Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8562192" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 43 (February 12, 2022)</p><p></p><p>23 Ta-Ghast (evening)</p><p>They enter the palace, and their escort fetches a functionary more appropriate to the situation, and returns with Dior Bindal, a middle-aged human woman. “Quarters have been prepared for you. We resuscitated one of the long abandoned manors. Repairs will be ongoing, and if you wish, you may want to stay within the palace until the repairs are completed.”</p><p></p><p>The whole palace is ornately decorated with elaborate, excellently executed plant-themed decorations.</p><p></p><p>The group follows along as Bindal escorts Dame Amelia to her quarters. The group inspects the rooms, which seem fine. Aleep detects ancient, almost impossibly old magics; they seem to be fading away and imperfectly powered, but still active.</p><p></p><p>The group is then led through the city to an ancient manor, now being worked on. The city is clearly much less populated than it once was. The manors around the one being worked on are all empty. As they cross the city, they can tell that it is not all humans—they see a few strange gnomes, an aasimar, and even one half-elf, though he is far away.</p><p></p><p>Dior tells them, after being asked, that they are fading away. They have less children in each generation, perhaps because of something about the rocks around the city. They are trying to recruit more people in from among their allies. But even so, the population has faded from a quarter million to less than 60,000.</p><p></p><p>As they look around the manor, Merreep estimates that the manor has been abandoned for 4 or 5 human generations, but is in surprisingly good shape. Merreep also asks about the sky, and is told that it is a dome—a natural dome. They are in a great cyst in the earth, beneath the wood, where the Lost Master established this many years ago.</p><p></p><p>“We have weather, two or three times a year, when the priests call it.”</p><p></p><p>“How do you raise your crops without regular rain?”</p><p></p><p>“We irrigate them. They are then illuminated by the great pillar the Founder left, which causes them to grow very well.”</p><p></p><p>They realize that the whole city is illuminated by that light, which is fading slowly as night comes on. Runor cannot think of any clerical magic that could do that—it seems far beyond normal magic.</p><p></p><p>They are also told that the god that the priests serve is “The Founder. The Originator. The One who preceded all things. The One who made the First Comers, may they be praised.”</p><p></p><p>Runor explains that that must refer to Eiru the Creator, the principal elven god. It’s very rare for humans to worship Eiru. Also, it’s strange that she referred to the pillar as being made by “the Founder,” apparently referring to a great elf, but then used the same term to refer to the Creator.</p><p></p><p>They ask Dior about their mission to map the nodes and ask if they could have keys. She tells them that they have to ask a member of the Council about that.</p><p></p><p>Taken to see Windrola, a very frail, very elderly human man, sitting on a stone throne. He gives them a skeleton key to the network, and tells them that they can’t make them anymore but can make keys for specific destinations. He also mentions that few of them can activate the nodes with their minds anymore.</p><p></p><p>He warns us about Walkers, that walk the nodes without keys. There are terrible Walkers, and some kind ones. The kind ones are recruited, in some cases to join the city. The terrible ones are released by the First Comers who turned to evil, more each year. Some make it into the web.</p><p></p><p>The skeleton key is a bright, shiny very pure looking silver metal. When it is inserted, all the nodes will light up, and they can then select a destination at will.</p><p></p><p>Windrola also asks Ulgorio if he will perform when he returns. He says he will. Windrola then says, in an almost religious tone, “The last of the Founders went forth to find great music beyond what can be heard here. He was the last to leave. He will be the first to return.” (The other local residents all murmur “He will be the first to return.”)</p><p></p><p>They then are shown to the merchant’s quarter. There are several small stores, including a bowyer, an unusually elaborate blacksmithy, an elaborate temple that Runor doesn’t recognize at all but assumes, based on size and decorations, must be a cathedral, and an alchemy shop, along with several food merchants. Everything seems surprisingly quiet and low energy.