ZEITGEIST [ZEITGEIST] The Yellow Dogs play Zeitgeist (Adventure Logs)

Hi All,

At the beginning of this year, I formed a new RPG group in Brighton UK to run through the Zeitgeist campaign. I had the pleasure of playing parts of adventures #3 + #4 about five years ago and had been wanting to try and run the campaign myself ever since.

Much to my surprise, immediately after we started running it one of the players started writing a log of the party's adventures. I finally got round to asking him if I could repost his stories here - I hope everyone enjoys.

Quite a lot of the write-ups have inaccuracies, misspelt names, etc. I always viewed this as the stories being told by an unreliable narrator, perhaps a bard that Regan was telling his adventures to and it went through Drakran whispers.

The RHC investigators :

Regan (Richard, who writes the logs) - a gritty urban ranger and gunsmith with an addiction to fey pepper. (Human Urban Ranger / Gunsmith)
Toble (James) - a gnome druid whose parents were lost in a brigand attack, and since been raised in the Cloudwood by druids. (Gnome Druid / Skyseer)
Maisie (Jo) - a performer and stage medium who joins the group very early on (Human Bard / Spirit Medium - joined second session)
Samuel (Nick) - an eschatologist who belongs to an order guarding against possible end of the world events in the Anthras Mountains (Half Orc Monk / Eschatologist - joined early Adventure #3)
Bonnie (Gaynor) - a clergy priest with ties to the Family through her father, a musician who performs at a Family-owned bar (Half Elf Cleric / no theme - joined early Adventure #3)

Vash (Marco) - a spell slinger whose brother was killed by Lorcan Kell's guild due to his associations with the Family. (Human Spellslinger / Gunsmith, left early Adventure #3 due to career commitments)
Gideon (Gian Luca) - a human paladin of the Clergy faith (Human Paladin / Yerasol Veteran - also Gian Luca's first time RPing, left same time as Marco / Vash)
Piotr (David) - an evil, scheming cultist from Drakr and expert on new technologies (Dwarf Cleric / Technologist - David had to drop from the group due to health problems mid first adventure)
Murdock (Amsel) - a dashing and charming Half-Orc cat burglar (Half-Orc Rogue / Martial Scientist - joined early in the second adventure, left near the end due to conflicting commitments)


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Adventure 1 - The Island at the Axis of the World
"An Uneventful Day at the Docks"



Their spirits lifted by bright sunlight, smiling faces and general goodwill the party assumed their positions at the checkpoint. A gnawing sense of unease had been planted, unfortunately, by the Gnome Toble Twistsprocket with his chaotic (possibly drug induced) vision of blue ribbons, young girls with speech impediments and broken tin whistles.

Throwing themselves into their duty to scan the crowd for potential troublemakers, the group spotted a few things.
The validty of the Dwarf Piot Khazadrarovichs' assessement of a group of Druids as potential trouble-makers seemed deeply subjective, though it didn't stop him involving a number of Constables in harrasing them. It became obvious, however, that a group of Dockers were intending to cause a bit of trouble and blight the days proceedings.

Gideon, in true Paladin fashion, not content to just wait for trouble to escalate decided to engage one very vocal (and drunk) Docker in a conversation about his reasons for being there. Fortunately, he pulled back from an attempt to 'infiltrate' the group, which could very well have resulted in a confused melee with his fellow Constables.

The Gnome Toble spent the morning leaning against a lampost carefully studying any young girls who joined the bustling crowd at the checkpoint. Other party members decided to leave him to it, though perhaps considering intervening if the Gnome became more tactile with his 'suspects'.

A number of trouble-makers were identified and dealt with without any violence or a scene being caused.

The fact that the root of the potential trouble was down to growing levels of dissatisfaction over various social and economic issues was fully revealed to the Human Regan by a leader of the Dockers called Grinsley.

An interesting (and brief) debate insued between Regan, conscious of and sympathetic to the problems the Dockworkers faced and the Dwarf Piotor, who wasn't.

Summed up in the usual unassailable logic of the sociopath, Piotr declared;

'What are they complaining about? They have it hard? In the mines of Drakr they work so hard they die and have to be ressurected, so what do these people have to complain about?'

---

After being congratulated on a job well done by their boss Assistant Chief Inspector Delft, the party embarked on the good ship R.N.S. Coaltongue with selected guests, mostly from the upper echelons of Risur society.
They proceeded to poke around the ship, the Human Vash de Miralleve notably making an unashamed attempt to get the Teifling designer of the ships weaponry to look into building him a handheld version. The drink did nothing but talk.

Regan passed on the message from the Dockworkers leader Grinsley to Governor Stanfield and had his name noted for his trouble.

Gideon, having been awkwardly propositioned earlier to find somewhere for the Duchess Ethelyn of Shale to 'have a nap' was charged, just as the Band prepared for the evenings celebrations, to rouse(oeer) the Duchess from her unfashionably long slumber.

After a tortuous inner struggle to find the correct way of approaching the Duchess (to avoid embarrasment) the Paladin burst heroicaly (it is assumed) into the cabin she had occupied for her Siesta. His move to action was induced partly by a large splashing noise from beyond the Cabin door.

On entry he was greeted with a Duchess-free room and a fleeting glimpse through the cabin window of an octopus-like creature with a woman on its back speeding away from the ship and sinking into the depths of the bay.

Less confusingly, he suddenly became aware of an attack being mounted on himself by person or persons unknown from out of the gloomy shadows of the Cabin.

To be continued……

GM's note: This was the write up for our second session, which was the first with Maisie (although Richard's write up doesn't say much about her introduction - she was a guest of the tiefling engineer). Piotr's player wasn't here for this session.

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Adventure 1 - The Island at the Axis of the World
"Aboard the Good Ship Coaltongue"

Gideon burst into the cabin, swinging his shield around to ward off blows and promptly felt the cold steel of a blade bite into his shoulder. Spinning and slashing with his Longsword in one fluid motion he connected with the halfling as it raised its dagger for another stroke. For a brief moment the two combatants paused, then shifted position and entered a dance of death.

