offered Grendel lots of coin for his odd metallic eyes. Apparently she was a sorceress named Sensarrimon Whisperlash, specialising in certain curses – mainly of the evil eye variety – and she collected eyes.

Eventually we got to see Lord Tirwh the Chaos Lord – he was talking to a pair of Mal'ebonirans. Next to him was someone who looked human, but had black eyes with purple irises. He addressed him, briefly, as 'Castellan', and this Castellan fellow turned sideways and disappeared.
His lordship is an 8ft tall grey devilish-looking fellow with red glowing eyes, and a rather large weapon. The Mal'beonirans left, and he approached us, changing to a more normal form. He told us of their concerns. They believed that the problem had arisen because something or someone had given the demons of the Abyss generic true names, which had given them partial spirits, and essentially driven them insane. They suspect naming demons might have done this, perhaps the Lord of Similarities. Miss Faversham, the Lady of the Abyss was apparently in a mad decade, when she runs around collecting bits – and these broken spirits might infect her. The woman we saw was the Mistress of the Wind, Acrilym, said to be a decent person. The Mal'ebonirans were trying to use the situation to gain better access to the Abyss. Apparently a group of more than six sentient entities in the Abyss would attract demons, and the Arch protects against this. Lord Tirwh shows us his forms, which were very strange indeed. The demons were made of stuff left over from creation, and cannot be destroyed – the demon parts we had collected were like this, which may be useful in making certain items.

Said demon parts were all traded off for instruction in a variety of useful abilities. I learned to use my shape-change talent more effectively from the Lord Tirwh’s beastmaster. Grendel and Basalic gained useful talents of their own, while Clementine and Eric gained new spells. The Astrologer explained to Grendel that the reason the Mal'eboniran wanted his eyes is that they give him a better chance of noticing pocket planes called Middlemarches that can provide paths through planes. Finding such a path would be extremely valuable. Eric was asked about Ug Bash and explained that he had not seen him for a while. He told more than seemed wise, but it was evident that Eric had little fondness for Ug Bash.

Vila made enquiries about the Lord of Similarities, and learned that he had been followed through the arch. He made himself like those who fought him and then multiplied himself many times. He had passed through the stables and done something to the Hounds. We investigated and Grendel said they looked strange – normally they would be uncertain to the third degree, but now they were struggling to be uncertain to the second degree. When they were able to go uncertain to the third degree they would be almost invulnerable to physical harm, because weapons go past them. The drop between this state and being fully certain is not what it was, so their strength and endurance is reduced, hence their illness. Eric divinated the Hounds. Vila made use of a special crystal ball he had which allowed him to look into the past. He saw the Lord of Similarities and commented that he was only 5 ½ feet tall, looked a bit like Basalic, and was wearing a wand and a belt. He became twelve of him before pointing the wand at the Hounds which shot something greyish at them causing them to collapse to the floor. A group from the garrison attempted to stop him. He changed the wand and shot them down. The Hounds had been darted – with some kind of rare and exotic magical plant poison. We took samples of the Hound’s blood for analysis. Eric bought an itemised house from the tin soldier.

Villa went off alone to investigate the pools. Some hours later, we realised that he was missing. Grendel told us where he was, and we went to investigate. We found him lying comatose with a green crystal ball beside him. Empathy told me his mind was on fire. I eventually cast the right version of my Panacea and delivered him from the madness that was consuming his mind.

Meanwhile, Eric and I analysed the poison in the Hounds’ blood, and confirmed that it was both rare and magical. The Librarian told us that it came from the Scented Jungle, which is sometimes on the way to the Seven Kingdoms. We are told that they want us to go to House Tintagel, there to meet the Castellan who actually runs the place (and Rufio the wizard who is the nominal Chaos Lord of Tintagel). Tintagelites are very tough. They can alter the flow of time, and are capable of shape-shifting in multiple forms. The Scented Jungle might prove to be on the way for us. We should also talk to the Wizard Seranaspes – who has a flying carpet made of angel’s wings.

Session 2

Finally we set forth, intent upon finding a true path to Tintagel. The path was initially dry and stony, but after about eight hours we found ourselves in a gully, leading into dense jungle. There was a strong scent of jasmine and cinnamon. I searched for an herb that increased uncertainly, and found a rather odd plant with leaves that look like flowers and so on. Clementine found a bright orange mushroom called a “flamecap”. Eric said that if ingested it would bring enlightenment. We set camp.

   Eric: It’s a magic mushroom!

On the next day, after five hours walking, we came to the Ford of Sands, where there was a dried-up riverbed, with a rounded tumulus in the middle.

On the day after, after six hours, we came to a pile of jumbled cylindrical rocks, called the Tumbles. Underneath was some odd solid shiny rock. We camped.

Next day we walked for four hours and found ourselves back in the Ford of Sands. Suddenly our danger sense alerted us, and we had incoming attackers. First, a bunch of minotaurs, then, after we get ourselves quickened, and they advanced, three chimaerae appeared from the opposite direction. Eric and I attacked the first of the minotaurs, then Villa slowed them, all but one. Clementine cast thunderclap on the bunch of them, and Basalic set up a protective wall. The chimaerae advanced, and one of them breathed fire on half the party. Clementine cast whirlwind vortex, and then all the critters, which had been focused on Vila, now orientated on Clementine. Eric advanced on one of the big bad chimaera. And then came the third wave – a swarm of a dozen manticores. Eric managed to stick his shortsword into the smallest of the chimearae. It fell. Then they all breathed on us. That HURT. Basalic went down. I changed form… I breathed on the minotaurs and the big chimaera, and it fell to the ground unconscious. Then Villa spotted the incoming sphinx. We soon figured out that she was the ringleader of the bunch, with the other creatures under her control. Eric took down the remaining chimaera. Villa webbed the sphinx and brought her to the ground, and I got one of the manticores with my breath weapon. Then we tangled with the sphinx. She was remarkably hard to hit. Grendel cast a phantasm at her. I breathed on some more manticores. Clementine cast thunder-clap on the sphinx which stunned her, and then Eric and Grendel laid into her.

Somehow Basalic had recovered consciousness and got up, consuming healing potions. At the same time, the sphinx went down and a ball of fire exploded from her! OUCH! The remaining two minotaurs and the last two manticores turned tail and ran. We settled down to constructive healing and looting. She had a device that allowed one to use Binding Will to Bind a fire, and a Dragon-rider brooch. We also collected manticore barbs and suchlike. I had to suspect that this was no random occurrence, but a deliberate ambush. Had somebody back at House Kerberoth had alerted the enemy to our activities? Or had we been spotted on our travels? Or was this simply a case of territorial violation, with a bit of precognition thrown in?

Session 3

We decided to track the manticores in the hope that they came from a somewhere, and that in finding a somewhere, we might get to reset my route finding ability. After around eight hours, we found ourselves at a rather dusty ruin. Inside we found evidence that this was once a grand palace, now fallen on hard times. There was a large open piazza, perhaps forty metres on a side, with stone structures on three sides that were as much as eighteen metres high. To the north were two towering walls. What must have been a highly ornamental gate stood to the east, the direction we had approached from. We found the remains of a garden to the west, with a screw-like device for bringing water. ESP told me that there were a number of animal life forms living here, mostly below, and mostly very frightened. Grendel spotted what must have once been a big dimensional flaw under the gate – and this gate might have been linked to a creature called a Black Annis. We saw some rather small doors leading in. On the gate were faded inscriptions, including many pictures of Sphinxes… so we dubbed the place the Ruins of the Sphinx. This was clearly where the Sphinx and her pets had been lurking. The manticores had been nesting on the roof. In exploring the garden area, we found the Sphinx’s own nest and the rest of her loot. We took some time to let Eric divine it all. And then we found a strange and rather ugly halfling messing with our packs. It proved to be one Merco, a member of the Guild.

   Merco: I got this scroll from Isil Eth … she said it was a party invite!
   Basalic: Yes, to an adventuring party.

He was cooking dinner that evening when I sensed something happening by the gate. Rubble was moving and something was trying to get up from under the gate! Telepathy revealed a large hungry animal. Then it shook off the last of the rubble, and revealed itself to be a Sandwyrm. I sent a phantasm after it, as Clementine thunder-clapped it – which seemed to have little effect as it continued to amble towards us. We set walls and other defences ready. Clementine cast whirlwind vortex at it – and it split apart, producing three whirling towers of sand. And now I sensed that it wasn’t truly hungry, but was under the effect of some kind of post-hypnotic suggestion that was making it feel ravenous. The winds went for Clementine and Basalic… then the dragon reformed around us.

   Starflower: I tower over you guys…
   Eric: That’s why you’re the military scientist, you can see them coming…

It then attacked me… and half-killed me. I cast my panacea at it, in the hope of freeing it from the suasion that was compelling it, but it resisted. So feeling that magic wasn’t working, I changed. Basalic hit it, and Grendel did a TK rage. Then Eric hit it, and Merco hit it hard … and its blood dissolved his main-gauche! It tried to roll on us… we mostly dodged, but it landed up on top of Clementine. Then we attacked it some more. One of my claws went in, and it fell unconscious. Eric divinated it, and learned that its will had been bound very recently within the last day or so, by something which had enormously high willpower and magical aptitude – of demonic order. Its armour was impressive and, after we killed it, Merco skinned it. We also took its eyes, which were like big crystals. We stored everything in Eric’s un-itemised house.

