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<blockquote data-quote="Rybaer" data-source="post: 1112" data-attributes="member: 118"><p>Session #5.1 – Journey into the Golden Dome</p><p></p><p></p><p>Our heroes, minus the studious and now much envied Zalman, now found themselves trapped inside the great Golden Dome at Shadykin’s abandoned School for Arcane Arts and Magical Sciences. When the door and tunnel that had led them into the sunny landscape abruptly disappeared, they were left with no apparent way out. They had a pretty good idea that the door was about forty or fifty feet back from where they had been, but a thorough investigation of the area, including a concerted effort to disbelieve everything as an illusion, failed to find it again.</p><p></p><p>Rurik cast a Detect Magic and was nearly overwhelmed when everything in every direction radiated strong magic. Well, they thought, that made some sort of sense. They knew that from the outside, the Golden Dome was no more than a hundred fifty feet in diameter. Inside, it was a seemingly infinite world – sky and all. A brief debate ensued over the merits of staying in place and hoping the door would reveal itself or wandering around in an attempt to determine the nature of this place. The chose to wander…after all, the place seemed pleasant enough and had presumably been constructed for some reason. It almost had the feel of a resort, a natural and safe place to get away from it all. </p><p></p><p>Making note of where the door had been in relation to the clumps of trees, a couple small hills, and the meandering brook, they chose a direction at random and struck out. Aside from a nagging fear of the magically created unknown, they enjoyed the pleasant weather and absence of drooling, snarling monsters jumping out at them.</p><p></p><p>After about ten minutes of hiking, it began to dawn on them that the landscape around them was changing – literally. The grassy hill that they had just walked, when looking back, was now a wooded valley. The stream that had been going off in one direction now seemed to lead elsewhere. Whatever sense of tranquility that they had been enjoying was now shattered. They stopped and looked intently in each direction but were unable to discern the changes as they happened. Either they were too slow and subtle, or they simply didn’t happen when someone was looking in that direction. Several in the group even had the nagging sensation that the sun was moving around erratically.</p><p></p><p>Realizing that they had little else to use as reference, they decided to follow the stream for a while. It seemed to be the only feature that was always within view. This they followed for several hours, mostly crossing pleasant landscapes of grasses, trees, and hills. Then the weather changed from cheery sunshine to dark and menacing storms, all over the span of about ten seconds. While getting quickly soaked in the torrential rains, they concluded that little if anything in this Dome was real, and it certainly didn’t seem to be very stable.</p><p></p><p>The rains broke a short while later and settled into a dreary gray sky near sunset (or sunrise…they really couldn’t be sure). Having gotten seemingly nowhere while following the stream, they debated heading back. While discussing things, the temperature took a abrupt dive and heavy wet snow started to fall all around them, quickly turning the landscape white. While Amblin didn’t mind the weather (due to his cold resistance compliments of the Minor Deck of Many Things), the others were chilled and ill dressed for the conditions. They hoped the weather would continue its shiftiness and return to something warmer soon. On the other hand, they needed to prepare for the worst. So, they sought shelter among a nearby grove of pine trees and made a small fire.</p><p></p><p>While pondering options and bandying about theories on how to escape from the Dome, a nearby voice chimed in: “Pardon me, but you’re not from around here, are you?” It was a white-tailed deer that had apparently asked the question, having snuck up to the camp through the darkness and the snow. They admitted that they were and pointed out that they were in a bit of a bind as they really wanted to get back out of the Dome.</p><p></p><p>The conversation continued for a while with the deer answering their questions as best it could. An owl, a couple rabbits, half a dozen squirrels, and a raccoon all joined in as well. The animals all knew of Shadykin, and regarded him fondly, though they had not seen him in a long time. They recognized that the weather and landscape here was not as stable as it had once been. When asked why, they attributed it all to Digger. Digger, apparently a badger who lived nearby, had been progressively losing his sanity, and his moods and thoughts seemed to have a substantial impact on the local environment. The animals could not explain why Digger had this sort of influence on things, but they did mention that Digger was one of Shadykin’s friends from the “other world.” The animals also knew of the door out of the Dome, but did not know how to find it.</p><p></p><p>(The players were getting strong flashes of déjà vu…Disney movies, mostly…)</p><p></p><p>The deer who had struck up the conversation (they apparently didn’t have names) offered to lead them to Digger’s home. The animals seemed to hope that the group might be able to help the insane badger and perhaps someday bring Shadykin back.</p><p></p><p>Digger’s home was little more than a mound of grass-covered earth with a hole in one side leading down. The deer left them without risking getting any closer. The weather had cheered up a bit, all the way to a steady drizzle. Amblin crept up near the hole but decided that climbing down such a tight hole after an insane badger was probably not a good career move. They called to him from outside.</p><p></p><p>“Digger?”</p><p></p><p>“Go away,” growled a voice from far below. The raindrops got a bit bigger.</p><p></p><p>“We’d like your help getting out of this Dome.”</p><p></p><p>“I said, Go Away!” The wind picked up.</p><p></p><p>“We also understand you knew Shadykin. We’re looking for him and could use your help with that as well.”