Up on the main deck the band were receiving polite applause for their final number.

Vash ambled across to the rest of the group, most of whom were leaning on the deck rail gazing out into the Bay. 'Gideon seems to have been gone a while', he observed.

Nodding agreement, but not particularly alarmed, they set off behind Vash down the steps leading to the Gun Deck.

On arrival, whatever lingering alcohol-laced cobwebs remained in their heads were quickly blown away.

In the far Cabin, two shadowy figures, one of them obviously Gideon, darted back and forth accompanied by the shriek of steel-on-steel. Both Regan and Tobal noticed also the erstwhile Serving Maid of the Duchess creeping towards some steps leading down to the Boiler room. Alerting the others to the Elfs presence, Regan burst into a run and launched himself at the smaller of the two figures in the Cabin. As he ran he became aware of notes being plucked on a Ukelalie that Maisie had unslung from her back. He felt a brief surge of confidence from the music as he launched himself and crashed into the unsuspecting halfling in the cabin, knocking him down and pinning him to the floor.

On the gun deck, Tobal briefly considered casting an Entangle spell on the creeping Elf Maid but realised the cold steel and timber of the deck were not conducive to such action. After his mind briefly flitted to the image of a Potted Plant he had seen on a Merchants stall in Flint, he decided instead to cast a small fire spark to ignite the robes the Maid was wearing.

As she reached down and patted at the resulting flames, Vash drew and levelled his pistol at her, rather aptly shouting 'Freeze!' as he did so.

The Maid unobligingly began weaving arcane symbols in the air with her hands.

Unperturbed by the subsequent highly inaccurate shot from Vashs' pistol, she completed the spell and three Fire Sprites materialised between her and her assailants. She promptly turned and started down a ladder to the lower decks.

Maisie intensified the strumming on her Ukelalie and a wave of over-confidence swamped both Vash and Tobar.

The sprites headed for Tobal, who swung at them ineffectualy (though enthusiasticaly) with his staff. Vash, in the newly instigated Royal Homeland Constabulary (RHC) protocol of 'Every Man for Himself' skirted the struggling Gnome and his attackers and pursued the Elf Maid.

Standing at the top of the steps he lanced a magical bolt of Sickness down at the Elf, who reeled under its impact but still managed to stagger off towards the rosy glow of the Boiler on the deck she had now reached. Vash, again buoyed by a cavalier sense of invulnerability, launched himself off the top of the ladder and crashed gracelessly to the Boiler deck below. His left ankle absorbed most of the sickening impact but he struggled on.

Tobal, slightly panicked by his inability to actually connect with anything with his staff, sent a mental call to his faithful companion Axe Beak who he had left up on the main deck, hoovering up any crumbs the ships guests were dropping from the delightfuly crafted pastries they were so elegantly nibbling.

The bird, imbued with an heroic desire to protect its Master, careered onto the Gun Deck in a flailing mass of squawking feathers. It chopped viciously at the Fire Sprite nearest to its Master and proceeded to bury its head into the deck a good yard from its target.

Maisie played on.

Back in the Cabin, Gideon applied an extra pair of hand-cuffs to the Halfling already subdued by Regan and started back to aid (we assume) in the chaotic struggle on the Gun Deck. Tobal had however managed to somewhat recover his ability to wield a quarter-staff and despatched one of the Fire sprites. A frenzied Axe Beak, its feathers more than a little singed, had dealt with the others.

A call from Vash on the Boiler deck prompted Regan, who was dragging the inert halfling out of the Cabin, to dump him uncerimoniously in front of Maisie (nodding for her to keep an eye on him) and head below.

Vash had followed the Elf to where it seemed two workmen were heaving substantially more fire gems than were neccessary onto the already dangerously hot boiler. A further attempt to stop her with pistol shot resulted in her dropping a large, red gem she was carrying. Regan, sensing (maybe incorrectly) that this was some sort of device that would ignite the furnace into an all-consuming explosion of volcanic proportions, sped across the deck and slid in to pick up the Gem. He scooped it up, attempted to subdue the Elf Maid, but was rewarded for his fumbling efforts with a gout of fire from the Elf Maids fingertips. For good measure he was smacked across the face with a shovel wielded by one of the workmen.

Maisie on the deck above glanced at the halfling and established he was going nowhere. She then slid gracefully down the ladder to the Boiler Deck, flipped out a hand-crossbow and fired a bolt into the Workman just drawing his shovel back to finish re-arranging Regans face. Simultaneously both Tobal and Gideon arrived on deck. The Paladin, a great rushing mass of shining plate and sharp sword, obeyed the previously established RHC protocol and ignored the plight of the crushed and burning Regan.

He attacked instead the other workman who was still frantically shoveling fire gems into the furnace.

Maisie then proceeded to cast Mage Hands and cunningly kill two birds with one stone by scooping handfuls of fire gems from the blazing furnace and dropping them on the glistening bald-pates of the workmen. Regan rolled clear of danger, drew his pistol and landed a shot on one of the workmen. His target was subsequently finished off with a well placed drop of fire gems from the disembodied Mage Hands controlled by Maisie.

Vash, after a valiant but completely ineffective attempt to ricochet a bullet into the head of the Elf Maid, resorted less flamboyantly to clubbing her unconscious with the butt of his pistol.

Gideon struck down the remaining Workman while Tobal practised Sith-like combinations of blows against imaginary opponents with his staff, presumably to restore a little confidence in himself.

Up on the gun deck, Axe Beak stood with one clawed foot on the back of the trembling Halfling, who had given up trying to free himself and was now wondering whether the bird looking down at him was carnivorous or not.

The furnace continued to blaze alarmingly hot, while on the top deck the dwarf Piotr drooled obliviously in alcohol-induced torpor.

To be continued…….

GM's note: This was the first session at The Yellow Book in Brighton, which has now become our regular home after switching about for a while. Gideon's player was missing from this session - thankfully I had his character sheet and the players found using him as a human shield very easy.

