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Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8568760" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 44 (February 26, 2022)</p><p></p><p>24 Ta-Ghast (cont’d, after passing through to the Oldway)</p><p>Merreep says “hello!” to the lizardperson, who replies in some language none of them know.</p><p></p><p>Merreep asks what the direction to the nearest city is, and the lizardperson points up and in a direction. It’s clear that the lizardperson can at least to some degree understand, though his speech is unintelligible to the group. Based on the position of the sun, he was pointing mostly north and a little to the east, towards some distant mountains that are vaguely blue with distance.</p><p></p><p>The lizardperson also removes his headrest, and places it on Merreep’s head, and bows repeatedly as he backs away back into the jungle.</p><p></p><p>The group sets out in the direction the lizardperson pointed. The tower is near something that can be generously described as a footpath, but they see no other structures nearby.</p><p></p><p>They make their way directly in the direction he pointed, ignoring the footpath to bushwhack through the deep jungle. After a little while, they emerge into a lizardperson village on the edge of a swamp. The lizardpeople jump up in consternation, but they wave back when Merreep waves. After a little while, one of the lizardpeople fetches a slightly larger lizardperson from the largest hut, who walks over while plating some flowers together into a crown, which it puts in its head.</p><p></p><p>After some failed attempts at communication, a tall lizardperson who is bent over finally says, “You… return?”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, do you think Merreep is a great elf who has come here before?”</p><p></p><p>“Kah!” it replies, while nodding.</p><p></p><p>The lizardperson then brings out one of the familiar keys and a collection of papyrus fragments. The writing is in Elven, but with a mix of familiar Elven words and words that Merreep cannot read, but thinks is similar to the ancient Elven on the pad. Ulgorio casts comprehend languages. He reads it, and it’s a stylized creation myth, describing the creation of the world, the creation of the elves (the first intelligent people on the world), and the early days of the world. The old bent lizardperson gestures excitedly towards the stone with the key on it. This is another one of the skeleton keys, like the one the group received.</p><p></p><p>Ulgorio doesn’t see any references to the stone in the document, but on the last leaf, in an entirely different language, it says, “Guard the tower. Keep the key. Wait for the return.”</p><p></p><p>“Do you want us to take it?”</p><p></p><p>“Up… to… you…” The old one pats its chest and pats the chief’s chest, and says “loyal.”</p><p></p><p>“Aleep wonders, do you know where we are?”</p><p></p><p>“Dalwan.”</p><p></p><p>Aleep clarifies to anyone who is unsure that Dalwan is one of the Border Kingdoms, along the Shadowline.</p><p></p><p>When the lizardperson hears the word “Shadowline,” it points to the southwest.</p><p></p><p>They clearly venerate elves, and think that Merreep is the great elf who came here before. They also respond to the word “Hastur” with religious fervor, grovelling on the ground.</p><p></p><p>Aleep gives them a piece of parchment with the arms of the Eastern Trade Federation on it, and indicates that people with those arms are with them.</p><p></p><p>The chief gives each of them three fire-hardened, poisoned javelins.</p><p></p><p>The group then heads back to the tower, accompanied by one of the guards.</p><p></p><p>They prepare to pick the next destination and decide to go to The Dip. They pass through the teleportation plate and step out onto spray-dampened rock. Behind them, is what looks to be a lighthouse, still with a light atop it. The lighthouse is a tower just like the others, but with a globe of light atop.</p><p></p><p>A voice calls out, “Faith! Ye almost gave me a heartattack. Ring the bell when you come! Ring the bell! Everyone coming through here without a bit of warning, and then that guy the other day, almost killed me, he did. But fortunately, Nathaniel had a bow.”</p><p></p><p>“Are you Nathaniel?”</p><p></p><p>“No! Do I look like a Nathaniel? I’m Rudolf.”</p><p></p><p>After some discussion, they determined that this is just to the east of the Phraint lands, and the keeper was sent from Ravenskrag.</p><p></p><p>Once they realize that Runor is a priest of Glordiadel, Nathaniel asks Runor to take his confession.</p><p></p><p>“Who was the guy that tried to kill you?”</p><p></p><p>“We buried him! We had to! He tried to kill me!” He shows them a mark where he was bitten on his neck. “Nathaniel had to shoot him.”</p><p></p><p>Runor finishes blessing Nathaniel and asks them to show them the grave.