Rio

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Scribe Notes
The adventure takes place on the Isles of Freedom

Summary

Adventure: Rio
GM: Mandos
Session: Spring 806 wk
Night: Wednesday Night
Location: Chez Mitchinson
Level: Medium +

Party

Victoria (GM Info) is a Female Erelheine Warrior played by Struan Mil Sci

  1. Sven A male Human Water Mage played by William
  2. Lucius A male Elven Enchanter played by Bridget
  3. Reck A female Human Celestial played by Jillian Mitchinson
  4. Vychan A male Stone Giant Earthmage played by Sean.
  5. Thaeuss, a male Elven Binder played by Stephen Party Leader
  6. Tari, a female Elven Earthmage played by Michelle Ellis
Employer
A representative of Prince Bodenius Sornatius Voturia
Mission
The Prince is concerned by the rumblings of discontent in the neighbouring province of Serawak. He is unsure of the reason but it may be connected to a curse that has affected the land for the past 300 years which attracts salt to the land and changes the weather so that the salt is blown in from the sea. Regardless of the curse the Prince is unkeen to see his province plunged into war and would like the trouble headed off at the pass.
Pay
7 sets of Jewellery containing a diamond amulet and diamond ring. (Guild valuation 140,000sp)
Side mission
Victoria has been asked by a person she owes a debt to to obtain a cutting from the rare plant known as the Dragonbark tree. This cutting is to be delivered alive to a person in Setagen

Scribe Notes

Scribe notes dictated to a Rag & String golem by the party.

Chapter 1

Discussing Thaeuss for party leader...
Vychan: But he's a Binder!
Thaeuss: an Evil Binder
Vychan: But he's a Evil Binder!
Reck: Binders are good, Binders are nice. So are Mind Mages.

1st Thaw

Meet with Carlston, representative of House Voturia, who invites some old friends to spend some time holidaying on his masters lands and share in his problems. His master has some gifts for his old friends.

Carlston speaks very stilted Common but is quite capable in Erelheine. We discover that Mercenaries have been banished from Insel der Freiheit after some unpleasantness a little while ago

Victoria: I expect to be in the front line of fights
Vychan: You can't fight, you're naked!

2nd Thaw

Fly to the Filgiso Forest, portal to Insel der Freiheit, portal to the home of Prince Bodenius.

Discuss politics and local issues with Bodenius while his slaves serve chilled drinks and platters of food served on ice.

All mercenaries have been banished from the Isles since the recent assassination and atrocities in the South East. Any further deaths among the ruling families would bring unwelcome attention from the other provinces.

Ideally Bodenius would like the curse lifted as it affects his lands too and vexes him. Serawak is mustering its armies, should they cross the border then Bodenius would be significantly inconvenienced and would have no time for guest gifts.

The Princes of Serawak have a generations long dislike of Voturia, he assumes it is because he claimed his lands in the middle of the lands they thought theirs without consulting them. As long as they were not interfering with him he did not care.

Bodenius has Dragonbark available but not a cutting. He believes that the only person who would be able to procure one is The Riverman and that such a cutting would not survive alive long

Bodenius informs Thaeuss that he would be annoyed if the magical defences he has in place over his smithies and dockside warehouses were disturbed again. But we are welcome to take a guided tour using the conventional entrances.

After dinner we portal to the villa (30 miles south of Acombria) that has been set aside for our stay.

Chapter 2

One wing of the villa has not been cleaned, bipedal lizard-like creatures have been walking through the dust, remains of some sort of runic magics.

There are several votes for sleeping together in the kitchens but the bedrooms look far more comfortable.

3rd Thaw

A visit to Carlston seeking maps, he says it will be a day or two before they are made. But conversation reveals that the only thing of significance near the northern end of the effect is the Rock of Corruption.

