Tears of the Gods
This is a link to the original scribe notes.
Game played March - June 1994 with Jon. Thanks Jon.
Hired by dwarf merchant, Drago, to beat up suarime pirates in return for 400 gs to guild plus passage to "Tears of the Gods", indicated in a book of Brother Rowans' as a kind of treasure map. Pirates defeated with one major fuckup (see below) and Tears navigated with relative success but considerable strain on individuals. culminated with release? of three elder gods:
Barnyette, Tres Erija and the Lady; and some treasure including one non-college talent each.
Cast
- Scorpion, human namer, played by Anna, scribe
- Balode the goblin, mind mage/ fighter, played by Eamon
- Lath, human air mage, played by Jono
- Callas, human earth mage, played by Ross, military scientist
- Brother Rowan, human wicca, played by Jim, party leader
- Sasha, human e+e, played by Kelsie
- Anathea, human wicca, played by micheal
Mission Diary
Thurs 30 June
Hanging around guild and stumble into three amazing babes (Lath, Callas and Sasha) so me and Balode follow them. Run into priest (Brother Rowan) who has found an enigmatic book of bad poetry, so all troop off together to get it checked out. At library, Fred Toadswort (self proclaimed expert) says it is a navigational guide to treasure, in a place (group of islands) called Tears of the Gods, written by Loarn C. Wonder how to get to islands when approached by dwarf, Drago, who wants us to beat up "Black robed devil worshipping" suarime pirates. Agree to this in return for 400 gs (left with guild) and passage to Tears. Told to report to the Swallow, 40 sailors, tomorrow noon. Reckon i'd follow those babes anywhere, Balode a bit pissed off, Doesn't like water. Make introductions. I Get scribe, B.R. Gets party leader, Callas get military scientist. Babes fly off to slippery rock for something, apparently unsuccessful. Callas lucks us all on return. Lath takes me out for candlelit dinner, massage and great sex. Blown away, but hope she doesn't think it's personal. She leaves late to do something doggy.
Fri 1 July
Wake up and find I had been cleaned sometime in the night. Big fucking joke. Go and rescue Balode from the dive where he buys his company; he's pretty hungover. Captain of swallow = Allargo. Leave with tide, spend some time throwing up on the sharks. Lath speeds the boat up.
Sat 2, Sun 3 July
Nothing happens, except trying to get better aquainted with the ladies and being sick.
Mon 4 July
Come into view of the islands the pirates inhabit. Me and Lath go unseen, then she strips and B.R., who can still see her, has to fly off to calm down. Priest of Chantris, fertility goddess, won't fuck until he's hitched. Not complaining: more for me. Told suarimes are binders. B.R., Lath and Callas go flying to check out islands. B.R. sees island covered in bird shit and gets excited. Reckon there's easier ways to make money than hauling guano. Lath calls a bird and questions it. Finds out: suarimes and orcs left toward Calder three days ago; big boat of people at tower on main island; the forest is full of undead, suarimes and has a building in the middle of it; there are big crabs in the sand. B.R. flew out to look at ship and people at tower, reckons about 100. Decides by himself to torch ship; sets fire to it then wind whistle and burnt it out completely. On his return, plan to capture one human for interrogation. B.R. Fly in unseen with Balode, find, shoot and grab target, then back to ship. Plan worked. Ex-ship from Basilisk Island = Wave rider. Other ships = black magic and marauder, owned by "The Dagger". News caused some upset (B.R.: "It went off when I was cleaning it." fuckwit.): Ship had just arrived yesterday to set up a new base. Mentioned "The Shadow" (from the daggers' lot). Told us where to find pirates: Pirate island, Fenark pirates (where the suarimes probably came from) and Lord Azure (where the humans probably hail from). Lath calls another bird who tells of suarime caves and an octopus in a wrecked ship. Start plotting to get treasure while Lath moves boat for overnight: decide to stay on board to avoid possible monsters. Romantic night: lath gets frigid, Callas has a date with the ships cook and Balode frightens the cook boy.