</p><p></p><p>The keeper is happy to show them the grave, with a pile of stones on it and a wooden headstone marker labeled “Unknown attempted murderer.” Runor insists on digging it up, and they find an uncorrupted body, with a sun symbol on it slowly burning into it. Runor smashes in the vampire spawn’s head with his hammer, and as the sunlight strikes it, it bursts into flame and there’s an unearthly scream. They push the corpse around to make sure it’s fully incinerated. The group realizes that Nathaniel inadvertently staked it when he shot it with a wooden arrow, and then when they put the holy symbol on it they pinned it in the grave.</p><p></p><p>“Were you looking for something? You weren’t looking for those elves that came through the other day. Came through in the middle of the night, with their giant pet spider.”</p><p></p><p>They conclude that those were drow, especially with the description of them as having “faded into night.”</p><p></p><p>Aleep searches the vampire’s ashes and finds a small metal symbol in the shape of Lord Acoldima’s arms. It has a slight magical aura of divination. After some discussion, they chuck it out into the sea as far as they can fling it.</p><p></p><p>Having finished up here, they go back to the teleport network, and head to The Cemetery. They step out past two highly stylized figures of angels, into the midst of an enormous cemetery. The tower still stands, though somewhat worse for wear, and adorned with all sorts of Glordiadelian symbology and gargoyles and the like. It has clearly been turned into a mausoleum.</p><p></p><p>As Merreep steps through, she hears a deafening, terrible scream, but it doesn’t stun her. Ashaltir also makes it through fine, but Runor is deafened and stunned, falling to the ground to the side as he hears the scream. No one else is harmed by the sound. As they look around, they realize that the sound comes from a circle of mushrooms surrounding the tower.</p><p></p><p>Once they get Runor past the shrieking mushrooms, he gradually recovers.</p><p></p><p>Moments later, a group of figures in shiny steel chainmail with longbows and swords strapped to their sides rush up, and aim their bows at them. “Who are you, and why do you come to this holy place?”</p><p></p><p>The group introduces themselves.</p><p></p><p>“Behold the Cemetery of the Victims of Shadow, to inter the most heroic defenders against the Shadow in the thousand year struggle.”</p><p></p><p>Looking around, they realize that they are up in the mountains.</p><p></p><p>“This place was created years ago by the Hastur.”</p><p></p><p>They discuss the network, and are told that there were two that led to lands that had been seized—one in the former lands of their capital, the Thronged City, and the other in the lost kingdom that fell to them many fewer years ago--Caldefor. They may have disappeared entirely from the network if the towers are fully fallen and the pads no longer powered.</p><p></p><p>The guards take them to talk to the Master of the Cemetery. The Master floats over. He’s clearly one of the Hastur. They discuss the network with him, and he tells them, when asked about the strange elves who made it, that they were Eldron, from the original group of elves before the split. He also knows of Lord Acoldima, and mentions having incinerated a group of his minions.</p><p></p><p>The group then heads to The Frontier. They step through, and as soon as they step through, they hear thundering hooves. A large herd of the largest bison they have ever seen are running from something, directly towards the group. There are very few trees, some rocks, and open plains. The herd parts around the rock on which the tower stands. The hunters chasing the bison slow as they approach—they are half horse and half human. Without a moment’s hesitation, the lead hunter throws a heavy spear directly towards Merreep. It sails past Merreep and slams into the tower. In total, there are six centaurs closing in from different directions, one with a rattle and the rest with spears. The rattle causes all of them to glow slightly.</p><p></p><p>Ulgorio attacks the one that’s rapidly closing, and it slides off his leather harness. Aleep casts a fireball, catching four of them, two of whom save, for 18 or 9, depending.</p><p></p><p>The battle rages on. The one with the rattle heals one of the other ones. The last one of the enemy stops and draws a bow.</p><p></p><p>Bartix charges the one with the bow, critting it and hitting it.</p><p></p><p>Ulgorio casts hypnotic pattern, incapacitating all of them except for the priest.</p><p></p><p>Aleep casts magic missile, hitting the shaman for substantial damage.</p><p></p><p>At that point, the shaman calls for quarter, and the fight ends.