Conflict in Gaia

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Conflict in Gaia
GM: Alan Grant
Season: Summer 805 WK

Party

• Bainbridge, Necromancer Dwarf Female
• Talon, Illusionist Human Male
• Neroli, Air Dwarf Male
• Human, Illusionist Human Male
• Vanderhan, Non-mage Human Male (Military Scientist)
• Flamis, Fire Human Female (Leader)
• Basalic, Earth Human Male (Scribe)
• Lizette, Namer Human Female

Time on adventure

1st Meadow 805 to 19th Meadow 805 WK

Employer

Diplomat to the Emperor Nu-Wan

Mission

To take out an enemy leader beyond enemy lines.

Plane

Gaia

Places Visited

City of Gaia

Standing Stone of DarKoor

Important NPCs

Emperor Nu-Wan

Captain Arsa

Lieutenant Arki

Citizen Lera

Sier

“Lord of the Flies”

Chaos and Mayhem

Gaia

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsu0503.zip

Scribe Notes

I got myself talked into accompanying Flamis on her outing to the Plane of Gaea. Looked like the party was going to need military experience anyway as they had to take something out behind enemy lines. Besides, Aqualina had to dash off, something about a crisis in the whanau .. or something like that. In the meeting room were: Bainbridge, Talon, Neroli, Human, Vanderhan, Flamis, and myself. Flamis became party leader, Vanderhan the military scientist and I became the scribe. This meant Flamis ended up with the Scroll. Our instructions were to travel east to a particular spot then put the scroll on the ground to form the portal. We had to wait a couple of days before we left as Flamis had some investment orders to fill. On the morning of the third day, we headed off. On the way, we stopped at an inn to get ham, cheese and breads. 3 rd Meadow The trip out was uneventful .. well mostly uneventful. For some unusual reason, Bainbridge cast a spell which created a very bad smell. Many of the horses panicked. It took a while to calm them down and get the party moving again. Once we reached the spot, at the end of the path, Flamis put the scroll down … and everything got very very bright.. The horses didn’t like the look of it at all and rapidly retreated from the area, with us on them. After the explosion there was a flowing door, with lightning flowing all around it. The portal was up, and correct but it was going to collapse in a minute. So we rushed through. We woke up on a grassy plain. The horses were calm and munching. We were changed somewhat too. Plus Human was revealed in his true form and his monkey was actually an imp. Plus we could all see the Mark of Sier on him. I looked even more troll like, Flamis looked like she was covered in flames, Neroli had his hair and beard tossing about as if in a windstorm, both Talon and Human looked sort of indistinct whereas Bainbridge looked more real. Lizette was covered in names and words. Just then the ten foot cloak drifted across the field. After greeting us in the name of the Emperor Nu-Wan, the cloak dropped off revealing the occupant, a were-platypus. Even though I was forewarned I still thought it was highly amusing. We also discovered that it was five thousand years since the other party had been called and the current Emperor was the son of the previous one who had fallen in battle a thousand years ago. The same war was still going on even after all this time. Talon was going on about something called ‘Blue’ which Vanderhan described as being stronger than military coffee. The diplomat called it Dar-Yeh. Just then the imp zipped past us. Human explained it was probably heading off to torment a concentration of intelligent beings. I ordered him to recall it and make sure it stays put. A few hours later we reached the palace and were met by a platoon of werewolf soldiers. We were escorted in and met the Commander of the Armies, a werewolf, two grand viziers and the werebear healer. They were still in the progress of gathering intelligence on our target. They were going to provide a diversion for us. Our target was someone rather high up in the enemy’s forces. After the meeting we were conducted to our rooms. There seemed to be a lot of celebrations that the Heros from Seagate, led by Commander Flamis were back. Talon was swept away by a group of female wereotters for some, more private celebrations. However there seemed to be some mourning that General Aqualina was missing as they seemed to think she had fallen in battle. I’ll have to collect up their songs and legends before we leave, as I was sure she’d be pleased. Mind you, do I really want to give her a swelled head? She’d be insufferable for a month. A room had been prepared for the two of us. The others were in room each nearby. Off our one was our conference room, complete with planning table. There we settled down for the night. Vanderhan joined us a little later for a meeting where we carefully sampled the ‘blue’ and the highly alcoholic ‘green’. Mixing the two is very very BAD. Together we worked out our plans. .2. 