A Little Autumn Cleaning

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: A Littke Autumn Cleaning (Portal Linking)
GM: Keith Smith
Session: Autumn 807
Night: Tuesdays
Level: Medium

Party

1. Jacqui Grizelda
2. Scott Vanderhan
3. Poul Tehe
4. Nick Ath

Employer

Aolius

Mission

To re-integrate the Beth-Salem portal back into the network and establish a runeportal link from Seagate to Garrison on Khoras

Pay

Standard Guild Rates and Loot

Scribe Notes

The Party

• Party Leader: Tehe – Male Kroxiger (big lizard thing – looks like cute female human)
• Scribe: Grizelda Feldspar – Female Giant, Wiccan
• Military Scientist: Vanderhan – Four-armed Male Human, Fighter
• Short Stuff: Ath Bo Heleg – Male Elf, Dark Celestial Mage
• Employer: Aolus

Mission

Go to the Sea of Grass and return the portal keys to the Pasifikan Portals there.

Aolus:		"There's something I've forgotten..."
Grizelda:	"How much are you going to pay us?"
Aolus:		"Standard Guild Rates." 
Grizelda:	"That's peanuts!"
Aolus:		"I can pay you in those if you like."

Day One

After meeting in Room 4, followed by introductions, and assigning party roles, we began planning the mission. The objective was around two weeks travel away. We would take the barge up the Sweetwater to the Fords of Chir, then disembark and follow the north bank of the Sweetwater through the woods on the edges of the Wilderness of Gilarsi to Briansford, when we would cross the river and head due east, into the Sea of Grass. Vanderhan said he had a crystal ball, which would help us with finding the exact location of the portal.

After that was settled, we went to the healers to get our ears pierced so Vanderhan's lantern would work for us. Then Vanderhan took us to Sir Basalic's farm to purchase horses, for those of us who would be riding, and for pack animals. Sir Basalic was good enough to cast lesser enchantments for us, and gifted us with a fine slab of bacon and a dozen homebrew. Then we returned to the Guild and purchased greater enchantments and our remaining provision.

Day Two

We got up early and caught the morning barge upriver, mostly through the farmlands of Carzala.

Day Three

We barged on through the night, and mid-morning reached the portage past the first set of rapids, where we disembarked, and waiting wagons took the goods to the head of the rapids, where another barge awaited.

Day Four

We arrived at the Fords of Chir, and disembarked at the Chirsford trades village. It was obvious this place had been thumped during the war, but the busy humans had rebuilt the trading post, a smithy, and a tavern, where we stayed the night.

Day Five

We started out very early the next morning. Freya was bright in the dawn sky, and by mid-morning we were walking into the sun away from the river. We camped at midday to rest the horses, and carried on late into the evening, when we got back to the Sweetwater, and had a fine time hunting rabbit and squirrel, fishing for eel and catfish, and foraging for blackberries, wild onions, turnips and apples. I even found a honeyhive. Vanderhan made a tasty wild berry tart for dinner, and we set the meat and fish to smoking. Which is probably what brought the goblin raid. First I knew of it, I had an arrow in me, which woke me up very quick. I hollered a warning as I pulled it out, got up and grabbed my shield. Then we were into them. Vanderhan sliced, while I thumped... and it wasn't long before the last one was running off into the forest. But I was too fast for it, and I caught the nasty little creature and wuss-slapped it.... So it fainted. I brought it back for Vanderhan, and he woke the goblin up by dunking him in the river. The vermin jabbered away at us, but none of us could understand it, so it was tossed into the river to feed the fish, along with the rest of the garbage.

Day Six

Today we let everything hang.... And go we forage hunt some more.

"He's hoping a bandit will attack and try to rape him, and then he'll have lunch..." Ath-bo of Tehe who was wearing the illusion of an attractive woman.

"It's a stunned mullet.... No, it's a stunned mallard..." Grizelda, while duck-hunting.

Mid-afternoon, a gaily-coloured wagon comes by. Tehe goes up, and discovers it's a tinker wagon. They too have run into the goblins. The halfling tinker's name is Zek, and his companion is Kuark. Tehe dickers for a lance the halflings had picked up from somewhere, and gets it for six silver, two fish and a duck. Then Ath-bo looks at daggers, and finds some that have enhancement magics. The best thing was a magic ring that had featherfall in it.... And a self-heating skillet. And a self-filling salt-shaker marked "kosher". We bought the interesting things. That night passed uneventfully.

Day Seven

We set forth again and around mid-morning we came upon a tributary, crossed by a small stone bridge. We heard hoofbeats, and next thing saw what appeared to be a group of Michealine knights, and a priest. So we got off the road to let them through, and took cover in what appeared to be the ruin of the bridgehouse... Whereupon, the Michealines moved to surround us. We asked them what they wanted.... And they said our money. They attacked, we fought back, and they lost. Again one tried to run for it, and again I ran him down. This one talked, and told us where their camp was, so we took his weapons, his belt and his boots, and let him go. The best thing we found was an amulet of natural armour, worn by the "priest" who turned out to be an illusionist.

