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* [[Mortimer]] - Renaissance Scholar - Martin
* [[Mortimer]] - Renaissance Scholar - Martin
* [[Cher]] - Blade Dancer - Sean
* [[Cher]] - Blade Dancer - Sean
* ? - Michelle?
 
'''Party is full'''
; Employer
; Employer
: The [[Unified Western Church]]
: The [[Unified Western Church]]
; Mission
; Mission
: An emissary from the Unified Western Church has come to the guild. A threat to the realms has arisen and a capable party is sought to deal with a sensitive matter and is requested to attend [[Tomas Xerxes]], the Archbishop of Mordeaux for a briefing.
: An emissary from the Unified Western Church has come to the guild. A threat to the realms has arisen and a capable party is sought to deal with a sensitive matter and is requested to attend [[Tomas Xerxes]], the Archbishop of Mordeaux for a briefing.
He will be in the village of [[Dell Aristeas]] (in the See of [[Montpon-Ménestérol]] - [[Mordeaux]]) in a weeks’ time on the 8th of Thaw and would like to discuss the matter with the party there.
He will be in the village of [[Dell Aristeas]] (in the See of [[Montpon-Ménestérol]] - [[Mordeaux]]) in a weeks' time on the 8th of Thaw and would like to discuss the matter with the party there.
The party is also asked to guard some church artifacts being taken (by boat) to the new port of [[Chestyr]] in the Viscounty of [[Nouveau Zumalar]] ([[Aladar]]) on the good ship Mare Ditat.
The party is also asked to guard some church artifacts being taken (by boat) to the new port of [[Chestyr]] in the Viscounty of [[Nouveau Zumalar]] ([[Aladar]]) on the good ship Mare Ditat.
; Pay
; Pay
: Usual Loot, salvage and the occasional pie!
: Usual Loot, salvage and the occasional pie!


==Scribe Notes==
== Scribe Notes ==
Blah blah blah
 
=== Sailing to Chestyr ===
; Duesday 1st Thaw
We seem to have drawn a junior guild security agent as he seems nervous and gives us his name, Artemis. Cher sends him for the wine he forgot to have laid out.
Then we get into the usual introductions.
 
Alesandro Deborgia (middle aged human, former soldier, now a scholar/administrator), emissary of the Arch Bishop who will be available to meet us in a week's time.
They'd like us to scout [[Jurgenmark]]. Scouts have been in up to 15 miles, seven of the 23 scouts returned.
Plague started in NW of the realm, mostly killed people with magical skill.
Population before the plague was 400,000. Approx. 15,000 square miles.
Borders Drakenburg, Aquila, Dragonspine Mountains.
 
They initially want us to escort a ship with 40 tonnes of blessed stone and funds for constructing a church in Chestyr.
 
Alesandro is authorised to engage us with a retainer of 10,000sp each to escort the ship and meet with the Arch Bishop.
He also blesses us - ''-1 on dice rolls stacking with Lesser to -2''.
 
The usual rituals and shopping for healing potions.
 
; W'ansday 2nd Thaw
We fly down to the docks to join the ship to set sail after dawn.
We are met by '''Captain Roderigo de Mare''' & Chartered Water Mage '''[[Zigmund Nordburg]]'''.
Holy stone in the hold counts as consecrated ground, strong room in the bow for the chests of funds.
 
We set sail out into the bay.
 
; Th'rsday 3rd Thaw
Sailing north about 160 miles.
 
; Frysday 4th Thaw
Sailing north about 180 miles.
 
; Reapsday 5th Thaw
Sailing about 90 miles north into Chestyr about midday.
 
=== Dark Circle Ambush in Ormond ===
The shiny new port of Chestyr is so new it is still clean.
Mortimer and I head up to the cathedral construction site to expedite receipt of the goods, '''Brother Ortho''' returns with us and accepts the delivery.
Lunch at the dockside tavern, '''Golden Anchor'''.
We then check into the '''Golden Ruby Inn''' for the night, Innkeeper Bryan Maynard.
 
; Sunday 6th Thaw
Midmorning departure after a leisurely start, we walk out of town then take flight SE towards Ranke and then to Dell Aristeas in [[Mordeaux]].
 
The only accommodation in town is the '''Holy Sheaf Inn''', Innkeeper Ivan, we settle in.
 
The Chapterhouse up the road is the '''Order of the Sanctity of Knowledge'''.
They have a library available to '[[Library Tested Skills|qualified]]' scholars, access from 11am to 3pm for 1sp per day.
 
; Moonday 7th Thaw
Reading, training, passing time.
 
; Duesday 8th Thaw
Early afternoon while waiting for the Bish, we see a house on fire ([[The Schimmelpennick Estate]]) and we fly to help, on route we see that tThe Archbishop and his squad is also going to help with the fire.
 
There are undead lurking and this [[The_Schimmelpennick_Estate#The Estate Burns - 823wk|fire]] has clearly been intentionally set to attract the Archbishop into an ambush, just across the border from Mordeaux and its defences.
 
