Reflections and Visitations
Summary
GM: Martin
Season: Summer 810 WK
Night: Tuesday (from 15th Dec)
Location: New Windsor
Level: High-Very High+
- Party
- Braegon - played by Stephen
- Serendipity - played by Lisa
- Sabrina - played by Dean
- Logan - played by Neil
- Broc (aka Dear Old Dad) - played by Chris
- Ithilmor (aka Baby Girl) - played by Clare
- This party is full
- Employer
- Enlightened self-interest
- Pay
- Pro bono publico
- Facts
- The spawn have been involved in tampering with the shallowings (semi-stable permanent weak points / portals) between the Alternate Alusias. Two of the alternate Alusias (Empyrea & Dark World) have already merged/overlaid each other and are effectively occupying the same plane (either side of a natural river).
- Theory
- Apollyon is having the spawn collapse/merge the Alternate Alusias by manipulating the shallowings. Sooner or later this is going to happen to us (Alusia Prime) as well. Whether his intention is destruction or conquest, either way it will almost certainly be bad for us. Four years have passed since the events of Crisis on Alternate Alusias, new information is needed.
- The Plan
- Talk to Lord Yo (Nephros), Ahriman & Eriskigal, and Dumuzi, Ninlu & Nin-gizhida (if we can contact them). Ask what they know and ensure we're not going to disrupt their plans against Apollyon.
- Depending on what we learn: Investigate the Spawn cities in Central Terranova to find out what they know about this and what they are up to. Find some of the Spawn who are actively messing with the shallowings, interrogate them & investigate their equipment.
- Hopefully out of all of this we will learn what we need to do to stop them.
- Bonus Extra
- If we have time/opportunity: Water World has a portal to the plane of water that has been open and flooding the world since the war of tears. I'd like to close/reverse it before the last of the land is lost beneath the waves.
Scribe Notes
1st Meadow
We meet at the guild, introduce ourselves and hold discussions on the matter at hand. We go through the standard guild business with Braegon as Leader, Sabrina as Military Scientist and Broc as Scribe.
I share some news on the movements of dragons:
- Dumuzi (and his travelling circus) is (probably) not in the local area just at the moment. I, last saw him 6 months or so ago on a flying visit and he seemed to think he was making some headway on "my cousin's cacophonous catastrophe", but that he was somewhat worried about "fractal bounds" and "planar foam".
- Lord Yo aka Jade Dragon has warned me that the Elven portal network may not be currently safe to use unaccompanied, even on the apparently stable lines - though he says that they should be safe enough if he's present. He said that he "would be saddened if any of the young folk that I've become fond of were unexpectedly detoured and eaten".
We are discussing our first steps and Logan is still getting to grips with the pro bono aspects of the mission when a guild flunkie announces that our employer has arrived, taking us all back as we don't have one as we have organised this mission ourselves. Anyway we agree to them entering and wait.
A small dwarf enters by the name of Namtar 'The fate cutter', messenger and herald of the Lord and Lady of the Dark City. He knows some of the party due to past interactions with his mistress & master over the past 2 decades or so and 'work' done in Terranova, releasing certain beings and other suchlike activities.
He states "there are no debts from past events but some actions are ill advised". He extends aid on behalf of his master and presents Braegon with a small black magical globe that we are told will hide our activities from the attention of his Mistress' cousin while we stay nearby.
He does this as his mistress has said that "her cousin will soon be aware of our activities and may take actions against us as a result".
He passes a small part of a shattered egg for Seren as a past memento. We do ask some questions via Namtar, one of which is "Where can he or his minions best be stopped" with the reply "opposing those plans are the province of the younger races and not of her concern"
His mistress can tell us that her cousin's plan is proceeding faster than he expects.
He leaves and we discuss his information and what Ahriman and Eriskigal wished to convey to us.
By 1pm a decision is made that we need to consult Lord Yo via Kokhan's court. Conveniently Braegon has an invite to visit Kokhan which will get us straight in to see him, the only issue is that the invite was issued 2 years ago and Kokahn does not seem the type who likes to be kept waiting.
We grab our bags and depart for Kinlu via my portal to Newcourt and then by getting lost for an hour in the castle gardens and ending up in Castle Borovia. We exit the castle walk down through the portal to Kinlu where we find that it is now early morning here in Kinlu.
2nd Meadow
Braegon presents a ceremonial Tanto message to the Akinrosi guards who summon Taijin guards who escort us to see Lord Kokhan at his palace.
Upon arrival at Lord Kokhan's palace and presentation of the Ceremonial Tanto to an offical there, we are taken by a functionary deeper into the palace where we are shown to a ceremonial suicide chamber to deal with Braegon's 'issue' but after some time we are offered a way to avoid the formal issue between him and Lord Kokhan by Akrenza Tajin who will see us as his personal guest rather than a formal visit and thus we are able to rest up and talk over our issues with him.
We are graced by the presence of Lord Yo when he arrives via his usual teacup and shares food, presents and thoughts with us over a beautiful breakfast. He presents each of us with a gift of a 'Bracelet of Stabilisation' (made of Black stone with a light inscription of a coiled snake) from his cousin Dimuzi who thought we might find these useful when travelling across the planes during our mission.
He has discovered that the ether Ziggurats are focusing mechanisms that are attempting to align planes by equating planar frequencies and if aligned planes will 'collapse' upon each other as has partially happened with Empyrea and Dark World.
Dimuzi is worried about all the stresses on planar boundaries and the effects it will have on stability across the many planes that will result in 'planar foam' and 'fractal boundaries' which together with weakened planar limits which may provide circumstances that could be exploited by creatures from the unknown voids to enable their passage and involvement on the known planes to the detriment of all.
We discuss our worries in regards to our ability to talk with him and he provides us a Jade Goldfish figurine for us while on Alusia and a flying Jade Goldfish figurine that may work across planes to enable more speedy and efficient communications.
He advises us to avoid the Alusian portal system as it has been compromised by recent events and travel via the network is inadvisable without his presence. He departs after breakfast and wishes us well for our endeavours.
We spend the day with Lord Akrenza, resting with him and his family guards before we leave that evening on route to Terranova. We purchase the required wagon type of transport for Ithilmor and we quickly modify it for our use by adding a magical horse that Sabrina carries with her.
We depart via Ithilmors moonlight and after somew stops and reorientation (via navigation checks) we arrive in central Terranova just before dawn on a volcano ridge (a fire high mana zone) that we estimate to be some 20 miles south of our destination.
3rd Meadow
We leave the wagon hidden under some cover and I create a portal point there. Once dawn has arrived we fly some 10 miles north and see what we consider our destination (a long lake surrounded by deep jungle) before we settle and land on a mesa and further espy our destination from a safer ground view rather than a possibly vicious aerial position.
We prepare to move off the mesa down into the jungle when we notice plants with many reflective leaves reorient towards us and we decide not to proceed down that route towards the 'Reflective plants' and Braegon quickly establishes tunnels down through the mesa to ground level.
We start our trudge through the Jungle that we quickly surmise to be very dense, deadly and inimically hostile to life. Over the course of 6 hours we encounter dangerous flora such as Crystal Sunflower, Bramble Wire, Razor Ferns, Exploding Oaks, Lightning Vines and paralysis lilies to just mention a few. We are well equipped with Sabrina and her steed Ajax discovering most of these for us and bearing the brunt of their nasty surprises which the main party thus avoids due to the forewarning or the setting off of the traps therein.
The afternoons travel is not much easier but by 5pm we reach a ridge crest and can look down upon the big valley and lake that is our objective. We move along the ridge northwards to get closer to the Spawn city and Braegon establishes a small bunker for us to rest and operate from while here.
We estimate we are about 1 mile above sea level and those of us unused to continued physical exercise find the air is thinner and have difficulty breathing at times. A rune portal is established here for speed of future access to the area.
