View source for Looking Glass Lost

[[Category:Scribe Notes]]
[[Scribe_Notes#Winter 820 WK|Scribe Notes]]
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== Summary ==
'''Adventure''': Looking Glass Lost<br> 
'''GM''': [[Michael Parkinson|Michael_P]]<br>
'''WINTER'''! 820wk<br>
'''Night''': Friday ''chez'' SMITH, Mangere Bridge  [7pm start?] '''NOT''' playing 31st July, '''14 August''' (Covid), 4 Sept (Smiths away).<br>
'''Area''': '''Off-plane''', "Home", according to its locals (but Namers call it '''Lilac''' ) <br>
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level|Medium]] '''plus'''.

===The Party===
Mages (if possible); and spies or courtiers  definitely preferred to thugs/fighters.<BR>
NOTE: Must be '''non-human'''  and "non-monster" &mdash; preferably Elven, Dwaven, Hobbit, or "Being",<BR> maybe even a miniature giant if small, light, & ''very'' well behaved.<BR>
Definitely NOT Orcs, goblins, undead, lycanthropes (besides, ''Lilac'' has no moon)

# [[Aurora]] - f. Elf, Airmage (played by Keith)
# [[Pierre_the_Halfling]] - m. played by Ian A.
# [[Veor]] -  played by Bernard
# non-draconic [[Starflower]] - f. elf played by Jacqui
# [[Lila]] - Formerly human Celestial played by Kelsie
# [[Thaeuss]] - Elven Binder played by Stephen

===Mission overview===
'''Mission''': Hired to go off-plane (transport provided by Employer), to RECOVER the Employer's missing '''magic Looking-Glass''' and perhaps resolve related problems &mdash; especially any caused by the party. Do NOT introduce non-Ânative species without permission.

'''Employer''': The Wiccan/Wicked Queen, resident in the "Elvish Territories" on the Plane named '''Lilac'''<BR>
via her Head Huntsman (and general trouble-slayer), who looks human, mostly, much less so under ''Witchsight'' (GTN, Being). 

'''Pay''': You will be granted '''13 magical boons''' upfront, with a cash bonus if you complete the mission within 250 days or less.  Actual value depends on how '''''Discrete''''' and effective you are.

===What Happened in the Guild===

'''Address to the Guild by the employer's agent''', who looks Human, but somehow, when he looks straight at you gives a ''definite'' vibe of NOT being so.

Toto is bout 6'4", with a LEAN & HUNGRY look", he moves with GRACE and implied menace.<BR> 
And when he starts talking those of you with ''Witchsight'' definitely notice a "SURGE" in his face (now a somewhat furry face with large ears, big teeth, and big but very cold eyes) and a SURGE in his very big hands with very sharp claws)  

I am '''SvatoplÃºk''' ... (pauses for non-response) ... but you can call me '''Toto'''.<BR>
I am Head Ranger of The '''Wiccan Queen''' (a.k.a. The Wicked Queen)

I am come to you off-plane Guild because out Trade allies on [[Purple]] say ''MOSTLY'' Good things about you.<BR>
Her Dread Majesty would like to lease 5 or 6 of your {airquotes} "Heroes" to '''DISCRETELY''' RECOVER her Magical Looking-glass.<BR>
And even more discretely deal with any IRREGULARITIES arising from the theft & its INSTIGATORS.<BR>
You will be paid upfront with '''13 magical boons''' to be distributed amongst your party. <BR>
(as an aside) And, if I know H.W.M., '''''how''''' your political leader & military strategist distribute those boons ... THAT will also be a test. 

You will also be paid a cash bonus if you succeed within 250 days. Actual amount according to your behaviour, intelligence, competence, and discretion.<BR>  And if you fail ??? &mdash; Perhaps have an unavoidable reason or else things may get ...unpleasant.


====Possible Astrology reading?====

I'll be at charges for a Looking-Glass. (''Rich.III'', i, 3)<Br>
Too little payment for so great a debt (''T. of Shr'', v, 2)<Br>
I am right loth to go (''Mer of Ven.'', ii, 5).<Br>
There's warrant in that theft / Which steels itself (''Macb.'', ii, 2)<Br>

== Lilac ==
A single-continent plane approximately half the Size of [[Purple]] or Alusia.

=== Lilac Time ===
When a spell effect (etc) specifies units of time, treat the following literally: '''year, day, hour, minute, second''' ... although the actual proportions are sometimes different to those of Alusia.

60 seconds = 1 '''minute'''<BR>
60 minutes = 1 '''hour'''<BR>
BUT '''25''' hours = 1 '''day'''; and the Calendrical Day starts, locally, at the True Noon &mdash; from which the time in full hours and [technically] minutes is counted ... although almost nobody except dwarves bothers with the minutes.  However, since some 10% of the population have Solar-aspect, all towns have a "correct" clock. <BR>
ALSO '''1 year''' is '''1000''' days plus, for ''almost'' all years, 1 extra-calendrical day (''"New Year's day"'').

Just for the specialist Astronomical philosopher(s) in the party, it is the [Dwarven] Astrologer Royal at Citadel of Friendship who announces when the upcoming ''New Year's day'' is to be omitted.  But only some dwarves understand why even the best mechanical clocks sometimes lose a minute.<BR>
(And very, very few would understand the concept of a leap second)

For the purposes of magic, a '''MONTH''' is 100 days; and a '''WEEK''' is 10 days.

Months: 0 for Overture; 1 for Sorrow; 2 for Mirth; 3 for Loss; 4 for Birth; 5 for Silver; 6 for Gold; 7 for Secret; 8 for wishing; 9 for kissing.

Years: Regnal year of the current monarch.

Calendar 3.203 is (rtl) day 3 of week 0 of month 2 (Mirth) of the 3rd Regnal year of Gloriana. Or 'the 3rd of Mirth' with the year assumed (NB actually the 4th day of Mirth as the calendar starts at 0).

=== NPCs ===

==== Toto ====
SvatoplÃºk. 
GTN: "Being" (a.k.a. "Wesen" by specialist Philosophers)<BR>
Vulpine huntsman of the Wiccan Queen. Rank 10 Ranger, Rk 8 spy.

==== Silver ====
The Wiccan Queen AKA The Wicked Queen ...and almost universally used instead of her full given name (''NevÃ½slovÃ½ JeÅ¾ibaba-ZajickÊ”''), for some reason. Elvan Witch<BR>
Her mother was from Alusia, the ''Dancing Princess of [[Panjari]]'', rescued by her father (Roland, the late Prince of Bath).

==== Gold ====
The Queen of Everything, having married her cousin (now the Prince Consort) the only child of the previous queen.'''*'''

Nominally, the Queen is an Absolute Ruler.  But since Elves are inordinately sociable (that is, to Elves of comparable status), she practically rules by consensus &mdash; since Her actual Acts and policies reflect the wishes of at least two-thirds of her princes.  Also she only '''executes''' her subjects if they really really deserve it; And only '''exiles''' persons that are expected to come around to the right way thinking (eventually). 

Therefore she is almost universally called '''Good Queen Bess'''  or '''Gloriana''' (actual given name ''Bathsheba-Ayesha''). Older non-identical twin sister of Silver.  Namer Elf.

'''*''' Obviously a mere ''male'' cannot be Ruler over the Elvish States ... even though some of the principalities do allow a male to inherit in the absence of female children.  Indeed some of the more Broadminded/radical/counter-reactionary Principalities are (technically) passed by primogeniture.

==== Dancing Princess ====
Late Princess of Bath. Previous Queen of Witches (and was a very powerful witch).

Info from Zhaques: (NOT TO BE MENTIONED IN FRONT OF OUR EMPLOYER - or her people/family) Not technically nobility of Panjari or of anywhere on Alusia. But was a fantastic dancer with a stage name of ''Dancing Princess''.

==== Roland ====
Late Prince of Bath, hero who rescued the dancing princess of Panjari, father of Silver & Gold.

==== Zhaques ====
AKA Mycroft the Hobbit Bibliomancer/Numerologist. Real name and previous Alusian names not shared with us.

The Djinn, very old, had been on Alusia long enough to become native before the fall of Panjari.
Was freed from captivity by Roland, previously bound to the same parties that held ''contract'' on the Dancing Princess.
Agreed to 2,002 years of service to Roland & DP and their heirs. Grey area around the difference between Alusian and Lilac years came to an end when the contracts were burned just a short time ago.

Has become fond of Lilac and wishes to stay but is concerned about the impending doom that he can sense coming.

Magic cast in his presence will last twice as long. He is adept (rk 5) at most crafts.

==== Basement Guest ====
[[Ancient Titans|Entity]] who's [[Ancient Titans#Epimetheus|name]] is not to be used and who is not to be discussed outside of his presence and specifically, we are not to say we found him nor where he is.

Keeping an eye on Lilac as per old obligations his peers have forgotten.

Employer for side-mission to see what the Militocratic humans are up to with their new religions.

==== Goodwines ====
Uncle (?) and Nico (13 years old), respected and influential merchant family of Arktown and surrounds.
Gifted colleges (Water & Air) by the cult then recruited.
'Uncle ' spoke out against the cult and was apparently killed for it by Lt of the Guard (another cult-convert). Nico dissapeared the same night. Nico's father is next in line to lead the family business.
Nico is gifted mechanician/inventor. Air college reclaimed by [[#Basement Guest|the guest]].

==== Lady of the Loch ====
Ellen (a.k.a. Ellena), Sylph, Mother of the Empire (actually mother of the founders). Herbalist, Water Magics.
Has shrine on south west of Loch, cave/Fae-grotto on the south-east.
Ally against the cultist activities.

