Ground Zero Day

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Summary

• GM: Jeff Leddra
• Time: Winter 809 WK
• Day: Wednesdays
• Level: Low - Medium

The Party

1. Zanak - A young human male Pirate who likes to acquire pretty dresses. He engages in Healing and being a Mind Mage (scribe)
2. Dwork - Bodyguard, male prostitute and wielder of a massive flaming glaive. Over-powered, over-sexed and over-here. For hire - in soo many ways
3. Theodonna - A Namer and looks like a female human, but isn’t quite
4. Falco - A Human Celestial, known for disappearing when the going gets tough
5. Robert - A Mind Mage, Human
6. Koffi - Gnome Binder and his Golem

Employer

Lieutenant Borjanski

Mission

Hired as Death’s Head auxiliaries by Lieutenant Borjanski for a special mission behind enemy lines

Pay

Normal Guild Rates. We also get to keep a symbiote which offers the party internal telepathy and mind cloaks and some ability to withstand torture

Dear Diary

1st of Frost - Mission Briefing

Dwork, Koffi and Zanak stumble out of the local low rent brothel and head to the guild offices ready for their next adventure. Dwork seems unperturbed that his penis is likely to fall off, given where he was putting it, without some serious medical intervention. Zanak performs a little healing on himself to ensure the flea ridden women he was with all night don’t leave any permanent effects on him. Koffi was wearing some weird latex-like clothing all night and the squeals coming from his room suggested he was into the really kinky stuff again. The woman seen leaving Koffis room that morning was looking rather severe and had a case full of whips and some really strange implements Zanak didn’t recognize. Dwork just winked at Koffi and slapped him on the backside, eliciting another loud squeal from Koffi. A little judicious healing from Zanak before breakfast removed the mass of bruising from his body.

We met Theodonna, Falco and Robert as they enter the guild rooms. After a few beers a guild security member ushers us into a private meeting room where we meet Lieutenant Borjanski. His whole demeanour screams “I’m in charge. Don’t mess with me!” so we all settle back to listen to his story and see if we want to join him. He is quite an imposing figure. He has black skin and an ebony uniform. His right arm is totally artificial and appears to be a wondrous feat of mechanics. There are small white patterns on the sleeves and a small obsidian cross on a black necklace. If it wasn’t for the whites of his eyes and the unnaturally perfect rows of teeth he could blend into any shadow with ease. Koffi can’t help himself and keeps getting distracted by the strange looking club hanging from his belt. Borjanski takes a moment to explain it is a weapon which fires beams of energy which kills the target instantly. It is powered by a form of magic unknown on our plane and as such is useless till he returns to his proper home. Koffis gnomish traits make him want to take the club apart to see how it works but a few stern words from Borjanski puts him back in his place.

The Mission

Our employer is a member of the Death’s Head, an elite organization under the direct command of Kelem4 the boy Emperor, via General Sammor. There is a war on – the Empire versus the Uplifted. Borjanski tells you that the Empire is losing. The Uplifted are up to something in a far off axis. They have set up a dome of anti magic. Only not our kind of magic – the kind of magic the Uplifted practice, so the Empire want to know how it is done. You will be translated to the axis outside the dome so you can investigate. There is a town near by the dome which has been taken by the Legion. There is an invasion force of legionaries ready to attack the dome when ordered. The Uplifted are very powerful and difficult to kill. But they were poids once. The Uplifted are very good at telepathy and you will be offered a symbiote which will offer the party internal telepathy and mind cloaks and some ability to withstand torture.

Additional Information

Whilst Lieutenant Borjanski isn’t demanding an immediate departure he is clearly not used to having to explain himself or to being questioned on his orders. Falco does most of the questioning and as such bears the brunt of the abuse. He does manage to find out some interesting additional information though.

The emperor Kelem4 is a teenager but is at least 400 years old. Not that Borjanski has ever seen him.

The uplifted are very potent magic users and excel at Telepathy and Precognition. They have an ability to change the future so fatal strikes appear to miss them. They often teleport behind you and attack with the element of surprise. Their most devastating spell is Disintegration and this is often used at great distances.

The uplifted are identified by metal braids attached to their heads. The number of braids indicates some sort of rank. Rumour has it there are some Uplifted with 10 braids, although Borjanski has only seen a person with seven. Pulling the braids out seems to weaken them. Pulling the last one out kills them. ‘’These braids sound like antennae’’.

The Empire has been invading many small axis (planes) in the last 4 centuries and they often encounter the Uplifted invading too. Neither of them is native to the axis we are being asked to go to. When the Empire invaded this axis the Uplifted were already there. The battle has raged for nearly 40 years and the Empire is definitely on the losing side, as it currently stands.

Interestingly the axis’s are all created by entities and other than the name of the axis being “Oslor-MOG” Borjanski offers little else in this area. He does come from another plane called Mirado-MOG.

The dome we are being asked to penetrate is 10 miles across and has been in existence for 5 years. The Soldiers have been able to see a little way into it but can only report back on a band of light, 20 feet across, on the ground. Other than the belief there is a research center inside, the Empire is at a loss to explain the domes purpose.

As we all agree to accompany Borjanski on his mission he pulls out a small black metal bowl which he says is a CAT Scan Hat. He places it on our heads, each in turn, and records the numbers it displays. He says it records our ability to learn their magics and any particularly gifted would immediately be conscripted to the Empire army.

We decide to come back tomorrow after buying enchantments and additional potions etc. Borjanski heads off to an upmarket brothel.

2nd of Frost – It was Dworks Fault

We meet Borjanski about midday and he gives us a badge each. It identifies us as Auxillaries to the Deaths Head. No one will question us while we wear the badge.

We all take one of the offered symbiotes. Dwork has a nasty reaction to it and he feels very sick. Despite his weak protestations about how ready he is, we decide to wait an extra day so he can get better.

3rd of Frost – The Deaths Begin

Off We Go

We have all buffed up and had a lovely meal to regain some much needed fatigue points. It is just after midday.

Borjanski pulls out an orb and opens a portal to the axis. We all get drawn through.

We are standing on a ledge about 500 feet up the side of a mountain. There is a cave behind us and a waterfall off to the side dropping down to a river below. The river heads north of us and about 6 miles along it passes through a town. This is the town Borjanski said had a legion of troops ready to invade the dome, which is another 4 miles north again. On the other side of the dome are 2 smaller towns. They would be maybe 3 and 5 miles further north. Off to our right is another river which flows northward. 10 miles along is a very large lake with a single small island. On the island we can just make out a building. We can’t tell if it is inhabited. This river merges with our river after the two smaller towns and continues to flow northward. To each side of where we are looking are huge mountains which disappear into the distance. The towns, rivers and dome are in a very long but flat valley. Most of the valley is covered in vegetation and forestry and walking would appear to be quite slow going.

The large town sits on the east of the river and has a large clearing or cultivated pasture land on the west side. The town is large enough to hold at least 15,000 people.

The town is under attack from a flying ship on the western side. The ships are at least 10 miles away from the town but beams of light and huge mushroom shaped explosions can be seen hitting both sides. There are dozens of humanoid shapes (“poids” in the local vernacular) dropping from the flying ship and they appear to float down to the ground on some sort of really large sheet held above them.

Death Number One

We glance around and are surprised to find only our party members. Borjanski is not here. We hastily step back into the cave. Falco stays outside as he is unseen and keeps an eye out for trouble. Theodonna uses a crystal to view the town. There are heavy fortifications and huge weapons shooting forth thick beams of light.

After 10 minutes a huge explosion is seen about half way between the ship and our cave but we think it is just a random or of course missle.

At 1pm we spy a small clearing about two miles north east of our cave. Falco casts shadow wings on himself, Dwork and Robert. Dwork and Robert go first and safely land in the clearing. The mind speech given to us by the symbiote covers this distance easily. Falco flies along side Zanak, Theodonna and Koffi who are all riding Koffis magic carpet.

Dwork and Robert watch in horror as the biggest explosion they have ever seen engulfs the rest of the party as they leave the cave. All they can hear on mind speech is static. The front of the mountain has been atomized and there is no sign of the bodies of their comrades. They fly back to the base of the lake but all they can find is small puddles of blood. The bodies have truly been destroyed.

After a surprising lack of empathy on Roberts part they both agree to pick up whatever they can and head towards the area between the dome and the small island. This should keep them well away from the forces of combat we have already identified. It takes 10 hours to get there, being careful to avoid any troops or local creatures which could give their position away. The jungle terrain is denser than it looked from the cave entrance and Dwork and Robert are quite tired at the end of the journey. They finally realize the battle in the skies ended a few hours ago. As midnight rolls around they stop for a light meal. Robert has a sleep while Dwork takes the first watch. A few minutes into the watch Dwork falls unconscious.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Two

We glance around and are surprised to find only our party members. Borjanski is not here. The ships are attacking the town and the cave is still intact. We remember the previous day but for all intents and purposes the world is replaying it.

Zanak tries a limited precognition but backfires and becomes blind and afraid. Robert flies off first and then Dwork follows a moment behind. An explosion erupts in our faces.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Three

It seems like the second to depart is noticed and is destroyed by some powerful weapon. We decide to leave as one party but Koffi can’t carry us all n his carpet. We resolve to petrify Dwork and Robert. Falco makes the rest of us unseen and uses shadow wings to fly next to Koffi, Zanak and Theodonna. The world explodes around us.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Four

After some intense discussions on the differences between each day we decide the best plan is to go unseen for the whole party and all to use shadow wings. We depart all at the same time. Theodonna sees a missile coming from the big ship.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Five

Having learnt that leaving almost straight away results in becoming a small pile of irradiated dust we opt to wait for a while and see what happens. We watch as the battle unfolds in front of us. The ships bombard the large town while troops dropping from it land and attack the two smaller towns on the other side of the dome. The two towns are quickly overrun. The explosions on or near the dome seem to have no visible impact or effect.

After four and a half hours the ships finally wink out of existence and the battle ceases.

The troops all withdraw to their encampments. The Empire still has control of the main town. We decide approaching a tired and defensive army isn’t the brightest thing to do and instead we head towards the island on the east side of the valley. Theodonna turns into a rat while Falco casts shadow wings on us all. It is by general agreement that the ships probably noticed Koffis flying carpet and that’s how come we got blown up each time.

We land at the lake edge and can see a five story building in the center of the island. It is falling into ruin but would have been quite impressive in its day. Now it is just an old crumbling stone building with a few remaining towers. We fly over.

An old man pokes his head out of a window and tells us not to bother him. We of course take that as an invitation to enter. He goes by the name of “Step” and is reluctant to help us till Zanak offers to cook him a smoked fish pie. Zanak wanders into the kitchen.

Step tells us some interesting things about the battle. The Uplifted invaded many years ago and then the Empire came about 40 years ago. The Empire were in control till 10 years ago, when the Uplifted started another invasion to overwhelm them. Step has been conscripted in both armies in his time and neither side cares about the natives. They are only interested in their own power struggles.