</p><p></p><p>Silence. The rain let up a bit and even threatened to stop altogether. A few moments later, the striped face of a badger poked out of the hole and eyed them over. “What do you know of Shadykin and how did you come to be here?”</p><p></p><p>They went on to explain that they had come to the school in hope that they would find Shadykin still here. They needed his help in restoring Rurik’s face from that of a lion back to his own charming dwarven mug. They also spoke briefly of the condition of the school, the amount of time that had passed since the war, and of the last journal entries Shadykin had written.</p><p></p><p>Digger, they found, was not quite as insane as they had been led to believe by the other animals. He was just very moody and didn’t have much to live for now that his master had been absent for so long. Digger was Shadykin’s familiar and had been ushered inside the Dome for fear of the impending attack by one of the Black Hand. Shadykin had never come back for him. After some time alone in the Dome with the animals, Digger had tried to return but found that a crack had developed in the device that operated the innards of the Dome and was causing it to malfunction. The malfunction caused ripples of instability and prevented him from finding the location of the door leading back out. He tried to fix it but only made it worse. An entire chunk of the machine had broken loose and caused the area immediately around it to warp into a nightmarish parody of reality. Dangerous creatures and traps abounded and it was all Digger could do to escape that pit with his life. He could not bring himself to risk trying to fix it again.</p><p></p><p>“So”, the group summarized, “we have to find and fix the magical mechanism that runs the insides of this Dome in order to find the door that leads back out?” (Without our wizard, too…how convenient…) </p><p></p><p>“Yeah,” Digger replied. “That’s the short of it. And if you pull it off, you’d better be taking me out of here with you.”</p><p></p><p>“Guess we’d best get going. Where is the device located.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s just over there,” Digger pointed. Had it not been for this creepy, shifting landscape, they might have wondered how they could have possibly missed the dark pit just off in the distance. It was a sheer edged pit over a mile in diameter that was filled with a dark gray fog of unbelievable density. “There’s a road leading down into it. The device should be in the very center. And be careful, ‘cuz there are lots of nasty things down there.”</p><p></p><p>“Like we haven’t heard that before…”</p><p></p><p>The group headed off toward the Pit (of Certain Unpleasantness) and had no difficulty in finding the road leading down. Essentially, it was little more than a ten foot wide ledge with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop off on the other that wound around the inside of the Pit, slowly angling downward. The gray fog was so dense that visibility beyond five feet was poor and beyond ten feet was impossible. They looked at one another, looked at the Pit, and then headed down – staying single file, against the wall, and within five feet of the person ahead of them at all times.</p><p></p><p></p><p>-Rybaer</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rybaer, post: 1112, member: 118"] Session #5.1 – Journey into the Golden Dome Our heroes, minus the studious and now much envied Zalman, now found themselves trapped inside the great Golden Dome at Shadykin’s abandoned School for Arcane Arts and Magical Sciences. When the door and tunnel that had led them into the sunny landscape abruptly disappeared, they were left with no apparent way out. They had a pretty good idea that the door was about forty or fifty feet back from where they had been, but a thorough investigation of the area, including a concerted effort to disbelieve everything as an illusion, failed to find it again. Rurik cast a Detect Magic and was nearly overwhelmed when everything in every direction radiated strong magic. Well, they thought, that made some sort of sense. They knew that from the outside, the Golden Dome was no more than a hundred fifty feet in diameter. Inside, it was a seemingly infinite world – sky and all. A brief debate ensued over the merits of staying in place and hoping the door would reveal itself or wandering around in an attempt to determine the nature of this place. The chose to wander…after all, the place seemed pleasant enough and had presumably been constructed for some reason. It almost had the feel of a resort, a natural and safe place to get away from it all. Making note of where the door had been in relation to the clumps of trees, a couple small hills, and the meandering brook, they chose a direction at random and struck out. Aside from a nagging fear of the magically created unknown, they enjoyed the pleasant weather and absence of drooling, snarling monsters jumping out at them. After about ten minutes of hiking, it began to dawn on them that the landscape around them was changing – literally. The grassy hill that they had just walked, when looking back, was now a wooded valley. The stream that had been going off in one direction now seemed to lead elsewhere. Whatever sense of tranquility that they had been enjoying was now shattered. They stopped and looked intently in each direction but were unable to discern the changes as they happened. Either they were too slow and subtle, or they simply didn’t happen when someone was looking in that direction. Several in the group even had the nagging sensation that the sun was moving around erratically. Realizing that they had little else to use as reference, they decided to follow the stream for a while. It seemed to be the only feature that was always within view. This they followed for several hours, mostly crossing pleasant landscapes of grasses, trees, and hills. Then the weather changed from cheery sunshine to dark and menacing storms, all over the span of about ten seconds. While getting quickly soaked in the torrential rains, they concluded that little if anything in this Dome was real, and it certainly didn’t seem