A.C.A.T stuck in a tree

Scribe Notes

Summary

GM: Sam
Season: Winter 823 WK
Night: Wednesday
Location: Birdlands
Level: High

Guild recommends at least one Highly Ranked Thief in the party

Party

1. Jaycey - Halfling Illusionist - Anne
2. Kerry - 'Human' Celestial - Helen
3. Phaeton - Human Celestial/Healer/Astronomer - Keith
4. Flamis? - Jacqui
5. Pierre - The Halfling Illusionist. - Ian A
6. Sooty - Bernard

Employer

To Be Disclosed

Mission

Break into a crashed flying ship, retrieve objects

Pay

Reasonable Expenses covered. Cash Value of Loot recovered with option to buy items. First choice to employer.

Scribe Notes

Session 1

Have to admit, the revelation that the stars were nothing more than bright circles stuck on the inside of a sphere had thrown me for a loop for quite some time, enough for Rowan to insist I stop moping and find an adventure to go on – get a change of scenery – or something. Well, this one looked promising – something to do with a cat stuck up a tree. It turned out this was no ordinary cat, and as we found out later, it was no ordinary tree either. The 'cat' was some sort of flying ship and we were being hired to help salvage it as well with dealing with whatever entities that had taken residence inside it.

We met up in the meeting room, we being Pierre (male halfling, dark aspected, illusionist/earth mage); Kerry (female feline shapeshifter dark celestial mage); Jaycey (female halfling illusionist as well as doing strange things with nightmares and knowing every Wall spell known); Sooty (aka 'The Green Knight', male ash mage and also dark aspected); Flamis (female human fire/radiance mage, light aspected) and myself, Phaeton (male human light celestial mage, also light aspected). Sooty insisted I needed some better armour, especially since my two best had been destroyed on adventure, He suggested some sort of plate. I'll have to see how that works out. An earring of non-stunning was also installed on me.

Our party employer wasn't there so we sorted out our party dynamics. Jaycey became the party spokesperson and, somehow, I became the scribe. It turned out that our party employer was waiting for us in a nearby field (still on Guild grounds). This person was female, dressed in a drab ship's captain outfit, and introduced herself as Bibo. We were told this 500ft long flying ship was currently embedded in an extremely large tree on the Plane of Ulder, a plane that the Guild had only visited once before and was a recent discovery. We then retreated to do our research. Naturally I headed to the library to study the scribe notes from the party who was first there. For some reason, Jaycey was rather reluctant to be anywhere near the library when evening approached.

Next morning it was an early start down at the docks. Since Kerry had been one of the initial party, her aura contained the way to return to the plane, at least that was how it was explained to us by Captain Bibo (Bubo). She did some sort of ritual and Kerry changed into a portal which we stepped through. Once we were all through, the portal closed and Kerry reappeared. The portal was like some sort of wormhole where we had to be squeezed through a worm sized hole to get through. I called the process 'spaghettification'.

We found ourselves on a hilltop overlooking the coast where we could see a lot of ships, including one huge one. What looked like a small tent village was on the coast nearby. I had a look at the ships with my powerful spyglass and discovered that the ships looked like that they had been grown, including the big one. Only one ship looked like it had been built and that was Bibos(Bubo). On the horizon I could see a tree, the one that Bibo(Bubo) said that the ship was stuck in. Given the distance to the horizon, as this sphere was a lot bigger than Alusia, this tree must be huge – maybe a few miles wide.

Upon reaching the 'village' and asking around I discovered the name of the local religious deity was Valrin (Vulrin), which turned out to be the name of the Tree. There were more of them scattered around the planet but this one was the closest. Also, this flotilla of ships was a large floating town, the big one being the town centre. I enquired about maps but were told there weren't any. No libraries either – really disappointing.

What was even more disappointing was the lack of stars in the sky. Even sweeping the sky with my spyglass/telescope did not reveal any more – no faint fuzzies either. No signs of any planets as well. Gravity was Alusia standard as was the length of the day. There was a moon, or two as it turned out.

Next morning, we headed out for the nearest boat and the whole flotilla moved out as one.

Session 2

It was going to be a week's voyage so we spent the time (well in my case – not sure what the others were doing) studying the night sky – what there was of it, attempting to upgrade my planetarium item with more magical capabilities, (Sooty thinks I need to merge it with something else), swimming (good exercise), artistry, and generally just observing things to learn as much of this Plane as possible with deductive reasoning (Sooty thinks I'm being fanciful). Jaycey thought it would be funny to make be look like a woman for a while on one of those days. Not the first time that happened, and I only figured it out when I was getting 'looks' from most of the men (and a few women). Illusionists!