Step has been hiding out on this island since he escaped the Empire forces who wanted him to study the Mind of God (MOG). People who can use MOG can draw on the power of a god to perform miracles. He was tested as a Damper, someone who can reduce the MOG effects. The opposites are the Smear people who can see alternate realities or parallel universes, and to draw them towards themselves.

Meanwhile Falco asks Zanak, via mind speech, to try telepathy to see if anyone else is about. Dwork looks up in time to see a missile fired from the direction of the small towns and he calls out “oh Shit…” before the explosion hits.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Six

We wait till the battle has finished and then fly to the dome. We have skirted the large town on the right hand side and basically approached the dome from the direction of the island where we met Step the previous day (or Death, depending on your pointy of view).

The dome appears to be dampening the MOG effects so Theodonna approaches and tries to divinate it. All goes well till 25 minutes into the ritual she falls over dead. Dwork and Zanak race over and recover her body. We quickly surmise there is a life draining effect in action within a short distance from the dome.

As the party wonders what to do next a patrol of scruffy legionnaires approaches through the bushes. The party leader is a short dwarf with a strange looking helmet. There is some device covering his right eye like an eye-patch but we suspect it enhances his vision in some way. He calls out for us to identify ourselves. Koffi responds we are Death head Auxiliaries and they should mind their manners. The soldiers grin and advance on us. Three of them point the funny club like weapon Borjanski wore at Dwork and he is struck by 3 beams of light. They pack quite a wallop but that just infuriates the Ork and he charges forward. One of the other troops fires a grenade near Koffi and he quickly reacts by catching it in mid air and throwing it back. Despite Koffis impressive throwing skills the grenade lands and explodes between Dwork and the troops. One of the soldiers falls over. Both Dwork and Koffi are now fired on and Dwork falls to the ground only a few steps away from the soldiers. Another grenade is hurled close to our party, which explodes and hurts a Golem. Another blow knocks to the ground.

The dwarf leader steps forward to cut off Dworks head but is surprised when all his armour drops loose onto the ground, thanks to Koffi and his unfastening spell.

Zanak, being a mind mage and having enough of dying, picks up Theodonnas body and uses it as a shield while he casts Mental Attacks. Robert doesn’t seem to have done much and Falco has failed on a few attempts to shadow hole the troops. Just as the battle wraps up Dworks lifeless form leaps back into action and scares the crap out of the dwarf leader. The remaining troops run away. We have captured the dwarf leader (smelly as he is in his current condition) and 3 unconscious troops.

Theodonna resurrects and gives Zanak an evil look for using her as a shield. Koffi mends his Golem while Dwork looks on menacingly at the prisoners. We question them as to why they attacked us. They respond with “we thought you would attack us”. We remind them we are Deaths Head Auxiliaries but they claim to have never heard of that. In fact they think we are fakes and possibly spies sent to infiltrate the legion. They tell us their commander, Rast, is in the big town just a few miles down the river. Koffi quizzes them on the weapons which they call laser pistols and grenade launchers. Koffi and Dwork confiscate them all.

Stepping a little away from them, they are bound of course, we discuss what to do next. The group is keen to use Zanaks Control Person spell to force a soldier to enter the dome and see what happens to him. All but Falco anyway. He voices his disgust and when the party chooses to do it anyway he goes back to being unseen and slips in to the bushes. The group barely notices as he is almost always walking unseen and he is stealthy enough to leave unobserved.

For effect we ask the soldiers if one wants to assist us and to be promoted. Unsurprisingly one raises his hand and says he is a willing volunteer. The rest of his comrades look at him in disbelief. The “volunteer” is named Tegub. We thought it was important to know his name as we didn’t expect him to survive long. He walks up to the dome and continues through the band of light on the ground. Nothing unusual has happened yet (like him bursting into flames) and so he walks back out. He reports seeing a mist about 50 feet in and at 70 feet the edge of a blast crater. We promote him from Private to Corporal. We send him back in to the edge of the blast crater. On his return he says there is no live in the blast radius. We suspected as much. We promote him again to Sergeant and give him a written commission to take to his superiors.

We also question the soldiers on the Uplifted but they are too low level to know anything really useful. All we gain is the Uplifted weapons are more powerful and the elite troop is called the “Optimacy”.

We decide there is little else to be learned from this avenue of inquiry so we let them all go free.

We decide to approach the Uplifted town as the Empire town probably knows nothing about us as Auxiliaries. We wander off and are intercepted about 8pm by some uplifted troops.

Falco’s Adventure

In the meantime Falco decides to venture into the dome himself, since the soldier survived the rest of the groups experiment. He ventures up to the edge of the blast crater and realizes the crater is really just a blast area. There isn’t really a huge hole in the ground. He ventures further in. As he steps delicately he notices a camouflaged disk on the ground. It is alive and moves slowly around. At the same time he realizes he is currently standing on top of another disk creature. Suspecting the creature is some sort of mine, and it will explode when his weight is removed, he shadowholes himself. The spell succeeds but he hasn’t disappeared and reappeared somewhere else. He is still on top of the creature. He remembers he is in the mist still (it seems to stretch for miles) and possibly this has had some effect on the spell effectiveness. Having no other option he raises his foot. The creature gives off a mass fear effect but he successfully resists it. Moving to a safer bit of ground he notices there are rabbits bounding about and they have no difficulty avoiding the camouflaged creatures. Curiously there is no bird life he can see or hear. There are insects though.

Despite his best efforts he manages to step on another creature. This time it has an effect similar to Icy Doom. He tries to shadow hole the creature. It disappears but is only gone long enough for him to move a way a few steps. It should have been gone for hours. He retreats back a bit and tries to understand the mist a bit more. Aside from having a dampening effect on manipulation of the Mind of God he learns nothing new.

He decides to play it cautious by placing his mechanical bird on the ground. He steps back 200 feet by retracing his footsteps. He steps on another creature he could swear wasn’t there before, before realizing the sneaking little critters are constantly moving about. Fortunately he resists the effects of the whitefire. He sends his bird into the air to do some scouting but only 5 feet up it explodes. It seems fairly obvious why there isn’t any birdlife about…

He waits to see if anyone comes to investigate the explosions but nothing happens. He then climbs a tree for a better vantage point and realizes he has just put his hand on another disk creature. Damn these things, they seem to be everywhere. He gets away from it and drops to the ground again.

As another option he changes into a large frog and starts bounding forward. It doesn’t take long for him to land on a creature and he fails to resist the whitefire. He dies.

The rest of the group, on their trip to the uplifted town, hear a brief static sound on the mind speech.

The Uplifted

About 3am we get close to the first town. We can hear some guards in front through the bushes. Koffi sneaks up a bit closer but the guards hear him and call out “Reveal yourself or die!”. Koffi remains still and quiet. That doesn’t help him though as the area around him explodes, presumably by some grenade. He dies.

Zanak steps forth and calls out “Don’t shoot, we come in peace.”. Another explosion and his death are quickly followed by a guard calling out “Opps, Sorry about that!”.

Dwork is feeling a bit annoyed by the reception and sends a fireball their way. The guards go quiet. A mechanical centipede, about 3 foot long, approaches. Dwork tries another fireball but fails. Robert remains still in the shade of a large tree and Theodonna stays close to Dwork. The centipede moves closer to Dwork so he throws another fireball at it. The centipede gets close enough to sniff Dworks body odour before stopping (about 5 feet away). Dwork and the centipede eye each other up before Dwork and Theodonna die in another explosion. The centipede wanders back.

Robert sneaks around the side of the guards and gets close to a small metal building. There are mechanical centipedes inside and things that look like large grenade launchers on the roof. The guards are dispersing into the undergrowth. Robert takes the time to pick up a deactivated centipede. Through a clear glass window Robert sees 3 humans in very classy uniforms. One of them has a funny helmet on with antennae and wired coils. His eyes are closed.

A returning guard notices the centipede is missing and clicks a button on a device which turns it back on. Robert, in a state of panic, opens the door, throws it in and closes the door again. He then runs to the side of the building and peers in the window. Nothing has exploded but they all know someone is around. He pulls out one of the confiscated grenados and hurls it at the guards coming round the corner, or at least he tries to. He fumbles it and it drops at his feet. He offers up a prayer and then dies.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Seven

For some reason that escapes Zanak, Theodonna insists on divinating him and his symbiote. There is nothing unusual except the symbiote has sent some information out to an unnamed recipient.

The normal events begin to unfold but 10 minutes in a small blue sphere appears about half a mile from the ship. It is only 50 feet in diameter. It DAs as an “intrusion into repetitions”, whatever that means. It hovers around for 10 minutes then disappears as quickly as it appeared. Nothing else changes.

We wait the normal four and a half hours for the battle to cease and then fly to the island again. We want to know if the old man remembers us from previous days. He doesn’t. Zanak makes him a smoked fish pie again and he becomes more chatty. We find out about Stringers (people who can navigate between worlds) and Suppressors (people who can stop MOG magics). There are rumours of a third group called the “Free and Arcane”. Legend has it they are more powerful than both the Empire and the Uplifted. He has no idea what the blue sphere was and his only comment on the Empires Emperor is about his total disregard for his subjects.

When we ask him about the dome he mentions a Mausoleum in the centre. It is said to be for the Creator of the plane who will one day awaken and rescue the people. The structure itself is half a mile tall and has many towers, minarets and smaller domes. The river does flow through it.

The conversation turns to pleasures of the flesh and he recommends 2 particular brothels to Dwork, The Seven Sisters is a high class one, whereas the Flesh Pot is a bit rough. He angles for some “loving” from Theodonna (the only woman present) but she rejects him.

We leave and fly to the dome. We are on the right hand edge again. We all enter the dome and go in 50 odd feet. The party splits into two groups. We have instructions on what to try if we are the last one alive. Dwork, Robert and Theodonna (in Barbie doll form) go towards the 2 uplifted towns. Falco, Zanak and Koffi head towards the Empire town.

Party One

Dwork, Robert and Theodonna strike trouble almost immediately. No matter where they step they seem to be n virtual minefield of camouflaged creatures ready to explode under their feet. They do reasonably well till Robert fails to resist the “Icy Doom” effect and he dies. Dwork and Theodonna decide to walk out of the dome and go further north before re-entering, hopefully they will have gone beyond the minefield. Dwork uses a ring of invisibility while Theodonna asks to be put on a branch on a nearby tree. She uses her crystal of vision and places the view port two thirds of a mile above the center of the area, where the mausoleum is supposed to be. The crystal succeeds but she can’t see anything. She suspects if she was still inside the dome it might have worked better. While she ponders this a large spider drops down from the branch above (remember she is only as tall as a childs doll). It tries to envelop her but she quickly stabs it and then runs down the length of the branch. The spider is undeterred and leaps after her.

Dwork hears her screaming on mind speech and runs back towards her. As the screams become more desperate he hurls a fireball at the tree he left her on, knowing her fire armour will protect her. Unfortunately the trees all look the same and he targets the wrong one. The spider paralyses her and then has a snack.

