Once Upon a Storytime
Summary
Adventure: Once Upon a Storytime
GM: Mandos
Session: Winter 825 wk
Day: Saturday
Level: Low
- Party
- Nick Bone - Elven Necromancer - Heather
- Kassian - Elven Druidic Cheesemaker - Gray
- Hrothgar Bronzebeard - Dwarven Binder - Alex - Party Leader
- Iz - Elven Necromancer Paige
- Ron - Elven Mind Mage - Kyan - Military Leader
- Athos Ironfist - Dwarven Namer - Martin - Lead Scribe
- Fitzroy - A human Air Mage - Dean
- Adventure Full
- Employer
- Severus Blue, representing Alata Astronius
- Mission
- To track down 5 missing lords that set off years ago across the sea and recover them or their signet rings. Also to recover an autobiographical tome that has been misplaced.
- Pay
- 10,000sp per Lord (or ring) located or recovered. 5000sp for information on how a Lord died and confirmation of it. 1 favour for each party member upon the successful return of the book to its owner.
Addenda
| Lord | Ship Name | Location | State | Known Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord Rupert Friedburg | The Wanderer | At his manor on Friedburg Island | Alive, ring recovered | Married to resurrecting Healer |
| Lord Reginald Antimony | Captured by dökkálfar | Alive, recovering on our ship | Possibly an Enchanter | |
| Lord Percival Stonegate | Turned to gold in drinking mishap | Alive, restored, aboard our ship | ||
| Lord Galen Ashford | ||||
| Lord Darian Ravenhill |
Scribe Notes
Original notes recorded in dwarven and translated to the common language by Guild services.
The following account compiled by Athos, þegn of Clan Járnfyst of Dvergarheim, is a true and accurate accounting of the events experienced by the Seagate Adventurers Guild members detailed above.
1 Frost (Seagate, Butlerworld, Storyland)
At the winter meeting we were engaged by one Severus Blue on behalf of his employer to undertake a mission involving the location and retrieval of five missing nobles and an autobiography. Rewards were offered for the return of the Lords or their signet rings, with lesser recompense if we were able to provide information on the death and non-recovery of a Lord.
Goodman Blue is a Butler, a member of an organisation of such people, and is possessed of unusual abilities in the realm of transportation. Even the Guild’s usual protections against unwanted manifestation within its walls are unable to prevent a Butler’s transport abilities.
After minimal discussion and collection of a few essentials Goodman Blue transported us to the realm of the Butlers by walking us out through a wall in the Guild and following a misty path through a Middlemarch that brough us to an amazing destination.
The realm of the Butlers appears to be a world shaped as a tube. From where we arrived the ends of the tube could not be seen but looking to left and right the ground rose on both sides connecting above our heads many miles away. Even at this distance we could see that there were figures walking on the ceiling from our perspective.
We walked to a way station where a horseless carriage attached to a rail carried us the length of the tube to one of the ends. The end cap of the tube appeared as a great wall of metal with five enormous buildings like spokes spaced around the tube’s circumference and meeting in the middle. Another carriage carried us up the end cap to the centre. The usual weight one feels when walking upon the earth decreased and when we arrived at the centre we were floating as though under a spell. Goodman Blue explained that this was natural rather than magical and that many of the inhabitants enjoyed flying in this environment by way of mechanical wings.
The Butlers do however have mages, and these provided us with a Greater Enchantment, taking less time than usual and being able to target all of us at the same time. After this, and as an indulgence, particularly to young Fitzroy who appears unable to sit still, we accepted our host’s offer to sample the wonders of flight. Not all of my companions were willing to chance themselves to a mechanical harness with wings, Hrothgar in particular noting that he would rather keep his feet upon the ground. I well understood his sentiment but felt that I should keep an eye on young Fitzroy and the inexperienced Ron, both of whom fortunately managed to land unharmed.
After this diversion we returned to the centre of the hub and were ushered into a large library to meet Goodman Blues superior, one Alata Astronius, a highly ranked Butler.
Lord Astronius provided additional information regarding our mission, explain that the missing Lords and misappropriated autobiography are unrelated other than by accident of their location within Storyland, a world of stories, myths, and archetypes, close to Fey and Dream. Having two requests made of their organization the Butlers had decided to combine them.
