thatdarncat
Overlord of Chat
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Tor Bladebearer's Story Hour Returns
- Thread starter Tor Bladebearer
- Start date
KidCthulhu
First Post
[waves frantically] Hi! Welcome back! Love to Mrs. Tor and the little Torling.
Pillars of Hercules
First Post
Huzzah!
Tor, I'm thrilled you're back! Keep playing and posting.
Tor, I'm thrilled you're back! Keep playing and posting.
Tor Bladebearer
First Post
Thanks for all the kind welcomes!
The little "Torling", as you say, is doing quite well... amazingly enough his 2nd birthday is right around the corner, and he's tearing around the house like madman, coloring furiously and demanding that I play Mario Sunshine with him...
First post-hiatus run is tomorrow night! I'm very excited... hope I'm not too rusty.
Update this weekend if I'm not lazy...
The little "Torling", as you say, is doing quite well... amazingly enough his 2nd birthday is right around the corner, and he's tearing around the house like madman, coloring furiously and demanding that I play Mario Sunshine with him...
First post-hiatus run is tomorrow night! I'm very excited... hope I'm not too rusty.
Update this weekend if I'm not lazy...
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Glad that you're back! I'll have to read run 5 some time soon!
Tor Bladebearer
First Post
(Run 6 begins)
April 2, 295 YF
The expedition from the pyramid returns to the camp where the herb picking group is just finishing for the day. Mauri estimates that they have about a days worth of work left to complete the gathering. When she sees that Ug is injured she calls up on the power of Helias to cure his injuries, and he feels the warmth of sunlight envelop him. The dwarves seem distracted, and talk amongst themselves as the rest of the group settles in for the evening.
April 3, 295 YF
During the night, the party sleeps very deeply, and they all awaken to a strange sense of confusion and disorientation. Their memory of recent events, or even their purpose here in the mountains, is fogged. Mauri and Dagger, however, seem largely unaffected. When she sees their behavior, Mauri explains that exposure to the lake can have that effect on people sometimes, but that it should soon pass. She herself suffered similarly on her first visit as a child. She prepares an herbal tea to try and soothe some of the effects.
Meanwhile, the party spends some time over breakfast discussing their situation, trying to stir their clouded memories. This is largely successful, however several members of the party are no longer sure why they chose to come back to the mountains instead of immediately pursuing Lazarus.
As the party begins to prepare their plans for the day, the dwarves come forward, having reached a decision of their own about what to do next. While helping with the herb gathering on the previous day, Anathor had a vision in the lake – a vision of Rak Shaol, bustling with activity just as they recalled it. The dwarven wizard believes this lake could hold the key to finding their way back to their own time, or at least figuring out what happened to them, and he and his brother are going to stay to try and investigate the matter further.
The dwarves are apologetic about not being able to help the Gray Cliffs denizens in their pursuit of Lazarus and the Warding Stone, but are resolute in their decision. They plan to figure out what they can about the lake and the pyramid, returning to Hillshire as needed to resupply. In addition, should there be more problems with goblin raids, they can provide some early warning to the village. Despite misgivings, the rest of the party is unable to sway the stubborn dwarves from their new plan. Anxious to get started, the two take their leave to scout the area in more detail to plan a more permanent encampment.
The lake itself is no longer showing any signs of reflective oddness, and is merely showing the sky as it truly appears to be.
Overhearing this discussion, Mauri asks the remaining members of the party what they were really doing in the mountains that day, when they fought the goblins and rescued the Hillshire expedition. After some minor dissembling, Fargo tells her most of the truth – that they traveled here through some kind of magical gateway from a land far away, pursuing a thief who stole something very valuable from them. That gateway unexpectedly put them in the mountains, and she knows the rest from there.
Mauri seems to accept the story without argument. She asks where this faraway land is, and they tell her it is a faraway island, Watchtower Isle. When someone mentions that it is also called Vak Toran, she becomes visibly agitated.