After a moment of mourning her lose, he continues outside the dome. After an hour or so he encounters an uplifted patrol. They are clean, tidy and very alert. They all have strange eye patches, something we strongly suspect enables them to see us, despite our best efforts to hide. He hides for a few seconds till they start randomly firing in his general direction. Being an Ork he doesn’t mince words and fires back with a fireball. All this does is pinpoint his location and he is quickly pincushioned with laser beams and he dies.

Party Two

Koffi, Falco and Zanak manage about 5 miles before encountering any problems. Zanak has hung back by a mile to ensure we don’t all get killed at the same time. Koffi steps on a creature which causes mass Fear. Fortunately they both resist and one of Koffis golems steps on it and crushes it. The mass fear effect acts like a signal to the other creatures to swarm the are and it only takes a few minutes for both Koffi and Falco to get blown to bits.

Zanak wants to know if his telepathy spell, which so easily killed the party on the little island with Step, will have the same effect inside the dome. He casts, succeeds and waits for the explosion. Nothing happens. Knowing that he is the last one alive (static on mind speech) he backs out of the dome and instructs his lizard to memorise the location. This takes the normal 8 hours and nothing untoward happens. Feeling quite confident he can save the party a lot of effort and fatigue for the next day he heads into the dome again, just to see how far he can go.

It isn’t far. He steps on a mass fear creature then runs round berserk till he eventually blows himself up.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Eight

Theodonna checks out the blue sphere again and discovers it isn’t controlled by the Mind of God.

We plan to wait the normal four and a half hours for the battle to end then fly directly to the dome. Koffi will itemize Zanak and his lizard and then change to butterfly form. He will fly in to as close to the citadel as he can get. Then Zanak will use the lizard to memorise the location and then we should be able to get to the citadel in 2 easy portal attempts on any subsequent days.

So we get inside the dome and Theodonna divinates the band of light and the surrounding air/mist before Koffi and Zanak depart. Which is a good thing as it turns out as she discovers the mist has several effects which alter our plan. It can decrease visibility (doh!) and inhibits many effects, including Flying of birds, Teleportation, shadow walking and portalling. There is an “echo of collapsing probabilities”, whatever that means. The mist also inhibits MOG effects. Ground Hog Day (resetting of the day on our deaths) still appears to work though. The band of light creates an illusion of feeling good while the lifeforce is drained from you.

We don’t know how far the mist goes so we decide to follow the original plan. Koffi petrifies Zanak and his lizard then turns into a butterfly. He flies in for a mile and sees another band of light. He can tell it causes a firestorm to erupt. He lands and turns back to his normal shape. Zanak gets unpetrified. We wait for Falco to come along (in miniaturised owl form) so he can DA the lights. The triggering condition is moving faster than 1 mile per hour through it. Falco goes first and has no problems. He flies onwards.

Koffi and Zanak crawl through and are almost immediately set upon by 2 very large Ferrox creatures. They are 7 feet tall with very sharp fangs and impressively strong looking arms. One of Koffis golems lumbers forward and soundly gets thrashed. The Ferrox barely break their stride in dispatching it. Bruno appears (one of Koffis larger Golems) and engages them. Koffi and Zanak have just enough time to see some Uplifted troops appear in the distance as Bruno is squashed and they are thumped into unconsciousness.

They awaken in an underground room with stone walls. There are 6 uplifted troops in the room, although none of them have any braids. The 2 Ferrox are lounging against the wall near a doorway. Both Koffi and Zanak are naked and their possessions are stacked in a corner. Koffi comes round first and groans. An uplifted soldier steps over and pokes him while saying “They are tougher than they look, what are you doing here?”. Zanak wakes and calls out that we are agents of the god in the mausoleum and that we should be released. The soldiers all laugh and call out things like “don’t be absurd” and “they must be crazy”. They all take turns kicking him while the first speaker (the guy in charge?) slices off his left testicle and tosses it to the Ferrox. One stretches forward and catches it then starts chewing on it.

Koffi learns from Zanaks mistake and he tries the truth instead. He has trouble remembering Borjanskis name and some crucial details. This has something to do with the commander cutting off a finger each time an answer is not to his liking.

It doesn’t take long before both die. The last thing Zanak sees is the other Ferrox coming over and munching on the remaining testicle. Not a pretty sight to die to!!!

Falco has heard the screams on mind speech and has flown back. He perches on a branch when he sees 2 Uplifted guards. He can’t quite pinpoint Koffi or Zanak so he decides to play it safe and wait for the guards to leave.

Robert, Theodonna and Dwork head to wards the observation post they encountered the previous days. It is outside the dome on the north eastern side and about half a mile into the forest. They get there with no incidents. Robert and Dwork go invisible while Theodonna turns into a terrier. She wanders into the clearing in front of the building and acts all cute. The guards fall over themselves to hold her and offer her some camp rations. As they go into the building she reports back about the 4 extra troops in the building. One of them is looking at a strange metal device with pictures on it and calls out “Unidentified entities outside”. This puts the 4 remaining guards outside on alert and they start fanning out and moving towards Dwork and Robert.

A device on the roof points towards them and an explosion rips the ground asunder in front of Dwork. Robert moves to the side. The guards are still not one hundred percent sure where they are so there is a gap between them. Dwork takes the opportunity to cast a powerful fireball through them and into the open doorway. It explodes in the back of the building and does a bit of damage but the real kicker is when the grenados worn by each of the guards all suddenly explode together. The resulting conflagration decimates the guards and knocks Theodonna’s burnt and smoldering canine body out the door. She wimpers in pain. Robert races towards her.

A voice in the building can be heard saying “Post under attack. Automated defenses online.” The guards panick as a weapon raises from the roof and fires on them. Three guards, Robert and Theodonna are caught in the blast and are disintegrated. The last remaining guard races to the side of the building hoping to be under the range of the weapon. Dwork runs in a mad panic into the forest. Theodonna pauses a moment then resurrects. That seems to have been a moment too soon as a missile drops from the sky and the building is destroyed in a massive explosion. Only Dwork was far enough away to survive.

In all the confusion he has got a little disorientated and he tries to head towards the closest Uplifted town but quickly finds himself meeting the river. He turns left and heads towards the dome. Once he gets there he gets in the water and uses a water breathing ring. He walks in and isn’t bothered by the normal fish swimming around. Just passed the first band of light he sees a rainbow discolouration in the water. This looks suspicious so he climbs out and goes 1D (an item which makes him 1 dimensional). He walks passed the strange patch and then reenters the river. At the next barrier he steps out again and walks very slowly through it. Back into the river he goes but only a few hundred feet further along he sees some large shadows on the bank. They appear to be fishing by dropping small explosives into the water. The stunned fish float to the surface. He takes this personally and steps out of the river, still being invisible with his glaive in hand. The large creatures are Ferrox (possibly the same ones that killed Zanak and Koffi) and there are 5 uplifted soldiers in the distance. Despite the element of surprise the Ferrox see him straight away and batter him to a pulp before he can do anything constructive. He lasts longer than Zanak and Koffi but they keep pummeling him till his stops breathing.

And that leaves Falco

After a while the guards leave and are replaced by a new set. He decides to pursue the river option too. He flies along side it in miniature owl form till he reaches the third light barrier. He tries flying through it slowly and all he hears is a high pitched whistle noise, obviously an alarm of some sort. He hides behind a tree. In the distance the mist solidifies into a humanoid shape. It looks like liquid mist and makes no sound as it moves. It is searching for whatever activated the alarm. A second figure forms but this time it is virtually solid and it has huge fists. They are constructs of some sort.

After a few minutes the first one evaporates but the second one keeps searching. Falco flies off when its back is turned to him but something gives him away and he feels the impact of magic on him. He resists it and keeps flying as fast as he can. The second construct drops back into the distance.

Falco pauses on the fourth light barrier when his DA says it increases the person sexual desire, among other things. He finally crosses it figuring he has nothing to lose as the rest of the party is dead already. Half way through he is teleported to a grassy glade with a pavilion in the centre. Inside are 8 incredibly gorgeous females and 1 hunky male. They are called Succubenies and are very long lived. Inside the pavilion is some sumptuous food and wine and all manner of enticing goodies. They are surprised he is in owl form but it doesn’t stop them from calling out to him and offering themselves.

Falco resists the urges and flees into the surrounding mist. He stops after only a brief minute as the air smells funny. The mist has become poisonous. He turns back to the pavilion but it is too late and he drops to the ground, dead.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Nine

Theodonna checks out the blue sphere again and discovers it was created by the “Free and Arcane”. That adds another element to our mission but we are at a loss to decide how to use it to our advantage.

We discuss the 4 barriers and plan how we will get through them.

The first barrier drains your lifeforce if you stay too close to it. The second must be traversed very slowly. The third sets off an alarm and the fourth teleports us to the Succubenies.

We decide to reach the dome, itemize the party and leave Koffi (in butterfly form) and Falco (in owl form) to transport us all to the fourth barrier. Once there we DA it and find it does shadow walking, increases sexual desire and sends off a signal. There is no counterspell that we have available. We power up and step through.

The first thing we do is DA the air in the glade and in the pavilion. The glade has a “variable on time cycle effect” which doesn’t mean much yet. The pavilion has some sort of MOG magic on it. Inside the pavilion are two wooden cabinets which have some protection magics on them. They also have a secondary effect of transmutation on the person opening them.

Dwork and Koffi are of weaker will and mind and are instantly attracted to the succubenies. They immediately rush into the pavilion and engage in lusty endeavours with some willing companions. Zanak tries taking out 4 creatures with mental attack but they all resist. They call out “we mean you no harm, come in and visit us” but we know it is a trap so we continue to try disabling them. Robert races into the pavilion to save Dwork as we could really use that Fireball spell right about now. Dwork manages to resist the Succubenies compulsion just as Robert slaps his face. 2 succubenies, including the one who had Dwork a moment ago, swarm over Robert. One of them wraps a garrotte around his neck and pulls tight. Robert flails about but can’t get a good angle to do any serious damage. Dwork in the meantime has been trying to use a malignant dagger on the 2 succubenies. He finally gets a good strike on the one with the garrotte just as Robert falls unconscious. She disappears but there is no death buzz. This disappoints Falco who has flown into the pavilion and turned back to human form, although still in a miniature form. Theodonna counterspells Falco and he returns to normal size.

Zanak manages to knock two out before being engaged directly by a succubeny. He struggles for a few pulses till Falco sees his plight and successfully shadowholes her. Both Falco and Theodonna engage and dispatch a succubeny each. Dwork dispatches his original encounter with a few more strikes of his dagger. He picks up some healing potions and tries to force feed Robert to get him back on his feet.

