Giant Trouble at Desert Flower

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Giant Trouble at Desert Flower
GM: Michael P.
Season: Spring 823 wk
Level: Medium/High
Place: Kelsie's place in Albany.(7pm start-time)

Party

1. Merco Mind Mage - Jono Bean
2. Lila Air/Celestial- Kelsie
3. Mungo Third Son Warrior - Michael M
4. Anooke Ice Mage- Michael H
5. Aurora Air Mage- Keith
6. Minerva Celestial Mage- Jacqui

Employer

THE OFFICIAL EMPOLYER is Prince Querkus

Mission

Prince Querkus was explicitly charged by Her Serenity, the [Elvish] Queen of Lilac to hire a guild party to swiftly “REDUCE” a hazard that “might” hazard. Her western neighbour-slash-nation, the self-styled “Militant Human Republic”, which also includes many native hobbits as well as shape-shifters [a.k.a. Vess’n or Wessen], … and quite a few of H.S.’s loyal subjects merely out for a wild night, week, or month of gambling, drinking, masked carnivals & other revelry… such as meeting or getting new faces professionally, getting cash or bargains from “pawn shops”, etc.

The Queen was impressed with the previous Guild party that incidentally somewhat foiled the Ice Giants that were plaguing towns in the M.H.R. Also, the Ice Giants created the new, permanent(!?) icecap over the Southern Pole.

The “Nothing-In-Writing or acknowledged (wink-wink) solution”

 The current leader of the Ice Giants — is still sometimes written Eyjafjatl but pronounced Ai-Yaah--FYAT-il   

' —— fortunately all the following Giant names have been written to approximate how they should be said... and any syllable entirely in capital letters is to be emphasized. 
In the past, some of the Lilac Giantish language was partially transcribed into the A-Z alphabet by Alusian linguists and other specialist … but FAR too many of the resulting syllables were STILL unsayable for ordinary or even extremely intelligent & literate people (e.g., Seagate adventurers). 

Anyway ... Eye-Yaah FEE-YAT-ill plans to CROWN HIMSELF King of the Giants and all to transform himself into a powerful Fire Mage … also, apparently, he will marry a grand-daughter of the infamous, dead Fire Giant King, Katla) --- whose name was ironically easy to say and to translate (it means Kettle!) ... it's Also the name of a spectacular magma-heated geyser.

Those Grand-daughters—– named for waterfalls or lakes from oldest to youngest are called:

1. FAT-le-goost = Most beautiful [of the granddaughters]; she’s also the most social.
2. Hinn-FAHTS-li = the Fallen one — because she is known, in many senses of the word, to be “higly experienced” … to say the least.
3. Mjög rólegur = Very tranquill
4. Meyja-gutlgerðarmaðurinn (a.k.a.Meyja-gutl) = [THE?] Maiden Alchemist (btw, ð is approximately said as “th”)
5. Gutlfoss meaning Golden Falls or possibly Golden Cascade — Presumed to be a poetic allusion to her distinctive hair.

IMPORTANT OFFICERS/COURTIERS of soon-to-be King Eyjafjatl (All male, of course, and named after famous, spectacular volcanos or geysers, some even useful or medicinal!)

1. Myvatn the Handsome, a famous alchemist &, importantly, a first or second cousin to all five would-be brides.
2. Jokul the Master spy: Allegedly "Jokul knows several succesful Assassins” (An unsubtle threat!). It is rumoured that Jokul can freeze things and people just by looking at them (It would be advisable to have a way of defeating or, at least, minimizing such an event.
3. Lagarfljot the Magician & “Bestest Master Brewer”: strongly suspected to be yet an other powerful alchemist. The curative effects of his various beers are legendary! ... ACTUALLY he was really the would-be King's younger brother Leader of the Bíng Division (their toughest division) and a Military Strategist beyond compare. Fortunately he was killed by the "Resistance" !

To be successful the Party must ensure that any planned or accidental GIANTISH wedding(s) do not Happen.

According to Prince Querkus’s Sage, “the best way to prevent the ill-omened wedding is to permanently prevent the marriage. (Well, duh!) — It is assumed that means Kill the pretender & his Princess-bride(s) and, just to be safe, any other heiresses as well; then scattering all the resulting mincemeat across several planes and worlds.

