The Middle Way

Adventure: The Middle Way
GM: Jim Arona
Session: Spring 812wk
Night: Monday
Location New Windsor
Level: Medium - High
Party:

• Grendel, human Sorceror, played by Simon
• Eric, played by Michael Haycock
• Tegan, Kelsie 91
• Braegon - Stephen 51 92
• Thorn - Helen Saggers 74

The Experience Multiplier is 3. Employer: Menkheperre
Kanacht, the servant of King Menkheperre, glorious of forms, has travelled to this distant realm in search of those effective of Stealth and that are numerate that they might count well, and literate that they might report of what they have seen, to go forth from this place, unto another place, thence, to yet another place, that they might, in the fullness of time, come to a place, where they may ply such nefarious trades as may seem appropriate for providing of sufficient intelligences that his Majesty's army will not come to harm as they travel. And, for this he doth offer to pay handsomely well.(80tg per party member)

Scribe Notes

Synopsis

Scout and clear a path for the kings army to march to Makhatu, ideally remove any spies and scouts along the way, they need to be there by 21 Seedtime.

Brass and Sheol

Kanacht is a reasonably senior priest, hence a servant of the King.

The Prince of Makhatu has not being paying tribute to King Menkheperre, they suspect this is the influence of the neighbouring empire, gaining land by gaining the tribute of the principalities.

The plan is to march the army to the town of Makhatu (about 3 weeks march for the army), they need to be there by 21 Seedtime (by our calendar), that gives us about 7 weeks.

We discuss ways to get there and settle on going via the City of Brass which I can get us to in a week and then the Paths of Sheol - a six week march through the desert (approx 1500 miles), we figure we can fly over it faster.

Moonday 7th Thaw 812wk

We arrive at the City of Brass with great fanfare, I hide out in my house while the others go shopping in the markets acquiring some items we'll need. Declining various social engagements we rest the night quietly.

Duesday 8th Thaw 812wk

Purified, buffed and prepared, we head out of the city, take the Paths of Sheol then once we're a short ways from the city Thorn casts wings and we fly.

We plan on about 7 hours flight then a warp gate for an extra couple of hundred miles but is only a four hours later that Grendel becomes aware of a dangerous disturbance near us, we head for ground as a Throne emerges near us and charges Tegan. Eric and Grendel attack drawing it's attention; Tegan, Eric and I plummet to get to ground as soon as possible; Grendel dives exchanging attacks with the Throne on the way down, Thorn dives and provides Emapthy for Grendel.

Low altitude strandings on Feather Fall, lots of pain for Grendel, a few craters, a couple of crash landings and finally we're all down next to an oasis though Grendel tried to decorate the desert with his skin. Tegan runs to get Grendel up again while Eric, Thorn, and I wait to meet the Throne's charge. A timely Wall of Stone stops it's high speed charge then Eric and Thorn attack, a nasty melee but Eric renders it unconscious just as Tegan and I are about to join the melee.

The oasis is twin pools surrounded by some trees, between the pools is an old Stela that has the appearance of a middle march. It looks like this used to be a waypoint of portals through the desert.

Scouting the Passes

We investigate, divine, recover the Well of Water that was sustaining the oasis, and find the remains of an underground complex. It looks like an inverted pyramid that was struck by a sudden and shattering force, we work out that the sand in the area and filling the complex is shattered mirrors. The Stela was a boundary marker for an old Itarüe, it still has a remnant of its ability to detect chaos. It is also the potential terminus of a Rune Portal and could be used by a Rune Mage to cross the old Itarüe. That night some of us have dreams of gigantic mirror maze that was once here, a multi-dimensional house.

W'nsday 9th Thaw 812wk

We fly west then Warpgate to cover 500 miles of desert and make camp in a different style of desert. Less sand, fine red soil beneath a layer of hard-packed rock.