==== Techsarcana ====
"Call me Tex", his name means ''Hidden Arts''.<BR>
Human ''Namer'', the Master of '''Green Willow Heights''' the fortress at the North end of Desert Flower.  Tex has long, grey hair and a long, grey, drooping moustache. Wearing a simple robe and a ''Rune of Truth tattoo''.

==== By Session ====
; Session 1
* [[#Toto|Toto]]
* Flying Ship - '''The Funky Albatross'''<br>The Company of the vessel ''Move Along'' (fake name & appearance).  All hobbits except for Higgs
** '''Captain''' Perdita Poppy.
** '''First officer''' Bartholemew Trickle.
** the '''Boatswain''', Mr Higgs (a dwarf).
** the '''Medic/Cook''', Coca Sal.
** Hands: Flick & Flack (interchangeable twins), Hans, Merry, New Timmy, and Pineapple Pete.
* Dwarven border guard
* [[#Silver|The Wiccan Queen]]
* 2 Fed Agents
* RÃ¼mpfelzessein (Rumpy), Dwarf who was able to accurately describe the 'Glass'
* A door, some wind, 3 ducks
; Session 2
* Mycroft / [[#Zhaques|Zhaques]]
* 'Friendly' Citadel Dwarves - Mechanicians, Philosophers, Seers.
* Their [[#Basement Guest|guest in the basement]]
; Session 3
* Various people of the M. Empire in Iceland, Larking, Waldstein, Arktown.
* Lord of Waldstein (not met) - recruited by cult.
* [[#Goodwines|Nico & Uncle]] (Arktown)
* Lt. of Guard (Arktown)
; Session 4
* [[#Goodwines|Nico]]
* [[#Lady of the Loch|Ellena]], Lady of the Loch.
* [[#Basement Guest|Basement Guest]] & Dwarves
* Various people of the M. Empire in Anima.

== Scribe Notes ==
=== Into the Storm ===
My party members:
*Lila - Celestial air elemental air mage. A Priest of the Dark Brotherhood. Highly charismatic. A rather interesting person.
*Pierre - Halfling, cook, troubadour, cart driver, Illusionist and part time Earth Mage.
*Veor - Dragon troll ice shaman of Pasifika. Master herbalist. Fights as a front-line mage.
*Thaeuss - Five six elf with a glass and wood military fork. A Binder who can cast Death Curses, put our souls in little dolls and life link us to drawings. He even had Geas - scary.
*Starflower - Cousin, Mind Mage, Master Mil Sci and Courtier, Usually part dragon but not this time.

It didn't take long for Starflower to gain the position of Military Scientist with Thaeuss as backup.  A close finger pointing vote between Lila and Thaeuss resulted in Thaeuss being the Party Leader. As for Scribe, I got that because no one else wanted it and I already had my pen out. 

"I vote for Lila because she's as steady as a rock" - Aurora. That was after Lila told us she could shape-shift into a rock - not a roc, much to Veor's relief. Lila could also become a tornado and a cloud although that left her vulnerable to the vaguarities (Ed: Vagaries? Vulgarities?) of the <s>wind</s> mind. As for the type of rock, that depended on the geography of the area. 

Once that was taken care of, we met our party employer. The Plane we were going to <s>used to be part of</s> was created to house resettled '''cultures and species of Purple''' established on a New World &mdash; perhaps resettled at the start of the "Never-to-be-Named" incursion or some other disaster.<br>
(We later learnt that Plane of Lilac is probably a Great-Titan design ... since it also has a much-Warmer-than-expected" North Pole and a very Frozen South pole)

As he spoke he looked different to my eyes, human, but not-quite human.  He is called Toto, and is an employee or subject of the Wicked Queen, being the Queen of the Witches. Basically she wants her Looking Glass returned and it was curious that the Looking Glass recommended she come here just before it vanished. Up front, she would pay us with thirteen magical boons to be distributed. We were also told that she was good at giving out tests, and there was an excellent chance that this was one. There was also the promise of a cash bonus if we solved the problem in 250 days.

How we would get to Lilac was to take a 'boat' that would take us to the Great sea to the west (outside Confederation Bay), fly ''towards'' a mana storm and ''somehow'' come out the other side. We might have to deal with ''Destinian spies, or worse'', since <s>the rumour was out that this was a flying boat and they were very interested in it</s> they KNOW that Lilac navigators can somehow sail vessels through Mana-storms to ''reliably(?)''reach other planes. I had to admit, I was interested too, although I would be satisfied with a Pegasus. 

There were restrictions on what we could take. Iron and anything with iron in it was right out. So was necromantic magic although, when I asked about Spectral Weapons, I was told they were okay.  I think I'll still leave my new Hand and a Half behind though, not skilled enough in it yet. They also disapprove of slavery. The plane has no moon but has two suns. 

While Thaeuss went to Slippery Rock  to get Amulets of Iron from the Wiccans in Slippery Rock, I went to get a Lesser. While the others went to get ''Greaters'', I did research in the Guild Library on our destination as well as my fellow party members. I was forgoing the Guild's Greater because the first Boon from the Queen was specifically "for the Weakest Mage in the party": it was a Rank 10 ''Greater'' that lasted 'indefinitely' and it seemed more reasonable that I should be the recipient.

Much discussion had been done on who would get each boon and we decided on the following:
* Boon 2 - Tattoo of Encouraging Karma for the lowest ranked Healer - Pierre
* Boon 3 - Temporary Tattoo of Enhanced Counterspells - Veor
* Boon 4 - Endurance Tattoo for the person with the lowest endurance - Pierre
* Boon 5 - Temporary Tattoo of Last Respite for the person in Close Combat - Starflower
* Boon 6 - Permanent Tattoo of Lesser Enchantment - Thaeuss
* Boon 7 - Normal Healing Potion - Thaeuss
* Boon 8 - Real Mage's Healing Potion - Lila
* Boon 9 - A Truesilver Anklet which made one slightly faster (+1 TMR) - Lila
* Boon 10 - Ring of Rings, which allowed someone to swap rings about - Pierre
* Boon 11 - Ring of Touching, allows Touch spells to be put on targets up to 10ft away - Starflower
* Boon 12 - Revitalising Sun Ring, healing at True Noon - Aurora
* Boon 13 - Ring of Defying N'ancy (Necromancy) - Veor.

The Captain of the ship we were going to be on, Captain Poppy, wanted to leave at midnight that night. So we discreetly arrived at the docks, were introduced to the rest of the crew, before departing port while avoiding a Destinian fishing boat. After Thaeuss reassured the Captain that flying ships were a common sight around Seagate, we took to the skies. Meanwhile Lila had somehow been transformed into an elf.

After a three-day flight we reached the region prone to mana storms (somewhere between the Elven Isles and Pasifika?) and flew towards one.  Then, a few mile out from direct contact, we landed on the heaving sea. After a few nervous minutes of torrential downpour and lightning strikes just missing us, the ship lurching wildly and we were definitely inside the storm itself.  There were bright flashes around us and tall  cliffs of water looming over us, threatening to crush our small vessel and us. But, after a deafening final crash, we emerged from a different, smaller storm. Plus we felt a lot lighter! Five hours later, we reached '''Quarantine Island''' where steps were taken to ensure we weren't carrying anything we weren't supposed to ... and our Iron amulets were exchanged for Amulets of Silver.

Leaving the Island, we headed into the mainland. (Toto had also gave us a map showing the Mainland's Elven Territories. We were also warned to be wary of the tempting "Lake Do-not-feed-the-nymphs".)  We landed just past the coast.  At the town of '''Nornbury''', we met the Wicked Queen who was attending a minor festival there, wearing a long gown and a tall orange wig. We also saw a play and listened to some minstrels. 

The Queen arranged for a cloud and flew up to her Seat at '''Bath'''. On the way two people, wearing silly tall hats with even sillier feathers, flew up to meet us. Turned out someone was annoyed at us for FLYING across "state boundaries" without proper permits. Once the Queen produced her fancy crown, there was a lot of amusing back-pedalling and kow-towing before we were allowed on our way.

Upon arrival at the Queen's castle, we were conducted to the east wing where a long, thin, room with a raised area at the far end was located. This was the 'Room of the Looking Glass' and it was hard to tell if this was a room or a corridor but just above the raised area at the end of the 'room', the Mirror had hung on the now-blank wall. There were only two exits, the one we had come in and a one-way door going out to a garden halfway down. There had been wards set in strategic pieces to protect the Mirror ... but none had been triggered. The walls were also impenetrable. 

The Queen told us that the Mirror was the last thing of her parents she had and that her father had rescued her mother from Alusia who, at that time, was celebrated as the 'Dancing Princess of Penjarre'. 

She was also able to summon 'Rumpy' to give Starflower a detailed description of the Mirror, being a bevelled edge pentagram shaped piece of glass, enough for her to try her Finding Ritual and also enough for Thaeuss to create a duplicate in order to make it seem it was still there.  For the ritual, Starflower used the Queen's pendant suspended from a strand of the Queen's hair and, when she activated it, the pendant started moving east, then tried to go in all directions at once which caused the hair to split and break. It was like the mirror itself had dissipated. 

Other ''divinations'' told us that someone or something actually lived in here. Was the Mirror actually a sentient entity? It was certainly starting to look like that. It had just disappeared unexpectedly and the initial reaction had been that it was just a practical joke. As time passed, the joke became less and less funny. 