Day Eight

As evening approached we reached Brian's ford where we found another trading post. We sold a lot of the bandits' gear – the chainshirts and swords, and their horses.

"Battlefields are a resource these days... a renewable one at that." Ath Bo. 

Day Nine

That morning, we struck out due east, leaving the Sweetwater as the river headed North into truly strange territory. As the day passed the forest thinned.

Day Ten

This day passed uneventfully except the terrain altered to grassy plains.

Day Eleven

Mid-morning it started to rain heavily, and by mid-afternoon we gave up, and decided to camp. Vanderhan spotted a copse of trees. We made a fire from dry wood, and were shortly joined by a dryad. She told us fairy stories, and we told her adventurer stories.

Day Twelve

By dawn the rain had stopped, but the ground was soggy. Late afternoon we were setting up camp when we saw a bury of rabbits heading across the plain.... But they were undead rabbits, and they were eating dead grass. Weird.

This evening Vanderhan used his crystal ball to spot the lake by the portals... we figured it was about another four days travel.

Day Thirteen

We woke... and Ath Bo had a snake in his sleeping bag.... Which TeeHee dealt with before I was even properly awake. Over breakfast Iolus told us more about the cities of Pasifika.

Day Sixteen

Around lunchtime we came over a hill, and there it was – a circular lake with a set of six trilithons a few hundred yards away, and ruins all about. The trilithons were very big for human work. Each portal was ten feet across, and ten feet up, and it was two feet more to the top of the lintel. We went down and started to examine the portals – and that was when the bumps on top stood up and started firing. They were skeletal archers. I struck first, and swung my maul like a bat, swiping the first skeleton completely off the top of the trilithon, to impact on one of the rear portals in a scrunch of breaking bones. Of course it wasn't just skellies – out of the ruins came two mummies and more skellies, this time with swords. Out of the lake came a couple of shadows, what looked like an undead wyvern with an undead necromancer on it's back, and the strangest thing, an undead giant cockroach. Ath Bo helpfully made a wall of light clear across the road. Teehee went around trampling skellies and mummies, and it went down from there. I suffered a nasty eviscerating blow from a skellie after squishing the giant undead cockroach, and then I squished the skellie. Meanwhile Vanderhan whacked the undead wyvern thing into the ground.... And finally the battlefield was clear. Only one of the shadows got away. We found a trollskin amulet on the undead necromancer, and a ring with five remaining charges of wraithcloak which had dropped to the ground were the other shadow had been.

"And it's handless now... or is that 'armless," Grizelda after Teehe spec-greved a mummy.

We put the portal keys in their places, and then gated through to Pasifika, where we found a trading post and they took me to a healer.

Day Seventeen

I spent all day at healer's being fixed. Others learnt that we must go to a plane called Khoras to fetch rune mage to make portal from gates to guild. We would be paid standard rates, plus 4000sp of trade goods and twelve emerald moss potions.

Day Eighteen

We walked up the hill for a mile or more and came to an ancient stone circle, around a single trilithon stone portal. Then we went through the portal to a plane Aolus say is called Paleolithica. It seems to be mostly grass. And was a bit cold after Pasifika. We walked a short way to a small guardpost. Aolus talked, and the guards let us through to rune portal which took us to another rune portal, on top of a mesa, near another trilithon portal which take us to plane called Khoras. We come out inside a cavern, beside another guardpost; a sort of interplanar customs agency. The exit has been stonewalled up. The guards question us about our business and tell us useful stuff, like the yellow sun and blue sun are equal today so mana is normal. They let us through their rune portal which leads to a big room with bunch of portals in a big castle called Garrison. There are many guards here.

"I would say 'Good morning' but I not sure whether it is morning or afternoon here."
"Well, we just had lunch."
"Oh dear, I think I'm going to have portal lag."

Aolus said rune mage most likely at library, so we went to place called "Scroll and Tome", but rune mage, named Hendrick, he not there. He had gone to explore some ancient ruins. We got a native guide, a cute tiny girl pixie with armour and a sword, called Lucy Greenhilt. She is a paladin, serving a power called Barrinor. She took us through portal to a very big city of many races, mostly humans and the winged elves they have on Khoras, but also halflings (which are called grum) and dwarves, and cat-people and ogres, which is called Ithell. There we visited a truly enormous library, and learn that rune mage Hendrick, he had gone to ruins named Celgora, in a swamp called the Trackless Mire some five hundred miles north north-east of here.

We check trading post, and discover rune mage Hendrick has been here, equipping self for solo expedition into swamp, four days ago. He was planning to use flying magics to get there. Next we visit herbalist shop and buy potions. Herbalist had many strange and various plants. Finally we got lunch.

"Not want to fly on empty stomach, especially when no in-flight catering." Grizelda

Next we went to mage guild to get wings, and learned many interesting and diverse facts about Khoras and its history and geography.