</p><p></p><p>Ulgorio goes into the blacksmithy. Everything is of masterwork quality, though none is magic. He asks for a grappling hook, and buys a fancy folding one for 2 gold, along with a chain that will bear 350 pounds of weight.</p><p></p><p>Runor looks into buying a hammer. He starts looking at a great hammer, nearly as tall as he is and quite heavy. He heads over to a practice dummy, and smacks it a mighty blow, breaking the dummy off the rope from which it is suspended. It is a masterwork weapon, with a nonmagical +1 bonus to hit. Runor buys it for 2 gold.</p><p></p><p>Bartix sees that there is a magus who has a shop there (the Vearing Almbic), and looks to buy a masterwork sword to get enchanted by the magus. Bartix buys a masterwork great sword for 17 gold. A gnome in a tall hat meets him in the magus shop, and Bartix asks to have the great sword enchanted. He now has a +1 greatsword, for 100 silver more.</p><p></p><p>Aleep examines the alchemist’s shop. There are many unusual things, including other magical supplies beyond what you would expect. There are barrels with runes in them, to improve the quality of ale kept in them. He is told that they do not carry magic scrolls, but the Shrine of the Violet Leaf does, or at least they try. In recent years, there has been more call for scrolls, and there are only a few who can make them. Aleep also buys 4 doses of antitoxin and 6 potions of healing, for a total of 400. He’s warned that it won’t affect magic poison, and that the things released from one nodes (the one with the fallen First Comers, by which the alchemist means elves) have much poison, occasionally magical poison. He is also told that he could get 17 silver per dram of saffron, up to 100 drams, which is much more than it would cost in the Trade Federation.</p><p></p><p>Merreep heads to one of the food stores. She buys some smoked and jerked meats. The butcher offers beef, which is the most expensive, but also rothe (which is like pork) and lizard. Merreep buys some rothe, ready for travel—about 20 pounds of each of smoked and jerked, and 20 pounds of pemican, for a total of 180 silver.</p><p></p><p>They also visit the temple, which is an elegant structure with arched ceilings, with statuary that looks like art more than devotional, and a waterfall behind the high altar. In addition to the high altar, there are three other smaller altars. The priest, who appears to have elven blood, wears clothes evenly divided into bright white and black clothes. He is extremely interested in the elves among the group. The high altar is white to the east and dark to the east, in a way that Runor has never heard of before. The three lower altars however have notes and prayers on them, in imperfect script. “These are where our people come to pray to the three Founders who were once with us. The high altar is where I offer prayers to the Brothers.”</p><p></p><p>“Who are the Brothers?” asks Runor.</p><p></p><p>“We worship both the Creator and his Brother, who brought Death to the world for the newer races.”</p><p></p><p>“Is that Morgroth, then?”</p><p></p><p>He nods respectfully. “The Founders who walked with us for a time were from before the wars between the followers of the Brothers.”</p><p></p><p>“That’s very rare.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. We do not believe that we are alone as remnants. But we know we are rare, but we have always received spells so they must not think we are heretics, or at least must not be bothered.”</p><p></p><p>“Meaning no offense, but are you slightly descended from the Founders?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. All the priests must have some of the Blood, or they cannot approach the high altar. That is why the people leave notes at the other altars. They could, of course,” he says as he gestures at the elves in the party.</p><p></p><p>24 Ta-Ghast</p><p>The group travels back to the teleport device to head off to their first node.</p><p></p><p>They know where three of the nodes are—The City, which is here, Vinehome, which is near the group’s holdings and Free Town, and the Road, which is north of Ravenskrag. They consider which of the other places to try:</p><p></p><p>Blue-topped Rock</p><p>The Overlook</p><p>The Cavern of Spiders</p><p>The Oldway</p><p>The Cemetery</p><p>The Farway</p><p>The Castle</p><p>The Dip</p><p>The Nearby</p><p>The Frontier</p><p></p><p>Merreep suggests that they try the Oldway. It is in what appears to be a jungle. It is uncomfortably hot. The pad is in a square tower, and unlike the others the group has been to, it has been maintained. There are tables, with fresh fruits and flowers against the walls. The trees are large and have large leaves. About 50 feet away, a lizard person with an elaborate headdress of flowers and an antique polearm looks at them. It does not approach at first, but it also does not retreat. Once it knows it has been seen, it approaches cautiously and holds up one webbed hand. It seems confused, but not completely surprised.