Pay & Rewards

The employer will give EACH partymember ONE somewhat PERMANENT Magical item

and another item only 1-use to 3-use "charged" item (perhaps a potion or scroll or similar)

ALL items deemed to be property of the Elvish Queen or of any of her officers or subjects MUST be returned to the Queen ... HOWEVER a reasonably generous finder's reward be paid to the Seagate party in cash or goods.

Party Loot and writeups to review

Scribe Notes

Day 1

1st Spring: Thaw 823

Guild meeting and party

We assembled in a Guild meeting room and introduced ourselves to each other. In order were:

• Anooke - a round hobbit Inuit ice mage from way up north. He had some sort of curse that meant we would keep forgetting who he was for a week or so.
• Minerva - human solar celestial merchant from the Lunar (Loony) Empire.
• Lila - elven female air/celestial mage - depending on her mood I think.
• Mungo the Humble - a human skald also from somewhere way up north. Blessed by Oden and claimed he never takes a step backwards.
• Merco (Mercury) another hobbit and I got the impression he was rather competent at most skills. Mind mage.
• And me, Aurora, female elf air mage and ex-fae. Ex-vegetarian as well. I read out a statement that the Sorceress in Silver had me prepare a while back - a self assessment.

Most of the party had pets, but if you count elementals, all of the party could summon 'pets'. Minerva had a genie in a bottle, as well as a giant eagle. Lila had a couple of birds and two elephants, Mungo had a raven, while Merco had a couple of dogs. I hope they're friendly.

We then checked what resources we had between us. We seemed short of healing capabilities so I offered to get potions and restoratives. Minerva had the thought to go to Freetaun and see what the mages there had. My spare Amulet of Diamonds was lent to Lila.

Employer

Finally we let the party employer in and were told the situation. I had heard rumours but maybe I shouldn't have mentioned my 'twitter' feed. Sparrows can be right gossips when they want to. Basically we had to stop this powerful giant from marrying these giant princesses and become even more powerful. We had free reign to do this any way we wanted to - up to and including genocide - at least that was the impression I got. This giant is also rather popular among the ice giant populous. There was a theory that there was some ritual involved otherwise the wedding would have already happened.

Payment

The subject turned to payment. Merco, who had become the Party Leader, handed over a list of our requirements - Greater Enchantments, Herbalist potions, restoratives etc etc - anything that would tip the balance in our favour. They offered us valuable treasure including diamonds and rubies. It seemed that the sky was the limit as they were really keen to see this done. Merco finally convinced them to leave 800,000sp at the Guild as a retainer and we'd sort the rest out upon completion. Also Minerva became the Military Scientist and I got Scribe - promising to ensure that the really embarrassing bits were left out of the notes and the Seagate Times.

Background

Apparently, they hadn't told the Titans either. Besides, we were told that they were busy constructing a moon that would stay up this time. Also, we had friends at Desert Flower but that place had been overrun by the ice giants and it was believed most of the inhabitants were dead although a few could have got away in their flying ship. The dwarves were complaining about missing supplies and Cavorite (the stuff that makes the flying ships fly). The wastelands, north of the southern ice cap, which was getting bigger, had been occupied by small giants for over a century but the ice giants had been pushing north in only the last fourteen months. Lots more icebergs were floating about in the southern seas causing hazards.

It was suggested that it was a good idea to go visit the Lady of the Loch so we agreed to do that. Besides, it would be polite to pay our respects at least. Same with the Queen's sister whom we had helped out on a previous mission. When Anooke was told there were dinosaurs in the area over the western mountain range, he wanted to visit them too.

Feast & preperation

After the meeting we went our separate ways. I went looking for Lim the potion mage then flew down to Slippery Rock to get Restoratives. Meanwhile Mungo was arranging a pre-mission feast. Apparently that's traditional where he comes from. It's meant to bestow good luck although I was wondering if it was 'eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die in glorious battle'. In my case I'm hoping it's 'for tomorrow I diet'. Still, a good time was had and even our party employer got into the spirit of things.