</p><p></p><p>The shaman says that they attacked because three-quarters of the things that come through the gate are dangerous. When asked about vampires, they say that after some scouting expeditions, the vampires tried to drink from some of their human kinfolk and they put them to the sun.</p><p></p><p>[End session 44; we're now up-to-date, so I'll be switching to posting half-sessions at a time so I continue to post once every week even though the games are once every two weeks.]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8568760, member: 7030144"] Session 44 (February 26, 2022) 24 Ta-Ghast (cont’d, after passing through to the Oldway) Merreep says “hello!” to the lizardperson, who replies in some language none of them know. Merreep asks what the direction to the nearest city is, and the lizardperson points up and in a direction. It’s clear that the lizardperson can at least to some degree understand, though his speech is unintelligible to the group. Based on the position of the sun, he was pointing mostly north and a little to the east, towards some distant mountains that are vaguely blue with distance. The lizardperson also removes his headrest, and places it on Merreep’s head, and bows repeatedly as he backs away back into the jungle. The group sets out in the direction the lizardperson pointed. The tower is near something that can be generously described as a footpath, but they see no other structures nearby. They make their way directly in the direction he pointed, ignoring the footpath to bushwhack through the deep jungle. After a little while, they emerge into a lizardperson village on the edge of a swamp. The lizardpeople jump up in consternation, but they wave back when Merreep waves. After a little while, one of the lizardpeople fetches a slightly larger lizardperson from the largest hut, who walks over while plating some flowers together into a crown, which it puts in its head. After some failed attempts at communication, a tall lizardperson who is bent over finally says, “You… return?” “Oh, do you think Merreep is a great elf who has come here before?” “Kah!” it replies, while nodding. The lizardperson then brings out one of the familiar keys and a collection of papyrus fragments. The writing is in Elven, but with a mix of familiar Elven words and words that Merreep cannot read, but thinks is similar to the ancient Elven on the pad. Ulgorio casts comprehend languages. He reads it, and it’s a stylized creation myth, describing the creation of the world, the creation of the elves (the first intelligent people on the world), and the early days of the world. The old bent lizardperson gestures excitedly towards the stone with the key on it. This is another one of the skeleton keys, like the one the group received. Ulgorio doesn’t see any references to the stone in the document, but on the last leaf, in an entirely different language, it says, “Guard the tower. Keep the key. Wait for the return.” “Do you want us to take it?” “Up… to… you…” The old one pats its chest and pats the chief’s chest, and says “loyal.” “Aleep wonders, do you know where we are?” “Dalwan.” Aleep clarifies to anyone who is unsure that Dalwan is one of the Border Kingdoms, along the Shadowline. When the lizardperson hears the word “Shadowline,” it points to the southwest. They clearly venerate elves, and think that Merreep is the great elf who came here before. They also respond to the word “Hastur” with religious fervor, grovelling on the ground. Aleep gives them a piece of parchment with the arms of the Eastern Trade Federation on it, and indicates that people with those arms are with them. The chief gives each of them three fire-hardened, poisoned javelins. The group then heads back to the tower, accompanied by one of the guards. They prepare to pick the next destination and decide to go to The Dip. They pass through the teleportation plate and step out onto spray-dampened rock. Behind them, is what looks to be a lighthouse, still with a light atop it. The lighthouse is a tower just like the others, but with a globe of light atop. A voice calls out, “Faith! Ye almost gave me a heartattack. Ring the bell when you come! Ring the bell! Everyone coming through here without a bit of warning, and then that guy the other day, almost killed me, he did. But fortunately, Nathaniel had a bow.” “Are you Nathaniel?” “No! Do I look like a Nathaniel? I’m Rudolf.” After some discussion, they determined that this is just to the east of the Phraint lands, and the keeper was sent from Ravenskrag. Once they realize that Runor is a priest of Glordiadel, Nathaniel asks Runor to take his confession. “Who was the guy that tried to kill you?” “We buried him! We had to! He tried to kill me!” He shows them a mark where he was bitten on his neck. “Nathaniel had to shoot him.” Runor finishes blessing Nathaniel and asks them to show them the grave. The keeper is happy to show them the grave, with a pile of stones on it and a wooden headstone marker labeled “Unknown attempted murderer.” Runor