Koffi has been having a wonderful time while this has all been going on. In between grunts and groans he strikes up a conversation with his Succubeny (this doesn’t say much for his skills if she has time or the inclination to answer questions). He finds out they only attacked because we attacked them. They are the portal to the next barrier. She lets slip that the uplifted visit frequently. The timing of the sexual encounters is also a factor as the mists only allow the final barrier to be penetrated at regular cycles.

Zanak, just wondering what to do next, fails to resist an unexpected spell and turns into an owl. Not being able to see anyone casting he flies into the pavilion. Falco also wanders in and hides behind a curtained area so he can’t be targeted by the unknown person outside.

We are all inside now. Something strange is certainly going on as Theodonna fails to resist a spell impacting and she turns into an owl too. Two Succubenies reappear but Falco shadowholes one again. Theodonna and Zanak fly towards the remaining one. Before Zanak can do anything constructive the creature grabs him, snaps his neck and then rips his head off. He turns back to human form.

Theodonna turns into a rat (her choice) and proceeds to attack the succubeny. Dwork has meantime pulled out his panther and told it to attack the succubeny. The panther manages to knock it over but is turned into a hungry black owl. Owls love eating rats. Things aren’t looking good for Theodonna. The panther keeps its cool long enough to attack the succubeny again before being blasted out of the tent and being bound to the ground by an invisible band of air. Theodonna races up the creatures back and tries to bite its neck. Failing miserably she slides down the succubenies back with her claws out, scratching as deeply as she can. Needless to say this just annoys the succubeny, who reaches behind and snaps the rats neck. Theodonna dies.

Koffi has been busy “pumping” his succubeny for information and has found out that if the rest of the party just stopped fighting and had sex then all would be well. He also finds out the air becomes dangerous for 5 minutes each hour and that time is almost upon us. The Succubeny have been bound here for a long time, waiting on a major event before they are freed back to their own realm. That event is about to happen but she has no idea what it is.

Koffi “finishes” his interrogation and Dwork steps up for sloppy seconds (it doesn’t seem to bother him but it does bother the rest of the party). Dwork finds out we are meant to head in “that direction” (indicated by a vague pointing of a hand) once the poisonous air is gone. That should get us to the final barrier. Dworks interrogations finish (he climaxes) and he turns into a female (Dworkess). Some of the party haven’t seen this before and are rather stunned by how ugly she is.

Meanwhile Robert, Koffi and Falco have managed to subdue the remaining Succubenies. The panther (in owl form) has been freed and sniffs round the dead rat until Dworkess tells him to leave her alone. Theodonna didn’t change back to human on her death. She can self resurrect though so there is hope for her yet.

The Last Barrier

It is 9pm.

Once the mist becomes clear again we head off. It takes 30 mins to walk to the final barrier. There is the normal ring of light and about a quarter of a mile in from that we can see the buildings of the mausoleum. The mists preventing us seeing very far are not present inside the final area.

The area looks like a vast enclosed garden with many domed buildings at the center. The trees and wildlife look absolutely normal. The actual garden areas look a little overgrown but have been laid out by a designer with real insight into attractive landscaping. We can’t see anyone through the undergrowth but we play it safe and remain hidden.

The light barrier appears to only activate an alarm when a sentient being passes through it. The plan is to kill Dwork (he slits his wrists) and have a golem carrier him through. He then gets dropped in a bush and waits for an hour before resurrecting. Dworks panther (still in owl form) will simply fly through. The rest of the party (Koffi, Falco and Robert) move further around the edge and enter a few hundred feet away. Bruno, one of Koffis stranger golems, enters first, then with 10 feet gaps the order is Robert, Koffi and Falco.

Robert moves through slowly and reaches the other side, only to be blasted into ash by a whitefire spell. Koffi runs through and resists the spell but fails moments later. He turns to ash too. Bruno stops. Once again that just leaves Falco. He turns into a rather large toad and jumps through the barrier. Upon surviving this he finds a nice thicket to hide in and waits for Dwork to come back onto mind speech.

10pm. Falco is close enough to Dwork to see as 2 ferrox discover Dworks body. They rip off his arms. They seem to be doing it just for fun. From the other direction a squad of 10 uplifted soldiers pass Falco (who is well concealed) and tell the ferrox to stop playing. The leader has a single braid. They then turn back to Falcos direction and call out “Come out of hiding now or we will send the ferrox in to get you”. A huge toad leaps out of the bush and turns into a human again. This surprises the uplifted but they recover quickly. Falco is quizzed by the leader and convinces him he was tricked by the Deaths Head. Luckily he tells the truth in all aspects (including the not caring about Dworks lifeless body) as the soldiers disarm him and apply a “cat scan” helmet. They decide to take him to the commander in the dome for further questioning. Falco politely asks the squad to bring Dworks various body parts as he is likely to resurrect in a short time. He is also told by the leader that casting of any sort will not be permitted in the presence of the commander.

10:30pm. The central dome, being the largest one around, is magnificent in the richly detailed mosaics in the ceiling. There are delicate patterns formed in the combination of blue and green tiles, although we can’t recognize what they symbolize. The dome itself is about 200 feet wide with six entrances. There are windows with stained glass. Again the patterns mean little to us. In the center of the dome is a 30 foot silver sphere floating above the ground. The uplifted soldiers, of which there are about 50 in the dome, are placing mechanical devices all around the sphere. Some are magical dampeners and some are offensive. By the looks of things they are trying to prevent something from coming through the sphere/portal, or to at least subdue it long enough to gain control.

The commander has six braids and is not surprised when Dwork comes alive. He is a little busy though and has the guards take us to a separate building till the “opening” has happened. Dwork and Falco are led away to a smaller 100 foot room where they suspect they will be beaten a bit. Within minutes though there are screams from the main dome and the guard leader mentally checks what is happening. He calls out “oh shit” before the door bursts open and a huge blue skinned, blue armoured humanoid with fur and claws forces its way inside. At its side at hundreds of small teddy bear like creatures. Falco tries to shadow hole himself and Dwork but there is a constant need to resist mass fear which interrupts his preparations. As the little bears touch a guard they both are disintegrated.

Falco and Dwork retreat to the back of the room and look towards the rear door. Dwork has the ability to go 1D and slides under the door. Falco bursts through it since the little teddy bears are fast approaching him. Dwork manages to slide right passed the waiting massive blue humanoid and the clutch of teddy bears, although he is effected by the mass fear and fits in nicely with his general plan to run like hell till he is safe. Falco is a little less successful and is blown up by a teddy bear.

As Dwork runs away he sees Uplifted being dispatched everywhere. There is no mercy being given even to those that have surrendered. He eventually makes it to safety in the surrounding trees where the mass fear no longer needs to be resisted. He waits till the battle finishes (which isn’t that long) and then eventually falls asleep after midnight.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Ten

The blue sphere is being used for far sensing. Other than that we are still in the dark on its purpose.

The plan is for the party to get to the central dome two hours earlier and observe the “opening” at 10:30pm. To achieve this Dwork and Zanak stay behind to safe a few hours of petrifications. They instead decide to fly to the large Empire town and see what they can learn. With little planning they both fly straight to the town and attempt to land on the roof of a building. They seem to have forgotten the fact that an aerial assault is currently being waged by the Uplifted ship against the Empire defenders and they are both blown out of the sky. Zanak is vapourised but Dwork manages to resurrect in an alley. Some local boys see his badly burnt torso flopping around and call some guards. They don’t recognize the Deathshead Auxiliary badges and put him out of his misery.

The remaining four adventurers make it through the final barrier at 7pm. They use an undetectable spell from Robert to remain hidden. Falco goes inside the central dome and DAs the sphere. It is activated on touch, so he does. He is teleported to a café style room. It is quite homely looking but has nothing outside it except a void filled with stars. He can’t cast any spells in here but he does figure out it was made by Oslow. It is obviously some sort of trap. Perhaps if he touched it after the “opening” it would have taken him somewhere more interesting. He eventually gets bored and goes to sleep. His day resets.

Meanwhile Falcos rash action has been noticed by the 6 braided commander as a “disturbance”. He sends some men to search the rest of the area. Robert, Theodonna and Koffi are forced to enter the dome as the troops outside tighten the cordon. A yellow gas fills the room and Robert falls to the ground asleep. He is quickly found by some guards (they tripped over his body). He is searched and then beheaded. The head is given to the commander who manages to pluck the truth of what is happening right from the grisly corpse. He calls for Theodonna and Koffi to show themselves. Koffi does while Theodonna remains hidden. Koffi answers the commanders questions and warns about the giant blue humanoid creatures and the exploding teddy bears. The commander is perturbed by all this news, especially since he has no idea is supposed to happen at 10:30. Theodonna becomes visible while he makes “certain changes” to the room so Mass Fear will have no effect in the dome.

Koffi and Theodonna offer to cast protection spells but the commander refuses. In fact he attempts to have the valiant party members chained up. Koffi takes offense at this and unleashes two items for Agony and Hellfire. The agony has no effect but the hellfire successfully kills everyone in the room, including Koffi and Theodonna.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Eleven

The Pirate Goes Power Mad

This time Dwork and Zanak wait till the battle finishes before flying to within a mile of town and walking on in. Zanak is put in charge due to Dwork being really ugly. The power seems to go to Zanaks head though and he becomes an egotistical maniac. He demands the city guards take them to the Legion leader, Major Corman. They pass a brothel called the Evil Sister and Dwork is nearly sidetracked from his scouting mission. Zanak and Dwork are lead into the waiting room of the major and told to wait 10 minutes. Zanak takes offence at this and barges in through the closed doors. The major is caught in a compromising position with a local harlot and tells us to get out. The power mad pirate demands the major pulls up his pants and the harlot be thrown out. He also claims to be in charge of the town and to have been appointed by the Emperor himself. The major disputes this claim and steps out of the room, returning with armed guards who truss the frothing pirate up. Dwork stands in the corner playing dumb. Zanak keeps claiming the Deathshead Borjanski was supposed to have delivered orders days ago to the commander of the town about his new replacement, since he has failed to take control of this axis. The major takes this in his stride till the Deathshead commander, Rasp, is mentioned. Zanak claims to be a personal friend of Rasp and demands he is brought here at once. A guard is sent for him. The voices in the back of Zanaks head counseling caution are totally ignored. Dwork continues to think his best course of action is to play dumb and hope he doesn’t get killed with the crazy pirate.

Rasp appears after about 20 minutes and looks blankly at Dwork and Zanak. Zanak continues with his mad ranting about Borjanski and fresh orders from the emperor, placing himself in control of the town. Rasp and Corman evidently don’t like each other and Corman is happy for Rasp to take the deranged pirate and the dopey ork away for further questioning.

Back at the deathshead headquarters, and after a round of judicious beatings for the pirate, he finally confesses to being slightly psychotic with delusions of grandeur. It turns out ok though as Rasp was actually expecting us. He tells us the Free and Arcane are exceptionally attractive humanoids and they merely observe the battles between the Uplifted and the Empire. After Zanak spills the beans to what has been happening for the past 2 weeks (1 day for Rasp) he identifies the blue humanoid and the teddy bears as creatures likely summoned by Oslow for his own protection. It is also clear that Oslow is not buried in the mausoleum. In fact Olslow probably isn’t even dead as most planes/axis’ will die after the creators death unless they were very powerful.

