Eaglesford Campaign: "Strange Lights"

[Nail]

My, does time fly...

Wow.

A month has passed since I last up-dated. That's crazy stuff...I swear it's still October. Where did November go?

Must have been fun, right?


As usual, I'm using the notes typed up by our excellent player/note-taker Gina. Thanks! I've just toyed with the text a bit before posting it here. Gina's really gotten organized about this: she now keeps a round-by-round melee tracker as well as jotting down all of the role-play/plot info. Truely, we are in her debt.

 

[Nail]

Almost there.....

Session #43
Real life: evening of October 28th, 2004

From the Journals of the Aldersborn: Rowan, Druid of Eaglesford
The Mystery of Endlessness Part IV

August 11th

Mor’Elandi spent the day in the second chamber of the library, chanting and meditating. Torsten practiced with his weapon, I worked in getting Tieran’s robes cut down to a better size for his new form. Tieran worked on scribing a new scroll, figuring that another dispel magic would be a useful item for us, given our recent difficulties. Kytum-up paced a lot – he’s quiet when he does this. Quiet and intense.

August 12th
Once again into the Mystery of Endlessness! All of us cast spell in preparation: Mor-Elandi invoked Protection from Evil and [/i]Expeditious Retreat[/i], Tieran cast [/i]Invisibility (and a host of others I didn’t get to see!), I cast Barkskin, Bull’s Strength, and Call Lightning[/i] .... you never know when a quick lightning bolt will do the trick!.

As we stepped into the test area, we saw that the ethereal mist was less dense than it had been before. We could see now that we were standing on a circular stone platform surrounding the portal. The stone block floor is worked into a sunburst pattern and at intervals, we noted colored crystals at the edge of the platform. Blue, green, and orange crystals sit in the half of the platform where the mist is less dense; these must be the “keystones” we’ve been able to uncover so far. Each of the crystals has chisel marks around it, as if the defilers of this place had tried to remove them and failed. They must have put those nasty “summoning” discs over them after being unable to remove the colored keystone. (There are bolt holes in the stone where the summoning discs were held down. ) Based on the arrangement of the colored crystals we’ve uncovered, there are probably three more stones left to find and free.

I find it interesting that the things that have tried to kill us were designed by the Great Church. The Great Church was the one who defiled this place. The tests appear to have been designed mostly as mysteries to contemplate, but they have been turned much more deadly by people who would “protect” us from these mysteries. Whatever is at the end of these tests must be very interesting indeed, to have caused such hatred and fear in those people.

As we examined the crystals, we heard a loud CRACK! The flash was red this time. We moved in the direction it came from, wondering what we would be facing this time.

Torsten was in the lead, running ahead of the rest of us, intent upon reaching the disc and getting it up quickly. He heard the noise first, a snuffling sound, whatever it was, it sounded pretty big.

We moved up behind him and saw the creature we would be facing. The mist was darker around the large beast, making it difficult to see. It was roughly dog shaped, but there the similarity to any familiar animal ended. The creature had no head, no eyes, only a gaping maw where a head should have been. There were teeth though, lots of them. It had armored plates bolted to its body and was covered in long, dangerous looking spikes. All in all, a very unpleasant creature.

“Why can’t we ever run into nice, friendly bunnies?” I wondered as I moved toward the beast, though, not too close, since that armor looked pretty tough.

The creature (a Chaos Dog?) loped toward us, darkness radiating from its body. Mor’Elandi shot three arrows, but each bounced off of its grotesque armor. Kytum-up hit it once, just as Tieran cast Evard’s Black tentacles, centered on the Chaos dog. The creature tried (and failed) to “lick” Tieran with its spiked tongue...that thing could extend out from its body over 20 feet! Torsten, seeing what we were up against, moved to the edge of the tentacles and held position, waiting for the creature to attack, though hopefully out of range of the tongue.

While it was trapped in the ‘Tentacles, we used ranged attacks as best we could. It resisted my lightning bolt magic easily enough (darn it!), and it kept strugging off Mor’Elandi’s arrows. Kytum-up’s crossbow bolts seemed to do fine, though. Torsten just waited for the thing to escape the tentacles.

As the tentacles grappled the creature, it managed to do....something, turning its head, well, gaping maw in the direction of several of us. We could feel a wave of dark energy, a brief moment of fear, and then it passed. All of us were fine,......err, except Mor’Elandi, who I guess was overcome with some sort of magical fear. He even dropped his bow as he fled. I thought elves were tougher than that....we’ll have to go searching for ours after were through here.

The chaos dog finally escaped the tentacles, so Torsten closed with it and attacked. I tried to hit it with a spell – Poison” – but I missed. Tieran’s magic missile spell didn’t miss, though, and the creature fell. Like the others we’ve killed, this one quickly began to decay and rot. (What a strange effect this place has on corpses....)

Tieran and I waited for Mor’Elandi while Torsten and Kytum-up moved toward the disc, hopefully to get it up and out before anything new came through the portal. We heard the crack and saw the flash, but none of us sensed anything nearby.

Tieran and I moved toward the flash, figuring that Mor’Elandi had seen it as well and would move in that direction. As we arrived, Kytum-up and Torsten stood watching the disc. The cracking sound came and a flash and only three hands rose, and disintegrated, falling in a shower of red sparkles.

I thought that the disc’s power had failed and it was the perfect time to pop it out of the ground. Sadly, I was wrong.