Th'rsday 10th Thaw 812wk

150 miles flight brings us to Tjaru, a river town at the eastern edge of Itarüe. Proceeding into Itarüe will probably result in trouble as Tegan's chaotic aspects set off alarms. We find accommodation in town, Kanacht contacts his superiors and sends a message to the King.

A couple of days pass as we explore the town and surrounds, Eric and Grendel assess the gathering army, shopping, and scouting with crystals.

Sunday 13th Thaw 812wk

We Warpgate about 250 miles NE to the hills above the south pass to Makhatu, have lunch, make a discrete camp, and that night Eric flies out to scout the pass and count the guard posts. I find Whitethorn and White Rose of Gerantia growing and take cuttings.

Moonday 14th Thaw 812wk

Flying over the tablelands as vultures we see odd 15' wide pits. Investigating we find they were made 6-12 months ago and go a long way down.

Following the tunnel down about 500 feet then north we eventually come out in the middle pass where we find 50-100 Sand Drakes living.

Quietly retreating a couple of miles we set up another camp then rest and discuss options.

One Sand Drake to Go

Duesday 15th Thaw 812wk

The plateau north from the mid-pass is similarly broken, shattered like some enormous force has struck it, we see another couple of dozen drake holes. We plan to catch a Drake for study, summoning one from a couple of miles away, it comes with friends who we manage to slow enough to control our summoned Drake and warp gate out.

Back near Tjaru we divine and study the Drake. We find out it was born in the warm dark below the middle pass, they cannot return to their progenitor in the deep dark, the Tormentor (human necro?) keeps them away.

Grendel and I report in to Kanacht, he comes to see the Drake and examine its souls which he says are warped and twisted from the way they should be. He also tells us stories of an immortal who used to ride a Sand Dragon, Kamuel, the Cold Forger.

W'nsday 16th Thaw 812wk

Getting lost we end up near our camp above the southern pass a couple of hours later. Approaching the middle pass we head underground and follow the chasm that leads to the deep dark.

A fair way down Grendel checks for minds and something below lights up, proceeding carefully we avoid some sort of flying bronze sentinel that blocks the tunnel with Walls of Iron. Then come to a cavern dimly illuminated by a glowing blue rod, we recognize it as a shaped item that glows when in the area of an active Telepathy. Tracks in the cavern are from a humanoid and lead further in...

The Tormentor

Following the cavern deeper in the ground is so badly fractured that we can't see very far or move easily underground so we surface to walk for a while, at that point we spot some undead shuffling towards us. Eric leads them away from us and I bury them, more turn up, we rinse and repeat interring over 80 of them.

Continuing on cautiously we soon come to an unstable path along a sheer glassy cliff face, not liking the look of it we move into the rock again to go around it, Eric brings up the rear and is targeted by magic as soon as he's alone, he waits half a minute for the opposing Namer to reveal themselves before withdrawing into the rock to join us. Having lost the element of surprise we leave a locatable marker and withdraw to the surface.

As we peer out we can see there are over a dozen Drakes on the cliff above the pass actively looking for something, then we see a humanoid figure accompanied by a flying bronze device and a large spider-like thing attached to him.

Tagging him with a locate, we head back underground and withdraw south and west then scry him with a crystal ball, he seems to be tracking us by some means and is now flying on Seraph Wing. He then splits his bronze device in half and flies south of us to the south pass, it looks like he is trying to line us up between the two halves of his device.

After some debate we decide to take the fight to him now that he is separated from the drakes (who are following after him) for a few minutes. Preparing then warp-gating to a couple of thousand feet above him, we plummet-charge. He sees us and plummets 200 feet to the ground, I miss him with Tegan's dead whale, we all impact the ground near him and engage.

He calls on the Queens of Torment which slows most of us, and is well protected from physical harm while casting Necrosis in melee. The fight drags on and is gradually swinging his way.