As a reward for telling the truth Rasp agrees not to beat and torture Zanak any more. Dwork is escorted to the brothel of his choice and he has a very good time, three times in fact. The only incident Dwork wishes to keep unrecorded is when the goat urinates on the orgy. Alas for him though the mental image is firmly burnt into the minds of the rest of the party thanks to mind speech.

Dwork and Zanak convince Rasp to bring a squad of Deathshead guards (real ones) to the edge of the dome to take advantage of the chaos the uplifted are about to be caught up in. They get there at about 7pm and wait.

Meeting with Oslow

Just before 10:30pm Falco slips into the central dome and DAs the sphere. The teleport will go to different locations based on the time of the day. Robert, Theodonna and Koffi wait outside but peek in through the windows.

The blue tiles on the roof begin to glow and melt. A man forms from the globules but he is in bad condition. In fact his ear drops/slides off while we watch. He is Oslow and the 6 braided commander treats him with respect and offers his help. It appears that Oslow is suffering from MOG burnout. He has been using his power too much and has slipped into a state of madness which makes the crazy pirates earlier behaviour seem quite sane.

The uplifted commander continues to say they are here to help Oslow but the mad god interprets this as them wanting to get his power. The commander makes an innocent gesture to step closer to Oslow (to within 20 feet) and assist him. Oslow takes this as a hostile attack and gestures towards the roof. The green tiles flash and disappear. Each tile is replaced by a teddy bear or blue skinned humanoid which instantly attacks the 50 or so guards in the room. Some small rabbits appear and disappear, and then a multitude of mass fears are felt throughout the room. The troops die very quickly, as expected.

Falco sees no other way out so he touches the sphere. He finds himself back in the café. He waits then falls asleep.

Robert, Theodonna and Koffi are affected by the mass fears to varying degrees. Robert has a heart attack and dies. Koffi and Theodonna run wildly and eventually make it to safety in the bushes. Once the battles finish, in other words all the uplifted are killed, Theodonna and Koffi carefully approach the mad god but remain a good 40 feet away at all times. They talk to Oslow in gentle and reverent voices and coax some information out of him.

Oslow isn’t so much mad as he is paranoid. He believes everyone is out to get him. It is all Melissa’s fault as she wants him dead. He used to love her but she did this melting thing to him. She is the only one who can save him. He asks for help to find her. He asks Theodonna if she is Melissa and she pauses in thought too long. He takes affront from this and kills her.

A deep glimmer of true madness shines forth when he listens to our story about days resetting. His day is resetting too but he is using it find the best ways to kill all his enemies, who happen to be everyone!!! Now that we know about his resets we are tied into his cycle too. When he dies, so do we.

The portal sphere was one of his more clever traps. It is a simple trap for the curious and those who think they know better than anyone else. No wonder Falco slipped into it twice…

In order to find Melissa we need to find a stringer. This is a person who can follow strings of reality to other realities. Melissa is on another reality. Koffi asks for some help from Oslow who offers him an ear attuned to a cache of items. The cache is hidden in a cave in a hill, but not the one behind the waterfall.

Koffi wanders off and tries to head back to Dwork and Zanak.

Dwork takes the lead now as no one really wants to listen to the pirate. He ask Rasp about Melissa. She is from a nearby axis but he hasn’t been there for a while. There are stringers in town who could help but Borjanski said one of the party was a stringer, if they were trained properly. Dwork mentions how the symbiote made him sick and Rasp confirms this is a side effect of natural MOG healers. He could learn to do this if he spent the time with a qualified healer in town.

Unexpectedly the day resets. It seems Oslow has died.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Twelve

A new plan – finally!

We need to figure out who the stringer is and to locate the cache of items.

It turns out Dwork is the natural stringer, much to the surprise of everyone else. We resolve to take him to town and get him trained up.

Before that though we get Theodonna to divinate Oslows ear. It is listening to our thoughts and words so we need to be careful we don’t piss Oslow off. It also will glow hotly once it gets to within a quarter mile of the cache. Theodonna and Koffi fly along the hillside till they find the hidden cave. At the back is a chest. Koffi opens it but sees nothing inside. He reaches in and gets sucked in. He is in another cave with another chest. Theodonna follows and untraps the second chest. Inside are the items Oslow promised. There is a horn of summoning, a invested ring, a ring of offensive magi, a non magical book of poems (Melissa is mentioned inside) and a cloak of protection from MOG effects. Upon retrieving all the items Theodonna and Koffi are sucked in again and reappear in the first cave.

We divinate all the items. The horn will summon creatures from the flux, molded by the blower. The greater the creator skills the better the blower will be able to control them. The ring of investment has a voodoo doll spell but you need a piece of the person. The ring of offensive magic casts an area effect hunger spell. Basically the people eat till they die. The cloak enables the wearer to travel inside a picture. Be careful though as you can still die in there. The book of poems is linked to something but we can’t tell what.

The battle has finished above the town so we go back and talk to Rasp. Zanak is kept in the back of the group since he clearly doesn’t learn from his previous mistakes. We tell him everything and ask for directions to a stringer. Rasp says that will be difficult as the rumours say the axis is dying so all the stringer from the guild have departed. The empire soldiers came in by ship but that won’t necessarily help us.

Rasp calls for the cat-scan people to come in and test us. Dwork does extremely well and is shown to be a natural stringer and a self healer. Zanak is skilled at damping (reduce the effects of MOG). The rest of the party is average at best.

We are told about an archivist in town who may know something about a stringer, and there is also a stringers guild. Just before we head off we are given some sidearms. Koffi practices and it is enough to scare the rest of the party into leaving them alone. We also find out about the blue sphere (the free and arcane) and it should be safe to fly to them as long as groups are only 2 or less. The free and arcane are not a threat to the empire. They just observe. We decide on the next reset we will talk to them.

We get to the stringers guild but it is locked up. We can see an old guy inside so we knock politely. He is a bit rude and tells us there are no stringers left on the axis. A bit more polite questioning reveals his name is Maddock and that he is a retired stringer. He reluctantly lets us in and he shares a few ales with us while we explain our predicament. At the mention of Melissas name he nods sagely and explains he knows her. She is a powerful flux wizard who has created her own axis. It has been a few months since he was last there but he is willing to guide us. He warns us though. Flux wizards are like gods, or at least they think they are. Be carefull around them.

The trip will take 4 days and since we keep resetting when the party goes to sleep we will need to purchase some vials of stimulants from the town. Zanak, Robert and Koffi go for these. Falco, Theodonna and Dwork go in search of the archivist.

The Archivist

As Falco, Dwork and Theodonna approach his house they see a commotion outside his door. There are about 10 townsfolk trying to batter down his door. They are poorly armed with just clubs and daggers. Falco calls out to let them pass but he is accosted by a tall towns person. After encountering so many creatures who can kill us with ease he delights in trapping these weaklings in a web of darkness. Dwork applies some flame to his weapon. Everyone who is trapped panics and begs for forgiveness. Discovering they know nothing of value to us Falco lets them go.

Knocking on the door gets the same rude response as from Maddocks. Again we politely remind the very old man that we just saved his bacon and that we are only here to talk. He lets us in but only after admonishing Dwork to put out his flaming weapon. The place is filled with books and it would turn into a bonfire in an instant.

Melissa and Oslow used to be married. They quarreled often, usually because Oslow had affairs. Melissa eventually left him (about 50 years ago) when she got too bored and he started drawing on too much MOG power.

We mention the book of poems and his aged crinkly eyes light up. He says it would be valuable to the archive and we should sell it to him. We don’t right now but keep the thought in the back of our minds.

Meanwhile the other intrepid adventurers have purchased the stimulants and have overheard a male talking about Melissas axis. It would appear it has “changed for the better” with the group of guys discussing it having lots of smirks. Koffi overhears a lady saying Melissa really like flowers so he purchases some (her favourite kind) and preserves them.

Into the Flux

We all meet up at 6pm at Maddocks place. He leads us back to the cave we originally appeared in (we fly) and then we reach the top of the cliffs. There is a trail leading back into the mountains. The marching order is Dwork, Maddock, Robert, Theodonna, Koffi, Falco and Zanak. Dwork ties a rope to himself and the rest of us hold on. As we move forward the lead characters disappear although the rope is still held up. As we all enter the invisible portal we realize we are in a grey dimension with no noticeable definitions. We are walking on a spongy substance. To all but Dwork and Maddock there is nothing to discern. There is only greyness. Dwork comments that he can see several glowing lines (strings). Maddock points out the one leading to Melissas axis. It is yellow, or that is what Dwork claims. The rest of us can’t see anything. Maddock tells us to follow his orders exactly or we will die horrible deaths. Maddock says the string is a slightly different yellow than he remembered but he is sure it is the right one. Dwork leads the way.

After an undetermined time (because we have nothing to measure it against) Dwork says he can feel a disturbance in the distance. There are yellow sparks racing along the string towards us. Maddock tells us to step off the string. The sparks race by, doing us no harm. They were Flux Flies which on contact will either disintegrate you or transform you. We get back on the string and wander a bit further.

Encounter with a Flux Dragon

In the distance, to the left, we become aware that a large portion of the greyness is solidifying. It forms into a winged creature with spines down its back. It is huge at about 100 feet across and is racing towards us. Maddock recognizes it as a Multi Chromatic Flux Dragon and calls out “oh shit” before wrapping himself in his cloak and vanishing. It swiftly reaches us and passes through us. We all feel the effects of mass fear. Zanak, Dwork and Robert fail to resist. Robert drops the rope and tries to flee but in his panic he trips over the rope. This in turn jerks Dwork to the ground as he was tied to the rope. Theodonna also gets tripped up. Zanak drops his end of the rope and flees into the distance. Falco tries to shadow hole him, but in his panicked state, he resists.

Dwork gets up, cuts his rope and runs off. Robert gets up and Theodonna pulls out her quarterstaff, ready to bop him on the head. Falco manages knock Robert down again. Theodonna finally gets her quarterstaff into action but fumbles badly and ends up hurting herself. Koffi tries to cast adhesion on Robert but it doesn’t work. There isn’t really a ground for him to stick too. Robert tries to break free of Falco but can’t.

Theodonna casts a wall of forbidding in front of Dwork and he crashes into it. This drives the fear from him and Maddock appears at his side to guide him back to the party. Koffi gets out a golem and it sits on Robert till he can get out of the fear effect. Theodonna tries to put a counterspell of MOG effect on Dwork but she backfires. A tornado of flux appears around her and quickly expands to take in Koffi too. Falco manages to shadowhole Theodonna with a very short duration but it seems to have killed her as a static is heard on mind speech. After the battle finishes she resurrects but is now partly made up of flux. Koffi does something to destroy the tornado.

