Green Waters Rising

Scribe Notes

Summary

GM: Bernard
Season: Summer 823 WK
Night: Tuesday
Location: Birdlands
Level: Medium

Party

1. Jaycey - Played by Anne
2. Aurora - Played by Keith
3. Eugene - Played by Sam
4. Sau Rus - Played by Ian
5. Rayne - Played by Annuskha
6. Grizelda - Played by Jacqui

Employer

Captain Karnos

Mission

Investigate a Life Draining Zone in The Great Shallows

Pay

5,000sp each, personal salvage rights, arcane points.

Scribe Notes

Session One

Day 1

This must be the first time I had been in one of the upstairs meeting rooms. The Men/Women in Black aka Guild Security were there as well as some other adventurers, only a few I recognised. While I was trying to figure out why there were at least three necromancers in the party and why they had been requested, and was Jaycey, who hadn't arrived yet, their Minder, Grizelda came in to complete the sextet. There had to be a story for the Times in this. So we decided to sort out our party dynamics before talking to our party employer. The Man in Black did tell us that our employer was Captain Karnos, who represented a concerned group of merchants, and wanted us to deal with some sort of anomaly in the northern part of The Great Shallows.

What I was told about the rest of them was:

Grizelda Felspar - She had changed a bit from when I last saw her. She was once a Hill Giant but was now more of a tall human. She described herself as bear like in bulk and demeanor. Rune mage and shape shifter, being able to change into bear form. She was also Chaos tainted, which was also something I was unaware of.

Eugene. He is a 6'4" tall Necromancer and accompanied by two undead companions.

Sau Rus. Him I had met before. 5'5" tall, carried a glaive, and is also a necromancer. He collects body parts and is able to insert functional body parts into other people. We had previously discussed him giving me butterfly wings so I could fly but now I have my Air Wings, I don't need to take that option any more.

Rayne - a female human wearing blue blue and white. Originally she had been an air mage like me but, at some point, had added necromancy to her magic.

Jaycey - a hobbit female illusionist. She was introduced by a clay golem who then stated a desire for world domination. I had only ever met Jaycey once, when I interviewed her for the Seagate Times so I was rather looking forward to adventuring with her. Maybe she could help me get in touch with my 'inner hobbit'.

As for me, I'm Aurora, a female elven air mage with a touch of fae magic. I used to have access to the entire College but, after a rather unfortunate incident, where my fae fanaticism nearly lead to my death, I agreed to have most of it Shrived away. I love to fly. Most of my time lately had been dealing with my manor and also attending the Western Kingdom Royal Court. Currently I was wearing an outfit that looked like an inverted flower, complete with leaves and petals.

Both Rayne and I volunteered to be scribe. We decided to defer the decision of party leader until Jaycey arrived. It seems that she was held up doing something for Guild Security. It was best not to ask.

Captain Karnos was brought in and we discovered that, while in the Great Shallows, he had observed some strange green lights. Further investigation showed that they were surrounded by some sort of 'anti-life' zone that instantly killed seagulls entering it as well as several sailors. Some sort of extreme life drain was concluded. We would be paid 5000sp each as well as salvage rights to investigate although we had to provide our own transport. He was adamant he was not pushing his luck by going back. An eerie green glow had been seen in the sea and it was possible it was associated with a small island with a tower on it.

Once Jaycey arrived, Rayne was elected Party Leader although I hadn't really noticed as I was trying to figure out the best way of flying 1500 miles - also how long it would take. Cloud seemed to be the best bet and it turned out Rayne's Cloud spell was better than mine.

By now it was rather late. I had intended to do some research in the Guild Library that evening but it seems that the Guild Library can be rather spooky at night. So I decided to leave it for the following morning. I was lucky enough to find Aaron in the Guild Pub so we spent the night together.

Day 2

After a rather delicious breakfast, made by Aaron's mother, and including bacon which she does to perfection, I rejoined the others. What I discovered that Jaycey, Eugene, and SauRus looked as if they had a very rough night. Jaycey even had panda eyes, despite the illusion she was using. It transpired that they had indeed visited the library after dark and had experienced some unexplained phenomena that had basically 'freaked them out'.

I also discovered Rayne's dragon can be as playful as a cat, if it wants to. It is also much more heavy than a cat. I thought I was going to crack a rib.