What I did see was there was quite a lot of fish under the boat, and we were being followed by a flock of large birds, unfortunately not close enough to determine their GTN.(GTN'ed as Sea Birds) Available food was fruit, fish, pastries and tea – at least that was what I was having. All in all, it was a rather restful trip although I was still being troubled by the nature of reality, on this plane and on Alusia. I think Jaycey was at some point trying to tell me I should try rejecting that reality and substituting my own. Oh, if it was that easy.

On day 6 of the mission, being our 4th day at sea, Sooty (Jaycey) (who was on watch) spotted a 4ft tall humanoid, coming out of the ocean and clambering aboard one of the neighbouring ships. Sooty sneakly water walked over to see what was going on. The GTN of the entity was 'Aquatic Elf' and the exchange went something like, "Have you found it yet?" "No, it's probably further ..... wait what? Who are you?" "What are you looking for?" "A ring" "What's does it do?" "It's pretty". Somehow Sooty convinced this adolescent elf that he was the Elven God of Thieves and presented him with this illusionary diamond (from Pierre) with strict instructions to keep it close or it would be stolen back. The would be thief left.

Day 7. It was raining. Jaycey decided to go out in it and came back soaking wet. Meanwhile I was asking questions about this place and was told 'Trust in the Tree'. Sort of confirmed my theory that they treat these World Trees as deities.

Day 9. Arrived at the mega oak tree. GTN – Quercus. Aura Strength – Avatar. Our boat split from the flotilla and entered the mangrove swamp surrounding the Tree. Name of entity this is the Avatar for – No answer. State of Awareness – Dull. Mind you, we were DAing a rather sickly looking tree root at the time. As we entered, a gentle mist descended.

We stopped near a tree branch that dipped into the water and started walking up it. At one point we saw a line of gi-ant army ants marching in single file along another branch. For some reason, Captain Bubo handed me a well carved boat. Meanwhile Sooty was suggesting I start wielding a hand & one half sword. Not quite sure why. That night, we camped, lit a fire, and spotted a firelight several miles up the tree. Sooty made a portal and pushed me through it.

I came out next to that fire surrounded by guards. After explaining what had happened, I was told to 'wait over there' which I did until the others came through. Turned out we were right where we needed to be and we would meet our employer the next morning.

Day 10. The employer turned out to be a dwarf and we were now in a building fifteen miles up the tree, part of a base camp near the flying ship or A.C.A.T, - Arsenal Containment Automatic(Aeronautic) Transport. Also the most dangerous monster in the vicinity was a Woods Dragon.

The ACAT was 5000 years old, and this expedition to explore it was sponsored by Sir Gramin Grumb(Graven Grum), Lord of the Vothloran Province. They told us that they had cleared the first floor and deck but had found a door they couldn't get past without a key. While looking for the key, two more ACATS had been found nearby, filled with rather 'horrible stuff'. They had recently found the key and instructed us to keep it on us at all times. The interior was scry shielded so they had no idea what was in there so, we were sent for. They want whatever documents we could find inside as some sort of highly explosive crystalline powder. Other things we might encounter were crates marked with a symbol of an obsidian eye, presumably objects of strange chaos. There was also a turquoise crystal which was the power source.

Once we were briefed, we had a look. So much for clearing the deck as between us and the door was at least a hundred beetles and goblins, spread across the 500ft long deck. Also the tree branch had grown around the ship.

Session 3

Between us and the ship was a forest of assorted types of trees that had taken hold on the branch. Jaycey and Pierre sent out their illusions to scout out which were met by fireballs and firebolts. Also a large horn and drums started sounding. A force of goblins then entered the trees to attack, some of them riding giant beetles. We could also hear rustling in the trees.

Sooty laid down a fog which restricted vision to twenty five feet. Some of us could see through it but I wasn't one of them. A dart then bounced off my armour followed by a barrage of 'falling stars' which we were abled to avoid by moving. The dart had no magic on it but there was something odd about it. I remember thinking where did they get those 'stars' from but I quickly concluded there must be small particles floating in the void that are too small to be detected.

The restricted view did impede my responses but I did find some targets to fire rainbow bolts that although that provoked them into attacking me as well, which proves I really need to get better at defending myself.

It seemed quite a while but was really only ten minutes later that we killed or drove off the attacking force. The rest of the goblins on the deck evacuated. The way forward was now clear.