Zanak has been rushing around blindly and the dragon sweeps through him again. He turns and runs the other way. Maddock locates him in the distance and directs Dwork towards him. Dwork tackles Zanak and knocks him to the ground as the dragon sweeps passed again. Zanaks life essence is sucked into the dragon who then departs, contented after having his meal.

Koffi itemizes Zanaks body. The party turns on Maddock but he claims the flux is always dangerous and that we have been exceptionally unlucky so far. His cloak sheilded him from the dragon but it is unique so we can’t buy any others. The regular problems with traveling on strings are bandits but this one is less often used so there shouldn’t be many.

A bit further down the string a crossroad appears, if Dwork can be believed since the party still can’t see anything. The other string goes from a dead world to a pastoral world, neither of which are of interest to us. Falco does an experiment with Maddock by going unseen. Maddock can sense him but the suspicion is the dragon wouldn’t notice him.

Time passes.

In the distance we hear a wolf howling. Maddock says it is ok as long as we don’t hear any more. Instantly a further 20 can be heard and they are heading closer. We run and hide. Theodonna casts a counterspell on our area and we sit tight till they pass. We get lucky and nothing happens.

24 hours have passed and the party takes the stimulants. We will stay energized for 4 days and we will be a bit faster on our reactions. Of course when the 4 days runs out we will crash and burn for at least a whole day. Maddock has a snooze while the golem carries him.

Another day passes with no incidents.

Flux Termites

Maddock wakes up (yes he slept for the whole day) and says there is another intersection coming up. We need to be cautious. Falco and Maddock scout ahead. Just on the other side of the intersection are 6 termite mounds. They look like a bit of a circle with the center being on the string we are following. It is likely to be a trap. He points out they weren’t here when he last came this way.

The party debates the plan of attack and wisely agrees to walk around the mounds keeping a safe 50 foot distance. They get almost the whole way around before Roberts danger sense goes off. Maddock disappears again. Koffi is riding on his golems shoulders. Theodonna casts a counterspell but backfires again and blinds the party. We can’t see it but the greyness is solidifying around us. We are like flies in amber. Only Koffi is able to move (well, a little bit anyway) so he pulls out his universal solvent. He tries to free himself but drips some on himself and his golem. The greyness has totally solidified now and no one can breathe. Koffi manages to burn a path to Theodonna but also manages to dissolve her toes. She turns into her 6 inch form and nestles into the cavity formed by her breasts. Dwork changes form to a goat, which is a bit smaller, allowing him to breathe.

All except Koffi and Theodonna feel pain in their feet from a liquid rising from the ground. It is a very strong acid and it is going to dissolve them. Falco changes into an owl and flies up a bit to escape the acid. Theodonna tries to counterspell underneath herself again but backfires.

Koffi begins to mold elements and digs upwards to escape the burning acid.

Robert dies. Dwork changes form into a Rhino and squashes himself to death. Theodonna dies. Koffi bursts free and tries to come back for Falco but alas he is a bit late. Falco dies. Koffi falls unconscious and slips into the acid. Koffi does.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Thirteen

Falco flies to the blue sphere. There isn’t any obvious way in so he simply calls out “Hello”. He is teleported into a metallic room. There is a desk and a chair. It is clearly a detention room as there are no windows and only one door. A beautiful woman enters and asks him to sit down. He does then tells the whole truth about the adventure so far. They know about the ground hog day. They themselves are reset each day too but can insert into our day with little effort. Their mission is to observe the war between the Empire and the Uplifted and to ensure they don’t get out of hand. They have no interest in helping us. They do know the Uplifted are trying to help Oslow and that he is insane.

It turns out the Emperor was an Uplifted with 10 braids but they have little other information on him. They believe we are stuck in an infinite loop.

The lady gets a little bored by Falco and teleports him back to the cave.

Koffi is a little surprised when we point out his left ear has been replaced by Oslows. He doesn’t feel any different and we can’t think of anything to do about it.

We make it back to Maddock and describe the previous session in the flux. He does a little research and comes back with the termites use a flux glue to bind their prey. Then they use a living molecular acid to dissolve the prey. The best plan is to avoid them by flying overhead or circling by at least 200 feet. His cloak was given to him by a flux sorceress and there are no others that he knows of.

We get back into the flux, avoid the dragon and circle safely around the termite mounds. A further 16 hours on we spot a few small shapes in front of us. Maddock says to retreat as they are flux imps and can turn us inside out. We get around them without being spotted.

Another 8 hours passes and a swarm of creatures approach. Maddock tells us to stay on the string and don’t step off. Dwork helps us all get on properly. The creatures go passed us and nothing happens.

A whole 24 hours pass with nothing too stressful. Then a grey rat is seen in the distance. It is a flux rat changer. It changes people into rat form, then has sex with them and departs happy. Of course being changed into a rat is not what most people really want so it is best to avoid it. Theodonna changes into rat form just to be safe and to take one for the party if needed. Luckily the grey rat doesn’t notice us and we slip passed.

Melissa’s Axis

We step through a portal into a lovely old english landscape with rolling hills and glistening streams. There are small honey-stone cottages nearby. Maddock says the axis is only about 25 miles across and Melissas house is about 20 miles straight ahead. Curiously the axis seems a bit bigger than he recalled from his last visit.

6 guardsmen approach us from the small town only a mile away. They are a bit scruffy even though they have uniforms and swords. Maddock didn’t recall seeing troops here before either. Dwork memorises the location then steps forward to engage the troops in conversation. They welcome the party to “New Eden”. They look at Theodonna and comment on how ugly she is. All their women are gorgeous and compliant. The troops have silly little smirks on their faces.

They ask our business here and we respond with our quest to pass a message to Melissa. She is Rands concubine and we will need to check with him first before seeing Melissa. They make it quite clear that all important decisions are left to the men and the women are grateful to be serving them. This gets a few raised eyebrows from our party since Melissa was the creator of this realm and yet now she is a willing sex slave.

We follow the troops back to the nearest farmhouse to obtain a visa each. On the way we marvel at the attractiveness of the females working in the fields. They are absolutely gorgeous and have naked. We keep Dwork on track.

Theodonna doesn’t get a visa. Instead they need to give her a cat scan to ensure she isn’t trouble. They take her into a back room where they ask her to put the scanning helmet on. She refuses. They hold her down. She calls out for help but the rest of the party is a little sidetracked by the yummy naked females offering to have sex with them right there and then. Theodonnas struggles are easily met by the troops and the helmet is placed on her head. Instantly her breasts grow and her body augments into a form as attractive as the females outside the room. The head guard tells her to get some new cloths from the cupboard. She doesn’t want to but her body starts walking anyway. She changes form to a rat and 2 of the guards vomit (she has this effect on people). The head guard tells her to change back to human form. She does. She has no resistance to any command issued by a male. She still has free will but she can’t resist any males orders. The head guard tells her to clean up the vomit and she complies. Zanak steps into the room, after hearing her mental anguish, and the guard asks if he is the owner of this female. He says yes and commands her to stop cleaning and to grab her gear. She steps into the main room with Zanak.

In the meantime Falco has been asking about Rand and Melissa and where they can be found. Dwork has gone into another room with a female and is engaged in his normal interrogation methods with females. As he climaxes he changes to female form. She hasn’t noticed so he changes to 1d form and he slips out through a window. We head off to the main town 20 miles away.

Rand has been in charge for the past month. No one knows where he came from but he brought some off-axis people with him and then the natural laws of the axis changed. Females all became incredibly beautiful and begged for sexual favours if they hadn’t had any for more than a day. They also followed any command given by any male, although there is a hierarchy starting with Rand and then the “owner” of the woman. The changes were caused by a more powerful flux wizard than Melissa. We assume it was Rand but a divination of Theodonna doesn’t confirm this. It also indicates Rands magic is artificially enhanced. Maddock suspects it was an item found in the flux, possibly of Free and Arcane origin.

We pass a farmer who tells us Melissa can be found in the main square. She gives a speech every day at midday about how men are better and the rightful rulers. Rand is the greatest of them all. It seems that she is being punished for something as Rand commanded all the local men to refuse her requests for sex for a whole week, driving her crazy with lust. He then allows her to pleasure him for a whole day before repeating the cycle again.

We fly the rest of the distance and land about a mile away in a concealed area in the trees.

Battle in the Town

As we near the town 4 militia approach and ask for our papers. There are no problems.

On the hillside next to the town is a huge white chalk horse carved into the ground. Next to the town is a castle. This used to be Melissas. Theodonna turns to rat form and we walk the last mile into town.

The town itself has a wall surrounding it but it isn’t meant for defense. It is more ornamental in nature. We walk up to the main gate and are confronted by 2 burly guards. They have laser pistols and are clearly from off-world. They have earrings which provide protection from Chronosites, whatever they are. We tell them we have come to see Rand but are informed he is busy. We are directed to his deputy Rateous. He is through the main corridor and in a house off the main square. One of the guards takes an interest in Theodonna, in rat form on Zanaks shoulder. He wants the rat as a present to his boss Rateous. Zanak refuses and a short discussion ends with Zanak and Theodonna being vapourised by the guard. A furious battle erupts with guards appearing from inside a few houses.

One set of guards have seen Dwork from the far side of the square and they race towards him. He fireballs them and the leader, who was carrying a 6 inch black box of containment, accidentally drops it and it spills open. Dark blobby shapes issue forth from the box and turn into human shapes. They surround the closest person and squash them to death. The number of creatures issuing forth doesn’t stop and soon all the regular townsfolk in the square, and there was quite a few of them, are running madly in any direction to escape these relentless killers.

Dwork, Robert and Koffi do their best to lure some guards out of the town so they can pick them off easier. Koffi manages to tie up an unconscious guard and flies him off for a mile before returning to the battle. It is always good to have a captive for “information gathering” later. Both Dwork and Robert are desperately trying to avoid some guards with laser pistols but their luck runs out. Dwork resurrects and fireballs them again and manages to drop them both. As he gloats he fails to notice the 2 flying humanoids approaching from the castle. Koffi calls out on mind speech but it is too late. They drop to the ground just a few feet from Dwork and with lightning quickness they dispatch him with kung fu kicks and karate chops. The then take to the air again and head towards Koffi who lands and waits for them. Unbeknown to the 2 fliers they pass directly above Arkmed, Koffis suicide golem, and he breaks open 2 sticks. One with Agony and one with Hellfire. They both fall from the sky. One dies instantly on contact with the ground. The other is stunned and Koffi sends another golem to stomp on it till it dies.

Falco and Theodonna (who resurrected in the middle of the battle) have taken to finding Melissa. Falco is almost noticed by Rateous but he stops still and goes unseen. Rateous is constantly talking and eventually takes his eyes off the area where Falco is hidden. Falco takes his chance and shadowholes him. Now he is free to drag Melissa into the house she was watching the battle from and he tells her he is here to get her help in saving Oslow. She is mad with desire and won’t help till Falco satisfies her urges. He complies. He notices a white horse tattoo on her breast which matches the markings on the hillside. Theodonna DAs the horse on the hillside and determines it is powerful but not currently active. Coming into the room with Falco and Melissa she is overcome with desire for Falco. He has to order her to stop.