"By what means was the Mirror removed from this setting?" &mdash; "It stepped down"

That ''divination'' had me wondering if the Mirror had decided to take a vacation. That theory became more plausible after Thaeuss possessed a golem and had a conversation with the secret exit door. He was told that a person in a strange outfit, including a turban and turned up slippers, stepped out of the Mirror before pulling the Mirror into him before exiting out that door. As far as the door knew, that Mirror had always been in that spot. 

So Veor decided to visit the Spirit Realm. He found himself in a closed off area with a tiny exit with no other spirits in it. When he emerged, he stepped out where the Mirror was.

We then stepped out the door into the garden. First thing we noticed that a rose bush had been disturbed  Lila then spoke to a bird who told us that someone had come out of the door, turned into air, then went away. The bird felt fear and cold as it passed.

Lila and I had a bit of a competition to see who could talk to the winds first because neither of us were any good at it. I thought I could win because I could cast while hovering six inches above the ground but Lila borrowed Starflower's magical ritual cushion, which meant she could do two ritual attempts to my one. She got the wind who was rather annoyed that a burst of air had barreled its way through him. It had gone sort of eastish before veering south towards hobbit territory.

  Thaeuss requested an Astrology reading as to where to find the Djinn/Mirror.
  Result of the Duck augury by Veor as to where the mirror/Djinn went:
   
  Towards slow-moving yet turbulent water,
  Then (with new purpose or knowledge?) to a "crowd"(?)  both big and small.
  Seek smoke on or near Water.

=== Smoke on the Water ===

We were soon on the trail, following the water looking for smoke. Didn't see any over Lake 'Do not feed the Nymphs'  but did see at least ten of them frolicking in the water. Lake Dam looked really deep as we flew over that then followed the River Trickle. A while later we spotted Highbury, a hobbit built up area that sort of looked like a blancmange, then circled Highbury Lake before starting to follow the canal further south.

Passing over Highbury on the final orbit before turning south, I started being distracted by a really appetising smell which reminded me how hungry I was getting and it was something past lunchtime. It didn't take much convincing to get the others to follow me down but I wasn't allowed to just follow my nose and land right at whichever tempting eatery was responsible. Instead we landed just outside town and walked in, finally ending up at a place called 'Smoke on the Water' which had some rather interesting and delicious food. Nearby was a tent with a sign nearby reading 'Mystic Mycroft'. Was the occupant some sort of diviner? (Hint: see the reading he gave us [[http://www.dq-nz.org/dqwiki/index.php?title=Looking_Glass_Lost#.22Djineric_Portents.22]])

Since it was now obvious we had found the first part of Veor's entrail reading, Lila, Thaeuss and I went off to talk to the local winds while the others went to investigate the diviner. Again Lila beat me to talking to the winds and discovered that a mass of air had landed and turned into 'a person type thing'. The description matched the entity we were looking for. We then flew back to inform the others with me having a few minutes head start.

Meanwhile the others had discovered that Mystic Mycroft was a hobbit with a strange hat, an eyepatch, and some birds. He also had a large book which he used for his bibliomancy divinations by having a bird pick a random page and passage. At least it's cleaner than reading entrails. His GTN came up as HOBBIT in large, bold, capital letters and College of Magic was 'Maybe'. The book too, was magical (i.e., not formally living so probably an illusion) with the Nature of Magic being Protections. 

'Mycroft' was covered in illusions but Pierre was able to pierce the veil to discover that, under all of that, he was a rather burly human-looking who was only half dressed. He gave us all readings from the book which would give us bonuses for a few minutes when uttered. It was also interesting that the readings for myself, Lila, and Thaeuss were linked as were Pierre and Veor. Only Starflower's reading was separate. Starflower also tried probing 'Mycroft's mind and got nothing.

Finally Thaeuss voiced the belief we all had and confronted 'Mycroft' about being the Spirit of the Mirror. After admitting it, he told us he had been in an 'unfortunate' position during Penjarre and had promised to serve the Lord and Lady for 2002 years. The people who inherited the contract here had assumed it was local years (which are longer) but it had been recently broken when one of the heirs had burnt the contract. He also told us that a 'whole lot of bad stuff' was going to descend upon this Plane.

He was also adamant that he didn't want to renegotiate the contract but he did think that some sort of paid recompense could be a possibility. The plan now was to visit the dwarven shapers in the north west. So we prepared to leave. As he discarded his moustache of disguise, Lila pocketed it. For that act, Veor wanted to nominate her for 'Smartest Adventurer'.

We found an inn to spend the night and Lila also acquired the 'Do Not Disturb' sign.

Next morning we prepared to set off. The Mirror spirit didn't actually have a name so, after some discussion, he settled on the name Zhaques. Also, Lila summoned three ravens, as Veor wanted one for another divination ritual. She bound the second one to herself and the third was kept as a spare.

The flight took us to the High Mana zone at Notting Helm. Even though the mana levels were high, it was a barren place. No trees, no fae, and no spirits either. I practised the Speaking to the Winds ritual but shut it down when the winds proved to be too curious. Veor did his ritual but discovered that one of the raven's entrails was so badly diseased and damaged that the raven should have died at least a month ago.

After that, we flew to the Citadel of Friendship and met the dwarves there. Thaeuss told them that we wanted to commission a work and discuss some portents of doom. We were led up the Citadel including a level where the wind blew through the rock walls. The next level up was full of books and curious mechanisms. Finally we stopped at a level where there was food, some accommodations, and more books. I was really curious to see if there were any spells in there I could use.

<strike>(Also met the titan Eppy - to be added)</strike> REDACTED

We engage in discussion and negotiations with the Dwarves and their [[#Basement Guest|ally]], they believe the portents relate to religious activities by the humans to the west. Their activities could be opening a gateway to Lilac for troublesome gods, demons, or [[Purple#Necromancer|worse]]. They would like us to investigate the religious activity in the Militocratic Empire and ideally put a stop to it. We make a deal:
* They will craft a replacement glass for the Queen.
* We will investigate, and where possible, take action in the Militocratic Empire.
* We will be paid for this work in gifts or lore to suit us individually.

=== Discrediting the Religion ===
For this mission it looked like that we elves were going to have be disguised as humans. Halflings and orcs were slaves so Pierre might have to be one. Our destination was '''Ostia''' and our cover story was we were refugees from the Southern Icelands, fleeing incursions from the Ice Giants. Already there were stories of large icebergs being calved off glaciers that the Ice Giants would use as ships.

  "Now you have to start pretending to be humans. That means not starting every sentence with an insult" - Lila to Thaeuss and Starflower (I was trying hard not to snicker at the time)

The dwarves supplied with four potions of Quick Cast and a Ring of Quick Cast (ooooh ... I want one). It was going to take two days for preparations to be complete so I spend much of the time practising aerial dancing in the 'windy' level. I also discovered that the dwarves had an 'elf launcher' which I was rather keen to try out.

Once ready, we were teleported to Southern Iceland where we could actually see the icebergs breaking off and the giant ice citadels of the giants. To get a feel of the culture that we were supposed to be from, we entered a local pub. Initially I was trying to teach Lila how to flirt with the girls (for some reason she was disguised as a man) and generally carouse but I think I only succeeded in getting her tipsy. I then found out about their musical instruments, being a drum and a three stringed lyre before sampling some of the local food - pickled herring and some sort of blubber meat. Pickled herring was clearly an acquired taste and Thaeuss, at least, wasn't acquiring it

We were then teleported to a spot near the village of '''Larkin''', located SW of the Bay of Bestia, along with our cart with supplies on it — including a small barrel of pickled herring. Lila extracted her horse from her cloak to ride it. She said it didn't have a name so I started calling it Nimbus.

Upon arrival at Larkin, which proved to be a very small agricultural village, I chatted up the locals and discovered that, up north, there were some very strange folk who were worshipping someone.  There was also something weird in the capital city.

We were warned not to take the shortcut through the forest as it was full of bandits but Thaeuss was determined to do so and the rest of the party agreed. I can only assume they're getting bored. So I curled up in the bottom of the wagon for a nap. As Pierre drove the cart into the forest, a volley of crossbow bolts flew at us. Pierre took a good hit that dropped his Rune Shield. I went for my bow but then we all realised that the bandits were running away which annoyed me as they didn't want to play. Guess I was getting bored too.

Out of the boring forest finally and there was a city ahead named '''Waldstein'''. Once the guards let us in, we found an inn to park our cart etc, then went to investigate the marketplace. Upon arrival, we could hear the sound of a street preacher being heckled by a crowd so we went to investigate. The preacher was going on about some entity called the ''''Lord of Change''''. It was strongly recommended we didn't directly interact with him because of our illusions and even more so when he started levitating and employing special effects such as thunderclaps. It was when he pointed at someone and said something like 'I can sense great potential in you, Come to me' and the person actually floated over while in a state of joy sort of kept the crowd hushed. 

As far as the others could tell, this  preacher also had some sort of enhanced vision but not pacted to anyone in particular. Veor was reminded of other 'religious types on the Plane of Purple (c.f. [[Gypsy Smugglers Wanted]]) who had been influenced by the N'mancer on Purple so I immediately christened them N'ancy Boys. Veor told us later that the party had suffered several Death Curses while dealing with them and I had heard from [[Aqualina | another one of that party]] that they had to visit a few Titans in order to deal with the curses. Also this guy was using Titanic level magic and the person being enticed had a rather high MA. I managed to find out that this preacher had only just arrived today from the north, presumably from '''Arktown''' where one of the centers of this religious activity was.

Suddenly the preacher announced that he had to leave then he and his 'convert', whose name I also discovered was Lucius, suddenly vanished. We managed to spot them appearing on a balcony on a nearby building where an accomplice was waiting. 