Tues 5 July
Start back to pirate island at 4 am. Sailor lured overboard by mermaids so B.R. summons one and offers two fertility potions for his return. agreed, return in one week. i wasn't woken up. fuckwits. get back to island, B.R. flys off invisible to search around island, sees lizards which run into the cave. Lath gets bird to check out cave: no obvious ships. balode does esp: lots of animals, one dormant sentient, 49 orcs and three insects. balode suggests smoking out pirates, but he has no wind to get the smoke in. Lath goes nutty going underground, is claustrophobic. B.R. spells it gone. get to jetty in cave. i get unseen, then sneak ahead, but it's too dark for me to see so Balode goes instead. Reports two guards. Balode, B.R. and Callas go forward to deal with them, i follow using wall, Lath and sasha follow with a torch. Go through regular underground cave system. Find large group of orcs, asleep. Callas puts wall of stone over connecting corridor. Continue and run into three alerted guards. Lath fights one, Balode and Callas gut another passing through, third runs followed by Balode and B.R. I go to help Lath and bowl Sasha, who's invisible. Lose my unseen. bitch. Lath doing fine, so go to help Balode and bowl Sasha again: military scientist incapable of getting act together. Balode and B.R. meanwhile run into two magic users. When I enter I cast anti necro-spec, only to be told later they were Wiccan. I get in close with orc and Lath (accidentally, she says) hits me with an axe. Orc priest threatens us with gruumsh. Callas backfires and gets calcified, but someone fixes it. Finish fight, get some treasure and amulets, continue searching caves.
Get to point corresponding with temple above and find a waterlock-type pool. Balode esp: 25 sentient reptiles, one creature, one human, 42 humanoid. Sasha goes into pool to test depth of water, then swims on into cave. mad bitch. finds some human guards and more tunnels (above water level). Go back to trapped orcs, as expect wall of stone to drop soon. B.R. flies down adjacent corridor and finds a strange door. no help to us at the moment, so he returns and we hastily prepare for the alerted orcs. Go to bottom of stairs, then put ice wall on stairs and earth tunnel at bottom. Get hit by hellfire, then orcs procede to commit suicide in our trap. Something comes up from the rear, so I go to deal with it. Capture a nice girl called Anathea. Get back to trap as last few survivors decide to run away. We chase, and they surrender, then give us a chest of treasure (meager stuff, mostly). B.R. gives money to the orcs to stop them pirating. fuckwit. We question anathea: she's from the misty mountains, where she cursed a magistrate. She'll have a reward on her head, so me and Balode declare her party treasure. We then go to the other cave, the one that the lizards ran into. Deal with three large spiders, trap and get to room on the other side of the strange door. There is a statue of a 20' tall storm giant and a pool of water. Divination reveals: pool = magical, giant = alive; giant can make whirlwind vortex; the pool gives a temporary release of the giant, Atamas, but he needs to be hit with a special silver hammer to be permanently released; he had been cursed by a god/ demon named Sekolah. me and Balode were against releasing the giant: even if he was friendly, which wasn't guaranteed, the god/ demon who was tougher wouldn't be. We were ignored, as per fucking usual. B.R. touched the pool, and the giant recited the following:
entombed forever in vilest stone the lord of air stands mute, alone please seek you the marble shark and from its bowels withdraw its heart then chip my breast with that you find and watch my withered soul unbind so go now search the sands so i may return to my wasted lands
Find out the building in the forest is the temple of Sekolah; the necromantic demon god of the suarimes. There is a marble shark in the building. The forest around it is filled with undead from a curse: anyone who dies on the island rises three days later as undead. Atamas, if freed, will wipe out the suarimes. he is the champion of Barnyette, lord of the sky. Sasha very kindly warns the orcs that we would return the following day. fuckwit bitch. Go back to ship. Mermaids come back: they don't like Sekolah (goes around as a great undead shark) and they say Gruumsh is a water mage with delusions of grandeur.
Wed 6 July
Anathea trying to ingratiate herself to rest of party. We return, as advertised, to the cave and get attacked by 10 suarimes. We take them out then go to question orks. Leader had apparently been tortured to give the information on us. good thing Sasha had been nice enough to give them something to say. Balode: "party leader decides to ferry pirates and potential pirates to mainland and gives them money. fuckwit." He makes a point of protesting this criminal activity. Sasha makes Anathea her maid. Shit. Means she can't be mine. Party loads up on protection and strength type spells. Lath buys me strength and defense, then gives Anathea a magic item: at this point she is not a guild member but a wanted criminal. Sasha finds a secret door in a cavern behind which were heaps of suarimes so we stick a wall of ice across the entrance. Get to the underwater tunnel, Balode removes armour and does esp: 10 nonsentient NE, 4 sentient N, 6 nonsentient NW, 43 sentient W, one sentient NNE, 30 sentient reptiles SE. Sasha puts invisible on me so I protect my pet, then go under water first and come out facing two guards. Get spied due to water dripping off me so have to attack. Fail to hit first try, and come visible, but fortunately i'm coming from behind and don't get seen. Successful second try. Do the bastard in, and then Lath hits me again (accidentally, she says). mad bitch. Big guy with a big sword joins in, so our brilliant military scientist points out something I'm sure everyone else would miss: "Lath, you're in trouble...". fuckwit. Lath bravely throws herself onto his sword. Then a firemage entered, so we gave them all a hiding. The surviving guard and the firemage surrender, so our fuckwit leaders leave them with their weapons and talk. Get a map from the fire mage.