We look down into the valley and see a long lake with lots of agricultural areas and a number of cities around the lake. The cities are characterised by Temples in central plazas surrounded by barracks, bureaucratic facilities and such buildings. The main spawn city is on the Western part of the lake and is built on and between small islands in the lake linked to the shore by a number of causeways. The biggest temple in the middle was built over Apollyon's tomb and there are 4 smaller temples around it. The nearby Saurian cities were loyal vassals of the spawn and the further Saurian cities were subjugated sources of sacrifices for the temples. We consider the valley to be densely populated judging by the local environment and storage of land outside of the valley area.
Discussions are held over the composition of the Spawn and Lizard cities and what is known of them. They are organised on a 'caste' basis that reflects their professions: Scouts are chameleons that have a natural blending ability, Soldiers are larger types that are better equipped with weapons and armour, Artisans are smaller types with long fingers, Entertainers wear bright colours and stripes, Bureaucrats are hugely fat green and white types and are usually transported by palanquins, Merchants are small fat types, Couriers usually have long legs and the Mage types appear to be only Elemental and Entity mages with no known Thaumaturges amongst them.
We rest for the rest of the day until midnight when we decide to reconnoitre the spawn city in order to gather more information. We had planned a small incursion into the Spawn city but since we find it deserted we all land and investigate. The city shows signs of being long disused (many decades or centuries) which is odd since the area was visited by Serendipity in the last decade or two and found to be very inhabited.
Further investigations reveal a lot of draconic symbols/runes on the Ziggurat's that look 'foreign' and out of place. The Ziggurat runes translate to phrases such as "He who has 1000 names", "Lord of the Underworld", "Streets on the Left", "Lord of the Obsidian Wind", "He who created the World Fish", "Lord of Dragon-kind" and "Master of the place of the Fleshless". The top of the main Ziggurat is a place of power for Air and Earth (half the volume each), the tops of the secondary temples are places of power for Fire, Water, ?, and Death. We avoid entering the volumes there.
We realise after some more magical investigation that this is not the city recently visited by party members but an almost identical city from another plane (Alusia 2) that has 'replaced' the Alusian Prime one exactly and displaced the Alusia Prime city elsewhere (presumably Alusia 2). Divination confirms the displacement occurred around the Summer Solstice 805 and the volume displaced was a sphere 1 'elven Lar' in radius or 5000 elven yards across (aka 1 league or 5km) based around the main Ziggurat. The magic required a vast amount of power which we guess (and later confirm) would have required thousands of sacrifices made upon the main Ziggurats altar area.
We decide to investigate the nearest Lizard city which we find to be mostly deserted, it has the capacity for some 10,000 residents but we estimate only under a 100 reside here currently.
We discover a large number of Suarian bones, bodies, and signs of battle. A few of the surviving locals cautiously approach and we gently question them. Over the year or two before Summer 805 there was a steady stream of sacrifices in the spawn city, the warriors of the vassal cities (including this one) were sent to bring back thousands of sacrifices from the neighbouring cities, then the spawn sacrificed 90% of their vassal cities. On the solstice there was a blinding flash of light and then the spawn (big mouths) were all gone.
Once word got out that the spawn were gone, Lizards from further out cities came to exact revenge on the remnants of the vassal cities reducing them to the few survivors there are now. Around 2 years ago a group of 7 Drow came by looking into recent events.
4th Meadow
We get back to the bunker by 7am after our nocturnal forays and we have decided to head to Terranada to see if we can get further information there. The majority of the party get some rest and sleep while I undertake my Planar Portal creation rituals. In the end and early afternoon I manage to establish a planar portal to Terranada with some effort and I get the party to 'stand to'.
I have previously established a portal end in the wine cellar of the Club on Terranada and warn the party not to touch anything upon arrival until I can talk with our hosts. I open the portal and a black inky liquid area comes into being and after checking that it is linked to the correct plane we pass through.
We find ourselves in wine cellar of 'The Club', well in what remains of it anyway in so far that there is the portal itself and portions of a wall standing nearby and debris from destroyed bottles and assorted other materials strewn across the floor. Looking upwards we can see that we are in what appears to be a bowl like crater where 'The Club' obviously used to be.
Since we are in an exposed situation and the houses surrounding the 'site' can see in we move to a more covered area by the half destroyed outbuildings to the north.
Once there we start some magical investigation as well as observing that there are a number of 'spent shell casings' from 'guns' that are part of this world and which bode ill for those here previously. The destruction of the Club seems to have been a recent event likely within 8-12 weeks ago and we find no bodies here.
Logan notices that we are being observed by a man with a spyglass overlooking the site and speaking into a horn shaped instrument for communication and he is receiving instructions back through the device. He has relayed our arrival to someone and has been told that help is on its way. We move quickly to silence him and bring him to us for questioning while we have also located an escape tunnel that the Club members will likely have used.
So when our snatch team returns with the unconscious man we depart the scene via the escape tunnel. The escape tunnel leads on some way and has a collapsed area that we tunnel through and end up in a deserted townhouse some distance away.
Since we are able to we question our captive and get the following information. His name is Mr Sidney Trotforth and he was a Forward Observer (artilleryman) and ex Sgt in the Queens 28th Heavy Artillery Regiment and he has a leg injury from the wars. He tells us of the Open rebellion the past 3 years between Loyalist Forces who are loyal to the Govt and the Rebel/Royalist Forces who are loyal to the Queen.
The Count of Seagate Talo Heskell has reluctantly (compelled to by The Club) joined Rebels as have 'The Club' which has resulted in the destruction of 'The Club' by Loyalist Forces. He further states that the Rebels seek to put Prince Tarion the Queens grandson on the throne (the pretender to the throne) and thus destroy the eons of matrilineal rule by replacing the Queen with a King. He illuminates us that 'The Talons' are HM most loyal police with a very nasty reputation and that the Black Pirates have been more active particularly vs the Morovians.
While he is being talked to we also keep an eye on the ruins of the club from afar and espy a number of heavily armed troops combing the site along with a Captain (a Human Male who walks with a cane) who appears to be in charge. He is soon joined by an elven gentleman who we hear called Meldoran and who seems to a magical investigator/Intelligence operative type but using various items/artefacts' to achieve magical results. We also notice another observer like Sidney observing this house but he has not noticed anything as yet and we continue not doing anything to attract attention.
We need more information but also need someplace to hide and rest before I can undertake some rune magic to possibly assist us in our endeavours. Braegon builds another separate bunker under a nearby garden and we all decamp there away from the house for the rest of the day and lie low. During the day our planar stability bracelets thrum and I do a quick check for local planar anomalies and find that the entire area is akin to Borderlay Emmental cheese (famous for its many holes) which is a worrying state of affairs and speaks volumes as to the state of the plane and its boundaries.
After the questioning, Braegon starts 'miraculous' healing of Sidney's leg and this seems to fly in the face of what he expected and he seems surprised when we say he will be released unharmed very soon. He warns us not to associate with the rebels as The Talons are a lot less civilised than we have been with their prisoners.
When night falls I undertake a Sending to locate Wilberforce Wilkins and I do within my range limit. I undertake some questions that result in us narrowing down his location to an Inn some 40m west of Seagate in a town by the sea which we take to be Seacroft.
When I wake at 3am we leave the bunker, drop Sidney in a back yard near The Club where he can be found and we take flight westwards, carefully avoiding the aerial defences around Castle Chilton that include airships and ether vessels.
Just before 430 a.m. we arrive in Seacroft and hide between warehouses while we eye the local Inn and find Wilberforce. We send Seren up to alert him of our presence and we are soon thereafter shown into the Inn which is aptly named 'The Adventurers Rest' for a breakfast meeting with Wilberforce.