We retreated to our inn rooms and discussed what we should do about this. Lila came up with the idea of spreading made up rumours about the bad things this cult had done, such as blood sacrifices of stolen children. We spent the next two days doing that around the town and also noticed some other mages trying to calm them down. I wanted to follow them to find out where their base was but it was strongly suggested that I do not do that, especially if I got caught and 'converted'.

At the end of the second day we put on a performance with snow simulacrums and acting in order to make our 'rumours' more convincing. Any more convincing and I was sure that the burning torches and pitchforks were going to come out, Straight after that, we high-tailed it to Arktown. 

Arktown was located in a river valley. Upon arrival, we discovered that one of the stables had been converted to a shrine. Tending this shrine was a new Namer acolyte, who had been Rufus the Wheelwright and now is Rufus the Namer. The religion was more installed here. Many of the wealthier merchants were involved and it was being supported by the locals, some of whom were leaving offerings at the shrine.

Pierre started to scout the area to make sure we had escape routes, just in case. I went with him to learn how to do that. I also went listening for rumours in the bars. Meanwhile Thaeuss is making lists. One is of the known N'ancy Boys, the other contains the N'ancy Boys that aren't harbouring Death Curses. Seems to me, he's making a hit list.

From what I could find out, the cultists had been doing this for a while, several weeks at least. Also it was helping the town economy. Rumours (we started) were also coming in that it was worse in Ostia, plus what had happened in '''Waldstein''' was also being talked about. Veor was determined to do whatever it took to bring this lot down.

A plan is cooked up to discredit the cult. We had to make it that one of the wealthy merchant-types (Master Goodwine, who runs a Shipbuilding business) turned against the cult with a very visible tirade, then have him killed by the indoctrinated guard lieutenant we had discovered earlier. We also had to abduct the merchant's nephew Nico, who had been transformed to an Air Mage, to see what's causing the effect that gifted him a college. So Veor was cast as the merchant doing the ranting, but the real merchant had to be killed and the lieutenant framed. Between Veor and myself, the lieutenant's sword was stolen and used for the killing. Meanwhile Starflower and the others grabbed the nephew who is coming with us for divination and interrogation. The divination told us that the MA of the magic that made him an Air Mage is around 32ish which made us wonder if the origin was N'ancy or his chief minion. Starflower was wondering if another Titan was involved.

=== Unveiling the Blood Wyrms ===
Nico Goodwine, the nephew, was ''Divinated'' and questioned by some of us while the rest of us stayed in touch via ''Mindspeech''. Lila was given the task to 'keep him distracted' while I was up a tree, keeping watch. He got his College, Air, overnight, being Rank 6 in all spells etc, including specials. It was as if he had been infused with the College. The effect was titanic in origin and was either runic or binderic. It also seemed that experience in using the College had also been infused. As a precaution, before flying up to the tree, I put Counterspells under him to stop him casting.

Searching him revealed paper, pens, a local area map, a half eaten scone, loose change and a knife. He told us he had no idea where the college had came from until he was told that it had come as a gift from the new religion so they can be useful. He is also an inventor who had several interesting devices for surveying and map making. He wasn't sure if this was relevant but the infusion had occurred shortly after visiting a special shrine near the lake that was tended by a charming lady who is a healer. Thaeuss was able to get enough details so we would be able to find the place.

"Did he have a choice in what powers he got?" - No, It was random. Maybe they needed one.
"Why did he tell his uncle they couldn't be trusted?" - Cause he had heard strange things up north.

Once Nico was re-itemised, we flew back to the dwarves to see if their 'guest' could shed some more light on this. When he had a look, he was astounded to discover that the magical signature was his, but he had no recollection of doing it. After a few more tests, he concluded that half of his magical essence was missing and Nico had a tiny fraction of it. It had happened about two local years ago about the time he remembered feeling rather poorly and it had gone roughly where we had been. That bit of the essence was siphoned back and Thaeuss made a golem to store any other essence we found. This took half a day to set up.

Once done, we were teleported to a point a quarter mile from the shrine. A Locate told us that the missing essence was located somewhere further on to the south eastish (in the direction of Anima or the Sleeping Giant hills).

We decided to visit the shrine. Meeting the [[#Lady of the Loch|guardian lady]] was rather surprising as she was a sylph. With my fae sight, I could even see her wings. For some reason she was rather taken with Lila. Apparently this Empire was founded by her twin sons.

She took us on a coracle (that seemed to spread enough to include the party) to her cove on the opposite shore of the lake. It was full of fascinating plants and I was allowed to take a small potplant (some sort of miniature cactus; special properties??). She was known as the 'Lady of the Loch' and was currently experimenting with water magics. She was also concerned about the new religion. Finally we spent the night there. Very peaceful.

Next day, we flew to the north-west of the village of Anima, detecting the Essence indicated it was in the western portion of hills called the Sleeping Giants. 
Wanting local knowledge of the hills, we then went to an inn in Anima to listen to rumours. 
Mining in the hills is primarily for iron and in the eastern end of the hills, nothing of interest is known of in the western hills.
The town has extensive smithies, weapon smiths, armourers, alchemists.
We did see some cultists and the major ones even had bodyguards. 
No apparent base/centre of the cult in Anima.
As far as we could figure out, the locations of people who had been 'infused' was a bit scatter shot, not all creditable to the Cult. 
The cult is equipping their enforcers with 'mage killing' arbalests that are intended to imbed an iron-shafted bolt in a mage, we believe they are hunting down those who acquire colleges and choose to oppose the cult. 
Some of the stories we heard were rather strange, something to do with a Witchfinder. 
: A Witchfiner from Ostia is expected in the next few days, they predate the cult, and they hunt down rogue/dangerous magical practitioners.

We also started hearing about 'spontaneous mages' which seemed to imply there was free floating globs of essence floating around the place. So Veor tried binding a free spirit and got a glob of (spirit) liquid surrounding an egg with a worm like thing (Blood Wyrm) in it. The liquid was Titanic Essence but Starflower looked deeper with a DA and discovered that the worm was a living semi-sentient creature. Veor was able to destroy the egg and worm leaving the pure essence which Thaeuss put in the golem.

Veor wanted an animal that was earth-aligned to ''Divinate''. I suggested a mole. After some argument whether or not other creatures were more appropriate, Lila summoned a mole. I then used the Knockout Gas spell to render it unconscious and safe to handle, which also had the desirable side effect of taking out all the bedbugs.

The following morning we left town and to the hills, just north of where we detected the essence. Veor used the mole to do an entrail reading to answer the question "What lies beneath the Sleeping Giant?" The answer was "Giant Blood Wyrm" 

Following Lila's Spirit Wolf, sometimes using Veor's totem spirit to track it when it passed through hills, walking/flying slowly south into the hills. 
We see and follow some human tracks heading in a similar direction then lose them when they make extra effort to conceal their tracks.
Starflower's historical scrying shows they were humans carrying very long spears which we had already been told were fired by giant crossbows and are made with enough Cold Iron to prevent a mage from casting, assuming they survived the initial impact. 
In the valley where we lose the tracks, we spot something shrouded by magic on a side of the valley. 
The next hill ahead has a scar as if something large had fallen on it. 
So we closed in, in stealth mode and invisible.

=== Taking the North Hill ===
At least two of the hills have illusions on them. We were also rendered invisible.  A magical path was detected weaving around the hills and, as far as we could tell, the Titanic Essence had gone into the hill on our right. Turned out that the magic path around the hill was a string of small wards, squished together in a way wards normally don't. Random variety of colleges and spells but the oldest and most powerful were Ice Magic. Temporarily ''Counterspelling'' one of wards, we had to carefully pick our way through them. 
By now, we had lost the tracks of the people we were following but Thaeuss was quite sure we were going in the right direction. 

Finally we made it to the top. Pierre described this part of the hill as 'wearing an illusionary toupee'. Also we encountered a ward that would be dangerous when entered and we didn't have a proper counterspell. Plus we had wandered into consecrated ground, consecrated to Ice Giants and the only way to get rid of it was 'Perfidious Destruction'. After it ate Veor's pet spirit, we decided to go around this one. 

Shortly the ground got rockier and we could see light coming from an entrance into the hill. Lila nearly triggered something as we went in but Pierre was able to disarm the trap. Thaeuss then itemised it for future use. 

Pierre found, and deactivated, a few more traps as we progressed. 
We couldn't pierce the illusion concealing the top of the hill and had to step in to see, however we did lead with a couple of Ice counterspells on the ground.
Inside, some sort of area effect nullified our invisibility.
Stepping in, we saw, ahead of us, a chamber containing an ice giant, a furry companion and five humans armed with those giant bolt casters. So we charged in and attacked. 
The first of the arbalest projectiles shattered on Thaeuss' armour exploding into shards that dropped most of our Rune Armour spells.
I tried to shoot the giant with an arrow but, somehow, the arrow reflected back on me. 
Thaeuss threw the itemised trap at the feet of the giant who stepped on it. The place immediately filled with a very thick mist, just as I narrowly avoided being hit by a flying magical axe, just before the giant charged and trampled us underfoot in an attempt to flee out the exit. Somehow, he was stopped by Veor and his minotaur spirit. From underfoot, Thaeuss and I stabbed the giant and he responded by teleporting out.

The two humans left immediately surrendered. One had fled, while the remaining two were dead. The furry companion had disappeared down a hole.  Veor managed to catch the axe that was coming in for another pass. 

