Cave of Deception

Summary

Adventure: Cave of Deception
GM: Kita
Season: Autumn 823
Night: Wednesday
Place: Birdlands
Level: Bunny Low

Party

• Elidon - Ice Mage - Played by Michael M

* Cyrus - Fire Mage - Played by Michael D

• Thallan - Witch - Played by Anne
• Boom Boom Grenardo Mage - Played by Ian A
• Calliope - Bard - Played by Helen
• Horváth - Played by Bernard
• Argus Ramhammer - Played by Sam

Employer

• Ollie

Mission

• The story of Aladdin needs your help

Pay

• 5,000 sp and the loot we find along the way.

Scribe Notes

Session 1

Introductions

We are met in the Guild meeting room by a familiar face to a few of the adventurers in our troop, myself included, by a sweet, easily distracted, bald, orcish man named Ollie. He works for a magical library on a plane called Storybrooke, I've been there myself fairly recently to help with another book repair mission.

He introduces himself to us all, and we all spend a short while getting acquainted, two newer guild members are going to be partaking on their first assignment and surprisingly both Boom Boom and I are the most experienced in the room, The bunnies are Cyrus an elvish fire mage and Horváth (Vath from here in my notes) Vath seems to be a bit hesitant to begin on an adventure and needs more guidance than the others.

Ollie lets us know the pay and that he wants to discuss the details of what's wrong with the book 'Aladdin' once we get to the library itself. (I think he enjoys surprising people with his library) But tells us we're heading to a fully pink tree in Kazalah, which throws Tallan off quite a bit as it's really unnatural to see a tree of that description. (I think Ollie might not be the best at big descriptions but he's very lovely)

Quick Shopping

After our introductions we head off to find an earth mage to give us a greater for the trip and then head towards Seagate for a few supplies, picking up a few new haven starter kits along the walk. We'll meet ollie back in the same room in the morning so we can set off at dawn. We learn from ollie the climate of the place we're going is going to be a desert so we all buy a few water skins and are going to rely on my rough understanding of how to make ice from air to fill them again. Tallan can produce some restoratives so she buys some empty vials for our trip.

Carnival Games

We meet Ollie again back in the guild meeting room and ask him to start leading the way, he's not very familiar with Allusia so we're more following a rough direction than a planned route, we make our way southeast towards a forest in Kazalah, this is where the portal pink tree is going to be. Coming into the afternoon Ollie seems to notice some music and food like things nearby our route and starts wandering off towards them much like a kid.

We all follow him only to find a lovely small town carnival in a clearing, it has about a hundred people and children running around eating sweets and playing simple games for prizes, ollie rushes in and goes to take in the scenery, this all seems really novel to him. We again follow and decide there's enough time to enjoy some treats before a trip to the desert.

Vath takes the lead towards a game where we have to use some sharp tools to pop balloons, he manages to get all but one in a flash of dart throwing and wins a cool-looking mug, I tried after him with a bow and won a neat green hat that seems to have been owned by a 'P. Pan' before I got to it. Boom Boom found the game of strength where you hit a hammer onto a lever and it launches a ball up a wall, the higher the better. He tried a few times but managed to slip 3 times on the same pile of food which was hilarious I think he won a few paper flowers as a consolation prize but they got burned in frustration.

From there Cyrus and Tallan both gave it a go and won some plush animals, a bird and a weirder owl and bear hybrid called an owlbear. Callie Went off to play a different game for horseshoe throwing, she did great and won an Amulet of Elder Flowers.

We all figure a group game would be fun so we made our way to a game of disarming and sneaking past traps, Tallan, Callie and Vath all made it through unscathed, me and the others not so much. We got coated in dirt, flour and flowers as punishment, it was great.

We all won something for the attempt though, Tallan an Amulet of Luck, Cyrus a potion of a fire spell, Vath won a lamp wrapped in a sling, Boom Boom won some confetti grenados, I won a uniform plushie and Callie got a Bag of hopefully magical rocks and an amulet of some kind.