Day 2

2nd Spring: Thaw 823

Journey to Lilac

Next morning, after the inevitable, 'oh my ghod the sun is so bright' feeling, we got onboard the ship that our employer had come in on, sailed discretely out of the harbour then took off into the sky reaching an altitude of ten thousand feet above Confederation Bay. Next thing we knew we were skimming above wavetops at ten foot altitude, heading towards Quarantine Island on the plane of Lilac. Curious - didn't notice any mana storms this time. Since there was no need to stop there, we then blinked over to the Citadel of Friendship.

WARNING: You are now in Lilac Time. Note that the days are only one hour longer ... so try to spend it in sleep.

Queens sister

Lunch that day was with the Queen's sister where we were given a basket full of potions as well as being slipped a magical brooch and a pill. The brooch was accompanied by a note which said "Send them all to Hell". We also got our Greaters (Rank 18s?) and she said she wanted something 'interesting' in return. She also reinterpreted an earlier astrology reading that said 'Listen to the Silence' to be 'Listen to the Psylons((? also not certain of spelling... maybe Psilons?)) — apparently they're a race of short mentalists but not dwarves or halflings. Goblins? Maybe best to check with someone knowledgeable at the Citadel.

ADDENDUM to be added once more information is available

Day 3

Lady of the Loch

Went to see the Lady of the Loch, who had taken an interest in Lila last visit. On the way, we were learning to fly the boat. I was rather keen on this - so was our designated pilot. Upon arrival, we got the distinct impression that the Lady was interested in having children while giving Merco 'the eye'. I was also getting a bit worried that Mungo was going to fight Merco for the honour. As it turned out, it was Lila who entertained the lady that night. I guess I'm out of my league. Certainly some of the hobbit ladies there were looking Merco over with interest.

Day 10

We spent the previous week learning to work together as a unit. The plan was devised to go catch an Ice Giant that's not part of the Court so we could get skin changes made that would allow us to turn into giants. There was also the possibility of a stew being made from the remains of an Ice Giant that would give us knowledge of Giantish for a while so we could infiltrate the Court as minions and find out what was going on. It was then suggested that we should nab a Princess so that Lila could impersonate her. We also underwent a procedure that allowed us to be immune to an aspect of Fear. The results were Berserk(me), Frozen(Merco), Panic(Lila, Minerva & Mungo) and Wary(Anooke). Anooke also had a supply of ice cubes that could heal us when we crushed them between our teeth. Basically heals half the current damage unless the damage is caused by fire or the user is an ice mage when it heals the lot. Also we had a blanket pardon from the Queen for any flying violations.

So we went giant hunting. Mungo ran ahead in wolf form to scout while the rest of us flew off in the flying boat. We finally found three of them bullying some hobbits so we went in to help them - the hobbits that is. The combat was brief and, basically the giants didn't stand a chance. The last one still standing decided to surrender. The dead bodies were frozen and the live one put under hibernation and slung under the boat in the cargo net.

More hobbit turned up, some carrying wine sacks, and an impromptu celebration started in our honour. We were even given some candy flowers that elevated Perception (+2PC, also have some healing properties). We logged them as Hobbit Flowers of Perception. We also retrieved the giant axes they were using as well as an equivalent of 50 gold sovereigns they had in total. Some of those coins looked like they were worth more, especially to collectors.

   A hobbit - "We're collectors"
   Aurora - "What a coincidence. So are we"

The hobbits knew of the situation at Desert Flower and Lila obtained a list of names of people there. The gardens there were utterly destroyed, which made me extremely sad and angry at the same time. Once we left there, after the celebration, we returned to the Citadel of Friendship. Just before landing we discovered we had a hobbit stowaway who wanted to 'see the world' He is a Namer apprentice.

We discussed the combat and tactics. I was a little reluctant to use spells such as lightning and thunder inside on a stealth mission so Merco said I should stick close to Mungo during close order combat. We were also told about various secret symbols that could be useful in our quest. Another interesting nugget of information was that giant weapons are often poisoned. They also throw large rocks.

A quick trip was made to the Queen's sister to drop off our frozen giants before we returned to the Citadel. Some of us were wondering if one or two of the Princesses hadn't arrived at Court yet and, if so, should we go after them. I thought it might be a good idea to change into my formfitting black stealth armour - assuming Lila's belt will work with it - which it doesn't.