It was more than a day later when we went and checked the hole that the sand dragon had come out of. I sensed many little creatures trying to hide. Eric sniffed gold… newly used and circulated. Clementine sensed magic – earth magic and mind magic… apparently she was scenting a naga.

We headed into the tunnel discovering that it was a long slow curve. The dragon had evidently carved itself a cavern. In the centre was a hole, and inside that was darkness. Casting ESP I sensed in the far distance something cold and inhuman – something very nasty. In the darkness was also a more humanlike mind. There was an oddity though, in that the centre appeared to be a deep hole, but the sand wasn’t flowing in. Clementine and Merco get lowered into the hole by Eric. They found themselves in red light, with sparkly red stars passing by them. The sparkly things appeared to be healing potions. Then it went dark. They stopped. Two torches were thrown down. Merco caught one while Clementine flew back out. Merco came out with a bulging pack. He said it was full of stars that turned out to be healing potions. The two biggest were resurrection potions, most of the others were Rank 3 and 4 cure endurance potions. We went around the hole, and I detected a twisty cunning serpentine mind which must have been the naga. At this point, Clementine made the decision that we should get out of here. Which we did. Eventually we headed out of the hole at which point she sensed something bad ahead of us. And our danger senses went mad. Which was followed by the massive argument. Grendel sensed the same minds I sensed ahead of us. The only alternative was to tunnel spell our way out. Clementine ran up the tunnel and headed for cover. Grendel spotted the three not far away. There was a large man in furs, a snaky naga, and a small man with a mark on his forehead like a three-pointed crown. We decided to simply leave and walked out into the desert, determined to head for Tintagel. I rejected two routes as leading to the Tumbles and to the Jungle, and we carried on.

After eight hours we came to the Crumbling Paths, where there were two giant crumbling aqueducts. We flew across the difficult bits.

We travelled three more hours and, after walking over a dune, we found ourselves standing the edge of a cloud. This was a rare landmark called the Cloud Trees of Sindareth. We collected the fruit – big fruit, like watermelons. These allowed one to store the effect of a Control Weather ritual. We rested there.

Next day, after three hours, we came to the Fields of Serioth. There were children running around a carnival among red flowers that looked like poppies. The name of the free sending was “the Children Dressed in the Clothes of Poppies”. They could be unleashed to cause confusion.

Five more hours later, we reached a river of clear cold water called Cold Stream. Another three hours brought us to the Crimson Spires. These were impossibly tall towers, perhaps eleven of them, made of what appeared to be spun crimson glass, bulbous at the base. Again we rested.

Next day, at the end of two hours walking, we found tumbled rocks. As we approached they burst into strange flame that did not harm us. We called it the Burning Rocks

After nine hours we came to a field with a castle in the distance with a flag flying. This appeared to be our destination. However, some kind of stretched out branches of water were between us, and the castle. This appeared to be perfect ambush territory. The branches were huge, and thorned and venomous. Basalic used a magical bush-whacker to hack us a way through. They were called the Flame Thorns of Havoth.

Finally we were at House Tingatel – which looked like a fairy castle with square towers. The people were Tintagelites – their eyes were odd, in that they mostly had black scleras with red irises. The place was bustling. We presented ourselves at the gate, and the guards sent someone to fetch the boss. Merco and Eric discussed card games with the guards – my opinion of Merco went decidedly down when he suggested betting the elf! The keep seemed to be more an exercise in interior decoration than fortification. The clothing became fancier as the guard escorted us in. We met up with Sensarrimon Whisperlash again. She succeeded in placing some kind of charm on Merco, and then attempted to stop me from casting my panacea to cure him.

Eventually we got to see Rufio, who was basically your classic wizard, with a staff that followed him around. Merco showed him the card he got from the evil woman. Rufio explained that it was called a trump, and acted as a means of allowing the evil woman to track us. Grendel took one out and made it go away (to that deep well we found earlier). Merco was certain he could make the trump work for him, much to the disbelief of the rest of us.

Rufio explained that House Tingatel is balanced on the edge of destination called the Sands of Time. He explained how uncertainty is increasing in the realm of Chaos. Cause and effect were becoming more tightly linked. It’s not Mal'ebonir. It’s not Serafin, the Lord of Patterns. It appeared that Death’s Champion has been captured – he was an Immortal and the most powerful of the Questors – an extremely powerful class of entity that can do miracles. We could also rule out the Lord of the Turning Wheel. They suspected the Lord of Serpents. Grendel described the man with the triple-pointed crown – and Rufio explained that the “man” was actually a basilisk, and would have venomous defences. The naga was a shadow naga, created by the Lord of Serpents. They thought the third one was someone called Mister Wulf.

Like the Kerberites, they also suspected the Lord of Similarities. He was definitely involved, and with the Medeanites. But the Lord of Serpents was worse. Long, long ago, Death’s Champion fought the Lord of Serpents in the Abyss. The Lady of the Abyss had shaped the Abyss so that Death’s Champion could fight the Lord of Serpents, and vanquish him, killing him permanently – though he eventually recovered from this, about fifty years ago. This, however, had poisoned her mind with madness. Apparently the Big U, an eight-legged creature, is involved (probably Ungoliant). Then Rufio fainted, having had a very bad idea – we learned later that he had realised that the One God might have issues with this, too. A Medeanite sorceress was also implicated. Then he left us to the Castellan.

The Castellan wore leather armour that looked like it was made of Sand-dragon hide, and a pair of swords. He told us that the one called Mister Wulf comes from a plane called Reich – a technomagical world where the Germans won. I remember reading of the Germans when we stuck in that underground base on Rifts. These Germans had something called phlogiston that placed limits on their technology. Nuclear technology didn’t work there, and neither do jets – they were using zeppelins. The Germans had made super-soldiers to fight in the war, who were extraordinary, but of shortened life span. Mister Wulf and the Biologian had created these super-soldiers. The British resistance was hiding somewhere under the polar ice, at a place called Ultima Thule. The Germans had ritual spell-casters who worked on trains to create powerful magical defences – Mister Wulf had something to do with the train-tracks – and forcing the trains to run on time. One had to wonder just what Mister Wulf was doing here.

The Castellan explained that he suspected that the reason for decreasing uncertainty might be to increase certainty – and thereby forcing certain irrevocable decisions to be made. It was possible that the Medeanites want something to be made a physical law that isn’t one yet. There are some of them at one place, protected by a Vampire. He had intended us to go into the Sands of Time and find out what this Mister Wulf is up to – but now we won’t have to go there. The Lord of Serpents not longer controls dragons, the Master of Riddles removed then from his domain (thank the powers that be). However, since we had met Mister Wulf near the Ruins of the Sphinx, we should perhaps return there.

Merco showed the Castellan the healing stars and he proceeded to head out in a mad hurry. As we followed, he explained the place we had found was a Well of Life, and he was determined to annex it for House Tingtagel. Abruptly, Grendel realised that he had made a most unfortunate choice of place to send that trump. The Castellan told us to get close so we could travel very quickly. He somehow condensed the time so we travelled hours in minutes – but it was very tiring. Both Clementine and I turned into our physically stronger forms. The Castellan turned into a pack of dogs, and then turned Merco into a dog…

We got back to the ruins, and there we saw six huge statues, apparently scratched out of the sandstone. The statues were crude, but humanoid. And they weren’t there before. We could go around though, so we did and climbed the wall. Ahead of us, we could see a couple of bridges and the garden – the body had gone – even the bones – apparently, dragon bones were valuable. Clementine and Eric sneaked forward. Clementine could smell odd telepathic magic, cinnamon, and faintly heard the sound of bells. Something deep inside told us that meant something bad… We told the Castellan. Below was a centauroid form, with an insectoid body. We advanced, readying weapons. The Castellan teleported three of us up to the creature, whereupon it realeased the Death Winds surrounding it which we resisted, and struck at us. It hit Grendel, hard, almost taking his arm off. And Grendel healed himself. We all piled into it, and it was down in seconds… I somehow managed to lop off a leg… Eric did something to burn up the body. Then he tried to read its aura, and it sent him crazy. So I had to cast my Panacea on him.

   Merco: You have a spell for curing mental disorders? Man, there’s a lot of Guild adventurers you should be talking to…

Session 4

After the combat, we realised that we had collected another Guild member – a human namer named Erzabet. The Namers said that the creatures’ halberd was locatable in some way so we decided we were not taking it with us. It was magical, the nature being Calling and last activated being a few minutes ago. We were rather unsure we wanted to be here when whatever had been called, arrived. It had called what was known as ‘Mind Hunters’.

The plan was to head for the tunnel and the halflings were sent ahead for being sneaky. We sensed the bad guys in the general area of the hole, and underground, so we dropped down to the ground level in the piazza. The hole itself was 4 meters deep and the remains of the Sandwyrm we had fought were completely gone. The area seemed clear so we all went down.

Suddenly we sensed danger to the left , so we fled right, as the wall fell down, injuring us all, horrifically. Merco and Grendel were the worse injured. 58 primary arm 08 groin 64 secondary arm 22 chest wound. Then, two giant, 50ft tall, earth elementals appeared from the walls – and two more from the ground in front. I changed my form, Erzabet read the aura of the elementals, and discovered their plane of origin was here, being the Ruins of the Sphinx, so they could not be banished. Grendel cast a Mental Attack, and the nearest one fell. Basalic summoned a new, much smaller, Earth elemental in an attempt to delay the advance. It did not last long. I changed form, mainly so that I had access to the one ranged attack I could manage without hands, my breath weapon. We decided once more to fly – in both senses of the word.