As I rushed to the disc, the sixteen hands of reddish energy flew out of the bronze disc. Two moved up, and with a CRACK, ripped another gate in the fabric of reality. The other fourteen.....flew towards me! They grappled me, and dragged me towards the opening. The smell of brimstone and fire was getting stronger.

Mor’Elandi hit one of the hands holding me with an arrow, which caused it to vanish in a puff of red sparkles. I wild shaped into a crocodile, to better resist the hands. Torsten and Kytum-up moved toward the disc and the rip in space, intent on destroying the hands that were holding the gate open.

Tieran, thinking fast, put up a wall of ice between me and the hole! Mor’Elandi took out two more of the hands with arrows and I resisted their efforts to pull me, holding my position. I used a lightning bolt ...but I only mangaged to injure myself. Arrg.

Tieran fired off a fireball. All of the hands were unaffected...I, on the other hand, am not immune to fire. Ouch!

Mor’Elandi took out one more hand, ...and hit me too. Ouch – again. The hands tried to pull me toward the end of the wall, but I was able to resist their pulling and hold my position. I snapped my powerful jaws at the hands, but missed, still, not moving toward the opening was good enough for the moment.

Tieran moved up and cast burning hands. All of the hands were fine, but I, of course, was injured. (Did I mention I’m not immune to fire, Tieran?) Torsten and Kytum-up finally made it to the planar gate, only to see a fiendish fish leaped out of the lake of fire on the other side of the opening. It flopped around at his feet, but otherwise did no harm. Kytum-up shot one of the hands holding the gate open. Half of it closed up as the hand vanished.

Mor’Elandi hit two more of the hands grappling with me, and hit me again. Ouch, ouch, ouch!!! The remaining ones managed to drag me closer to the end of the wall, though I fought furiously against them. Tieran cast a ray of frost, but it had no effect.

Torsten pulled the first pin holding the disc to the floor. Kytum-up hit the other hand holding the portal open and suddenly, it was closed, though the diabolic fish was still flopping on the floor next to Torsten.

Mor’Elandi sent his arrows flying and dispatched two more hands. Two went flying away, to reopen the portal to Hell while the others continued to try to drag me toward it. I bit one of them and Mor’Elandi took another one away with an arrow.

Only two hands held me and I moved back toward the group, biting one of the two remaining hands. The last was taken off of me by Mor’Elandi.

The two that had returned to reopen the portal were easily shot by Kytum-up as Torsten worked on the pins.

Soon, the pins were all out and with one step, we were back at the red jewel. This disc, the one that had been covering the red keystone, was heavily corroded.

In speaking to Slythia, we’ve figured out that the Chaos Dog is actually a daemon called a “Canoloth”, from the place she calls “the Outlands”. (Tieran mumbles “the outer planes, you mean?”) The diabolic fish was a “Spikefish” and was indeed hell spawn.

We spent the night in the library again. I used a stone shape spell to create another hammer so we could get the discs up more quickly.

August 13th
We moved back in, knowing that only two discs remained. We moved in the direction of the two remaining jewels on the stone platform and were rewarded with a CRACK and a yellow flash off to our left. We moved in that direction, prepared for almost anything.

Mor’Elandi moved ahead of us to scout. We all heard a strange keening melody. Torsten and Kytum-up were captivated by it and moved forward, weapons hanging loosely by their sides. I began a summoning spell. Mor’Elandi held his arrows until he could be more sure of what we were fighting.

The strange melody came closer as Tieran and Mor’Elandi waited and Torsten and Kytum-up moved closer. I finished casting and a dire wolf appeared. Then I moved forward.

The wolf began moving closer to the singer, unconcerned with attacking anything.

Suddenly, the tune changed a bit and Kytum-up stopped, looking confused for a moment. Torsten continued his march toward the source of the music.

Then, both Kytum-up and I began moving toward the music as well, as Torsten shook the effect off and began running toward the presumed location of the disc. Tieran moved forward on his own, trying to see what we might be up against. Mor’Elandi also moved up, still uncertain of what we were facing.

Kytum-up and I found ourselves suddenly forward of where we had been, with no real memory of how we had gotten there. We were able to see two creatures: one a glowing mass of metallic tentacles, the other a sticky mass of metallic tentacles. So many masses of metallic tentacles! Torsten attacked the glowing one (which was the one singing) and hit it. It grabbed him with its sticky tentacles and then changed the tune again. He escaped its tentacles and moved toward the sticky metal creature.

Tieran cast a grease spell on Torsten, making him harder to grab next time while I cast an Ice Storm in the area, pounding the creatures with hailstones, somehow managing to miss all of us.

Mor’Elandi found himself facing a strange, oily mass of metallic tentacles. It had tumbled toward him wildly, seeming to be not quite in control of its direction as it did so. Mor’Elandi backed away from it, and shot it three times with arrows. His arrows seemed to dissolve as they hit it. Acid. It was covered in viscous acid.

The sticky metal creature hit Torsten, who then struck back, hard. Unfortunately, his weapon stuck in the creature and he had to spend some time freeing it.

Kytum-up scored two hits on the sticky one, Tieran moved toward the glowing one, though the sticky creature took a swipe at him as he passed. I moved up to the glowing mass of metallic tentacles.

Mor’Elandi shot the dull metal thing in front of him again, three hits. It went down in a jumble of dull metal.

The glowing one changed its tune again, while the sticky one hit Torsten. Kytum-up moved toward the glowing one, leaving Torsten to deal with the sticky one on his own. Torsten pulled his weapon free after a brief struggle to do so.