Astral Combat

Eric delivers a flurry of blows that leave the Tormentor rocking on his feet but we're unable to finish the job before he drinks a potion to completely heal himself. I eventually get my hands on the Tormentor and soothe pain which seems to block his access to some of his vitality (FT). Grendel opens a gateway to the Astral so we can deal to the Queens who are crippling and slowly killing us, I send the Tormentor in too. The Queens are quickly dispatched, it's still touch and go with the Tormentor; Grendel goes down and is then isolated from us by the blue tetrahedron converting itself into some form of maze; T opens the maze to step in, we follow; Eric delivers the final blow; Thorn heals Grendel just before he dissipates into the Astral; the Tormentor's body crumples to dust leaving his gear behind as his spirit moves off in the Astral.

Grendel has been drained of all hope, while Eric divines the maze and key, I heal and cure all I can, Thorn and Tegan keep watch. None of us is willing to try to take ownership of the tetrahedron so we decide to destroy it, I cage it in, Eric turns it back then a few minutes of whack-the-gnat-with-a-sword before it shatters into tiny fragments.

Heading back to the real world we are relieved to all arrive safely, except that night seems to have fallen earlier than it should have. Getting lost, we flee back to the desert outside Tjaru.

After getting back to our house, Thorn and I head out to report to Kanacht. He teeters between alarmed at what we encountered and impressed at what we achieved, he hasn't heard of the creature we defeated but he does agree to have a look at Grendel in the morning.

Th'rsday 17th Thaw 812wk

Kanacht has some healers have a look at Grendel's Souls, they agree he has been drained of hope, it is an extremely powerful (MA 45?) major curse, not something they can heal, they suggest appealing to the gods.

Kanacht has met with the king who intends to march in a couple of days, he would like us to clear Tjaro of spies before we do anything else. We turn to our spy master, Tegan for a cunning plan...

Frysday 18th Thaw 812wk

Following Eric's Tegan-approved plan, the people of Kanacht are gathered in the centre of town where they are spoken to about honour, duty, and their responsibility to report any spies in their midst. Meanwhile Eric, Tegan and Thorn circle overhead as watchful Vultures while Grendel and I move around the crowd scanning minds and faces for unusual reactions. Grendel picks out some odd minds and I close in, we identify and capture 5 of them but they seem afflicted by a mental disease of monomania which infects Grendel and Eric before we can drop the Telepathy and Mindspeech. I get Grendel to cure himself and we leave Eric circling and molesting other birds while we try to work out how to fix him.

DAs reveal our prisoners have been affected by a form of Bind Will, a disease of the mind that drives them to focus on just one thing. Grendel experiments on one of the prisoners and manages to use Bind Will to break the previous binding, he reports that they seem to be waiting on a trigger or command to fully activate them. Assassination or sabotage of the army seems most likely.

We then summon Eric out of town and keep him there while Grendel breaks his bind - it turns out that secondary infections are easier to cure.

We hypnotise the craftsman that Grendel first released to trace his last memories before the affliction, he describes foreigners on a boat near a town west of here.

I get Kanacht and a few of his fellow priests to examine our other prisoners so they can identify the affliction, they then head out to check the rest of the town and by morning discover another of these lurking assassins.

They bought a Waterspout

Reapsday 19th Thaw 812wk

We take a morning stroll to the town where the boat is docked. Acquiring then animal growth-ing some territorial Hippos along the way. We approach underwater, riding our giant Hippos up the river.

The boat is copper lined and innately magical. Locking the boat in with a couple of walls of Stone, we then start boarding. Eric is met by a couple of the warrior-rowers, he starts dealing to them then Thorn and Grendel join in. Our target remains locked in his cabin but is casting spells high rank spells from a range of colleges via an odd sort of Wizards Eye. We're making progress when they suddenly break and run as a Waterspout appears behind us. We keep trying to break into the cabin and wear a couple of deck-sweeps of the waterspout until we're driven to hide underwater.

