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Tizbiz Zeitgeist Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7265623" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p>Hey folks, </p><p></p><p>as Tizbiz has currently no time to continue this thread, I agreed to post a recap every now and then whenever I get another one of mine translated. I promised to add his comments according to his color-scheme, but I don't know when he might be able to do that, so until then I'll try to expand my own comments and thoughts. If I got him right, it was originally his intention to show our campaign through a player's lens anyway (which is why he wanted us to be able to read his thread and keep it mostly spoiler-free, I guess). </p><p></p><p>Regarding spoilers and discussions, we are already in the middle of adventure 4 (just arrived in Nalaam and had a "friendly talk" with Damata and the Familia), so feel free to comment.</p><p></p><p>I'll also cut my whole-session recaps down into more legible chunks as the later ones tend to be really long (~5-8 pages each) and will get even longer due to my comments and added details. It might get over the top, but I try to capture when, how and why PCs or NPCs react the way they do so I'll get a comprehensive retelling of the story once everything is done <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> . </p><p></p><p>---</p><p></p><p>We cautiously descend into the strange temple. On our way into the complex we realize that space and time do not seem to obey our laws of physics as it takes us several minutes to reach the first chamber which is only a few meters behind the entrance. We identify one of the symbols in this chamber as the sign of Apet and conclude that this could simply be a temple of Apet. We also find three mummified orcs who look as if they were once carrying weapons. This leads us to the assumption that maybe the three cursed artifacts originate from them. This is looking eerily familiar and we immediately link this ziggurat to the tomb of the ancient minotaur leader we found with Wolmi Heffanita.</p><p></p><p>We follow one of the hallways and realize that its walls are covered with an illusion which makes the walls look more impressive than they really are. Suspicious as this seems, we decide to regularly check up on the real walls to avoid nasty surprises. </p><p></p><p>After a seemingly endless corridor, we reach a grand room filled with colorful pillars and force fields. We assume that this might be some kind of trial or test for the original worshippers and decide to examine the rest of the structure first. </p><p></p><p>In the other direction we find some traps that can be more or less easily disabled by using the corresponding element (fire, a heavy stone and blown air). We also avoid the trapped undead orc mummies who try to stab us with their spears. </p><p></p><p>We reach a really big room where we are attacked by spider-like creatures and flying eyeball monsters. Fortunately, Flying Spark, our friendly Faerie Dragon, followed us into the temple and makes good use of his fireball spell as the spiderlings are out of reach. As the fireballs detonate, we realize that this room is also enhanced by an illusion and really not as big as it seemed. </p><p></p><p>The flying eyeballs turn out to be really insidious enemies. They attack our consciousness and let Margit, Carlyle and Auryn experience their worst fears and memories. Margit seems to have had a happy life so far as she sees Stover Delfs breaking up with her. Carlyle is first subjected to societal mishaps and scandals and then has to relive his last death when he failed to protect the late Lord and Lady Vantrys. Auryn witnesses the death of her cousin Zahir and her unsuccessful fight against the pirates. She seems to struggle with her vision as she curses the bloody bastards and violently stabs the eyeballs. We also manage to avoid an illusory trap of a bottomless pit. </p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">Seeing pirates instead of eyeballs and Auryn's resulting frenzy were my own fluffy interpretation of the monster's mental attack. „I won't let them kill you as well!“</span>)</p><p></p><p>We head down the next corridor and find it covered by a beautiful illusion of a starry sky. At first we cannot recognize any of the depicted constellations, but we study them a bit and find out that they could show the sky as it was hundreds of years ago. Then we come across a room which is blocked by a force field. A doormat with a „welcome“ sign seems to invite visitors, but we see no way to enter. However, three bodies of tieflings indicate that there must be an entrance somewhere. We believe that this barrier might be linked to the trial in the rainbow room and continue our exploration.