</p><p>[End session 43]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8562192, member: 7030144"] Session 43 (February 12, 2022) 23 Ta-Ghast (evening) They enter the palace, and their escort fetches a functionary more appropriate to the situation, and returns with Dior Bindal, a middle-aged human woman. “Quarters have been prepared for you. We resuscitated one of the long abandoned manors. Repairs will be ongoing, and if you wish, you may want to stay within the palace until the repairs are completed.” The whole palace is ornately decorated with elaborate, excellently executed plant-themed decorations. The group follows along as Bindal escorts Dame Amelia to her quarters. The group inspects the rooms, which seem fine. Aleep detects ancient, almost impossibly old magics; they seem to be fading away and imperfectly powered, but still active. The group is then led through the city to an ancient manor, now being worked on. The city is clearly much less populated than it once was. The manors around the one being worked on are all empty. As they cross the city, they can tell that it is not all humans—they see a few strange gnomes, an aasimar, and even one half-elf, though he is far away. Dior tells them, after being asked, that they are fading away. They have less children in each generation, perhaps because of something about the rocks around the city. They are trying to recruit more people in from among their allies. But even so, the population has faded from a quarter million to less than 60,000. As they look around the manor, Merreep estimates that the manor has been abandoned for 4 or 5 human generations, but is in surprisingly good shape. Merreep also asks about the sky, and is told that it is a dome—a natural dome. They are in a great cyst in the earth, beneath the wood, where the Lost Master established this many years ago. “We have weather, two or three times a year, when the priests call it.” “How do you raise your crops without regular rain?” “We irrigate them. They are then illuminated by the great pillar the Founder left, which causes them to grow very well.” They realize that the whole city is illuminated by that light, which is fading slowly as night comes on. Runor cannot think of any clerical magic that could do that—it seems far beyond normal magic. They are also told that the god that the priests serve is “The Founder. The Originator. The One who preceded all things. The One who made the First Comers, may they be praised.” Runor explains that that must refer to Eiru the Creator, the principal elven god. It’s very rare for humans to worship Eiru. Also, it’s strange that she referred to the pillar as being made by “the Founder,” apparently referring to a great elf, but then used the same term to refer to the Creator. They ask Dior about their mission to map the nodes and ask if they could have keys. She tells them that they have to ask a member of the Council about that. Taken to see Windrola, a very frail, very elderly human man, sitting on a stone throne. He gives them a skeleton key to the network, and tells them that they can’t make them anymore but can make keys for specific destinations. He also mentions that few of them can activate the nodes with their minds anymore. He warns us about Walkers, that walk the nodes without keys. There are terrible Walkers, and some kind ones. The kind ones are recruited, in some cases to join the city. The terrible ones are released by the First Comers who turned to evil, more each year. Some make it into the web. The skeleton key is a bright, shiny very pure looking silver metal. When it is inserted, all the nodes will light up, and they can then select a destination at will. Windrola also asks Ulgorio if he will perform when he returns. He says he will. Windrola then says, in an almost religious tone, “The last of the Founders went forth to find great music beyond what can be heard here. He was the last to leave. He will be the first to return.” (The other local residents all murmur “He will be the first to return.”) They then are shown to the merchant’s quarter. There are several small stores, including a bowyer, an unusually elaborate blacksmithy, an elaborate temple that Runor doesn’t recognize at all but assumes, based on size and decorations, must be a cathedral, and an alchemy shop, along with several food merchants. Everything seems surprisingly quiet and low energy. Ulgorio goes into the blacksmithy. Everything