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Adventure 1 - The Island at the Axis of the World
"Pressure Cooker"

Regan picked himself up and limped across the deck towards the Boiler where the rest of the party were gathered. Accompanied by the tang of burning leather, his face distorted by 1st degree burns and a large angry bruise he asked,

'Anyone got any healing?'

Toble clicked his fingers, thought for a moment and cast a Cure Wounds spell.

Some of the pain ebbing away, Regan said 'I'm going up to the top deck'.

He flicked the large Red Gem recovered from the Elf Maid towards Gideon. 'See if you can work out what that is', he said. As he turned away from the dangerously hot Boiler, Vash stepped toward him.

'I'll come with you', he said, 'I've got an idea'. The two of them scampered up the ladder to the upper decks.

Toble glanced at the Boiler, then at Maisie and Gideon. 'We need to get this thing under control', he said. Maisie nodded, continuing to scoop handfuls of red-hot fire gems from the inferno raging in front of them. Tobal noticed a couple of levers to either side of the Boiler and suggested they pull them. Gideon duly obliged, causing a pretty much insignificant drop in pressure.

Regan called from the Gun Deck, 'How's it looking?'.

'Not Good', replied Toble, who was now trying to scrape the fire-gems Maisie had removed away from the furnace, his quarter-staff smoldering slightly as he did so.

On the Gun Deck, Regan went to retrieve the halfling they had left handcuffed there earlier, still guarded by the Axe-Beak (now formally known as Knuck).

'I'm going to speak to the Designer of the Cannon'', said Vash over his shoulder as he headed upstairs to the main deck.

On arrival, Vash saw the unmistakable figure of the Tiefling Weapon Designer at the far-end of the deck and pushed his way urgently through the crowd of revellers, causing some disquiet as he went.

Regan arrived on the deck, dragging the halfling with him, triggering a further wave of alarm. He found Inspector Delft and informed him of the situation below, suggesting that the King be evacuated from the ship.

Panic levels were now rising on the main deck, with orders being barked to ready life-boats accompanying general shouting and hysteria.

Minister Harkover Lee took the King to one side and cast a spell. Both of them were immersed briefly in a faint, blue glow before the Wizard winked out of existence. The King, open-mouthed and staring at the space previously occupied by the Wizard, wondered why he was still standing on the ships deck and not safely back in the Palace. In the Palace the Wizard was looking about with similar consternation, wondering where the King was.

Piotr was rudely awakened from his slumber on the main deck when someone heading for the life-boats planted their foot firmly in his midriff. Gazing around with bleary eyes, he decided to head downstairs and seek out his companions. Why he didn't head for the lifeboats no-one knows. We can only assume he was driven by some Dwarven imperative, when in doubt, to head downwards into darkness.

Vash found the Tiefling Weapon Designer and explained the situation below. Regan joined the pair of them.

'What if we charged up and fired the Cannon. Would that not relieve all the pressure in the Boiler?', he asked.

'Should work', the Tiefling replied. 'Trouble is, the weapon isn't calibrated properly to be fired at the moment. We'd need Mages to make the calculations to get the capacitors charged from the Boiler'.

Vash turned to Regan, urging him to find the Captain and tell him to fire the Cannon when he sees it is fully charged.

'Come with me', continued Vash, grabbing the sleeve of the Tiefling and heading back to the stairs down to the lower decks.

Vash and the Tiefling descended as quickly as they could, picking up Piotr on the way.

They arrived on the Boiler Deck to find Maisie still scrapping fire-gems from the Boiler and Toble still spreading them around with his staff (which was by now reduced by the heat to the size of a Gnomish rolling-pin). On instruction from the Tiefling, the party cast a variety of spells to try and discern the correct method of charging up the huge capacitors that powered the cannon.

They found the solution just as the Boiler pressure became critical.

Up on the main deck, detecting a huge surge of energy into the cannon, the Captain (duly briefed by Regan) stabbed the fire button.

A gout of intense orange flame erupted from the Cannon, a bolt of energy lanced out and sped across the bay. It crashed into the cliffs of a nearby island with such force that the resulting pyrotechnic display caused everyone in the vicinity to gawp at the sky in wonder.

The Boiler pressure dropped to almost nothing and there was much rejoicing.

Returning to the main deck, someone thought it would be a good idea to interrogate the Halfling. This suggestion was greeted with a disturbing glint in the eyes of Piotr, who cracked his knuckles, rummaged in his pack and produced a set of Dwarven cutlery that seemed a bit too elaborate for use simply on a Sunday roast.

Fortunately, Maisie intervened and cast a Charm Person spell on the now ashen faced Halfling. He immediately became her firm friend and after divulging his life story went on to explain recent events. The plot it seemed was hatched by the Duchess with the intention of killing the King and taking Royal power for herself. The halfling, a hired Assassin, had also poisoned the King and disrupted his ability to teleport.

The Elven Maid, who it turned out was an Eladrin, was questioned back at RHCHQ. An alliance was revealed between the Duchess and the Fey, the objective of which was nothing less than the rolling back of the pollution-spewing industrialization of Risur and a return to the old ways, where a healthy balance of nature (and Magic) could be restored.

Over the following weeks a full blown Civil War threatened to tear Risur apart. The Tielflings of Danor were more than a little concerned by this and proposed an alliance with Risur, with the intention of crushing the Duchess' forces and ending the Fey menace.

The Tiefling Princess Lya herself came to the RHC headquarters and recruited the party to aid in a mission to capture Axis Island, which the Duchess' forces now garrisoned. In the process, if possible, they were to rescue the Tieflings' cousin Nathan who it was believed was being held hostage on the Island.

Supplied with specialist equipment for the task (and tooled up with their own gear) the party were instructed to act as back-up for a crack infiltration team heading for the Island. This team was to open the fortress gates, an action which would herald an attack by a combined Risur/Danor fleet.

Job to be completed in three days otherwise Risur/Danor relations descend into the sewage system.

No pressure then.

They boarded the RHC Clipper Impossible and set sail for Axis Island, a place noted as being more than a little unstable in the space-time continuum department.

During the voyage the party were alarmed by another vision inflicted on Toble. His description of the Planet Athelona spinning through space, accompanied by the hideous croaking of a plague of frogs and a fierce disembodied Lions head did not bode particularly well.