Tieran cast Burning Hands on the glowing one, killing it. The strange keening stopped. My summoned Dire Wolf finally shook off it’s stupor, and attacked and killed the remaining metallic tentacular creature.

As we stood to catch our breath, we noticed that the shiny creature was made of platinum. Tieran took out his haversack and began tossing pieces into it, since they would be of great value, should we ever leave this place. The rest of us moved forward, toward the disc.

The flash and crack were not long in coming. Torsten ran ahead to combat whatever was awaiting us in the mist.

He saw two masses of multi-colored tentacles. One was standing right smack on top of the disc. The other was ten feet or so from it. Both were quite large.

The first one wiggled its tentacles and Torsten found the ethereal mists around him form into more large masses of tentacles! These new summoned creatures hit him hard, several times.

The second one wriggled its tentacles and I found myself in much the same position as Torsten, being attacked by 2 more ethereal tentacles.

We began to attack the “ethereal tentacles”, leaving the multi-colored tentacle-creatures on the disk alone. These creatures could disarm us, trip us...and if they hit, we could feel the sting! After a short time I turned into a crocodile to help avoid the trip attacks. Torsten wasn’t so lucky; he had been tripped, and was now down on the ground and flanked by two of the ethereal; tentacles.

Eventually we destroyed 3 of the ethereal tentacles, and breathed a sigh of relief...until the multi-colored tentacles summoned 3 more! They were wearing us down, and we were getting nowhere.

Kytum-and Mor’Elandi began concentrating their arrows on the multicolored tentacle creatures, while Tieran tried to soften them up with first a sonic thunderball (immune! Arrg!) and then a fireball (“That got ‘em!”). I managed to get close enough to take a swipe or two at them myself. All the while, we had to ignore the ethereal tentacle creatures pounding on us.

With all of the abuse, and no one to back him up, Torsten was knocked unconscious. He was still under the effect of my “fast healing” spell, though, so he recovered quickly. Then he “played dead” long enough for the ethereal tentacle creatures to move away.

Finally one of the multi-colored tentacles went down, and its summoned ethereal tentacles disappeared. I finished the other multi-colored tentacle creature off with a tail slap, and si it, and its two summoned ethereal tentacles evaporated.

Torsten drank a potion of healing, then he and I (using my magical stone pry-bar!) popped off the disc.

With a single step, we were back at the yellow gem and through the portal. We pulled four more clamps and moved to the library to prepare for the last battle before we could begin the test.

End of Session #43

 

[SpaceBaby Industries]

Clowns. Chaotic, Anarchic, Extra-planar, Gnomish clowns. Ugh

Great storytelling as always Gina.

Nail, I'm not sure exactly what you're sniffing from the spice rack when you come up with these ideas, but I do hope you aren't driving or operating heavy machinery at the time.

 

[Nail]

Nail, I'm not sure exactly what you're sniffing from the spice rack ....

Nice to read from you again, SBI!

This mystery, the Mystery of Infinity (or "Endlessness") was great fun to write up, in part because of all the cool monsters I could have brought in -- and the templates I could use! I'm only sad it had to end....

...I'm sure my players don't share my opinion.

It was also during this section that I had to wrestle with a large problem in 3.5e: in order for the encounter to be of an "appropriate CR", the caster levels of the monsters should be substantially lower than those of the PCs. That's quite disappointing, actually.

So...the EL of the encounters turned out to be a stroke or two higher than one of "typical challenge". (shrug, grin)

 

[Videssian]

I wanna say one thing about this past session:

RBDM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tell ya, I only wish I knew what's ahead of us given what we've seen already!!

 

[Nail]

Session #44: The Mystery of Endlessness Part V

Real life: evening of November 10th, 2004


The adventurers from Eaglesford readied themselves for the final push. They had been slogging through this “Mystery of Infinity” – indeed, it seemed almost endless at first – for days. Each time they entered the ethereal doorway, they were attacked (and berated!) by summoned creatures. Each creature had, in it own way, tried to warn the adventurers away from removing the bronze summoning discs.

...Of course, some of the monsters’ methods of “warning” consisted of trying to eat whichever hero was closest. (....and it’s hard to talk with your mouth full of adventurer, so we’ll pardon their enthusiasm.) The party had so far ignored their warnings.

Still, the heroes from Eaglesford had been able to remove (“pry up”) 5 of the six discs so far. It was clear there was only one more to go; the rune-covered ward covering the violet crystal.

Before the adventurers entered the Mystery, Slythia –the patient, ghostly Guide of Initiates – told them that something was different, something had changed since the previous day. Given how corrupted the tests had become, the naga offered to help the adventurers if they required it.

“Gee thanks,” muttered Mor’Elandi under his breath as the group walked away, “that’s very helpful....now.”

“Shhhhhh!”, Rowas hissed, “it’s nice of her to offer. Don’t be mean!”

The adventurers cast their preparatory spells, and stepped through the archway, Torsten in the lead.



From the Journals of the Aldersborn: Rowan, Druid of Eaglesford

When Torsten stepped through, a tiny sprite with gossamer wings confronted him. She waved her tiny finger in his face and said, “You shouldn’t be here, go back!” I guess it had some kind of magical effect, as Torsten started nodding and looking slack-jawed. Tieran, invisible at the time, confirmed my suspicions as he muttered, “charmed”.

Torsten, in his usual friendly way, asked the creature “why?” The rest of us took the opportunity to move through the archway and onto the ethereal platform. Once I could see the 3 creatures more clearly, I realized the creatures were Coeur Eladrin, -- angels, very good. Interesting.