While Thaeuss interrogated them, I collected their dropped weapons and Veor replaced Armour spells. Neither of them were Colleged but they were really fit, buffed up to max as it were. They were also in awe of the giant.  There's more troops down there, also something else down there that they don't want to know about. What we ended up doing was sealing the troops in their barracks with ice then dispatching the guard proto-dogs.

Further on down, we discovered a very large cavern that was lit by floating wisps. We could also smell fresh blood. Not surprising as there was a large (50ft wide) oval pool of warm blood in the cavern with two large bloodworms swimming in it. The blood had the GTN of Whale and Plane of Origin of Lilac. Just beyond the pool are smaller pools containing a clear liquid which had trace amounts of titan essence in it, with much smaller worms in it. 

Veor starts freezing the blood. The big worms go into a frenzy then explode, splattering everyone within range with worm slime. The small ones just die. The titan essence was then collected and put into the golem - about 50 Nico's worth.
An unnaturally smooth section of non-magical wall beyond the small essence wyrms could be concealing an exit from this cavern.

=== To the Alto Plano, via the Frozen South ===
The blank wall I was examining was detected to have an illusion on it which made it appear to be non-magical. ''Divinations'' gave us the command word to get through the portal. On the other side was a large chamber and the exit we came through was much larger than the one we went through. It was cylindrical, 90ft across and there were three bays with pictures of various places in them. Examination told us that these were pictures of teleport destinations from here and one only needed to touch them to be transported. Up above, the cylinder rose 60ft high to terminate in a dome-like structure, which had a representation of the two suns orbiting each other. The roof was decorated in twinkling star like dots. I wanted to fly up to have a closer look but there was a ward near the top. Instead I was being careful to step only in places that was deemed safe. The oldest painting there was determined to be roughly 650 years old. Another one of the paintings didn't have an aura. Had that connection been broken? No other secret doors were detected but there was a similar portal on the other side. When we stepped through that, we found ourselves back where we started. 

The guards told us that the furry creature, which wasn't an animal, had gone into the portal chamber. Since we hadn't encountered it, and one of the portraits was of an icy vista, we concluded it had gone there. There was also another hill that they weren't allowed to climb.

So after the guards were told to leave, and threatened with dire consequences if they returned, we headed up that hill. We had originally thought that was where the essence store was but it couldn't be sniffed out. Starflower tried her map finding ritual but the essence wasn't even on the map.

Back to the portal room. While Thaeuss created a stone golem, Starflower used psychometry on the paintings. The painting of a nearby town had been last used a local year ago while the one to the icy battlements had been used today. So that was the one we went through, startling a guard as we stepped out of a solid stone wall. According to him we were 'scary people'. We were also back in Iceland.

An impact crater in the snow below and footprints heading further south from there told us that the furry entity had jumped off the battlements here and headed off. We flew off after it towards ice giant territory but lost the trail when the footprints just stopped. We kept flying in that direction and encountered a giant twenty minutes later. 

Thaeuss asked him about the worms and we were told to follow him. An hour later we arrived at an ice citadel with mammoths on guard. After (bluffing) we introduced as agents implied to be working for the Giants, we met up with a giant noble - note, neither of these giants had been the one we had fought. We were informed that the Titan essence wasn't here and neither were any bloodworms but there was someone at Desert Rose that could be helpful.

So, after getting directions we flew off. It was a long flight but we finally reached that location in the hours before dawn. What we could see was a large, fortified, manor surrounded by large set of gardens. Beyond that and further down the slope that the manor was facing was ridges that were providing shelter to other buildings that formed a small settlement.

We must have been seen as we came in as someone on the roof started waving flags indicating that we were to land and on which spot. So we landed and were invited inside. We were later told that this was Green Willow Heights.

Inside, we met Tex ([[#Techsarcana|Techsarcana]]), a human with no magical college (according to D.A.) but actually a '''Namer'''). He's relieved that we're not from Purple and tells us that the Collective has decided that humans need more magic because something unpleasant is coming, something Nasty with a capital 'N', but he assures us, while under a ''Rune of Truth'', that they have nothing to do with the so-called religion. He does agree that maybe they should have encouraged more people to seek them out. 

The following morning, we met up with ten people spaced along a long bench. They had been trying to make new mages but too many had been dying from some sort of psychotic backfire. Their method of infusing magic was using potions, that were distilled from very rare plants, that would cause a reaction to activate their potential. It was the ice giants that tried to shortcut the process by using bloodworms. They didn't know where the bloodworms came from. 
They had nothing to do with the religion and opposed it, they didn't know if the giants had been fostering the religion. 
''There was even more than one giant bloodworm and those that got the worm were more likely to fit into the brotherhood.'' ?

The Collective had been using the hill as observation points in order to monitor what was going on. They also had spies out there but some of them had gone missing. They also had allies, including the Lady of the Loch. As far as the nature of the catastrophe, they believe that it will be a great war.

They can portal us to the portal chamber and they also have a vast collection of potions as well as some anti-death curse amulets that we could use.  The plan was, once on arrival at the portal chamber, we would then use the painting of the ruined fortress, scout that as a potential cult base then head to Ostia.

=== To "Denny's Folly" and Reclaiming ''T-extract'' ===
Which was what we did, arriving in an underground chamber. One of the walls had collapsed so we were able to clamber out through that. Lila decided to ''Starbolt'' a lizard that seemed aware of our presence, even though we were invisible. Veor trapped the spirit and discovered it was indeed someone's familiar which had a link to a barbarian shaman. It was supposed to run back to its master if it detected anything although about five days ago, something cold had come through, sent it into hibernation, as well as killing all the plants in the vicinity, before heading west. 

So that's where we wet. About a hundred miles later (two hours flight time), we found a twenty yard wide section of the forest that had been damaged by cold, four and a half days ago. We then travelled to a point on the Inland sea that was that was opposite Ostia, then we flew across the sea to the nearby headland before landing and carting into Ostia itself. 

We saw guards on the gate and lots of people coming and going. A discrete inn was found that doubled as a 'place of entertainment' &mdash; sort of like Starflower's place. We also discovered an area of town was low mana, indicating significant magic use in the area. The place we were staying at, was a mana oasis in the non-magical area. 

While we were having dinner, Thaeuss made contact with a pompous Major General and somehow saved him from a 'rather embarrassing' encounter. Seemed the 'she' he was in the process of arranging a liaison was a 'he' and the Major General was being set up in a bad way.

Once we had a room for the night, Thaeuss, Pierre and Lila went out into the hobbit area. Meanwhile the rest of us detected that some of the building was mind cloaked and scry shielded. There was even some ''Shells of Silence'' in the area. I suggested to Starflower that she should get such things installed in the House of the Rose before we were interrupted by a visitor - someone called '''Grimgurder'''. She's tall with sharpened teeth but with a human aura and she told us she was the head of security here and was introducing herself to us as a courtesy. Once we left, being the adventurers we are, we started figuring ways on how to get into those  magically cloaked areas.

Meanwhile Thaeuss was also being told about Grimgurder and warned to be wary of her. He also got the names of several cultists but no cultists were in the ruling Senate. Several strange people hung out in Stinky's Bordello  the place we were staying. 

We found a way into those areas, basically walking through the walls. There was unnatural darkness in there but we were able to determine there was a 20ft tall, injured, sleeping giant in here, wearing a belt that emitted some sort of fear effect. It was an Ice Giant, but not the one we had fought. Last magic to impact it was ''Telekinetic Rage''. Nearly we detected a human healer. We also obtained an opportunity to get another look at Grimgurder: formally living, Ice Giant, Plane of Origin: "Lylahq" ... a variant or alternate Lilac? (Or a not-quite-right ''Illusion''?)

We exited and covered our tracks. 

The names that the others got were investigated. '''Charles''' the Painter, works for the giants but not a cultist. '''Magnus''' is a cultist but doesn't have a College yet, but from him we discovered Grimgurder was involved in the cult &mdash; as well as other things. Albert the Red and Waldo were ice giants in disguise. We did also find a horde of ''"Titan Spirit"'': several hundred Nicos worth which was in a spirit bound bottle. It was delivered here as it would be needed in the days to come. Other towns were rumoured to have hordes as well.

Grimgurder was actually rather co-operative when we finally confronted her. The cult had started this thirty years ago after stealing the "'''Titan Essence'''". She's working for someone who's even meaner than us &mdash; another ice giant. The Bloodworms are kept in warmer climates. Some located in '''K-burg''' and down in the ruins of '''Duglass'''. She then vanished, seemingly by jumping off plane. 

So it was off to K-burg where we recovered the essence with only minor difficulty, then down to the Loch to stay the night with the Lady.

The Duglass Crypt wasn't exactly a walk in the park but we were able to bypass most of the traps, thanks to Pierre, and retrieved the Essence stored there. With all that we had, we returned to the '''Citadel of Friendship''' and returned it all to our employer. There, we were able to determine that King from Jotenheim had been responsible for the 'mugging' and we were asked to deliver a letter.

=== Five Mesas & the Giant Castle ===
The other thing we were asked to do was to shut down the portal that the Ice Giants were using to enter this plane.  They knew where it was, on a high area near a bunch of Saurians, somewhere way out West. Turned out to be way way way out west, beyond the other side of the globe, so the only way we could get there in a reasonable amount of time was to be teleported there.

Upon arrival at the area, we discovered we were over heavy jungle (we had appeared about 10,000 feet in the air), with highlands in the background, including 5 mesas &mdash; well four and a half actually as the South-East one was much smaller than the others (and half the height). Beyond that was high sierras. The mesas were roughly four and a half miles apart.