On arrival, the infiltration team set off underwater with the intention of entering the lower levels of an old Mine, before proceeding to the surface and setting off overland to the fortress itself.

A rope was trailed from the team back to the ship, frantic tugging on which was the signal for the party to enter the gloomy, silted water themselves and proceed through to the Mine.

To be continued…….

Adventure 1 - The Island at the Axis of the World
"Axis Island"

As the party descended one by one into the silty depths of the Sea Cave it all seemed pretty straightforward. Follow the rope, follow the Infiltration Team, open the Gates, go home.

Gideon, leading the way and peering into the blue-grey gloom of the submerged tunnel they were in, noticed up ahead a massive boulder blocking the passage.

He was fairly sure it was not supposed to be there.

Trapped under the boulder by one leg and gesturing wildly was the Goblin assassin. The party hurried forward. The Goblin, weak and obviously in substantial pain, explained how the boulder had just suddenly materialized in a flash of purple light as the Inflitration Team passed this point in the tunnel.

Asked where the rest of the team were he gestured under the boulder.

They weren't going to be infiltrating anywhere anytime soon.

'What can we do to help you?', Regan asked the Goblin. 'Cut my leg off and get me out of here', replied the Goblin. Regan glanced up at the rest of the party. Well, Vash, Gideon and Maisie were still there.

Tobal and Piotr, the former motivated by a severe attack of Goblin hating, the latter by extreme apathy, had forged on ahead.

It was decided, much to Regans consternation to cut off the Goblins leg and press on ahead with him in tow, rather than returning him to the ship. The Goblins leg was duly removed and the group pushed on, up and over the boulder and down the channel. The passageway emerged eventually into a large, spherical chamber. Dozens of Metal rods projected from the rough
stone of the chamber and guttering torches flicked spikey shadows across the walls.

The water shallowed near some wooden steps and the party assembled on a wooden walkway. As Vash and Gideon set about fixing the Goblins wound, so at least he wouldn't bleed to death, Maisie noticed someone (or something) moving about up some steps to a platform on the far side of the cavern. Behind the platform the party could just make out a passage leading out of the chamber.
The party were hastily unpacking gear, stowed for the journey underwater, when a voice suddenly boomed out from the gloom at the top of the platform.

'Cursed Dirt-Eaters, you killed all my men, now its your turn to die'

Regan correctly perceived that whoever was shouting was likely to be assuming that the Party were Earth-scrabbling, Tree-hugging, Nature loving, Fey worshipping allies of the Duchess.

He passed this information onto the party just as a shot rang out from the shadows above.

The projectile struck Regans head a more than glancing blow.

At the same time something sped down the steps from the platform and zeroed in on the party.

Its form indistinct, hardly more than a shadow itself, the party assumed it was not coming to help them unpack.

Regan leapt to his feet and with blood streaming from the wound just received ran crazily over a narrow wooden bridge towards the platform. He halted halfway and shouted, much to the bewilderment of the rest of the party,

'Hey…stop shooting…we are with the Duchess!!!'.

'I know you are, Scum', came the reply.

The only rational explanation was that the recent collision between a metal slug travelling at hundreds of miles and hour and Regans stationary skull had addled his brain.

To prevent their assailant firing again, potentially putting Regan out of his misery, Tobal pointed his newly acquired 'Wand of Powder Damping' at the figure now clearly visible by the chamber exit.

Instead of another shot, all that came out of the gloom were harsh words.

Knuck, following the trajectory of the bolt from his masters wand, squawked and bundled his way past everyone and moved with astonishing speed, accompanied by an equally astonishing volume of noise, towards the gunman on the platform.

Gideon and Piotr, meanwhile, found themselves face-to-outline with the shadow creature, that was now emitting a most un-shadowlike hissing while attempting to lay its evidently highly corporeal claws on them.

Piotr cast an Aid spell to bolster defences while Gideon, surmising that the thing facing them was distinctly non-benevolent, cast Smite Evil at it.

The thing distorted and spasmed momentarily, then renewed its attack.

Maisie, never one to panic in a crisis, summoned her trusty Ukelalie.

After taking a moment to adjust an incorrectly tensioned string, she proceeded to play the most uplifting of tunes.
Regans severe head wound suddenly seemed to him no more serious than a minor shaving accident.

Vash joined the reeling Regan in time to see another threat moving towards the onrushing Knuck. It was a small, but noticeably very hard and rock-like Earth elemental. Another shot rang out from above, again screaming towards the bullet-magnet of Regans skull, but was so badly aimed that even the mighty forces of nature couldn't help it find its target.

Gideon had meanwhile despatched the shadowy, shadow creature back to the shady shadows from which it had slunk.

Piotr mumbled a few unpleasant sounding words and brought into existence an even more unpleasant creature called Boris.

Spider-like and composed of a foul blend of rotting, necrotic flesh and sharp edged metal, the thing scuttled with alarming speed up towards the melee on the platform. It alighted on the arm of the now retching gunman and looked for something nice to nibble on.

Maisie added a quickly composed song to the Ukelalie tune, which went along the lines of


'We are your friendssssa..TA TA TA TA

Stop firing and our onslaught endssssa…. TA TA DE DUM

Let us stop and talk and make amendssssa TA TA TA TA'



'If you are friends…prove it…put down your weapons…and call this thing off!', screamed the Gunman, swatting ineffectually at Boris who was now determinedly cutting through the sleeve of his shirt to the tasty flesh beneath.

Regan immediately dropped his gun to the floor with a clatter and raised his hands. It was unclear whether he had actually heard Maisies song and the Foremans voice or whether he was attempting another unfathomable double bluff.

The earth elemental backed away from Knuck and peace was restored, with the erstwhile Gunman introducing himself as the (ex) Mine-Foreman.

In the lull that followed, Vash had the presence of mind to investigate a large marble pillar in the centre of the chamber.

Ancient text on a metal Rod sunk into the marble indicated Avilona, the Plane of Air.