For the first, a realm in that story land named Narnia, sent five Lords into the West to find a solution to a crisis their Kingdom was experiencing. The trouble has since past, the Lords have been gone some six or seven years, and the Kingdom has been unable to recall them.
For the second, the missing book is the autobiography of a great mage, perhaps a mentalist, named Legata Selus, who may be deceased. The book has been stolen from its owner, who believes that is being concealed in Storyland. This owner wishes to remain anonymous and for reasons undisclosed cannot go to the story realm, Lord Astronius stating that this would be “anathema to him”. The owner is offering undefined favours to the party should we return the tome.
Athos note: if we as mortals can journey to story and our anonymous employer cannot, this may imply a being that is tied to a specific realm, and offer a possible indication as to whom or what we are returning the book.
The Butlers retain the services of story weavers who have conjured a ship for us and will transport us to the vessel. No crew are expected to be needed as this is a ship of story. Lord Astronius advised us that stories can be both more simple and more complex than we expect. A map has been provided, though it shows only islands with no other information, other than a return point that we will need to reach in order to leave Storyland.
The story weavers had us relax into sleep and when we awoke, we found ourselves upon a galleon at rest in the ocean as though anchored. The ship indeed had no crew but was otherwise appointed as expected for a sea voyage. Some experimentation by Hrothgar found that the ship could be directed by its wheel and a wind from any of eight compass points would fill our sails and move us in the desired direction. The ship has a name plate “The Willing Prince”.
Athos note: The Willing Prince is the epithet of a demon well known to the Guild. Is this relevant? We are in a land of story, and some elements appear to be “as we expect”; was this detail plucked from our minds? I am concerned as none of my companions appear to know this name, I only recognise it from my studies, and it is hardly a name I would consider for a vessel.
Not all of my companions proved familiar with sea travel, two in particular being afflicted with the sickness of the sea until they remembered that healers are able to deal with this, and that they possessed this skill.
We sailed in a north-westerly direction towards the first of the islands on our map, anchoring off the coast at night. As dark fell we sighted a light to the north and agreed to investigate in the morning.
Athos note on dates: Lunar and seasonal indicators suggest that Storyland seasons do not match Alusia. I will however continue to record elapsed days as being in our Winter season.
2 Frost (Friedburg Island)
With daylight we continued north and located a lighthouse marking rocks that would be a danger to shipping. Beyond these was a navigable passage close to a cliff atop which we could see a building. We tied our ship up to the pier and made our way up the stairs on the Cliff. (Map: Point of Interest #1)
Athos: Everyone remember where we parked. Fizz: We’re in Bay Sea.
The Cliff passage took us through a short tunnel and after more stairs we were met at the top by a human noble and retainers. The noble introduced himself as Nigel Friedburg, the first of the Lords that we were seeking.
An extended discussion with Lord Friedburg indicated he thought he had been here some 10 plus years and had largely forgotten the country from which he came and had very little recollection of the mission that he undertook. His ship the Wanderer had wrecked on the rocks now marked with a lighthouse and the survivors had settled on this island. After explaining our mission to him he agreed to surrender his signet ring and provide a letter for us to return to Narnia.
We spent the next day enjoying the hospitality of him and his lady wife, a healer of considerable expertise. We visited the village outside the Manor and picnicked with locals in the summery weather of the island. Most were originally the crew and families from Lord Friedburg’s ship while others were from later ships that had landed here. We spoke to one local who was formerly a pirate around the islands and gathered some information about pirate activity and location. We received some information warning us of sea monsters a sea witch. Next morning we set off towards the island whose coast the ex-pirate had discussed with us.
3 - 6 Frost (At Sea)
We sailed to the new island and followed the coast north for three days, hooking around a point on the fourth day and as dusk fell saw lights twinkling in the trees. We anchored the ship and spent the night offshore.
In the morning, after securing the ships wheel to guard against its misappropriation, we lowered a boat and rowed ashore. (Map: Point of Interest #2)
We had travelled up the beach, and through scrub towards the woods when we noticed that our companion Nick had vanished.
6 Frost cont. (Unnamed Island, Fey mists, Winter Court, Summer Court)
Ron, having noticed Nick vanish headed to the same location and promptly vanished as well.
