Runeation

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Runeation
GM: Jon McSpadden
Season: Autumn 826 WK

Party

• Nendil Water Mage Leader
• Ms Hillborne Namer Military Scientist
• Loxi (Me) Earth Mage Scribe
• Aurora Air Mage
• Sven Water Mage
• Hammer Rune Mage (Fully – Hammer of the gods)
• Bedevier An extremely talented dog.

Employer

Styx, Rune Mage

Payment

We have each been blessed with rank 20 Greater Enchantments.

The guild says that we can keep ay myrrh that we find after the first sixty pounds.

I am, as per usual, a little confused by this arrangement but I’m sure it is all above board – so to speak.

Mission

There are these weird runes coming through the portal tree linked to Ildrisholm. We want you to investigate.”

Scribe Notes

Information

Fossergrim
So there are these ice-blocks (2” x 2” x some) with runes on them. They have been coming through this portal at intermittent times. Five of them have been found so far. << I wonder how many were not found … >> It turns out that these ice-blocks are transformed fossergrim via a special ice college spell.

Ms Hillborne dissipated that spell and hey presto – we had a fossergrim to talk to. Our water mages quizzed it and found out a few things.

He (Fang the fossergrim) was mucking about in his river by his waterfall when a tasty looking ‘big’ wondered by. Then he ‘woke up’ here, in an iron cage. He described the big as tall, looking somewhat like Sven but with the colour of Ms Hillborne and my type of hair – that is to say really tall (Over 6’), fair skinned with long platinum blonde hair.

Fang can tell, by taste I think, if a body of water is close to his home. This becomes very important.

Rune Cubes
Some divination had been done by guild staff members. We now know that they were created a week apart to the minute (Duesday 6:53). Most importantly – we know that the spell of transformation only lasts for three months.

Armed with this information – we set off to Ildrisholm via the portal, with Fang in tow.

Through the tree and back

Styx showed us the tree that is the rune portal to Ildrisholm. He instructed us to touch it in quick succession on the same spot – so that our travelling time will be the same(ish).

We arrived on a beautiful hill by a lovely tree in Ildrisholm. In our immediate attention were hoards of dark armies. Ogres, Goblins, walking Skeletons, Wolves carrying Skeletons, Skeletal Goats and who knows what else, surrounding our hill.

It was a very quick visit. We definitely needed to think about this some more – so we took the nearest portal back to Seagate.

Someone had the sense to ask what day it was. It turned out to be the 4th Fruit – two days since we stepped through the portal ten minutes ago.

We did some philosophising about the nature of rune portals and Ms Hillborne went back over her divine discoveries. It came to light that Fang had, in one incarnation or another, been through another portal. This raised more questions about the nature and whereabouts of rune portals. Styx was of some little assistance there.

A time to Sail

A decision was reached that we would sail to the mouths of the various rivers within 200 miles of our hill in Ildrisholm. At each point we would let Fang taste the water and tell us if that was the way to his home.

Sven wisely alerted us to the dangers of taking a fossergrim with us – inasmuch as Fang would be tempted to charm, drown and eat us (in that order). Hammer provides us with a solution in the form of a compelling spell that he paints onto the fey in blood. Now, for a day at a time, one of the water mages can command him and he will obey to the letter.

We sailed to Dolphin Bay on the Unicorn river, Snake river, Mirimar river, into the Five Sisters, on towards the Luna Empire into the Isles of Adventure.

One night we were talking about the fact that the next rune block was about to expire when it did. Now we had two fossergrims on board. Sven got more agitated and Ms Hillborne found a friend – Cutie is her name. After some too’ing and fro’ing over the fate of Cutie we let Hammer work his magic again.

Cutie has been ordered to swim home and we are following closely behind. And so we sail into the Isles of Adventure and the 14th of Fruit.

Day or night

We approached Cutie’s home and watched her swim straight into a waterfall of calm water, flowing gently down a cliff face.

Later interrogations led us to the fact that fossergrims make their environment seem calm, so that the unwary will be trapped in the rapids – making them easy prey for these water folk.

There is a path running beside the Fossergrim River. Fang tells us that ‘bigs’ come and walk on it now and again and that he enjoys their flesh. I note here that the island is only a mile and a half long and a mile wide. There does not seem to be any permanent habitation of humans or people here.