At that moment, the three enemy entities levitated out of the ground – a shadow naga with a big glaive, the man in furs who pulled out a rod, and a short person with a cap-like helm and a cape. Lightning rained down from the sky as the basalisk raised his stilleto and the blade went black. The naga charged Clementine, and did her another grievous injury. He hit Grendel, and then Merco, who had been beaten down to near unconsciousness, and he died. Lightning rained down upon us. Mister Wulf grabbed at Eric with these odd tentacles, that only those who had TK could see, and wrapped him in them, then used him as a weapon to batter me. The naga uttered a word, (the jackals on the edge of night), and then the glaive turned into a broadsword. Clementine attempted to change but Mister Wulf uttered a Word of Power, and she faltered. I breathed on another elemental and it fell, but the last one dropped out. The naga drew a whip, as I finally got into the air.

I breathed again, and the last elemental fell unconscious, as Erzabet casted a Mind College counterspell under the party (except for Grendel). Clementine noticed words inscribed on the wall, which read “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin”, which seemed to be a prophecy of Doom. A swarm of jackals came out of the wall. Basalic drove his weapon into Mister Wulf, using his luck in an attempt to kill him outright, but it only destroyed one of his hearts – he did falter briefly, but didn’t drop, much to Basalic’s surprise and annoyance. Fortunately it gave Eric the opportunity to wriggle free of the tentacle. The Basalisk went for Eric and Basalic, and hurt them both. It attacked with its whip and materialised a python wrapped around Basalic. Mister Wulf grabbed for me, but I dodged back. Grendel cast TK and the naga was thrown back. The other two resisted. Mister Wulf threw one of the red bottles I had noted on a bandolier across his chest at me, and then uttered another word… a spark and I felt myself catch fire. I flew down and Clementine, now in sylph form, and Grendel, invoking his goddess, dosed the flames. More pythons materialised as every hafted weapon in the party turned into a snake and bit before dropping off. Basalic was looking rather worse for wear but a bite on Erzabet’s magic turnip sorted that out, followed by a burst of healing.

Finally we could disengage and leave. Basalic used the dragonfly brooch to fly away. The others took to the air by various means. Eric had to teleport, even though he was unsure of whether it would work. Bruised and battered, we made our way back to Tintagel. We found a mostly healed Eric and a resurrected Merco on the way. Eric had an imp with him – whom he explained was an ambassador from his Boss. It took two days to return to House Tintagel. At Tintagel we learned that they had exchanged the House artefact for some kind of Gift Box for some inexplicable reason. That did not seen like a good idea.

Session 5

It transpired that Rufeo had been in a relationship with a woman called Jocasta – who was actually a Medeanite dancer. Through her wiles she convinced him that he needed a particular document - the Calculus of Change – that would let him use the Klepsydra better. She had an item called a Gift Box from which one could draw an item for someone else – the restriction being that this item that could not currently exist. She had drawn out the Calculus of Change for him, and he took out a picture for her.

She had also convinced him to send a company of the House Guard to the Ruins of the Sphinx. This had allowed her to kill the remaining guards while Rufeo slept, steal the Klepsydra and the Calculus of Change and leave. The Castellan had been absent – he had returned with a garrison unit from House Kerberoth to the Ruins of the Sphinx and found the Well was gone. There was a deep hole and the body of the woman Sensarrimon – her will had apparently been bound and she had been interrogated. Around her body there were the tracks of a small cat. The Lady of House Mal'Eboniran, whose name is Methralina, arrived to find the Tintagelites there. They learned the Well had been a fake and an illusion made of sand. Methralina sent the message that if we had the means to resurrect Sensarrimon, she would be grateful, and return the favour. We decided to assist her – and in return she marked us so we would not be attacked by anyone from House Mal'Ebonir.

Healing up took three days – and then Erzabet and Merco decided to leave us. Eric decided that his imp, since it was an ice mage, should take the form of a white cat named Snowball. (Rank 9 Weapon of Cold) We learned from Sensarrimon that she had indeed been interrogated at length, mainly to find out what she knew about Grendel. She believed they had some arcane method of penetrating her trump network.

We learned that the Medeanite, Jocasta, had travelled across the desert through the Sands of Time. Now they would like us to attempt to intercept her, and retrieve their stolen property. So that would be our next job. She would have headed for Aea, the City of Witches, to the northwest. There was a mountain range beyond, flanked by seas. She would be armed with two rods that are very dangerous, and can be fixed in the air, so she could swing off them. She would probably be an assassin, and might attempt to conceal her identity. One of the seas is called the Midnight Sea – and there are apparently Black Annis Hags there. Nasty creatures. Eric divinated the tin soldiers, and found Binder magic, some kind of linking lifeforce.

We set forth into the desert. It soon became apparent that flying was the way to go here – it was much cooler up in the air. We thought it highly likely that our quarry would be travelling at night. At dawn we used our crystal balls and saw some mist perhaps half a mile to the south. I drew a temporary map, and used my finding spell, but did not find her. We decided to check out the mist, and found a hollow, perhaps twenty-four metres across, and perhaps nine metres wide. I dropped a rock – and there was a splashing sound – as of a rock striking water. Yet there was nothing visible. Perhaps an illusory terrain concealed an oasis? Eric landed on a nearby dune, and said that the sand was solid. Then Grendel landed, and cast ESP – and reported there was a variety of non-sentient creatures present. Eric read the aura, and reported that we had found a pool of invisible water…. And whatever was coated in this invisible water also became invisible. Remarkable stuff. Clementine filled her magical bucket with it. Then Eric’s pet ice mage cast freezing on part of it, so it would became solid – and visible. Then the Imp shaped it into a snow phoenix so it could fly. And then we rested. That night we set forth again. We searched to no avail. And again…

Clementine tried talking to the winds. But they didn’t seem to be very smart. We rested, and the wind came back, saying it hadn’t found anything. That night I spotted tracks in the sand. We landed and realised that the tracks were only four hours old. We decided to send somebody high into the sky as a lookout, as we followed the tracks. Clementine was sent into the sky, since as an owl she would be very stealthy. After a while, she spotted our quarry, Jocasta, who appeared to be moving towards the invisible water. We decided to ambush her at that point, and flew ahead to intercept her at the hidden oasis.

We got the drop on her, and I breathed on Jocasta, as Eric and Basalic went in to hit her. My breath weapon might have brought her down, but she tossed a trump into the air and it evaporated. Then I backed off and breathed again as Grendel cast a TK rage… she used another trump. Clementine tried getting her with whirlwind vorter. Then she spun up into the air and attacked me. Ouch! Then Eric reached up and hamstrung her. Basalic hit her… I missed… and Grendel loosed a TK rage… Jocasta somehow survived – and then she called “Truce”. Eric warned of her evil and untrustworthiness so we refused, and Clementine finally vanquished her with a whirlwind vortex. The problem with that was that her body and our loot was scattered over a large area, some of it falling into the invisible pool. It was something of a challenge to find it all…

Session 6

We searched the invisible lake, and divinated what we found, for a day, another night, and another day. Then, after we each drew a present for somebody else from the gift box, we headed back to House Tintagel. At one point I saw something weird, like a crack in the sky that vanished soon after.

That dawn, we landed and set up camp. Seven came up out of the sand and spoke to Eric, asking him about Ug Bash, … again and still insisting that Eric tell him where the Guild is. He also said that they, whoever ‘they’ was, had seen us, and had sent some creatures, he called fire angels, to get us. Seven offered to provide a way to escape if we would tell him where the Guild is, so he could find Ug Bash. We declined, and hurried on although, after a while, we were getting tired. (Sounds like an ultimatum, or a threat to me... but we do not betray our own – B) So, with the aid of Snowball, we all ended up riding the ice phoenix, after being shrunk into various forms to save weight.

All our sense dangers went off at once. Ahead, there was some kind of a spatial distortion, and out came a circular creature with four facets, a beautiful face, six wings covered with eyes…. A seraph. It took a good look at us, turned, and then left.

An hour later, we saw ahead of us a bright glowing shape. It proved to be a fire angel – a huge entity with wings like stained glass windows, and a huge two-handed sword. We prepared, including drinking potions of fire resistance, and readied for its attack. It landed and went for Basalic and Eric, who had moved to face the attack. Clementine attempted to whirlwind vortex it, which to her surprise, and no effect. Basalic and Eric continued hitting it. I eventually managed to get a Panacea in… and took away its sword skill, which it really didn’t like. So it tried to get away… but Eric charged and cut it down. The body got put into Eric’s collapsible house. Picking its sword up looked like a bad idea especially since it was cursed with some thing called Rapture. With the help of Snowball, we managed to retrieve the sword safely and gave it to Grendel. (I call dibs on the next one – B). For some reason, the ice phoenix could not pick it up.