is of masterwork quality, though none is magic. He asks for a grappling hook, and buys a fancy folding one for 2 gold, along with a chain that will bear 350 pounds of weight. Runor looks into buying a hammer. He starts looking at a great hammer, nearly as tall as he is and quite heavy. He heads over to a practice dummy, and smacks it a mighty blow, breaking the dummy off the rope from which it is suspended. It is a masterwork weapon, with a nonmagical +1 bonus to hit. Runor buys it for 2 gold. Bartix sees that there is a magus who has a shop there (the Vearing Almbic), and looks to buy a masterwork sword to get enchanted by the magus. Bartix buys a masterwork great sword for 17 gold. A gnome in a tall hat meets him in the magus shop, and Bartix asks to have the great sword enchanted. He now has a +1 greatsword, for 100 silver more. Aleep examines the alchemist’s shop. There are many unusual things, including other magical supplies beyond what you would expect. There are barrels with runes in them, to improve the quality of ale kept in them. He is told that they do not carry magic scrolls, but the Shrine of the Violet Leaf does, or at least they try. In recent years, there has been more call for scrolls, and there are only a few who can make them. Aleep also buys 4 doses of antitoxin and 6 potions of healing, for a total of 400. He’s warned that it won’t affect magic poison, and that the things released from one nodes (the one with the fallen First Comers, by which the alchemist means elves) have much poison, occasionally magical poison. He is also told that he could get 17 silver per dram of saffron, up to 100 drams, which is much more than it would cost in the Trade Federation. Merreep heads to one of the food stores. She buys some smoked and jerked meats. The butcher offers beef, which is the most expensive, but also rothe (which is like pork) and lizard. Merreep buys some rothe, ready for travel—about 20 pounds of each of smoked and jerked, and 20 pounds of pemican, for a total of 180 silver. They also visit the temple, which is an elegant structure with arched ceilings, with statuary that looks like art more than devotional, and a waterfall behind the high altar. In addition to the high altar, there are three other smaller altars. The priest, who appears to have elven blood, wears clothes evenly divided into bright white and black clothes. He is extremely interested in the elves among the group. The high altar is white to the east and dark to the east, in a way that Runor has never heard of before. The three lower altars however have notes and prayers on them, in imperfect script. “These are where our people come to pray to the three Founders who were once with us. The high altar is where I offer prayers to the Brothers.” “Who are the Brothers?” asks Runor. “We worship both the Creator and his Brother, who brought Death to the world for the newer races.” “Is that Morgroth, then?” He nods respectfully. “The Founders who walked with us for a time were from before the wars between the followers of the Brothers.” “That’s very rare.” “Yes. We do not believe that we are alone as remnants. But we know we are rare, but we have always received spells so they must not think we are heretics, or at least must not be bothered.” “Meaning no offense, but are you slightly descended from the Founders?” “Yes. All the priests must have some of the Blood, or they cannot approach the high altar. That is why the people leave notes at the other altars. They could, of course,” he says as he gestures at the elves in the party. 24 Ta-Ghast The group travels back to the teleport device to head off to their first node. They know where three of the nodes are—The City, which is here, Vinehome, which is near the group’s holdings and Free Town, and the Road, which is north of Ravenskrag. They consider which of the other places to try: Blue-topped Rock The Overlook The Cavern of Spiders The Oldway The Cemetery The Farway The Castle The Dip The Nearby The Frontier Merreep suggests that they try the Oldway. It is in what appears to be a jungle. It is uncomfortably hot. The pad is in a square tower, and unlike the others the group has been to, it has been maintained. There are tables, with fresh fruits and flowers against the walls. The trees are large and have large leaves. About 50 feet away, a lizard person with an elaborate headdress of flowers and an antique polearm looks at them. It does not approach at first, but it also does not retreat. Once it knows it has been seen, it approaches cautiously and holds up one webbed hand. It seems confused, but not completely surprised. [End session 43] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
Top