We approached more cautiously and noted the presence of mushrooms forming a line. Magical detection indicated a fey presence, suggesting we were seeing the edge of a fey mushroom circle. We discussed options but were forced to conclude that we would need to enter the area in pursuit of our companions. Hrothgar seemed unimpressed by my statement that we had a spare Necromancer and that Ron was no great loss.
Crossing the mushrooms we stepped into a circular area surrounded by walls of mist. My suspicions of a fey realm were reinforced as I left the hobnails of my boots behind. The large open area seemed initially to be little more than a grassy circle with some cast off armour piled in the centre; one suit appeared to be hard leather fashioned like plate armour while the rest were more ragged leather. As we investigated, we began to notice moss covered bones scattered around the ground. Although these appeared ancient, magic revealed they were no more than two years old.
One path lead from the circle and we were considering taking it when we heard rumbling and crashing in the mists. Before we could decide about the path a large creature apparently made of wood charged from the mists into the circle and swung a club at Fizz. Fortunately, it missed as the blow appeared to be one that could remove a head. The creature was not however terrifically fast, and I was able to prepare weapons and step up to it hoping that my armour would protect me and provide an opportunity for Fizz to escape, which he did. I struck the creature with my war pick but in return was dealt an enormous blow that felt as though it came completely through my armour leaving me stunned.
The party now began to pour fire into the creature, quite literally in the case of Nick’s skull, the strange shot coming from Hrothgar’s axe, and whatever bizarre fire-thrower he used that I would thank him to never use over my head ever again. Iz engaged the creature with her glaive and took several blows for her efforts, while Rocky the Owlbear tore into it from behind and Kassian shot arrows. I took the chance to recover my wits and withdraw, taking a moment to use DA which revealed that the creature was a “Fey Wood Giant”. Ron’s mental attack was not successful, the creature having little in the way of a mind but after more physical attacks along with additional fire and Fizz’s lightning the creature finally succumbed, exploding in a shower of wooden splinters.
With a chance to investigate the circle unmolested the Necromancers discovered spirits with whom they could speak. It appears that Lord Antimony, one of the five Lords of Narnia that we seek, passed through this circle but did not return.
Taking the creature’s war club and the fine leather armour we entered the path through the mists.
After some time, the path diverged. To the left it seemed colder while to the right it felt warmer. I advised the group to head left though some of the soft southerners seemed to feel that warm was more desirable. Heading left we eventually stepped from the path into snow in a pine forest. Detection indicated we were now in the realm of the Winter Court, and I suggested we should reverse course – Summer fey in the stories generally being less undesirable than their Winter kin.
Retracing our steps and then taking the right fork, we exited the path into a desert under a blazing sun with little in sight other than some cacti, that DA showed were part of the Summer Court. Kassian spoke with a cactus that demanded water in return for any answers.
We retraced our steps again to the snow and filled a container. While there Kass spoke with a pine tree that demanded blood. Thinking this a bad plan we returned to the Summer Court, by which time the snow had melted to water, and continued our conversation, though the cactus revealed little useful information.
Kass: I think I'm being played by a cactus.
We weighed our options of venturing forth under the blistering sun without any knowledge of oases or other sources of water against returning to Winter into and braving the cold. After consideration the party opted to return to Winter and attempt to find locals. The rangers’ sense of north suggested a centre point not too distant so we headed in that direction. When the snow became too difficult, we fashioned snowshoes using warping. Some three hours of tramping brought us within sight of a bonfire.
6 Frost cont. (Winter Court, Gold Island, At Sea)
After a brief discussion all the wiles of the dökkálfar we approached the bonfire.
Some 80 fey encircled four human dancers on the verge of collapse, one wearing a signet. As we approached a dancer fell, was set upon by fey, dragged to the edge of the circle, and murdered with knives.
A dazzling fey lady arose before us causing some members of the party to flee and others to prostrate themselves at her feet. Those of us who retained our wits spoke with her and Nick arranged to trade the signet wearing human in the circle for a lost minion of the fey lady, with safe passage out.