Session 4

We went down into the first level and inspected the fittings inside. Wasn't really much to find here. Down a set of stairs then turned right into a chamber that had quite a few pillars holding the ceiling up and also some set up barricades. It looked to me like it had been set up as a crossfire killzone. A red carpet ran the length of the room and at the end is a stone block. Five statues lined each side of the room. Mana strength of statues: Formally Living. Main magic on the pillars: Suspension. Cause of petrification on the statues: No answer.

Jaycey announced that the red carpet was 'cozy on her toezys' as we advanced towards the blank. Stone, wall at the end. I had the basalt rod out as as I stepped onto the stone platform, the wall swirled and in elven, formed the words 'Speak their names and enter'. Announcing the names of the party proved to be the wrong answer as the wall reset to it's dormant state. Someone else was needed to have a go.

The statues also had labels on them. On one wall was 'Margel the Warrior. (Margel Highron we later found out). In their names we serve. In their names we serve, in their names we die. In their names we die'. The other wall had Karl the Lord, In their names we serve. In their names we serve, in their names we die. In their names we die'. Jaycey stepped up, tried those two names and got the response 'Beware the false' and the wall returned to it's solid form apart from a rune depicting the number 1. We got the impression we only had one more shot at this.

Someone then had a bright idea. "Power associated with Margel: Bollar(Bular). Power associated with Karl – Karl Franz, someone pointed out - :Fuge. The wall itself was then examined. Long lived sentient, Power associated with: Jakos. Pierre says those three names and the wall opens up and a strangely familiar voice says "Welcome be to you Pierre". As we pass through Pierre remains standing on the stone platform on the other side. As he steps off, the wall closes up again.

On the other side was a long 25ft wide corridor stretching off as far as we could see with no immediate exits. Thirty feet further on we found a set of signs saying 'Transport, Temporary Holding, Simple Armoury, Debriefing.

The door to the simple armoury was rather solid but Jaycey and Pierre was able to get it open. Inside were rows and rows of weapons we were familiar with. There were some gaps but we were able to find about 100 truesilver weapons which we looted.

The room labelled 'Temporary Holding' contained 15' by 15' cages/ A few of them had piles of ash inside. Formally living, no GTN, ashed two hours ago, caused by disintegration. Did we break some sort of time status? Elemental magic, Spell: Fiery Purge, Triggered by external command or escaping the cell. Plane of Origin: Ulder. Looking pack into the past revealed the occupant was a white masked person and there was a lot of shouting going on.

Debriefing was a large open room with a large table in the middle and plinths lining the walls. Sooty got an electric shock from the table top. He then managed to get a birds eye view of the battle we had been in to appear on the table top. Jaycey found woven bronze rolled up scrolls in an alcove in the side of the table but they would not unroll and we didn't want to force them. Nature of Magic: Information. Illusionary cubbies in the plinths contained remnants of magical components.

It was getting late by now so we headed back out. As we exited the voice said 'Glory to you Pierre' and we recognised it as Bubo's voice. We then returned to the expedition camp where we reported to the expedition leader, Gurbin the Dwarf.

Session 5

Next day, we went back in. Pierre says the password and we pass through the wall. Transport turned out to be a long corridor with stairs going down. We could hear the sounds of metal being stressed and tortured. Down here the signage was Storage, Logistics and Low Security Holding Cells. The sounds were coming from the Low Security Holding Cells.

Upon arrival we discovered there were rows of cells. The first row contained humans, next were ogre like creatures although one cell had sickly looking humans in it. The third row had golem like beings and a bigger one of those was in the process of tearing off the bars to let the others out.

The sickly looking humans were standard short lived sentient with some sort of magical disease, while the golem like beings were long lived sentient humans. They served something called the 'Cabal of Misery'.

I was sure that a fight was about to break out, especially when we were threatened and Kerry told the big one to 'Back Off'. The others opened the first row of cells while the ogres cowered in their cells.

Of course the fight started with Kerry and I being attacked and my misgivings about wearing so much armour rapidly dissolved as I was able to take blow and be able to keep casting. There was one humorous incident. One of them tried to throw an invested necrosis at us which was reflected back at the caster – and it was the entity next to him that got hit. Obviously he had created the investment.

We finally put them all down but the big guy leader got away, disappearing down the corridors ahead. A search of those failed to find him.

The ogre creatures were let out and directed to go up and meet up with the exploratory force we had left in the boardroom.

  "I could send the Nightmare with them" – Jaycey
  "Are you trying to kill them?" - Sooty.

We rested for a bit before continuing on.