Grizelda tattooed us with the runic tattoos needed for our continued good health while on adventure. I got mine first so I spent the time, while the others were getting their ones, doing research into the Shallow Sea and my party members, just in case there was something I needed to know that they hadn't mentioned. What I discovered about the Shallow Sea was it was full of reefs that could rip the bottom of ships so there were quite a few sunken shipwrecks there, Some of it was occupied by a theocracy of merfolk dedicated to the demon Vephar who also kept Aventi (aquatic humans) as slaves. Some escapees were hiding out on the outskirts. There was no mention of any green lights at all.

By the time I got back, the others were done, so we went searching for Aaron to get our Greaters. We found him at his forge which had a large tub of water in it. He was in the process of dipping chainmail in it before ripping it apart and eating it. This was something I didn't know about and I hadn't realised he needed that much iron in his diet. I decided not to ask, at least not at this time.

During the ritual which involved the banging of hammer on anvil and inhaling the smoke from the burning myrrh, some of the others heard eerie whispers. I saw the vision of the Fae King that nearly sucked me in and now had a recurring role in my nightmares. I offered that as a Nightmare for Jaycey to use.

Next thing to get - Lessers.

Session Two

Those were easy to get as Grizelda provided us with cookies. Unfortunately we were only allowed one each. The rest of the day was studying maps and gathering supplies. I was packing a picnic basket. I wanted apples but the Guild Kitchen was annoyed that someone, or something, had eaten them all. I had to make do with pears.

Day 3

Next morning, we took off on Rayne's cloud. I was navigating so I advised Rayne to follow the south coast of Confederation Bay then, when we ran out of Confederation Bay, she should steer in a south-westerly direction until we reached the coast of Palestrina. The trip was going well, with reasonably good weather until we flew into Palestrina airspace and encountered a range of mountains that rose higher than the altitude we were flying at. Ooops. I knew there was something I should have checked beforehand. Presumably those were the Appennine Mountain Range.

So we turned and flew parallel to the range until we found a low enough pass we could fly through. But, there was a complication. I heard the call of a rather large bird of prey. First I thought it was an eagle or some other large raptor but it turned out to be something larger and nastier, a roc. I wasn't even sure we could even deal to it until it and Dragon started an argument. We managed to slip through the pass while they were continuing to argue. Just after getting through we were being intercepted by a bright light, presumably an angel. Was it annoyed because we had three necromancers in the same place? Whatever the reason, it was more maneuverable than us so, while I was debating whether or not to fly off on my own wings to find out what it wanted, Rayne spotted some clouds ahead and decided to fly us into it and hide until it went away.

The clouds turned out to be cumulo-nimbus and they were brewing up for a storm, which we soon discovered we were in the middle of. The whole area, and us, were getting statically charged. All our Ranger north bumps were gone. Even Jaycey's Wayfinder was rapidly spinning in all directions. At least three times we were hit by lightning. All we could do was keep going and hope we made it out in one piece.

It was late afternoon by the time we flew out of the storm and, by now, none of us had any idea where we were or in what direction we had gone. I suspected I was going to get the blame for getting us lost. Fortunately Sau Rus spotted a landing site on a coast. I was starting to wonder if we had been blown as far south as Thonia.

We landed on top of a cliff overlooking the sea and set up camp. Someone saw a green light in the sea and Sau Rus detected a powerful and dense concentration of undead down there. An undead cuddle-pile? And there was a good chance there was a Greater Undead in the pile as well. I was starting to feel rather anxious at this point. Grizelda fortified the camp with rune sticks but, instead of the runes glowing a soft white, they were glowing a deep red and deep green at the same time. Rather eerie. Jaycey covered the camp with an illusionary terrain then spotted something shining in the water. So she insisted I cast Flying on her so she could go get it. She lost sight of it and couldn't find it.

During the night, watches were kept. During the first watch, Eugene reported an 'eye in the sky'. Sau Rus and I were on next so, while he watched the sea, I watched the sky. Somehow dawn arrived, rather quickly I thought.

Day 4

Dragon got into Jaycey's cream bun supply, presumably devouring the lot while Grizelda's bear got into my picnic basket and ate the entire contents, smoked bacon, cheeses, bread, butter, some jam, even the pears, as well as destroying the basket itself. Neither Jaycey or I were very happy about that and it looked like all the rest of our meals were going to consist of illusionary food. Does that mean we are consuming illusionary calories? And can that actually sustain us?

Finally I took my best guess as to where to go and we took off, heading north west. If I was right, that should take us right over the Great Shallows. I knew I should have got a sextant before we left.