As Mor’Elandi and I (and I assume, the invisible Tieran) moved forward, one of the tiny creatures followed us, overtaking us quickly. Mor’Elandi asked the little creature “What message do you bear?”. The creature’s high, musical voice answered quickly. They wanted the clamps replaced on the door and us out of there.

With a few deft motions of her tiny hands and a few words, Mor’Elandi was suddenly a good friend to these tiny creatures, willing to help them in any way he could. I moved on toward the disc, hoping to get it before something else came out. I hoped that Tieran was with me.

Mor’Elandi had moved back to speak with the Coeur Eladrin and Torsten. They asked them to put the clamps back. Torsten had forgotten that they were in Tieran’s haversack, so he went to look for them in the library. Mor’Elandi went to Slythia.

He asked her if she could dispel Tieran’s invisibility so he could get the clamps and replace them on the door for his new friends. After speaking to him for a few moments, Slythia dispelled the charm instead. She told me later that Mor’Elandi was himself again instantly. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

Kytum-up asked the two angels at the gate what they wanted, why they were here. One of them tried to charm him, but failed. The other one was still following me as I moved toward the disc. She kept telling me to stop.

I asked who posted them here. She answered “The gods destroyed this place for your protection.”

“Well, in destroying this place, they seem to have made it more dangerous.” Was my answer.

Slythia tried to dispel the charm on Torsten and failed as he passed, dejected that he had not found the clamps. He asked her where they might be. She pretended to think on it for a moment while he waited.

Meanwhile, I was walking toward the disc, Tieran was still invisible and Mor’Elandi was nearly caught up to us. The little angels were still tormenting us, telling us to go back, that this was all done for our protection.

Mor’Elandi, free of the charm now, asked one of them why she had been posted here. She answered that she was here to guard against the spirits. He asked why, if she was guarding against the spirits, it was called the test of the Gods. She thought about this and began to look confused.

Mor’Elandi continued, mentioning the things that have been coming out of the gates, courtesy of the gods. Nasty things, evil things.

She said that she and her sisters were set to guard by Fionali (who we knew as the 6th child of Aymara and the patron angel of stringed instruments).

Mor’Elandi continued, asking if the gods put the wards here? Are they then, allowing these creatures to come through?

Suddenly, the first of the creatures went “POOF!” in a puff of multi-colored sparkles.

Her sister was made of sterner stuff though and continued to harangue us. She told Mor’Elandi that he must have been very mean to the other one, to make her go “poof” like that! She also said that no one should take the purple seal.

“Why is the purple one so important?” Mor’Elandi asked.

A few moments more of conversation and the little angel dissipated like her sister. From where the two had been, we found two strands of silvery hair from each. Each strand was magical, we knew as we picked them up. Each could cast either Cure Serious Wounds, Heart’s Ease, or Vision of Heaven once. Could be useful as we move forward in our endeavors.

Meanwhile Torsten had had his charm dispelled by Slythia and was moving toward the disc and talking to the third tiny angel. She cast a spell at him and sparkly dust fell over him. He felt sleepy for a second, fatigued thereafter, but was able to continue moving.

He told her that she and her sisters must be the demons, since they were summoned by the discs. She thought about it for a moment and then went the way of her two sisters. Torsten noticed the two silvery hairs she left behind and picked them up.

We regrouped and began walking. After about seven minutes, we heard a crack and saw a purple flash.

Even as we began to move toward the flash, we saw fire in the sky. As it approached us, moving quickly, we saw that it was humanoid, winged, with black wings and flaming swords where its hands would be.

Tieran, always a great source of information, muttered, “Sword Archon, Angel of Death”.

We did not feel very confident after that.

As it flew toward us, the Angel of Death spoke in a deep and resounding voice.

“I AM REMAYLE, ANGEL OF DEATH, YOU MUST LEAVE!”

Torsten took the warning seriously and ran.

The Angel of Death dived at me, slashing with his sword arms as he flew by. Not only did he really hurt me, but I felt parts of my spirit ripped away! As soon as I could, I ran with the rest back to the archway, and back to Slythia.

Thankfully, it let us leave.

While we healed and rested, we asked Slythia about the creature. She didn’t know much about the creature, other than “it should not be in there”. While we were on the topic, we asked her again about the Gods of the Tree. I even mentioned the Dark One, calling him by his ancient name Kador. Slythia was confused by us calling them “gods”. She explained that they were just spirits, spirits from the “outside”.

“These beings you mention are just spirits. And they come from the Outside,” Sylthia said, “Why is it that you worship them? Don’t your ancestors and the other spirits of the world provide for all of your needs?”

Slythia eventually restored the parts of my soul that were lost. I’m very greatful!! But she seems faded as if the effort had cost her a great deal.

We retreated to the library to rest, heal, and plan.

August 15th

We knew that he was there, waiting for us. We also knew that we needed a clear plan of action. So, as we approached the portal, Torsten invoked his ring of Enlarge Person and his belt of Bull’s Strength. We moved into the room, Torsten in the lead, moving in a group toward the disc.

The Angel of Death was quick to respond. Kytum-up invoked the Bless spell from Thaile’s prayer bead, Torsten quaffed a Zook’s Zip potion, allowing him to move more quickly and we took up our positions, grouped around Torsten with him between us and the Angel of Death.

The Angel charged Torsten, and missed! Torsten got in a good whack on him. I cast Vigor on Torsten, to help him recover the wounds he would undoubtedly be receiving soon.