Carlston had organised for the rune sticks damage to be investigated after our comments of the previous day, and advises that the broken sticks were a rune portal that had been broken sometime on the day of our arrival to the villa. He said a number of Shamans have the power to make such portals however he was not aware of any shamans with is associated with such creatures that have such y shaped, padded feet.

Bodenius has a portal to the Lakes of Regret, we use this to go visit Vidal.

At Vidal's end of the portal, Tari goes on and on about "don't drink the water", "if priests offer you a drink, don't take it", etc. She doesn't remember why but just remembers it was a bad thing. She later remembers that if you drink the water you will forget everything, or at least something, she wasn't sure. Stupid woman. Should remember to DA the water, or take some if we visit again.

On the previous visit a DA revealed that the water would lose its effect away from the lake. Didn't have time to divinate it and no point in taking samples to investigate later.

Vidal informs us that the curse was placed by the original inhabitants of the island (before any of the humans) and required a great sacrifice to do.

Shireel (the 'roach Shaman) is building an army (of 'roaches) at Katingan Spring. Vidal would like to know what he is intending to do with them.

Before we leave Vidal strikes Vychan on the forehead, helping him with what we later discover is a spiritual enlightenment. Vychan is concerned what this means.

Just after we depart a Black Dragon arrives, Vidal's next visitor.

Our temporary camp (Stone Dwelling) from last Autumn is still there and appears to have been occupied by someone until recently.

Back to the lake and the portals to the garden, then our villa. After an afternoon resting, we pack up to fly to the rock of corruption. Sven becomes an itemised statue, Vychan turns into a 'goat golem' and is itemised, Victoria goes weightless and carries all of the bags. A portal back to Bodenius' garden and a brisk 10 hours night flight later we land at the Rock of Corruption and unpack the party.

4th Thaw

Vychan can see the ethereal tree and werewolf in the gibbet, he senses that the tree is a nature spirit driven mad by centuries of pain and near death. Vychan attempts to strike the gibbet from the tree and loses part of his spirit to it.

Divination reveals that the were in the gibbet is the key to maintaining the anchor point of the ritual, but the ritual is controlled from elsewhere. If the were is killed or removed then its 'rescuer' will take its place in the ritual.

To break this anchor safely, the central point must be disrupted first.

The central point is roughly SSW of us, probably in the centre of the triangle whose other points will be on the coast and in the mountains, it will be in a place of high mana, and it may be holding a piece of Vychan's spirit.

Chapter 3

Shortly after dawn we settle down to sleep under a cooling rainstorm.

After lunch/breakfast we pack up Vychan and Victoria and take flight SSW along the line of the mountain chain. About 3am, 15 hours and 570 miles later, we stop, unpack Victoria and get some rest.

During the flight Lucius scrys what will happen when we find the center and sees himelf being enveloped in earth.

5th Thaw

Mid morning. Sven's turn to be packed up, and Victoria's turn to kite along behind. Being closer to where the mountains turn west than we thought we now fly west for 5 hours (190 Miles) and find a decent landing spot to start trying to locate Vychan's lost spirit.

The locate works and remarkably the landing spot is the centre of the effect and Vychan's spirit is directly below us.

A little investigation reveals this place is not inherently magical, nor a place of power. It looks like an old barrow about 50' long, 30' wide, and up to 20' high. A dry riverbed runs beside the barrow, the nearest terrain that is not flat salt plain is some undulating land a few hundred yards north of us.

Checking out the undulating land part way through the investigations, Lucius has a flashback to his scrying vision, then several creatures that had been concealed under spells move and flee in a cloud of dust. Quick investigation reveals 5 humanoid-ish creatures had been camped there and fled via the riverbed to conceal their tracks.

Vychan tunnels us down to where his spirit is, when he stands in that spot he feels whole again. Thaeuss can sense Vychan's spirit and three others around him in the directions of the three anchor points but they are displaced and hard to see.

Victoria can sense Vychan's missing spirit with Healer, when she tries the same thing on one of the other spirits she is almost completly stripped of her spirit and now part of her is in with Vychan.