</p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">standard dungeon logics. As seasoned D&D players, we kind of developed a routine when it comes to carefully examining dungeons of all kinds - thanks, Rappan Athuk. So explore everything first, be careful to not activate any trap, and don't use any mechanism before checking the whole structure unless you 100% know what it does. So yeah, see you later, rainbow room</span>) </p><p></p><p>The next room is filled with pictures of orcs and rituals. We also find a symbol of Mavisha, the plane of water, on the floor but see no obvious trap linked to it. We try to trigger the symbol by pouring water and drops of blood on it, but have no success. We also see a hole which is carved into one of the walls and conclude that there must have been an object placed there. In addition, we find a corridor that was obviously added by someone who digged his way through one of the walls. </p><p></p><p>We follow this corridor as well and find an ancient map which, to our surprise, contains no Yerasol Archipelago. In its stead, there is a huge land mass which connects Risur and the northern part of Lanjyr. Above the map are golden plates with holes. Mechanical devices are attatched to the plates and we believe that someone used them to readjust the plates. Above this whole apparatus is a crystal. Once we ignite this gemstone with a light spell, we see two dots of light on the ancient map: One points to the place we are now and one to a place which must be located somewhere in the ocean between Elba and Ber. We take some time to make a drawing of the map and the two locations.</p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">We got some serious Sundering/Ancient Kalimdor vibes from the map... and should learn someday that Lanjyr was once shattered by an exploding well of magic when some demonic horde tried to invade our world, we'll both share a good laugh <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></span> )</p><p></p><p>As we cannot open the next door, we head back to the rainbow room and start decyphering the puzzle. After a bit of trial and error we find out that we simply have to get one person behind the rainbow colored force walls. We decide that Margit is the worst one at jumping/flying around and let her do the job. </p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">Puzzles! We both really enjoyed the rainbow room puzzle and insisted to play it in „hard mode“. Carlyle also tried to avoid „cheating“ by flying over chasms as far as possible. It wasn't that hard though and definitely one of the better and well-implemented and -integrated dungeon puzzles. Tizbiz used colored cut out paper models to represent the bridges and walls which we added and removed whenever we activated one of the corresponding colors. And now we know why Flying Spark accompanied us down there <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> </span>) </p><p></p><p>When we are about to dissolve the final wall (and are very much all spread over the whole room), we are attacked by some monsters again. Margit seems to be safe between the walls, but Carlyle, Auryn and Flying Spark are suddenly under attack. Auryn manages to defend herself (thanks, parry!) and is aided by our magical Faerie Dragon and his elemental magic. Meanwhile, Carlyle does his best to strike down the enemies who come at him one by one. Fortunately, we can keep our minds closed this time.</p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">We did expect some obstacle along the way, but the enemies attacked us in a very delicate situation with Carlyle near the room's entrance and Auryn on the very bottom left edge while Margit was sandwiched between two walls of force. Mobile Flying Spark saved the day here as Auryn and Carlyle had to switch to full defensive. They really didn't want any more mental assaults. It was a fun encounter though</span>)</p><p></p><p>After a long and tedious battle, we finally strike down the last of our foes. We put down the final barrier and a door opens in front of Margit. It leads, surprise, surprise, to the map room. But this time, we can witness a vision of three orcs who are carrying the three artifacts we found when we arrested Kaja Stewart. They say they fear that a seal might be broken and that this is why war beasts of Gidim might be standing in front of a golden plate. Said beasts look exactly like the beasts who attacked us back at the KATE... One of the orcs says that this might only be an effect of the seal of Apet and that the seal itself has to be still intact. We manage to get some understanding of the Ancient's language through this vision. </p><p></p><p>We continue to the room with the dead tieflings and find the barrier gone. Cautious as we are, we decide to search for traps first and find that no living being can enter this room without being seriously harmed. Auryn summons an unseen servant to place a rope around one of the dead bodies and we drag the tiefling outside to examine