5th Meadow
Wilberforce updates us: many of the Queen's heirs have had mysterious accidents and fatal illness over the years, the best heir is Elanara the Queens great-great-grand-niece and daughter of Tarion. The Loyalist Govt forces are putting about the false story (deposing the Queen) to alter public sentiment against the Royalists. The civil service controlled by Prime Minister Abraxes has been running things for centuries and the Queen hasn't been seen for a long time, she is closeted in Kadath 'for her health'. Interestingly PM Abraxes who is normally active around court has not been seen for about 3 years, the Queen's orders still come through the bureaucracy but exactly who initiates those orders is not clear.
Wilberforce excuses himself to send some messages to his fellow club members, we are just sorting some issues out over muffins when we notice that our previously hobbit waiter is now a goblin and it appears that we have shifted planes or planes have shifted around us.
The plane appears to be an amalgamation of Terranada and another neighbouring plane (in retrospect probably Alusia 3), we'll call the plane Terranada 3. Wilberforce (a darker more oily version of himself - fixer-smuggler merchant-thief type), he doesn't remember just talking to us but does remember meeting us a few years ago (though we don't remember this version of him). We chat more about events involving the Moravian Commonwealth, the Lupines and Celestials and then Wilberforce agrees to take us across to the continent of Arcadia (Terranova analogue) on his Ether Yacht "Queen of the night" - a good smugglers vessel. We use the secret tunnel from the Inn and follow Alonzo the Innkeeper and Bob the Goblin through to the adjoining warehouse where the yacht is stored. We all clamber aboard (even Ajax through the outer hold) and grab some rest while the vessel takes to the air and head westwards.
Dawn sees us in flight over the ocean, Sabrina Divines Wilberforce but finds nothing relevant to the planar shifts. Logan chats and finds his memory of previous events matches ours, other than some additional self aggrandizement on his part, complete with Spawn and Ziggurats (but that the Ziggurat near the Ring of Fire disappear mysteriously a year or so ago).
A few hours later (around 10am) there is another planar shift to another Terranada (Terranada 4) that is Titania influenced. The ship is bigger and grander, Wilberforce (AKA Force 12!) is taller, more heroic and wearing a cape, he is surprised at seeing us on his ship but accepts our presence quickly and with only a little confusion, he too hasn't met us yet but does remember us from last time (similarly with mysteriously disappearing Spawn Ziggurat). When we chat about why we are on his boat he asks if we need to speak with Mechanitrix at the Tower, and we readily agree. Wilberforce changes our heading to upwards and we head out of the atmosphere to a small ether-fortress that is the League's secret hideout. We dock and head off to the lab to see Mechanitrix who turns out to be Lady Madeline Barkington the mad inventor, mechanician and engineer.
She knows of the instabilities and is worried about their impacts and we explain some of what we know about planar issues and she seems more worried but relieved that we seem to have supported her research and theories. We discuss Kadath and she does some engineering work and 'hi-jacks' a military signal from the Ether-Fortress 'Prince of Kadath' (which is in permanent station above Kadath) and she causes a map of the city to come into life showing us amazing detail and importantly 3 sites of permanent locations constantly pulsing with planar instability and many other periodic sites across the city. We are determined to head down there to investigate and ask 'for a lift' from Wilberforce, but not before borrowing an instability detector (looks like a storm lantern that will get brighter closer to instabilities), a good quality 30x Spyglass and a set of Binoculars from the Lady.
We head on down to Kadath (around 2pm) on the disguised ether-yacht Anairolg ('the Gloriana' in disguise) and we are dropped off at the public docks at the edge of the city where we hide in plain sight as heroic types seeking to vanquish evil (as soon as we can find some).
We move quickly towards the closest site of permanent pulsing where we find a small apothecary to all appearance until looked at through my special crystal (enables better vision of portals and the like) which reveals this site is actually what appears to be a series of intertwining vines coming from the ground and continuously moving and flexing. Magical investigation seems to result in judging that the area has a negative aura (the analogy being that if Rock has an aura strength of 0 and an Avatar has an aura strength of 10 then this site has one of -10) and we are concerned but don't know how to affect it yet without lengthier and more obvious investigations. While we look the shop changes to music shop.
Around 4pm we want to assess the other two sites for similarity, Sabrina flies off to do so while we move off the street to 'investigate' the upstairs of a florist shop for signs of evil. We keep an eye on the music shop which then becomes butchery, then a bicycle shop and then a milliner (hat) shop, it continues changing on a semi-regular basis but there is always the same man working in the shop front.
I create a rune portal in the upstairs florist shop, part way through we transition to another plane (Terranada 5) which seems blended with Dark World - the plane ruled by Vampire Drow. The shop owner is surprised to find us upstairs and faints at the sight of us, Braegon observes that she shows signs of anaemia and being bitten by Vampires recently. Braegon heals her and puts her in her bed for a deeper sleep.
Sabrina returns later than expected as she had to change her disguise and stop flying when the plane shifted, she gives us news of her investigations: the other fixed instabilities are similar in appearance and have exactly the same aura; the imperial precinct is protected by 1000ft (2500ft think) high walls and accessed by 1 mile long bridges; heavily boarded up carriages are being driven around the city carrying what we assume to be vampires waiting for the setting of the sun so they can spend some time in town.
We decide to penetrate the precinct and investigate what we can at the most powerful (and shielded from scrying) instability at the centre of the city. We have a simple plan to get in, we will hi-jack a carriage then Sabrina will escort us in through the front gates showing her pass to anyone that dares ask for it.
Just before sundown (7pm) we look to secure a carriage.
We find a carriage that suits our purposes and we soon relieve Augustus Fiddlestone and his fiancée Isabella Mudridge (of the South-bend Mudridges) of it as well as the services of Buttlesworth the driver. The two of them are minor nobility, young, fops, and (human) Vampires. They don't seem to have picked up the Vampire Aura of Menace thing, Isabella screams until she is slept, Augustus has the willpower of a wet fish and is about to spill all on the local palace politics when Logan sleeps him too. Replacing Buttlesworth with Braegon and Sabrina the Dark being the escort we head on towards the palace after stashing the bodies in a mews.
We pass along the main SW-NE thoroughfare and just before the bridge we come across 2 huge dragon statues at the end of the structure with a squad (20) of guards checking passes in between. We get to the guards, present our pass and are allowed to cross the bridge. The guards were competent but casual and wore a uniform with a wolfs-head insignia along with silver trim & braiding and oddly spoke with an almost Borovian accent.
We pass over the 200ft wide huge stone bridge that is a mile long and arches in the centre to a height of 500ft above the river before sloping down towards the palace precincts. There are tall thin houses built along the edge of the bridge but there is still some 120ft of clear road across the bridge itself.
We approach the palace end of the bridge and are again stopped by another road block, this time of armoured vehicles and approximately 100 men all up and looking much more serious. We hand over our pass and are forced to wait while it is checked using their communications devices. They can't locate our patron and so as a last resort we are forced to ask for Brigadier Sir Thomas Fanshaw and we are grudgingly allowed entry.
We pass through huge portals and enter the palace precinct itself and we continue on expecting to be met by Lord Fanshaw's representative. Soon thereafter a rider comes alongside (Capt Mingis) and escorts us to a townhouse being occupied by Lord Fanshaw.
We quickly meet with Lord Fanshaw who is slightly miffed that we have linked ourselves to him and possibly forcing his hand but he gets on with sharing information with us.
- 4 years ago when we were last here things got a bit tense politically.
- 3 years ago a regal gentleman, Strahd von Zarovich appeared at court and caught the eye of the elderly queen, soon thereafter becoming the prince consort. He has since 'turned' the queen by offering her a chance at longer life and thus she has become one of the vampires as he is.
- The prince consort has become obsessed with personal security and has bought in his own troops which are the ones that stopped us on our way here – the wolfs-head guards.