Session 6

Next stop – Storage. This room was stacked full of crates, mostly full of perishable goods that hadn't perished yet: clothes, foodstuffs, that sort of thing. A couple of crates were marked with the Oblivion symbol. That was when some of the party heard a skittering sound in a corner. This turned out to be what looked like a house cat but with dragonfly eyes and wings, that was in the process of eating some sort of meat. It's Generic True Name was Pixie-Cat.

The Oblivion crates (there were two) had melted bottoms with a hole in it. Some sort of orange residue had been left behind, otherwise the crates, which were wooden, were empty. There was also a matching hole under the crate and we determined what it was had the GTN of Caustic Spectre.

The door into Logistics had been blasted open from this side. Everything inside had been smashed, there was lots of blood about but a distinct lack of bodies. Some attempts of defence had been set up here but had been overrun. Another exit on the far side of the room had also been smashed open from this side. The other two exits were still sealed. Four teleportation plinths were also discovered in here. Somehow we were poisoned when we entered this room but it wasn't doing anything bad at the moment so I left it alone for now.

The two sealed doors were labelled 'Deep Storage' and 'Elite Habitation' while the one busted open was 'Lower Decks'. That was the one we decided to investigate. We descended down two flights of stairs, emerging at a corridor that ran bow/stern (North/South for those non-nautical types). Blood drops were going south so we followed them. 100 ft later was the remains of a guard post where there had been obvious signs of a struggle. Further on were doors labelled 'Dangerous Containment' suffixed with a letter and number that had also been smashed open. Audible sounds were coming from around the next corner and, when we looked, we weren't sure there were one or two creatures.

We soon discovered that this thing, identified as a Corpse Horror, was made of several different types of creatures fused together into one angry mass. We identified: beholder; displacer beast; cyclops; and various other things as we fought to take this thing down as fast as possible before it took us down. I was resorting to stabbing it with my dagger/wand as I was out of magical power. Still, we finally prevailed but, it was very messy. Very messy indeed.

Session 7

We started checking doors ahead. First off were the werewolves that were stuck in wolf form, which had something to do with their souls. Then there was the room full of dead and dying goblins. Following that were the treelings, plant like people that had been taken from where they had come from. We decided to leave them alone for now. Then there was the morgue room full of large dead orcs, GTN = Orks. The room labelled Magical Beasts was empty. The Earth and Fire habitats were also empty but there was some sort of mana drain going on. A very large room contained a very long, large scaled creature we soon determined was a purple worm. At the end of the corridor was a room which contained lots of humanoids dead or dying. There was also some sort of draining going on in here as well.

We turned back north. Past the corridor we had entered this level, we reached an eastern branch that terminated in a door with barricades in front. I poked a Wizard's Eye through and discovered around forty entities pointing sharp pointy things at the door. Sooty was able to talk to them in Eladin and discovered that they were some of the crew of this ship. We were able to convince them that the area was now clear and we meant them no harm.

Continuing north we found doors labelled 'Secure Storage'. The first room was an armoury containing high ranking silvered weapons and more of those draining runes. The runes looked fairly new. Sooty destroyed one of them and I could see the mana flows unbalance. Another was destroyed and a small explosion occurred. It was quickly determined that destroying more of them would cause larger explosions but, since these runes seemed 'foreign' to the ship, it was decided to move all the weapons out, and magically destroy them from a distance. The final explosion was powerful enough to potentially destroy anything that was still in the room.

The net room smelt of burnt toast. There was black charring on the walls and piles of metal slag in the room. The room further on had more slag but also had three intact adamantine golems in there. Each of them was 8 foot tall and Sooty was able to communicate with them.

The last room, as well as having standard supply crates in it had twelve oblivion crates in it. I was able to use the Wizards Eye to look inside to determine what was inside. The first one had an Oblivion Sphere inside, which reminded me of a Dark Sphere. The next crate contained thirty two crossbow bolts with the magical trait of Tracking. Then there was the suit of armour with the attributes of Charm and Capture. The fourth crate contained handaxes which caused bestial fury, presumably on the wielder. The next four contained that explosive crystalline powder we had been warned about. The next two were empty but the last two contained multiple drawers that were stacked on top of each other containing pouches, vials etc. The more mundane crates contained valuable items such as gems, urns, etc. As a point of interest, the wizards eye won't go through the bulkheads.

We also found shafts going up and down. The crew came out from behind their barricade and examined the intact golems before taking them away. They also mentioned that the golems had been tainted with unknown runes. Could these be related to the runes on the walls?

So we got all the living people out, the crew, the treelings etc. We also calculated that destroying all those draining runes could actually breach the section bulkheads, which could be a bad thing for the structural integrity of the ship. We were on level 4, and were told that in the level above was a dragon, and the engine stuff was in the level below.