DA's reveal that their spirits are separated by 10 seconds of time and are in the Tomb of Souls. We try using quickness to bring them back in synch but it makes no difference.

Chanting and singing the song that clouds the divinations seems to elicit some inaudible echo from the area but nothing useful.

Before trying plans to force the spirits out we decide to wait and see if the time seperation is related to time of day or the light of the moon or similar.

Thaeuss and Vychan's friendly Earth Elemental turn the remains of the camp into a comfortable camp site, Sven fills the bath with his personal rainstorm.

6th Thaw

Nothing changes at dusk, moonrise, midnight, moonset, or dawn. But tonight will be the full moon, perhaps that will help.

7th Thaw

Or not. Another quiet uneventful night, time to poke our observers.

While we have been waiting and investigating, we are being watched by tall fast-moving skittish creatures that blend in with the ground when stationery. They flee in a cloud of dust when we look at them too long or approach them (even invisible).

Tari's Hawk is able to spot them from the air, and Vychan is able to walk up to them un-noticed. On his first approach the Metamorph lashes out at him and flees when he tries to talk to it. The second time he traps it in walls of stone. We all approach, make part of the wall transparent so we can see it and make a small hole to talk to it through. While we run through all of the languages we know it slowly squeezes out of the 5" hole, the only language it seems to understand is Lunar to which it responds "Don't talk to me in the language of the invaders" spit spit.. We do not understand the language it curses us in, and once it has finished squeezing out we let it go.

A few minutes later while we are discussing what to do next we see a large dust cloud approaching from the metamorphs camp and we retreat back to our camp at the barrow.

Chapter 4

Negotiate with Metamorphs, they will release Vychan and Victoria's spirits if we leave the barrow. As we wait a couple of miles away, they do their ritual for a couple of hours then Victoria is restored and Vychan is partially restored.

Locating Vychan we find that some of him is now on Mount Pasir.

We fly to the Mountain and try to approach but the pain field prevents us, while considering options the Copper Dragon flies down to see us. After we explain our presence he directs us to see his brother who is currently in some islands north of Insel der Freiheit.

More flying gets us back to our Villa, we then portal to Bodenius' manor and enquire after a faster method of getting to the islands. They can arrange a portal for us to use tonight.

Returning at dusk we step through the portal into a large cave. Reflective semi-precious stones adorn the ceiling, and a pool at one end looks like it leads out to the sea. While Sven is checking out the pool, the Blue Dragon emerges from it. He is the Sea King, he holds part of Vychan's spirit as his due, he will return Vychan's spirit in return for a future favour from Vychan, meanwhile Vychan's missing spirit will be loaned back to him.

The Sea King is keen for us to succeed in removing the curse, he informs us that the spirit called Rio is the key to the tomb and ending the curse, she visits the tomb on a regular cycle but he does not know the cycle. The Lich in the Plateau of Decay might know the timing as might the Shaman of Alice's Swamp.

We return to our Villa and rest before heading out again.

Chapter 5

After much debate we decide on visiting the Shaman first.

Taking the portal to the Lakes of Regret, we then fly down the river to Alice's Swamp.

Entering the swamp on foot, we are met by a will-o-wisp as we reach the first termite mounds. Following the wisp we are led to somewhere near the center where an island is surround by walls of thorns. The walls part for us revealing a large tower in the style of a termite mound.

We dine and talk with the lady of the swamp, she uses an odd crystal to divine when Rio will next visit the barrow, and requires us to retrieve a small Red Dragon scale that was left at the murder of a local noble before it reaches the queen and can be investigated.

Agreeing to this we rest at the tower then fly north east to intercept the ship that is carrying the body and associated evidence. Surveying the various ships playing the waters we eliminate all but two.

Thaeuss flies out to the southern most of the two as a transparent, invisible R&S golem, gets zapped by an Air Elemental that is defending the ship, but makes it close enough to verify this is the right ship, the body is in a stern cabin.