Seven chose this moment to re-appear, rising out of the sand. He gave Clementine a ring to use in case we should encounter the Dark Mother as he wanted a few words with her. Seven added that he is called the Man who is called a Village. Then he told us that if we continued on our path to House Tintagel we would find ourselves in a trackless waste. We could get there the long way by crossing the Midnight Sea or we could go north and east through the mountains, which would take a LOT of flying. We could get to Aea in a day and a half, and then across the Midnight Sea, but there were probably a whole slew of those Fire angels after us as well as something called a Uranic Mind Hunter. Apparently they want the Klepsydra. We gave that and the Scroll to Basalic, on the basis which he cannot be located. (Frankly I don’t trust Seven. He could be lying through his teeth for his own reasons, but unfortunately, we can’t take the risk that there is a Trackless Waste in our way, so we really have no choice – B).

  Starflower: Is it a question of out of the frying pan and into the witchfire?

We got going on our way to Aea and found a way to go faster, using Mage Wind to propel the phoenix while we, in our altered forms, hung on. It occurred to me that finding a Middlemarch might be a great idea, and the only real way out of this mess. (Darn straight, and it might be a shortcut – B) Clementine performed a ritual of accurate prophecy, and saw a sharp spire in the desert in the shape of a man with a scythe. My finding spell told me that it was some way to the North of us. As we continued, around mid-afternoon, we saw a seraph, hanging in the air.

  Eric: He’s a seraph, you’ve got to put the seraph to the sword.
  Eric: If we have a problem, kill it. Then it’s not a problem.

Eric decided that we ought to attack it… in the air, at considerable speed. It fired a web at the phoenix we were flying on then it basically flew away. So we tried again. Clementine, who was being a sylph, tried to thunderclap it so it decided to chase her. I shot at the seraph with my crossbow of light, and she began to plummet. The phoenix dove after her. I cast telepathy, found her mind, but didn’t poke inside, just making enough contact to get her with a phantasm. Finally I got in with a mental attack and, after a rather spectacular crash, we found the body on the ground.

Seven appeared … again … and told us that the wings are useful as you can make carpets from them. They have an interesting effect, allowing you to increase your speed and also let you fly in a very unusual method. With that telepathy spell still running, I inadvertently touched his mind – and immediately wished I hadn’t. His presence, his mind, there were too many of him, it made my head hurt. I had to cast a counterspell before I was overwhelmed. There were many personalities inside him, (Well, he did say he was a village – B) and it seemed that he was some kind of serial immortal. The seraph had a spell rack. And of course Seven still wanted to know where the Guild is… (I don’t know why he just doesn’t just pop over to Alusia and ask around – B).

Session 7

After six hours travel it started to get a bit dark. We landed, and Eric got busy divining the stuff we got from the fireangel and the seraph. Merco re-appeared, having apparently been hiding in someone’s backpack. That explains why we were running short on food. (I thought the Klepsydra wasn’t that heavy – B). We travelled the next day and, as evening approached, Grendel saw something in the distance, perhaps twenty miles away – a large spatial distortion. We headed in that direction and it was very dark when we landed. We saw these strange, black clad, hooded people with scythes. Another person, who had glowing feet (he seemed to be using seraph wings) was performing some sort of ritual, including lighting bolt effects. Clementine touched one of the scythe wielders, and he jumped and she felt drained. He warned her not to creep up on her, he explained, because he was a Minor Death. He wished to know if she was a minion of Judecca, The Lord of Rings. The other person, he explained was a wizard, named Serenapses, who was making a portal, which he would add to his network. Clementine explained that we were being chased by a basilisk. Apparently, the spatial distortion that Grendel noticed leads to the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Anyone can enter, but only the undying or Immortals would not die. And, in case only if completely unwounded. The wizard was re-directing the portal. They are currently looking for Mark, Death’s Champion, but were concerned to hear about the basilisk, Wulf, and the shadow naga. Mark is most handsome, it seems. We rested until the morning.

  Starflower: This isn’t quite what I expected to find.
  Eric: It never is.

Merco made breakfast for the wizard while Clementine told him about the basilisk, the Wulf, and the shadow naga, which led the wizard to immediately settle down to purify. He could take us to Dioscura, and has a friend who might help us make our way to Tintagel from there, named Anathel. Clementine offered him the Cloud Seeds if he could get us to Tintagel. I enquired about the trump we had found, and Basalic showed it to him. Apparently it was one of the Major Arcana, and probably identified her mistress. It was given to Merco who was lucky with cards. A powerful trump master could force a rapport and go to a person holding their trump, or bring them to her.

Serenapses agreed to make us a carpet for two cloud seeds, although Merco was quite sure it was two carpets for one. Somehow… I don’t think so.

Grendel sensed a seraph and it was decided that we should be elsewhere as quickly as possible. Serenapses offered to teleport us to Dioscura, but he could not take us all with one cast. So Basalic, Merco, Clementine and I went first. Then, just as the bad guys arrived (consisting of fifteen seraphim, Mr Wulf, the shadow naga and the skeletal form of the sand dragon), Serenaspes cast the second time, transporting the rest of the party.

We found ourselves in a cave, in the hills above a vast port city on the shores of a great sea. To the east was a great citadel carved out of the cliff. I had spent the time, while waiting for the others, employing a crystal ball usefully mapping the Dioscura, the City of Hidden Gods, and its environs. Serenaspes explained that one could not actually kill a seraph, without some special magic. We had left in the morning, but it was very dark here. Apparently something was blocking the sun. Didn’t seem to affect growing plants though.

We flew down to the city. We saw a woman leading a bunch of others – she was apparently a coven leader. Small coven as Basalic only counted half a dozen of them. Serenaspes led us through the city and through the alleys to a small house, which had an impressive broomstick outside. After leading us over the back fence, he knocked on the back door and a motherly looking dark-haired human woman. Merco offered to cook for her, and introduced him to her stove, which was called Spark-top, and lit on command. Clementine asked about a magical formula she was working on, and Anathel recommended Florian, who is apparently in the Land of Nod somewhere to the south of here. The Kenites are there – they are nomadic smiths, and some are very powerful priests. Midian, where the Midianites come from, was found near the Land of Nod.

We showed her our trumps. The first, the one from Sensarrimon was fairly amateur, but the other was made by a creature from beyond the veil, perhaps the big U, drawn on ivory with unlight. The Lord of Similarities has had the Lord of Trumps in a bucket for 12 thousand years. There is said to be an island of serpent-folk way to the south that are healers. She also told us that the Basilisk was now besieging House Tintagel with a flight of fireangels, presumably looking for the Klepsydra. There were Black Annises, nasty witches, around here. In pairs, they could make gates - to the Valley of the Shadow of Death, to Hell and to Deep Green, possibly others. They were very tough and very strong. They had been gathering here, and may have been sent. Anathel admitted that she was pacted to Nyx. Why are they attacking House Tintagel, when they surely know that the magical devices are not there?

Eric asked Snowball for his opinion. He said he could see the hand of the Valiant Marquis in the plot. Eric and Merco then asked Anathel, and she said that we could not stay here, because they would come upon us in the dark, and drag us away, probably within the next 21 hours.

We finally decided to take passage on a boat across the sea, through to the Seven Kingdoms, and thence through the Heights of Chaos into the Chaos Lands. I got to spend long hours on the boat, de-cursing the fireangel’s Sword – which to my delight (and Grendel’s) worked first time. He picked it up and learned its name was “Fury” and the emotion it was made from was also fury. However, we learned that the rods and the gems were also cursed with some kind of location magic. We were told it would take ten days to get to Hurrian in the West.

On the second day, Eric shouted that we had to get off the boat, right now. As we dove deep into the midnight dark water, Grendel casting water breathing on us, and made a mage-current to take us down. As we did, we could see worm-threads descending from the sky. Think of long, thin, Dark Spheres. Not something we wanted to touch.

Grendel detected a spatial distortion below us that was something the size of a clamshell. Inside it was a chain leading away. Clementine put her head inside and she could see a domed structure, which had these massive chains running across it. Below was a flat area, with a hole in it, which Grendel could see. Basalic determined its aura, and learned that the name of the plane was Oubliette.

There was some discussion about sending the gems and rods to Hell while we waited to get them decursed as whoever had put the curse on was very powerful. Somewhere along the line, Eric’s patron, Foras, turned up. He agreed to help with de-cursing the gems and the rods, but there was a price. Eric offered a couple of the gems but, apparently he comes from the seventh plane, where they are not exactly lacking in money – they make the stuff… it is the root of all kinds of evil, after all. Instead he wanted a soul and an angel’s soul would just not do. Eric was a bit hesitant about giving him more of his and the rest of the party weren’t keen either (I was considering telling him to ‘go to hell’ but that seemed rather silly in the circumstances so I decided, if he asked, on ‘Up Yours’. Besides, my crossbow trigger finger was getting itchy – B). Notwithstanding the party’s general reluctance, at one point Merco seemed to be negotiating for a better deal.

We used our limited precognition to find out what would be the consequences of entering the place – and as Grendel looked to the result of going through the hole, he saw a man being pulled apart with chains. The cuffs seem to have somehow grown into his arms. So we went in to see what we could do. He told us that if we were to release him, that would release the spiders from beyond the veil. Most of them are Celestials but there are Enchanters and Mind Adepts as well. There are five chains and they must stay connected to each other, otherwise the Unlight would unravel, and the spiders be loosed. He was Mark, Death’s Champion, and of course we had to figure out a way to get him loose.