Since this wasn't a salvage mission any more, we retreated out of the ship to find out what we should do now. When we got back up to the top decks, we discovered that the troops there had encountered the caustic spectres and some other stuff. So, just in case something did cause the ship to blow up, we decided to get off it and retreat a very long way down the branch.

Session 8

It was decided to investigate what was behind the area marked 'Elite Habitation' that had been barricaded off. Cracks were discovered in the barricade that hadn't been there before. The Wizard's Eye wouldn't go through it and the Nature of Magic was 'Creation'. With the help of Sooty's Counterspell, Jaycey punched her way through. On the other side was a dark hallway.

At the end of this hallway was a room with a recessed floor. Doors lined the walls, some of which were open. The room was occupied with lots of tall, humanoid looking people, many of which were decked out in rather intimidating plate mail. Bodies were also heaped up in piles in various spots.

These entities didn't look friendly and sort of reminded me of that representative of the 'Cult of Misery'. However, one should not judge someone by first appearances so Jaycey and Pierre sent their images up to say hello. The images disappeared as they passed through a spell barrier at the entrance to the room. So the two halflings moved up to the barrier and tried to be friendly.

The conversation went basically like 'What are you doing here and who do you serve'. Jaycey – "We're here to clear the ship of dangerous things. Are you dangerous?"

Entity – "If you serve Bula, what is the pass to their room?" Jaycey – "We haven't found it yet."

Things went downhill from there and soon, at least half a dozen fireballs and goodness knows what else were impacting the spell barriers – Sooty had laid another one between us and the entrance – so Jaycey and Pierre scampered to the safety of our side. A thaumaturge special counter was put down under us while ghostly figures rose up from the piles of bodies. The fight was on.

It was tough, it was terrifying, and it looked like we were going to be overwhelmed. They had a lot of magic at their disposal with several Colleges, such as Namer, Mind, Necro, Celestial and Water. The spell barriers proved to be a hindrance to both sides so they went down so Jaycey was putting up Walls of Dust and Sand to slow them down which meant for bits of the time, we couldn't see what they were doing.

Things got so confusing that I have no idea how we managed to thin out their numbers or where those dark sphere things came from. Sooty sliced into one with his sword, cleaved it in half as it seemed solid, then things got really weird after that.

Sooty's notes.

• The enemy finally started dying after several rounds of using walls / spell barriers to buy us time for healing and buffing, when they made the mistake of trying to force the fight to close quarters.
• Caustic Spectres are bad news. Incorporeal entities who melt your weapons when you hit them, along with draining and celestial magic like one would expect from a Spectre. All around a do not recommend enemy.
• The enemy were using a portable gateway to what appeared to be beyond the void through which all dead souls were being sucked. It was both cut in half and not cut in half at the exact moment the enemy were activating some effect from it. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Session 9

OK. Let's see if I can get this bit of the fight straight. The entities had transformed into some sort of eldritch horrors and there were dark, circular voids in the room as well. It had been the spherical artefact that they had been guarding that Sooty had smacked his sword into and, after the transformation, he beat a hasty retreat back into the corridor with the rest of us, and rapidly healed up. Some sort of space warp pulled Kerry and Flamis into the room and something was staring at them, malevolently. My Detect Aura on the entities gave the results of Aura Strength: Inconclusive and Generic True Name: Void Imprisoned. Sooty dropped a Pillar of Fire on the big one on the back guarding the artefact while the rest of up poured magic into the rest of them that were advancing. More 'space warps' tried pulling us towards them, which suited me just fine as now I could see all of them to target. It sort of looked like they were trying to overlay the reality they wanted upon us as some of the walls sort of disappeared. Also my magical aptitude plummeted to a new low, however my red bolts, tuned to magical creatures, looked to be rather effective.

  "I reject your reality and I substitute my own" – Phaeton.
  "Are you sure you're not an illusionist?" - Jaycey.
  "I'll answer that question after this fight." - Phaeton.

When three of them got wiped out by Pierre and Sooty, three void circles also vanished. Meanwhile I was hearing whispers in my mind and was being bamboozled by some rather advanced mathematics. I got the impression these creatures were feeling abandoned and betrayed and were very angry about it. Meanwhile Sooty had managed to reach the one at the back and did enough damage to the artefact to cause it to vanish. Just before it went, he threw his flaming constructed sword in the resulting reality hole before it closed. The rest of the operation became a mop-up job and reality returned to normal, including my magical potential.