Vash took the tablet and an Air Elemental, keen to do his bidding, floated down beside him. He also discovered that he could, for a limited distance, levitate himself.

While Vash bounced around the chamber walls, trying to master the fine control of his new power, the Miner revealed two similar Rods which he passed over to the party.

One had controlled the now departed Shadow creature, but still retained the power to render its wielder incorporeal.

Its inscription indicated Nem, Plane of Ruin.

The other controlled the Earth-elemental and conferred on its owner the ability to bring blocks of stone into existence and form a wall/bridge or whatever else could be fashioned with them.

Its inscription indicated Urim, Plane of Earth.

It sounded as though these Rods could come in very handy later in the mission the party were embarked on.

The party decided to press on, upwards and out of the Mine, asking the Foreman to guide them. As they travelled the Foreman told the sad tale of arrival of the Duchesses forces on the island. They had it seemed meted out savage and arbitrary justice to any threat, perceived or actual, which had resulted in the deaths of many of the miners and a large number of villagers from surrounding hamlets.

The evidence of this was clear when the party emerged from the mine into late-afternoon sunlight. A mass grave near the entrance to the mine was just starting to generate a miasma that threatened to choke the clean, forest filtered air of the Island.

Piotr stalked over to the edge of the pit and said a few words, two of which were 'rise' and 'again', but no-one was in much of a mood to question the exact nature of his eulogy.

The fort they were heading for was, according to the map they had, a mile or so away to the North. Though the direct route led up and over a particularly steep mountain range the party elected to take it. Better a hard climb than risk any encounters with patrols of the Duchesses' forces, who were no doubt abroad in the valleys and on the roads that seemed to offer a less arduous route to their destination.

So after a nights sleep, upwards they went, towards a pass spotted by Piotrs' trained dwarven eye.

Apart from the sighting of a huge Iron Golem, trailing oil, stumbling down the mountainside and a brief interlude of purple hazed plane shifting that dropped them up to their ankles in a bog surrounded by frantically croaking frogs, not a lot happened.

Regan the Ranger, ironically, was the only party member who came close to grief. His momentary teeter on the brink of a precipice (from which he was hauled back to safety by Tobal, now riding Knuck) was the closest anyone came to a gruesome end.

As they reached the midway point atop the mountains, the party settled to catch breath and look down at the layout of the Fort that stood on a headland to the North. They could clearly make out all major structures, including the lighthouse which was their ultimate goal. They were also acutely aware of the glints of metal from the tops of the Forts walls, hinting at an
unfriendly welcome should they be spotted.

A decision was made to try and enter the fortress after dark, keeping chances of detection to a minimum.

The party approached the weak spot in the South wall of the fortress, used the Pass Wall scroll to clear the way and entered the Fort. Regan, a lot more at home among the buildings and streets of the Fort than he was stumbling around on mountains, picked a path and stealthily guided the rest of the group to the base of the lighthouse.

To be continued……..

GM's note: Two players managed to injure themselves and didn't show up - Vash's player cut his hand but was otherwise okay, whilst Piotr's critically hurt his back and ended up leaving the group entirely.

Also, we finally agreed on a name for the group in the last couple of weeks so I renamed the thread.

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Adventure 1 - The Island at the Axis of the World
"The Lighthouse"

The party crouched in the shadows at the edge of the stone causeway that led out to the Lighthouse. The causeway ran some 120' to a section raised about 40' atop which patrolled four crossbow armed guards. The lighthouse towered above this and the party could see the silhouetted figure of a female Mage at the top, around which fluttered a dragon-like creature. The squat form of a building they took to be concealing the Sea-Gate controls stood alongside the Lighthouse. A walkway zig-zagged down to the lower level, against which a barge was moored. A crossbowman stood on the deck and at the end of the gangway leading onto it stood a heavily armed figure.

After a short debate about the benefits of an all-out attack vs an attempt to draw off the guards with distractions, a rather unsatisfactory (from Regans viewpoint) compromise was reached. Maisie would distract one of the guards and attempt to charm him.

Things went wrong almost immediately.

As Maisie used Mage Hands to lift seaweed from the sides of the causeway wall, with the intention of luring the guard from his post, she was spotted and the alarm raised.

'Attaacckk' yelled Tobal and urged Knuck, who he was riding, into a blistering charge down the causeway into the soldier now drawing his sword and readying himself for the onslaught. The impact of Knucks charge was akin to a marsh-mallow hitting a steel breastplate. Gideon raced forward, Vash summoned the Air elemental and sent it towards the nearest Crossbowman on the raised section. Maisie grubbed up huge dollops of foul smelling seaweed and dropped them on the Crossbowman on the barge, frustrating his attempts to fit a bolt to his weapon and seriously messing up his recently washed and braided hair.

Regan drew a small vial from his pack which contained a smoky blue liquid. He quaffed its contents, faded out of sight and ran full pelt down the causeway, his destination the zig-zagging path that led to the upper section. The only hint of his passing in the now blossoming chaos on the causeway was a slight ruffling of Knucks feathers as he ghosted past.

Gideon and Piotr reached the swordsman, now heavily engaged with Knuck and the bellowing Gnome on his back, at almost the same time. A pulsating red glow enveloped Piotrs hand as he reached out to touch the swordsman. Piotrs eyes lighted at the gout of blood that spurted from the swordsmans shoulder, but his joy was short lived as the enraged swordsman swung his wicked looking blade towards him.

Maisie summoned the Earth elemental, sending it streaking forward up the causeway in the direction Regan had taken. The crashing, flailing, threatening mass of stone that it was drew the full attention of the Crossbowmen on the raised section of the causeway. They sent a flurry of bolts in its direction which dissolved it into a gently tumbling and thoroughly un-threatening heap of grey sand and gravel.

From the barge a Druid emerged, who ran down the gangway into the fray. Gideon landed a crushing blow on the swordsman, which with a sickening crunch of bone ended his resistance. He spun round in one fluid motion and crashed his shield into the Druid, sending him spinning off the gangway into the sea.