"There is a portal which leads to hell." Librarian
"Let's not go into that." Grizelda

We got our wings and flew until they started running out.... And ended up camping on the driest ground we could find. In the middle of the night some of the party spotted will 'o the wisps in the swamp, but Grizelda not see them.

Day Nineteen

Lady Greenhilt tells us story of place as we make breakfast. Celgora was once a great castle used for secret magical researches, but it fell long ago, and nobody knows what catastrophe made this happen. Vanderhan used his crystal ball to confirm that those were indeed the ruins we were looking for. It rained all day as we walked and waded through the swamp. Not much fun until we ran into a bunch of giant spiders. Killing them was interesting. They not liked taste of Grizelda. Tehe was very good at squishing them. We camped again, now not far from sight of ruins.

Day Twenty

In the morning, Lady Greenhilt scouted, and Vanderhan used crystal ball. They saw towers poking out of the mist. We broke camp, and approached the ruin. Ath Bo cast shadowforms and told us that the magic was a bit wobbly. Looking for interesting plants we find "sunflowers". Apparently these soak up mana. Might be useful. I will try to grow them back on Alusia.

We made our way into the forecourt. Here there was very high mana... so high that lost spell fatigue came back. Very... invigorating. There was stables beside the forecourt. Vanderhan went in first and was immediately set upon by things like black fae that seemed to hunt him, then rapidly retreat into hiding. Their weapons were bone shards like toothpicks.

We went on, and as we headed out from behind a wall to an open area we were set upon by some seriously ugly misshapen creatures, roughly humanoid, and as big as me.... One was bigger. Ath Bo cast walls of light and they appeared to soak up the magic. Strange. And when they died... they were tough customers... they went boom! The big tough one was really hard to kill, but Vanderhan killed the big bad with an arbalest bolt. Afterwards we found these crystals where they had fallen. Ath Bo deduced from the auras that they all had storage abilities. One had healing, three had mana, and two had explosive powers. We checked the rest of the out-buildings and they were free of nasties. So we went and explored the tower. It was dusty and felt weird. Ath and I realised our spell-casting fatigue was being leached away. So we went outside while Vanderhan and Teehee investigated. A bit later, Teehee appears behind us, and Vanderhan came running out. Apparently they had found some kind of teleport trap called a "dimension door".

After that, and fairly sure our Rune mage wasn't there, we went to explore the main castle. There was a monster in the moat, but it didn't matter because the drawbridge held us, with a minimum of creaking. And a short while later, we found our missing Rune mage, or at least "Sir Tinkerbell" did. He was the local kind of halfling - they called them grum.

He took us to a doorway made of sticks with runes on them, and we step through. And found ourselves in a snowstorm. This was not Garrison! I borrowed Teehee's ring to keep warm and tuck the tiny paladin safely into my bosom, while the rune mage does his stuff. Eventually, it works, and we find ourselves on an island in the swamp... not the Celgora swamp, but the Garrison swamp. We go into the city and chat to an armourer. Apparently there are some good creatures for making armour for mages on this plane. We settled on the Torgat, because it sounded like the Polar Worm plates would be too heavy for Ath Bo. The Torgat is a giant terrible lizard hunted by the locals in a northern country called Normidia.

Day Twenty-Eight

After returning the Rune Mage to the Guild through the series of portals, and waiting for him to set up the portal between the Guild and Bethsalem, we went back to Khoras, and looked up an air mage recommended by Lucy, a winged elf called Ariel Stargazer. She has a friend called Feldora Rumblepifkin, who can do a shrink item spell which will be helpful to get the torgat bodies back. We find her in a nice warm place called the Pirate Isles, buying bananas. She makes a teleport spell and we find selves in a city called Tyrkon which is capital of Normidia. There we talk to hunters who report a torgat sighting to the north west.

Teehee offers to let the fae paladin ride him when we fly.
"You can ride me any time." Teehee (12' lizard) to Lucy (1' 6" fae)

Instead, Ariel makes a magic cloud and we ride until eventually we spot the monster lizard, chasing a boar through the forest. We shot it to get its attention, and then landed. Teehee charged in first, with his magic pike, but missed, and it went for him, slapping him down with its tail, and knocking him out. Vanderhan and I, having swilled strength potions, jumped on it, and held it down by sheer strength, while Ath Bo and Lucy slowly killed it.

That done, next day we hunted a second one, which fell to Teehee's magic pike, which meant we could make pretty armour. This was all good, and after selling the meat, which is said to be most excellent, we had enough local currency to pay the masters leathersmith and armourer in Garrison to make our three sets of armour. We also arranged to purchase some "Handy Have-a-sacks" which are bigger on the inside, and carry lots of stuff. All in all, a very productive outing.

(Weight factor 4 Port 8 Ag Mod –1 for Grizelda & Teehee)
(Weight factor 3 Port 7 Ag Mod –1 for Ath Bo)
(Fine-looking armour +2 PB and improved reactions in appropriate situations)