With the assistance of an Earth Elemental and Tegan the mana-slug we start trying to break into the bottom of the ship while he sends invisible Siege Grenados down on us.

The enemy of my enemy

We make a hole large enough for Erik the Ferret to get in and lose the Elemental to a Grenado. Tegan gets hit with Blindness; Grendel ports in to join Erik; a new Elemental starts work on the ship again; I collect Tegan; eventually we all make it inside the now sinking ship.

The hold is filled with barrels of an extract of enchanted quicksilver, the barrels keep it extremely cold. A couple have been knocked over by the incoming water which is now rapidly freezing. Erik gets into the main cabin via interior stairs and engages our target and his Enchanted Quicksilver Golem which is fast and lethal. Grendel backs Erik up with Healingbrandy, then the floor burns out and our target falls on my head (poetic as I'm the one who suggested burning through the floor). Tegan and I are now ground-zero in the melee - not our happy place. But Erik jumps down to the rescue, the Golem elects not to jump and smash through the bottom of the boat, instead it carves its way through Grendel on the stairs. Erik transforms into his invulnerable form and engages the Golem again, the mage is still hammering us with spells every pulse until Thorn gets a mind counter under him. He switches back to Grenados, I manage to trigger the first one while he's still holding it but it's a dud. He drops the next one into a barrel and flees to his cabin. I grab Grendel's almost-corpse and teleport after him to block his exit, now we all potentially die when the Grenado goes off, we negotiate his surrender (info and he leaves the area with is stuff) and he races to diffuse the Iron Grenado... to have it go off in his hand. Liberal application of brandy keeps everyone alive, while he is unconscious and intentionally staying that way we DA and divine. Then I wake him up so we can talk.

Giovanni di Crescenti is from Nualis, and agent for the Eye of Discord. He was hired by the Serpent Folk (presumably minions of the Lord of Serpents) to spy on the King and his army, disrupting their organisation and reporting when they moved out. The serpent folk used to live here long before men, they have recently returned to the Lands of Chaos, seen at sea south of Jiroth and west of Karthri. The local work was opportunistic while he was here for some materials needed for his ship. The ship can sail ethereal tides to travel between worlds, it belongs to his master. We negotiate payment for saving his life and restoring his hand. We also trade to find out that the barrels are for his master as part of a plan to betray the Lord of Similarities. Our opinion of the Eye of Discord and Giovanni suddenly goes up. We help him to recover and secure the barrels and patch the ship.

Bones and Sand

Giovanni spots a sail coming up the river and starts getting agitated about needing to leave now.

We fall back to the nearest buildings while I finish gathering dust from below the docks and observe as the other ship pulls up to the dock.

This ship too is not local, the style and rig much more advanced than the local designs. A tall man casually leaps down to the docks and looks around. We step out to talk. Nereus, The Caster of Bones, is here in service to the dead, Tegan is plagued by some souls that are bound to her and prevented from moving on as they should, Nereus is here to fix this for her. Tegan demurs, the souls are there to protect her. Negotiations continue and we finally come to an agreement.

Nereus accepts our invitation to join us in investigating and cleansing the undead that have gathered near Makhatu.

Walking the Hippo's home and then back to Tjaru and updating Kanacht.

Sunday 20th Thaw 812wk

We get lost in the desert and end up back near the south pass to Makhatu, from there we follow our tunnel towards the mid pass and see tracks of Ghouls in our tunnel. Nereus can sense a few hundred undead in the area, mostly north of the south pass. Exiting near the mid-pass we follow the locate towards Thorn's dagger to find that it's not where we left it, the Sand Dragon has added it to her hoard which she is resting on further into the tunnel. DAs identify she is cursed with greed - racial curse?