We discovered that the candy flower effects would last for 39 days so we ate one each. They were so delicious I wanted more.

=========================

From Prince Querkus, we received (on Loan) THREE so-called Ruby Brooches [not made of ruby] which went to Lila, Anooke and Mungo. When the wearer loses ENDURANCE damage (by being hit with weapons &/or damage-magics) that hurt wearer regains their lost EN at 3 points per pulse from from the closest available 'Giant (i.e., one that is not currently being drained by any other R.B) within 50 Yards. Also: IFF that weapons &/or damage-magics DIRECTLY inflected Fatigue damage, that lost Fat is also, (simultaneously) returned at 2 Fat per pulse.

The Broaches are rectangular, about the size of the palm & finger's of a 6-foot-tall human must be worn on the wearers chest, vaguely near their Heart but over any clothing, cloaks, bandages, armour, etc. These gray Broaches (with a small roundel of gold in the centre) are called "RUBY" because, when the Broach begins to drain giant(s) bright ruby drops run in from the appropriate clock direction (If the Broach's wearer is still standing, running from the top of the broach equating to North; East is "left"(etc). So the broach acts as a map where the rest of the party can see the directions of the direction).

If that's too difficult to understand or interpret: The party may prefer to (gently?) put the the attacked party-member flat on their back with the top of the head pointing to North

=================================

Additionally (also from Pr.Q.), those who didn't have a DA talent was given a one-shot, very tiny, potion that would allow an accurate Detect Aura from a distance of [drinker's PC] hexes.

Meanwhile plans were made. We were going to infiltrate the giant's camp in the ruins of Desert Flower as servants, which meant we had to be wear raggedy clothing and be dirty. Mungo was going to remain behind as a one person rescue party so we left most of our stuff with him. My ears had to be mutilated to make sure I wasn't seen as an elf. I didn't like that but it was for the mission.

Day 11

We flew down, landed nearby out of sight then got in by joining a work gang that was carrying wood into the camp. We spent a week scouting the place out.

What we wanted to find out was:

• The routines that take place - guard movements etc.
• Are their safe routes that can be utilised to get around or for escape
• Who is who in the camp
• Which princesses are still to arrive.

The last one was easy. All five were already here. They were being housed in a large tent that had five separate entrances. Presumably there were five separate areas in there. Each princess had at least one lady in waiting. Three of them were mages: fire, ice, and earth. The armour the giants were wearing was multi-layered leather - possibly with a protection rating of 10. The head count was 101 giants, five visiting princesses, and 250 servants. Only a few servants are trusted enough by the giants to have special privileges.

The giants also have savage attack pigs as guard animals. They had the Mind College Animal control spell on them which implied the existence on a Mind Mage. This was rather worrying for our cover. As we could tell, there were only ten casters among the giants.

We were also looking out for those servants who were spying for the giants and those who had influence over the other servants. Healing among the giants was mostly herbal but one of the ladies in waiting was a mid range healer (5) and the the King's attendant was a master healer (10), which meant they had someone who could resurrect. Plus, the mind mage's tent was adjacent to the King's. It was now looking that we might have to take out the Healer as well or, at least ensure that the Mind mage could not be resurrected.

So our plan was to have one of Anooke's ice creations dress up at the mind mage and be seen fleeing down the mountain, leaving behind some sort of forged note implicating him in some sort of conspiracy or that his secret had been found out. Fortunately there was no E&E mages among the giants but two of the trusted servants were E&E, both human. One of them had been seen earlier going to the princess's tent with a note and a rose, presumably a message from the king for a discrete meeting.

Anooke proposed another plan - Kill them all. I tagged that as Plan C for Carnage. Also it was discovered that the Mind Mage had high ranked telepathy. One stray thought could blow our cover, so he had to go.

Lots of arguing occurred. Finally, we came up with the following steps:

1. Set off Minerva's Chime of Silence
2. Grab a Princess that Lila would later impersonate
3. Approach Mind Mage
4. Capture Mind Mage in Mind Counterspell
5. Kill Mind mage
6. Prepare simulacrums to make it look like the Mind mage ran off with the kidnapped princess.
7. Get out and get our skin changes.