The Crossbowman on the barge had given up all hope of extricating himself from the clinging mass of seaweed and collapsed to the deck, where he no doubt reflected that he had never before considered the possibilty of such a bizzare demise.

Three down, Six to go.

Regan reached the base of the lighthouse. unseen and at full speed, just as the crossbowmen were taking aim at the rest of the party. He flickered into sight as he barged one out of the way, who crashed painfully off the platform onto the path below. The remaining crossbowman glanced sideways in utter disbelief as Regan continued his barreling run and crashed into him, sending him spiralling off the platform into the icy embrace of the sea. The Mage in the lighthouse, now beginning to question the competance of the officer who had assigned her guard, unleashed a Magic Missile at Regan. Simultaneously, a small dragon burst from the door at the base of the lighthouse and flung itself at Regan in a flurry of teeth and poison tipped tail.

In the squawking, shouting, metal shrieking chaos of the battle Vash raised his pistol to fire at the Dragon. As he pulled the trigger, he suddenly found himself inside that little bubble which springs into existence and wipes all perception of extraneous events when a calamity occurs. The sharp snap of something breaking in his pistol, rendering it useless, was all he heard.

Tobal urged the now battle-frenzied Knuck ahead up the zig-zag path. As they skittered onto the top of the platform a well placed crossbow bolt slammed into the foaming-at-the-beak Knuck. Tobal reigned him away towards the crossbowman just dispatching the Air Elemental back to its Plane of Origin and dispatched him in turn to the Plane of Nem. Knuck needed no further encouragement to swing back on his previous, now terror-struck, assailant and in an outraged mass of Avian horror, vaulted some barrels and crushed him. Tobal proceeded to cast a Silence Spell on the Mage in the Lighthouse, frustrating her attempts to intervene further.

Seven down, Two to go.

The Mage emerged from a door at the base of the tower to make a final stand. Maisie, using some strange power of unknown origin, grabbed the fleeing spirit of the swordsman as it headed gratefully towards oblivion and briefly gave it solid-form directly behind the Mage. The fearsome, unatural thing that it was tapped the Mage on the shoulder and uttered a single word,

'Boo'

It then continued on its journey to the after-life.

The thoroughly discomfited Mage was mercifuly sent there as well by Gideon.

Knuck and Tobal had meanwhile raced passed Regan, who was still fending off his winged assailant, operated the Gate-Lock mechanism and fired off the Pyrotechnic Scroll that signalled the Danorian fleet waiting offshore to attack. Tobal hurried back to strike down the beast attacking Regan and as it fluttered dead to the ground the sky was lit up by a volley of fire from the fleet. Their job done, the party now turned to holding off elements of the Fortress garrison on their way to the Lighthouse. Their intention was closing the sea-wall gates that were now pondorously swinging open. A frenzied ten minutes of exploding barrels, javelins and gunshot then followed, with the garrison eventualy breaking into the Lighthouse.

The party had departed however, either jumping into the sea or in Tobal and Knucks case using the Levitation Rod to smugly avoid getting wet.

To their dismay, the Duchesses soldiers found the Gate mechanism comprehensively sabotaged by Piotr.

As the battle around the Fortress unfolded a blazing light appeared on the deck of one of the ships. A mighty, god-like figure with a blazing sword of fire and a Lions-Head embossed shield set about killing anyone who stood before him. He did not discriminate between the Duchesses forces and the attacking troops of the Danor as he leapt from the ship into the fortress itself in an unstoppable wave of destruction.

To be continued……………

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Adventure 1 - The Island at the Axis of the World
"Choice"

As the battle raged around the fortress, the party made their way to shore. They struggled up onto a shallow beach and attempted to wring what water they could from their sodden clothes. They set off into the fortress, passing crumpled bodies and burning buildings, towards the walls of the inner defensive ring where Rebel troops and the Duchess herself had fallen back . Silhouetted in the night sky by a backdrop of orange flames, Rebel troops still resisted from the walls of the inner fortress. They exchanged crossbow bolts with the attacking Risur Loyalists who crouched behind makeshift screens and scattered rubble. Work was already beginning on construction of siege engines. The inner fortress walls would need more than simple elan to bring them down.



As the party moved through the streets, the pungent stench of smoke and death in their nostrils, they came upon a long, solid looking building with barred windows. At the only visible entrance stood a Loyalist soldier, fresh but dark stained bandages on arm and leg. 'What is this place?', asked Vash. 'Got prisoners taken by the Rebels inside, my commander told me to stand guard here until we figure what to do with them', replied the Guard. 'Let them out?', thought Vash, as the party mounted the steps and entered the building.



Inside was a motley collection of individuals, both civilian and military. Crusted wounds, bandages and traumatised dark-ringed eyes all bore witness to the ill treatment they had received. 'Maybe there is someone here who can get us into the inner fortress', suggested Maisie. Attention was drawn to one particular individual, clad in military uniform, who stood with detatched authority on the edge of the group of prisoners. Encouraged by the charismatic Maisie and an instruction to the sentry from Tobal to bring food and water to the prisoners, the man revealed himself as an officer in the Loyalist guard that had been overrun when the Duchesses forces first arrived on the Island.



He furnished the party with a map of the inner fortress, showing an entrance to it via sewers that would allow the party discreet access. He also revealed that the Duchess and a substantial force had, at the beginning of the assault, teleported into the inner fortress via a portal in the Observatory at the top of the Keep. Rumour was that they had succeeded in this bold move only because someone already inside the Keep had helped them. The officer was ignorant of the whereabouts of any Tieflings, but suggested if one were anywhere it would be inside the Keep itself.



Since the party still had the objective of dealing with the Duchess and finding Nathan, the Tiefling cousin of the Danorian Princess Lya who was supposed to be on the island somewhere, they decided to gain entry to the Keep. As they considered the first problem of getting past the heavily defended outer walls, a fast moving vaguely humanoid shaped cloud of smoke hurtled down the street shedding bright red sparks in its wake.

It rushed past the party and paused by a building near the inner fortress walls. The cloud wavered and coalesed into the figure of the warrior who they had seen earlier cutting swathes of destruction through the ranks of the fortresses defenders and attackers alike.