The palace is guarded by Archons (See the 'Elven Destroyers' of modern times) and Protectors so we will need to be wary and Fanshaw says that paranoia rules at the moment and this is reinforced by us spotting shadowed figures closing in on the townhouse we currently occupy.
We decide to strike at the rot at the heart of the empire and remove him whilst saving the queen using Braegon's super healing abilities. As a loyal servant of the empire Fanshaw cannot encourage or endorse this course of action. But if there was anything unrelated that we needed...
We need to get into the palace and concoct a plan involving a middle-march, magical tapestry artwork, reversals and pneumatic tubes. We get a codename (Blackstone) for future reference that will enable contact with Fanshaw but avoids mentioning him.
We start our plan and then find ourselves in the palace, albeit on Terranada 7 which is an area of destroyed rooms and palaces with Martian tripods (Black Pirates) going around destroying the area. Seren destroys a couple of the tripods We open a portal and desire to arrive where we want and we do so although it seems to be a Terranada plane the size of a room, the doors lead into some sort of white sparkly void.
Braegon experiments and creates a new corridor by an act of will, as we look down a corridor we see the 3rd door on the left's handle slowly turning, in the room a vision of Lady Barkington appears and starts speaking with us.
Sabrina, Ithilmor and Seren guard the corridor, ensuring nothing gets in (and none of us get out to poke at it). Braegon seems to be growing more powerful as he wills more of his plane into existence, his aura rapidly heading towards avatar.
We need a way out so I start a portal link to my last established portal in the upstairs of the florist shop on Terranada (Darkworld) while others talk and stay caged. It turns out that Lady Madeline Barkington is actually Mechanitrix and that she has somehow contacted the other LMB's on the other Terranada's and created a device to locate us across planes. We have a chat to her about news and intentions. The LMB's are rallying to our aid on their various planes and hope to help in any way they can.
Logan looks through the third door with an Eye and Crystal and sees (and hears) an Elven child (female) trapped in the room, she is calling for help, waiting to be let out and rescued. Braegon can also sense and communicate with her but cannot scry through her eyes. The Barkingtons identify her as Princess Elinara the daughter of Prince Tarion the Queens great-great...-nephew and heir presumptive.
Despite temptations, pleading, and apparent innocence the party believes that she is probably some sort of extra-planar creature of the void and should be left where she is. Braegon reluctantly concedes to Sabrina's insistence that he stop creating more of the plane and potentially becoming inextricably linked to it.
6th Meadow
I establish a portal and activate it. Braegon urges us to hurry through the portal as he can feel something (probably the 'Princess') consuming or taking over the plane. We pile into the portal to Terranada, I go through first and then last as Sabrina and Ajax are too slow following and (through the bracelets) snap me back to the same plane as them.
We come out where we expected which was in the upstairs of a floral shop nearby one of the permanent planar holes in Kadath, we frighten the occupant of the bed with our arrival, her screams reverberate until Seren 'encourages' her back to sleep. We discover it is early morning here.
We notice different things once we look around, there is a series of angelic type effigies in the room, one represented in a supplicant position with hands in front of face (perhaps crying or hiding tears), one with a scythe (possibly death), one with fire (hot and damaging) and the last associated with towers. We think we have suffered a shift again and we might be on Terranada (Elusania) or (Alensia).
We move to get to the centre of the city and continue our previous plans and as this is a theologically ruled plane my church rank and knowledge might be useful as a lead. We head downstairs and 'hail' a vehicle but when I speak with him they curse and flee along with their vehicle. When a local man is convinced to tell us some details he is horrified at me being fae (elven) and the wild hunt (looking at Sabrina) is mentioned before he runs off screaming into the night.
We quickly move away from the scene, hail another vehicle (with Braegon leading us and the elves wearing hoods) and proceed towards the central city. The drivers drops us at the bridge, he can't and won't take us any further. There are guards and more steam-wagons, these with attached weapons. The guards stop us and we are sensed/checked by an abomination of a deformed elf held in chains and forced to act like a dog (to detect magic no doubt). Most but not all of us manage to actively resist the DA but Ithilmor recognises him as a follower of Manwe and signals we are friends stopping him from giving alarm. Braegon blusters and bullies the guards, assuming authority, referencing Blackstone, and implying we are some sort of special agents of the empire. He requisitions one of the steam-wagons and the witch-sniffer and its handler.
Over the bridge where another larger patrol (and more armed steam-wagons) awaits and we are stopped. These ones are not so easily bullied and it takes a bit longer before we are let through. Suspecting our bluff may not last much longer we hurry further into the city. Not sure what to expect in this version of the city we decide to push our luck and get as close to the centre as we can before we need to resort to plan B.
A couple of miles in from the walls the end of the line appears to be a recently assembled road-block. Fortunately the road block is commanded by Fanshaw, we lose the driver and elf-handler we've dragged from the bridge and are soon thereafter taken to a secure location for a debriefing. Ithilmor removes the chains and control collars from the elf and encourages him in choosing a name for himself (Tree) instead of the number he has always been known by. Braegon then heals him while we talk with Fanshaw, the local Lady Barkington walks in to our relief and adds the information she and the other LMBs have been working on.
In the late afternoon some explanation of the Queen and Abraxis is given with Queen Gloriana - the royal Blood, The Archbishop Abraxis – often seen by the higher clergy, he isn't terribly mobile. He occupies the Elven throne (the Glorianna) and the blood of the queen flows in his veins through the Gloriana and he rules through her divine right, the throne maintains the elven queen – the throne has blood running through it and passes this onto Abraxis. The problems here are the Church vs the Divine Empire.
Early evening falls and we state our intent to go straight to the heart of the matter and deal with the poison at the heart of this society (Abraxes) and we are explicitly not helped by Fanshaw in any way. He leaves to deal with a distraction to the city defences that will happen in 10 minutes. Lady Barkington will arrange for Tree to get to a friend (Wilberforce) who can smuggle him to the free elves living in exile with the Black Pirates.
We cast our short-terms magics, wings and then take flight during what appears to be an aerial bombardment of a cathedral on the far side of the central city. Presumably this is incident that is serious enough to draw off the aerial defences over the vast central cathedral.
Sabrina summons Mjolnir targeted on the 400-yard crystal dome over the throne room hoping to break a hole in it enough for us to pass through. When Mjolnir arrives on scene it seems a lot larger than expected and when it strikes the dome it smashes a very large hole before ploughing a crater in the floor inside the cathedral.
We immediately follow Mjolnir into the confusion and we see a well-lit area with large sconced areas and around 2 dozen guards (some still shell shocked, some not moving and others seemingly unaffected) as well as 12 bell helmeted figures surround the throne, there is a lot of guards even though it's the night watch.
The main doors into the throne room have been blocked by Mjolnir's crater. The throne is on a raised incline at the far end of the room, the throne is golden and haloed with pipes and blood runes, the figure sleeping on the throne (Abraxis) is coming awake. At the back of the throne is a large golden cylinder that is likely to house the queen.
We fly into the room seeing a glowing golden lattice forming over the hole in the dome behind us. As we descend we see activity below us and see that we are being coated with some defensive 'dust' that starts causing magic to drop off us. We move to land quickly and start to cover the last 300 feet to the throne on foot. A patrol of heavily armoured guards flies towards us on a slow form of fire-flight and dozens of large fire-projectiles are homing in on Sabrina (who is wielding Ira) and Ajax who are still in the air. It is nigh impossible to draw the local mana and spells that do go off don't last long. Broc distributes some stored mana, Braegon snaps off a defensive wall, the guards land outside it, Sabrina lures the fire-projectiles down to ground level causing most of them to impact on the wall or the guards. Due to a slight timing error on Sabrinas part, some of the fire projectiles impact inside the stone wall, which everyone thankfully survives.