Theodonna saps Melissa and they fly off to the hill. Falco carries Melissa in his arms while Theodonna sits on his shoulder. As they get beyond the town confines a green sludge comes out of Melissas mouth and penetrates Falcos skin. It burns and tickles at the same time. It is some sort of Flux Phosphor creature. Falco lands.

Koffi finishes torturing his captive and finds out the item which enhances Rands magic is in the castle, although the captive doesn’t know where it is specifically. Rand wasn’t a particularly strong flux mage till he acquired the item (which might be of Free and Arcane origin) but now he is very strong at projecting images and summoning flux creatures. He disposes of the body and flies to meet Falco and Theodonna.

Falco casts shadowhole on the flux creature and it disappears, although he doesn’t feel right. It seems he has absorbed too much of the creature and it now can control his actions. Theodonna turns back to human form, picks up Melissa and starts walking up the hill to the horse drawing. Falco commands her to stop and bring Melissa back down the hill. Falco walks up to Theodonna and slits her throat.

Koffi lands and tells his golems to attack Falco. Falco and Koffi both unleash items on each other. Koffi becomes catatonic but it is too late for Falco as the golems begin their relentless attack on him. Falco dies.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Fourteen

Koffi relates some additional information about Rand he learned while torturing the guardsman. The item itself seemed to transform Rand and fed off his baser instincts. He had always been a women hater since his female relatives had always abused him from an early age. The item gave him the power to get his revenge on all women. He wanted to rape and torture them and no more sadistic way could be thought of than to make them beg for it.

After Koffi relates all this we comment on his nose and left foot are now Oslows. He looks quite weird really but he seems to be feeling ok. Theodonna divinates him but nothing more than what was expected is found.

The green thing that came from Melissas body was a flux demon and they get a perverse pleasure from inhabiting other creatures bodies and making them do unseemly thing.

Koffi asks Oslow for help, but all he gets is a reply scratche din the dirt by the left foot saying “Free Melissa”. Not much use really.

Falco flies up to the sphere again and talks about the item possibly being of Free and Arcane origin but the lady requires proof before acting in any way. She suspects it is a flux demon, not an item, which is causing all the trouble on Melissas world.

Never Trust an Imp

Koffi tries moulding elements with MOG effects and backfires spectacularly. A small creature appears. It has horns and wings and looks like a regular Imp. It speaks to Koffi in a very seductive voice and asks him to “bring your ear down here so I can teach you all about being a MOG Creator”. Koffi ponders for a second and then his greedy side takes over and he bends down. The Flux Imp promptly devours his brain and licks his lips. It turns to the rest of us and, sensing a few blades about to be imbedded in its own small frame, pleads to help us escape the ground hog day effects. It says it can impart knowledge that we clearly lack.

Dwork doesn’t really care about the knowledge and tries to avenge Koffi by swinging his estoc. The imp vanishes before any damage can be done.

We stand around wondering what to do for a few minutes. Dwork notices a shimmer on the wall at the back of the cave. He touches it and the Imp reappears. His name is Bart. Bart offers to regenerate Koffis brain in order to help our party. We need only acquire another brain (any animal will do) and he will transfer Koffis consciousness into it. We locate a female beaver (in heat) and Zanak gently places the brain in the gapping hole in Koffis skull. Bart starts doing a conjuration but keeps giving us sidelong glances. At the first chance he gets he darts for the exit from the cave. Robert turns him into a meat cude and Dwork slices him into little pieces. The damned Imp was just playing our group for its own amusement.

The group asks Oslow to heal Koffi but there is no success. We take Koffis body, and the beaver brain, to town and seek the skilled healers. Koffi is eventually “fixed”.

Rescuing Melissa

We get back to Melissa axis and fly to within a mile of the main town. We plan to take control of Rateous and use him to order Melissa to go to the White Horse on the hillside. A golem will then drag her onto it and, using the tattoo on her breast, activate the powerful symbol. Playing it safe we split the party. Dwork and Robert stay outside the town to act as diversions if needed. Zanak, Falco, Koffi and Theodonna (in rat form) all venture in to the fountain in the square (all unseen).

The plan goes remarkably well. Zanak gets control of Rateous on the first try and gives the required order to Melissa. Doing our best not to arouse any suspicions Rateous says he is going to take her to the edge of her escape symbol and then screw her brains out, as a particularly vicious form of torture.

Unfortunately the controlled Rateous only makes it a few feet before a group of 7 individuals appear, blocking the exit from the town. They are men with unusual powers. They are either, fat, thin, burning, vapourising, shadow or light. The seventh one is Rand and he demands to know what is happening. Zanak, who is now visible, speaks for the party (and you can imagine how that went). Combat ensues and the party quickly realizes they are seriously outmatched.Zanak almost dies but suddenly remembers he has a gold card from the prince of fates which enable him to escape a death and puts him a safe distance away. He reappears on the hillside by the white horse emblem. Falco manages to shadowhole 3 of the men but becomes visible and is engages by the burning man. He tries to fight back but has no effect. It is like the man isn’t really there. Although his blows are quite real and Falco quickly succumbs and dies.

Theodonna and Koffi are still unseen and retreat. They manage to get out of town and join Zanak on the hillside.

2 flying humanoids are seen flying overhead again and the same ploy is used to take them down (Koffis suicide golem and the Agony bone). Dwork commands the golems to destroy them (Koffi left them outside with Dwork in case of a diversion being needed with instructions to follow Dworks commands).

Motes of Death

All the baddies, including Rand, were projections. Theodonna takes the time to divinate the horse figure cut into the hillside and confirms it has powerful magic but it needs to be activiated.

Shortly thereafter a few thousand white motes can be seen streaming out of the castle, searching, no doubt for us. The easy targets (Zanak, Theodonna and koffi) are quickly spotted and dispatched. Each mote drills a small hole into the person and then spins around. The other motes are attracted to it and the process continues till the person dies.

Robert and Dwork have remained unseen and manage to get to the castle grounds. Robert climbs the tower but finds nothing of interest. There is no treasure or obvious item being protected. He continues to check the guard house before finally being found by the motes. He dies.

Dwork goes 2D and slips into the sleeping quarters. He is about to leave a particularly opulent room when Rand walks in. Dwork quickly slides under the closet door and waits. He turns back to a 3D Ork just as Rand opens the door. Dwork manages to get a sleep grenade off before Rand can react. Rand is asleep but still standing. Curious…

Dwork whops out his estoc (and you thought I was going to say something else!!) and attacks Rand. A familiar green oozing stuff flows out of him and takes control of Dwork. The Flux Demon now knows everything Dwork does. It uses Dwork for some kinky sexual pleasures (to which Dwork doesn’t complain). The flux demon plans to keep Dwork awake until it can figure out how to control the ground hog day effect.

Dwork learns that it doesn’t like the Free and Arcane.

Fortunately Oslow senses Dworks peril (or he just plain ran out of power) and the day resets.

It should be noted here that Dwork is the first party member to not actually die on the reset.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Fifteen

Falco and Dwork fly up to the Free and Arcane vessel. Koffi joins them moments later. They learn that a single Flux Demon is in control in Melissas realm. Flux Demons are very powerful and are enemies of the free and Arcane. They have a habit of damaging the Mind of God. They also tend to separate into parts and take control of people for their own pleasure.

Despite this information the Free and Arcane refuse to directly intervene. They will provide Falco, Dwork and Koffi though with a temporary protection from Flux Demon possession.

We come up with a simple plan. Falco will return to the town square and have sex with Melissa. Theodonna will cast some forbiddings in the hallway and Falco will drag Melissa through them. This should expel the flux demon from Melissas body, leaving them free to fly her to the hillside. Falco will give us the word just before the forbiddings are used and Robert, Zanak, Koffi and Dwork will storm the castle and engage Rand. This should be enough to keep the Flux Demon preoccupied and prevent it going to Melissa’s aid.

Freeing Melissa

The plan actually works !!! Assuming you discount the stubborn Ork being too far away to be a distraction and the Flux Demon wresting control of Zanak and Robert. Koffi turns into a butterfly and escapes. By the time Dwork appears and casts a stunning fireball, the Flux Demon has teleported his 2 slaves away and left Rands body to be incinerated. Dwork is a little disappointed that he hasn’t killed anything.

Falco and Theodonna get Melissa to the hillside and press her tattoo onto the horse symbol. Just as Zanak and Robert appear, still being controlled by the demon, Melissa vanishes. The horse symbol suddenly climbs out of the ground and stands about 200 foot tall. It is very clear that Melissas soul now inhabits it as the horse has a crazed look.

The demon shudders with fear but it is too late. The horse nays loudly and 2 huge portals open beside it. One goes to the flux and one goes to a dark hellish environment.

All females on the plain are compelled to go to the flux portal and all males to the dark portal. Zanak and Robert leap through with the demon still possessing them. The demon doesn’t survive the trip.

The stars in the plain start going out and land starts folding inwards. Melissa is clearly destroying the plain in her broken and crazed state.

It only takes a few minutes and the only people left are the horse and Theodonna. Meliisa thanks Thoedonna for setting her free but also says getting her revenge has been too much and she has overused MOG. She comments on how ironic it is that she should be killed by the same thing she left Oslow for. As a last parting gift she offers Theodonna a wish. Theodonna asks for the party to be returned to her. Melissa complies and promptly dies.

Unfortunately the world is only moments away from ending too. Zanak uses his lizard to reopen the portal to the flux but it will take a moment. Thoedonna, Falco and Koffi use their meager MOG powers to hold back the destruction of the world.

Realizing there isn’t enough time for all the party to step through the portal Falco and Dwork leap into the picture Koffi was carrying (he had the special cloak from Oslows treasure chest). Theodonna turns into a rat and leaps onto Roberts shoulder.

The portal opens and Zanak, Robert and Theodonna make it through. Koffi stumbles and the world crushes around him. Koffi, Dwork and Falco die.

In the flux the 2 males are set upon by the females. Zanak is killed very quickly but he reappears on a neighboring axis where there are just pasture lands to the horizon.

Robert is tortured by the females and Theodonna has to rescue his sorry butt. She and Robert eventually escape (after Robert has been castrated) with the aid of a stringer and meet with Zanak on his axis. They rest up and fall asleep.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Sixteen

Koffi’s body is now Oslows up to the chest. It isn’t a pretty sight and he seems a bit worried.

Falco flies up to the Free and Arcane vessel where he is told that Melissas axis no longer exists. This is really surprising as previously everything has reset. Mind you we hadn’t done anything as chaotic as destroy an axis before. We feel a sense of pending doom.