Optimistically trying diplomacy, Nereus and I emerge into the tunnel entrance to her lair to talk to the dragon about her drake-children and the necromancers. She feigns decrepitude and deafness until she edges close enough to take a bite at Nereus then the talking is over and the fighting starts. Eric and Nereus inflict some decent damage but then she shifts her mass to heal the damage, it seems we need to hurt all 35' of her at the same time to make the damage stick. Meanwhile Nereus valiantly engages her jaws from the inside to keep her from biting anyone else.

Eric drinks Tegan's experimental potion of replication and we are fortunate to get 11 equally capable Erics who charge into melee just as I get a tunnel opened under her hoard. The distraction works better than expected, Grendle's Phantasm, Nereus, and the Erics get some lasting damage on her as she ignores them to dive into the tunnel after her hoard, there she turns into a compact sand storm.

Sand to Dust and Undead Guests

We take a few seconds to prepare ourselves better for the fight, unfortunately she does the same, then I close the tunnel and the battle resumes.

Erics, Nereus, Grendel, Thorn, Dragon Tooth Warriors, a Phantasm, and an Earth Elemental beat on her for about half a minute while she blunts her teeth and claws on Erics, Nereus, and then finds some purchase on Grendel, ripping large holes in him. Then we get her in the range where we're knocking her out most rounds (which she bounces back from each time) then Nereus disrupts her Trollskin as she is struck again and this time, killed.

Thorn bands a lot of damage off Grendel before the blood soaked rags become a corpse, coughing blood he comes to again but has acquired the Dragon's death curse of mediocrity (all % rolls will be 50).

We also examine the hoard, there are a few things we'd really like to take with us but then we'd acquire the Dragon Curse (7 anti-miracles - things will go wrong in the worst possible way at the worst possible time) on her hoard which is not a curse that sounds conducive to adventuring.

If we set theings up right, I have a slim chance of removing the curse on Grendel or the hoard but the attempt will take 18 hours. Grendel takes Tegan and Thorn to a local town to acquire pregnant pigs for a life buzz to help proceedings.

I'm about to settle in for my first attempt when Nereus warns us that there are undead approaching, we come up with a cunning plan that involves hiding in the walls, waiting for the undead to collect the loot (and curse) then we pounce and take it off them.

We hide, half a dozen ghouls and about 60 skeletons turn up, they fail their part in our plan and just stand guard over the hoard while sending two of the ghouls back with a message. We try to give them another chance by quietly taking our the messengers but after waiting a while they pack up and all leave (without the hoard).

So it's time to take them all out.

Ghouls

We launch our subterranean ambush on the Ghouls but miss one and only partially grab two of them. Two are killed fairly promptly, one pauses to hold us back while the other runs away, Skeletons start pouring in to assault us. Grendel, Tegan and I take care of the Skeletons; Nereus charges after the escaping Ghoul; Eric deals to the rear-guard Ghoul then chases after Nereus on Windwalk from the Tome. Nereus overtakes the Ghoul only a couple of hundred yards short of it being able to reach help, an epic slugfest ensues. Eric arrives just in time to distract the Ghoul and Nereus gets the killing blow.

During his Windwalk, Eric spotted three humanoids in a cavern ahead engaged in some sort of ritual. One of them is the Sybarite we fought just a few days ago.

Falling back to where we ambushed the Ghouls we loot and plan our next step - assaulting the three bosses.

Sybarites

The tunnel ambush has worked so well we try it again but they have bound the floor of the cavern and are engaged in some sort of blood letting ritual. Tegan and I stay below to start breaking through the bound earth while the others head for the corridor in ready to charge if anything changes. Unfortunately they are spotted fairly quickly and the Sybarites send a large crocodile like earth elemental to destroy them, Nereus tries to delay it while Eric prepares Banishment. Grendel and Thorn are overcome by a compulsion to cast Telepathy and ESP, which then exposes them to a crazed mind. Grendel resist the madness but Thorn is overcome. Tegan and I join the others, I miss the elemental with a tunnel but Eric gets it with his Banishment. The Glass-Armoured Sybarite has charged through the middle of the Elemental and now engages Eric and Nereus, Thorn is madly swinging her sword and nearly hits Eric. Nereus strikes the Sybarite warrior hard enough to shatter his armour then he and Eric quickly slay him.