Some of those Mesas, basically the middle three, had '''pterodactyls''' flying near them. The portal was on the western-most one and, sure enough, there was a giant-sized castle on with trees and fields out front.

The middle/largest Mesa, where most of the pterodactyls were, was inhabited by '''Sylphs'''. I was trying not to get excited about that.   The next one (going East) was occupied by aggressive '''Baboons''', The last, most-southern mesa was inhabited by '''halflings & monkeys'''.

We needed to find out more about what the giants were like and what they were up to. So we flew over to visit the sylphs. Turned out they were riding the pterodactyls. They were able to change size between human-sized and tiny pixie-sized ... and they looked so cute. I had them swarming over me for a while. They told us that they had tried visiting the giants but several of their birds had been shot at. So they tended to avoid them. The castle had originally belonged to the "Exiled Akh-khiawa" but supposedly he had left when his favourite roc died.

The next stop was the hobbits who told us that the giants had been occupying the ruins on the smaller mesa. They had access to Namer and Rune magics as well as predictive abilities.  So, after some discussions it was decided to stage a joint halfling/sylph attack on the giants in order to hide our attempt at sneaking in the back door. It was also decided that a whole lot of ''Itemised'' objects, such as fireworks, could be dropped to cause more confusion. One item that was going to be dropped was an eviction notice. They also told us that two of the important Ice Giants were named '''Alvaldi''' and '''Hrimgrim'''.

It took a week to make arrangements for this raid. Starflower's ''precog'' seemed to indicate that there were more giants about than we had originally thought. Hopefully they were all out chasing butterflies and baboons among the explosions. Anyway, we were all ''Itemised'', then Thaeuss, carrying us, and inside a ''Bubble of Force'', was air dropped by our employer. We were also buffed-up and ''Invisible''. After passing through a Namer trap, we saw a very obvious back door. So we went through the wall instead, emerging in a store room. Nothing useful there so we moved into the next room. There we defeated an illusionary aura that was hiding an enchantment trap. 

Further on, we encountered two giants which were quickly dispatched. The next room contained three more giants, one of which looked rather important. That was when the alarm went off, I guess we've been detected. 

So, after defeating them (2x'''Giant-daggers''', 1x'''Giant-Main-gauche''', 1 '''gold Key''' &mdash; all high quality), we headed off downstairs. Giants were charging up those stairs but we were able to avoid them by floating in the gap that the spiral staircase wound around.  We then got through a fire ward then passed through a set of double doors. After jamming those doors with a ''Rune-wall'' we continued on. A short while later, we could hear giants bashing on that wall to bring it down.

Beyond that was a grotto and on the floor was a set of circular glyphs. This was the planar portal to '''Isheim'''. Thaeuss destroyed it by ''Disintegrating'' the floor in which the glyphs had been carved into but, just as we turned to go, a glowing green-coloured mist poured into the room. It looked rather cool but I was anxiously waiting to find out what it would do.

=== The Garden of Eos ===
Thaeuss had also created a 12ft stone golem as a distraction and some of the giants moved to engage it while we were jammed up between an illusionary wall and the real one. As for the mist, the best we could determine it was some sort of detection mist, which the caster was manipulating around the room. In total, there were six giants in the room and one out in the corridor. Maybe I was getting claustrophobia as I was feeling really desperate to make a break for it.

We ended up taking them out with sleep gas and other assorted spells, then we turned our attention to the three more with the boltcaster that were setting up behind the wall we had earlier put up.  Thaeuss also itemised the giant caster's body and had me put it in my pocket. 

Once we were ready, we dropped the wall we attacked them with two stone golems as reinforcements. Hopefully that would make them the main targets of the fan of bolts that thing shot.  After our attacks the remaining giant fled. A barrel of something flammable was dropped down the stairwell, Lila's pet fire sprite ignited it before the giants got clear of the explosion which funnelled back up the shaft.

When it was clear we kept the pressure up by charging up the stairs. The couple that were left up there didn't last long. Most of the giants were clearing out, hurried along by TK Rage and we heard a scream as one of them went out that trapped back door. There were also calls of 'Defend the Garden Room'.

Well, that attracted the attention of several party members. What was so important there? So, instead of bugging out like I expected, we went to find out - and, as it turned out, I was glad we did. When we got there the defenders were surrendering, so a few applications of sleepy vapours put them to sleep. No wards were detected so Thaeuss did something through the door and I looked through it.

What I saw was a 60ft cubed room with both the west and north walls one way transparent. There were lots of plants growing surrounding a large statue of a woman with an outstretched palm. This palm has five fingers and a thumb. A wine rack containing several scroll cases was also in here as well as paintings on the walls, including the transparent ones. A mirror was the western wall. It looked safe enough, and I did check for odd mana spots first, so I stepped though the door (literally) and flew a few circuits around the room. This later prompted a comment from Starflower that I should stop acting like a canary.

Once the others were also in, we examined the statue more closely. The plinth it was sitting on had a plaque on it that read "The Gift of Dawn". The paint on the statue had permanency in it, the eyes were unpainted and they had their own aura. 

Meanwhile I was posing in front of the mirror and quickly discovered that my reflection was two seconds behind me. In fact spinning around fast enough meant I could see my own back including traces of my air wings. 

Divinations showed that the GTN of the statue was 'non-living Titan. Appropriate magic to release: Remove the Permanency. College of Permanency - Namer.  
First we called on [[#Basement guest|a friend]] to ensure this was a Titan we should be releasing, then the paint was removed and the 'statue' restored to life by Thaeuss' ritual.

Her name was Eos and she had been a statue for a very long time. This castle had been her place before something had happened and the mirror was actually a portal to her private garden - although I'm still not sure about the elephants that were wandering among the flowers, some of which were rather large. We had an interesting conversation and Starflower and Thaeuss (with tips from our hosts) played a chess match using live pieces (Hobbits moving giant sized wicker statues). 
Gratuities and favours were discussed and granted.
Eventually we departed, satisfied that we had cleared out the giants and destroyed the portal that they had been using.

=== Training and Travel ===
We concluded business with the Dwarves, completed our contract with the Wiccan Queen, helped her establish some trade with Seagate, and returned home at different times. Some of us completing some training before returning home.
Ships travelling between the planes are available at least fortnightly for the next year or so.

The earliest arrivals home were in time for the evening solstice celebrations.

==Buffs & Mil Sci==
For a 1 hour group ritual, each person can cast 1 buff on the whole group with a single cast.  Preferably once a day in the 'morning' so as not to spend all day doing rituals.<br>

; Fatigue Recovery
: Rank 8 Herbalist Tea +5 Ft recovered * 3 / day. (Veor)

===Long Term (assumed always on)===
Relevant Buff Summary.  Mage Shield, Feather Fall, Vapour Breathing, Resist Cold, Mind Shield, Mind Speech, Disguise, Linking Life-force Sketch, Linked R&S Golem, Greater Heart Rune, Rune of Willow Healing, Imbue with Spirit, Fire Armour, Fire Proofing.<br>
Other personal magics depending on person.<br>
{| class="buffs" |
!class="mg" | Magic (caster)
!class="rk" | Rk
!class="ef" | Effects
!class="du" | Duration
!Title="Aurora"     | Au
!Title="Pierre"     | Pi
!Title="Veor"       | Ve
!Title="Starflower" | St
!Title="Lila"       | Li
!Title="Thaeuss"    | Th
|-
|class="mg" | Force Shield (St)
|class="rk" | 17
|class="ef" | +23% defense
|class="du" | 230 mins
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> -
|-
|class="mg" | Shadow Form (Li)
|class="rk" | 15
|class="ef" | def +32 melee & ranged, +16 in close
|class="du" | 8 hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li -->  
| <!-- Th --> -
|-
|class="mg" | Rune Shield (Ve)
|class="rk" | 11
|class="ef" | +16%, +2 Ft & En Prot + sacrificial small round shield.
|class="du" | 15 hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> -
|-
|class="mg" | Mage Armour/Shield (Th) 
|class="rk" | 19
|class="ef" | +24% def, +5 physical damage reduction, 1 S.G. 2 Hr to cast.
|class="du" | 8 days
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Feather Fall (Au)
|class="rk" | 10
|class="ef" |  
|class="du" | 5.5 hours
| <!-- Au --> Y 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Vapour Breathing (Au)
|class="rk" | 10
|class="ef" |  
|class="du" | 5.5 hours
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Resist Cold (Au/Ve)
|class="rk" | 6/20
|class="ef" | 2 gauge, -2 cold damage, 5 targets/ 6, 6, 1 target.
|class="du" | 7/21 hours
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> T (20)
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Witchsight (Li)
|class="rk" | 7
|class="ef" |  
|class="du" | 4 hours
| <!-- Au --> 5
| <!-- Pi --> 19
| <!-- Ve --> 20
| <!-- St --> 14
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> 11
|-
|class="mg" | Mind Shield (St)
|class="rk" | 8
|class="ef" | +26% vs M.Att.
|class="du" | 17 hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Mind Speech (St)
|class="rk" | 12
|class="ef" | communication (on-plane)
|class="du" | 3 hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Disguise (Pi)
|class="rk" | 16
|class="ef" | 
|class="du" | 17 hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Modify Aura (Th)
|class="rk" | 6
|class="ef" | +/- 3 Levels
|class="du" | 7 hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Linking Lifeforce Sketch (Th) 
|class="rk" | 19
|class="ef" | Reflect health within 2,000 miles. 19 dmg. 1 day each to make.
|class="du" | Perm
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Linked R&S Golems (Th)
|class="rk" | 12
|class="ef" | May hold your spirit on death
|class="du" | Season
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Greater Heart Rune (Ve)
|class="rk" | 10
|class="ef" | Heals 8 En on taking En damage
|class="du" | 1-17 days.
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Rune of Willow Healing (Ve)
|class="rk" | 6
|class="ef" | 3 En healed for 8 pulses, free action trigger.
|class="du" | 20 hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Ritual of Rune Creation (Ve)
|class="rk" | 16
|class="ef" | 4 Tattoo's per entity (Healing, Protection, Shield, Weapon usually)
|class="du" | 17 Days
| <!-- Au --> ?
| <!-- Pi --> ?
| <!-- Ve --> P
| <!-- St --> ?
| <!-- Li --> P
| <!-- Th --> T
|-
|class="mg" | Ritual of Imbue with Spirit (Ve)
|class="rk" | 13
|class="ef" | +8 EN / WP
|class="du" | 17 Hours
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Fire Armour (L+)
|class="rk" | 10
|class="ef" | 44 ablative fire protection
|class="du" | 11 Hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Fireproofing (L+)
|class="rk" | 10
|class="ef" | Fireproofing
|class="du" | 11 Hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Sixth Sense
|class="rk" | Thief/Assassin ability.
|class="ef" | Chance of stopping before triggering a ward/trap/discovered while stealthing.  May have modifiers?
|class="du" | 
| <!-- Au --> ?
| <!-- Pi --> 142%
| <!-- Ve --> 101%
| <!-- St --> ?
| <!-- Li --> ?
| <!-- Th --> 133%
|-
|class="mg" | Sense Danger
|class="rk" | 
|class="ef" | Veor only when Totem summoned.
|class="du" | 
| <!-- Au --> -
| <!-- Pi --> -
| <!-- Ve --> (61%)
| <!-- St --> 83%
| <!-- Li --> -
| <!-- Th --> 48%*
|}
'''Mil Sci''' (St) +9 Defence and Initiative when engaged. <br>
'''Pass without Trace''' (St) <br>