Tieran cast Protection from Good and Mor’Elandi cast Heart’s Ease from one of the Coeur Eladrin hairs.

Kytum-up hit twice with his crossbow, though the arrows bounced off. Torsten was ready when the Angel attacked next, moving to meet the attack while shielding the rest of us. He was hit hard, but managed to damage the Angel as well.

I cast Ice Storm at the Angel, but did not cast well enough to overcome his resistance to magic. Mor’Elandi became invisible, thanks to Tieran and shot three arrows at the Angel of Death, hitting with all three.

Kytum-up cast a cure spell on Torsten as Torsten stood ready for the next onslaught. He did not wait long as the Angel turned and flew again at him, charging and hit him with his flaming swords. Again though, Torsten hit him as well.

I cast a cure spell on Torsten while Tieran cast Stoneskin on him. Mor’Elandi shot again, hitting twice.

Kytum-up moved to heal Torsten some more, laying on hands.

For his part, Torsten prepared to meet the Angel’s attack with one of his own. The Angel though, stopped and healed himself. I began summoning some assistance for us. Tieran cast greater invisibility on me.

Mor’Elandi’s arrows flew true and hit the Angel again. Kytum-up healed Torsten again. He had taken a lot of punishment from the creature.

The angel flew again at Torsten, who met the attack with one of his own. The Angel missed, Torsten did not . My summoned Air Elemental moved to intercept the angel and managed to hit it. I began to summon a second one. From Tieran, I could hear the sound of a summoning spell as well.

Mor’Elandi hit with two of his three arrows, Kytum-up hit with one of his two bolts. Torsten held, awaiting the next charge. The Angel did not charge though, choosing to heal himself instead. Clearly, our attacks were taking their toll.

Tieran and I both finished our summoning, and another Air Elemental appeared from my spell, a fiendish Hippogriff from Tieran’s. The hippogriff missed and my elemental was unable to intercept the angel again.

The Angel charged again and Torsten hit it as it did so. It also cast a spell at him, he resisted it, feeling as he did so that if he had not, he would likely have died.

I threw my spear and hit. The poison spell in the spear went off and the Angel crumpled to the ground.

Within a few moments, all that remained of the Angel of Death were three black feathers. We picked them up and realized that like the silvery hairs, these were potent magic items. From each feather we could cast Slay Living, Mark of Justice, or Revenance as a tenth level caster. Each could be used once.

Also lying there was a belt. Ktyum-up put it on.

We moved toward the disc, walking for six or seven minutes. As we saw it, we hard the crack, saw the purple flash and saw the opening appear in space.

From the rip, a pair of woman’s eyes came through. Just eyes, huge and watchful. They hovered over the disc.

Tieran and Mor’Elandi stopped, waiting to see what would happen next.

The eyes looked reproachful as a female voice intoned “You must stop this thing that you are doing.”

Kytum-up paused, waiting. I moved toward the disc, under the eyes and tried to pop out one of the pins. Torsten, right behind me, did the same and also was unable to pull one out.

Tieran and Mor’Elandi moved closer, watching the eyes.

The floating eyes looked at Torsten who was suddenly quaking in fear, cowering. Kytum-up moved closer to bolster Torsten’s resolve. I worked at pulling a bolt, but was not strong enough to succeed yet.

Tieran began casting a summoning spell. Mor’Elandi fired. Three arrows passed through the eyes. They looked at Mor’Elandi, harming him and ...making him cruder, somehow. He started shouting obsenities at the eyes as he shot arrows at it. Most of the words were in elvish....but I was surprised how many I could guess from my knowledge of other languages. I guess cussing out an enemy is easy to understand.

Meanwhile Kytum-up used a silver hair to dispel Torsten's fears. I managed to pop the first silver bolt with my magical stone hammer. Torsten, perhaps still a little shaken, was still unable to pull a bolt.

Tieran finished his summoning, placing a fiendish ape in front of the eyes, though the ape missed its attacks. Tieran also tried magic missile, but couldn't overcome its spell resistance. Mor’Elandi was able to hit once with his volley of arrows.

The eyes stared at me and I found myself confused, not sure where I was or what I was doing. Kytum-up grabbed my stone hammer from my hands and began to pull up a bolt while I babbled incoherently. Torsten was still trying to pull that first silver spike. meanwhile Mor'Elandi, Teiran, and Tieran's summoned ape tried in vain to wound the incorporeal eyes.

The eyes bore down on Torsten and said, “Go away.”...and he started walking, a confused look on his face. Kytum-up and I continued to work at pulling on of the silver spikes with my magical stone hammer.

Mor’Elandi missed with three arrows, an unusual occurrence for him. The voice spoke again, the eyes focusing on Mor’Elandi “Stop that right now!”. And he chose .....not to stop. Go Mor’Elandi!

I pulled out another of the silver bolts holding the disc down. Torsten ran back and pulled the third bolt. The eyes looked at him accusingly, and it shouted, “HOW DARE YOU!” The force of her gaze was so intense that it wounded Torsten - I could see his skin blister and tear - and he said later that it felt as if some of his confidence was drained away as well. As fast as we could, Torsten and I pulled the remaining silver bolts out. The disc popped up, and the rip in reality winked out.

The eyes faded away, the voice whispering sadly, “You fools, you don’t know what you’ve done.”

We found ourselves standing on a circular platform in the middle of a huge void dotted with tiny balls of light. (Tieran guesses it was the Astral plane.) These “stars” surrounded us and our island of stone, with the portal into this mystery at the center. At the edge of the platform, evenly spaced around the circle, lay the 6 crystals we had uncovered: purple, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.