Healed up and with magics refreshed, Thaeuss heads out again, lands in the water ahead of the ship and waits for it, this avoids the elemental but as he approaches the ship giant fish attack him. A quick flight lands him on the ship, he sneaks around to the appropriate porthole, opens it and triggers some sort of alarm, sailors and guards swarm down into the cabin, search it thoroughly until the find the Thaeuss R&S golem. Thaeuss manages to escape by flying out the window and makes it back to the others significantly the worse for wear.

We fly south to be ahead of the ship again, landing on a small island in its path.

Chapter 6

Sven summons a Water Elemental as the backup plan, and Thaeuss flies Vychan out to the ship and drops him from almost beyond the Air Elementals reach onto the ship. Vychan is barely noticed by the crew and walks down to the cabin, an alarm is raised when he opens the door but the searching guards don't pay any attention to him. After they leave, Vychan searches the cabin setting off a couple of magical traps but does not find the scale. Moving next door to the captains cabin he searches the chests there, finding nothing he takes the small locked chest and leaves.

After floundering in the water for a while Vychan gets far enough from the ship and is picked up by Thaeuss and Lucius, but the chest is dropped. Depositing Vychan on the island, Thaeuss takes Sven and Lucius back out to recover the chest from the ocean floor. On finally returning to the island, the chest is opened to reveal a silver goblet and 200 gold coins.

Subtlety has failed, time for Plan B - the Water Elemntal is going to sink the ship and then we'll find the scale amongst the wreckage.

Unfortunately the ship has now passed our position and is moving faster than our Elemental can. Thaeuss tries dropping a few rocks on the ship to slow or sink it but their Air Elemental protects them.

Dismissing our water elemental, we fly south, land, summon a new elemental, and move out to wait in the water in the path of the ship. Sven sends his elemental in, it rips open the hull, but the ship stays afloat for a few minutes and only sinks once 4 or 5 people in a tight group take to the air. Obviously the captain and other nobles abandoning their crew to a water grave.

Sven dismisses the elemental and we fly after the escapees. Vychan can probably kill the elemental by turning it to dust if he can get close enough, we are all invisible flying on a transparent rug, as we approach the escapees conceal themselves within a cloud, we fly to within range of Vychan's spell and are targeted by opposition magics, Sven is killed by the Whirlwind vortex, Vychan turns the air to dust and they fall into the water. Enough of the elemental survives to see them survive the fall, then they start travelling underwater.

Once again we fly ahead of them, Thaeuss puts Sven's spirit into a puppet golem, Sven and Vychan descend to intercept the escapees. On their second attempt they manage to find them and Vychan encases three of them in ice, but the other two get away.

Checking the ice once it surfaces, we find the murdered noble, and two others who have just died within the ice. Taking their corpses we find the dragon scale on one of them.

Finally having what we need, we drop the three corpses into Setangen with a hopefully mis-directing note of apology, rest for a few hours and then fly back to the swamp.

The Shaman meets us just inside the swamp and we ride to her island on the back of an enormous termite. She takes the scale and performs some magic which makes it vanish.

The only people on the Isles who can resurrect are the five dragons. We sleep the rest of the day in the tower then travel to the Lakes of Regret via portal.

Vidal resurrects Sven after a private negotiation with Vychan.

Taking our leave we portal back to our Villa.

Chapter 7

We have 5 days before Rio is due at the temple, rather than enjoying the catering and fine weather, Victoria convinces the party to travel back to Setagen to try and contact the Riverman.

Portal to the Lakes of Regret, fly to the river, Sven makes a boat from a tree and we sail down river then across to Setagen.

As our boat pulls in we are met by a squad of armed guards, then are marched through town to a prison that is part of the main keep on the hill. Left alone in a cold iron cell, we cast a few quick spells to ensure we can get out if and when we want to.