him. We find some strange mutations on his body and Margit says that he either have died of fear or another mental trauma as she cannot find any bodily wound. </p><p></p><p>We cannot find any notes or other clues at the body, so Carlyle agrees to teleport behind the trap's trigger to examine the room. Auryn promises to keep her servant on alert so that it could do the rope trick again and let us save him in case of emergency. </p><p></p><p>Fortunately our plan succeeds and Mr. Carlyle starts searching the room. He finds another opening in one of the walls, this time a circular one, which is covered by a seemingly golden plate. Once he takes a closer look at the object, he finds out that the plate is only plated with gold. Also, Apet Energy seems to be seeping out of the opening behind the plate, and we come to the conclusion that this plate might keep a massive wave of planar energy – which might stem from a portal – from erupting into the room. We all know that this might sound ludicrous to a magical scholar as creating portals to other worlds is kind of impossible. </p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">We're finally reaching X files territory, aren't we? No one's gonna believe us anyway. I wonder if Auryn & Carlyle would be as intriguing as Scully & Mulder...</span>)</p><p></p><p>We also remember the vision of the orcs and realize that the square plate is not the same thing as the round, massive golden seal that we saw. We also remember that Dr. Meredith spoke of a golden seal as well and think that this object might have been the heavy thing the dwarves etc. were carrying when they came through Agate again. Then the three dead Tieflings might have been her missing specialists. So maybe the remaining members of the expedition brought the seal to Bergeron?</p><p></p><p>In front of the plate, Carlyle finds two half circles which are drawn with chalk. There is a third circle made of stone as well, but it seems to be damaged. We think that these circles might be protective wards which keep the Apet energy at bay. So Mr. Carlyle makes sure to not interfere with this whole construction.</p><p></p><p>When he cannot find more information in the seal room, Carlyle teleports back to reunite with the rest of our crew. The moment we plan to leave the Ziggurat, we suddenly hear the sound of fast approaching water...</p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">When we accidentally activated the trap of Mavisha, Tizbiz informed us that there would have been a way to prevent the flooding by pouring salt water onto the symbol. To that point, none of us would have linked Mavisha to salt water, and there really is no ocean nearby so I don't know how or if it would have been reasonably possible to disarm the trap. Also, my blood is pretty salty, dammit! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></span>)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7265623, member: 6816692"] Hey folks, as Tizbiz has currently no time to continue this thread, I agreed to post a recap every now and then whenever I get another one of mine translated. I promised to add his comments according to his color-scheme, but I don't know when he might be able to do that, so until then I'll try to expand my own comments and thoughts. If I got him right, it was originally his intention to show our campaign through a player's lens anyway (which is why he wanted us to be able to read his thread and keep it mostly spoiler-free, I guess). Regarding spoilers and discussions, we are already in the middle of adventure 4 (just arrived in Nalaam and had a "friendly talk" with Damata and the Familia), so feel free to comment. I'll also cut my whole-session recaps down into more legible chunks as the later ones tend to be really long (~5-8 pages each) and will get even longer due to my comments and added details. It might get over the top, but I try to capture when, how and why PCs or NPCs react the way they do so I'll get a comprehensive retelling of the story once everything is done ;) . --- We cautiously descend into the strange temple. On our way into the complex we realize that space and time do not seem to obey our laws of physics as it takes us several minutes to reach the first chamber which is only a few meters behind the entrance. We identify one of the symbols in this chamber as the sign of Apet and conclude that this could simply be a temple of Apet. We also find three mummified orcs who look as if they were once carrying weapons. This leads us to the assumption that maybe the three cursed artifacts originate from them. This is looking eerily familiar and we immediately link this ziggurat to the tomb of the ancient minotaur leader we found with Wolmi Heffanita. We follow one of the hallways and realize that its walls are covered with an illusion which makes the walls look more impressive than they really are. Suspicious as this