Session Three

Fairly relaxing and peaceful once airborne. I was watching over the side of the cloud and was hoping we'd see signs of the Shallows at around lunchtime. I think I got my wish although some of those colours could be cloud shadows but there did seem to be signs of shallower bits so, hopefully we were in the right area.

Rayne decided to summon/talk to some high altitude flying birds. The only contenders I knew about were geese or godwits and, sure enough, what she got was a flock of geese. They promptly landed on the cloud which started forcing the cloud into a descent as it was now overloaded. Thirty odd geese is prone to do that. Rayne also has a different way of talking to avians than I do as she ended up making one of them talk Common which sent the rest of the flock into a bit of a tizzy. Goose words like 'Heretic' and such were thrown around and it was starting to look like there was a schism among the geese with half of them convinced that the One Goose had been revealed to them while the other half was not having any part of this newly formed Goose Cult. Neither half were useful in helping us ascertaining our location so we let then fly off - still arguing. It might be an idea for future parties to keep an ear out for any sign of a growing Cult of the Geese - or something similar.

Since our cloud was locked into a landing maneuver, we rode it down until it gently landed on the surface of the calm water. All we could see around us was ocean although, nearby, was a coral reef that jutted roughly fifteen feet out of the water. Jaycee commented it look like a rather nice area to go for a swim but I was arguing that it looked a bit rough. This led to Jaycey making comments about my swimming prowess - or lack of it. I ended up promising to do something about it when we got back

It was also just past dusk by the time we landed so dark descended quickly. I had been considering doing a scouting flight to see if there were green glows in the area but returning to the cloud would have been a problem as it would have been really difficult to find it again.

Rayne was also able to talk to fish, but again she got no useful information. Probably better if she spoke to a dolphin or merfolk. We also saw a large jelly fish pass under the cloud which was being followed by a swarm of tiny black and blue fish.

A short while later the cloud ascended into the air. The rest of the night was spent sleeping in the void. All we could see in any direction was black.

Day 5

Finally dawn arrived and it soon became clear that we were still over ocean. No land in any direction.

I'm not sure how this happened but I was sure Rayne was responsible for the dragon that showed us to tell us we were going in the right direction but we had to pass through a magical storm to get there which would give us the opportunity to 'eat lightning' and perhaps get more powerful, assuming we survived it. Some of the rest of the party seemed rather enthusiastic about this as we got closer and closer to the storm and it's multi coloured lightning bolts.

Some of us hunkered down in a 'cave' to wait it out. Jaycey was struck by pink lightning which prompted me to ask her whether it tasted like cotton candy. I then was hit by a green bolt which gave me the taste impression of 'blue' while Sau Rus was being repeatedly struck by black.

Session Four

Finally everything calmed down and we took a cautious peek outside. We had emerged into the 'eye' of the storm, which was a calm area but we were surrounded by swirling clouds with the occasional flash of coloured lighting. Below us was a small island with a tower on it that had a green glow emanating from it. As far as I could tell we were in the center of the eye and stationary relative to the island.

Eugene was saying that one flash caused him to visit a Fae King who he had agreed to serve to the exclusion of all else and he was unable to make contracts with anything else. This meant he no longer had control of his flesh golems and it was even possible he was no longer a Guild member. Also my Crown of Mass Charm was now melted and welded to his head. He had earlier asked to borrow it so he could use it as a lightning conductor. Sau Rus had to use his healer skills to carefully remove it - in pieces - and, with flesh still stuck on it, I shoved it in my backpack. I wasn't too happy about this, nor was I happy about the deal with the Fae, considering my near-death experience. It had me wondering if it was the same one.

I was watching over the side of the cloud and noticed that there looked like tiny clouds scooting around the tower. Meanwhile the others were discussing/arguing what to do when, out of the clouds surrounding us came lightning sharks and they weren't the friendly kind. My first instinct was to fly off the surface of the cloud, as they were 'swimming' in it, grab my bow and start shooting. This may have been the wrong thing to do as I was swiftly attacked. Plus the presence of the sharks had overloaded the cloud and forced it into landing mode, which meant I was getting separated from the rest of the party, something Grizelda did not hesitate to point out immediately. In the resulting fracas, I got my left (primary) hand bitten off. That hurt, a lot, and I managed to land on the cloud before losing consciousness.