* These are equivalent to Dark Circle Enhanced undead. They attack the Bishop's carriage and men with 6 rank 8 TK Rage Grenados; drain adjacent entities FT & EN, have rat cloaks to ablate damage, and a portable 'Dark Circle' rock. A Skeletal Lord, 2 Skeletal Knights, and over a dozen lesser undead.
 
Damage enhanced Black Lightning & Hellfire wreak mayhem; the Dark Circle rock sundered by the Sword of Solomon; a safe stone (dust & sand) walled coral for the rescued children, a bone ladder descending to it from the upper floors; flying and smashing through the upstairs window to rescue the residents. Melee battles: Cher vs the Skeletal Lord, Rahne vs one Skeletal Knight in the burning building and Arch Bishop Xerxes and his remaining men vs the other Skeletal Knight. The big 3 explode in shards of lethal bone when their rat cloaks are burned through and they are finally put down.
 
Everan's interrogation reveals they were sent by '''[[Loras]]''' from [[Jurgenmark]] who sent them and 6 other teams to kill various military and political targets across the Western Kingdom.
 
They are allied with Murkul death cults, one chapter of which is based in [[Ormond]] and their living cultists participated in this attempt on the archbishop.
 
Skeletal Lord's evil dark sword is associated with '''[[Murkul]]''', a Death God.
 
The butchers bill is large but the party save 8 adults and 12 children from the [[The_Schimmelpennick_Estate#The_Estate_Burns_-_823wk|burning house]].
 
=== Debriefing with Xerxes ===
 
Useful undead loot:
* 6 rank 8 TK Rage Skulls, 80%
* 6 Greek Fire Grenadoes
 
The targets of the undead hit squads are:
* Bernhard, Lord High Marshall of the WK - '''Killed'''
* Gerhard Schneider, Admiral of WK - '''Survived'''
* AB of Mordeaux - '''Survived'''
* Bertram de ?, Constable of Schiefield, fort on the border of Jurgenmark - '''Survived'''
* Jann ?, Constable of ?, fort on the border of Jurgenmark - '''Killed'''
* Charlemagne Martel, Major General of the WK - '''Survived'''
* Katerina, Governor of Innesburg - '''Killed''', Innesburg is on fire.
* Duke Baltman of Aladar - '''Killed'''
 
We fly one of the Bishop's guards to the chapterhouse to send messages warning the other targets.
 
The Gold & Mithril Darksword is Sentient, +SC, + damage, cumulative dice modifier in combat, curses non-evil wielders. We destroy it with a Dark Sphere, the resultant explosion is about 200' radius and levels the remains of the building.
 
We then use the Dark Sphere to destroy the remains of the Dark Circle stone.
 
From the remains of the Bishop's carriage, Everan rescues:
* a sceptre of seeking witches, paralyses them, makes them flammable, ignites them.
* a Black Diamond of Consumption - Dark Sphere bead
* a Red Ruby of Life - 3 resurrections (also affects undead)
* an Emerald of Growth - miracles of restoring terrain, 10 charges of rank 20.
* a grenado (Light Sphere)
* a pouch of teleportation dust, 6 charges, one per entity, travel up to (PC x 20 miles)
* 4 books (Demons vs Denizens, Ascending vs Descending, Book of Horrors, The 71)
 
We fly the Bishop and his knights back to the chapterhouse.
 
; W'ansday 9th Thaw
We meet with the convalescent bishop in his chambers & brother Adolphus his deaf/mute attendant, returning his things from the carriage.
He gives back the pouch, loans us the books for a season.
 
He wishes to employ us to scout Jurgenmark, checking in on church properties (chapels, monasteries, churches), assess the undead military capability.
His Seers had visions of a dark rain falling on the land and pooling. Many of them died or were possessed in attempting to scry the area.
 
He gives us:
* 5 x Amulets of Jasper - resistance
* 5 x Amulets of Lifeforce cloaking - makes us a bit harder to detect by undead
* An enchanted Writ of Authority
* The Emerald & Ruby
* 50 x Holy Water Grenados (megahex)
Payment is 20,000sp each in coin or knowledge.
 
3 weeks ago, a hidden cellar in [[Novalar]] was accidentally found containing the bodies of 40 knights who have been dead for 5 years and have also been seen around the WK in that time. We are given [[Errant Church Knights|their names and heraldry]], a general order to detain them has been issued. The 40 were crusading together around the time they died.
 
We leave just after lunch.
 
=== The Amber Room ===
 
We fly north-west across the water, over Aladar for a while, camping by a lake in Aquila.
 
; Th'rsday 10th Thaw
Fly on, landing and walking the last mile to Shifield Castle.
 
We're met by Simiam, son of Bertrand who escorts us in to meet with his father.
 
As requested by the Bishop, we meet at a local tavern (''The Red Apple'') with Zawysza, a scout.
He and his children are some of those who scouted the area and returned, they went in through the high mountain passes in the east.
They seem to have a family affinity for stealth.
 