seems, we decide to regularly check up on the real walls to avoid nasty surprises. After a seemingly endless corridor, we reach a grand room filled with colorful pillars and force fields. We assume that this might be some kind of trial or test for the original worshippers and decide to examine the rest of the structure first. In the other direction we find some traps that can be more or less easily disabled by using the corresponding element (fire, a heavy stone and blown air). We also avoid the trapped undead orc mummies who try to stab us with their spears. We reach a really big room where we are attacked by spider-like creatures and flying eyeball monsters. Fortunately, Flying Spark, our friendly Faerie Dragon, followed us into the temple and makes good use of his fireball spell as the spiderlings are out of reach. As the fireballs detonate, we realize that this room is also enhanced by an illusion and really not as big as it seemed. The flying eyeballs turn out to be really insidious enemies. They attack our consciousness and let Margit, Carlyle and Auryn experience their worst fears and memories. Margit seems to have had a happy life so far as she sees Stover Delfs breaking up with her. Carlyle is first subjected to societal mishaps and scandals and then has to relive his last death when he failed to protect the late Lord and Lady Vantrys. Auryn witnesses the death of her cousin Zahir and her unsuccessful fight against the pirates. She seems to struggle with her vision as she curses the bloody bastards and violently stabs the eyeballs. We also manage to avoid an illusory trap of a bottomless pit. ([COLOR=#008000]Seeing pirates instead of eyeballs and Auryn's resulting frenzy were my own fluffy interpretation of the monster's mental attack. „I won't let them kill you as well!“[/COLOR]) We head down the next corridor and find it covered by a beautiful illusion of a starry sky. At first we cannot recognize any of the depicted constellations, but we study them a bit and find out that they could show the sky as it was hundreds of years ago. Then we come across a room which is blocked by a force field. A doormat with a „welcome“ sign seems to invite visitors, but we see no way to enter. However, three bodies of tieflings indicate that there must be an entrance somewhere. We believe that this barrier might be linked to the trial in the rainbow room and continue our exploration. ([COLOR=#008000]standard dungeon logics. As seasoned D&D players, we kind of developed a routine when it comes to carefully examining dungeons of all kinds - thanks, Rappan Athuk. So explore everything first, be careful to not activate any trap, and don't use any mechanism before checking the whole structure unless you 100% know what it does. So yeah, see you later, rainbow room[/COLOR]) The next room is filled with pictures of orcs and rituals. We also find a symbol of Mavisha, the plane of water, on the floor but see no obvious trap linked to it. We try to trigger the symbol by pouring water and drops of blood on it, but have no success. We also see a hole which is carved into one of the walls and conclude that there must have been an object placed there. In addition, we find a corridor that was obviously added by someone who digged his way through one of the walls. We follow this corridor as well and find an ancient map which, to our surprise, contains no Yerasol Archipelago. In its stead, there is a huge land mass which connects Risur and the northern part of Lanjyr. Above the map are golden plates with holes. Mechanical devices are attatched to the plates and we believe that someone used them to readjust the plates. Above this whole apparatus is a crystal. Once we ignite this gemstone with a light spell, we see two dots of light on the ancient map: One points to the place we are now and one to a place which must be located somewhere in the ocean between Elba and Ber. We take some time to make a drawing of the map and the two locations. ([COLOR=#008000]We got some serious Sundering/Ancient Kalimdor vibes from the map... and should learn someday that Lanjyr was once shattered by an exploding well of magic when some demonic horde tried to invade our world, we'll both share a good laugh ;)[/COLOR] ) As we cannot open the next door, we head back to the rainbow room and start decyphering the puzzle. After a bit of trial and error we find out that we simply have to get one person behind the rainbow colored force walls. We decide that Margit is the worst one at jumping/flying around and let her do the job. ([COLOR=#008000]Puzzles! We both really enjoyed the rainbow room puzzle and insisted to play it in „hard mode“. Carlyle also tried to avoid „cheating“ by flying over chasms as far as possible. It wasn't that hard though and definitely one of the better and well-implemented and -integrated dungeon puzzles. Tizbiz used colored cut out paper models to represent the