Another thing we noticed was two slaves wearing iron collars. They were mages, one Binder, the other Namer. Merco's Precog told us that our plan would work but someone was stealthily coming after us. We got the impression that who ever that was could be a potential ally so we executed the plan - which went flawlessly. However, afterwards, we discovered we had an extra person. He recommended that we impersonate Princess Fatligaast.

The Mind Mage had been turned into a 'furry sausage with a head'. Where they got those skin changes from, I do NOT want to know. Some sort of limbless rodent? But we were able to snag that princess as well.

We flew off with the Binder in the boat. After his collar was removed he told us he was a Psilon. The items that we had acquired were also looked at. Three of note was a mirror that allows viewing of the past, a sword that leaps into your hand, as long as you were within 200 miles of it, and a potion of healing that regenerates at each full moon. We also learned that there was always at least one guard inside the King's tent who may be invisible. There was also two warriors watching the King and he, most likely, has a special trick.

Lila got her princess skin change from the Queen's sister and we started setting up the next part of the plan.

Day 14

On the way to drop off Lila, we dropped off at the Lady of the Loch for 'baked goods'. One of those was a potion that raised MA by a heck of a lot (+22) with a warning label that said 'Are you sure you want to do this'. Another was a grenado that causes those within it's area of effect to lose willpower.

Upon arrival, Merco hypnotised Lila to believe her cover story was true, i.e. the Mind Mage had kidnapped her, ran off with her, and she had escaped, spending a few days wandering in the wild before she found her way back to Desert Flower. He then cast Mind Control on her to ensure the 'last magic to impact' was the answer we wanted.

Wile Lila, disguised as the Princess made her way in, we snuck in and waited for her signal. This time Merco's precog showed a 'sea of blood'. Unfortunately it didn't show whose blood.

When Lila finally staggered in, Elisa, the princesses companion and lady in waiting, was overjoyed to see she had returned. Lila gets looked after, including healing from the King's healer. Meanwhile the King's crown is taken somewhere to be recharged. Strongest magical ability - Protection for the Monarch. Nature of recharge - Restores all EN and FT every half hour. Basically it's an Arcane item. Magical protections on the mind - none, just physical protection. The instructions were 'to take it to the place that shall not be named and don't return until it is fully charged". Meanwhile one of the other princesses is suspicious of Lila's story, Mjögrólegur.

That night, Lila is taken to the King's tent for a 'night of passion'. During that, Lila manages to plant another skin change on him. Meanwhile we went in and managed to take out the guards before the alarm was raised. Looting was done and we were able to get away before pandemonium broke out.

We had 19 Restore Life Potions, and each of us had a +6MA potion a +13EN, a +18 AG that were applied so it looks like I'm going to be a caster and stick behind Mungo. Also we found out that the psylon's name was HUMPHREY. He wanted a weapon so I loaned him my spare silvered shortsword. I might let him keep it after this.

The next thing we had to do was to take out the other princesses. Since the more stealth the better, I changed into my formfitting black stealth armour - which Merco seemed rather interested in watching me in it. We snuck in, I cast Sleep Gas into the tent, Anooke hibernated them, then they got skinchanged into those limbless rodents for transport. We then raided for valuables. We ended up with four princesses, one king, and most of their stuff. If it was possible for a Bag of Holding to be so full as to be bulging, it would be.

We then flew off on Wings, looking for their elite guard. Two groups were found and two rather quick fights later they were either dead (nearly all of them) or surrendered (at least one). I was a bit miffed I didn't get the chance to bring down the thunder to match Lila's lightning although I have to admit Merco's tactic of firing off three Telekinetic Rages in an equilateral triangle formation that forced most of the giants into a tightly packed bunch that I could drop a lightning ball on was a stroke of genius. However I suspect his military scientist instruction to me 'to stand in front of me and wiggle' isn't really a usual military tactic.

Lila, still in the guise of the fifth princess basically told the remaining giants that she was now in charge and to go back south and stop harassing the hobbits. Since it was mostly giant servant, women and children left, they meekly obeyed. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when they tell the tale of what happened here.

The King's tent was very fancy and we were contemplating taking it with us. Also, when we contacted the local hobbits to tell them what we had done, they wanted to know exactly how many giants we had killed. Turned out that they had a sweepstake running. They also told us that bodies had been buried under a building on a hill.