He tells us of the network of mountain towers, every few miles at the edge of the mountains:
* The blackened ruin of Tower of St Columba, Saint of Books & Poetry, supposed to have a big library.
* Mezerkim's Tower
* Ghost Tower
* Charlotemburg Tower. 60' tall, white stone. Created by 'Xandor'.
 
Radu was a town of about 7,000 people before the infestation.
 
We fly south from the castle, loop around a bit, camp and rest until a few hours after sunset then fly into the mountains as a constellation of stars.
 
Carefully approach the nearest tower, '''Charlotemburg''', area near it is magically protected from death/undead (forgetfulness & repulsion).
Entity mages need to resist to enter.
4 floors above ground.
Stairs descend through caves down about 500' to a cavern with natural hot springs with transformative healing properties.
A room made of amber, eternally burning chandelier - a healing room. Stops aging, entropy, decay. Cures madness, bleeding.
Nobody in the tower can be located.
 
=== The Cloister of St Columbo ===
 
; Frysday 11th Thaw
We fly north about 3 miles to the next closest tower, a smaller one.
'''Erdkelley Tower'''
We pass into a life detection area about 900' out from the tower, go to ground approach slower and detect them back:
3 Greater Skeletons, 30 Zombies. 3 levels below the tower. 13 ravens fly up from the tower and start circling.
Everan senses the effects of a Dark Circle stone when we're close.
 
Staying invisible & hidden we fly on to the next tower, about 3 miles west.
'''St Columba Tower''', ruined tower and out buildings on a high mountain ledge.
Burned out about 9 years ago, looks like it burned out from the inside, possible magically started.
 
We scout around a bit, cellars under a couple of the out buildings have hollow spaces, the mountainside behind it is protected from scrying and has a magical door and window. Wards and protections vs 'evil' (undead/demonic).
We open the doors from the inside using the key that is there.
 
Extensive and magically protected/preserved library in multiple rooms, large dining hall, indoor atrium, thermal pools.
5 (long-lived) Human monks wearing robes with ancient Elven runes (order, patterns, pathways) - St Columba's Order of Preservation of Knowledge. Library golems copying tomes, dusting.
Some monks are permanent residents, others work shifts (7 years on, 7 off).
# Ignaceous
# Symon, stooped, bald, 6' tall.
# Byron
# Brian
# Zelda
 
Jurgenmark region is now controlled by a circle of 13 unscrupulous mages:
# Loras the Necro
# Eris, Earth/Land mage
# Samos, Shaper. May be resident near '''Nodvest''', in the north-west corner of Jurgenmark.
# A Rune/Portal Mage?
 
Jurgenmark has a thin border to the lands of the dead, has many tombs/reliquaries/prisons/middens.
Simon believes it was just a matter of time until something like this infestation happened.
 
Ancient ruins under some of the lakes.
 
Black stones at the corners and around the boundaries of Jurgenmark - Dark Circle Stones. Hidden under towers.
 
'Safe' preserves/farms for the living to replenish the undead ranks and power evil rituals.
 
We should be wary of the ''Order of the Cannons Regular of Prymontre'' - The '''Prymons'''. Arrived in the area about 808wk, acquired land in the NW, were helping with the 'civil works'.
 
=== Raiding Tower 51 ===
 
St Columba Tower only has the one way in (that they admit to) but it does have two alternate exits:
* A large Mechanician 'Canon' that can fire people 30 miles east before they start to fall. Most survive the launch.
* An underground river, about 40 miles underground before exiting. Averages 3' clearance above the surface.
 
We invisibly sneak out the front door after dark, set up a long door in the ruined buildings.
 
Then fly the long way around the outside to the south-west corner of Jurgenmark avoiding a Black Dragon and exchanging greetings with Captain Ferrous of the Ion Queen, a patrolling Beltan ship.
 
We prepare a Darkwall in an abandoned cavern-dwelling a few miles from our target.
 
An hour before dawn, we approach a tower occupied by undead, ravens on the roof, wolves in burrows outside, 3 Greater Skeletons, 20 Zombies in a circle in the basement, blood magic powered crystal bell-cauldron with fetuses floating in acid.
We kill the ravens to stop them sending messages, kill the skeletons and zombies, then smash up the cauldron magic.
 
While Everan fortifies the tower, we start divining the Dark Circle Stone:
* AKA Masada Stone. Shaper made, diminishes sunlight.
 
40 minutes later, the rapid response team arrives:
2 Lords, 1 Knight, 3 Greater Skeletons, 12 Skeletons
 
=== Under Siege ===
They start trying to break through the warped and barricaded trapdoor, we start fortifying in the basement, setting up to protect Cher for the last 20 minutes of her Divination.
 
We almost make it 1 minute then Tunneling spells break through at ground and basement levels. Seren's Elemental plays murder in the dark at ground level, slowing their entrance; Everan blocks the basement tunnel with bones; 4 TK Rage grenados are tossed down the tunnel but we're expecting this and their troops take a lot more damage than we do.
 