Around this time we found Ollie again, he'd gone to buy us some snacks which we happily accepted and we all wandered towards the carnivals fortune teller, Tallan being a Witch had huge doubts it'd be accurate but we thought 'eh, why not' and went anyways.

Session 2

Fortune teller

We all made our way to the fortune teller to get our fates read, it was exciting to try and guess what the adventure held but there were sceptics among us. The fortune teller was a much older Human woman in long robes, she pulled out a crystal ball to gaze into and read our fortunes one by one starting with Boom Boom;

• I see much fire in your future - Boom Boom
• You will be a muse for men, women and children - Callie
• Use your magic right and you will succeed - Tallan
• You will hold the world in your hands - Cyrus
• You will be pursued for your skills 4 times a year - Vath
• You will experience great distress in the baking sands - Me, Elidon

She stated a last fortune for us all as a group, "You possess something which will come of importance later", we're not quite sure what that means yet but oh well.

Pink Tree Portal Hugging

Around mid-day, we all set off for the pink tree with Ollie retaking the lead. It takes us about half an hour from the fair to see a pink tree on the horizon, getting closer it really is pink from top to bottom. Ollie brings us closer and shyly tells us we have to give the tree a hug to travel to Storybrooke, Boom Boom goes first and gives it a deep hug, vanishing suddenly, THe rest of us go one after the other with Vath being last. He seemed very hesitant but talked himself up and gave it a go. "I can do this.. I can do this.. I'm an adult!"

Each of us arrives in a massive library, full from floor to ceiling with intricate shelves and thousands of books. The room looks to be made of marble and gold detailing it looks stunning. With a big grin, Ollie shows us around and tells us a few more details about the library as he introduces us to a smaller girl named Pixie sitting at the librarian's desk. It seemed like Pixie remembered Boom Boom and greeted him with "Nice to... I remember you.."

She gets our names and makes a joke about Vath sounding close to Bath, We're being sent to help the story of Aladdin, where a poor boy finds a genie that can grant wishes, he becomes a prince and finds love marrying a princess.

Some drama ensues about Djin and Genies in Allusia, but get some details about how the plane of Storybrooke works, and that it's in trouble if the books are not fixed. We learn that we'll be given a magical book on what is going wrong currently in the book and have to try help, and a copy of the original book to guide us on what to do. Three people are trapped in the cave of wonders and our fist task is to find them, Cyrus gets the magical tome and Thallan the original copy.

Pixie presents the broken story and asks us to place our hands on it, and we do. She states we're looking for "the cave of wonders", and she chants "One for all, and all for one!" as we all get transported suddenly to a desert landscape. We start looking in the books for some directions and find the city should be to our north, and with that, we start looking for Aladdin's path to the cave entrance.

Sand Sharks?

Upon being teleported into the book, we are surrounded by sand as far as we could see, with the city located to our north, we checked our magical book for updates but nothing new since the teleportation. We get our spells ready and cast and begin setting off looking for a trail left by the missing people.

Boom Boom and I spotted a number of fins on the horizon, looked to be about 8 total racing towards us. We got our weapons out and readied for a potential fight as Cyrus cracked a joke; "gone fishing boys".

Sand Sharks.

A pretty intense followed, with many heavy blows to us and from us. Cyrus damaged his blade, Boom Boom got surrounded and more jokes followed: "The universe is trying to correct its mistake, and abort boom boom, better late than never". Unfortunately, poor timing as boom boom got knocked out mid-joke. Thallan got first blood and took one down.

Vath seemed to be having a blast, figuratively and literally. He ended up belly-flopping on Boom booms body, setting off a ton of grenados and engulfing them and the land sharks in a pillar of flames, he fed Boom Boom a potion to get him on his feet. At the same time, Cyrus took a very heavy blow and was left barely standing. Callie killed shark #2 as we all realised that boom booms prophecy was fulfilled now being surrounded by so much fire.