The doors off to the sides led to dormitories. A double door at the end had a sign we could not read we could not initially open. Looting the dormitories revealed various magical weapons of interest, accessories of interest, lots of paper documents but no maps or charts. It takes us an hour or two to go through the lot.

About then a rather nervous looking entity, similar to the ones we had just fought, entered the room. It told us that the artefact was a portal to their lord – some sort of abomination called Maliketh the Soul Shepherd. It may not be any longer. Maybe that was why they were feeling abandoned. It also appeared that I was being followed by a Panjarre spirit. The nature of the spirit following Phaeton is unknown, we can neither confirm nor deny it being Panjarre - Jaycey

Bubo turned up and opened the double doors for us and we prepared to enter. Why do I get the feeling this was her ship?

Session 10

Beyond the double doors was a short corridor which doubled as a workroom with benches with papers resting on them. Four doors led off, all closed. When I opened one, a thick black oily cloud escaped the room. The room was full of boxes which were now covered in an oily black sludge. Pierre managed to get another door open which revealed a bedroom.

  Pierre – "Ever heard of a silent bard?"
  Phaeton – "A mime"

It was a fancy bedroom and the items of interest in here was a dagger with location magic in it and boots with striding magic. While Pierre debated opening another door, Jaycey and Sooty started playing musical instruments to pass the time. When he finally did it, a fully equipped alchemical/mechanician laboratory was revealed. It was full of magic as well with the theme of 'Prometheus' and a nature of Inspiration (Nature of Magic: Prometheus, Inspiration came when holding tools). One discovery was a golem in a sack.

Somehow Sooty got the idea of trying to bind the golem to the room in 'order to give the room a voice'. Pierre went in to assist him and the door, by itself, closed behind him. From time to time I could hear Sooty's maniacal laughter.

Since there was nothing else we could do, the rest of us investigated the final door. On the other side was a luxurious bathroom. It was discovered that the soap and hair care products were everlasting so Jaycey grabbed the lot. We also noticed a numeral on one of the tiles.

Finally the laboratory door opened and the others came out accompanied by a now active sentient golem. The aura in the room had depowered a bit and now said Guidance. The golem's aura strength was now Avatar and it now had the ability to create objects out of .... well I assume it was primordial chaos ... but it looked like nothing. It immediately created a hand and a half sword, a copy of it's own chassis and two perfect cream buns before we were able to keep it's attention. Even so, it was creating pins as we, well mostly Sooty, conversed. They discovered that it's name, or the name of the Power it was associated to, was Daifo(Daifa). Also it's Plane of Origin was rapidly changing, non-repeating, and nothing we recognised.

While this was going on, I moved into the crate room and did my best to clean them. No crates with Oblivion marks were found.

When I got back Daifo had created two books with random sentences in them which I accepted. Maybe they would be an aid in astrology readings. Sooty had managed to get Daifo to reduce it's rate of creation and to also consider if what it was creating would benefit who it was creating for. Two grenados with unknown contents were also created.

We left the ship, along with Daifo (Daifa) to report. Jaycey spotted someone watching us from the foilage on another branch. Daifo (Daifa) made a gesture and Jakos suddenly appeared in front of us. He looked rather terrified when he realised what had been done. One of those grenados was launched at the foliage and it exploded in a green cloud. By now, I really needed a cup of tea.

Finally it was decided we would go back in and check out the Deep Storage area. How much trouble could we get in down there?

Session 11

The Deep Storage door opened onto a stairwell descending to a large door. On the other side, as well as the storage level were passages going down and up. Sooty were sure we were on ship level 5. So we went down to storage level 6. Lots of machinery was found here, presumably for fixing magical devices. We also discovered that a security barrier was down blocking off the other half of the room.

Level 7 showed us a room that occupied the next two levels and to get in it we descended down to level 8. When we got there, we could detect the breath of a rather large creature – or maybe three of them. It was also rather dark in here. We could also hear the deep growls of a rather annoyed creature. That basically told us that there was at least one rather annoyed dragon in here.

Level 9 proved to be the bottom of the ship. This level was well fortified with weaponry that looked like they rolled down into slots and then dropped. We also found several crates filled with that explosive powder. In the middle of the chamber is a ten foot wide circular area that was worn differently, as if something had been sitting there but had since been removed.

Back up to the store room in L5, crossed the room to the next set of stairs going up and we found ourselves in the storeroom where we found the crates containing the oblivion spheres.

Jaycey stated she was going to feed scone to a dragon.