Abraxis and Sabrina exchange insults in booming voices and invoke their gods. Seraphim and the archangel Kemuel (local equivalent of Michael who is peeved at Sabrina wielding what seems to be his sword) emerge through a gateway. In response Sabrina invites a host from her side, and Valkyrie, The Fallen and Thor (who has a serious grudge against Kemuel) descend the rainbow bridge. A celestial battle ensues behind us as we slowly (all magic of Rk 20 or less is now suppressed) charge the throne. Some of the Valkyrie are used to ensure none of the guards intercept our path to the throne
As we get closer it turns out that the throne is embedded in a 50' ancient Elven golem which has been fitted with flame and projectile throwing weapons which Abraxes turns on us as we approach. The quick coup-de-grace is thwarted by some sort of force bubble over Abraxes; Sabrina draws fire from Abraxes; Broc rescues Logan from fiery death; Seren, Ithilmor and Bragon climb the back of the golem and break open the golden cylinder. Sabrina and Ajax are now continuously burning with some sort of holy greek-fire but still manage to disable one of the golem's weapons; Seren cuts the Queen loose of the cables and tubes, Braegon keeps her alive as he pulls her out then Ithilmor restores her to health, youth and vitality by the grace of Varda.
The Elven Queen Glorianna is quickly briefed as she comes around, she quietly decrees "Abraxis, you are no longer welcome at my court". Sabrina smashes the shield around Abraxes, Seren relieves him of her blood but allows Braegon to stabilise him just before death. At Glorianna's request, Ithilmore summons Varda to stop the battle between Thor and Kemuel.
Once the fighting is over we ask Abraxis to surrender but he says 'never' and activates some device on his arm just as Serens dagger cuts short his life. Judging discretion better than valour and with a new ominous sound emanating from the ancient elven golem we move quickly away from the golem/throne area and do so in time to avoid a large explosion that vaporised Abraxis and the golem/throne.
We then proceed to talk with Kemuel and Thor about recent events and life on this plane that involves the subjugation of fae, war against non state religions, various invasions etc. Kemuel doesn't seem up to the talking and backs off in a pout but Jophiel a Kerubim steps in to conduct discussions on his master behalf as he is the Lorekeeper / Lawkeeper for Kemuel.
We sort some things out over some discussions and find out that this plane is millennia old but has only been in existence for 3 years. We get Abraxis admonished for his overstepping of powers but Kemuel also blames Queen Gloriana for her stepping away from power and relinquishing her control over the plane which has enabled the instabilities.
The queen still seems to be covered in the purple mottled fungus/vines but these seem to have become less pronounced since last look and perhaps her youthful body and new mind will be redeeming her and helping in regards to the planar instabilities. We consider her current status as an illness/sickness and can be fixed with healing.
Once the gods have departed to their respective 'heavens' we exit the cathedral to see a whole lot of guards waiting for us and they escort us to the palace where the queen is taken away to be made appropriate, dressed and bathed after her recent rebirth. She is accompanied by our 2 female elves in maid and bodyguard capacities who also continue updating her on events.
Fanshaw is sent for and offered the prime minister position but refuses, instead becoming her royal steward as well as Lord Vauxhall for recent work on her behalf. Lady Madeline Barkington is summoned and she takes over as head of Department 6, with the moniker of 'M'.
Night passes with rest for queen (under our heavy guard) and some of us.
7th Meadow
Dawn the next day
A conclave of bishops is called and convened and the queen defines the separation of church and state and what the religion must do now she has returned to take control of the realm. Not all submit to her will and swear fealty and so 4 of them are ordered to undertake a period of monastic solitude in distant rural lands.
The Lords of the Admiralty and the Army Generals are called and given new orders by the queen which involve ceasefires, withdrawal, cessation of hostilities, the recall of religious commanders attached to military units.
While this is happening Sabrina and I visit the site of the first negative intrusion we discovered in the city and find a more subdued area, less active or vibrant but still there.
The results of Divination are that these 'vines' are manifestations into Terranada from beyond the planes and that they/it is an entity/thing/someone and the vines gain nourishment from consuming the positive energy from our planes and perhaps converting it to more negative energy. These could be termed 'tentacles' inserted into the Terranada's and its presence causes the instabilities probably in conjunction with no exercise of will from Queen Gloriana.
My hypothesis is that the 3 negative holes are small cracks in the planes that we are on and through which something from outside the planes is attempting to gain entry forcibly but can only get these 3 small holds on the plane(s) and while the queen was not exercising her will and power over the Terranada's the extra planar entity could continue gaining power form these planes and channelling them to their plan BUT since the queen has been restored and she is exercising her will their ability to 'grow' has been stymied.
We surmise that it/they (the vines) could be hurt by the Sword of Solomon but that may perhaps alert the entity they are linked with
We return to the palace before lunch when the queen adjourns the court for a rest.
In the late afternoon we are all back together and we offer our best wishes to the queen and offer our apologies for our departure but we feel our capabilities are needed elsewhere. The queen understands and bids us luck and LMB has made contact with herselves to pass on the news and give aid where possible.
I take samples of this (Elusania)-inspired plane and head off back to the florist shop to create a portal to Terranada 5 - Darkworld. The portal works and we pass through it and we emerge in a cupboard with an undead LMB waiting for us on the bed facing the cupboard. LMB here appears to be a sentient undead Vampyr via use of a 'cloaking' magic device when she is in fact not a follower of the latest fashions and is normal human.
She has a plan for our entry to the palace using the pretence of a ball this evening that is rumoured to have bearing / news pertaining to the succession. She has sourced us some invitations and we prepare to go once more into the heart of the evil on this plane. She hands out copies of the devices and we all soon appear to be Vampyr's.
I take a sample of this darkworld and we wait till just before dark.
During this time we are paired off for the invitations with Logan & Sabrina becoming Cyril and Basilina Dunderville, Braegon & Ithilmor become Edward & Esther Smallhood (of the Brocwood Smallhoods) and Broc & Seren become Hugh & Phyllis Naddlebury.
We understand now that the 'Prince-Consort' is the grand sire of most of the Vampyrs on this plane and a lot of his 'coven' will be present tonight along with many of the Nouveau riche of society who have taken up the trend of becoming Vampyr as its a new social trend. The Prince-Consort will also have his Wolfs-head personal guards in attendance as well as the palace guards whom we are asked to avoid injury as interesting events may transpire during 'the evening'.
A stream carriage picks us up and we pass across the bridges and through the guards to the palace using our invitations until we enter the palace and mingle and dance while moving towards the dias.
Just before midnight the Prince-Consort and the Queen arrive and start walking towards the dias from the entry doors. Half way along the PC stops (startled by his inability to detect anything in a specific area of the ballroom) and we launch our attack amongst the crush of crowds and wolfs-head guards.
Our pre-planned attack had the objective of getting to the queen and rescuing/holding her while killing the Prince Consort and any of his supporters that stand in our way while minimising casualties amongst the palace guards and if possible the non important/non powerful guests
I notice that the Prince-Consort has a medal on his chest which is symbolic of the Order of the Dragon of St Michael and which I had last seen in Newcastle, Newcourt. He is also noted to have an almost avatar level aura and carries a powerful weapon (sabre) that doesn't look ornamental/ceremonial.
The Queen who accompanies him is an elf, pale, wan, aged and visibly pregnant (just shy of 6mths) and who DA's as LL Sentient undead and the child is DA'd as being powerful and malevolent.
We attack and start the carnage with 2 guards dropping in as many heartbeats and the way to the Price-Consort and Queen opens. Sabrina moves to engage the Prince-Consort and I move to assist, Seren deals with near guards and the rest suppress the crowd and area with various magic.