I'm told that I fell unconscious after this point in the fight apparently so did Cyrus, Thallan killed another shark, Vath killed one, Boom Boom killed one, Thallan went down, Callie killed another one, and Callie accidentally threw her weapon instead of hitting a shark with it.

Vath killed the final 2 sharks and collapsed on the ground as the rest of us were revived. It was a tough first hour in this book.

Session 3

A 'New' Friend, Argus

After dusting ourselves off and licking our wounds, we again noticed something moving on the horizon. This time however it was more humanoid-shaped, dwarven even. There were 5 people racing in our direction, away from the city towards us. Getting closer a few of us noticed the familiar blue of Argus's dragon-scale armour. We don't really know how he got here but the help was welcomed after the most recent fight.

We came to realize that Cyrus was no longer by our side but found a note beside us stating he had to leave for an emergency and Ollie had found some more help for us.

(If you're reading this, thanks Ollie!!)

Thallan cast a spell on us all as the 5 approached us at speed, making us seemingly invisible to them all. After a brief scuffle, we took them down and saved Argus and his Owl. He wasn't sure how he got here, but apparently appeared with some things in his hands and people chasing him so he just ran.

Finding the Cave

Checking the book again, no changes. We decided to check what Argus had 'taken' and found two halves of a Golden Scarab Beetle. Placing the pieces together cautiously it sprang to life and flew into the horizon, seeing this as a clue we chased it for as long as we could, luckily it took a dive into the sand, and sat there glowing on the ground. Boom Boom went to pick it up, just as a gigantic tiger's head made of sand began to rise from underground. This was the cave we needed to find, the Cave of Wonders.

Its mouth opened to reveal the entrance as its eyes glowed golden and menacing, it spoke to us. Stating we could only enter if we were the diamond in the rough. Boom Boom took the lead and told the cave why we were there, to save the diamond in the rough trapped within and it let us pass without issue. It warned us to not touch anything but the lamp or there would be consequences.

I decided to try pat the giant sand cat, it was fun. I got licked by its sandpaper tongue and soaked in some drool before following the group down into the cave.

Treasure? Door Hole.

We descended 10 minutes of sandstone stairs into the magic list caverns, the bottom of the stairs revealed a large room, empty aside from wall sconces lit with magical fire. The far wall had a stone door with a large hole in its centre, which looked to be about the size of a forearm.

I joked we could put Argus's owl in there to look, but it just got me some weird looks. I stuck my arm in the hole to feel around, finding a latch but jumped back after some creatures began nibbling at my fingers. Argus reached in instead and pulled the latch, and the door slid open for us to proceed.

We entered a huge cave, full from floor to ceiling of golden treasures and wonderful things. It was so tempting to reach out and take a lovely-looking bow I spotted to replace mine. We continued onwards, however, walking for a longer time than expected, the room seemed to be hundreds of feet long, but we couldn't see any bodies with the party's infravision.

Broom Sticks, Winged Keys and a Deaf Scribe

We found the end of the room, a wooden double door with a large keyhole, and a floating broomstick floating in front of the door awaited us. Looking up we saw a spiralling swarm of winged keys. Callie managed to use her asparagus farming skills to figure out which key we needed. As we looked around, more brooms appeared by the door, one for each of us. The thought of flying was too tempting for Boom Boom, and after a quick plan of how we would grab the key, he grabbed the first broom. A big mistake we soon found out.

The keys all immediately darted for book boom to attack him, he sped off on the broom flying circles around the cavern, and trying to help I jumped on one too. I lost control and hit the ceiling, falling into the treasure pile and getting impaled by a bloody sword, just my luck. I think I must have hit my head pretty bad or lost too much blood because I can't hear anything anymore, like fully deaf at the time of writing this.

I drank a potion and stumbled my way back to the group as Thallan and Vath grabbed the key, and opened the door for us all, we raced through and slammed it behind us as hundreds of flying keys pelted into the door behind us all.