Anathea took over scribing for a bit at this point, so don't blame me for any missing bits.
These four were the sentients N, the six nonsentients NW are around a shrine as protection, 43 sentients W are orcs, 1 sentient NNE is prisoner lizardman awaiting sacrifice. warned: very electric eels on way to temple. B.R. tries to convert firemage, theological discussions on wheat fields. ESP shows no alarmed minds. Above is four sentients: priest and acolites. Bodies give 49 cp, 17 sp,gold pendant with tiny emerald. No aura on dead guy [fucking brilliant, girlie] firemage name = Averod. his share last raid was 2000 silver, 3 weeks earlier got 520 silver, pouch contains 2 gems, nine gold, 25 silver, room has firemage spell ingredients liberated by Callas. His staff is magical, dagger is magical, nature = damage. Elfmiere (?) [i assume this is the big guy] has bow, magical arrows, platemail, two-handed sword nature bane, broadsword nature detection. Go to cells, new steel bars in place, five cells. prisoner DA = no college, no rank in common, no non suarime language. Averod as interpreter, lizardman professes to help fight his way out. No trap/ ward/ curse on swords. Broadsword detects B.R. strongly and Lath weakly. Averod shows us other door in return for not being turned over to authorities and becoming initiate of Fertility goddess. room DA = living plant, chest in room has needle trap. Sasha uses key to open chest: 340 sp, 288 gp, 4 gems, scroll rank 10 opening (70% base chance). All money promised to Chantris' church. chest #2: 759 copper, given to lizard man. chest #3: megalomaniacs library. taken heavy plate and chain mail, scorpion acts as pack mule.
Lath and Callas get unseen renewed before watertunnel on way to temple. Lath swims in ahead forcing others to follow. No enemy in sight, broke into statue, took silver hammer, priests came out. Taken out. Found two gold plated candlesticks, 107 cp, 32 sp, 11 gp, jasper, bloodstone. no magic. two amulets: protection and damage reduction. 52 sp.one amulet seems to be 10' protection from undead. Sasha and Callas flee zombies in panic, rest of us outwalk them. Back to ship, then to cave. Lath goes to use hammer, and walks into giant spider. Idiot. Slices and dices. next stops pendulum trap with her body. The guild doesn't IQ test prospective members, does it? Release giant, rescue orcs, caves collapse. Metallic gold water fountains in some places, B.R. tries a sample and almost gets nuked. Return to newhaven, drop off orcs.
8 July - 13 July
All but B.R. gets six days training at guild (8th - 13th july) as B.R. deals with mermaids. scorpion gets scribe again. pick up a keen battle axe from a weaponsmith. fucking good stuff.
Sun 24 July
Noon, feeling fucking hungover. Anathea thinks she's clever making loud noises right behind me, so I throw her over the wharf. Callas gives us all a lesser enchantment, or something. sail off into the sunset and another dimension. 18/14 c coordinates. Lath contacts an air spirit in the strange mist that surrounds us and gets Barnyette, a God. He tells us: Loarn, the bad poet, is still around; we must collect nine stars from the different islands and offer them up to Barnyette on the Isle of the Gods and he will grant any boon we want or need; the birdman, referred to in the poems, is Tres Erija; Barnyette is the joker/trickster god; the White Oracle can be found on an isle, on a lake, on another isle, in a temple to Tres Erija; there is an isle to the Green Man; the Lady is Barnyette's wife; Loarn worships Chantris; if you release the stars to the other gods, you get different boons; the Green Man is good, the White Oracle is bad; there are "four still foresworn"; the old ones are Barnyette, Tres Erija and the Lady. We discover that the area within the mist is a high mana area.
Mon 25 July
find the birdmans isle. plain of origin = arien. da = nothing special. anathea goes unseen. find a ruined barbarian shrine. inside are chains across the roof, and sharp weapons hanging from the chains. a feeling of fear comes from the shrine, and i don't want to enter, nobody else does either. i guess the place is built on the dead, and digging i find human bones. divination tells the shrine summons bird men at night, and kills magic. we purify. others decide to leave Balode on the island to attract birdmen. i volunteer to stay and help, but get kicked off by Balode et al. Balode gets armour spell, etc. anathea does to, by accident. spell/ talent fail is bad news. at night, Balode gets attacked from behind by a bird man (9' tall). B.R. tries to help from the ship by casting a spell onto the island, but another birdman appears and flies to attack him. fuckwit. B.R. gets blended so i vapourise it. fucking amazing battleaxe. Balode eventually kills his.