As we looked, the stars began to resolve into patterns. We began to understand a bit of the structure of all the plane of existence. We could even see bits and pieces of what was going on in each of these infinite numbers of planes. There were great armies, mighty warriors, and endless battles, all fighting over one thing.

Us.

Us, as in the residents of the prime material plane. That doesn't seem very good.

Tieran, Kytum-up, and I understood so much more, suddenly. Mor’Elandi had been reflecting on something else, as he is wont to do anyway, so he missed it.

Meanwhile, Torsten had gone insane. The strain of seeing so much, and of seeing how tiny we all are must have overwhelmed him. He nearly flung himself from the platform.....but we stopped him, pulling him through the portal and back to Slythia.

Slythia was able to help him and we moved to the library, to spend a night there and decide which test to go to next.

End of Session #44

 

[Nail]

Alright, done with The Mystery of Focus!

We finished it Wednesday night, minus one of our players. Apparently he had some sort of "work" to do so that he can "keep" this thing he keeps calling his "job". Sheeeeesh. Get yer priorities straight, buddy!

.....anyway, Tieran was there, even if the player (and his CHARACTER SHEET!!! HINT, HINT!!!!!) was not. Because of this, and the fun twist that happens at the end, we're not going to post the end part of the Mystery of Focus.....at least, not until we get a chance to spring it on him first. (heh, heh, heh....)

(Aside: Thanks, Videssian! Always aim t' please!)

The Mystery of Focus took two sessions (that surprised me; shows what I have yet to learn about pacing!), so we'll post the first session (#45) complete. Then we'll post part of session #46.

I hope. Errr...when I get around to it.....you know, all of this writing is makin' me tired....(owww!, why did Gina just elbow me??).....

 

[Nail]

Onward! To another adventure!

Session #45: The Mystery of Focus Part 1

Real life: evening of November 24th, 2004

Now finished with the Mystery of Infinity, the adventurers from Eaglesford rested in the ancient ruined library. They left the ghostly librarian alone as much as they could – he was busy trying to push tiny flecks of smashed clay tablets together with his insubstantial hands. Best leave him to his work, kids.

The next day the adventurers went back out into the long stairway that connected all of the Mysteries of the Initiate. They looked back, up the broad, straight stair. They could make out the smaller corridors to the right and left on the previous stair landing. One passage led to the Mystery of Purpose, in which an “ethereal filcher” had tried (and succeeded! ...for a short time) to steal the kobold’s Dragon Idol. The other lead to the Mystery of Purity, where the fire elemental Kurchik had killed their dwarven companion Riva. They had left Alderslook for a time after that, in part to recover from the loss. Still, those first tests were finished.

Mysteries one and two: Check, check.

A stream of water flowed out of the Mystery of Purity and trickled past the place they were now standing: between the Mysteries of Patience and Infinity. The corridor to their left led to the ancient library, its insane face-less librarian, and the Mystery of Patience. They had completed that one easily. Mystery three: Check.

The corridor to their right led to the strange inter-dimensional platform and the Mystery of Infinity. By removing the bronze-disk “capstones” –- put there, apparently, by the desecrators of Alderslook – they had freed the place for its original, ancient purpose: as an observation post looking over the entire multi-universe. A humbling and mind-exploding vista, and not without cost: both Torsten and Tieran had been killed during the exploration of that Mystery. Fortunately, Rowan now has the power to reincarnate her fallen companions. Now Torsten stood next to her as an Orc, and Tieran had quickly accepted the fact that he was a gnome.

Stll, the fourth Mystery was finished: Check.

Slythia, their ghostly Guide, had told them there were nine Mysteries...or something. (Mor’Elandi still couldn’t make it out, precisely.) They had completed four. The next pair was further down the broad stair. Slythia led the way.

“As we go,” Slythia began, “I feel I must let you know that there is ....something different, now. You’ve changed something about this place, something substantial. I also feel as if a fog has been lifted from my mind, and I can think more clearly. I can see now how much of this test has been desecrated....”

“...about time,” mumbled Mor’Elandi to no one in particular.

“What was the last thing you remember?" Tieran interupted eagerly, "Do you remember what happened long ago?”

“I....think there was something...something the Masters were telling me,” a frustrated look passed over her face, “but I’m afraid I can’t remember what it was. Something was happening outside of this place that shouldn’t be. Something bad.”

“Do you remember the Masters?” Rowan asked, “What did they look like?”

“Yes, yes I do remember them. They looked a lot like...well, like your Torsten here, now that he has a new form. 'Orc', you call it? The Masters were quite a bit less ugly though, if you pardon the expression, Torsten.”

“Haven’t seen my reflection yet, so no harm done, Slythia,” came Torsten’s easy reply.

Mor’Elandi looked more troubled. “Great. Orcs as former Masters,” muttered Mor’Elandi.

“Maybe this really is their homeland after all,” mused Rowan.

The adventurers descended the stair to a new pair of side-passages.

“To your left,” announced Slythia as she pointed with her ghostly tail,” is the Mystery of Focus. To your right is the Mystery of Duality. Since it is clear the Mysteries have been violated, and that you are here to put them right, I will help you more than I would for a regular initiate. I suggest you experience the Mystery of Focus first, as many have found it easier than that of Duality.”

The adventurers quietly discussed it amongst themselves, then nodded their agreement.