The lady opened a fiery portal and stepping through we found ourselves in a cave above a mere on some other island. We descended the hill and followed the narrow lake to where a waterfall dropped hundreds of feet to short river leading to the nearby coast. (Map: Point of Interest #3)
At the bottom of the shallow lake near the waterfall lay two gold statues, one human sized and wearing a signet ring, the other smaller and possessed of a single foot single arm and single eye.
A quick experiment with a rock showed that the water transformed objects into gold. Our two necromancers were able to use their spectral hands to drag both statues to the bank. The statues’ auras indicated the transformation would end with “the dawns rays”.
Looking over the cliff we were surprised to see our ship “The Willing Prince” anchored offshore despite us leaving it at a different island, and in the far distance we could see the coast of the island where we had entered the fairy circle.
Nick transported the smaller statue down to the ship, in an enormous flying skull that he apparently produced from his pocket, while Fizz made use of featherfall on the human-sized statue and himself, negotiating it down the cliff. Nick shuttled us down the cliff in his flying skull, and we dragged and carried the heavy human statue to our long boat that was pulled up on the shore and rowed it out to our ship, before using block and tackle to winch it aboard. Both statues were tied to the mast, and we began to sail back to the island with the fey circle.
7 - 9 Frost (At Sea)
Three days. At dawn’s light on the 7th the gold transformation ended on both statues leaving us with a confused Lord Percival Stonegate and a ravenous Fachan. We released Lord Percival and made him comfortable and plied the rather unpleasant fey with meat and fish.
During our return journey we took time to investigate our ship further, with Hrothgar’s binder divination revealing the ship to be only a couple of months old but still growing, and able to sail itself and to potentially teleport.
Despite Hrothgar finding no demonic influence I remain deeply suspicious of a ship with this name that is able to move in the twinkling of an eye.
Divination on the wood giant’s club showed a form of magic that inflicts damage directly proportional to the armour of the target.
10 Frost (Unnamed Island, Winter Court, At Sea)
As we arrived back at the beach near the fey circle, we caught a glimpse of earlier selves heading into the mists.
We waited a moment to prevent us meeting ourselves in the Wood Giant’s circle and then entered the mists ourselves. In the circle the remains of the giant were turning into an oak tree. Taking the left path, we headed back to the winter court.
The signet wearing captive was alive in the snow, the other humans now hanging dead above fey dwellings. We swapped the lady’s minion for the human, and true to her word she opened a swirling grey portal that took us back to the beach.
The former captive, Lord Reginald Antimony, was in a bad way and was attended to by our healers as we headed away from the fey beach.
I cannot recall who suggested to the ship that it should take us somewhere interesting, but we allowed it to select its own course which had us heading back in the direction of the gold lake island.
10 - 13 Frost (At Sea)
On the 12th, just north of Gold Island we were attacked by a kraken. (Map: Point of Interest #4)
The first indication of this was a single questing tentacle sliding over the starboard railing, quickly followed by many more on all sides of the ship. The tentacles attempted to grab crew or to get a grip on the ship itself and to pull so that the Prince would capsize or founder.
Above us a storm opened, either some other aspect of the kraken’s power, or perhaps that of the sea witch of whom we had been warned, whose pet the kraken might be.
All of the party joined in a desperate fight to repel the tentacles. Though focused on my own targets, I noted Iz charging back and forth across the deck with his glaive, Hrothgar pumping many fiery shots into the rubbery appendages, and Fizz, the lunatic, releasing lightning bolts far too close for comfort.
As the storm intensified, the last of the tentacles finally slithered and squelched overboard and our ship began to move away. Behind us the storm broke, a blue bolt shot off to the West, and the seas calmed.
On the 13th we approached a circular island.
13 Frost (Skyfall Island)
We approached an unusually circular island that in a moment of whimsy I decided to name ø on our chart. [Norsk: ø, translates to Common: island.](Map: Point of Interest #5)
Taking the long boat to shore we began to investigate. Fizz had the unusual idea of looking for story elements in the island’s aura. Examining these I was able to see that there was a story associated with this island and the name of the story was James and the giant Peach; though this meant nothing to us.
The island rose towards high ground, and we set off in that direction. Towards the middle of the island, we discovered a scene of destruction that took some time to understand.