Meanwhile the ritual is completed to raise a Sand Dragon Liche, Nereus steps forward to take it head on; I dampen the other Sybarites with a rainstorm, they counter with a sand storm; Grendel bands damage away to keep Nereus alive; Eric charges through the wall to get past the Dragon to the mages who are busy raining Dragonflames and Necrosis on us; Tegan catches Thorn in a web to stop her from hurting anyone at which point Thorn starts uttering the names of Demons.

Eric emerges from the wall to engage the mages and can hear the singing of Medeanite Dancers approaching, chanting the charm of Strength; Nereus takes advantage of being within the Dragon's jaws to deliver some holy water which causes the Dragon to shatter, then he leaps over the razor sharp shards to join Eric; the Medeanites arrive but are slowed by trying to avoid getting saturated by the rain which gives me time to wall them off from the combat.

Victory?

The dancers fall back, getting orders from someone behind them in the corridor who then casts a Darkness to conceal them. Fortunately Eric had the foresight to provide us with protection from light that allows us to see in the darkness. They sneak up, I wall them off again.

Meanwhile Eric and Nereus deal to the last Sybarite, Grendel keeps them on their feet, and Tegan transforms Thorn into a mad sheep in a web.

As the Medeanites withdraw we overhear them saying something about summoning the Sand Drakes, we grab the bodies and start withdrawing. Nereus notes that there is a Spring of Madness at the centre of the room and against our advice, drains it of power. I then set an Elemental to dropping the roof on this room to slow down anyone trying to use the spring any time soon.

Back at the Sand Dragon's hoard, we drop it into an inaccessible cavern deeper underground to hide it until we can safely return to remove the curse.

Deepstreet takes us to our camp on the southern pass where we emerge to see Murmur riding his Gryphon and summoning Thrones to rain down on the ground. We retreat back underground and head east for a town beyond the passes, emerging there we find it has been burnt to the ground by Aim.

We now settle in for a slow underground trip south to find a hiding hole while we rest and try to break Thorn from her insanity and Grendel from his dragon-curse.

W'ansday 23rd Thaw 812wk

We return to de-curse the hoard to find it gone, Murmur left a gloating calling card.

Heading up to the highlands to look around, there is a lot of damage. Makhatu is levelled, most towns and villages have been levelled by rains of Thrones or burned to the ground by Aim. The Drakes numbers have been thinned by the conflict but there are still enough of them to deny the use of the middle pass.

As we're looking around Seir pops in to admire our work, after some cagey negotiation he relieves Thorn of her delicious sin.

With nothing more we can do here, we get lost to Tjaru.

Meeting up with Kanacht and the King, they are not happy with the outcome but accept it as a victory of sorts. Instead of sending the army they start organising to send Mechanicians to start rebuilding Makhatu.

Th'rsday 24th - Frysday 25th Thaw 812wk

I travel north to find and taking cuttings from a Marist Rose to help restore Grendel's Hope.

Reapsday 26th Thaw 812wk

We start our journey home by wandering into the desert and getting lost in icy waste lands until we emerge near the City of Brass. The delayed party is organised for tomorrow.

Sunday 27th - Moonday 28th Thaw 812wk

We rest, hit the library and markets, party and recover.

Duesday 29th Thaw - Moonday 5th Seedtime 812wk

Travelling via paths through the Nexus to my house north of Lewiston in Brastor.

Duesday 6th Seedtime 812wk

Portal to and report in at the guild.

W'nsday 7th Seedtime 812wk

Then some of us head back to Brastor and into the astral, heading across the abyss to Kerberoth.

Th'rsday 8th Seedtime 812wk

Meet with Lord Tirwh, introduce Nereus, make arrangements for the Well of Water and hit the markets.

