Friday, November 27, 2009
Briar Rose
As a reminder, you came across some reference to the Briar Rose, also known as Sleeping Beauty. In fact, the main picture of the blog is the first of four panels painted depicting this story.
Jaykei - Elkei
Agar decided to share with everyone that he knew how to get to the temple of the Answaru, Jaykei-Elkei which made the decision process (take the priest or no) much, much easier: you just left on your own in the middle of the night.
By daybreak you had made it to the temple, which resembles a very large Scholars' Rock, shown above. Long story short: the temple was magnetic and surrounded by a double rung of other magnets, creating a sort of "levitating" force for the temple. Lodos was able to amplify the field effect, and Agar was able to rotate the temple. This aligned some of the subterranean lava tubes, revealing a hidden passageway beneath the temple.
The passageway had a door in it with a slot for - what else? - the bookmark/key that the priest had been carrying until sticky fingers Silus lifted it. You all blacked-out, had visions, and came to in time to see a dozen or so undead creatures crawling up the passageway's dark depths towards you. A couple of grenades took care of that threat, but you might still be worried about the "shockwave" of horror and despair that you heard rolling through the jungle.
Ever fearless and foolhardy, you journey down into the darkness and find a 5 r 6 foot long bone lashed to a wooden box of the same length. The bone turns out to be the radial bone of a near adult dragon. The box contains a sword carved of dragon bone, hilt and all. Mirella seems to remember something about this being an early practice that the Misarlon used to try to bind runic powers and render them less harmful or dangerous. Farallon volunteers to take the sword. Although inspection has not revealed any runes, the weapon is naturally magic, being made of dragon bone. Farallon was able to detect some sense of deep betrayal and some split between good and evil coming from some force in the sword.
But the passageway lead deeper, and so that is where you went. Three days of journey further into the darkness. Three days further in to the belly of an extinct volcano. The payoff is a three story, 80 room complex built by the dwarves. It appears that here may have been the final staging area for sealing in the greatest evil Palladium has ever known...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Answaru
This week's major players were Rantoos, Bahn, Tahn, and Pfenig.
Rantoos approached Agar about “leading” the flock to the temple, deep in the jungle. The followers packed up, burning some of their old clothes and belongings as a symbol of their leaving the old life behind for the new light of Answaru. Rantoos invoked some elemental magic to create the proper atmosphere for the beginning of the journey as you all set out on a three day hike deep into the Yin-Sloth.
A talkative fellow, Pfenig, befriends the party and starts spouting off a bunch of non-sense that may have had some root in fact. In particular it was his mention of “catacombs” which seemed pertinent to the natural geography of the area. The assumption is that the catacombs are actually old magna tubes, although you haven't run across any yet. On a positive note, it would seem that you are heading in the general vicinity of a large, ancient , and most probably extinct volcano.
During the first evening watch of the first night on the trail, Pfenig comes over to chat with Agar and Silus. Soon he sees an exciting plant out in the jungle and he leaves the safety of the camp to investigate. On his way back, some large primate-like beast lands softly behind him...Silus attempts to thwart the beast with a poison dart, but to no avail. Agar encourages Pfenig to run, but it is no use. In two graceful leaps, the beast pounces on Pfenig, who is never heard from again. Agar exacts a sort of justice, bashing the brains out of the beast in a single, mighty blow.
The second shift goes even worse.
Farallon is wounded by an arrow in a sneak attack on the cult. A handy grenade toss saves Farallon's life and helps alert the camp. In a matter of seconds over thirty followers are killed, and likely more would have perished if it were not for the quick thinking of Treasda who used Lodos to command the jungle to smother all but one attacker. Who knows how many attackers there were? The one lone prisoner proves of little value himself, although it is interesting that a white man was dressed as if he were a native.