A few minutes later Governor Orientalus Paetus arrives with a small entourage. He recognises Thaeuss and Tari and explains that we were arrested on the standing orders that all mercenaries are to be arrested on sight. Thaeuss explains that we in the isles as guests of one of the houses and are in Setagen as merchants. We discuss the recent events such as the tragic sinking of their flagship, denying any involvement in the event.

The Governor apologises for the misunderstanding, we offer our assistance in the investigation should he be able to gain an exemption to the no mercenary rule for us. The Governor suggests we try looking for Dragon Bark in the Gardens of Pasir, they are one of the largest collections of plants native to the isles.

A short while later in a room guarded from scrying, Bibulus Fabius informs us they know we lied and enquires on behalf of his master why we sank his ship. We supply some of the truth and apologise for the sinking, assuring them that it was nothing personal.

We offer to see to the healing of two dead nobles that were dropped on them, apparently their injuries were merely mortal, not fatal and they can be healed.

Bibulus informs us that to maintain face, they will need to find whoever is responsible for the attack and suggests that the Orc Mercenaries who sacked Banta are the most likely culprits, half a dozen bodies and their camp on the coast near the Devils Claw destroyed should be sufficient.

Appalled at the attack on Banta and their ship, we offer to help track the orcs down.

We visit the healers quarters where the corpses are being treated and leave with two figurines. Walking out of town we take to the air and fly to Laoet Volcano, land on the rim and call for Romache. He appears, and invites us in via his lava-pool-portal. Romache is in draconic form resting on a large pile of coin and gems. We explain and Romache resurrects the two corpses, informs us that this repays the favour we performed in reclaiming his scale, and then flames us to return us to the rim.

Lucius and Thaeuss invisibly fly the two sleeping men back to the Governor's keep, then return to ther party near the volcano. From there we fly to Banta and get some sleep upwind from the remains of the town before starting our investigation in daylight.

Apart from confirming that the orcs raided in racially-typical pattern, we find nothing new and follow their exit trail north-east into the jungle. It takes the rest of the day before we reach an area they seem to be patrolling regularly, it looks like there are 2-300 of them camped in the hills between Umshatar, Mercato, and Tanah Boemboe.

Chapter 8

An ambush is planned on the path of the outer patrols, armoured orcs and giant wolves travel this path regularly. Visibility and movement are limited by the thick jungle.

Concealed in the jungle at a bend in the cleared trail, we hear the orcs approaching well before we see them. They evidently sense something is wrong as they drink wraithcloak potions and approach with weapons drawn, but don't seem to know exactly where or what they sense.

Our suprise attack is a fizzle as the walls intended to bookend the patrol fail to form. The patrol is seven plate armoured fighters and a mage, all are wielding large swords or axes. A second wall attempt gets one positioned behind the patrol while Vychan charges one end of the patrol, Victoria brandishes the orc-slayer at the other end. Sven steps forward to protect our mages and is quickly engaged by the charging orcs. Thaeuss sends in the lurking stone golems to close with orcs attacking Victoria and Sven; Tari hunts and eventually captures one of Victoria's foes with hands of earth; Lucius counters the orcs quickness with some slowness; Victoria and Sven, freed from their opponents move to attack the Wicca that is strafing us with Hellfire, Victoria goes down to grievous blows from the mage's bodyguards, Sven protects her but is worn down by the assault of two warriors and magic.

Meanwhile Thaeuss has posessed one of his golems and is effectively dealing to an orc while the other gradually crushes it's orc; Vychan is working his way through the three engaging him without breaking a sweat; Tari hears and then sees a patrol of wolf-riding orcs approaching and sends more hands out to disrupt their charge; The new patrol deviates into the jungle to get to the melee, while their necromancer hangs back and blankets the area in noxious vapours and fear; Vychan tramples his remaining opponent to get to the wicca but is delayed just long enough protecting our flank from the wolves that the wicca can fly back to join the necromancer.