to be very stable. The rains broke a short while later and settled into a dreary gray sky near sunset (or sunrise…they really couldn’t be sure). Having gotten seemingly nowhere while following the stream, they debated heading back. While discussing things, the temperature took a abrupt dive and heavy wet snow started to fall all around them, quickly turning the landscape white. While Amblin didn’t mind the weather (due to his cold resistance compliments of the Minor Deck of Many Things), the others were chilled and ill dressed for the conditions. They hoped the weather would continue its shiftiness and return to something warmer soon. On the other hand, they needed to prepare for the worst. So, they sought shelter among a nearby grove of pine trees and made a small fire. While pondering options and bandying about theories on how to escape from the Dome, a nearby voice chimed in: “Pardon me, but you’re not from around here, are you?” It was a white-tailed deer that had apparently asked the question, having snuck up to the camp through the darkness and the snow. They admitted that they were and pointed out that they were in a bit of a bind as they really wanted to get back out of the Dome. The conversation continued for a while with the deer answering their questions as best it could. An owl, a couple rabbits, half a dozen squirrels, and a raccoon all joined in as well. The animals all knew of Shadykin, and regarded him fondly, though they had not seen him in a long time. They recognized that the weather and landscape here was not as stable as it had once been. When asked why, they attributed it all to Digger. Digger, apparently a badger who lived nearby, had been progressively losing his sanity, and his moods and thoughts seemed to have a substantial impact on the local environment. The animals could not explain why Digger had this sort of influence on things, but they did mention that Digger was one of Shadykin’s friends from the “other world.” The animals also knew of the door out of the Dome, but did not know how to find it. (The players were getting strong flashes of déjà vu…Disney movies, mostly…) The deer who had struck up the conversation (they apparently didn’t have names) offered to lead them to Digger’s home. The animals seemed to hope that the group might be able to help the insane badger and perhaps someday bring Shadykin back. Digger’s home was little more than a mound of grass-covered earth with a hole in one side leading down. The deer left them without risking getting any closer. The weather had cheered up a bit, all the way to a steady drizzle. Amblin crept up near the hole but decided that climbing down such a tight hole after an insane badger was probably not a good career move. They called to him from outside. “Digger?” “Go away,” growled a voice from far below. The raindrops got a bit bigger. “We’d like your help getting out of this Dome.” “I said, Go Away!” The wind picked up. “We also understand you knew Shadykin. We’re looking for him and could use your help with that as well.” Silence. The rain let up a bit and even threatened to stop altogether. A few moments later, the striped face of a badger poked out of the hole and eyed them over. “What do you know of Shadykin and how did you come to be here?” They went on to explain that they had come to the school in hope that they would find Shadykin still here. They needed his help in restoring Rurik’s face from that of a lion back to his own charming dwarven mug. They also spoke briefly of the condition of the school, the amount of time that had passed since the war, and of the last journal entries Shadykin had written. Digger, they found, was not quite as insane as they had been led to believe by the other animals. He was just very moody and didn’t have much to live for now that his master had been absent for so long. Digger was Shadykin’s familiar and had been ushered inside the Dome for fear of the impending attack by one of the Black Hand. Shadykin had never come back for him. After some time alone in the Dome with the animals, Digger had tried to return but found that a crack had developed in the device that operated the innards of the Dome and was causing it to malfunction. The malfunction caused ripples of instability and prevented him from finding the location of the door leading back out. He tried to fix it but only made it worse. An entire chunk of the machine had broken loose and caused the area immediately around it to warp into a nightmarish parody of reality. Dangerous creatures and traps abounded and it was all Digger could do to escape that pit with his life. He could not bring himself to risk trying to fix it again. “So”, the group summarized, “we have to find and fix the magical mechanism that runs the insides of this Dome in order to find the door that leads back out?” (Without our wizard, too…how convenient…) “Yeah,” Digger replied. “That’s the short of it. And if you pull it off, you’d better be taking me out of here with you.” “Guess we’d best get going. Where is the device located.” “It’s just over there,” Digger pointed. Had it not been for this creepy, shifting landscape, they might have wondered how they could have possibly missed the dark pit just off in the distance. It was a sheer edged pit over a mile in diameter that was filled with a dark gray fog of unbelievable density. “There’s a road leading down into it. The device should be in the very center. And be careful, ‘cuz there are lots of nasty things down there.” “Like we haven’t heard that before…” The group headed off toward the Pit (of Certain Unpleasantness) and had no difficulty in finding the road leading down. Essentially, it was little more than a ten foot wide ledge with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop off on the other that wound around the inside of the Pit, slowly angling downward. The gray fog was so dense that visibility beyond five feet was poor and beyond ten feet was impossible. They looked at one another, looked at the Pit, and then headed down – staying single file, against the wall, and within five feet of the person ahead of them at all times. -Rybaer [/QUOTE]
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