Frysday 9th - Reapsday 10th Seedtime 812wk

I head to Karthri via Jiroth to meet with Anathel, swap recipes and acquire a potion.

Buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Caster	Br	Gr	Te	Th	Er
Armour of Earth	21	+44 Def -2 Damage	11 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Strength of Stone	20	+20 EN	21 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fire Armour	20	100 Ablative Mag. Fire	21 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Heat Shield	9	40 ablative Mag. Cold	10 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fireproofing	9	Prot. Normal Fire 4 less Dmg	10 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Cold Resistance	9	Prot -18°C 3 Less Damage	10 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Waterproofing	7	Dry, protection from Rainstorm	8 hrs	Br	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Water Breathing	13	Breathe and see in Water	14 hrs	Gr	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Buoyancy	6	Up/down 17'/pulse, withstand pressure	3½ hrs	Br
Feather Fall	6	Fall no more than 5'/pulse	3½ hrs	Br
Vapour Breathing	6		3½ hrs	Br
Mind Shield	13	+36 MR vs Mental Attack, can't be mind read	27 hrs	Gr	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Phoenix Wings	7	37 mph wings of flame (148 miles)	4 hrs	Th
Sense Danger					61% 34	66% 24	107% 16	51% 21	67% 28
Aspect of the Beast (Self)	18	Gain the aspect of an animal, 19 stat increase, ordinary, magical, awesome abilities	19 hrs	Te
Fall Banding (Self)	6	Land on earth without damage	3½ hrs	Br
Elemental Transformation (Self)	15	+3 DR +3 U.dmg -2 AG -2 MD -1 TMR Move through earth	8 hrs	Br	Y
Tracking (Self)	16	+42% Tracking	17 Days	Br	Y	Y	N	Y	Y
Detect Traps & Snares (Self)	10	+20% to detect Traps/Ambushes within 70' in Nat. Env.	11 Hours	Br	Y		N

Command Ring

+9 IV +9% Def in melee.

Hair Braiding (Rk 7 Skill)

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 one 2+ hour spell until next dawn.

Rarely (1 hour per person per day) +3 AG (or +2 over racial max).

Anti-scrying (Rk 21 Spell)

Braegon + 3 hex radius while on the ground. Undetectable to scrying (including Wizards Eye); Blocks Rk 20 (or lower) Locate, Telepathy, ESP.

Create Fog (Rk 15 Spell / Ritual) - Grendel

Reduces vision of those that cannot see through fog (ie not us) to 1 hex and boosts our defense against those effect by 20%. If cast ritually is of significantly larger radius and can be moved (although slowly).

Mind Speech has range of Plane (Grendel)

For 2 hours once / week - High Mana zone centered on Grendel (that moves with him - mega hex in size), this also boosts Grendel somewhat in melee.

Places, People and Creatures

Languages

The main languages of the area are Iaruvian, Hurrian and Khatti.

Tjaru - Easternmost town of Itarüe

River town, outside the magical boundaries of Itarüe.

Fort -

Tjaru to Makhatu

North-east across the desert to coastal town on big blue

North up coast on main road

East to the passes to Makhatu

Makhatu

Principality centred on the town. Market town at the junction of three major trade routes and the only town the desert nomads come to.

Makhatu - South Pass (20 miles)

Approx 1 mile wide most of its length, twists through hills. Most lookout posts on the easier to scale southern side - 3 every 5 miles (6 camps). Northern side has two scout camps with 6 in each.

Village/Town at eastern end of pass.

Makhatu - Mid Pass (10 miles)

Narrow, infested with Sand Drakes

Makhatu - North Pass

Wide open, long range of visibility.

Mt Seir

Sighted rising out of the desert north-east of Menkheperre, south-east of Makhatu.

Menkheperre's Army

About 6,500, half light chariots (driver and archer) the other half light infantry - Spearmen.