bridges and walls which we added and removed whenever we activated one of the corresponding colors. And now we know why Flying Spark accompanied us down there ;) [/COLOR]) When we are about to dissolve the final wall (and are very much all spread over the whole room), we are attacked by some monsters again. Margit seems to be safe between the walls, but Carlyle, Auryn and Flying Spark are suddenly under attack. Auryn manages to defend herself (thanks, parry!) and is aided by our magical Faerie Dragon and his elemental magic. Meanwhile, Carlyle does his best to strike down the enemies who come at him one by one. Fortunately, we can keep our minds closed this time. ([COLOR=#008000]We did expect some obstacle along the way, but the enemies attacked us in a very delicate situation with Carlyle near the room's entrance and Auryn on the very bottom left edge while Margit was sandwiched between two walls of force. Mobile Flying Spark saved the day here as Auryn and Carlyle had to switch to full defensive. They really didn't want any more mental assaults. It was a fun encounter though[/COLOR]) After a long and tedious battle, we finally strike down the last of our foes. We put down the final barrier and a door opens in front of Margit. It leads, surprise, surprise, to the map room. But this time, we can witness a vision of three orcs who are carrying the three artifacts we found when we arrested Kaja Stewart. They say they fear that a seal might be broken and that this is why war beasts of Gidim might be standing in front of a golden plate. Said beasts look exactly like the beasts who attacked us back at the KATE... One of the orcs says that this might only be an effect of the seal of Apet and that the seal itself has to be still intact. We manage to get some understanding of the Ancient's language through this vision. We continue to the room with the dead tieflings and find the barrier gone. Cautious as we are, we decide to search for traps first and find that no living being can enter this room without being seriously harmed. Auryn summons an unseen servant to place a rope around one of the dead bodies and we drag the tiefling outside to examine him. We find some strange mutations on his body and Margit says that he either have died of fear or another mental trauma as she cannot find any bodily wound. We cannot find any notes or other clues at the body, so Carlyle agrees to teleport behind the trap's trigger to examine the room. Auryn promises to keep her servant on alert so that it could do the rope trick again and let us save him in case of emergency. Fortunately our plan succeeds and Mr. Carlyle starts searching the room. He finds another opening in one of the walls, this time a circular one, which is covered by a seemingly golden plate. Once he takes a closer look at the object, he finds out that the plate is only plated with gold. Also, Apet Energy seems to be seeping out of the opening behind the plate, and we come to the conclusion that this plate might keep a massive wave of planar energy – which might stem from a portal – from erupting into the room. We all know that this might sound ludicrous to a magical scholar as creating portals to other worlds is kind of impossible. ([COLOR=#008000]We're finally reaching X files territory, aren't we? No one's gonna believe us anyway. I wonder if Auryn & Carlyle would be as intriguing as Scully & Mulder...[/COLOR]) We also remember the vision of the orcs and realize that the square plate is not the same thing as the round, massive golden seal that we saw. We also remember that Dr. Meredith spoke of a golden seal as well and think that this object might have been the heavy thing the dwarves etc. were carrying when they came through Agate again. Then the three dead Tieflings might have been her missing specialists. So maybe the remaining members of the expedition brought the seal to Bergeron? In front of the plate, Carlyle finds two half circles which are drawn with chalk. There is a third circle made of stone as well, but it seems to be damaged. We think that these circles might be protective wards which keep the Apet energy at bay. So Mr. Carlyle makes sure to not interfere with this whole construction. When he cannot find more information in the seal room, Carlyle teleports back to reunite with the rest of our crew. The moment we plan to leave the Ziggurat, we suddenly hear the sound of fast approaching water... ([COLOR=#008000]When we accidentally activated the trap of Mavisha, Tizbiz informed us that there would have been a way to prevent the flooding by pouring salt water onto the symbol. To that point, none of us would have linked Mavisha to salt water, and there really is no ocean nearby so I don't know how or if it would have been reasonably possible to disarm the trap. Also, my blood is pretty salty, dammit! :D[/COLOR]) [/QUOTE]
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