So back down we went. This time we heard growls and the rattling of chains. It was three dragons, Plane of Origin Ulder. The biggest one was coloured a metallic shade of green, basically iron scaled. The other two were adamantine and gold. I thought their bindings were horrific. There were chains bolted into their wings, they had neck collars and also bolted into their spine. We tried various ways of breaking these bonds until Kerry found a key in the upstairs workshop. A pass phrase was also required so the dragon took the key, said the phrase and the locks open. We provided some healing to them

We then heard a creaking sound from outside followed by a crash. The ship dropped a bit. It looked like the Tree was in the process of jettisoning this branch. Half of it had already fallen off.

Somehow the side of the ship turned transparent – or opened up and the dragons were able to fly out. We followed on our own wings. Behind us the exposed hull still looked solid so we weren't going back in that way.

Well, that's it. We're done. Since I wrote the last bit, it was generally agreed that we had done enough to get paid and our mission had been accomplished. Also, somehow, Jaycey had managed to get to my journal and made red ink corrections in various places. Thank you Jaycey. I only spelt the names as I heard them.

I was being followed by a Penjarre Shadow, but I lost that. Seems like Daifo had somehow flicked it into the Void.

I also got the impression that our party employers knew more than they were telling us or even letting on. It was almost like that they had let us loose on the ship and watching what we did for their amusement. Given some of the things we ended up doing, I'm fairly sure that they were also surprised and in a few cases, horrified. For instance, when Sooty asked about the Level 3 we couldn't get to, Bubo told us not to worry about it. Crew accomodation deck I presume. And when I asked about the control area, the reply was 'Who needs controls'. Hmmmm ......

Daifo offered to make things for us but that was just too tempting so we didn't. Kerry did manage to get a collection of pixie-cats of which many of them ended up back with us by various means, Jaycey's bracelet, Kerry, and cats being cats by hiding in our gear. Maybe I hadn't imagined my backpack purring.

Speaking of changes to the local eco-system as some of the pixie-cats had escaped into the wild, the three intelligent dragons, who had been watching us all this time, finally flew off. Presumably they'll end up mating with the local not-so-intelligent dragons and raising the intelligence of the population. Somehow I do not think I will be around to witness the consequences.

This Plane in general I would characterise as a magic heavy plane which magic supersedes physics much more than it does on Alusia to the extent that physics isn't constant. This probably explains why I was drinking so much tea to soothe my mind. I have to admit though, the herbal teas here were rather delicious. I still will be so glad to be back home on Alusia, sitting in my comfy chair, with a normal cat purring on my lap, and reading a relaxing book.

Quotes

Sooty - I don't think there is a demon whose name begins with 'X'
Phaeton - Well .... if you think about it, technically, Liessa is my 'Ex'

Adolescent Aquatic Elf - Who are you oh strange God of Thieves?
Sooty - I am known as the Green Knight

Sooty - What's the most dangerous thing we can drop from a cloud?
Jaycey - You.

Mil-Sci

Daily pattern

How much time does the party spend sleeping, eating, traveling, doing rituals, etc each day

Travel Magics

What travel magic options does the party have, how far per cast/or per day if duration is longer than usual travel time. Can the party eat/sleep/etc on the mode of transport.

Kerry- RK 7 Star or Shadow Wings, 4hrs at 37mph, or approx 145 miles. 5 targets in one cast, don't cut out in tight spaces, look like cloak when not in flight.
Flamis - Rk 12 Wildfires, 260min at 44mph, about 190.6 miles. Aura cast 25ft diameter.
Flamis - Fire Gate (needs a fire at both ends, burns 1 FT per 10 miles or part thereof).
Flamis - Fire Arc, 400ft, six entities.

Watch Order

Day Watch. Used when stationary, or on a larger transport such as a ship
First - ??
Second - ??
Third - ??

Night watch
First - Pierre, Phaeton
Second - Sooty, Kerry
Third - Jaycey, Flamis

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File Pierre, Jaycey Flamis, Phaeton Kerry, Sooty	Single File

Buffs

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

• Morning & Evening spells may have a rank 15 Enhance on Duration, provided they are pulse cast.
  
• Kerry's Herbal tea restores 3 ft. She has an Item allows storage for later consumption.
  

Fatigue Costs

How much Fatigue each person starts the day down after casting / meals / etc.

• Jaycey:
• Kerry: none (get it back from a meal)
• Phaeton:
• Flamis: 34 (depending on buffs)
• Pierre:
• Sooty: 4 down.