We came up with a complex scheme to get him out of there. First Eric made an ice bridge to hold the chains. I transmuted the bridge into something steely. Mark was provided with a potion to turn him into smoke, and various buffs were added, as well as a nice upwards wind. Meanwhile we made ourselves into flying things and flew up and out back through the hole, hanging a rope ready for him to grab. Unfortunately the smoke potion didn’t last long enough and he reformed short of the hole and grabbed for the dangling rope. I tried to TK a second potion into his mouth, but missed, and the Spiders swarmed him. He was poisoned multiple times before we could haul him out, but Clementine gave him some turnip and he got better.

Mark told us to tell the Lord of Intrigues that: “It’s time to release the Defender of the Line”. Whatever that means. We heard the sound of a horse, even though we were underwater, and his mount arrived. Apparently this magical mount could cover twice the distance with every step and thus would be lethal for us to ride underwater. Finally, before he left, he gave Clementine a skeletal finger that would allow her to call him once. We decided that we might as well continue on our way, underwater with water breathing and Grendel’s mage current.

  Basalic to Merco (of the Horse of Death’s Champion):  “It’s a special seahorse, don’t worry about it”.

Session 8

As we headed off, we discussed where to post the cursed items. After a few hours, the horrible rain stopped, and we surfaced. Eric had Snowball make an iceberg, and we got on board. Grendel then made it move with a Mage Current. I painted a message on one of the rods and we posted it to the Celestial Recorder at House Kerberoth. Then Eric had Snowball make snow so he could change the iceberg to the snow phoenix. And off we went again, heading southwest. After an hour and a half or so we saw mountains. The nearest appeared dark… then sun-dappled, then perhaps a hundred miles away, they looked normal. We headed along the coast, and eventually, close to dawn, we saw a large city, called Hurrian, and attempted to land as close as we could without being obvious. There were extensive docks and a huge bronze chain across the harbour. The docks contained many ships, all of them relatively small and quite primitive – simple singled-sailed oared vessels.

We headed into town and Eric waves a copper coin at an urchin. This ended with little usefulness after Eric kicked said urchin. We eventually found what they considered a mighty spell-caster – whose best spell was charm… Finally we stayed in a rather disreputable inn, and slept most of the day. The food was disgusting, only Clementine and Eric could bring themselves to eat it, so Basalic and I went to the market and got something better. At the market, I restocked on provisions, purchasing some unusual flat apples with tasty skin, olives, dried fish, and wheat grains and flour. This place is a low mana zone, unless you make a ritual observance at one of the shrines once a week. There was a temple in the Ionic style, dedicated to a deity named Ashe, where we made our observance – a simple exercise of acknowledging the deity.

In the evening, we posted the second rod to House Kerberoth. Merco insisted on finding a fabled dancer… and one arrived. As the dancer removed veils, Merco fainted. I retrieved him, just as Clementine came storming downstairs and insisted that we leave. So we headed out of town, and found Snowball with a couple of children who were hibernating. We mental attacked them, and then got Snowball to counter-spell the hibernation. Then we flew off. We headed straight south, through the night, high in the sky, heading for the Heights of Chaos. Occasionally we saw the lights of cities, mainly to the east. At dawn, we found ourselves in a broad valley with two great rivers meandering across it. There were mountains to the west. We landed and camped for the day, and flew on in the night, taking a break to rebind the snow simulacrum.

  Clementine to Starflower: Can’t you just turn that stone into bread?
  Eric: It gets a bit heavy in the stomach after a while…

We went hunting for food – I used my breath weapon to bring down a goat. Which wasn’t a goat, as I learned when I brought it down. It was some kind of devil called a Seirim – which would afflict a person with a sin, if the person killed it. So Merco decided to talk it into committing suicide - with Merco’s own dagger. This triggered the sin, which for Merco was that he had eaten the flesh of fowl that did not have beaks and talons. Eric took the body and threw it off the cliff – thereby removing the sin from Merco – it was evidently a scapegoat. We gave up on hunting and Basalic summoned a rabbit, which became dinner. (I still think it’s cheating – B)

In the morning, we saw a rider on a griffon. When he approached, we realised it was Seir. Apparently the goat-things are his minions. He offered to get us to where we wanted to go in the twinkling of a eye. We refused. As for the goat-devils, they came from Mount Seir, located nearby… which is Seir’s local place of power. The goat-things are useful to him, because they are not from Hell, but here, which means that they cannot be banished.

Seir had a bag of eyes and was prevailed upon to offer some to Merco and Eric . Eric got a lizard eye. Merco got one that was checkered like a chess board and apparently had come from a pawn.

Seir also told us that some of the dark powers are keen on increasing the certainty level, in particular, the Valiant Marquis, and the Earl of Justice. He explained that it is important that some questions not be answered – the most important of which would be “Is there a God?” And this is why the uncertainty must be retained. Seir himself can manifest himself here. The Valiant Marquis is a dark power that is a fallen angel, others being pseudothei – before the beginning he gave his word to support One who must not be named, and kept it. His is the sin of overweening pride in his honour.

We flew through the day. After about seven hours, we crossed a range of mountains reaching perhaps eight thousand feet, and into a rather narrower valley. We passed over a city called Sura. Finally, ahead we saw a black rocky spire – and a town nearby, named Anthari, with a simple palisade. There was a guard at the gate, but they stepped aside seeing the quality of our gear. Marco demanded to be shown to a bakery, and the guard recommended an inn called the Dancing Goat. The innkeeper, unlike most of the people we’d met recently, recognised Eric as a dwarf, Merco and Clementine as hobbits, and myself as an elf. He wheeled out a trolley, loaded with cakes and doughnuts for Merco. The food was excellent and was presented on clean stoneware platters. They even had an actual chef. The beer and the wine were excellent – and they even had liqueurs. Of course the bill for all of this was not inconsiderable. The brick that the building consisted of had been fired here in a kiln, not sun-baked adobe as we’d seen before. Every time Eric mentioned the fight at the black rock, the innkeeper fainted. There were others here… merchants and messengers, and mostly males – and there was a wizard visiting a week or so ago. Fortunately the innkeeper was awake and able to describe the wizard… he was short of stature, had a staff and some charms, and had apparently been in a fight, judging by the slash on the back of his robe.

After a while, we walked back to the spire, and made the phoenix… there was a long straight raised Road that led south. The road to the rocky spire had been made using bound earth. The terrain became progressively swampy, and wheat fields gave way to rice paddies. We came upon a large city called Jiroth within which we could see a ziggurat. As we passed we saw that the walls had been breached in at least three places. By ten in the morning we were approaching the Heights of Chaos. We saw griffons below, as we headed up the cliffs, that decided they didn’t want to be near a great big phoenix. As we landed, we realised we’d covered something like three thousand kilometres in three days.

We headed through, and made intent to go to House Kerberoth. We travelled for an hour, and found ourselves near a pair of blue kidney shaped pools, which were solid, and were proved to be pure sapphire. This was the Sapphire Pools and we decided not to mess with it and avoid taking samples. Ten hours later, we came to a formal garden with a fountain in the middle. We could smell a very good wine as we approached and it was very fine. This is the Garden of the Fountain of Wine, and it has the property of multiplying potions. Grendel had a wineskin, as did I, so we multiplied the remaining potion of Pentecost, and used it. Grendel also multiplied a rank 20 Waters of Strength.

Another ten hours of travel took us to a watercourse with a bridge, and a lock mechanism. We crossed, except for the hobbits who decided to investigate the mechanism. Clementine had to turn into a bear so she could turn it. As she did, water began to flow through. She decided to close it. The water was about hobbit height by the time she had finished. We decided to call this place the Bridge and the Lock. Night fell.

Next morning, we set off again and after an hour we came the Crumbling Paths. After another hour, we came to a Field of Amber Grain. We learned that it was magical with “growth” as its effect, so we gathered a bushel of grain. We went on again and, after ten hours, we finally saw the Towers of House Kerberoth in the distance.

We headed in and the guards let us through without objecting. A functionary told us that the Lord wanted to see us as soon as we arrived so we went to find him. When we got there, Lord Tirwh, the Chaos Lord, was in battle form. He said they had received the gifts - the maces, and the herbal preparation. We learned to our distress that the trackless waste now surrounded House Tintagel, and we would have to find another way there, if we planned to break the siege. We told him how we freed Death’s Champion, and they put on a feast for us. We also explained about the message to the Master of Intrigues. One of the Kerborites would take the message, though it will take a while. It appeared that Lord Tirwh would have the Maces cleansed, in exchange for the Gift Box.

Session 9

At House Kerboreth, we learned that Suneth, the Celestial Recorder, could not do horoscopes for us, because so many of us are death aspected. The uncertain herb was proven satisfactory for curing the Hounds, but they needed more, so I described where it was to be found. We learned that the manticore tails would be worth a considerable amount to a dwarf named Rook, the Keeper of Castles, who apparently wanders a fair bit. It was said that any immortal with the title of Keeper would be good at holding things – an invested “Keeping” might be of considerable use to us. Finally we decided to have the Fire Angel eyes set in gold and sold.