The King and some of his children (aged 9 to 18) will be with the army.

Kanacht

Priest/Mage, his staff detects Chaos and allows him to view the 5 ethereal bodies.

Menkheperre Healers

Can use their rods to examine the 5 ethereal bodies in more detail than the priests can to aid their healing.

Sand Drakes - Fantastical Animals

3-Hex Drake, claws of stone, converts to abrasive sand storm (10 FT per pulse), consumes rock, metals, prefers Bronze (coats their bones). Consumes animals and preferably high WP/MA sentients to gain WP and eventually sentience.

EN ~50; FT 70+; WP ~40 (depends how many animals/sentients they have consumed); ~45 TMR on surface, limited flight, 250 yards per minute underground.

Claws inflict 3-30+ damage; may attempt to swallow targets whole.

Sand Dragon

Bigger, nastier, sentient magic-using version of the Drakes.

Kamuel, the Cold Forger, used to ride one.

Sybarites

Humans, work in groups of three. Can draw on each other's luck.

Necromancer - had 2 magical tetrahedrons, killed in Astral, body crumpled and was alive again within a week. Had bound the Queens of Torment, presumably knows where they can be found and bound.

Warrior in Glass Plate

Fire Mage

Giovanni di Crescenti

From Nualis, merchant, courtier/spy, an agent for the Eye of Discord. Has a ship that can sail ethereal tides between worlds without crossing the abyss.

He was hired by the Serpent Folk to work against King Menkheperre.

Serpent Folk

Most likely working for the Lord of Serpents or one of the Elder Powers - Yig.

Possibly from the Eastern Continent that sank beneath the waves.

Seen in the seas near the Lands of Chaos, South of Jiroth and West of Karthri.

Treasure

	Qty	Cost	Notes
Pentecost Potions	8	5k ea	Purchased in City of Bronze, 5 used.
Restoration Potions	3	10k ea	Purchased in City of Bronze
Gr Restoration Potions	1 3	30k	Purchased in City of Bronze From Sybarite
T. Aconite & Passionflower Rk 8	6	200sp ea	Purchased in City of Bronze
Throne Eyes	12		Attack in Desert

Experience Awards

Braegon	Eric	Grendal	Tegan	Thorn	Nereus
56546.88	54953.13	45875	48203.13	39693.75	33.24
After racial tax:
57646.88	52557.39	45875	48203.13	39693.75	35.24
After Auction:
59480.21	49889.72	43108.33	50036.46	39626.08	37.07
Income (less expenditures):

Braegon's Award
Eric's Award
Grendal's Award
Tegan's Award
Thorn's Award
Nereus' Award

Calendar

Spring: Thaw (10) 812wk
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
		Candlemansa	1	Guild Meeting =>	2	Travel via nexus and paths
	7	=> City of Brass	8	Paths of Sheol, Oasis 150 miles West	9	Desert 500 miles West	10	=> Tjaru 150 miles West	11	Tjaru	12	Tjaru	13	South Pass 250 miles NNE
	14	Mid pass, Drakes	15	Capture Sand Drake	16	Sybarite Necro	17	Tjaru, recovery, spies	18	Flushing Tjaru Spies	19	Giovanni di Crescenti and Nereus	20	Dragon, Undead, Sybarites
	21	Hiding, Curse removal, recovery			23	back to Tjaru	24	Rose hunting			26	Tjaru => Brass	27	City of Brass - Party!
Spring: Seedtime (11)
	28	City of Brass	29	Travel via paths and nexus
	5	arrive in Brastor	6	Back at Seagate	7	Crossing Abyss	8	Rites of Thunor Kerberoth	9		10	Braegon at Karthri	11
	12		13		14		15	Equinox	16		17	Eostre	18
	19		20		21	Mission Deadline	22		23		24		25
	26		27		28		29		30		1		2
Spring: Blossom (12)
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21	Floralia	22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Walpurgisnacht