===Short Term===
{| class="buffs" |
!class="mg" | Magic (caster)
!class="rk" | Rk
!class="ef" | Effects
!class="du" | Duration
!Title="Aurora"     | Au
!Title="Pierre"     | Pi
!Title="Veor"       | Ve
!Title="Starflower" | St
!Title="Lila"       | Li
!Title="Thaeuss"    | Th
|-
|class="mg" | Air Flight (Au)
|class="rk" | 20
|class="ef" | 50 mph range 525 miles 10 targets
|class="du" | 10.5 hrs
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Wings of the Phoenix (St)
|class="rk" | 6
|class="ef" | flight 36 mph
|class="du" | 210 mins
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> -
|-
|class="mg" | Shadow Wings (Li)
|class="rk" | 6
|class="ef" | 36 mph, 126 miles range
|class="du" | 3.5 hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> -
|-
|class="mg" | Instil Flight (Th)
|class="rk" | 10
|class="ef" | 40 mph, 650 lbs limit
|class="du" | 5&#189; hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | Strength of Darkness (Li)
|class="rk" | 12
|class="ef" | +7 PS 
|class="du" | 130mins
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Lightning Strike (Li)
|class="rk" | 5
|class="ef" | [D-4]+7, save for 1/2
|class="du" | 5hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Barrier of Wind (Li)
|class="rk" | 4
|class="ef" | 20 def vs missiles, 15 in melee or close
|class="du" | 150mins
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Walking Unseen(Li)
|class="rk" | 6
|class="ef" | 
|class="du" | 7 hrs
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Weapon of Cold (Ve)
|class="rk" | 12
|class="ef" | 7 Targets, +12% SC, +4 DM, +6 DM vs Fire
|class="du" | 17 Mins
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|}

=== Watch Order & Camping===
<css>
table.watches th, table.watches td { text-align: center; }
table.watches th { width: 3em; }
</css>
{| class="watches" |
|-
! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12
|-
| colspan="2" | Veor
| colspan="4" | Pierre
| colspan="4" | Lila
| colspan="2" | Veor (Lila)
|-
| colspan="4" | Thaeuss
| colspan="4" | Aurora
| colspan="4" | Starflower
|}
For 20 minutes work approx from Veor.<br>
* 70' radius or smaller if desired including inside, 60% chance of blocking incoming magic, blocks unattended magical objects, provides shelter from weather. (Ritual of Warding with Runes)
* 60' radius, +25 to defence. (Ranger defensive camp-site)
* +3 resistance vs environmental effects.  always on.

===Marching Order:===
{| width="90%"
!colspan="3" align="center"| Skirmish Formations (Front)
|-
|align="center"| ''Default'' 
Starflower Veor <br>
Lila Aurora <br>
Thaeuss Pierre <br>

|align="center"| ''Double File''
Starflower Veor <br>
Lila Aurora <br>
Thaeuss Pierre <br>

|align="center"| ''Single File''
Starflower  <br>
Veor <br>
Lila <br>
Aurora <br>
Pierre <br>
Thaeuss <br>

|}

==="Djineric Portents"===

When you first met the (apparently) Hobbit "'''Mystic Mycroft'''", he gave each party-member a Portentous Verse from his magical book, and use the magpie & jackdaw counting Rhyme &mdash; namely:<BR>
1 for '''Sorrow''', 2 for '''Mirth'''; 3 '''Loss'''; 4 for '''Birth'''; 5 for Silver; 6 for '''Gold'''; 7 for a '''Secret''' best untold; 8 for a '''wish'''; 9 for a '''kiss''';  etc.

====Group A: &nbsp; Thaeus, Aurora, & Lila====

'''THAEUS''' (p.202) &nbsp; ''4,1,''' &nbsp; &nbsp; tsp, II,2<BR>
My hands are of your colour, but I shame<BR>
To wear a heart so white.

'''Aurora''' (p.141) &nbsp; '''1,7,''' &nbsp; &nbsp; tsp, III,1<BR>
Whose absence is no less material to me<BR>
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate<BR>
Of that dark hour.

'''LILA''' (p.210) &nbsp; '''7,4''', &nbsp; &nbsp; tsp, IV,3<BR>
Let not your ears despise my tongue forever,<BR>
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound<BR>
That ever yet they heard.

====Group B: &nbsp; Veor & Pierre====
'''VEOR''' (p.369) &nbsp; '''3,6''', &nbsp; &nbsp; tsp, III,2<BR>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Come on, gentle my lord,<BR>
Sleek o'er your rugged looks. Be bright and jovial<BR>
Among your guests tonight.

'''PIERRE''' (p.42) &nbsp; '''6,9,''' &nbsp; &nbsp; tsp, I,7<BR>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I am settled, and bend up<BR>
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.<BR>
Away, and mock the time with fairest show.<BR>
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

====Group C: &nbsp; Starflower (only)====
'''STARFLOWER''' (p.224) &nbsp; '''8,2,''' &nbsp; &nbsp; tsp, I,7<BR>
I dare do all that may become a man;<BR>
Who dares do more is none.

===How the readings from the Mystic Magical Concordance work.===

Each party-member was given a "Portentous Passage" to use as a one-time effect before you leave. However there were Portent groups, based on mutually common One-Eyed Jack's numbers:<BR>
'''A''' comprising Thaeuss, Aurora, & Lila.<BR>
'''B''' comprising Veor & Pierre.

'''Concept:''' The Character gains a total of THREE chances (total) to '''QUINTUPLE''' the likelihood of <br>
a treble, double, & backfire of a magical effect<br>
or a critical, endurance, & fumble attack in combat<br>
or an equivalent skill-checks, stat-rolls, ... etc.

'''Action''': At any time a Character takes two pulses to Dramatically(!) recite their "Portentous Passage". They then have up until the next occurrence of exactly High Noon to nominate AT LEAST one action that the luck pertains to (up to all remaining chances).  If no such action is taken, the chance is lost.

Furthermore, everyone in that SAME Djineric portent group who is acting in that SAME pulse (e.g.:  If Lila recited, it applies to Thaeuss & Aurora) has, for free,<BR>
'''DOUBLE''' the likelihood of ALL their actions that pulse  trebling/doubling/backfiring.

Also, in the rather unlikely event that the recited Portentous Passage is directly relevant to the current scene (for any party members), the party's adversaries will be somewhat "disadvantaged".

====Player mechanism====

For QUINTUPLE Likelihood, IGNORE ''Lesser Enchantment'' & any Aspect bonuses or penalties.<br>
The "TENS" die is considered to be 0 whenever 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 is actually rolled;<br> 
otherwise it is considered to be 1.

For DOUBLE Likelihood, again IGNORE ''Lesser Ench'' & any Aspect bonuses or penalties.<br>
If the "TENS" die rolls a 5, consider it to be a '''0''';<br>
likewise, consider a rolled 6 a '''1''', 7 a '''2''', 8 a '''3''', and 9 a '''4'''.