4 th Meadow Next morning, we were having a strategy meeting when there was a faint rumble from the south. About the same time, a weretiger in partial plate came in to tell us the divination chamber was ready. So we went there, a room with a dais surrounding a pit. White flames rose out of it. In the flames we saw visions of the standing stone of DarKoor, located two days from the city. There is a portal there that leads to a temple, a long way off to the west. From there is a town still loyal to the Emperor which is being fought over. North from there, in desolate lands is a temple where the target resides. We also saw a vision of children in bone cages. We were told that those were their souls. We then saw the enemy who looked right back at us, presumably through his own scry as the glow faded. Flamis was then handed a piece of a shattered crystal, a diamond embedded in platinum, which provided dreaming visions. Three of them are also coming with is, Captain Arsa and Lt Arki, male and female werepanthers and Polari, weretiger. Back at the briefing room, we obtained wooden weapons, maps, two barrels of Blue, 1 flask of Green, as well as six vials of Waters of Gaea. Some of us were having adverse reaction to being near them especially those that were pacted. Even I was feeling a little twitchy. We rode off and Neroli’s horse dropped dead. Flamis had passed him her shockbolt rings and somehow they had gone off. So Citizen Lera, another werepanther, became Neroli’s mount. That night we saw a huge fall moon. Watch order: Lizette/Human, Flamis/Bainbridge, Neroli/Basalic, Vanderhan/Talon I was woken up during the night as a figure was spotted heading towards us to the south. For some reason Human would not wake up. The last spell to affect him was Detect Aura. Lizette’s cloak was also trying to flee. What I could see appeared to be a woman in armour with an aura of Avatar. We then recognised the being as Sier. Both Vanderhan and I opened fire with our laser rifles as the were creatures also attacked. Talon had also snuck up and scored a very good hit with his weapon which shattered. Sier then vanished.. Behind him was a collection of 1000 silver pieces. Flamis was able to destroy 999 of them, the remaining one left had the symbol of a dragon and was life aspected. The damage Sier had done to the land by his passage was healed with a vial of Waters of Gaia. Talon was also given the title of Corporal for his bravery. I was already a lieutenant to Flamis’s captain while Vanderhan was a sergeant. Basalic to the party necromancer – “How good is your Bless Crops?” It turned out that Human’s imp was gone as Human had told it to ‘Go Home’. Unfortunately it had gone back to Sier who had wanted to know why Human had sent his ‘gift’ back. Hopefully now Human will be free of Sier’s influence. I suspect Jhiselle won’t be speaking to me at all after this once she finds out I was taking potshots at her patron. .3. There seemed to be some indication that the coin is alive. Then something invisible thwapped Lizette. No idea what that was. 5 th Meadow We carried on into savannah and the grass got taller. Finally reached an oasis early that evening. Lizette started suffering from a mana overload so we gave her some cold iron to hold. Just then some were eagles and a were raven turned up. The horses were rather unhappy about that so I was busy calming them down. The werebirds had brought a new sword for Talon, a scimitar made of adamantium that was more effective against demons. Fishing was done despite the discovery that the codfish were semi-sentient. 6 th Meadow Next morning it was discovered that Talon was wet .. something to do with the wereotters. I cast Armours of Earths all around and a Strength of Stone on Bainbridge – after a few failures. Flamis looked like she was having a bad hair day with it all sticking up into a cone, so was her elemental. Also Lizette had rendered herself unconscious. When she came to, she was blind for the next six hours. Later on, we reached a hilly area. The portal was on a rise and was obviously active. Just then something came through the portal and it shut down. It was wearing smooth black chitinous armour and went invisible, however, Vanderhan was able to track it with the laser rifle. So I put an explosive head on a crossbow bolt and fired it where Vanderhan wanted it. The explosion outlined the now charred figure so Flamis sent her elemental after it. The entity soon fell over. I retrieved my still intact bolt then went to examine and secure the area around the now dead portal. The others went to examine the fallen enemy. They found a moaning sword with the GTN of Soulsteel. The sword is alive with the aura strength of Formally Living. The armour is the same as the sword. Meanwhile I had discovered that the portal would reactivate the following sunrise. The entity also had a rod, which had been part of the armour, which allowed communication with the commander. The range was inter-dimensional. The person had been in the armour for ten years. He was eleven years old but looked fully grown. 7th Meadow. While waiting for the portal to reactivate, Flamis received a series of visions, which she shared with me. We then went through the portal and came out in what appeared to be a large cavern. There was a thirty foot large statue surrounded by floating moaning figures. GTN – Reflection of Spirit. There were also several torches that were burning souls. We removed the torches and I used healing magics to put the torches out and free the souls. .4. When we emerged from the temple we were on a plateau with paths leading off it. We took the road going north. From the tracks, it appeared that the scout that went through the portal came from the east. A bit later on we reached an oasis with a non magical statue there. Just then, offensive magic hit Human and Neroli. Human also attacked Lizette. I went on alert with the laser rifle. Then I heard the sounds of marching feet. It turned out to be a squad of six individuals in black armour. One of them had spikes. So I summoned an earth elemental. Three of the squad charged towards us as I sent the earth elemental up behind the leader. Him and the other two turned to attack the elemental, and they were doing quite a bit of damage to it. I was trying to shoot the leader but the laser rifle was ineffective. As