With Victoria down, Sven and Tari incapacitated by vapours and fear, it is time to withdraw. Lucius rides a golem to get out of the vapours and hunts down a fleeing orc with his magic, Tari is carried along, Vychan heals Victoria and Sven with magic then helps them leave, Thaeuss itemises the 4 dead orcs and brings them. The orc-wolf patrol busy recovering their own from Hands and Vychan's pit do not follow.

Chapter 9

With figurines of the 4 dead orcs in pocket we retreat back towards the village, heal our wounds, gather some additional evidence from the village then fly north-east to find the camp that the orcs raided from in the Devil's Claw.

We find the camp exactly where we expect it, and spend the rest of the day walking golems over the patrol tracks, setting up camp, and then burning it down.

15th Thaw

Sleeping most of the night, we take to the air again to arrive at Pasir at dawn.

Pasir is larger than the other towns and it takes a while to find an official in the outskirts to deliver our package to. But eventually we find one and arrange in stilted Lunar and Erelheine for the heads and a note identifying the location of their camp and their crime to be delivered to the Prince from associates of his brother the Governor of Setagen. After showing our papers we are believed instead of arrested and we leave, sampling some of the local fare for lunch on the way out.

A hot walk and cool flight later we land at the lakes and step through the portals back to our villa.

Lucius stresses about fresh metamorph footprints, the rest of us sleep.

16th Thaw

Most of us purify, Vychan praises Seir and gets abducted for a chat with Ijel.

We eventually set out after morning tea. About 10 hours flying later we approach the barrow.

There is a glowing temple there, the river is filled with ethereal water and as we come into land by the temple we see Metamorphs moving away and a ghostly sylph drifting down the river.

Hailing Rio in different languages (Elvish, Erelheine, Lunar, Speak to Enchanted, Speak to Aquatics) gets no response from her.

The entrance to the temple is open, after a couple of tests to ascertain it is safe, we enter.

Straight ahead is a large crystal with three lines of light extending from it, at the end of each line is a Metamorph hanging from the ceiling by its feet, bleeding from runes carved in its chest, and screaming soundlessly into the light beam.

The temple is some sort of hearth spirit similar in size and power to the temple over Kandingan Spring.

Lucius looks into a future where Sven smashes the crystal and see the destruction of Sven, the party, the temple, and possibly a large chunk of the island.

Vychan tries blocking one of the light beams with a Wall of Stone, the wall is promptly destroyed.

Thaeuss starts divinating the crystal and finishes quickly. He reports an audience with five Elves in different coloured armour sitting on thrones. Chaaf provided some information but Vidal did most of the talking. Thaeuss reports:

They interrupted the divination to answer our questions themselves.
To break the ritual we should kill the three Metamorphs
Damaging the crystal is likely to be fatal or worse
Killing the Metamorphs will have potentially lethal consequences
Disrupting the light will reduce the consequences
Those that are magically apt or innately magical will have reduced consequences
Mithril, Truesilver, or Gold are best for disrupting the light, Iron would be a very bad idea.
The temple will remain accessible as long as at least one of us is in it, if we all leave then we will need to wait a month to access it again.
The Metamorphs are damaged by Rio's ethereal light, but they are likely to return at dawn.

Thaeuss spends an hour creating a frame with three mithril mirrors positioned to disrupt the light beams, animates it and then positions it next to the crystal. Vychan and Tari stand by the SW Metamorph, Sven and Lucius by the N one, Thaeuss and Victoria by the SE one. On Thaeuss' command the mirrors rotate into place, and the quickened party kill the Metamorphs.

Everyone takes damage from contact with the Metamorphs as the curse drains their spirits (similar to what happened earlier to Vychan and Victoria). Sven takes a couple of hacks to deal to his Metamorph, then as he is using an item of Vychan's it is banished instead of being killed. Victoria is instantly killed on contact with the Metamorph. The Southern Metamorphs are reduced to dust. Thaeuss carries Victoria out; the mirrors start to fail; Sven and Lucius need to crawl the last few feet to get out safely as the light beams disperse into cones of light emanating from the crystal.