Our immediate challenge was the tingle of magic that we sensed when Sven took us closer to the beach. Neither Ms Hillborne or I could discern the nature of this magic – so we barrelled through. To our surprise, we sailed into star lit darkness. Master Sven immediately took us back into the daylight, through this veil. And so we waited for Ms Hillborne to make a divination.

The curtain is a ‘temporal displacement’. It takes time back, just over twelve hours. Our water mages tell me that this is rather clever, because it fits in with tidal movements and so there will be no break in the waves. Other than that – we have no idea why somebody wants their island to be half a day behind the rest of us.

Fort

Up on the headlands, just away from the river mouth, stands a ruin of a fort. This fort looks really ominous at night. We spent the rest of our day outside the veil and went exploring, in the displaced daylight.

When I say ruin this building is dust waiting to happen. I tried to climb the walls (as the stairs where rotted) and they crumbled under my weight.

As if that insult was not enough – the wretched occupant of this forsaken place then attacked me. He(?) is a revenant – an undead creature that we assume has a very sorry tale. Maybe we’ll find out about that later but for now we have left him in his falling down house.

The rest of the island needed our close and immediate attention.

Obelisk

Our trek, through the rough – not the path for fear of fossergrim attack – took us towards the other side of this island where we came upon a towering obsidian obelisk.

Aurora said that this was a good place. As I come to think of it she said that when we crossed the veil as well. The Island does have a strange affect on our spell casting abilities.

Hammer finds casting easy. The Water mages find it wearing. I think Aurora finds it extremely easy. Ms Hillborne and I don’t seem to have difficulties but nothing special is happening for us.

Back to the obelisk

We found out that it is a link to the elemental plane of air and that while Aurora believes that she could cast lightning bolts (a spell that she has seen done at the guild) when she’s in contact with it – she can’t, but she did draw an awful lot of mana when she tried.

The Temple of the Moon

Just by the obelisk is a temple sort of a building. It is guarded, at the top of some impressive stairs, by two moon dogs. The dogs are constructs that will activate when someone walks between them. We walked around them and up to the huge oak doors.

I masterfully picked the lock mechanism by way of lifting the bar from its holding brackets. <>

We boldly walked into the temple, after Ms Hillborne assured us that there were no magical traps. It took me a little while to realise that my magical talents are for naught in this house. This is extremely disturbing as it goes underground – in my element you might say. In here – the water mages can draw mana freely and the others are the same as when they are on top.

Our explorations took us into an ancient library where Hammer told us that the temple was indeed devoted to Karvala. Unfortunately, the scrolls will turn to dust if we touch them. Maybe there are people who can preserve and restore these texts for our library.

We found a room full of priests’ robes and regalia. << I wonder if it would be useful for us to have some of those robes >>

And then we came to a summoning hall.

The reason to adventure

“Loot”: was the general cry as the skeleton guards raised their besilvered arms to silently order us out of their presence. Our noble leader informed me that we would not come back to sort this situation out later because, in her experience, there is never time ‘later’. Personally I think that all she saw was the silver trinkets walking around on easily destroyed skeletons. Oh well – a contract is a contract and I will not be the one to see my fellows be slaughtered unnecessarily.

We actually put this fight off until the next day – after sleeping off our adventures at the fort. The day of the 16th saw us wrest the finery from seven skeletal warriors at the cost of several bumps and bruises, one grave chest wound and some consternation. Sven would not let me snap the embedded scimitar to draw it neatly out of Aurora. He bade me to heal her, then pull the blade out (causing more grievous damage) then heal her again. My apologies sky mage – the sword was worth more than your pain.

Now the skeletons are no more than dust and the illusions of snakes have dissipated leaving the wristbands non –magical. We collected the loot and had a better look around.

Loot: Seven times sliver Scimitars, Wristbands, Torcs

The Summoning Hall – is set out with circled pentagram and a silver inlaid triangle complete with a bound entity in the middle of it. After some discussion and the gory results of Hammer’s future gazing, we came to a consensus to leave well enough alone. We may find out what an extra-dimensional being is doing, bound up in an all but abandoned temple in the Isles of Adventure, but we’re not going to ask it right now.

<< I will remember to bar the doors as we leave this place. >>