His features revealed him as an Eladrin. He lay down the Lions head embossed shield he carried, drew from his cloak a glowing blue orb and spoke some arcane words of power.

The forces that surged from the Orb raised hairs and tickled skin on those close by, but its focus was the base of the inner fortress wall.



From that point earthquake like-tremors rippled outwards, accompanied by the bursting of vines and trees through the ground, morphing it from stone-cobbled tracks and buildings of man into primeval jungle. The wall of the inner keep closest to the Eladrin warped, twisted, and crumbled, transforming as it fell into arboreal ruin. A corridor of jungle, flanked and criss-crossed by strange shifting bubbles which showed glimpses of scenes detached and alien to the surrounding reality, extended from the breech in the wall to the inner keep itself. With no further word, the Eladrin picked up his shield and sprinted down it. After a short and awesomely destructive battle with a Druid that emerged from the Keep, the Eladrin set off spider-like up the walls to the Observatory.

The party followed, Regan needing some encouragement as he faltered at the corridors' other worldly threshold. They entered via a door at the base of the Keep and climbed staircases, arriving unmolested at the Observatory just as the screams and concussive booms of mighty Magics being unleashed within subsided. A door swung open to reveal the Eladrin, sword in hand but bloodied and unsteady on his feet, the Duchess attempting feebly to rise from the floor where she had been cast down and the Tiefling, Nathan, huddled against the wall in terror and shock.



The Eladrin, revealed as Asrabey Varal , Fey Lord of the Unseen Court, cursed the Duchess for consorting with the demonic forces of Danor, condemned her as a Kingslayer and was bent on enacting justice in the name of the Court.



He suddenly became aware of the party watching from the doorway and stepped toward them, the bright sword in his hand pulsing with a threat of fiery doom. Regan stepped forward, fell on one-knee before the advancing Asrabey, raised his hand and shouted 'Wait!!', his words aimed at everyone in the room. Too late, as Vash was already in the process of weaving magic and the rest of the party tensed for action. Before Vash could unleash his spell a crushing bolt of force projected from Asrabey and threw him backwards like a rag-doll into the granite wall of the observatory.



Gideon screamed a challenge and moved to attack, but was swatted away as easily as a child might slap aside a wasp. Knuck, acting purely on instinct, also attempted to attack the warrior, but was beaten down. Maisie stumbled backwards, accompanied by a loud 'Twang…' as a string on her frantically over-strummed Ukelelie snapped. The baleful, opalescent eyes of Asrabey fell on Regan, who winced visibly as the power behind them bored into his soul. A bolt of magic energy suddenly slammed into the Eladrin and he crumpled unconscious to the floor. Vash had recovered his wits enough to cast a Magic Missile. The fight was over.



Heated debate then ensued over the next course of action. Hand over all three of the captives? Regan insisted that that the Eladrin be allowed to go free, so he was handcuffed and carried by Vash and Regan down to the quiet, damp sewers beneath the Keep.

The Eladrin was just regaining consciousness as Regan stooped to remove the cuffs. As he stepped back he spoke, 'I am not your enemy'.

Regan and Vash turned away, the muttering of the Eladrin behind them lost in the splash of their boots in the sewer water as they returned to the Keep.

GMs note: Start of Adventure 2! Vash's player was getting married in Italy so ended up missing a lot of sessions (he misses quite a few due to his job as well unfortunately ).

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Adventure 2 - The Dying Skyseer
"An Investigation"

The party returned to Flint in search of a well earned rest, in the process keeping quiet to their superiors about the Elemental Control Rings they had picked up and the release of the Eladrin warrior in the sewers of the Axis Island Fortress Keep. So much for the intense vetting process designed to churn out honest, reliable and dedicated RHC officers.

They were eventually called into a meeting and made aware of an incident at the Danorian Embassy in the North Shore District of the City. Someone had fallen from a window and subsequently died, impalled on railings outside the building which technicaly made the remains at least half under the jurisdiction of the RHC.

The party arrived and were informed that the macabre incident was simply an attempted robbery that had gone badly wrong. Some of the circumstances, however, seemed a little more suspicious to the RHC constables.

Maisie confirmed all was not what it seemed when she attempted to contact the dead spirit of the half-elf maiden who had been shot and killed during her bungled 'robbery attempt. In answer to three questions, the half-elfs departed soul informed them that she was in the embassy on a mission assigned by the renegade fey Hana 'Gale' Soliogn, to find evidence of Danorian ambitions in Risur. 'Gale' was known as a key figure in the resistance in Flint, leading opposition to what they identified as the corrupt and destructive forces driving Risurs current industrialisation process. She also revealed that an individual called Howard Secombe (unrelated to the famous Flintonian singer and jester Harry), her contact with Gales' organization , was to be found somewhere in the Parity Lake district.

It appeared the Maid had also drugged the embassy staff with poisoned chocolates, a statement that was verified when Regan devoured one of said chocolates and subsequently spent a substantial length of time studying in intricate detail the hairs on the back of his hand.

A most interesting revelation occurred when the party questioned the people still lingering outside the Embassy who had witnessed the Maids death. A particularly grubby and bright eyed young street urchin who identified himself as 'The Worm' had seen a note passed by the Maid, as her life blood trickled away on the railings, to a goatee sporting man who then slipped away from the scene. Supplied with a sketched likeness of the man by the Worm, which frankly didn't reveal much other than it was someone vaguley humanoid with a goatee beard they were tracking, the party moved off in his pursuit.

The trail led them to an alley, where a fight had occured which had been witnessed by a Flint carriage driver. A note was found at the scene, which appeared to be a legal document relating to the sale of a barge named 'The Feathery Fish'. While Regan, in a still brain-addled state, tried to establish what manner of beast a feathery fish actually was, the carriage driver revealed that he had transported a goatee bearded man from the scene to a boarding house in North Shore called 'The House of Bluebirds'. The party followed to the house, where after questioning of staff the goatee bearded man was identified as 'The Doctor'. It seemed also that another police officer had already been there, though the party were more than a little concerned about his legitimacy.