“When you enter the Mystery of Focus, there will be a path. Your goal is simple and straightforward: Stay On The Path. Let nothing lead you astray. Stay on the path regardless of what else you see or hear. Is that clear?”

“Stay on the path,” repeated Mor’Elandi, with a side-long glance at Torsten. “Got it.”

“Sounds pretty easy,” Rowan chimed in brightly. “We can follow any ole path.”

With another wary glance at Tosten, Mor’Elandi led the way down the narrow passage into the Mystery of Focus.

More of Session #45 later!

 

[Nail]

More of Session #45: “All we have to do is follow this path? This’ll be easy!”
Real life: evening of November 24th, 2004

from the Journals of Rowan, Aldersborn

We moved along the 3 foot-wide corridor. Its floor was carved to look like an ornate carpet, with narrow borders along the side. We all guessed this was the “path” Slythia was talking about. Mor’Elandi took extra time to study it’s pattern and markings – hoping, I guess, that he’ll be able to spot any changes the desecrators of Alderslook may have made. No doubt they’ll try to lead us astray.

The hall opened into a semi-circular room with many exits. Four corridors, four doors, and a blank archway directly ahead indicated exits. The path was clear, it went to (and under!) the stone wall and the wall was, we noted, newer than the rest. The arch had been defaced -- all the symbols chiseled away. The rest of the room was similarly defaced, as nearly everything we have encountered here had been. I sometimes wonder what it must have been like before.

In any case, our path led through the stone wall. We settled on the stone path to wait as Torsten began bashing through the wall with his adamantine hammer. It took a while, but he got through. Behind the stone wall, there was..... an iron wall.

Torsten took a bit longer to get a hole hacked through the iron wall. As he got an opening large enough to see that there was another stone wall behind, a magical rune was exposed...and then everything went dark for me. Tieran also succumbed to the magic. Everyone else resisted its effects.

Then Tieran’s spirit seemed to rise from his body.

Tieran’s spirit began casting, and was hit by Kytum-up and Mor’Elandi. The spirit lost his spell and Torsten dealt a blow that sent him back to his body.

Torsten returned to wall bashing, while the rest tried to bring me around. After awhile I awoke; Tieran took longer. He wasn’t wounded from our battle with his “spirit”, but he did say he had a terrible headache.

After Torsten cleared the barriers, we moved into the next room, through a long passageway. This chamber was large, circular, and had corridors leading from all directions. The floor had been chiseled away, the path impossible to see, at least to my eye.

Mor’Elandi, however, looked at the floor for a long time. Then, he began to move, following the path that lay beneath the defaced stone floor, somehow, he could still see it, as if the magic of the place were still there, glowing within the stone itself, showing us the path that those who defaced this place had worked so hard to hide.

We followed Mor’Elandi through one of the many defaced archways and found ourselves on a wider path, passing through a chasm. The path itself was fifteen feet wide, with steep drops on either side down into magical darkness. The chamber was wide enough that we could not see to the outer walls. We moved forward, glad that the path was wide and easy to traverse, confident that things were finally going well for us.

Suddenly, directly in front of Mor’Elandi and Torsten, a huge creature rose out of the rock of the path itself! An Earth Elemental, and a big one at that. Tieran acted first, casting Enlarge on Torsten. The Elemental pushed Mor’Elandi, knocking him prone, though Torsten got a strike in as it went past. Another rose from the walkway, and knocked me back.

Mor’Elandi regained his feet, even as the elemental struck him. Torsten attacked and connected with one of his attacks, chipping the creature, slightly. I wildshaped into an eagle and took off, moving upward.

Tieran cast his Elemental Gem to the ground, calling out the command word as he stepped to the side. An Earth Elemental rose from the gem, this one on our side. It hit the one nearest Tieran. Kytum-up stepped back from the elemental in front of him; his attacks seemed useless. The first elemental struck at our elemental, but missed, the second struck at Kytum-up and also missed. Then another earth elemental appeared and pushed Mor’Elandi off the path. He tumbled down the steep embankment and came to a stop just before impaling himself upon the razor sharp stone spikes that covered the floor of the cavern.

He stood, looking up through the murky light and shot an arrow, narrowly missing one of the elementals. Torsten, still above, hit the first elemental four times in rapid succession. A few more chips fell off of it.

Flying above, I began casting, planning to begin raining lightning bolts down. Tieran cast greater invisibility on himself and Kytum-up missed on his attack as our elemental smacked the newly arrived one.

Torsten and one of the elementals traded blows. Meanwhile our elemental was being pounded by one of the others and the third hostile one tried to bull rush Kytum-up off the path. He failed, the little Kobold standing resolute on the path.

Mor’Elandi took a five foot step along the base of the path, trying to find the right angle to shoot from. Torsten, with a mighty effort, attacked the one he was fighting and it crumbled into a pile of rock and earth. I flew over and hit the one at the rear with a lightning bolt. Our earth elemental was able to take the second hostile one down. There was one left. Kytum-up hit the third and moved away.

The remaining hostile elemental attacked ours and hit it with mighty blows.

I was still flying and heard the sound of wind right before a whirlwind nearly sucked me up. Another large elemental, this one of air, was moving toward the group on the bridge. Tieran threw a thunderball at it, but it kept coming. Meanwhile the earth elemental pushed Kytum-up off the path, sending him tumbling down the bank on the opposite side from Mor’Elandi. Torsten hit that elemental hard, I threw lightning at it, while Tieran cast magic missiles into it. It crumbled under our combined effort.