The cones disperse further and fade out, the crystal starts to shrink, and then drops towards the ground.

Thaeuss dives to catch the crystal, succeeds and slumps to the ground. The others see dozens of ghostly forms rising from Thaeuss' body.

Vychan carries Thaeuss and Victoria out, the curse is gone from the land, the river bed is dry once more, Rio is gone, and the temple is no longer glowing and seems more substantial.

The remaining party considers how to get away from the temple without Thaeuss to fly them before the (presumably vengeful) Metamorphs return.

Chapter 10

Tari triggers wildfires and the able-bodied carry the others away to the north.

Thaeuss comes to while being carried by Vychan, he starts talking in an odd language and then attacks Vychan. Just as Vychan restrains him Thaeuss says "possessed by metamorphs, can't control, need puppet..." then passes out again. Similar incidents occur several times until Thaeuss manages to expel enough souls to regain control.

He explains that the gem was containing the souls of all of the Metamorphs that sacrificed themselves to power the curse. And they are not very happy that we ended it.

Via running, flying, then portal the party takes Victoria's body to the Sea King. Victoria is resurrected in return for the soul gem. The Dragons confirm that the curse has been lifted and that Rio is released. They inform us that this portal will no longer come to their cavern and continuing to use it is at our own risk. We take the hint and promptly leave.

Carlston informs us that his master is satisfied with the result of our social visit and makes a friendly gift of some jewellery. He then takes us on the promised tour of the shipyard.

The design of the ship is unusual and it is obvious that it will sink without the use of significant magic. Carlston gives us a full tour and explains many of its functions. The main purpose is to patrol the seas around the isles stopping the piracy that makes shipping so expensive. Protective magic has been shaped into its hull. Crystals focus the magic required to move the ship and power its defences. There is one spot where a mage may stand and cast, the cold-iron prevents casting anywhere else.

We speculate on ways to counter the defences and sink the ship, Carlston will suggest to his master that a group from our guild could be retained to test the defences when the ship is launched.

The following day we return to the guild via portals and flight.

People

  • Vidal - Green Dragon / Greater Spirit
  • Chaaff - Blue Dragon / Greater Spirit
  • Ijel - Copper Dragon / Greater Spirit
  • Romache - Red Dragon / Greater Spirit

Bodenius

Not human, may be an Elf or Drow. His aura is concealed behind a feeling of overwelming darkness and he is aware of being DA'd. A Shaper.

Carlston

Has several magic items he uses in his masters service, amongst them:

  • Flying Harness
  • Strength (and size) increasing items

Speaks Folksprach, Erelhei, and poor Common.

Metamorph

Tall skittish sentients. They can blend in with the ground and conceal themselves in dust when they move. They move fast (TMR 12ish). They are sentient and probably magic using. They are probably the original inhabitants of the Isles and presumably the same race as those that laid down the curse. Understand some Lunar but will not converse in the language of the invaders.

Termite Shaman

Isreana is a (or the) termite Shaman, she lives in Alice's Swamp. Enter the swamp and within a few hundred yards she will be aware of you, if you wish to enter peacefully then wait for the will-o-wisp to guide you in. It is customary to take a gift.

Rio

A Fae/Undead spirit bound to the Curse as the key to release it. She wanders the cursed area, travelling to the barrow on a regular basis. She is due at the barrow on the night of the 17th.

Reference Information

The Salt Curse

The curse has been in effect for about 300 years. The area of the curse is roughly triangular, there are three anchor points, the source of the curse is in the centre.

It does not appear to be demonic in origin, nor extra-planar.

Destroying the source should disrupt the curse.

The curse was laid by the original inhabitants of the islands, those that were here before the first wave of humans.

It required great sacrifice to create and to maintain.