The PC uses a device to teleport away from the attentions of Sabrina to the better protected dias area where his staunch supporters in the form of a Wolfs-head General, Wolfs-head colonel are situated, a fop, an elderly matron, a slinky lass and another, leaving the Queen standing alone
Some sort of mental and physical communication is passed between the Queen and Seren, which leads Seren, much to the astonishment of the party, to thrust her sword clean through the Queen from behind, skewering the malevolent entity within her as well. Her last word is the naming of her heir, before dying at Seren's feet.
The Archons arrive in pillars of light, one a harlequin with crystal weapons, another a mirrored figure with a whip and gaff hook, others currently not seen clearly through the crowd. We consider that we may have to deal with them, until they start attacking the enemy and the palace guard start attacking the wolfs-head guards. An unlooked for benefit of killing the queen is the removal of the right to rule from the PC, giving free reign to those loyal to the queen (such as the Archons and Palace Guard) to attack where they will. They quickly show their dislike of the PC and his troops.
Soon thereafter Sabrina finds herself standing over the body of the Prince Consort while his head falls to the ground after being cleft by the sword IRA held in her hands and the rest of the enemy is either dead or gone from here. ....
We are held at the scene by the archons 'for our own protection' for an hour and some of us rest and give peace to the dead, other heals living beings where possible, we detain several Wolfs-head guards while others loot eagerly. While inside we hear the sounds of battle outside with explosions, screaming, sharp retorts until it quietens down and the doors are opened allowing Brigadier Fanshaw entry, resplendent in his regular army uniform.
Fanshaw surveys the scene, gets a quick summary of events and asks us to stay while they 'cleanse' the palace and immediate area. 15 minutes later we give Fanshaw a more detailed update and debrief of recent actions before we are assigned rooms in the palace with comfortable beds for some while others undertake some Divinations regarding Death Curses and magic mitigating its effects. Sabrina's original death curse was "whomever slays me shall be the enemy of my enemy and the scourge of my great foe". This has now been changed to be less 'challenging' to Sabrina's future activities. Sleep
8th Meadow
We take breakfast around 9am before we are asked to appear at a full court at 10am.
10am sees us fully dressed and in some ways more presentable before the first gathering of the new court. We present ourselves at the appointed time and march up to the throne and stop at its base to bow and show appropriate courtesy.
Prince Torian father of Elinara is there along with Elinara (she is an equivalent age of a 10yr old human female), several high courtiers and a number of very alert looking guards in new uniforms. Fanshaw is summoned as well and he is made Prime Minister and then we are thanked for our roles in recent times but Seren is to be "Exiled from the realm forthwith for her acts of Regicide and Infanticide until such time as the Queen recalls her". Seren acknowledges the pronouncement and starts walking away until Elinara stands and says "Lady Seren could you please come here", thus breaking the exile.
After the court we retire to our rooms and prepare to leave when LMB appears and states that "we are on an outer copy of a plane and collapse is imminent so we had better try to leave ASAP". I start my ritual in the stables while the party explain issues to Fanshaw during which time we are led to understand that Von Stroud may have been Abraxis father.
My ritual works and we exit through the florists upper rooms with the negative mana hole nearby outside (but slightly diminished) and we quickly exit the shop into the street downstairs.
We decide to quickly act to do our required works here so we take a carriage and head inwards towards the palace.
PLANAR SHIFT
We pass some imperial troops and learn that HM is in seclusion
PLANAR SHIFT
We come across some more guards in nice grey uniforms (with Dragons-head Insignia) whom we bluff past using the queens authority document. We pass into the palace area and ahead we see a cavalry squadron (24 men and horses) heading our way in what we perceive as a not welcoming way.
PLANAR SHIFT
The Cavalry Squadron wheels and forms up around us in what is seen as a guiding, accompanying manner rather than threatening. They wear the Claw insignia rather than the Dragons-head.
We are lead to a series of building which have a White tree banner outside then and we enter. Presenting our documentation we are quickly seen by an under-secretary and are given the bureaucratic run around until we circumvent this by using our authority and marching over to the palace doors. As we leave we ask a Lt to send a message to Lord Blackstone saying "that the time has come and we are here".
We enter the palace and again present our papers asking to be admitted to the queen's presence forthwith. A major domo is our impediment here stating matters of appointments, protocol and other such bureaucratic nonsense to delay, divert or dismiss us from our intended path.
We decide to relieve him of his post at once and he stands relived while we undertake come magic to divine the location of Queen Gloriana and/or Abraxis. We leave the 'reception room 'we were in and start heading for the stairs/Steam powered rooms leading down into the subfloors of the palace.
We move towards the stairs intent on heading towards where we suspect the queen is and a squad of palace guards appear before us and block the corridor ahead.
They wear Tarlatan helms and are members of the Royal Household Cavalry regiment who carry sheathed sabres and long barrelled weapons held in the 'port arms' position. Their leader, a cornet (lowest officer rank) informs us that on the orders of the Capt we are to be detained and he apparently had orders from the Colonel of the regiment, Colonel Crandelloch.
We notice more troops assembling behind us of similar ilk and armaments and so we resort to diplomacy and negotiation. We succeed in getting the cornet to summon the Captain so that we may discuss our relative positions with hum. We have our papers saying we are acting on behalf of the queen and thus need to see she and they are acting under orders from the Captain and we need to be detained forthwith.
A bureaucratic nightmare to be sure caused no doubt by bureaucrats and their ultimate leader the 'Prime minister' Abraxis.
Capt Puzzleridge arrives with more men and demands our surrender and acquiescence to his demands that we try to avoid diplomatically but to no avail. With the failure of non violent and active diplomacy we resort to our least preferred option of action.
Soon thereafter several areas of darkness appear, a flash of light activates and we follow Sabrina charging down the corridor towards the old 'Winter' palace from the new palace.
We get to the start of the old 'Winter' palace, break down a door and Sabrina steps in. She is halted in her progress by 2 titan sized golems and 6 ancient elven archons with whom she declares 'parlay'. A short period of discussion ensues where she states our position and purpose but is rebuffed by the archons who are acting on the queens authority via her 'trusted and faithful servant' the prime minister whom they must obey unless gainsaid by the Queen.
The archons are sympathetic to our cause but they cannot act beyond their bounds and their purpose is true to the wishes of her majesty. They do informus that the PM is hiding down in his 'war room' bunker under the new palace
We decide to deal with the evil Abraxis and thus quickly backtrack away from the 'Winter' palace towards the new palace along our path and head downwards via tunnelling.
We enter some rooms that connect to an underground rail station and then to a 'lift shaft' that descends 200 feet to a complex below. We head down the shaft and stop before the bottom where heavily armed 'prime ministers personal guards' are arrayed waiting for us to exit the shaft. We disrupt their ambush with more darkness, dark elementals and a TK rage effect that disrupts the area out to 200ft with flying beings and objects and is followed up by a horse charge and the rest of us dealing with sundry resistance.
We kick in the final door in the complex to find a large room with a pool in the centre that is green, discoloured and foul smelling and occupied by a part dragon, part something else that we assume to be the PM – Abraxis. Also in the room are a dozen spawn warriors, several spawn artisan types and a palanquin upon which sits a bloated fat frog.
Abraxis upon our entrance utters "kill them all" and we respond "we are happy to oblige" and combat ensues swiftly.
The fight ends with almost all of the frogs dead or docile, although the head frog had secured himself on his palanquin inside a bubble of force and thus he survived until the end of the combat. Elsewhere in the fight Sabrina single-handed held off the evil quasi dragon known as Abraxis who had somehow become more than a part dragon and less than the noble beasts we often associate with. Sabrina's fight enabled the rest of the party to suppress the rest of the room and then help her finish it off whilst avoiding the evil acid and nasty breath weapon that he had.