To make things even worse, those cloud wisps turned out to be swarms of flying piranha and, as we got lower, they too joined in the fight. I was hard pressed to keep track of who was doing what to whom but we did manage to prevail, thanks to Dragon, Bear, and excellent uses of necrosis. Sau Rus got swallowed by a shark but Jaycey was able to cut him out before lasting damage was done. What was left of them retreated and we watched nervously as they peeked out from the storm but, thankfully, they decided not to bother us any more. Unfortunately the rest of the party were unable to find my missing hand among the dead sharks, not that anyone had the ability to reattach it. And I had to endure another scathing torrent from Grizelda about ranking useless things, and not being effective. And people sometimes wonder why I lack confidence sometimes?

As we were .... erm .... hotly debating the issue, fortunately Jaycey leapt to my defense, thanks, the cloud finally touched down on the island. Thanks to our magical defenses, the death effect was being kept at bay but we could see no other life, no plants, insects, nothing. The island itself was roughly circular, a mile in radius, and sloped upwards to the tower. The ground was black, the colour of soot and we decided to rest and plan before exploring. Guess I'm going to have to learn to use my tulwar right handed or rely more on my magic from now on.

Oh - and the other thing noticeable? We could see stars above us, even though it was only mid morning when we entered the storm. Temporal or Planar shift?

Session Five

When we finally got off the cloud, the ground, which we thought was ash covered was actually powdered obsidian. Also we noticed that the waves were coming in small then suddenly rising and breaking as if the land suddenly dropped off into the depths.

Did I say that the island was roughly circular? Turned out it was teardrop shaped, it just looked circular because of the angle we were looking at. But the most surprising thing wasn't that as it turned out to be twenty miles to the tower, and all of that was over obsidian rocks, then boulders as we progressed onwards and we had to climb over every one of them and they all had sharp edges. Even me as my air wings weren't giving me as much lift as usual, although they did help at making one handed climbing easier. In the end, it took us two days, using the Jaycee meal count method of timekeeping to get there. But finally we reached the steps to the door at the base of the tower.

Day 7

Things got even stranger when we got inside. The inside of the tower was bigger on the inside than the outside, and a spiral staircase ascended around the inside of the wall that appeared to ascend into darkness. Plus there was no guard rail. Attempts to walk to the center proved to be impossible as, from the edge, it looked like the walker was taking smaller and smaller steps as they progressed. From the walker's point of view, the further they went, the further they had to go. Ascending the staircase, again using the Jaycey method of keeping time by how hungry a hobbit gets, and how many meals they consume, took us five days of plodding upwards. Once the bottom was out of sight, it looked like we were ascending into darkness and there was no idea how far it was to fall. As a consequence we all hugged the wall. Camping on this seemingly endless staircase was done by Jaycey providing horizontal walls for us to sleep on. It was still rather disconcerting though, being surrounded by that darkness and not knowing what was beyond. One also had to be careful when one moved as a misstep could have been fatal at worse, or long separations at best.

Day 12

On the fifth day, we could see a faint green glow above us, which gave us fresh heart to keep going. Several hours later we emerged on a balcony that ran around a very large luminous green crystal. It was possible to lean over and touch it, but the draining effect increased, the closer you got to it. Didn't stop Dragon from licking it though. There was nothing supporting the crystal in it's location, it was just floating there inside the tower with the balcony surrounding it.

Around the outside of the balcony was a glass shell with triangular frames, some of which could be opened for access to the outside, basically a glass geodesic dome. Outside the dome and at the level of the balcony, we could see the shimmering surface of a sea. Jaycey doubted whether it was a real sea as she couldn't see through it. Maybe she could, but there was nothing to see.

I was basically leaving the necromancers to it. A spirit was summoned and spoken too. I wasn't sure what exactly was going on but I got the gist that it was the spirit of a sahuagin and what was going on was related to something another Guild party had encountered on the Plane of Cecrotis although it wasn't clear how.

There was also talk on whether or not we should attempt to destroy the crystal. Dragon was certainly coveting it as part of his hoard but, it didn't seem possible to do so, and even if we could, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Session Six

Grizelda had already tried to divinate the crystal and found it was associated with the demon Savnok. The sahuagin had been a willing sacrifice to make this thing, or power it, I wasn't quite sure but, from what the necromancers were saying, quite a lot of sacrifices had been performed.

Several plans were hatched and with the help of a Limited Precog, all the possibilities were evaluated, some of them indicated that we could be killed, stranded on unknown planes, or even worst fates. Eugene had one cast of a Bubble of Force that would protect us from the resulting explosion but, since many of us had to go and smash into it up close and personal, there was a good chance that some of us might not make it into the bubble in time.