So we decided to dig them up. I hovered in the air while Anooke had five fully functional giant minions clearing away the rubble. They soon uncovered a hole in the floor, below which was a chamber holding hibernating people. Sometime during then, Lila returned to her normal form.

Day 15

We flew back, in the boat, to the Silver Queen. Time was spent cataloging everything and explaining what had happened. The skinchanged princesses and king were handed over and it was suggested that they may be dispatched to another Plane of existence. It will take three days to get the hibernated people revived.

We discussed what we were going to do next ... (A) Humphrey told us of a problem in dinosaur land. (B) The Prince, our Official Employer, wanted us to go beyond the Northern Wall. The elves (or dwarves?) can let us into that area they get the Cavorite from ... to look for clues to perhaps discover who is sabotaging things for the Elves & Dwarves. Somehow, without saying anything more, his eyebrows hinted(?) that going there would be well rewarded.

Humphrey whispered that it is "much easier to ride a dinosaur if you have a saddle containing Cavorite —— and that obviously make the dinosaur more amiable to being ridden!"

Day 16

As for what was going on up north, they weren't exactly sure. The wine was going off, so was the whiskey. It could be some sort of poison but there was no idea what was causing it. Also something was dirtying the usual clean environment up there. It was best that we went in there with an open mind, the less speculation the better. So we flew to the Citadel of Friendship and received a potion that would increase our perception by a bit (+2 PC) that would last for a couple of days. Arrangements had been made to get us on a train that would pass under the Impenetrable Wall. It was rather cramped as it was designed for smaller passengers. We knew when we had passed under the Wall as a shiver went up our collective spines.

Emerging on the other side, we found ourselves in a garden area. The train went around a very large lake that was the source of the southern rivers. There was a fountain in the middle of it that sprayed water up to nearly the height of the Wall itself, two and a half thousand feet. It then headed off into the countryside where we saw some burnt patches. When we saw a cacao tree that had been very badly burnt, we got off the train to investigate. The tree was barely alive and it had no idea what had happened to it. All it knew that it was in severe pain. The magical aura around the tree suggested it had been hit by a burst effect, maybe a fireball, Traces of an accelerant, specifically turpentine was detected so Mungo the werewolf went to follow the scent. For some reason Merco seemed to think I was his muse.

The scent led us to what looked like a rather ornate bird box that looked like it had been scorched too. Turned out this was the home of a group of 'pixies' - who objected to being called pixies. They told us that they had also been having problems with the food going off. They also said their grape vines had been smashed and, when we went to have a look, we discovered they had been flattened - by large hobnailed boot prints. Were we dealing with giants again? The stride seemed to indicate so but the tracks soon disappeared as if they had flown off. Posts had been knocked over as well.

The wine had also been contaminated by something that was rather nasty and was getting worse. We then noticed that we were being watched by some elves. So we went over to introduce ourselves. They were initially a bit stand-offish and rude until they were convinced that we had been sent here to investigate what had happened. No one had seen anything so it was concluded that the attacks had happened at night. Also they happened nearly all at once about three weeks ago.

Our next stop was to investigate the source of the CAVORITE. We were told 'Don't frighten the blimphs'. We had no idea until we rounded a corner into a large valley full of these strange flowers. Floating above the ground, were these creatures that looked like large worms crossed with dirigibles. It seems that these flowers absorbed CAVORITE from the ground, accumulated enough of it until it burst up from the ground, 'falls' up until it is caught and eaten by the blimphs. Presumably they concentrate the CAVORITE in their bodies and keep just enough to keep themselves aloft. Any extra CAVORITE is excreted. The excretment is collected and refined to extract the CAVORITE. We actually saw some flowers lift off. I even tasted one of the flowers - it tasted horrible.

The survey didn't turn up any giant footprints but there was damage to the nearby section of the Wall. It looked like nearly three quarters of a ton of steel pellets had hit it. Or maybe an extremely large javelin that was shot from an extremely powerful siege engine. Blood was also found which was shown to be ice giants. I tried asking the blimphs but they hadn't seen anything.

We then visited the spot marking the North Pole so I danced on it. I said I was pole dancing.

More blood was found later on which, again, was ice giant.