They say that Oslow is not the solution to our problems as he is insane. What we need is a powerful flux wizard in their prime to end our Ground Hog Day. They suggest we look to the emperor as he had trapped us in a Ground hog Day in the first place. We had the misfortune to bump into Oslows Ground hog Day and the two became intertwined. We need Oslow to drop his Ground Hog Day so Borjanski can reappear and break us free of the Emperors effect.

Falco asks for help but we have nothing to offer them so they end the conversation. How Rude!!!

Koffi communicates with Oslow about our predicament and the sad news on Melissa. Oslow doesn’t really like us anymore (not that he ever did) but says “Come and talk to me”. Not wanting to rely on an upset and insane creator we ask Maddock to communicate with the Stringers Guild and send a message to the Emperor asking to be set free since we have completed the terms of the contract. Not wanting to rely on that too we also ask the Guild to seek a Flux Wizard willing to help us break the Ground Hog Day effect.

We reach Oslow and try our best persuasiveness to get him to set us free. Of course we fail miserably.

Falco and Dwork keep him engaged in conversation while Koffi, Zanak and Theodonna jump into the picture and use the Voodoo dool with a body part from Koffi (Oslows of course) and command him to free us. Oslow collapses onto the ground and rolls around trying to resist the command. He succeeds, gets rather nasty and resets the day.

The party steps out of the portal.

Death Number Seventeen – The Final Death

As we reappear we notice Koffi is no longer with us. We surmise he is fully Oslow now and is likely to be trapped in the centre of the dome with Oslow.

Borjanski has appeared with us. He is surprised that Koffi isn’t here. We explain about the Ground Hog Day and all the death and destruction we have caused. We tell him since we have completed the actual mission we want to find Koffi and get back to Seagate.

Borjanski realizes his portal device back to Seagate is missing. Borjanski insists we go into town and seek help from the General of the Deaths Head to get a new portal device made.

As we leave the cave we notice dark clouds are gathering and stars are starting to go out. A sense of foreboding comes over us as we have seen this before on Melissa’s realm just before she destroyed it.

We get our treasure chest, as per normal, and then proceed to visit the Free and Arcane again. Unfortunately they are not present any more. Hmmm. Not a good sign.

Also the battle has changed. Uplifted troops are returning to the ship instead of landing and fighting. The destruction of the axis in imminent and everyone is fleeing. We get into town and Borjanski sees the general and Maddock. When he returns he says the Empire troops were commanded to take control of the axis “no matter what” so they are not leaving. Maddock is busy organizing the escape of some townspeople and can’t help us.

Meantime Theodonna has used the treasure cloak and the picture to gather some loot from the town. Smart Thinking.

Koffi suddenly comes back online on Mind Speech. He explains the dome has disappeared. The senior Uplifted and mechanicians from the centre have departed. They had no time to help us. Oslow is gone also. Koffis body has returned to normal with the exception of his left pinky finger. It is still Oslows and has a vast amount of MOG magic stored in it.

Koffi suggests we open a portal to the axis where Zanak stayed a few deaths ago. Zanak complies. Falco in particular wants to leave and seek help from a stringer to eventually find a flux wizard will to help us get back to Seagate. Borjanski has other ideas and orders us to stay. We decide to use the portal plan as a backup. Of course it is at this point that Zanak remembers the lizard can only open a portal once a day. That would have been handy to remember BEFORE opening the portal. Zanak blames Koffi.

Koffi is brought up to speed on what Borjanski thinks and the missing portal device. Koffi believes Oslow has the device so we should really find Oslow. Borjanski suggests using Koffis little finger to help locate Oslow like we did with the ear to find the treasure chest. We will probably need a stringer to help travel to him.

Theodonna divinates Koffis finger. It has quite large store of Flux magic but can only be channeled once.

We wander into town looking for a stringer and wait for Koffi to join us. Theodonna gathers some more treasure into the picture, items like potions, explosive devices etc. she seems very happy with her foray.

The Pirates End

Zanak remembers he has a Gold Card of Fate (thanks to the Prince of Fates encountered in a previous adventure) which allows him to “find a person or object unerringly”. He activates it, seeking Oslow. He vanishes and the group get a few seconds of mind speech before he is cut off. Zanak is in the same “nowhere” as Oslow. They are stuck in a Ground Hog Day but it is different and timed to end in a few hours and deposit Oslow into the cave we normally reset to. Both Oslow and Zanak will reappear at the same time.

Reminded of Zanaks other Card of Fate, namely the Black one where all males in a bar will find him irresistible, the party pillages a local tavern and sets the cave up as a bar. The plan is that Oslow will reappear and be overcome by the Black Card of Fate and be consumed by the need to have sex with Zanak. (This is the reason Zanak has been studiously avoiding any taverns and bars in any towns he has come to). Meantime Robert will be tied up and will switch minds with Oslow. Once Oslow is in Roberts body he should be easily controlled and forced to free us. Theodonna and Dwork (after having sex he changes to female form) will hangout in the bar and try to snatch the portal device, if they can find it. Theodonna will also lay down some counterspells to help inhibit Oslow. Koffi, Falco and Robert will remain outside the bar so they are not effected. Although Robert needs to be close enough to the entrance so he can see Oslow for the mind switch to work.

Borjanski is surprised by the delight exhibited by the group (Theodonna too) in this new and novel plan. In fact they go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the cave is “bar like”. Dwork hires a local prostitute (typhoid Mary) to help him change sex and to stay in the bar and buy drinks. They set out the cave so the spot they normally reappear is very close to a table. On the table Theodonna kindly leaves a tube of Vaseline. This just encourages the group into more bouts of laughter. Borjanski wonders what he has got himself into with this looney group of adventurers. They even give the bar a name “The Pirates End” with its own sign and everything. Form somewhere in town they procure recording devices and position them for a good view of the bar.

Some time passes.

1am

Oslow and Zanak appear. Zanak instantly recognizes a bar setting and calls out “what the hell?” on mind speech. Koffi responds with “we have a plan. Just go with it!”. Oslow is moving very fast and lifts Zanaks dress (he had changed into it before using his gold card), bending the outraged pirate over the table and proceeding to bugger him silly. As the group suspected Oslow was rather an insecure person after loosing Melissa, and he has augmented his private parts as a show of manliness. It is all the pirate can do to not pass out from the pain.

Theodonna casts a counterspell under Oslow and Dworkess sees a pouch tied to Oslows belt. He attempts to snaffle it.

Koffi, Falco and Robert are thrilled their plan is working so well. Zanak has enough time to realize he needs to “Accept his fate” or the black card will not disappear and so he refrains from trying to escape.

Suddenly the sign for the bar moves to the edge of the cave. Borjanski, Falco, Robert and Koffi are now technically inside the cave, and as such are subject to the effect of the Black Card of Fate. They do whatever they can to get to Zanak. Koffi climbs in through the moulded tunnel in the cave wall and gets under the table. Borjanski sees Zanak screaming in pain and “fills that gap”. Robert still does the mind switch so he is in Oslows body having a good time. Falco tries repeatedly to shadow hole the four competing males so he can have Zanak all to himself.

Dworkess, Theodonna and Mary sit back and just observe.

Koffi, being a very resourceful Gnome, uses the flux magic to create a “bubble of force” and envelops Zanak and himself. Oslows body, with Roberts mind, and Borjanski are suddenly “ejected” from Zanaks body. Robert tries to roll the bubble but they are actually in a corner of the cave so it doesn’t go anywhere. Koffi takes the time to satisfy himself, which only takes a few moments. After that he drops the bubble.

Meantime Oslow, in Roberts body, shapechanges to remove the ropes binding him and casts a lightning bolt at Borjanski. Borjanski takes a lot of damage bt is freed from the effect of the Black Card. He is disgusted in what he was doing but has little time to respond as Oslow changes him into a beaver. Falco is trying to get rid of the males but everyone keeps resisting his attempts.

As the bubble drops Zanak checks his pockets and finds the Black Card is still I his possession. Near the back of the cave the shimmering face of the Prince of Fates can be seen laughing. Clearly Zanak hasn’t “accepted his fate” enough. He makes a conscious decision to race towards Roberts body, knowing Oslow is trapped inside it, and resumes the bonking.

Oslow casts a hellfire fireball on the room just before Zanak gets to him. All bar Zanak are affected. Poor Mary dies but everyone else is freed from the effects of the card.

Falco finally succeeds with Shadow Hole and Oslow (in Roberts body) disappears. The Prince of Fates is still smiling. Zanak goes back to Oslows body (with Roberts mind) and continues to “accept his fate”. Finally the Prince of Fates puts a halt to the Black Card. Just before he disappears he takes a copy of the tape recording of the whole event. Koffi snatches the original and keeps it safe for his viewing pleasure back on Seagate.

Getting Home

The group heals Zanak as much as they can and continues to defend their plan to capture Oslow as being the only practical one available. Zanak of course doesn’t believe a word of it and swears a silent curse on them all.

Falco DAs the portal device which was in the pouch Dworkess gained. It is keyed to only be activated by Borjanski. The beaver version of him just won’t cut it.

The axis has stopped collapsing. This was probably Oslows plan all the time. Have the Empire and the Uplifted leave by threatening to destroy it so he can have total control again.

We discuss several plans to get back to Seagate but settle on waiting for Oslow to return (in Roberts body) and having Robert switch them back. Oslows body will be tied up and counterspelled and near the point of death when this happens.

If Oslow promises to free Borjanski and allow us to return to Seagate then we will let him free. If he doesn’t then we will kill him and use an alternate plan to get home.

Once Oslow returns he is actually quite sane now. He agrees to turn Borjanski back to human form and he will stay to keep the axis alive. He is no longer melting which seems to have been the purpose in taking control of Koffis body in the first place.

Yippee !!! We get back to Seagate. Koffi instantly runs off to make copies of the sex tape. The filthy little Gnome…

The Short Version

File:A chess game perhaps.pdf

Click on the PDF file link to view it, Not the image

Administration

Equipment

Guild purchases

• Greater Enchantment

1. Rank 12 for all characters (+13 on all 4 stats)

• Potions

1. Borjanski buys 2 Healing Potions (+10) for each party member

Zanak has already purchased

1. 6 * Healing Potions (+10)
2. 3 * Healing Potions (+20)
3. 2 * Restoratives (+10)

• Lesser Enchantment

1. Everyone has one

Keeping up Standards

Standard Buffs - Party

• Fire Armour 32 points - Dwork
• Shadow Form 26 points on Defence - Falco

Standard Buffs - Individuals

• Mind Shield - Zanak

Standard Marching Order

• Rank 1: (cannon fodder): Dwork
• Rank 2:
• Rank 3: (mages & cowards):
• Rank 4: (dag ends): Zanak

Standard Watches

• First: Zanak
• Second: Dwork
• Third:
• Fourth:

Nominations and SGT Snippets

Possible Award Nominations

Smartest

Bravest

Stupidest

Best Death

Treasure Roll Order

Theodonna, Falco, Zanak, Koffi, Dwork and finally Robert.

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