We get eyes on the outside and see there are now more of them:
: A bat swarm overhead
: 2 squads of 3 linked human mages surrounded by 6 unusual mummies that they band damage to.
: A nightmare drawn carriage with a vampire on a skull throne on top and over time it disgorges skeletal knights, lords, 4 Spectres, and a human woman (E&E) with lots of bling.
 
We give up on the Divination and interrupt Cher so she can join the fight.
 
They lose two Greater Skeletons trying to explode Everan's blockade in the tunnel. We ablate the mummies away from the mages, the mages start a concert-cast earth tremor which starts collapsing the tower above us, the Spectres fade underground to approach us.
We fight on but Mortimer is sure the bone constructions won't hold off the collapsing tower much longer, we start our evacuation out through Seren's Dark Portal, making it out as the Spectres arrive with a Dark Sphere to break down our fortifications.
 
12 miles away at our prepared evacuation point, we decide to fly back and hit their flank while they're focused on investigating the basement.
 
=== Welcome to our Ambush ===
 
We take flight, they cover the tower area in darkness. At about 6 miles range the glowing 3-headed flying giant dog takes flight, leading the 60 Wights on Giant Vampire Bats towards us.
Soon joined by the vampire in his flying coach and 6 skeletal lords on Nightmares.
 
Over the next couple of hours, we lead them through the mountains, testing and assessing their capabilities and tactics as they chase us.
I locate the Ion Queen and send a Whispering Wind to Captain Ferrous, then we lead the undead towards a Beltane ambush.
 
; Reapsday 12th Thaw
 
30 Bat Riding Wights try to flank us, we ambush them with mid-air Agony causing them to crash into mountainsides.
 
The Vampire and 5 nightmares peel off towards one of the southern Jurgenmark cities which sends reinforcements via high speed spheres packed full of undead.
 
We land as bait, creating a defensive position, attacking the (approximately) 250 them as they come in. The 6 Beltane ships that answered our call ambush the undead as planned, 7 of them survive, we finish them off.
 
We search the battle ground finding a couple of things that survived.
* White Gem - magical tracking and scenting, manifesting as the glowing dog.
* <s>Mace of Mirkul</s> - Evil Draining Possessing - destroyed.
* Shield - magical protection.
* Circlet of commanding undead.
 
Everan chats to the ashes. That was a small portion of their border force, the Vampire was a senior Lieutenant, the woman was his Bride.
 
The chat with the Beltane on their ship, they invite us back to the castle for a full debriefing.
 
We demur to fly back to the tower and finally complete our ancient divination:
 
10' 'living plant' Dark Circle stone was grown here from a seed, range is 16.66 miles. It is aware of adjacent effects but not connected.
A significant chunk of it chipped off would grow to another stone, fed by darkness, growth retarded by light.
Is a focus for a 'Dark Circle' effect, extending and anchoring that effect but not causing it. '''Zeisterheim''' is the center of the Dark Circle effect.
 
Back at the southern castle that afternoon we let them know everything we learned.
They award us Beltane medals of valour.
 
=== Zeisterheim Crater ===
 
; Sunday 13th Thaw - W'nsday 16th Thaw
Fly to Artzdorf & Flugelheim to fetch Cher's Mountain, getting it blessed on the way back.
 
; Th'rsday 17th Thaw
 
We drop '''Blessed Mt Retribution''' from 40 miles above '''Zeisterheim''' at midday.
 
Observing from range, there is a flash and a lot of debris, the Dark Circle effect then diminishes.
 
Once the dust settles, we expect the crater to be miles across where there was once a pass through the mountains.
 
We head south to the castle to brief the Beltane on our success.
 
; Frysday 18th Thaw - Reapsday 19th Thaw
We fly back to Mordeaux and report in to the Arch Bishop.
 
; Sunday 20th Thaw
We fly back to Seagate.


== Buffs & Mil Sci ==
== Buffs & Mil Sci ==
Line 248: Line 532:


; Herbalist Lunch/Broth
; Herbalist Lunch/Broth
: Rahne rk 4, Meal 3 FT or Broth 3 FT
: Everan rk 5, Meal 4 FT or Broth 4 FT


; Rahne Ranger ring (Highlands)
; Rahne Ranger ring (Highlands)
Line 304: Line 588:
| Everan || Mortimer || Rahne || Serendipity || Cher || tba  
| Everan || Mortimer || Rahne || Serendipity || Cher || tba  
|-
|-
|  __   ||  __   ||  __   ||      --    ||  __    ||  __  
|  59   ||  75   ||  13   ||      --    ||  34  ||  __  
|}
|}
== Loot ==
From the Ormond Battle
# Sword of Mirkul - Evil Draining Possessing - destroyed.
From the Big Battle
# White Gem - magical tracking and scenting, manifesting as the glowing dog.
# Mace of Mirkul - Evil Draining Possessing - destroyed.
# Shield - magical protection.
# Circlet of commanding undead.


== Calendar ==
== Calendar ==

Latest revision as of 20:23, 8 February 2024

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: MorsCerta HoraIncerta
GM: ChrisC
Season: Spring 823 wk
Night: Monday
Level: High
Place: Chez Martin?