It was decided to do it, I stood next to Eugene and launched Thunderclap after Thunderclap at it while the others wailed into it with bashing weapons. After a while, and a few Restoratives later, the crystal started to crack. A bit later it fractured and everyone dashed towards Eugene who cast the Bubble around us just as the massive green explosion reached us. Unfortunately, Rayne and Dragon didn't make it in time. All of us were hurled out of the tower with the force of the explosion, arcing out into the space around us before plunging into the portal sea. Everything went dark, very dark.

We were being bounced around in the bubble as it spun unpredictably. The bubble was tumbling in the dark and all of us were suffering from vertigo. We could roughly tell which way was up but, every time someone moved or the bubble interacted with outside forces, we kept falling over each other, which wasn't pleasant. To make it even worse, someone was sick and fairly soon everyone was heaving, resulting in a pool of regurgitated liquid at the bottom of the bubble which smelt extremely awful - and we were all being covered in it.

Just then, we noticed the surroundings were getting lighter and it wasn't long before we realised we were surrounded by water. The bubble then popped up on to the surface of the sea and was being tossed about by the sea. We then saw Rayne and Dragon splash down nearby, into the unknown ocean but we had no clue if they were still alive.

I wanted out of the bubble, even though we were surrounded by water and we would have been forced to swim. The smell was just that unbearable. Eugene then told us that, since he had used an investment, we would have to wait for the duration to expire. ARGH!

So there we were, stuck in a Bubble of Force, bobbing on an unknown ocean on an unknown plane, all covered in vomit and trapped with a very unpleasant smell, with the realization that when this bubble did pop, we were going to be thrown into an unforgiving ocean in which we were going to have to swim to an unknown land that we could see in the distance. I was so not looking forward to that either.

Session Seven

When the bubble popped all of us were rudely deposited into the cruel ocean. I was floundering more than usual with only one hand in the water and ended up using Grizelda's bear companion as a floatation device.

Somehow we managed to struggle our way towards the island. Sau Rus had managed to provide means of waterbreathing which helped, but it was still exhausting. When we got there, Sau Rus was the first one out, climbing up the cliff to the ledge above. He then dropped a rope to the rest of us. I was able to lift myself up out of the water enough to allow my wings to work enough to get me up to that ledge.

One by one, we all assembled on the ledge. All of us must have looked a sorry sight: wet; messy; tired; and grumpy. Eugene offered Cleansing Flames. Some of us, including me, accepted that. There was pain, the feeling of burning but, after that, I was feeling clean and dry.

The top of the island was full of flora but not so much fauna. The auras told us we were on the plane of Cecrotis. I remembered that the way back to Alusia was through a hole in a tree that grew in a park in the city state I had visited previously. Finding it was going to be a bit of a problem though.

That night, I watched the stars having some knowledge of them from the previous mission. There, the city state was some twenty degrees below the equator. Here, we were on the equator.

Day 13

Which direction we should go was a guess. We finally flew to the west on Rayne's cloud, keeping on the equator.

Day 14

It was the next day that we sighted land. In the bay ahead of us we could see a large plume of smoke. Getting closer we could see it was a ship on fire and the crew were frantically attempting to put it out. We decided to help them. The cloud was landed nearby and, after a rather few tense moments, we were allowed to help. Rainstorms were used rather effectively to put the fire out.

We discovered that we were in the right area with the city being located down the coast from where we currently were. We also discovered that the fire had been caused by an attack from lizardfolk fire mages that had forced them to turn back. It was decided that, since they were going in the same direction we wanted to go, we negotiated passage in exchange for us protecting them, especially since they were being attacked from both sides. I was wondering if there was sahuagin involved.

Session Eight

The plan was, just as we reached the ambush site, to firearc from ship to shore, courtesy of Sau Rus then hit the attackers there with everything we had. I also summoned up an air elemental and gave it instructions to harass those attacking from the other side.

I have to admit, it was a good ambush spot. Cliffs with a bridge spanning ledges on top on one side and coral heads on the other side with only one safe passage through, unless the ship swung out really wide from the coast which puts it in the mercy of offshore weather, which, for this kind of ship, could be deadly. There was also some sort of ringed palisade further down the cliff. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to investigate that for reasons which will become apparent later.

We were all buffed up with ablative spell armour as well as extra fatigue and endurance before fire arcing. Once we arced over, the rest of us hit the attackers, who were hiding behind walls, with whatever spells we had already prepared. I went for sleep gas which had proven to be very effective on previous missions but, not so much here. That was why I switched to thunderclaps afterwards. Grizelda and Bear advanced towards the wall that was blocking off the other part of the bridge.