insists on digging it up, and they find an uncorrupted body, with a sun symbol on it slowly burning into it. Runor smashes in the vampire spawn’s head with his hammer, and as the sunlight strikes it, it bursts into flame and there’s an unearthly scream. They push the corpse around to make sure it’s fully incinerated. The group realizes that Nathaniel inadvertently staked it when he shot it with a wooden arrow, and then when they put the holy symbol on it they pinned it in the grave. “Were you looking for something? You weren’t looking for those elves that came through the other day. Came through in the middle of the night, with their giant pet spider.” They conclude that those were drow, especially with the description of them as having “faded into night.” Aleep searches the vampire’s ashes and finds a small metal symbol in the shape of Lord Acoldima’s arms. It has a slight magical aura of divination. After some discussion, they chuck it out into the sea as far as they can fling it. Having finished up here, they go back to the teleport network, and head to The Cemetery. They step out past two highly stylized figures of angels, into the midst of an enormous cemetery. The tower still stands, though somewhat worse for wear, and adorned with all sorts of Glordiadelian symbology and gargoyles and the like. It has clearly been turned into a mausoleum. As Merreep steps through, she hears a deafening, terrible scream, but it doesn’t stun her. Ashaltir also makes it through fine, but Runor is deafened and stunned, falling to the ground to the side as he hears the scream. No one else is harmed by the sound. As they look around, they realize that the sound comes from a circle of mushrooms surrounding the tower. Once they get Runor past the shrieking mushrooms, he gradually recovers. Moments later, a group of figures in shiny steel chainmail with longbows and swords strapped to their sides rush up, and aim their bows at them. “Who are you, and why do you come to this holy place?” The group introduces themselves. “Behold the Cemetery of the Victims of Shadow, to inter the most heroic defenders against the Shadow in the thousand year struggle.” Looking around, they realize that they are up in the mountains. “This place was created years ago by the Hastur.” They discuss the network, and are told that there were two that led to lands that had been seized—one in the former lands of their capital, the Thronged City, and the other in the lost kingdom that fell to them many fewer years ago--Caldefor. They may have disappeared entirely from the network if the towers are fully fallen and the pads no longer powered. The guards take them to talk to the Master of the Cemetery. The Master floats over. He’s clearly one of the Hastur. They discuss the network with him, and he tells them, when asked about the strange elves who made it, that they were Eldron, from the original group of elves before the split. He also knows of Lord Acoldima, and mentions having incinerated a group of his minions. The group then heads to The Frontier. They step through, and as soon as they step through, they hear thundering hooves. A large herd of the largest bison they have ever seen are running from something, directly towards the group. There are very few trees, some rocks, and open plains. The herd parts around the rock on which the tower stands. The hunters chasing the bison slow as they approach—they are half horse and half human. Without a moment’s hesitation, the lead hunter throws a heavy spear directly towards Merreep. It sails past Merreep and slams into the tower. In total, there are six centaurs closing in from different directions, one with a rattle and the rest with spears. The rattle causes all of them to glow slightly. Ulgorio attacks the one that’s rapidly closing, and it slides off his leather harness. Aleep casts a fireball, catching four of them, two of whom save, for 18 or 9, depending. The battle rages on. The one with the rattle heals one of the other ones. The last one of the enemy stops and draws a bow. Bartix charges the one with the bow, critting it and hitting it. Ulgorio casts hypnotic pattern, incapacitating all of them except for the priest. Aleep casts magic missile, hitting the shaman for substantial damage. At that point, the shaman calls for quarter, and the fight ends. The shaman says that they attacked because three-quarters of the things that come through the gate are dangerous. When asked about vampires, they say that after some scouting expeditions, the vampires tried to drink from some of their human kinfolk and they put them to the sun. [End session 44; we're now up-to-date, so I'll be switching to posting half-sessions at a time so I continue to post once every week even though the games are once every two weeks.] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
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