Major Creations

• Phaeton - Partial Plate, True Silver, 8 Ft Protection.
• Kerry - Hand & 1/2, True Silver, +2 DM, - Extra magic maintained.
• Kerry - Ash Shroud
• Sooty - Ash Shroud
• Jaycey - Jousting Armour, True Silver, 11 Ft + Ash Shroud
• Pierre - Ash Shroud

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Jaycey	Kerry	Phaeton	Flamis	Pierre	Sooty	?
Shadowform or corascade	15	32/16	8 / 15.5* hrs.	N	SF	Y	Y	N	N	?
Iron Shield	20	42% defence if shield prepared, 21% if no shield.	10.5 / 18* Hours	Y	-	Y	?	Y	N	?
Witchsight	12	see invis	6.5 / 12.5* Hours	N	Y	Y	N	N	Tal	?
Thermal Control	12	Reduce Fire/Heat/Cold/Ice damage by 4, adjust gauge by 4 towards 7.	13 / 25* Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Tal	Y
Eleutherian Ward	15	+35% vs Restraint, Don't lose actions, negates up to 4 AG penalty.	8 / 15.5* Hours	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	sit
Primordial Armour	20	125 Magic ablative, after resistance, before other effects.	21 / 36* Hours.	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Strength of Stone	20	+20 ST and/or EN	21 / 36* Hours	EN	EN	EN	EN	EN/PS	EN	EN
Disguise Illusion (JC)	15	Change Height (by 15%) weight (30%) voice and clothing, gender or race or copy an Individual. May not be located by a lower rk spell	16 Hours / 12 days	Y	Y	Y	Y	YY	N	Y
Greater Heart Rune	8	Heals 7 EN when activated	9 days	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?
Fireproofing (Fl)	11	Fireproofing	12 hours	Y	Y	?	Y	Y	?	?
Immolation (Fl)	12	+20 def plus 6 dam per pulse within 5ft	390 Mins	?	-	?	sit	?	?	?
Ice Traversal (Fl)	6	travel over ice and/or snow	140 Mins	sit	Sit	?	sit	?	?	?
Walking unseen	6	Walking unseen	7 Hours	sit	sit	Y	sit	Sit	Sit	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Jaycey	Kerry	Phaeton	Flamis	Pierre	Sooty	?
Light or Dark sword	7	+8 SC +4dam vs opposite	12 Mins	?	Rapier Scabbard	?	?	?	?	?
Strength of Darkness	9	+6 strength	100 Mins	sit	Sit	?	Sit	N	Sit	?
Heroism (JC)	15	16% Def, 16 die modifier to fear checks, 16 bonus to reaction rolls	150 mins / 12 Days	Y	-	?	?	?	?	?
Willow Healing Rune	8	Heals 3 EN for 10 pulses if activated within 16 hours	Until used	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?
Resistance to Light	20	42 MR v magical light	70 Mins	sit	Sit	?	sit	sit	?	?
Weapon of Radiance	15	+20 SC, +7 or +15 dam (versus creatures of cold or darkness, or against the Undead)	20 Mins	sit	H&1/2 Scabbard	?	Y	sit	Sit (Spear)	?
Smokeform	6	Turn into smoke, 2TMR, pass through any opening not airtight	20 seconds	-	-	?	sit	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Talents/Skills

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Jaycey	Kerry	Phaeton	Flamis	Pierre	Sooty	?
Sixth Sense	N/A	Sense before discovery or triggering ward/trap. Caps at 90+Rank.	N/A	131% (98%)	N	?	126% (96%)	152% (99%)	131% (95%)	?
See in the dark range.	na	be it witchsight infravision etc.	na	75/150/210(EV)ft	250ft	160ft	120ft infravision (improved)	75/150/90(Infra)/210(EV)	250ft	?
Detect Trap	N/A	Various detect trap skills. Caps at 90+Rank.	N/A	105% (98%)	66%	?	?	127% (99%)	106% (95%)	?
Detect Ward	n/A	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	152% (99%)	?	?
Scarper	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	152% (99%)	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Calendar

Winter
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Samhain
Frost (7)
			1	Guild Meeting	2	Ulder	3	Depart with Fleet	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
Snow (8)
							1		2		3		4
	5		6		7		8		9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Solstice	16		17	The Duke of Carzala's Winter Ball	18	Yuletide
	19	Days of Chaos	20	DoC 2	21	DoC 3	22	DoC 4	23	DoC 5	24	DoC 6	25	DoC 7
	26	DoC 8	27	DoC 9	28	DoC 10	29	DoC 11	30	Twelfth Night
Ice (9)
											1		2
	3		4		5		6	First Plough	7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21		22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30