Party
  • Everan - Scholar Macabre - Dean MilSci
  • Rahne - Enchantress of the Stars - Stephen Scribe PL
  • Serendipity - Lady Dark - Lisa
  • Mortimer - Renaissance Scholar - Martin
  • Cher - Blade Dancer - Sean
Employer
The Unified Western Church
Mission
An emissary from the Unified Western Church has come to the guild. A threat to the realms has arisen and a capable party is sought to deal with a sensitive matter and is requested to attend Tomas Xerxes, the Archbishop of Mordeaux for a briefing.

He will be in the village of Dell Aristeas (in the See of Montpon-Ménestérol - Mordeaux) in a weeks' time on the 8th of Thaw and would like to discuss the matter with the party there. The party is also asked to guard some church artifacts being taken (by boat) to the new port of Chestyr in the Viscounty of Nouveau Zumalar (Aladar) on the good ship Mare Ditat.

Pay
Usual Loot, salvage and the occasional pie!

Scribe Notes

Sailing to Chestyr

Duesday 1st Thaw

We seem to have drawn a junior guild security agent as he seems nervous and gives us his name, Artemis. Cher sends him for the wine he forgot to have laid out. Then we get into the usual introductions.

Alesandro Deborgia (middle aged human, former soldier, now a scholar/administrator), emissary of the Arch Bishop who will be available to meet us in a week's time. They'd like us to scout Jurgenmark. Scouts have been in up to 15 miles, seven of the 23 scouts returned. Plague started in NW of the realm, mostly killed people with magical skill. Population before the plague was 400,000. Approx. 15,000 square miles. Borders Drakenburg, Aquila, Dragonspine Mountains.

They initially want us to escort a ship with 40 tonnes of blessed stone and funds for constructing a church in Chestyr.

Alesandro is authorised to engage us with a retainer of 10,000sp each to escort the ship and meet with the Arch Bishop. He also blesses us - -1 on dice rolls stacking with Lesser to -2.

The usual rituals and shopping for healing potions.

W'ansday 2nd Thaw

We fly down to the docks to join the ship to set sail after dawn. We are met by Captain Roderigo de Mare & Chartered Water Mage Zigmund Nordburg. Holy stone in the hold counts as consecrated ground, strong room in the bow for the chests of funds.

We set sail out into the bay.

Th'rsday 3rd Thaw

Sailing north about 160 miles.

Frysday 4th Thaw

Sailing north about 180 miles.

Reapsday 5th Thaw

Sailing about 90 miles north into Chestyr about midday.

Dark Circle Ambush in Ormond

The shiny new port of Chestyr is so new it is still clean. Mortimer and I head up to the cathedral construction site to expedite receipt of the goods, Brother Ortho returns with us and accepts the delivery. Lunch at the dockside tavern, Golden Anchor. We then check into the Golden Ruby Inn for the night, Innkeeper Bryan Maynard.

Sunday 6th Thaw

Midmorning departure after a leisurely start, we walk out of town then take flight SE towards Ranke and then to Dell Aristeas in Mordeaux.

The only accommodation in town is the Holy Sheaf Inn, Innkeeper Ivan, we settle in.

The Chapterhouse up the road is the Order of the Sanctity of Knowledge. They have a library available to 'qualified' scholars, access from 11am to 3pm for 1sp per day.

Moonday 7th Thaw

Reading, training, passing time.

Duesday 8th Thaw

Early afternoon while waiting for the Bish, we see a house on fire (The Schimmelpennick Estate) and we fly to help, on route we see that tThe Archbishop and his squad is also going to help with the fire.

There are undead lurking and this fire has clearly been intentionally set to attract the Archbishop into an ambush, just across the border from Mordeaux and its defences.

  • These are equivalent to Dark Circle Enhanced undead. They attack the Bishop's carriage and men with 6 rank 8 TK Rage Grenados; drain adjacent entities FT & EN, have rat cloaks to ablate damage, and a portable 'Dark Circle' rock. A Skeletal Lord, 2 Skeletal Knights, and over a dozen lesser undead.

Damage enhanced Black Lightning & Hellfire wreak mayhem; the Dark Circle rock sundered by the Sword of Solomon; a safe stone (dust & sand) walled coral for the rescued children, a bone ladder descending to it from the upper floors; flying and smashing through the upstairs window to rescue the residents. Melee battles: Cher vs the Skeletal Lord, Rahne vs one Skeletal Knight in the burning building and Arch Bishop Xerxes and his remaining men vs the other Skeletal Knight. The big 3 explode in shards of lethal bone when their rat cloaks are burned through and they are finally put down.

Everan's interrogation reveals they were sent by Loras from Jurgenmark who sent them and 6 other teams to kill various military and political targets across the Western Kingdom.

They are allied with Murkul death cults, one chapter of which is based in Ormond and their living cultists participated in this attempt on the archbishop.

Skeletal Lord's evil dark sword is associated with Murkul, a Death God.

The butchers bill is large but the party save 8 adults and 12 children from the burning house.