Enormous chunks of a gnarled woody material (GTN: Peach) were scattered around a clearing, pieces of a gigantic peach stone that appeared to have shattered. Trailing away from this were numerous strands of heavy silken rope, and at the end of these the skeletons of many birds. Among the woody fragments we located the bones of a child and the chitinous remains of giant insects. We salvaged lengths of the valuable rope for future use.
Our necromancers spoke with the spirits of what turned out to be a human child and sentient giant insects that had hailed from Victoriana and pieced together parts of the story.
The child, James, and his intelligent insect friends had been living inside a giant peach. Using the rope making abilities of giant silkworms and spiders they had fashioned tethers and used these on hundreds of sea birds, somehow achieving flight, but they had been attacked by the Men in the Clouds who had used snow and storm against them.
Athos: Most likely Cloud Giants. They claim to be more civilized but are every bit as vicious and untrustworthy as their cousins.
With the birds slain their improbable vehicle had plummeted from the sky, catastrophically impacting here on this island. We gathered the remains of the sentients, buried them and built a cairn. Checking another part of the island's aura we could see that this story had ended.
It was a more subdued crew who made their way back to the Willing Prince, and I updated the chart to show the island's name as Skyfall.
10 - 13 Frost (At Sea)
Locations
Buffs & Mil Sci
Buffs and Abilities
| Magic (caster) | Rk | Effects | Duration | Ni | Ka | Hr | Iz | Ro | At | Fz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength of Stone (Ka?) | ? | ? EN | ? hrs | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Armour of Earth (Ka?) | ? | +?% Defence | ? hrs | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Spell (?) | ? | ? | ? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Short Term
| Magic (caster) | Rk | Effects | Dur | Ni | Ka | Hr | Iz | Ro | At | Fz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durability (Hr) | ? | ? | ? min | |||||||
| Spell (?) | ? | ? | ? |
| Magic | Rk | Effects | Dur | Ni | Ka | Hr | Iz | Ro | At | Fz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mind Cloak (Ro) | ? | +?% vs mental Attack | ? hrs | Y | Y | |||||
| Spell (?) | ? | ? | ? hrs |
| Capability | Rk | Effects | Dur | Ni | Ka | Hr | Iz | Ro | At | Fz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sense Danger (%) | ||||||||||
| Detect Ambush (%) | Ranger (-5/rank of opposition) | |||||||||
| See Invis (Rk) | Effective rank for seeing invisible | |||||||||
| Stealth (%) | Std / Ranger Outdoors |
Watch Order
(Proposed) An elf with witch-vision on each watch, attempt at partnering more and less experienced party members, with cooks on first and last watch (and Fizz and Ron not on the same watch).
| Hour: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ron | Nick | Iz | Kassian | |||||||||
| Hrothgar | Athos | Fizz | ||||||||||
Marching Order
(Proposed) Attempt are strengthening front and back, keeping ranged mages/combat in the middle. For Default some attempt to put oddest (or dangerous looking owlbears) at back, keep Ron and Fizz in sight, and have responsible members able to corral stragglers.
| Skirmish Formations (Front) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Default
Hrothgar Ron |
Tracking/Scouting
Kassian (Rocky) |
Single File/Danger
Athos |
Calendar
| Winter: Frost 824 (7) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonday | Duesday | W'ansday | Th'rsday | Frysday | Reapsday | Sunday | ||||||||
|
Samhain | 1 | Guild Meeting Seagate | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
|
7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |||||||
|
14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 10 | |||||||
|
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | |||||||
|
|
28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Winter: Snow 823 (8) | ||||||||||||||
|
|
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |||||||
|
|
12 | 13 | 15 | Solstice | 16 | 17 | 18 | Yuletide | ||||||
|
|
19 | Days of Chaos | 20 | DoC2 | 21 | DoC3 | 22 | DoC4 | 23 | DoC5 | 24 | DoC6 | 25 | DoC7 |
|
|
26 | DoC8 | 27 | DoC9 | 28 | DoC10 | 29 | DoC11 | 30 | Twelfth Night | 1 | 2 | ||
| Winter: Ice 823 (9) | ||||||||||||||
|
|
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | First Plough | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||||||
|
|
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |||||||
|
|
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |||||||
|
|
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||||||