Once Abraxis died we breathed a sigh of relief until the body started moving again and the full horror of what had happened became clear. Abraxis over his long period of dealing with other worldly beings had been seduced by and then invaded by a being (or beings) from outside the known planar boundaries – something from beyond - and it finally showed its hand by moving his body towards some nutrients (the frog on the palanquin) that it could use to replenish itself. We fought it and through clever magic use (Ta B) we caused the link to the outer planes to halt and fall away thus finally killing the host body Abraxis.
We breathed again and did some further dissecting of the body to make sure.
We then told the frog the terms of his surrender, he acquiesced to our terms and then told us all that had happened to his knowledge.
MARTIN – PLEASE UPDATE HERE
We then went upstairs to the old Winter Palace where the Archons stand aside while we talk with the very old queen Gloriana. We soon return with a newly young and rejuvenated queen who sets about setting Terrananda to rights. Fanshaw becomes Prime Minister and LMB becomes M of the secret service. We are able to explain lots of events and enable a new age to come about on Terranada and are given grateful compliments. We offer our assistance but internal politics are exactly that so we retire to visit with some of 'the Club' members before returning to Alusia.
9th Meadow
10th Meadow
11th Meadow
Astrology
Astrology readings commissioned by Braegon for Summer 810 WK.
General Prediction on the outcome of the mission.
Follow through and make your dreams come true
Don't give up the fight and you will be alright
There's no one like you in the universe
Don't be afraid of what your mind conceives
You should make a stand and stand up for what you believe
And we can truly say that together we're invincible
During the struggle they will try to pull us down
Let's use this chance to turn things around
What you leave behind and what you choose to be...
And whatever they say your soul's unbreakable
Specific question #1: Who has crucial information that we should seek?
You're corrupt, bringing corruption to all that you touch
And beholden for all that you've done
Cast a spell on the country you run
You will risk all their lives and their souls
You bring death, and destruction to all that you touch
You must pay for your crimes against the earth
Feed the hex on the country you love
You will beg for their lives and their souls
You'll burn in hell for your sins
And our world is consuming itself
What we've become is not what we might wish
Take a bow
Specific question #2: Where is it most crucial that we go?
Far away
This path is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our goals and visitations
Glory and broken nations
Losing control
Increasing pace
Warped and bewitched
Time is erased
Calendar
| Summer 810wk: Meadow | ||||||||||||||
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| Moonday | Duesday | W'ansday | Th'rsday | Frysday | Reapsday | Sunday | ||||||||
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Beltane
Full Moon |
1 | Guild Meeting | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
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7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |||||||
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14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |||||||
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21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | |||||||
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28 | Full Moon | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| Summer 810wk: Heat | ||||||||||||||
| Moonday | Duesday | W'ansday | Th'rsday | Frysday | Reapsday | Sunday | ||||||||
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5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |||||||
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12 | 13 | 14 | Midsummer Eve (Faerie Day) | 15 | Solstice | 16 | 17 | 18 | |||||
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19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | |||||||
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26 | Full Moon | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Summer 810wk: Breeze | ||||||||||||||
| Moonday | Duesday | W'ansday | Th'rsday | Frysday | Reapsday | Sunday | ||||||||
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3 | Day of Death | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||||||
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10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |||||||
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17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |||||||
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24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||||||
Nominations and SGT Snippets
Reference Information
People
People met, discussed, planned to meet or of specific interest
- Lord Yo
- Dumuzi
- Akrenza Tajin - member of the council of advisers, father of Kree
- Kokhan the Summoner
- Ahriman
- Eriskigal
- Namtar - The Fate Cutter - Herald/Messenger of the Lord and Lady of the Dark City
- Wilberforce Wilkins III
- Wilberforce (1) is endowed with all the trappings of comfortable wealth including an enormous bushy handle-bar moustache, he is a member of The Club, a good keen sailor, and gentleman adventurer.
- Wilberforce (3) is slimmer, has an oiled moustache and goatee, smuggler (thief) and fixer (dubious merchant), sails the smuggling Aether ship Queen of the Night.
- Wilberforce (4) - Force 12! - is taller, muscular, has a lovely blue cape, and is a master of the heroic chin. His ship is the Gloriana.
- Lady Madeline Barkington
- Madeline (4) - The Mechanitrix - experimental mechanician, rarely found outside her lab, usually wearing odd goggles and an extra pair of artificial arms. Most sane and level headed member of the League.
Places
Alusia
- Newcourt - centre point for many of Broc's portals
- Borovia - passing through to use Kinlu Portal
- Kinlu - Kyoshin, royal court to contact Lord Yo. Stayed as personal guests of Akrenza Tajin.
- Terranova
- Kadath - destroyed ancient Elven capital (not visited this time)
- Spawn Highlands - where Apollyon was imprisoned and where the Spawn started from. The main city was 'swapped' to Alusia 2 on the Summer Solstice 805wk. Rune portals established on the ridge overlooking the lake district.
Other Planes
- Empyrea
- Has been merged with Dark World. Broc can get us here via portal
- Terranada
- Known spawn activity around the shallowing in their flying ziggurat.
- Broc may be able to make an unstable portal to get there. The instability of the portal is probably indicative of instability of the plane or planar borders.
- Civil war between the Loyalists (loyal to the Queen via her appointed ministers and bureaucracy) and the (rebel) Royalists (loyal to the Queen, not her corrupt ministers). The Club (Seagate Adventurers Philanthropic Society) has been destroyed by the Loyalists due the their active support of the Royalists, most of the members escaped and are maintaining a low profile.
- The Club - aka the Seagate Adventurers Philanthropic Society
- Seacroft (Terranada version) - A town on the coast 40m west of Seagate.
- The Adventurer's Rest Inn - owned by a retired member of The Club.
- Terranada Variants
- Each of the variations of Terranada we visited seemed to be mostly the same Terranada with the same people and similar political issues, but each seemed to be merged with or influenced by another of the Alternative Alusias.
- Terranada 5 - Dark World - ruled by Drow Vampires, Humans as livestock for feeding purposes.
- Terranada 4 - Titania - The Seagate League of Adventurers is filled with heroes who are all very 'super' and have special abilities granted by various levels of Titan ancestry. The League has a secret base which is an invisible Aether Fortress that looks like a large flying tower. General population is mostly human.
- Terranada 3 - Alusia 3 - Seagate Assassins Guild, world is a bit nastier, her Dark Majesty rules (via her minister).
- Alusia 2
- A plane whose name is almost identical to that of Alusia, named Alusia 2 for convenience of reference. Where Apollyon moved his spawn city to.
Party Order
- Fighters in Descending order
- Sabrina, Serendipity, Broc, Braegon, Ithilmor, Logan
- Marching order (if one possible) - Military
Open Terrain (Single or Double File) : Braegon, Broc, Ithilmor, Logan, Serendipity, Sabrina
Narrow Pathway, Corridor, etc (Single File): Sabrina, Serendipity, Ithilmor, Logan, Braegon, Broc
Loot and Expenses
Loot Order
- Braegon - 1: Blink 2: Flying Fish 3: Documents.
- Broc - 1: Martial Gong 2: Ranging Spyglass 3:Vorpal Sabre
- Sabrina - 1: Generals Ring 2: Slinky's Bracelet 3: Generals Sabre
- Serendipity - 1: Planar Stabilisation Bracelets 2: Slinky's Daggers
- Ithilmor - 1: Planar Storm Lantern 2: Collapsing Spyglass
- Logan - 1: Psychosis Item 2:Black Globe
Interesting Items
(rough edits)
- Planar stabilisation bracelets - TAKEN BY Seren
- Appears as 7 jet carved bracelets (but is technically a single item with 7 instantiations) The bracelets cannot be separated (across planes) for more than a few moments, and will automatically draw their wearer back to the plane where the majority of the bracelets are located. i.e. the 7 will always attempt to occupy the same plane. If all 7 occupy different planes select two at random to rejoin first. (Due to the nature of the items this counts as a single treasure selection) GV: ?