Session 4

Swinging Axes and Charades

We continue past the door into a rectangular room, made of stone with 4 tapestries of a knight holding weapons adorning each wall, at the far side of the room is a door that looks to be closed. Boom boom and argus investigate the two closest tapestries, and boom boom managed to notice the tapestry move as it began to shift into the form of a knight wielding a large pole, the poles end held a giant blade that swung as a pendulum, each knight lined the room perpendicular to the path and now with giant blades flying across the space we were trapped. Argus didn't step back in time and was struck by a blade hurting him quite badly.

We spotted a lever with a spring on the back wall, we'd need to hold the lever down for it to activate but we weren't sure how it functioned. Scribe is deaf so cannot participate in mil-sci or planning easily but the party did their best to mime it to me. This looked to me like it might be a trap but the party kept walking forwards. it became quite difficult to understand any of the parties' plans but this is what I could understand.

Vath rolls some lead balls on the ground, maybe he was looking for a pressure plate, seems like Thallan was watching the blades pretty intensely, maybe studying them. Eventually, it occurred to me that the group was studying the movement of the blades to try look for a pattern or break in the movement. The party had been talking for ages, nobody had explained the plan from here, I tapped Vath on the shoulder and asked what our plan is, he mimed swinging across on a rope, I think?

The party tried some charades and they keep waving at me not to move from the entrance, and that they would go first. Boom boom grabs my shoulder after the group does some elaborate plan to try to figure out how to dodge the blades, culminating in a training session of two people holding their blades, timing it to the giant ones, and trying to dodge between a set at a time.

After a solid 20 minutes of prep, we felt ready to attempt it. Callie managed to make it across the entire room by stopping and starting a bunch, Vath soon followed and makes it through unharmed, and then Thallan. She tried to pull the lever but it didn't seem to budge, I thought she must be really quite weak if she couldn't move it.

Argus went next and made it through 3 of the 4 sets, and didn't quite time the last well enough, he got struck again with some dwarvish swears echoing in the room. Argus pulled the lever and the axes seem to stop, those who made it past the axes checked the door and it didn't move. Boom boom and I walked across to the door and join the group. It looks like I was right, Argus is a bit stronger and actually managed to pull it down. Vath retrieves his lead balls from the floor, looks like they received a few nicks, talk about a close shave. Argus lets the lever go, the axes swung again with the door opening before us with a heavy push.

Elemental Altar

The next room we wound up in was of the same size and general shape, a large rectangular room. This time the far wall was adorned not with a lever, but with two large humanoid stone statues facing us. It looked like they had their hands palmed against their chests. The centre of the room contained an altar made of marble, with four bowls placed on its top. behind the bowls was a carved backboard with a poem on it. We checked the bowls for inscriptions but found nothing, checking the exit door revealed another inscribed poem but much longer and broken into four segments. We assumed this was probably related to the bowls.

We all began to try and work out the meaning of the words, each coming to different conclusions on what the 4 door poems referred to. Ultimately we realised that the four bowls and 4 poems were related, with the door telling us what to place in each bowl, and the altar describing the position of the bowls. Realising it would take a while we sat down for a small bit, and Vath began to cook us a nice meal. Argus too a gamble and mentioned it could be related to elements, water, earth, fire and air.

After a quick bite and more thinking, Vath came up with our first plan for what goes where, I had my doubts about the plan thinking we just had to wait for nightfall for the door to open, but seeing as it was a while away we went ahead with Vath's idea of the element placements. with a Grumble and creak the far statues came to life, Vath was right. One outstretched its palm and presented us with the key for the exit door, which we graciously accepted and moved on.

Six Ominous Pressure Plates

We use the key and open the door, it opens to a normal room roughly the same size as the last one, Callie goes first but saw a pressure plate on the floor just as she was about to stand on it. Looking around it looks like there were 6 total. None of us could find the door out but began investigating for clues.