Kytum-up picked himself up and, drawing his crossbow, moved in the direction we had been moving, paralleling the path.

The air elemental sucked up Torsten and the still-invisible Tieran and began whirling them around. Then Mor’Elandi, with three well placed arrows, destroyed the air elemental.

Torsten pulled Mor’Elandi and Kytum-up back onto the path and we moved forward again, alert to any further attack. None came, but we did come to an area where a fifteen foot chunk of the path was gone.

I flew over, Torsten jumped. The rest crossed with ropes and Torsten’s help. There was some talk of tossing Tieran across, since he is so small now (a gnome!), but he chose to cross via the rope instead. We moved through a narrow corridor to the next room.

After we crossed the gap in the walkway, we noticed that nothing on this side was defaced. I turned back to human form, since we still have that communication problem when I’m an animal.

The path was clear in this room, a raised stone walkway leading through a roughly rectangular chamber. The walls were covered with arcane symbols. Tieran followed us, trying not to look at the symbols, but still seeing the powerful spells inscribed into the walls. A few hours of study would teach him so much, he muttered. ....But we moved on though, none of us deviating from our task. As we left the room, I heard a sigh from Tieran and a whispered comment about returning.

As we moved along, through another corridor, narrow with a low ceiling, we saw light ahead. As we drew closer, the light grew brighter. Soon, we were aware that there was a large light source ahead in the room we were approaching. From the flickering, it looked like fire.

We could see a door on the far side of the room as we moved to the door of the fire-lit room. The path turned left, following the left-hand wall. The door out of the room was straight ahead...I guess if we had left the path, we could get through the room more quickly....so much for the quick and easy way.

We moved into the room, following the path. In the center of the room stood a woman made of fire. A fire elemental we thought. She spoke as we came in, first in Celestial, then in Common: “Come in, come in! We should talk.” Her voice was the whisper of flame.

Mor’Elandi cast protection from fire on himself. The rest of us, foolishly, did not.

“Now,” the flame-woman continued “there’s no need for any of that! I have much to offer you. I could infuse your weapons with power—come here and I’ll show you!”

Mor’Elandi looked over and asked if she could come to us, on the path. She moved to stand near him, as he stood on the path. She spoke to him, trying to convince him that we can help one another. She would give us power, for our weapons, improving our armor, and in return, some day in the future, we would owe her a favor. Mor’Elandi began to move on, followed by Torsten and the rest of us in turn. The woman, her name was Feirvida, REALLY wanted to help us though.

Mor’Elandi, sensing danger, moved quickly, reaching the far door via the path very quickly. Feirvida looked at Torsten and informed him that she was going to help him. Suddenly, his hammer seemed to have a mind of its own and hit him.

I ran then, trying to make the door. Feirvida wanted to help me as well and she hit me and I caught on fire. Tieran, who was now invisible, moved behind me, but she clearly knew where he was and hit him too. Invisible people are much easier to see when they are on fire.

Kytum-up moved then, and Feirvida missed him. Torsten struggled as he moved, dragging his recalcitrant weapon along with him. Feirvida hit him, but his clothing proved resistant to the fire.

Mor’Elandi fired three arrows at Feirvida, missing with all three. She moved forward to forcibly enchant Kytum-up’s items. He deftly dodged her, so then she attacked me and Tieran. She hit both of us. Tieran, casting defensively, teleported to an area just behind Mor’Elandi, on the path outside Feirvida’s room. I ran, taking another hit from Feirvida, but I got out of the room.

Torsten was still fighting his weapon for control, but he moved and managed to avoid her attacks. Kytum-up moved quickly out of the room.

Mor’Elandi moved out of the room and began helping Tieran put out the flames on his robes and hair. I put out the flames on myself, then moved on farther down the corridor. Feirvida sent flames into the corridor, starting Tieran on fire again. Tieran slumped to the floor, but Kytum-up was near and was able to stabilize him and while Mor’Elandi put out the flames.

Torsten moved out of the room as well, regaining control of his weapon as he moved out of the room. We heard Feirvida give a scream of rage as we all left.

We found a relatively safe area of hallway and set up a sort of camp. We needed to rest and we needed to get ourselves healed before we could handle any more of the denizens of Alder’s Look.

August 15th
We rested for the day, spending most of our time in sleep or meditation. We needed a lot of healing.

August 16th
We moved on, healed and ready to see what lay in store for us.

Ahead of us, we saw a split in the path. It moved around something, a small island in the center of the two halves, like a road cut around a tree. In the center, on a small stone platform stood a medium size figure. He looked like a muscular human, but from the waist down he seemed to be made out of wintry winds and blowing snow. Tieran whispered that this was a Djinni, from some elemental plane of cold. Very dangerous.

The djinni asked us to help him. He said that he had been there for quite a long time and would be grateful if we would free him. He said that he would grant each of us a wish if we would do it.

The only catch: to free him one of us would have to step off the path. Uh-huh.

Tieran and Torsten began discussing ways to free him without stepping off the path. Menawhile Torsten talked with the Djinni, who said that he had been bound here by three mages, long, long ago. He didn’t know how long; he lost track after the first thousand years. He had no great regard for Slythia, though he did know she was dead.

We felt sorry for him, but in the end, we needed to move on, to hew to our purpose which was the path. We promised to come back, if we could to help him. He did not think we could, but we will try.

We moved past him and into another narrow, tunnel-like corridor.

End of Session #45

 

[Nail]

X-mas vacation is over, but now snow-delays threaten our little gaming group.

<desperate voice> When will we game????