“The Cursed Isle!” she exlaims. “They say that no one ever returns from that place. That if you go, the dead will eat your soul. I’m sure you must be mistaken. Your Watchtower Isle sounds like a fine place, but I am sure it cannot be Vak Toran.” She advises them never to mention that name to other people, who might be less understanding if they claim to come from the Cursed Isle. The party presses her for more information and she reluctantly tells them that she doesn’t know where the Cursed Isle actually is, or whether it even exists.
The party asks her about Arunjar. While she is unsure, she thinks that merchants have talked of such a place, far, far to the West. It is some sort of large trading port on the Bitter Sea. This is in line with what little the party knows about where Watchtower Isle may actually be.
Mauri and Dagger finish their morning preparations, and leave the camp to complete their herb gathering. The remainder of the party decides to examine in more detail the ruins on the far side of the lake, beyond the strange black pyramid, though Milo is somewhat reluctant to go.
Milo: Maybe I should hide, and see if Dagger needs my help.
Tala: Oh great… stalking.
When Ug and Torix start discussing which of them could throw Milo further out into the lake, he quickly forms up with the rest of the party. The group then makes their way back around the lake, headed for the ruins.
They stop at the black pyramid again first. The party does notice a small depression on one side of the pyramid, but is still unable to provoke any response or create any opening.
Turning their attention to the ruins beyond the pyramid, the party begins to explore. The buildings here are clearly of Ophidian architecture, not unlike those found on Watchtower Isle. These, however, have clearly suffered much more harshly the ravages of time, and many are little more than piles of rubble.
One building in particular, however, is still remarkably intact. The party approaches to investigate, and sees that the building is not only still there, but has an intact (and closed) door. It lies on the far side of an overgrown walled courtyard. A long-dry fountain is in the middle, and in each of the corners is a statue of a scorpion. The statues are each the size of a pony, and have small blue gems in their foreheads.
Torix: Any tracks near the statues? Or dead halflings?
Fargo casts Detect Magic and verifies that the gems are in fact, magical, though at this distance he is unable to determine anything further. Milo steps into the courtyard to investigate further, and as soon as he does, the stone scorpions spring to life! With surprising speed the statues scuttle across the overgrowth and towards the party, clustered at the small entrance to the courtyard…
-------
I'll try and post the second half of Run #6 soon. Run #7 has already happened, and run #8 is next week, so hopefully some more regular updates will be forthcoming.
Soon to come... New PCs! Unknown rituals! Undead halflings!
April 2, 295 YF
The expedition from the pyramid returns to the camp where the herb picking group is just finishing for the day. Mauri estimates that they have about a days worth of work left to complete the gathering. When she sees that Ug is injured she calls up on the power of Helias to cure his injuries, and he feels the warmth of sunlight envelop him. The dwarves seem distracted, and talk amongst themselves as the rest of the group settles in for the evening.
April 3, 295 YF
During the night, the party sleeps very deeply, and they all awaken to a strange sense of confusion and disorientation. Their memory of recent events, or even their purpose here in the mountains, is fogged. Mauri and Dagger, however, seem largely unaffected. When she sees their behavior, Mauri explains that exposure to the lake can have that effect on people sometimes, but that it should soon pass. She herself suffered similarly on her first visit as a child. She prepares an herbal tea to try and soothe some of the effects.
Meanwhile, the party spends some time over breakfast discussing their situation, trying to stir their clouded memories. This is largely successful, however several members of the party are no longer sure why they chose to come back to the mountains instead of immediately pursuing Lazarus.
As the party begins to prepare their plans for the day, the dwarves come forward, having reached a decision of their own about what to do next. While helping with the herb gathering on the previous day, Anathor had a vision in the lake – a vision of Rak Shaol, bustling with activity just as they recalled it. The dwarven wizard believes this lake could hold the key to finding their way back to their own time, or at least figuring out what happened to them, and he and his brother are going to stay to try and investigate the matter further.