== Loot and Expenses ==

{| class="buffs" |
!class="mg" | Item/Ability/Infliction
!class="ef" | Effects
!Title="Aurora"     | Au
!Title="Pierre"     | Pi
!Title="Veor"       | Ve
!Title="Starflower" | St
!Title="Lila"       | Li
!Title="Thaeuss"    | Th
|-
|class="mg" | 1. G.E. Tattoo
|class="ef" | Permanent Rk 10 Greater +11% Res, Mag, S&S
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 2. Tattoo of Encouraging Karma
|class="ef" | Extra FT recovery for Healers
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 3. Tattoo of Enhanced Counterspells
|class="ef" | +10' rad / +20min / +30' rng / +10% MR
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 4. Tattoo of Endurance
|class="ef" | +1 Stackable EN
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 5. Tattoo of Last Refuge
|class="ef" | +2 Damage in Close COmbat
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 6. Tattoo of Lesser Enchantment
|class="ef" | Permanent Lesser Enchantment
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | A. Healing Potion 
|class="ef" | Heal 20 EN wrap to restore FT
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | B. Healing Potion
|class="ef" | Restore 25 FT wrap to heal EN
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> Y
|-
|class="mg" | C. Truesilver Anklet
|class="ef" | +1 TMR
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | D. Ring of Rings
|class="ef" | Pass action to swap rings
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> Y
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | E. Ring of Touching
|class="ef" | 10' range touch
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> Y
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | F. Revitalising Sun-Ring
|class="ef" | At noon restore 10 FT & 1 EN per sun
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | G. Ring of defying N'ancy
|class="ef" | Roll % with advantage vs Necro & Undead
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> Y
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Amulet of Silver
|class="ef" | 2nd MR check vs Fae magic and abilities
| <!-- Au --> 1
| <!-- Pi --> 1
| <!-- Ve --> 1
| <!-- St --> 1
| <!-- Li --> 2
| <!-- Th --> 1
|-
|class="mg" | Hobbit Moustache
|class="ef" | Rk 10 Hobbit Aura and Disguise
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> Y
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Potted Cactus from Ellena
|class="ef" | 
| <!-- Au --> Y
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
!colspan="8" | Titan / Dwarf Payments for Militocratic side-mission
|-
|class="mg" | TBA
|class="ef" | 
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
!colspan="8" | 'Gifts' from Green Willow Heights (Desert Flower province)
|-
|class="mg" | Real Mage's Healing Potion 
|class="ef" | Restore 25 FT wrapping to heal EN
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 1
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Healing potion (20)
|class="ef" | 20 points to EN, wrapping to FT
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 1
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 2 x Healing potion (10) 
|class="ef" | 10 points to EN, wrapping to FT
| <!-- Au --> 1
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 1
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | PANIC Grenado
|class="ef" | Sentients get a saving throw (2xWP) AoE 5 hex diameter
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 1
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 2 x SLEEP Grenado
|class="ef" | Sleep deeply for 1-8 hours. 1xEN/WP to resist each pulse. AoE Mega-hex. Adjacent hexes at half initiative for 4-20 pulses.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 1
| <!-- Th --> 1
|-
|class="mg" | Vial of SLEEP Goo
|class="ef" | for 20 arrow tips (+ quiver of Elvish arrows).  Use within 1 hour of opening/dunking.  EN dmg auto success, FT dmg gets a resistance.
| <!-- Au --> 1
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Vial of Sleepy-time Blade Venom
|class="ef" | for 2 normal weapons (A or B class). Use within 2 mins of opening.  victim stupefied for 2 minutes, may be roused by severe pain.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 1
|-
|class="mg" | Pill 3 MA 
|class="ef" | 3 MA boost for 20 hours. Keep dry.  Expires within 20 days.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 1
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Potion 1 WP
|class="ef" | 1 WP boost for 20 hours. Expires "this season".
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 1
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Potion 1 AG 
|class="ef" | 1 AG boost for 10 hours. Expires "this season".
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 1
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 2 x Rk-10 Water breathing potion
|class="ef" | lasts 11 hours.  Indefinite shelf-life.
| <!-- Au --> 1
| <!-- Pi --> 1
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 1 x Rk-15 Mind Shield potion 
|class="ef" | lasts 21 hours.  Expires in 300/280 days.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 1
| <!-- Th -->  
|-
|class="mg" | Anti-curse Icon
|class="ef" | Ameliorates all curses other than a Death-curse or Doom. Use up to remove all curses, inflicts 3 EN damage + scars.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 1
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Superior Power Ring of What-was-That??! 
|class="ef" | 50+PC to get College/Name of Spell. *0 reflects spell.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 1
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | Adequate Power Ring of What-was-That??! 
|class="ef" | 10+PC to get College/Name of Spell. *0 reflects spell.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 
| <!-- Li --> 1
| <!-- Th --> 
|-
|class="mg" | 2 x String Power Rings 
|class="ef" | Destroyed to resist a curse.
| <!-- Au --> 
| <!-- Pi --> 
| <!-- Ve --> 
| <!-- St --> 1
| <!-- Li --> 
| <!-- Th --> 1
|}

* Weapons from humans at North Hill
* Itemised dead proto-dogs - have abilities to see invis/insubstatial.
* Giant's Main-gauche.
* 2 Giant-sized Daggers.
* Shiny gold key.

== Calendar ==
{| cellspacing=1 width="100%" border=0 class="Season" id="Winter" 
! colspan=15 | '''Winter: [[Frost]] 820 (7)'''
|- 
| class="calMoon" | 
! colspan=2 | Moonday
! colspan=2 | Duesday
! colspan=2 | W'ansday
! colspan=2 | Th'rsday
! colspan=2 | Frysday
! colspan=2 | Reapsday
! colspan=2 | Sunday
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day |    || <i>[[Samhain]]</i>
| class=day |  1 || <i>Guild Meeting</i> 
Seagate, evening sail west
| class=day |  2 || Sail into Manastorm
| colspan=8 align=center | ---- Lilac ----
|}

{| cellspacing=1 width="100%" border=0 class="Season" id="Winter" 
! colspan=21 | '''Mirth in the third regnal year of Gloriana'''
|- 
| class="calMoon" | 3.20
| colspan=6 align=center | ---- Alusia ---- 
| class=day |  3 || [[#Lilac|Lilac]]: Quarantine Isle
| class=day |  4 || Nornbury , Royal Bath (Silver)
| class=day |  5 || Highbury (Zhaques)
| class=day |  6 ||colspan=7| High Mana, Citadel of Friendship. Briefings, sketches, potions, rituals.
|- 
| class="calMoon" | 3.21
| class=day |  0 || Iceland, M. Empire
| class=day |  1 || Larking
| class=day |  2 || Waldstein ..
| class=day |  3 || .. as different group ..
| class=day |  4 || .. as 3rd group. Sacrifice.
| class=day |  5 || Arktown ..
| class=day |  6 || .. spy and spread rumours ..
| class=day |  7 || .. rumours and setup ..
| class=day |  8 || .. Goodwine speaks out & is killed. Question Nico, fly to CoF.
| class=day |  9 || Titan-port to shrine by Loch, Ellena's Grotto.
|- 
| class="calMoon" | 3.22
| class=day |  0 || Anima
| class=day |  1 || Giant Hills, Iceland, ..
| class=day |  2 || Green Willow
| class=day |  3 || Northern ruins, Ostia
| class=day |  4 || Ostia
| class=day |  5 || Ostia
| class=day |  6 || K-burg, Loch
| class=day |  7 || Duglass ruins, CoF.
| class=day |  8 || CoF
| class=day |  9 || CoF
|- 
| class="calMoon" | 3.23
| class=day |  0 || CoF
| class=day |  1 || Scouting Portal
| class=day |  2 ||colspan=15| Citadel of Friendship and preparations with the Hobbits and Sylphs
|- 
| class="calMoon" | 3.24
| class=day |  0 || CoF
| class=day |  1 || Portal assault, Eos' Garden
| class=day |  2 || C.o.F.
| class=day |  3 || Royal Bath
| class=day |  4 ||colspan=11| First ship home departs
|}

{| cellspacing=1 width="100%" border=0 class="Season" id="Winter" 
|- 
! colspan=15 | '''Winter: [[Snow]] 820 (8)'''
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 12 ||colspan=5| .. Lilac ..
| class=day | 15 || <i>Solstice</i> First ship home arrives
| class=day | 16 || 
| class=day | 17 || <i>The Duke of Carzala's Winter Ball</i>
| class=day | 18 || <i>Yuletide</i> 
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 19 || <i>Days of Chaos</i> 
| class=day | 20 || <i>DoC2</i> 
| class=day | 21 || <i>DoC3</i>  
| class=day | 22 || <i>DoC4</i> 
| class=day | 23 || <i>DoC5</i> 
| class=day | 24 || <i>DoC6</i> 
| class=day | 25 || <i>DoC7</i> 
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 26 || <i>DoC8</i> 
| class=day | 27 || <i>DoC9</i> 
| class=day | 28 || <i>DoC10</i> 
| class=day | 29 || <i>DoC11</i> 
| class=day | 30 || <i>Twelfth Night</i> 
| class=day |  1 || 
| class=day |  2 || 
|- 
! colspan=15 | '''Winter: [[Ice]] 820 (9)'''
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon3.jpg]]
| class=day |  3 || 
| class=day |  4 || 
| class=day |  5 || 
| class=day |  6 || <i>First Plough</i>
| class=day |  7 || 
| class=day |  8 || 
| class=day |  9 || 
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon0.jpg]]
| class=day | 10 || 
| class=day | 11 || 
| class=day | 12 || 
| class=day | 13 || 
| class=day | 14 || 
| class=day | 15 || 
| class=day | 16 || 
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon1.jpg]]
| class=day | 17 || 
| class=day | 18 || 
| class=day | 19 || 
| class=day | 20 || 
| class=day | 21 || 
| class=day | 22 || 
| class=day | 23 || 
|- 
| class="calMoon" | [[Image:moon2.jpg]]
| class=day | 24 || 
| class=day | 25 || 
| class=day | 26 || 
| class=day | 27 || 
| class=day | 28 || 
| class=day | 29 || 
| class=day | 30 || 
|}