A man with dark skin and pale hair, dressed in white, turned up, claiming to be the “Hunter”. He asked to see Lord Tirwh. Apparently the Hunter was known to be a powerful sorcerer and an alchemist. We spent some time discussing trades with him. He offered to teach Eric alchemical skills in return for the heads of priests of the Holy Mother Church of Nualis. We learned that the Sand Dragon eyes could be used to make Crystals of Vision that one could cast Mind Speech through. Excellent. He told us of Jasonites, who are nasty, sneaky types. They did horrible things to some Alusian Mind Mages that allowed them to create something called the Whisperfall that would allow them to listen into anything being heard by village idiots anywhere.

We talked to Suneth about using the Klepsydra to help defeat the Trackless Waste. It was probably made by the Basilisk and would likely dissipate if he died. The Hunter had no particular solution to the problem of the Trackless Waste either. He would be very expensive to hire… his price being life energy. He would be happy if we could find him a century of life. The Hunter could summon the basilisk, if he knew its individual true name. He suggested that we could use calculi to differentiate the rate of distance increase inside the trackless waste. A gem can be used as a calculus by passing it through the Klepsydra. It would then be possible to lead an army through. And a company of three hundred Kerberites would be waiting at the Ruins of the Sphinx.

We tried to set things up so we could summon the Basilisk. Lord Tirwh summoned a Namer Demon, but it seems that the Basilisk in question had been to Hell and taken his name off the books, so the Hunter couldn’t summon him. So much for that plan…

Lord Tirwh showed us a bracelet that made gems using gem creation at Rank 15– at which point a gem passed through the Kelpsydra would stabilise an area of the Trackless waste, equal to three miles long and half a mile wide (Finally – a sensible use for Gem Creation. – B). We could also use the Klepsydra to stabilise time, so the Basilisk could not expand it. Grendel would need to burn sprigs of rosemary at noon on a Sunday in order to negate the magic resistance of the Demon in the bracelet so he could bind it.

The Henry the toymaker handed Clementine a box of tin soldiers wherewith she would be able to summon the Kerborite army when we got to House Tintagel. This would mean that our path across the Trackless Waste would be much less conspicuous.

  Toymaker: These fairies discovered you could blackmail people for sweets…
  Basalic: So, they got a sweet deal…
  Clementine: Enough about bees!
  Starflower: Because you’ll start on the birds next, and that’ll really confuse her.

We headed out to the Scented Jungle – and found the required rosemary. We rested and thirteen hours later we got to the Ruins of the Sphinx. Merco decided to collect the Children from the Fields of Serioth, so no one else would be able to find them there. At the Ruins of the Sphinx, I cast finding spells and to Basalic’s great delight, I found his Weed-whacker axe, buried in the sand and rubble. (I thought it was worth a go, just in case – and it paid off – Lucky! - B) I was pleased too, simply because it would make dealing with the Thorns much easier. We stopped for a cup of tea in the Thorns of Havoth. But after we started again, Eric and Grendel sensed danger, and Eric explained that his detect aura told him the Thorns were actually a sleeping Thorn Dragon. Weird. Obviously, it wasn’t a light sleeper...

Grendel could see the dimensional warp ahead as we reached the far side of the Thorns. Grendel invoked the bracelet, and it made three gems, which we used to lock down the first section of the Trackless Waste, for three kilometres. We did this three more times… and got through to the other side. As soon as our danger senses went off, we popped potions, cast spells and I shape-changed to drake-form. In the sky above Tintagel we saw a huge bunch of Fire Angels. Nearest us, there were three of them and they were all dropping fire. We decided to scoot for the castle and hoped we weren’t noticed (I figured that getting the Klepsydra through to the defenders was much more important – B). Two of the fire angels took off…. The other, having seen us, turned and attacked, dropping a fireball on us. Good thing we’d taken those fire-proofing potions. It kept trying to whack Eric as we took off… Grendel tried to mental attack it as Eric shape-changed to an eagle. Eric finally took flight and it followed, heading high into the air, making strafing attacks as we headed around the castle and to the gate.

As Merco got around the corner, we could see that the gate was under siege by a skeletal sand dragon, Mister Wulf, a bunch of monster earth elementals, and the naga…. They were battering on an invisible barrier, in front of the wall. It was time to call in the cavalry, I thought. Clementine used one of the tokens we’d been given to summon Mark, Death’s Champion. The wall was 20ft high or so… but those elementals were 50ft tall. The barrier wasn’t selective, as Merco discovered when he hit it… and bounced. Then Mark arrived. Clementine filled him in. We noticed the Trackless Waste began to dissipate behind us - the basilisk had evidently left the scene… cowardly creature! Mark killed the elementals with one blow each… Mister Wulf threw down some tokens onto the ground and some minions sprung up…. Grendel took him down with a mental attack, and Mark finished them all off. In the middle of the dragon bones we found the remains of a Ss’u – an alien spirit binder. We proceeded to loot the field…

Session 10

After a couple of hours the fire angels departed. Some time after that, the barrier went down and we were able to enter the House. We met the Castellan on the way in and admitted we had the Klepsydra and the Calculus of Change with us. He then asked us to confirm that the Calculus of Change had been created using the Gift Box which worried him because it meant that either all copies of the Calculus of Change had been destroyed, or that it never existed in the first place. The only way to be sure, would be to consult with an arithmetician, and apparently there is one, the former Pope of the Holy Mother Church, but he has been captured by the Medianites. Apparently, they poisoned him, and then disappeared his body from the Basilica. The Holy Mother Church had since elected a new Pope.

The Castellan wanted to put the Klepsydra in a safe place, deep inside the House. They’d had a chat with Rufio, and now the Castellan was in charge. They took us in and introduced us to Methralina, who had a curious piercing above one eye and silver hair with a greenish tinge. She promptly charmed and attempted to drag off Basalic. My spell was able free him from this suasion (much to my relief - my wife would not have been pleased - B). Then she decided to take Merco, who had also displayed reluctance, so I freed him as well – he was grateful for once. After this, we let her have Eric, who was more amenable to the arrangement. And I have to say it was most entertaining – seduction is something of a spectator sport for these people.

Next morning, Snowball said that we would need to watch over the Klepsydra as someone inside the House was planning to abscond with it. It had been put in a dungeon, under the Great Keep. We debated hiding it somehow – perhaps inside an ice construction, inside a crate, in the barracks – where there are lots of Tintagelites – Two Chaos Lords and a dozen others. The room was reasonably small… 2.5 to 3m high… the ice construction included the ceiling beams so that it could not be stolen through the floor.

We settled down to wait, with games of cards, and other amusements. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light, and a humanoid person appeared. Three women also materialized, dressed in white robes – a sending called “Pale Queens of Torment”. They did something to us, slowing us. The humanoid reverted to his original shape – a devil of some sort, and began casting. Basalic and Merco charged in so the devil abandoned his spell and drew weapons, consisting of a tulwar and a short sword. The Pale Queens went for the guards. The devil attacked Merco and Basalic, striking them both. Then Clementine cast a whirlwind vortex and the devil splattered all over the place. As my sight came back, we all realised that the Klepsydra and its protective crate, inside the ice, was disappearing.

I began to cast a finding, as Clementine watched, and the others took off to warn the Castellan. I resisted magic, and then something weird happened. I was trapped and could not see where I was… A while later I realised that my mind speech was telling me that everyone was still there, and realised I’d been mazed. So it occurred to me to attempt to teleport out of it… and it worked. Shortly after, Clementine popped back, the door went weird, and as she charged for it, I caught her with my breath weapon. Then I was back in the maze. Eventually Basalic, Merco, Eric and Grendel got back, only to run headlong into the door (that had been closed and then rendered invisible) in their endeavour to get at the monstrous creature that was attacking the ice construction. Basalic tried again to break it open, and eventually realised that he should just open it (I didn't want to waste time fiddling for the invisible latch - B). Eric saw that the crate was sitting there… just invisible. And then he saw that the cards were shuffling themselves towards the door. So he put some burning liquid on it, and lit it. After a while we all came back. Snowball announced that his job was done, and he was leaving, because we had revealed the third Demon… Berith – the Savage Duke – and one of the pseudothei.

Session 11

We found some goo on the floor where the cards had been and put it into potion bottles – this we learned was bottled “lies”. We sent the guards to go get the Castellan, who was pleased to see that the Kelpsydra was still there. He was most pleased and rewarded us, giving us each two gems that each contained sixty-four days. He found the fact that we’d got lies from the cards disturbing – there used to be an Immortal called the Father of Lies, but he was supposed to have been destroyed. It is not impossible that someone else has taken the title. In exchange for one of the gems he agreed to teach the others witchsight, and myself another improvement to my shapechange talent, reducing the time I have to spend in each time. Sernapses had a couple of cool variant lightning spells to teach Clementine – one that bounces between nodes, and another which would do siege damage. Apparently the grain could be made into bread that makes the person who eats it grow long flaxen hair, and gain an inch in height. Merco ate some and his left hand grew extra joints.

After we’d been chatting for some time, a youthful and smallish Tintagelite appeared, and informed the Castellan that one of the sensitives had received a message from Jade Rain – a warning that the Lord of Similarities is on the march. So we needed to talk to her. They said that this could be done by pouring green water at the proper angle across a bowl. Which didn’t work for us. She was described as a woman with pale skin, long black hair, who wept green tears from enigmatically slanted eyes.