The dwarves are apologetic about not being able to help the Gray Cliffs denizens in their pursuit of Lazarus and the Warding Stone, but are resolute in their decision. They plan to figure out what they can about the lake and the pyramid, returning to Hillshire as needed to resupply. In addition, should there be more problems with goblin raids, they can provide some early warning to the village. Despite misgivings, the rest of the party is unable to sway the stubborn dwarves from their new plan. Anxious to get started, the two take their leave to scout the area in more detail to plan a more permanent encampment.
The lake itself is no longer showing any signs of reflective oddness, and is merely showing the sky as it truly appears to be.
Overhearing this discussion, Mauri asks the remaining members of the party what they were really doing in the mountains that day, when they fought the goblins and rescued the Hillshire expedition. After some minor dissembling, Fargo tells her most of the truth – that they traveled here through some kind of magical gateway from a land far away, pursuing a thief who stole something very valuable from them. That gateway unexpectedly put them in the mountains, and she knows the rest from there.
Mauri seems to accept the story without argument. She asks where this faraway land is, and they tell her it is a faraway island, Watchtower Isle. When someone mentions that it is also called Vak Toran, she becomes visibly agitated.
“The Cursed Isle!” she exlaims. “They say that no one ever returns from that place. That if you go, the dead will eat your soul. I’m sure you must be mistaken. Your Watchtower Isle sounds like a fine place, but I am sure it cannot be Vak Toran.” She advises them never to mention that name to other people, who might be less understanding if they claim to come from the Cursed Isle. The party presses her for more information and she reluctantly tells them that she doesn’t know where the Cursed Isle actually is, or whether it even exists.
The party asks her about Arunjar. While she is unsure, she thinks that merchants have talked of such a place, far, far to the West. It is some sort of large trading port on the Bitter Sea. This is in line with what little the party knows about where Watchtower Isle may actually be.
Mauri and Dagger finish their morning preparations, and leave the camp to complete their herb gathering. The remainder of the party decides to examine in more detail the ruins on the far side of the lake, beyond the strange black pyramid, though Milo is somewhat reluctant to go.
Milo: Maybe I should hide, and see if Dagger needs my help.
Tala: Oh great… stalking.
When Ug and Torix start discussing which of them could throw Milo further out into the lake, he quickly forms up with the rest of the party. The group then makes their way back around the lake, headed for the ruins.
They stop at the black pyramid again first. The party does notice a small depression on one side of the pyramid, but is still unable to provoke any response or create any opening.
Turning their attention to the ruins beyond the pyramid, the party begins to explore. The buildings here are clearly of Ophidian architecture, not unlike those found on Watchtower Isle. These, however, have clearly suffered much more harshly the ravages of time, and many are little more than piles of rubble.
One building in particular, however, is still remarkably intact. The party approaches to investigate, and sees that the building is not only still there, but has an intact (and closed) door. It lies on the far side of an overgrown walled courtyard. A long-dry fountain is in the middle, and in each of the corners is a statue of a scorpion. The statues are each the size of a pony, and have small blue gems in their foreheads.
Torix: Any tracks near the statues? Or dead halflings?
Fargo casts Detect Magic and verifies that the gems are in fact, magical, though at this distance he is unable to determine anything further. Milo steps into the courtyard to investigate further, and as soon as he does, the stone scorpions spring to life! With surprising speed the statues scuttle across the overgrowth and towards the party, clustered at the small entrance to the courtyard…
-------
I'll try and post the second half of Run #6 soon. Run #7 has already happened, and run #8 is next week, so hopefully some more regular updates will be forthcoming.
Soon to come... New PCs! Unknown rituals! Undead halflings!
thatdarncat
Overlord of Chat
woohoo this was a nice thing to wake up to this morning.
this was a nice thing to wake up to this morning.Similar Threads