After a few volleys of that - and some return fire - I decided to make use of a gap in the bridge and fly underneath it in order to come up through another gap in the middle of the enemy. Besides, Grizelda and Bear had already jumped the wall and were on the attack. I figured they'd need backup. Sau Rus must have had the same idea as he called for us to gather around him while he prepared another fire arc. Too late as I was already on my way, emerging on the cliff side of the bridge near where Grizelda was. That was when we were hit by, not one, not two, but three hellfires in quick succession. The first two were stopped by the ablative armour but the last one turned out to be a triple damage one which went right through the ablative, through my own protections, and wiped out my health in one fell swoop. It wasn't just me either. Most of the rest of the party also didn't survive that.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the rocks at the base of the cliff with Sau Rus bending over me, having managed to resurrect half the party, starting with Rayne, who was able to resurrect the other half. The ship was well past the ambush point by now and, hopefully safe.

Session Nine

I was so sure that SauRus was in line for the Star of Alusia for single handedly saving the entire party but Rayne pointed out that Dragon helped. I argued that since Dragon hadn't signed the Guild Contract that he wasn't technically part of the party but Rayne said that he was included in the documentation so ... sorry SauRus, I tried.

I guess what we had could be described as a pyrrhic victory. Sure, we had lost dearly, losing our Greaters and Lessers and most of our buffs. Granted some of them could be replaced, but ... still. At least the ship got away relatively unscathed, mainly because we took most of the fire - literally.

Somehow we managed to scratch together a hot meal, mainly because of Dragon catching fish. At last - real food. I even threw in some berries that I have scavenged on the island. We then rested on the rocks for the rest of the day.

Day 15

Next morning, Rayne summoned a cloud. Before napping on the cloud - and Rayne's cloud allows me to smoosh myself in it, then pull some over me as a blanket - I told Rayne to fly along the coast in the direction the ship went for roughly a day until encountering a large river mouth then fly up that until a large city is seen nearby. I'm not sure how much sleep I got as I somehow ended up getting into philosophical arguments with both Eugene and SauRus, mostly Eugene, - and maybe I did dream some of those.

Day 16

It wasn't until dawn the next day, while I was purifying according to ancient elven pagan traditions, that the river mouth was spotted. Rayne turned the cloud to fly up river. A bit later on, we were surrounded by Haast Eagles with riders on them. After explaining our purpose, we were escorted to a spot four miles away from Talville.

Entering the city, we noticed two things, there seemed to be less people around, and most of the ones we did see were female. Probably the military maneuvers out in the country side had something to do with it. We were given accommodation at an abandoned manor house with no plants around it, which made it a rather depressing place. Eugene wanted to know about what local Powers were available to help him get out of this Pact with the Fae King.

Felix came to see us a bit later on, bearing a special book for Eugene to look through. While he was doing that, and the others were discussing possibilities, Rayne and I went to the market. We came back with various items of food and I procured a whiter fluffy cloud like dragon plushie that reminded me of Cloud, the dragon that we hatched on our last trip here. Dragon was muttering something about 'big brother being a showoff'.

Rayne also presented Felix with a phoenix feather. Apparently both Death and Murder, Rayne's two Haast Eagles she had acquired from Felix on our last trip here, had somehow changed into phoenixes and Rayne had acquired a small, but steady supply of feathers. Also, since I interviewed her, she had added necromancy to her repertoire. Something to ask about later? SauRus was also a likely candidate for a Times interview, especially when he admitted he was over 400 years old, this wasn't his original body, he had been an undead for a while, and his original plane of origin wasn't Alusia. As soon as I get my writing hand back, I am so going to have to find out more.

After a lot of deliberation, Eugene finally settled on Amon, the Marquis of Fire. Felix said there was a monument to that demon, roughly fifteen miles out of town that was surrounded by very hot, blue, flames. Not many people survived the experience. Eugene decided to go in as a pilgrim, minimal protections, and some sacrificial goods, including what was left of my Crown of Mass Charm.

So we all trooped over there to witness this event. Jaycey offered to 'keep an eye' on Eugene's stuff while he was in there. I said that, if he survived this experience, I'd interview him to find out what it was like.

Before we went in, he started dancing around the fire. I was tempted to join in as ritual dancing is a 'thing' in the old elven pagan teachings, along with healing crystals, 'being one with Nature', and wearing nothing but leaves and flowers. But when Eugene started uttering stuff in a rather guttural language that reminded me of ancient Black Speech, the next thing I knew, I was up a tree, several hundred yards away. By the time I recovered my wits and flew back, he had already passed through the flames.