Finally we got a message through, asking for more information. She replied that the Lord of Similarities was about to attack House Tintagel, planning to bring in an army by bringing in some Annises (a form of hag) to create a portal to bring in an army of demons. When we asked to some method of determining when the hags would appear, we were told we’d have to go to Darkover on the other side of Assirya and get some witch salt – which would take too long. So… the party debated some very strange ideas… some of them involving ablative sheep. You must understand that the problem here was that these Annises attack by inflicting hagling pregnancies that proceed to eat their way out of their victim. In any event, Clementine used her crystal to spend the next day as sixty-four days learning the lightning spell and I spend my one to rank telekinesis.

On the next morning, I used limited precognition in order to see when the attack would come. I saw a black pane some 2500 ft away… There were swarms of small demons, followed by a black tide… Then three big demons in the shape of onagers with legs like enormous grasshoppers came marching out. Next, I saw three Lords of Similarities, doubling and doubling again… until there are three hundred or so of them. Grendel did the same… but he likewise was unable to spot the hags.

Basalic summoned an earth elemental to create an underground cavern with a long exit tunnel leading back towards House Tintagel for us, intending to trap one of the hags by tunnelling under her, and then kill her. Meanwhile Grendel would use a crystal ball to transport a trap the Toymaker had made for us, consisting of a toy soldier with a match, and one of the doses of consummation of fire and water, planning to kill one of the other hags that way. This should put a crimp in the Lord of Similarities’ plans, preventing him from gating in the army.

It began when the elemental detected the arrival of three entities… Basalic dropped a tunnel under the nearest, who was almost directly above… she fell down the hole right in front of the elemental who immediately proceeded to thump her. Eric hit her hard… I used my mentacles to throw sand into her eyes… I gave up trying to hit her with my swords when Severer failed to penetrate her armour, but Eric and Merco kept pummelling away. I tried to mental attack her, but that didn’t work either. Grendel joined Eric on the attack as she began to cast. She cast a truly nasty Blackfire spell that flashed across us all, and Merco fell down deeply hurt… Then Clementine started hitting her… And then, casting in the death buzz, my next mental attack got through… and she fell to the cavern floor. Eric and Clementine finished her off.

The other one was burning – the Lord of Similarities had noticed this and started doubling. We decided to head back to the castle, tunnelling all the way. The belly of the hag’s body started to writhe… Eric stabbed it and the unborn hagling inside the body died. Basalic kept casting, and we scrambled along the tunnel. Finally, we judged we were nearing the walls, and his next tunnel took us up and out. And eventually they let us in, once they were sure that we were who we appeared to be.

Clementine: If I tried to pour invisible water on the burning people, that would cause no end of trouble.

Eric to Basalic: You can stop casting now.... (after tunnelling nearly half a mile).

We spoke again with the Castellan who was concerned that the Lord of Similarities was going to come back again and again until he got the Klepsydra – perhaps the best thing would be simply to destroy it. Apparently the Lord of Similarities has cloned demons of the Abyss, which caused there to be genera of demons and that meant that there was now less uncertainty in the Abyss and therefore in the realms of Chaos.

After that, there didn’t seem to be much in our power to do… some of us left immediately, banished back to the Guild by Eric, others lingered to learn various enhancements to their spells, and then were sent back next time Turf turned up at Tintagel. It was a interesting experience, wandering the Realms of Chaos, mostly in the more dangerous sense of interesting…. And I was glad to get back, mostly unchanged, and in one piece.

And Darkness Was on the Face of the Deep

Buffs

Starflower's Mil. Sci. bonus:
  • +16 Unengaged Initiative
  • +8 Melee/Engaged Initiative
  • +8 Melee Def.
Mindspeech:
  • 330 ft Range
  • Includes visual images
  • 11 targets

Grendel's and Starflower's Mindspeech can overlap to extend range up to 990 ft.

Magic Rk Effects Dur Basalic Clementine Eric Erszabet Grendel Merco Starflower
Armour of Earth (Basalic) 17 +36 Def, +1 DR 9 hrs
Strength of Stone (Basalic) 15 +15EN or +15PS 16 hrs EN EN EN EN EN EN EN
Weapon of Cold(Snowball) 9 +10 Strike Chance, +4DM 14 mins
Eddy (Clementine) 8 Always resist WV, reduce WV damage by 8, hard to spot by wind creatures 9 hrs
Vapour Breathing (Clementine) 8 Breathe poisonous gas 4 1/2 hrs
Feather Fall (Clementine) 8 Fall 5ft per pulse 4 1/2 hrs
Mind Shield (Grendel) 7 +24 vs Mental Attack 15 hrs
Danger Sense (Starflower) 4 56% - - - - - - -
Danger Sense (Merco) 9 38% - - - - - -
Danger Sense (Grendel) 6 52% - - - - - - -
Danger Sense (Eric) 8 61% - - - - - - -
Basalic's Big Foot 2 59% Detect the unnatural - - - - - - -
Magic Nostril (Clementine) 4 58% Detect Enchantment within 50ft - - - - - - -

Places

The Abyss
House Kerberoth
The Lands of Chaos

  • The Scented Jungle - a landmark.
  • The Ford of Sand - a landmark.
  • The Tumbles - a landmark.
  • The Crumbling Paths - a landmark.
  • The Cloud Trees of Sindareth - a landmark.
  • The Fields of Serioth - a landmark.
  • Coldstream - a landmark.
  • The Crimson Spires - a landmark.
  • The Burning Rocks - a landmark.
  • The Flame Thorns of Havoth - a landmark.

House Tintagel
The Sands of Time - a land bordering Castle Tintagel
Reich - a plane where phlogiston is given off during combustion
Nualis - a plane where a Vampyre protects Medeanites
An unusual rocky spire in the middle of a desert which is a portal for Seranaspes to access:
The Valley of the Shadow of Death - plane similar to the Astral which is proximate to any plane where there are mortals. Lethal to those who can die of old age
Dioscura - a city of secret gods
The Midnight Sea - a shortcut
Oubliette - a middlemarch of imprisonment
Hurrian - port city on the Midnight Sea, perpetually observing dawn
Anthari - a market town about 200 miles north of the Heights of Chaos
The Dancing Goat - an expensive but pleasant inn in Anthari

Paths

Kerberoth to the Ruins of the Sphinx

Landmark Time Notes
Scented Jungle 8 Found uncertain herb & flamecap spores
Ford of Sands 5
Ruins of the Sphinx 8

Ruins of the Sphinx to Tintagel

Landmark Time Notes
Crumbling Paths 8
Cloud Trees of Sindareth 3 Rare landmark, found cloud seeds
Fields of Serioth 3 Found The Children Dressed in the Clothes of Poppies
Coldstream 5
Crimson Spires 3
Flaming Rocks 2
Thorns of Havoth 9
Tintagel 1

Heights of Chaos to Kerberoth

Landmark Time Notes
Sapphire Pools 10
Garden of the Fountain of Wine 10 Found potion wine
The Bridge & the Lock 10
Fields of Amber Grain 3 Found magical grain
Kerberoth 10

People and Creatures

Demons of the Abyss
Rampage
The Mistress of the Winds
Henry the Toymaker - a Tin Soldier.
Lord Tirwh
Sensarrimon Whisperlash - a Mal'Eboniran chaos lady, dark purple of hue. A collector of eyes.
The Castellan - a Tintagelite chaos lord.
Seven of the Nine - an investigator.
Klanth - a kerberite Beast Master and Master of the Hounds.
Suneth - a kerberite Astrologer and Celestial Recorder.
An unnamed sphinx - a sorceress of the mind and Beast Master (Fantastical Monsters).
Minotaurs x 6 - cannon fodder.
Chimaerae x 3 - armoured cavalry.
Manticorae x 12 - air support.
Mr Wulf - a large man dressed in heavy fur robes. Unusual in a desert.
A basilisk - a slight man, about 1.6 m tall, pronounced widow's peak with a witchmark of a small three pointed crown in the centre of his forehead. An agent of the Lord of Serpents. Basilisks are known to be able to create trackless wastes and are good with poison.
A shadow naga - humanoid male from the waist up, large serpent from the waist down, weilding a glaive and wearing plate armour of some kind of marbled brown metal.
Pé Chói bound spirit - enslaved to a spirit binder
Jocasta - a Medeanite dancer
Seraph - an observing angel
Fireangel - an aggressive angel
Mark, Death's Champion - a questor
Seirim - goat-like demons who attempt to lure those capable of sin to kill them, that they may afflict them with a sin. Native to the area around Mt Seir, and thus cannot be banished or expelled
Seir - the Willing Prince
Jerrilyn Finehands - an aging exquisite and host of the Dancing Goat
Ssu spirit binder - a body snatcher
Methralina - leader of House Mal'Ebonir, a master orgiast and poisoner.
Pit Fiend/Efreet - the offspring of a devil and an efreet, a centurion of Berith
Devil's Picture Book - an animate deck of cards and Illusionist, owing allegiance to Berith.
The Lord of Similarities - a powerful opponent.
Black Annises - gate-opening, ranged-impregnating hags.