The pressure plates didn't have any markings on them, and neither did the walls ceiling or floor, Argus checked the pressure plates for any magical effects and found them all to be cursed but couldn't find out more. not seeing any way out, Argus stood on the first plate, he immediately became frozen in place with only his eyes able to move. Trying to move him off of it didn't seem to work, it was like he became fused with the floor. Thallan and Vath stood on theirs next, also becoming frozen in place. Boom Boom went next, and with Callie and I remaining, I joked we could just leave them behind and took a step for the entrance, it swung closed immediately locking us in, I was not being serious of course but I guess the room could hear me. Reluctantly Callie and I stepped on the final two plates as our vision faded we didn't know what was going to happen next.

Session 10

Into town

There was music and festivities when we got to the city. Apparently they had a new king. King Jafar they say. He has a big silly hat and holds The former king hostage. He is also going to marry Princess Jasmine. We saw magic coins being thrown into the crowd. We trust them not. Aladdin tells we that we must get into the Palace. In order to do this we have have to far from the palace. Down in the slums we are led. Into the street of rats (disappointingly there were none on sticks for sale.) We end up meeting a woman called Morgana and a man called Dubin. Many plans are come up with many layers like the palace itself and onions. In one I am to stand in as a replacement for Jasmine while she gets rescued. Apparently it involves tailors for the wedding dress. We go though sewers and into the lowest level. The first room has skeletons lying about. Varth goes out first and discovers locked rooms and 2 guards. There is also an armory that we will have to loot. Argus then started hugging the skeletons and yelling ensued. Somehow he shut the guards in with the skeletons. Also Varth disappeared.

Mil-Sci

Daily pattern

How much time does the party spend sleeping, eating, traveling, doing rituals, etc each day

Travel Magics

What travel magic options does the party have, how far per cast/or per day if duration is longer than usual travel time. Can the party eat/sleep/etc on the mode of transport.

Watch Order

Day Watch. Used when stationary, or on a larger transport such as a ship
First - ??
Second - ??
Third - ??

Night watch
First - ??
Second - ??
Third - ??

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File	Single File

Buffs

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	BB	?	?	?	?	?	?
Fire Armour	11	48 Ablative	12 Hours	Y	?	?	?	?	?	?
Fire Proof	11		12 Hours	Y	?	?	?	?	?	?
Name (??)	##	????	? Hours	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	BB	?	?	?	?	?	?
Weapon of Flames	11	12sc 6 Dmg	16 Mins	Y	?	?	?	?	?	?
Weapon of Cold	7	8sc 3 Dmg	12 Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Loot and Expenses

SP & other cash value loot

Sand Sharks Loot

• Land Shark hide

4 City Guards Loot

• 100 sp
• 4x Scimitars
• 1x 5pt Leather Armor

Gifts/Prizes

Carnival

• Small Bird Plush Toy - Cyrus
• Owlbear Plush Toy - Tallan
• Amulet of Elder Flowers - Calliope
• Mug of Ale Making - Horváth
• Peter Pan Hat - Elidon
• Amulet of Luck - Tallan
• Potion of Cleansing Flame (Rank 1, consumable) - Cyrus
• Misc. Lamp - Horváth
• Sling - Horváth
• 3x Confetti Grenados - Boom Boom
• Unicorn Plush Toy with a pin - Elidon
• Bag containing 3 Misc. Rocks - Calliope
• Misc. Amulet - Calliope
• Toffee Apple - Everyone
• Candyfloss - Everyone
• Ginger Maple Cookie - Everyone

Calendar

Autumn
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Lugnasad
Fruit (4)
			1	Guild Meeting	2		3		4		5		6
	7		8		9		10		11		12		13
	14		15		16		17		18		19		20
	21		22		23		24		25		26		27
	28		29		30
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		25
	26		27		28		29	Michaelmas	30
Vintage(6)
											1		2
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17	Blood Moon	18		19		20		21		22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Beerfest