The Doctor had seemingly left in a hurry towards the Parity Lake district, from where smoke and rank fumes drifted slowly on the breeze to North side. The squalor of Parity Lake stood in stark contrast to the wealth on display in North Shore. Its narrow, filthy, slum lined streets where its poor, ashen faced residents breathed its foul, polluted air represented everything bad about the industrialisation process Flint was currently undergoing. Regan was a survivor of this place and the sense of familiarity he had on entering the district was mingled with bad memories of bad situations. There was worse in Parity Lake than bad smells. As the party followed the Doctors trail deeper into its sprawl, they slipped into a twilight zone of Risurs Justice system. They were entering an area of the city firmly under the control of a notorious Flint crime-lord named Lorcan Kell.

To be continued…..

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Adventure 2 - The Dying Skyseer
"Deeper and Down"

With the grimy streets of Parity Lake underfoot and the slightly claustrophobic rows of close -packed houses bearing down on them, the party set off for the unsettlingly named Inn 'The Broken Elbow' where Regan expected to find one of his more nefarious contacts in the City.

The others stayed outside, observing comings and goings, while Regan entered the Inn.

Vance sat in one smoky corner and raised his eyebrows slightly as Regan plonked himself down on the chair opposite. 'You after some.. merchandise?', asked Vance. 'Not at the moment, but I do want some information', replied Regan.

He proceeded to describe the 'Doctor' while Vance listened with eyes fixed on the ale mug clasped in his hands. 'Meet me back here in a couple of hours…I'll see what I can do', he said, rising from the table and making his way to the door.

Regan waited a couple of minutes, then left himself to join the others who had spent the last few minutes wondering why anyone would want to live in this particular part of Parity Lake and counting their blessings that they didn't have to.

They set off for the local RHC station to find out what they could about the individual called Howard Secombe, who had bailed the Embassy-Raiding Maid out of some earlier trouble. In the course of their visit, they established that the police officer seen at the Bluebird was most likely an imposter and got the address of Howard Secombes business in the district.

Dodging the various anti-industrialist demonstrations and pickets going on in the area (noticeably absent from outside Secombes place) they found the factory he owned and requested a meeting. Secombe seemed to be innocent enough, explaining that the Maid was in his foster-care. He also mentioned an Uncle, not long for this world it seemed and well known as a Skyseer, who had spoken to Secombe of a premonition he had concerning the Maids death.

With little more useful information gathered, their bellies filled with some street food kebabs of dubious content, the party returned to the 'Elbow'. Vance was waiting and indicated that the Doctor was 'being looked after'. He introduced Regan to a suspiciously jovial individual who would lead them to where the Doctor was waiting. What he actually led them into was a rather polite but undeniably intimidating 'ambush' by a group of ruffians in the service of the local crime Lord Lorcan Kell. The party were led to a nearby Theatre where they were made the subject of an amateur dramatic production, designed to impress upon them that if there was going to be any trouble they were going to be the ones who would without question come off worse. They were then introduced to the vile Kell himself and persuaded to part with 1000gp (graciously provided from Gideons bulging purse) in return for the whereabouts of the Doctor, who would be handed over into their safe keeping.

Torbal was frustrated in his efforts to introduce some magicaly generated maggots into the sandwich that the smirking Kell was enjoying and Regan contented himself with the prospect of being able to punch Kell very hard in the face at some opportune moment in the future.



The party were then guided to an abandoned chapel in The Nettles district of the city, an area renowned as a bolt-hole for Flint criminals. The Doctor was indeed there and handed over. An impromptu interrogation set him vehemently babbling about his innocence (he just happened to be outside the Danorian embassy at the wrong time it seemed) and the documents he had received from the Maid. The documents appeared to evidence cases of machinery going missing from various factories in Flint and the use of 'Witch Oil' in the manufacture of others. This indicated if nothing else that the Danorans were up to something not in the interests of Risur.

Distracted by the rambling Doctors out-pouring of information, the party failed to notice that they were not alone in the Chapel. This lack of attention was punished by a sudden ambush sprung from the shadowy corners of the Chapel , by some equally shadowy figures which though humanoid in appearance had the taint of something decidedly unnatural about them.

Regans first awareness of what was going on was the rapidly growing impression of a clawed fist heading toward his head, which subsequently connected and sent him reeling across the floor.

With the Doctor helpfully screaming 'That was the one who attacked me outside the Embassy!!!' the party set about defending themselves from the savage assault. With a combination of Masies' creative use of the Earth Ring to generate granite blocks in various locations to thwart her assailants, and more straightforward Beak and Staff work from Knuck and Torbal, the attackers were beaten off. The survivors fled the Chapel. While Regan tried to collect his thoughts and work out why he had failed to hit anything except the Chapel walls with multiple pistol shots, Torbal and Knuck hurried after them.

The pair got as far as the Chapel entrance door, which was dramatically sealed off in front of them by an impenetrable mass of twisted iron that had magically sprung from the walls.

Sitting outside, with the remnants of the ambush party and a substantial number of similar creatures loitering around him, was a man who identified himself as Leone Quital. He wanted the Doctor and suggested very politely that the party should hand him over. Failure to do so would result in 'The Worm' (the street urchin who had helped the party earlier) meeting an unpleasant end. Unfortunately for Quital, only Regan was left inside at this point, the others having crawled out through a tunnel in the (fortuitously recently un-used) latrines at the back of the Chapel. Unable to negotiate further and hoping that his failure to respond in any way to Quitals' evil proposal would result in no harm coming to 'The Worm', Regan glugged an Invisibility Potion and headed off after the others.

The party, Doctor and Documents in tow, made their way back the RHC headquarters.

The next steps were to sedate the Doctor, get some special healing applied to Regans face, a little counselling around the issue of leaving a small child to a gruesome fate and working out exactly what the documents stolen from the Danorian Embassy were all about.

To be continued…….

I'm curious why the change in name from Sechim to Secombe.

RangerWickett said:

I'm curious why the change in name from Sechim to Secombe.

Click to expand...

Player is writing the log. Probably never saw the name written down.