It seemed like hours while we waited, (Jaycey and I were passing the time with card games) until a blackish lump crawled back out on what was left of his limbs. Rayne rushed over and did what she could while Jaycey provided a horse and cart to put, what was left of, Eugene on. I was trying to think of a way to summon a small, fluffy, cloud he could rest on, but didn't come up with anything useful. Something to look into later? Carefully we took Eugene back to town and put him in the gentle care of the healers.

Session Ten

Eugene was in a very bad state. All his limbs were gone and Jaycey was describing him as a well cooked chicken nugget. I was thinking he looked more like a charcoal brick but it would not have been wise to say that. For a while I was more sorry for him than I was for myself and ended up handfeeding him grapes.

Speaking of missing limbs, somehow Sau Rus had managed to obtain parts of dead bodies that were supposed to be cremated, and was able to use them to attach a hand to me and arms and legs to Eugene, once his skin had regenerated enough to take it. We had to make do with what we got and return them before we left. I was sure the hand I had belonged to a big muscly man who did hard labour but at least it was usable enough to hold a pen and write somewhat legibly so I could at last sit down and do the scribe notes. Hope I didn't miss anything important. Still, I wanted to go home and get my proper hand back.

The others wanted to wait until the ship arrived along with our promised reward. We hadn't scored anything major in the way of loot since we had blown up the crystal and had lost the fight with the lizard folk so, if we were going to make a profit out of this, that was going to be our last chance. So we decided to wait. Wasn't really much for us to do though. Picked up a few more trinkets, absorbed some of their culture and spoke to some of the merchants. Spices were running low and it was soon apparent they were waiting for the same ship we were. I also found it interesting that many of those spices originated with the merfolk.. Certainly I had not heard of such a thing back home. I was considering obtaining samples until I found out how much that was going to cost me.

Several days passed before a street urchin I had spoken to earlier, arrived to tell us that the ship, carrying the new spices, had been sighted. After I paid him, he dashed off, presumably to tell other people who had also promised payment for the same news. I had to smile.

To get to the riverside docks, it was a long stairway down the cliff that the city was built on. Today it was very busy with people going both ways, including porters carrying goods. It was so packed, it was easier to fly down. Surprisingly, not many people were surprised.

By the time I got there, there was what looked like an impromptu auction going on although it looked really chaotic. I just parked myself on a bollard, looking like, and dressed like, an oversized pixie, while watching the fun. Once it was all over Rayne was handed a bag full of coin. From the way she reacted it must have been heavier than expected.

Once that was done, there wasn't much more we could do here, so we decided to arrange to go home. Of course we had to return those borrowed limbs we had so they could be cremated properly. I thought we were going back through the portal in the hole in the tree but, Felix said some big man had used the children's swing in the hole and broke part of the tree. So Felix had to do a very long construction ritual to make a willow arch portal. Once it was ready, he activated it and we went through.

We appeared through a natural willow arch on a riverbank and it was drizzling with rain. Grizelda checked the plant life and assured us we were on Alusia - our Alusia, not one of the nearby alternates. Rayne created a cloud for us to ride and it didn't take long to ascertain we were somewhere in North Carzala. The cloud seemed to know where we wanted to go, and an hour or so later, we landed in the Guild's landing area. It felt good to be home.

But this isn't the end of the story as there was still the aftermath to deal with. Apart from getting my left hand regenerated, I had got off lightly. I did get a couple of visitors. First was a representative from the fighting school suggesting that, with my strength etc, whether or not I should start specialising in larger weapons, such as a hand and a half, and getting into the front line as I had the abilities to do that. Next was a representative from the Air College suggesting I should specialise in more damaging spells such as Thunderclap and Whirlwind Vortex. I told both of them I'll take their arguments into consideration and make up my mind. Both of them had good points in their favour and I intended to take them seriously.

Eugene had lost his necromancy college and was now a fire mage. So he was in an accelerated course in the college.

For some reason Jaycey was arrested by the Seagate Guards after half a day of running around the city while screaming. It took them that long to catch her. She ended up spending the night in the 'drunk tank' before being released the next morning after paying a 10sp fine for being a 'public nuisance'. She told me later she had no recollection what caused that.

Sau Rus had to go see a Michaline ex-warrior for something related to that 'glowy object' we had encountered.

Grizelda was told that she had outgrown Bear and needed a new, more powerful totem.