Treasure Distribution

Item # Weight Basalic Clementine Eric Grendel Merco Starflower
Blank Phylactery 4 1oz 1 1 2
A Stone from a Plover's Nest 4 1oz 1 1 1
Potion of Resist Temperature 7 4oz 2 2 1 2
Potion of Pentecost 6 4oz 2 1 1
Tincture of Aconite & Passionflower 23 4oz 3 5 5 5 5
Uranic Mind of Fire 1 14oz
Dragon Rider Brooch 1 4oz
Spell Rack 1 2 lbs
Ring of Protection 1 4oz
Staunch Ring 1 4oz
Green Cape of Protection 1 12oz
Bracer of Defence 1 24oz
Pinch of Sunlight 3 1oz 1 1 1
Flamecap Spores 7 1oz 7
Dragon Scale Shield 1 5 lbs
Dragon Suede Armour 2 9 lbs 1
Dragon Scale Mail 2 18 lbs
Dragon's Eye 2 27 lbs
Sweet Regret 4 1oz 1 1 1 1
Healing Potion 1 4oz 1 2 1 2
Salve of Wound Curing 1 4oz
Salve of Restore Life 2 4oz 1 1
Potion of Enhanced Vision Rk 20 1 4oz
Medeanite Leather Armour 1 18 lbs
The Key of Anubis 1 3 lbs
Medeanite Rod 2 2 lbs 1 1
Potion of Greater Healing 2 4oz 1 1
Bracelet of Charms 1 4oz
Seraph's Wing Carpet 1 12 lbs
Fireangel Blade 1 7 lbs
Seraphic Spell Rack 1 3 lbs
Seraph's Blade 1 24oz
Mark's Finger Bone 1 2oz
Crown of Mentacles 1 2 lbs
Sack of Swarms 1 3 lbs
A Glaive 1 6 lbs
Lightning Rod 1 3 lbs
Stonemetal Armour 1 27 lbs
Mr Wulf's Fur Coat 1 7.5 lbs
Deuteronymy 1 12 lbs
Crystal Hypercube Spell Rack 1 3 lbs
Python Whip 1 3 lbs
Consummation of Fire & Water 7 4 oz 1 1 2 1 1 1
Dragon's Teeth 64 1oz 21 21 22
The Children Dressed in the Clothes of Poppies 1 -
Phylactery of Spark 1 4oz
Phylactery of Shatterwill 1 4oz
Phylactery of Stagger 1 4oz
Psychometry 1 -
Healing-Quick Cast Incantation 1 -
Warpgate-Quick Cast Incantation 1 -
Mind Shield-Minor AoE Incantation 1 -
Force Shield-Damage Reduction Incantation 2 -
Thunderclap-Spell Penetration Incantation 1 -
Merco's House of Friends 1 4 lbs
Grendel's Cup of Knowledge 1 4oz
Starflower's Ring of Sorcery 1 4oz
Eric's Amulet of Combat 1 2oz
Clementine's Feather Cloak 1 2 lbs
Basalic's Ring of Purifying Thought 1 2oz
House with a Handle 1 7 lbs
Ritual of the Hourglass 2 -
Sense Danger (T-3) v1.1 4 -
Basalic's Affinity with the Land 1 -
Clementine's Barrier of Wind (S-4) v1.1 1 -
Starflower's Change 1 -
Grendel's Second Sight 1 -
Eric's Spell of Itemisation Suspension 1 -
Merco's Affinity with Sand 1 -
Wizardsight 4 -
Warp Gate 1 -
Resist Pain 2 -
Mental Leap v1.1 1 -
Lightning Bolt (S 10) v 1.1 1 -
Time Gem 1 -
Breath Stealer 1 -
The Formula of the Angry Bees 1 -
Invisible Water 300 1 lb 50 50 50 50 50 50
Gate 1 -
Lies 6 - 1 1 1 1 1 1
Wand of the Angry Bees 1 15oz
Merco's Eye for Pawn 1 -

Experience Awards

Adventurers return to the Guild on the 18th of Frost. They have used 28 days at Kerberoth and 7 at Tintagel to Rank, should they so desire. Clementine and Eric have spent one track learning their spells. Talents may be advanced nine Ranks, Stealth & Flying may be advanced one Rank without spending time.
Characters who took Potions of Pentecost have been immersed in Thari for seven weeks (possible Rank of 4, costing 625 Experience), except for Clementine, who has 16 weeks of immersion (possible Rank of 7, costing 2,575 Experience), and may count this as training time for Ranking the spoken language.
Starflower may advance her Rank in Ranger from 8 to 9 by taking nine weeks and spending 11,400 Experience, modified by Racial Tax. She has used a Time Gem and so has 9 weeks of training, some of which must be spent on Ranking Telekinesis from Rank 3 to Rank 8.
Clementine has spent 28 days learning Barrier of Winds (S-4) v 1.1) amongst other training at Kerberoth. She has used a Time Gem and so has 9 weeks of training time, some of which must be spent on learning Lightning Bolt (S-10) v 1.1) and raising it to Rank 6 and three days must be set aside to learn the incantation Thunderclap-Spell Penetration.
Eric has spent 28 days learning Eric's Spell of Itemisation Suspension amongst other training at Kerberoth. He has had the cap removed from his FT by Foras, and can advance this stat once per adventure or season, whichever is less. Each point costs 2,500 Experience, modified by Racial Tax.
Basalic may raise his next point of MA at a cost of 2,500 Experience.

Basalic's Loot
Clementine's Loot
Eric's Loot
Grendel's Loot
Merco's Loot
Starflower's Loot

Basalic Clementine Eric Erszabet Grendel Merco Starflower Villa
47,200 51,940 53,880 4,680 50,520 33,000 50,300 5,440
After racial tax:
47,200 47,218.18 48,981.82 4,680 50,520 30,000 41,916.67 5,440
After the Loot Auction:
56,346.33 50,646.52 51,408.15 40,196.33 35,396.33 35,343
Income (less expenditures):
40,900sp 5,500 27,500sp 17,500sp 48,500sp 27,500sp

Calendar

Autumn 810wk: Fruit(4)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Lugnasad 1 Guild Meeting 2 Enter Abyss, avoid Chaos Wind 3 4   5   6  
7   8   9   10   11   12   13  
14   15 16   17 Arrive at House Kerberoth 18 Meet Henry the Toymaker. Villa encounters Seven 19 Meet Lord Tirwh & the Castellan 20 Grendel encounters Sensarrimon
21 Eric & Clementine learn a spell 22 Villa investigates 23 Eric & Starflower analyse, Villa loses his mind 24 Eric encounters Seven 25   26 Eric & Starflower isolate a herbal reagent 27  
28   29   30    
Harvest (5)
  1   2   3   4  
5   6   7   8   9   10   11  
12   13   14   15 Equinox 16   17 Seagate Autumn Fair 18 Seagate Autumn Fair
19 Harvest Moon 20   21   22   23   24 Leave House Kerberoth travel 5 hours: Scented Jungle 25 Find flamecap and uncertain herb in jungle
26 Travel 5 hours: The Ford of Sands. Travel 6 hours: The Tumbles 27 Travel 4 hours: The Ford of Sands. Ambushed by sphinx et al 28 Travel to Ruins of the Sphinx. Merco replaces Villa 29 Michaelmas. Divine Loot 30 Divine Loot  
Vintage(6)
  1 Encounter sand dragon 2 Butcher, skin and drink
3 Go down tunnel created by sand dragon 4 Find Well of Life, encounter three unusual minds, exit, flee into desert 5 Travel 6 Travel 7 Travel. Arrive at House Tintagel 8 Speak to Sensarrimon, Rufio, Castellan 9 Head back to Ruins of the Sphinx
10 Encounter six sandstone statues, Pé Chói spirit binder, Mr Wulf, shadow naga & basilisk. Eric & Merco die. Flee into desert. 11 Eric & Merco get better. 12 Arrive at House Tintagel, receive intelligence. Heal. 13 Heal 14 Heal 15 Fly into Sands of Time 16 Find invisible water. Search for Jocasta
17 Blood Moon Search some more. 18 Ambush Jocasta. Divine loot. 19 Divine loot. 20 Travel back to House Tintagel, spot seraph 21 Travel south west for rest of day 22 Encounter Seven who offers help in return for location of Guild. Declined. Travel east-sou'east for 8 hours. Encounter fireangel. 23 Divine loot and skin fireangel. Travel for 3 hours. Encounter seraph. Chase down and kill. Divine loot and pluck seraph. Encounter Seven again. Arrived at Valley of Death
24 Spoke to Seranaspes, portaled to Dioscura. Spoke to Anathel 25 Took ship across the Midnight Sea to Hurrian, abandoned it, found & rescued Mark. 26 Made another snow phoenix, flew to Hurrian 27 Flew south through Seven Kingdoms for 16 hours. Met seirim, did not eat. Spoke to Seir. 28 Flew south for 8 hours. Rested at Dancing Goat, Anthari 29 Flew to Heights of Chaos, traveled into Chaos' 30 Beerfest Traveled into Chaos
Winter 810wk: Frost
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Samhain Traveled into Chaos 1 Arrived at House Kerberoth, spoke with Lord Tirwh. 2 Met the Hunter, retained him to fix Clem's wand. Train 3 4 5   6
7 8 9 10 Left House Kerberoth to relieve the siege at Tintagel


11 Dropped off herbalists, then Ruins of the Sphinx


12 Travel to Tintagel


13 Merco binds the Children, arrive at Tintagel, call Mark, relieve Tintagel
14 Speak to Castellan, guard Klepsydra, vanguish Pit Fiend/Efreet and Devil's Picture Book. 15 16 Ambush the Lord of Similarities and Annises 17 18 Return to Guild. 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30