Tues 26 July
Seems days and nights are shorter than in the real world. in the morning, tres erija turns up and rewards Balode with a star and a magical hand-and-a-halfer. nasty stuff: if you stun with it the victim must make a magical resistance or die permanently, and if you stun whilst holding it you suffer the same fate. good for me, reckon Balode's got problems. go to nice island, plane = arien again. Callas casts strength and armour on everyone. i eat some fruit. Sasha: "stop doing things." then the babes start getting urges to throw things/ selfs into the water. find a barrow with a large star illusion, but B.R. and Lath see their gods. illusion tells people things: the crystal hill is a crystal ball; B.R. should not accept a life mate if she presents herself (B.R. convinced that this isn't his goddess speaking); loarn is collecting stars to make chantris more powerful; throw the green mans heart into the ocean. B.R. starts worrying about us all getting laid. have a little jam session in the tombulus, then Balode starts reckoning we won't return to the real world without all the stars.
Wed 27 July
Callas casts armour of earth and strength on all of us, so then the party sleeps half the day away - not used to hours. get back to the ship and bicker over the map, then go to the island with the stone slab on it. get charged by heaps of little dark men riding boars, and see behind them the green man tied to the slab. i run for a tree, smarter than the rest. Lath casts windstorm and bowls a lot, then the rest of the party decide to run. fucking geniuses. me, Balode, Callas and Anathea get captured fighting a rearguard action for those "not abandoning the party, just escaping so someone can rescue you later." get stripped of all gear: Anathea and Callas were a sight for sore eyes but Balode was alarming. Get trooped out to green man and anathea gets given a knife: expected to kill him. silly bitch gets a case of conscience and forgets to stick the knife into the little dark men when they beat her up. then they give the knife to me so i cut out the green mans heart: it's a big fucking emerald i reckon about 50 000 sp worth. little men give us our gear back and leave and Callas starts getting all high and mighty about party treasure. don't i know it. fuckwits. B.R. tests it by channelling mana into it and gets hit with a diamond weapon, so Callas reckons he didn't do it right and tries to pull mana to herself from it and gets hit by javelins. they get the hint. Sasha and B.R. start getting mad urges to throw the thing away so test throw it into ocean carefully into marked space so i can find it again and nothing happens. stow it in my shirt for safekeeping. leaving the island i find a star in my pocket. didn't notice any appreciation. Sasha is amnesiac or something from the fight with the dark men.
Thurs 28 july
Go to oracle island. nature of magic in lake = pleasure. B.R. jumps on anathea but fails to stop her jumping in the lake. rest of us take the civilised path across the stepping stones. Lath casts something to get anathea out of the water. Inside the temple on the islet on the lake is a white statue of an evil looking human man. not a bad likeness, if i say so myself. temple and statue magical, surprise, surprise. B.R. goes in and the statue activates and talks. says it knows the answers to everything, and will give us three questions. poetry hints questions should be about the quest, not of selfish interest. B.R. dithers. fuckwit. then gets turned to stone after asking four questions, the last of which was selfish. smart. me and Balode go in to drag him out and get the same spiel. we search the temple for the star we expect here, then i search the oracle at knifepoint but no joy. try throwing the bastard out of the temple but is magically kept here. so i ask where the rest of the stars can be found: loarn has one; one in sleeping realm; one on lady island; the old gods have one; isle of stolen charms; barnyette; and the oracle. then i ask how to turn B.R. back from stone and get told to get archons sheild. drag B.R. out, break his hand off accidentally. fucking heavy. catch Anathea while Callas asks three (non selfish) questions: finds out where archons island is, and two other things we already knew. earth mage has rock for brains. she gets a star for fulfilling criteria.
Evening go to cave island and find shield next to statue (blue, seven point star). da = magical. turns any sentient entity turned to stone back to flesh. wonder if B.R. makes the criteria. get back and dither about the broken bits, then hit him and he comes back sans hand. dither about more questions, decide to sleep. anathea tries to return to lake but gets dragged off. all bitches like they've got pmt.
fri 29 july
Go to misty isle. it's dark. Sasha hears a large splash in the water. get to the shore and hear something else on the beach, then a fucking great dragon thing looms out of the mist right beside me and has a go. near crapped myself. we manage to kill it (sea python) but get chased off by another before i could gut it to check it's gullet. walk on, get attacked by troll. kill it and get magical axe, possibly cursed. i reckon these attackers are all illusion. get approached by eight hobgoblins demanding the womenfolk. weren't offering enough. Balode in fine insulting form as we cream them, one surrenders. then everything, including island, disappears. Balode sinks like a stone in his plate mail but B.R. manages to rescue him. Balode has a star in his pocket. i rescue anathea. go to island with two temples; one male, one female = isle of stolen charms. i go to female temple; right on. babes of the party go to male temple and get tempted by these studs. this hot chick comes out of the female temple to me and starts talking about love forever so i try her on for size and she's pretty damn good but i'm not interested in forever. Sasha says forever to her stud, gets a star, and changes to look like a hag: all "goodness" gone says B.R., who didn't even go to look at his lady.