The maps showed an old road that went up to the Wall but wasn't used any more. So we went to that spot. and saw giant tracks. Examining the Wall revealed that a small hole had been made in it then patched up. There was a slight difference between the patch and the Wall such as the Wall being magical and the patch non-magical. The hole is only three inches wide and smalls of the acid used by army ants. Somehow the giants had used this hole to get stuff to the other side of the Wall. The Wall itself is about one and a half to two feet thick.

Once we concluded our investigations, we went back and reported to the Gold Queen.

Day 17

Some discussion was done on the subject of our rewards and what could the Queen do for us. It turned out, quite a lot. Meanwhile Anooke still wanted to see a dinosaur so Humphrey produced his amulet that he could produce one with. Unfortunately it turned out that the amulet was a fake. Divinations told us it had been stolen and substituted by a hobbit called Billi Boggins who was currently at Katarinaburg. So we took the ship to K-burg to get it back. Lila made contact with Billi in a pub then they went to another pub for lunch. That was when we joined them. It didn't take much persuasion to get her to hand it over but she did say she had already arranged to sell it to a couple of high ranking elves down in Douglas, one of which was related to the local Earl.

We then headed towards Desert Flower as we were searching for the King's Crown, on the suspicion that it may have been a controlling force on the Ice Giant king. Divinations showed it to be in a transparent box surrounded by chained down books which made us wonder if it had somehow been put into an institution>given our description Humphrey realised in was in the archival area of the Citadel of Friendship. So we went there. It turned out that this Crown was a replica and had been made according to documentation and rumours about what it looked like. Whatever, this wasn't the Crown we were looking for.

Feeling like we had just wasted our time with a red herring, we spent the night at the Citadel.

Day 18

We changed our tactics. Minerva did an astrology reading to find out where the real crown was, and got the answer 'In hands that shouldn't have it but be careful yourselves'. Another one said 'Whoever wears the Crown is King'. So off we went to visit Silver, in order to interrogate the skinned changed hibernated King with a Telepathy running. Turned out that the King suffered from periods of blackouts and that the Crown was usually charged up by sacrificing lots of slaves to it in some sort of ceremony or gladiatorial games. He had no recollection of sending it off to the 'usual place'. This was making us nervous and then we remembered that 'missing mind' that we couldn't find. Was one of the items we had looted actually possessed by something and waiting to possess one of us? It was decided to test that theory - and guess who was going to be the test subject?

Minerva then admitted she had lost her companion spirit, which seemed like something we should have known from the beginning. Presumably it hadn't made the trip with us and they would be reunited on our return. The items were checked with ESP and healer empathy but nothing was found so it was looking like we wouldn't have to test the items after all. Part of me was actually disappointed by this but the rest of me was really relieved. We did test the items on an ice giant but nothing was found. There was no evidence that there was anything possessing the loot. A limited precog showed did show that some items gave pleasure.

The King's brother, the captain of the guard, was raised and questioned. No he didn't want to be King. His brother though was always ambitious but he wasn't really a nice person, too devious for the people for instance. The whole King thing started just before the crown turned up and from what else he was saying we were beginning to wonder if demon summoning had been involved or there was some prophecy in play, something to do with a comet. It was Ofrid who had led the expedition north but it had been 'strongly suggested' by the then King. He was smart though, could read five languages. There was also indications of underhandedness, meglomania, paranoia, and possibly a doorway to another Plane - or to the future. He also said 'when my brother wore the Crown, his eyes were wrong'. We discussed this all with Humphrey who confirmed that time travel was a possibility - after all that's how they got the dinosaurs in the first place.

So, with Humphrey's help, we went back to follow the crown. Just outside camp the person vanished, as if the Crown consumed him from existence. him. The Crown then vanished as well. We came to the conclusion that the Crown was some sort of controlling, plane-hopping entity.

  Aurora - "I read a lot"
  Merco - "Fairy Tales"
  Aurora - "Scribe notes"
  Merco - "Fairy Tales".

Merco also thinks we should also go back in time to rob the gold that had mysteriously disappeared from Zumalar around 813WK. Anooke was really keen on that.