Debriefing with Xerxes

Useful undead loot:

  • 6 rank 8 TK Rage Skulls, 80%
  • 6 Greek Fire Grenadoes

The targets of the undead hit squads are:

  • Bernhard, Lord High Marshall of the WK - Killed
  • Gerhard Schneider, Admiral of WK - Survived
  • AB of Mordeaux - Survived
  • Bertram de ?, Constable of Schiefield, fort on the border of Jurgenmark - Survived
  • Jann ?, Constable of ?, fort on the border of Jurgenmark - Killed
  • Charlemagne Martel, Major General of the WK - Survived
  • Katerina, Governor of Innesburg - Killed, Innesburg is on fire.
  • Duke Baltman of Aladar - Killed

We fly one of the Bishop's guards to the chapterhouse to send messages warning the other targets.

The Gold & Mithril Darksword is Sentient, +SC, + damage, cumulative dice modifier in combat, curses non-evil wielders. We destroy it with a Dark Sphere, the resultant explosion is about 200' radius and levels the remains of the building.

We then use the Dark Sphere to destroy the remains of the Dark Circle stone.

From the remains of the Bishop's carriage, Everan rescues:

  • a sceptre of seeking witches, paralyses them, makes them flammable, ignites them.
  • a Black Diamond of Consumption - Dark Sphere bead
  • a Red Ruby of Life - 3 resurrections (also affects undead)
  • an Emerald of Growth - miracles of restoring terrain, 10 charges of rank 20.
  • a grenado (Light Sphere)
  • a pouch of teleportation dust, 6 charges, one per entity, travel up to (PC x 20 miles)
  • 4 books (Demons vs Denizens, Ascending vs Descending, Book of Horrors, The 71)

We fly the Bishop and his knights back to the chapterhouse.

W'ansday 9th Thaw

We meet with the convalescent bishop in his chambers & brother Adolphus his deaf/mute attendant, returning his things from the carriage. He gives back the pouch, loans us the books for a season.

He wishes to employ us to scout Jurgenmark, checking in on church properties (chapels, monasteries, churches), assess the undead military capability. His Seers had visions of a dark rain falling on the land and pooling. Many of them died or were possessed in attempting to scry the area.

He gives us:

  • 5 x Amulets of Jasper - resistance
  • 5 x Amulets of Lifeforce cloaking - makes us a bit harder to detect by undead
  • An enchanted Writ of Authority
  • The Emerald & Ruby
  • 50 x Holy Water Grenados (megahex)

Payment is 20,000sp each in coin or knowledge.

3 weeks ago, a hidden cellar in Novalar was accidentally found containing the bodies of 40 knights who have been dead for 5 years and have also been seen around the WK in that time. We are given their names and heraldry, a general order to detain them has been issued. The 40 were crusading together around the time they died.

We leave just after lunch.

The Amber Room

We fly north-west across the water, over Aladar for a while, camping by a lake in Aquila.

Th'rsday 10th Thaw

Fly on, landing and walking the last mile to Shifield Castle.

We're met by Simiam, son of Bertrand who escorts us in to meet with his father.

As requested by the Bishop, we meet at a local tavern (The Red Apple) with Zawysza, a scout. He and his children are some of those who scouted the area and returned, they went in through the high mountain passes in the east. They seem to have a family affinity for stealth.

He tells us of the network of mountain towers, every few miles at the edge of the mountains:

  • The blackened ruin of Tower of St Columba, Saint of Books & Poetry, supposed to have a big library.
  • Mezerkim's Tower
  • Ghost Tower
  • Charlotemburg Tower. 60' tall, white stone. Created by 'Xandor'.

Radu was a town of about 7,000 people before the infestation.

We fly south from the castle, loop around a bit, camp and rest until a few hours after sunset then fly into the mountains as a constellation of stars.

Carefully approach the nearest tower, Charlotemburg, area near it is magically protected from death/undead (forgetfulness & repulsion). Entity mages need to resist to enter. 4 floors above ground. Stairs descend through caves down about 500' to a cavern with natural hot springs with transformative healing properties. A room made of amber, eternally burning chandelier - a healing room. Stops aging, entropy, decay. Cures madness, bleeding. Nobody in the tower can be located.

The Cloister of St Columbo

Frysday 11th Thaw

We fly north about 3 miles to the next closest tower, a smaller one. Erdkelley Tower We pass into a life detection area about 900' out from the tower, go to ground approach slower and detect them back: 3 Greater Skeletons, 30 Zombies. 3 levels below the tower. 13 ravens fly up from the tower and start circling. Everan senses the effects of a Dark Circle stone when we're close.

Staying invisible & hidden we fly on to the next tower, about 3 miles west. St Columba Tower, ruined tower and out buildings on a high mountain ledge. Burned out about 9 years ago, looks like it burned out from the inside, possible magically started.

We scout around a bit, cellars under a couple of the out buildings have hollow spaces, the mountainside behind it is protected from scrying and has a magical door and window. Wards and protections vs 'evil' (undead/demonic). We open the doors from the inside using the key that is there.