Northern Anchor

The Northern anchor point is the Rock of Corruption. In the ethereal a werewolf has been bound in a gibbet and suspended from a tree that represents a/the nature spirit of the area. The tree spirit is poinsoned and pained by the cold iron of the cage. The werewolf is being constantly drained by maintaining the curse but its regeneration is keeping it alive. Freeing or slaying it would doom someone to replace him in maintaining the curse.

South-West Anchor

Probably on the west coast in southern Serawak.

South-East Anchor

Probably in the mountains south-east of Serawak.

Source of the Curse

The centre of the curse is an old barrow near a dry riverbed. A spirit resides here connected to the three anchor points but it is displaced in time. Metamorphs watch and guard the area. Rio is the key to opening/entering the barrow.

The Wind from the North

The wind is not part of the curse but it is increasing its effects. The wind started 24 years ago, before that there was some grazing and some life left in the land, now there is none.

Astrological Interference with the Divination

Divinations revealed some information but then the following words begin to repeat in the divinators mind.

Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand
Just like that river twists across a dusty land.
And when she shines she really shows you all she can.
Oh Rio Rio dance across the Rio Grande
Her name is Rio she don't need to understand
I might find her if I'm looking like I can
Oh Rio Rio hear them shout across the land
From mountains in the South down to the Rio Grande

Items and Loot

7 x Amulet of Diamonds
+2% on Strike Chances. Value 10,000sp.
7 x Ring of Diamonds
+2% on Spell Base Chances. Value 10,000sp.

Calendar

Spring: Thaw (10)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Candlemansa 1 Guild Meeting 2 Fly to Filgiso, Portal to Isles, Portal to Sherazar. 3 Visit Vidal. Night flight to Rock of Corruption. 4 Play with Wolfie & Tree. Camp. Fly SSW thru night. 5 Camp. Fly W. Investigate Source. 6 Waiting, Watching.
7 Confront Metamorphs. V&V recover lost souls. 8 Alice's Swamp & Isreana 9 Recover the Red Scale 10 Portal to Lakes, Sail down river 11 Setagen 12 Banta 13 Ambush Orcs.
14 'Find' Orc raiding camp 15 Visit Pasir 16 Fly to tomb, Break the Curse

Rio's Night

17 Visit shipyards 18 Travel back to guild. 19 20

Mil Sci

Marching Order
  • Exploring (Maximum magical detection to front, both single and double file)
Thaeuss, Reck, Tari, Vychan, Sven, Lucius, Victoria
  • Skirmishing (Maxium firepower and melee distribution for all directions, loose triangle)
Vychan, Reck, Sven, Golems, Thaeuss, Lucius, Tari, Victoria
  • Combat (Maximum front melee and firepower behind, two ranks)
Vychan, Victoria, Golems, Sven, Tari, Thaeuss, Lucius
Watch Times
07:30 pm Tari Sven
09:00 pm Victoria
10:30 pm Thaeuss
Midnight Vychan
01:30 am Reck
03:00 am Lucius
04:30 am Sven
06:00 am All awake

Standard Magics

Linking Lifeforce toRangeFigurine Held By
Thaeuss 2100 MilesTari
Tari 2100 MilesThaeuss
Victoria 700 MilesThaeuss
Lucius 700 MilesThaeuss
Vychan 700 MilesThaeuss
Reck 700 MilesThaeuss
Sven 700 MilesThaeuss

Rk 9 Enhance Enchant on Duration from Lucius included for standard magics.

Armour of Earth (Vychan) +42% Def +1AP for 15 Hours
All - Cast every morning.
Strength of Stone (Vychan) +20 EN for 30 Hours
All (Except Vychan on AG instead of EN) - Cast every evening
Fire Armour (Vychan) Absorb 100 Magical Fire Damage
tba
Waters of Strength (Sven) Rk 16 D-2+16 for 85 minutes
Vychan, others when required