Day 19

After some consultation, we finally found a place that we could send the ice giants that would suit them very well. It seems that Lilac is the third rock from the sun or suns. The fourth rock turned out to be unsuitable as it was already inhabited, but the ice moon of the fifth 'rock'? was suitable, and the giants loved it. They offered us the naming rights for their new world and Merco suggested 'Lila gets lucky with hobbits' out of Lila's earshot. My response was a resounding NO.

Speaking of Merco, I finally allowed him to draw the etching he wanted, me in my nightwear. So I posed for him, while hovering outside a second story window so there was no way he could get 'handsy'. Plus I paid him for a copy.

Day 20

During the next few days - or weeks - time travel is weird - we spoke with the monks of Desert Flower for unarmed training etc, then went to visit Silver and Gold to see what they were offering for what we had done. We were firmly convinced we had done everything we could here and it was time to go home.

Buffs & Mil Sci

Long Term (assumed always on)

Magic (caster)	Rk	Effects	Duration	Me	Li	Mu	An	Au	Mi
Greater Ench.	18	+19% to Res, Mag, Com, and S&S.	Var	P	?	?	?	?	Y
Coruscade (Min) (Party Cast)	17	+36 def melee, ranged; +18 def close	9 hrs						Y
Shadowform (Li)	15	+32 def melee, ranged; +16 def close	8 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
Coldsnap (An)	20	healing	instant	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Flying (Au)	20	50mph flight - 525 mile range	10.5 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Feather Falling (Au)	10	Fall no more than 5'/pulse	5.5 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Vapour Breathing (Au)	10	Allows flight to 20,000 feet	5.5 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Ice Traversal (An)	20	Travel over ice and/or snow without slipping or sinking in. (+7 TMR on flat ice)	7 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fire Armour (Li)	10	44 Ablative Protection from Magical Fire Damage	11 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Fire Proof (Li)	10	Protection from Non-magical Fire Damage	11 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Witchsight (Min) (Party Cast)	12		6.5 hours						Y
Self Only
Mind Shield	10		21 hrs	Y	-	-	-	-	-
Sense Danger	6	Sense danger		Y	-	-	-	-	-
Navigation		Extra Navigator ranks as listed and safer travel	1+rk Hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Short Term

Magic (caster)	Rk	Effects	Duration	Me	Li	Mu	An	Au	Mi
Shadow Wings (Li)	6	36 mph, 126 miles range	3.5 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Walking Unseen, (Min - Party Cast)	6		7 hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Wings of Light (Min) (Party Cast)	10	40 mph, 220 miles range	5.5 hrs
Weapon of cold (An)	18	+19% +7 damage	23 min	?	?	?	Y	?	?
Create Light Sword (Min)(Party Cast)	8	+9 SC, +3 Dam	13 min						Y
Weapon of Flames (Li+)	10	+11 SC, +6 Dam, +11 dam vs undead, cold, water	22 min	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Barrier of Wind (Li)	4	20 def vs missiles, 15 in melee or close	150 min	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Resistance to Light (Min)(Party cast)	10	+12 resist light, see through rk20 light	110 min						Y
Lightning Strike (Li)	5	[D-4]+10, save for 1/2	5hrs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Strength of Darkness (Li)	12	+7 PS	130 min	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Mind Speech (Me)	20	Range 630ft	210 mins	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Mind Special Knowledge Counterspell (Me)	12	+66% magic resistance to Special Knowledge Mind magics	D+17 mins	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Misc

Herbalist Lunch/Broth

...

Watch Order

8pm	9pm	10pm	11pm	12am	1am	2am	3am	4am	5am	6am	7am
Merco & Guard IV		Lila				Mungo				Merco & Guard IV
Aurora				Anooke				Minerva

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Default ... ... ...	Double File ... ... ...	Single File ... ... ...

Calendar

Spring: Thaw 823 (10)
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
		Candlemansa	1	Guild Meeting	2		3		4		5		6
	7		8		9		10		11		12		13
	14		15		16		17		18		19		20
	21		22		23		24		25		26		27
	28		29		30		1		2		3		4
Spring: Seedtime 823 (11)
	5		6		7		8	Rites of Thunor	9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Equinox	16		17	Eostre	18
	19		20		21		22		23		24		25
	26		27		28		29		30		1		2
Spring: Blossom 823 (12)
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17		18		19		20		21	Floralia	22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Walpurgisnacht