I was switching to the crossbow, the elemental went down. Flamis had also hit them with dragonflames and Talon was rushing in to hit him. The other three were taken down but the leader and those two enveloped themselves with black energy and vanished. Also, for some reason, Bainbridge was wrestling with a cobra that bit and poisoned her. Basically it had not gone well. The were-patheress, Lera, that had come with us through the portal was missing, presumably captured. We were able to determine that this squad had been ordered to get the information from the scout but if they met resistance they were to teleport back to the tower. Their armour was also discovered to have weaknesses to light, radiance, and Gaea. Vanderhan used his hammer, Shatterer, to break the armour sending shards flying all over the place. When they hit people, they caused pain. Once everything was sorted out we set off again. We encountered a man chained up and hanging upside down from a post. Next to him was seated another man in a fur cloak. He claimed that the main hanging is part of a strike force that attacked their village, four days west of here and is being punished. The fur is wolfskin and we determined that the hanging man is a werewolf while the other one is a werelion. It looked like a territorial dispute that had been going on for a very long time. We headed onwards. 8 th Meadow Next morning, after the usual round of spells, I attempted to summon another earth elemental. I got thumped by the first one but the second attempt worked. Also, for some reason Bainbridge caused Neroli to die for a minute. I was nearly ready to thump her but the earth elemental wouldn’t let me. When Neroli came back though, he had regained missing parts. Talon – “This world gives Neroli balls” Talon – “Feeling a little stiff?” Neroli – “I know where you sleep” We rode along and found a large patch of grass growing in the middle of the road. It Daed as a wild magic zone so I had the earth elemental make a new path around it. For some reason Bainbridge threw a small doll in the area. It grew to 15ft, sprouted horns, and started digging. The next obstacle was what appeared to be a vein of gold across the path. I was suspicious, thinking this could be one of those Helios zones I had heard about. However, Neroli went straight for it, followed by Talon. I had intended for my elemental to eat around the gold so we could get it out but it dived in and ate the lot, except for the two pounds Talon had already got. So much for telling it to have a ‘little’ snack. However, underneath was a lump of black diamond that we were able to excavate. Maybe I’ll send the elemental after a lump of mithral later to compensate so the others aren’t too mad at me. The rest of the day went without incident and we reached the village by evening. Unfortunately we discovered that the village is now a burnt out ruin and completely trashed. We could also see the front line, which was between us and the village. On the other side, the mana level is normal – for Alusia. Also there was a figure in the distance, right on the horizon. As we watched, he vanished in a burst of flame in such a manner to make us suspect he was a firemage. .5. 9th Meadow A scrying told us that the werepantheress was being tortured. We also learnt there was no bound earth under the temple but there was a ‘antimagic’ zone around the tower. Also the plane attempting to overlay this one was called Abidon. A 10,000 strong army had come from the north and half had been wiped out here. Some weapons were left behind and all the villagers were dead. The rest of the army kept going. There was a strong possibility that the tower was unguarded. Also the ground had been salted to prevent anything being raised as undead. The tower itself was against a very large mountain. A collection of weapons were brought back such as a cold iron meteoric claymore and a bound stone glaive. After Armours and Strength spells all around, Flamis used a crystal ball and saw the children in cages. One was grabbed and dragged inside. Lizette said something, presumably the name of the ruler of the invading plane, and the line moved four metres into Gaea, kinking toward Lizette. Gaea reacted really badly to this. Walking Unseens all around and we firearced towards the tower, stopping 25 miles west of it. There, waiting for us was an entity Flamis recognised as the ‘Lord of the Flies’. Flamis retreated and I went with her. However, it turned out that he wanted to help us, with two conditions. The first was to destroy all the abominations within the tower and the second was to allow him to sort it out with Sier regarding Human. When we agreed, he had two warriors join us and then removed Sier’s mark from Human. He then vanished in golden flames. We then noticed blue and white lines were dancing over Flamis, presumably to do with the crystal she wears. Human – ‘Stop trying to poke his wife’. We got a bit closer to the tower and I had the earth elemental dig us a bunker. Once inside meals were produced, and we found a map of the tower inside the Irish stew. On it was marked a point where the ‘antimagic’ area could be breached. Night approached. .6. Bainbridge – “Gold is not important. It’s only gold” Neroli – Are you sure you’re a dwarf?” That evening, Neroli saw what appeared to be smoke ascending from the top of the tower. It was glowing and could be seen ascending much further than would be expected. A blood red moon was rising and we estimated it would be right over the tower at dawn. So we used the earth elemental to tunnel a path towards the tower. During that time, the UnSeens wore off.