Balode is really cut up, romantic shithead, so i send for rum to take his mind off it. he goes off to his lady and gets all deep then does her in cause he didn't want to leave her behind and he couldn't bring himself to take her. fuckwits in the party don't give a shit for him. he gets plastered on the boat when we return to oracle at Laths orders. Find out Sasha has ma 49 curse/ doom on her. If she wants to get her goodness back she must kill her soulmate herself or kill all followers of tres erija. if someone else kills the soulmate (peter) then she could die, and would never regain her goodness. Lath asks a subtle question!: advice to help us in further trials. answer: be generous to those who are generous to you. also find out that whoever tosses the emerald into the ocean will get +1 on a stat of their choice. go back to archons island. i snooze a bit. Balode is written off.
sat 30 july
Still at night, Sasha hits statue of archon with sheild. Nothing happens. find warded tunnel, bravely leave it alone. divination says if the island is still above water when the sheild hits the mist surrounded area then the sheild will be transported back. Sasha goes nutty on boat, killing rats, cutting Callas' hair and then I find the emerald has been stolen. Go to B.R. and tell him, so we raid girls dorm together. Lath gets mad at me for a nasty remark and grabs up her axes, so i run off. Try to cast an air spec counter on myself but backfire and get arthritis. feel bad. then Lath comes to give me a lecture so i tell her to fuck off, so she hits me with her axe. When i come to, B.R. is leaning over me, has fixed the hole in my chest (and the arthritis) but can't mend the bones so i'm fucked.
Go to flat island, B.R.'s stump starts tingling. divination = if someone dies on this island they can join with another and be a duel entity forever. yay. go to the island with the throne. Throne has gold and gem studded crown sitting on it. divination = if you sit on the throne and hold the crown then you can communicate with the old gods. Anathea volunteers, sits there for a while and gets a star. Says they offered her a job but she turned them down.
Go to crystal hill island. B.R. sits in the throne and can see anywhere so looks in a castle and finds a spectral guy, then looks down the warded tunnel on archons island and finds archon in stasis. Go to lady isle. divination = if you eat the fruit, you will fall into a deep sleep and awake the next morning fully recovered from all your injuries. Me and B.R. do it.
Sun 31 july
Me and B.R. fully healed, B.R. has star. back on boat Balode is functional again. go to isle of twisted trees and get stuck there to nightfall, when we get attacked by a horde of demons from Callas' past. i get taken out early with sleep talent, didn't do much damage before. spectral guy turns up and quickens most the party, so now i'm fast asleep. get woken up, gut demon, then fall asleep again. fuck. finally beat demons. Sasha backfired, don't know what it did. spectral guy introduces self as loarn. gives us invested rings in return for getting the lady's avatar reborn. tells of a wall of force around island so that we have to fight and defeat our fears all night. shit. Balode's being a shithead, so i snooze while the military scientists build a pallisade, then see to my weapons. B.R. makes everyone unseen, then changes his mind and everyone has to come seen again so we can all be quickened. blue dragon appears, B.R.'s past. I cast air special counter, and Lath lightning bolts Callas. I backfire and get migranes, then put an air special counter on Balode. Lath gets dropped in front of dragon so lies on the ground and heals it. Don't ask me why. then Sasha sleeps it, so we dither a bit, then run away. get attacked by black knights from Balodes past. anathea backfires and blinds herself. Kill them all, then hobgoblins.
Mon 1 August
Anathea gets star. go to loarns island and give him his rings back, so he gives us a star. go to island of the monoliths and find another star. pile all the stars on the alter and after some dithering offer them to all three gods. all get given a non-college talent, thaumaturgy or elemental. mist and islands disappear, and sailing back to seagate discover the date is fri 29 july: was shorter days and nights.
Sat 30 july
Pressed charges against Lath for her attack on me. She gets 3 months detention and half shares, and i get half shares for harassment. was determined that Sasha stole the gem and tossed it into the sea, but she pleaded that her curse was responsible so she lost her first choice at the magic treasure.