- SM Valuation 5,000sp
- Black Globe - TAKEN BY LOGAN
- A lightweight solid globe of darkness about 4 inches across. Apparently close proximity foxes Apollyon's scrying abilities. GV" ?
- SM Valuation 2,000sp
A Jade Goldfish figurine- Used to send a Message to Lord Yo from the former site of the Spawn Capital. USED / Not available.
- A flying Jade Goldfish figurine - TAKEN BY BRAEGON
- device to carry a message to Lord Yo, even across planes (in theory). GV: ?
- SM Valuation 500sp
- Official Documents from Queen Gloriana - TAKEN BY BRAEGON
- "The bearer is acting with my direct authority and the for good of the Empire in the current crisis", dated "7th day of Falling Blossoms, 412-9", signed Gloriana Regina, and adorned with many fancy seals and ribbons.
- SM Valuation 500sp
- Vampyr glamour items - ONE FOR EACH OF THE PARTY
- 3 brooches, 3 tie-pins. Make wearer appear as a pseudo-Victorian courtly Vampyr. Blends in their real appearance as best it will fit. Will still appear as own race... but "vamped". Armour may appear ceremonial (e.g. Cuirassier breastplate) or as courtly clothing / ballgown, etc, weapons will appear bejeweled and smaller, (e.g. hand-and-a-half appearing as a smallsword), sounds of armour deadened. False aura shows as Sentient Undead, Vampyr, and provides such information as required to be consistent. e.g. Weaknesses = sunlight, holy symbols, etc. Normal aura will provide all non-conflicting information. E.g. College = wearer's actual college. Close contact (e.g. dancing) 0.5PC chance to notice inconsistencies: corseted ballgown feels more rigid than expected (it's actually armour), dainty shoes sound like heavy tap shoes (they're actually sabatons).
- SM Valuation 1,000sp
- Vorpal sabre - TAKEN BY BROC
- Very good, quite plain sword. Blade has cold, icy look. +10 hit, +3 DM, has own special specific grievous results: high chance to sever body parts. Fingers, Wrist, Elbow, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, Ankle, Ears, Nose, Head. GV: ?
- SM Valuation 8,000sp
- Michaeline "gong" of martial power - TAKEN BY BROC
- Improves martial abilities beyond usual limits. The wearer may apply the better of their Mil Sci or Warrior rank as a flat +bonus (e.g. Mil Sci 8 + Warrior 9 = +9 bonus) to all Mil Sci and Warrior base chances, as well as engaged and unengaged IV, Weapon SCs, and Def. Must be worn openly to grant effects.. Distinctive design of heretical sect "Knights of the Dragon of Michael" likely to arose suspicion / incite hostility in Michaelines. Big and gaudy. GV: ?
- SM Valuation 15,000sp
- Blink item - TAKEN BY BRAEGON
- Ring. 3 charges/day, but not more than 1/hour. 50' line of sight (could be assisted, e.g. mirror). Need not be able to move through intervening space provided destination can be seen, e.g. OK to blink through glass wall or prison bars. Triggered.
- SM Valuation 10,000sp
- Psychosis item * TAKEN by Logan
- Ring. 1 charge/day. Resets at midnight. Effectively a Mind-esque college Agony w/ special effects of delusion. Mind CS provides 1/2 MR.
- SM Valuation 4,000sp
- General's Sabre - TAKEN BY SABRINA
- Somewhat ornate, well made. (+10 +2). Special ability: if wielder does not attack with their secondary hand they may make a 2nd attack with this weapon at no minuses (for secondary attack / handedness). May carry something in off-hand just not attack with it. (Shield, mage's staff, wand, wine goblet all OK. Even another weapon provided they don't attack with it). GV: ?
- SM Valuation 3,500sp
- General's Ring - TAKEN BY SABRINA
- Ornate gold ring. Makes anything held in the same hand act as a Main-Gauche for the purposes of defence only regardless of its other uses or lack thereof in combat. (e.g. would allow use of a wineglass or rose as a MG). User must have MG skill to gain bonuses. If item has offensive properties it can be used to attack and also defend. It may be worn on primary hand if desired, and will allow primary weapon to have the defence of an MG in addition to its offensive abilities. Only one shield bonus can be applied. (e.g. if worn on primary hand with buckler in off-hand only one of the two shield effects would count). GV: ?
- SM Valuation 20,000sp
- Slinky's Daggers - TAKEN BY SEREN
- Pair of daggers in V-shaped sheath (designed to be worn in small of back). Decent albeit lightweight fighting / throwing daggers. Automatic application of poison by sheath when drawn. Poison good for first non-miss blow. If any effective damage done then poison applied. Numbs, slows target. Targets IV drops 10 per pulse. At 1/2 IV they are treated as Slowed. At 0 IV they become paralyzed so that they become nummy Vampyr treats. Small chance of non-assassins having unfortunate accident when sheathing / drawing. GV: ?
- SM Valuation 3,000sp
- Slinky's Bracelet - TAKEN BY SABRINA
- Worn on wrist this bracelet provides +30 DEF and +3 NA. Defense item, does not stack with defense spells. GV: ?
- SM Valuation 15,000sp
- Planar Storm Lantern * TAKEN BY Ithilmor
- Light is brighter closer to sites of planar instability. Made by Mechanitrix.
- SM Valuation 500sp
- Collapsing Spyglass * TAKEN By Ithilmor
- Good quality spyglass that folds down nicely. Made by Mechanitrix.
- SM Valuation 500sp
- Ranging Spyglass * - TAKEN BY BROC
- Two good quality spyglasses designed to be looked through with both eye providing better depth perception and range estimates. Made by Mechanitrix.
- SM Valuation 500sp
Standard Buffs
Enhance Enchant: Rk 14
- Strength of Stone +21 EN
- Strength of Darkness +11 PS
- Armour Options:
- Earth Rk 21 (+44% Def -2 Dam)
- Shadowform Rk 20 (42% Def)
- Rune Armour Rk 15 (+16 Def +3 AP)
- Aura of Power Rk 12 +18% Def, -5 of *all* Dam (SP, FT, EN, SG, Drain, Poison.. etc)
- Witchsight Rk 20
- Heart Rune heals 6EN when next you take EN Damage
- Willow Healing: Broc activates the rune to heal 3EN (not FT)/pulse for 8 pulses
- Fire Proofing
- Waterproofing
- Fire Armour (48 ablative vs Fire)
- Heat Shield (36 ablative vs Cold/Ice)
- Cold Resistance (2 less damage from Cold)
- Buoyancy & Water Breathing
- Detect Scrying: Notice any Scrying attempt. Can "Locate" source at -20%
Chokers - One extra set of counterspells on Braegon & 3(?) others.
Sabrina Mil Sci bonus: +10% Def and SC in melee, +10 Engaged IV, Pass Action at end of pulse
- Hair Weaving
- Sometimes (30 mins per person per day): +50% resistance vs Charm (Demonic, Spells, Bardic Voice). -25% melee damage from attacks from behind. Enhance Duration of 1 2+ hour spell until next dawn.
- Occasionally (1 hour per person per day) +3 AG (or +2 over racial max).
- Anti-scrying
- Braegon + 2 hex radius while on the ground.
- ~90% chance of stopping scry on entity/in area (from spell/ritual effect)
- Transport
- Shadow Wings (40+ mph)
- Rune Portals (including inter-planar)
- Getting Lost (Braegon up to 1350 miles in 9 hours to known places)
- Sabrina Rainbow Bridge
- Inter-planar Tunnelling
- Walking through known shallowings/portals between worlds
- Cadging an inter-planar lift with the Beltan
- Other Protection Avail
- Dampening Enchantment (Area) Remove 12 ranks off all incoming spells effects.