Didn't hear anything about Rayne.

I also did some investigation of whether or not there were such a thing as marine spices on Alusia but I found nothing. Even a flight down to Rangiwhero told me nothing of use.

Finally, after deciding to concentrate on my magic and learning to swim, I headed back to my manor to resume my duties in the Western Kingdom.

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.

• Rayne Cloud Rank 10. 34 mph, 2 day duration. 1500+ miles range per cast.
• Aurora Wings of Air Rank 20. 50 mph, Permanent, Personal
• Aurora Flying Spell Rank 20. 50 mph, 10.5hrs, 525 miles ranger per cast. 10 targets.

Watch Order

Day Watch. Used when stationary, or on a larger transport such as a ship
First - Eugene, Grizelda
Second - Sau Rus, Aurora
Third - Rayne, Jaycey

Night watch
First - Eugene, Grizelda
Second - Sau Rus, Aurora
Third - Rayne, Jaycey

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File	Single File

Buffs

Vision

Vision without Spells

• Aurora - Elven Witchsight
• Rayne - Human vision.

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	Au	Eu	Gr	JC	Ra	SR	Dr	Ja	An
Disguise Illusion (JC)	15	May alter your appearance up to 15% height, 30% weight, both voice + clothing and either race or gender. May not be Located	16 hrs	N	Y	Y	Y (Permanent)	??	??	??	??	??
Vapour Breathing (Au)	10	Makes unsafe gases breathable	330 Mins	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	??	Y	Y	??
Darkvision (Eu)	6	110ft of sight	7 hrs	Y	Y	??	??	Y	??	??	??	??
Gift of Necrogency (SR)	20	-25 infect -6 Drain - 65 Fear	25 hrs	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	??
Resist Cold (Au)	6	Shift effective gauge up by 2	7 hours	Y	N	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
Wraith Cloak (SR)	16	26 def 17 stealth 5 DR	8.5 hrs	Y	Y	??	Y	??	??	??	??	??
Animate the Living	10	+5 PS	6 Days (Ritual)	??	Y	Y	Y	Y	??	??	Y	Y
Rune Shield (GZ)	14	+19DEF, +2FT&EN PROT, floating sml rnd shield (no hands, no md modifier, can be sacrificed to avoid one spec grev)	15 hours	??	??	Y	??	??	??	??	Y	??
			??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
Name ???	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
Name ???	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
Name ???	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Au	Eu	Gr	JC	Ra	SR	Dr	Ja	An
Heroism (JC)	10	+11% Def to Target, 11 modified Fear checks (all allies and target) and 11 to reaction rolls (neutral observers)	100 mins	??	??	??	Y (Permanent)	Perm (Rk 14, +15%)	??	??	??	??
Spectral Weapon (Eu)	6	+7 SC +2 DM	11 mins	N	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
Spectral Weapon (SR)	17	18 SC 6dmg	22 mins	Y	??	??	??	Hand & 1/2 (Stored)	Glaive	??	??	Hand & 1/2
Weapon Flight	6	+7% s.c., +2 DM, Returning.	11 Min.	??	??	??	??	Bow	??	??	??	??
Resistance to Light	20	+42 resist light based attacks, see in rank 20 Light, protection form non magical light	210 mins	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
Smite	12	standard D counts as 10 in weapon or spell damage - 5 charges	17 min	??	??	Y	??	??	??	??	??	??
Create Rune Weapon	6	D-5+2 damage for D10 pulses	11 minutes	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??

Seagate Times

What's Hot: Ablative Magical Armour.
What's Not: Triple Effect Hellfire.

Quote: "Protect Me Ash Daddy" - Eugene to Amon.

Calendar

Summer
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Beltane
Meadow (1)
			1	Guild Meeting	2		3		4		5	White Lotus	6	Seagate Light Festival
	7		8		9		10		11		12		13
	14		15		16		17		18		19	The Castellan Borderers Ball	20
	21		22		23		24		25		26	Seagate Crafters Ball	27
	28		29		30
Heat (2)
							1		2		3		4	Seagate Guildmasters Ball
	5		6		7		8		9		10	Seagate Races	11	The Duke of Carzala's Summer Ball
	12		13		14	Midsummers  Eve  (Faerie Day)	15	Solstice	16		17	Seagate Summer Fair Day	18	Seagate Summer Fair Day
	19		20		21		22		23		24	The Castellan of Brastor's Summer Ball	25
	26		27		28		29		30
Breeze (3)
											1		2
	3	Day of Death	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