Extensive and magically protected/preserved library in multiple rooms, large dining hall, indoor atrium, thermal pools. 5 (long-lived) Human monks wearing robes with ancient Elven runes (order, patterns, pathways) - St Columba's Order of Preservation of Knowledge. Library golems copying tomes, dusting. Some monks are permanent residents, others work shifts (7 years on, 7 off).

  1. Ignaceous
  2. Symon, stooped, bald, 6' tall.
  3. Byron
  4. Brian
  5. Zelda

Jurgenmark region is now controlled by a circle of 13 unscrupulous mages:

  1. Loras the Necro
  2. Eris, Earth/Land mage
  3. Samos, Shaper. May be resident near Nodvest, in the north-west corner of Jurgenmark.
  4. A Rune/Portal Mage?

Jurgenmark has a thin border to the lands of the dead, has many tombs/reliquaries/prisons/middens. Simon believes it was just a matter of time until something like this infestation happened.

Ancient ruins under some of the lakes.

Black stones at the corners and around the boundaries of Jurgenmark - Dark Circle Stones. Hidden under towers.

'Safe' preserves/farms for the living to replenish the undead ranks and power evil rituals.

We should be wary of the Order of the Cannons Regular of Prymontre - The Prymons. Arrived in the area about 808wk, acquired land in the NW, were helping with the 'civil works'.

Raiding Tower 51

St Columba Tower only has the one way in (that they admit to) but it does have two alternate exits:

  • A large Mechanician 'Canon' that can fire people 30 miles east before they start to fall. Most survive the launch.
  • An underground river, about 40 miles underground before exiting. Averages 3' clearance above the surface.

We invisibly sneak out the front door after dark, set up a long door in the ruined buildings.

Then fly the long way around the outside to the south-west corner of Jurgenmark avoiding a Black Dragon and exchanging greetings with Captain Ferrous of the Ion Queen, a patrolling Beltan ship.

We prepare a Darkwall in an abandoned cavern-dwelling a few miles from our target.

An hour before dawn, we approach a tower occupied by undead, ravens on the roof, wolves in burrows outside, 3 Greater Skeletons, 20 Zombies in a circle in the basement, blood magic powered crystal bell-cauldron with fetuses floating in acid. We kill the ravens to stop them sending messages, kill the skeletons and zombies, then smash up the cauldron magic.

While Everan fortifies the tower, we start divining the Dark Circle Stone:

  • AKA Masada Stone. Shaper made, diminishes sunlight.

40 minutes later, the rapid response team arrives: 2 Lords, 1 Knight, 3 Greater Skeletons, 12 Skeletons

Under Siege

They start trying to break through the warped and barricaded trapdoor, we start fortifying in the basement, setting up to protect Cher for the last 20 minutes of her Divination.

We almost make it 1 minute then Tunneling spells break through at ground and basement levels. Seren's Elemental plays murder in the dark at ground level, slowing their entrance; Everan blocks the basement tunnel with bones; 4 TK Rage grenados are tossed down the tunnel but we're expecting this and their troops take a lot more damage than we do.

We get eyes on the outside and see there are now more of them:

A bat swarm overhead
2 squads of 3 linked human mages surrounded by 6 unusual mummies that they band damage to.
A nightmare drawn carriage with a vampire on a skull throne on top and over time it disgorges skeletal knights, lords, 4 Spectres, and a human woman (E&E) with lots of bling.

We give up on the Divination and interrupt Cher so she can join the fight.

They lose two Greater Skeletons trying to explode Everan's blockade in the tunnel. We ablate the mummies away from the mages, the mages start a concert-cast earth tremor which starts collapsing the tower above us, the Spectres fade underground to approach us. We fight on but Mortimer is sure the bone constructions won't hold off the collapsing tower much longer, we start our evacuation out through Seren's Dark Portal, making it out as the Spectres arrive with a Dark Sphere to break down our fortifications.

12 miles away at our prepared evacuation point, we decide to fly back and hit their flank while they're focused on investigating the basement.

Welcome to our Ambush

We take flight, they cover the tower area in darkness. At about 6 miles range the glowing 3-headed flying giant dog takes flight, leading the 60 Wights on Giant Vampire Bats towards us. Soon joined by the vampire in his flying coach and 6 skeletal lords on Nightmares.

Over the next couple of hours, we lead them through the mountains, testing and assessing their capabilities and tactics as they chase us. I locate the Ion Queen and send a Whispering Wind to Captain Ferrous, then we lead the undead towards a Beltane ambush.

Reapsday 12th Thaw

30 Bat Riding Wights try to flank us, we ambush them with mid-air Agony causing them to crash into mountainsides.

The Vampire and 5 nightmares peel off towards one of the southern Jurgenmark cities which sends reinforcements via high speed spheres packed full of undead.

We land as bait, creating a defensive position, attacking the (approximately) 250 them as they come in. The 6 Beltane ships that answered our call ambush the undead as planned, 7 of them survive, we finish them off.

We search the battle ground finding a couple of things that survived.

  • White Gem - magical tracking and scenting, manifesting as the glowing dog.
  • Mace of Mirkul - Evil Draining Possessing - destroyed.
  • Shield - magical protection.
  • Circlet of commanding undead.

Everan chats to the ashes. That was a small portion of their border force, the Vampire was a senior Lieutenant, the woman was his Bride.

The chat with the Beltane on their ship, they invite us back to the castle for a full debriefing.

We demur to fly back to the tower and finally complete our ancient divination:

10' 'living plant' Dark Circle stone was grown here from a seed, range is 16.66 miles. It is aware of adjacent effects but not connected. A significant chunk of it chipped off would grow to another stone, fed by darkness, growth retarded by light. Is a focus for a 'Dark Circle' effect, extending and anchoring that effect but not causing it. Zeisterheim is the center of the Dark Circle effect.

Back at the southern castle that afternoon we let them know everything we learned. They award us Beltane medals of valour.

Zeisterheim Crater

Sunday 13th Thaw - W'nsday 16th Thaw

Fly to Artzdorf & Flugelheim to fetch Cher's Mountain, getting it blessed on the way back.

Th'rsday 17th Thaw

We drop Blessed Mt Retribution from 40 miles above Zeisterheim at midday.

Observing from range, there is a flash and a lot of debris, the Dark Circle effect then diminishes.

Once the dust settles, we expect the crater to be miles across where there was once a pass through the mountains.

We head south to the castle to brief the Beltane on our success.

Frysday 18th Thaw - Reapsday 19th Thaw

We fly back to Mordeaux and report in to the Arch Bishop.

Sunday 20th Thaw

We fly back to Seagate.

Buffs & Mil Sci

Long Term (assumed always on)

Magic (caster) Rk Effects Duration Ev Mo Rn Se Ch ?
Greater Ench. (Rn) 20 +21% to Res, Mag, Com, and S&S. 5 days Y Y Y Y Y Y
Witchsight (Rn) 22 See Invis 12.5 hrs Y Y Y Y Y Y
Ench Armour (Rn) 20 +42% Def +1 AP 14 DR vs Phnt/Nmare. 10.5 hrs Y Y
Familial Defence (Mo) 19 +43% Def +3 DR 10 hrs - Y - Y
Str of Darkness (Se) 20 +11 PS 200 min Y Y Y A Y Y
Instil Flight (Mo) 15 80 mph, 800 lbs limit, item 20k+ sp to enchant 16 hrs per 24 Y Y Y
Ice Traversal (Ch) 20 Travel over ice and/or snow without slipping or sinking in. (+7 TMR on flat ice) 7 hrs
Self Only  
Mind Shield +10+2/rk% vs M.Att. 1+2/rk hrs 8 12 13
Navigation Extra Navigator ranks as listed and safer travel 1+rk Hrs +4 (12)

Short Term

Magic (caster) Rk Effects Dur Ev Mo Rn Se Ch ??
Enchant Weapon (Ra) 16 +17 BC%, +6 Dam. +7 vs Phn/Nm 21 min
Senses and other stuff
Capability Rk Effects Dur Ev Mo Rn Se Ch ??
Sense Danger (%) Mind Talent (or equivalent) 71%
Detect Ambush (%) Ranger (-5/rank of opposition) 136% 114%
See Invis (Rk) Effective rank for seeing invisible 22 22 22 22 22 22
Stealth (%) Standard / Ranger Outdoors 165 / 182% 121 / 98%

Misc

Enhance Enchantment
(Ra) rank 11-13: 65-80 seconds
Herbalist Lunch/Broth
Everan rk 5, Meal 4 FT or Broth 4 FT
Rahne Ranger ring (Highlands)
+7% Def, +7 IV in Melee and Ranged
Everan - Protection from Evil (10 ft radius from Everan)
+30% MR, +4 FT AP, +4 Spell AP
Dance (Cher)
5 mins dancing every morning for Reroll 1 failed MR or ignore 1 stun
Snail Shell (Cher)
1 each, crush to undo one terrible consequence

Watch Order

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Cher Everan Serendipity Mortimer
Rahne

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Default

Rahne Cher
Serendipity Everan Mortimer

Double File

Rahne
Cher Everan
Mortimer Serendipity

Single File

Rahne
Cher
Everan
Mortimer
Serendipity

Astrology

Lucky Numbers (Rahne)
Everan Mortimer Rahne Serendipity Cher tba
59 75 13 -- 34 __

Loot

From the Ormond Battle

  1. Sword of Mirkul - Evil Draining Possessing - destroyed.

From the Big Battle

  1. White Gem - magical tracking and scenting, manifesting as the glowing dog.
  2. Mace of Mirkul - Evil Draining Possessing - destroyed.
  3. Shield - magical protection.
  4. Circlet of commanding undead.

Calendar

Spring: Thaw 823 (10)
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Candlemansa 1 Guild Meeting 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
Spring: Seedtime 823 (11)
5 6 7 8 Rites of Thunor 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 Equinox 16 17 Eostre 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 1 2
Spring: Blossom 823 (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
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