In the aftermath of the attack, Silus takes grave risk which pays off big. He sneaks into Rantoos' tent and finds an object which later turns out to be a kind of marker/map created by the Misarlon/M7. Although the object is gently radioactive, it seems to be of great value, particularly to Rantoos, who executes five random followers and then urges people with knowledge of the object to step forward immediately. Perhaps not the best way to make yourself approachable, but clearly he was agitated.
And now the question is: what to do? You are about 16 miles away from the anticipated location of the Temple of Answaru. It is the middle of the night. Bahn and Tahn are closely guarding Rantoos' tent. There are about 20 other moderately well armed “guards” in the group of about 250 that are left.
Rantoos approached Agar about “leading” the flock to the temple, deep in the jungle. The followers packed up, burning some of their old clothes and belongings as a symbol of their leaving the old life behind for the new light of Answaru. Rantoos invoked some elemental magic to create the proper atmosphere for the beginning of the journey as you all set out on a three day hike deep into the Yin-Sloth.
A talkative fellow, Pfenig, befriends the party and starts spouting off a bunch of non-sense that may have had some root in fact. In particular it was his mention of “catacombs” which seemed pertinent to the natural geography of the area. The assumption is that the catacombs are actually old magna tubes, although you haven't run across any yet. On a positive note, it would seem that you are heading in the general vicinity of a large, ancient , and most probably extinct volcano.
During the first evening watch of the first night on the trail, Pfenig comes over to chat with Agar and Silus. Soon he sees an exciting plant out in the jungle and he leaves the safety of the camp to investigate. On his way back, some large primate-like beast lands softly behind him...Silus attempts to thwart the beast with a poison dart, but to no avail. Agar encourages Pfenig to run, but it is no use. In two graceful leaps, the beast pounces on Pfenig, who is never heard from again. Agar exacts a sort of justice, bashing the brains out of the beast in a single, mighty blow.
The second shift goes even worse.
Farallon is wounded by an arrow in a sneak attack on the cult. A handy grenade toss saves Farallon's life and helps alert the camp. In a matter of seconds over thirty followers are killed, and likely more would have perished if it were not for the quick thinking of Treasda who used Lodos to command the jungle to smother all but one attacker. Who knows how many attackers there were? The one lone prisoner proves of little value himself, although it is interesting that a white man was dressed as if he were a native.
In the aftermath of the attack, Silus takes grave risk which pays off big. He sneaks into Rantoos' tent and finds an object which later turns out to be a kind of marker/map created by the Misarlon/M7. Although the object is gently radioactive, it seems to be of great value, particularly to Rantoos, who executes five random followers and then urges people with knowledge of the object to step forward immediately. Perhaps not the best way to make yourself approachable, but clearly he was agitated.
And now the question is: what to do? You are about 16 miles away from the anticipated location of the Temple of Answaru. It is the middle of the night. Bahn and Tahn are closely guarding Rantoos' tent. There are about 20 other moderately well armed “guards” in the group of about 250 that are left.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Heart of....
The ground crew decides to journey into the Heart of Darkness – your favorite place – the Yin-Sloth jungles. Specifically, you get dropped off near Ttumal, the largest settlement on the northern coast. Although “large”, it is really a shanty-town of sorts. Plenty of street vendors and a large bazaar, but no inns or taverns as you would think of them. Government is largely absent (there is no official King or any such affiliation with nations) and so there is a hierarchy of gangs that control the city.
After some snooping over grub you find a lead...
You see, the reasoning for coming here was that if you were some deific creature looking to hang-out quietly, get some minions, plot world destruction, what better place than here? Outcasts of the adventurous sort come here in search of spiritual meaning, and seems there is a new cult in town.
You figure out how to find these cult followers and there camp, but there things get a little sticky as the priest takes bit of blood from each of you and initiates you into this cult. Agar gets special treatment, is made to walk (unscathed) through a huge bonfire and seems to be of interest to these cultists. You all hang out all night, enjoying the revelry into the morning hours. That is when some 20 to 40 men lead a large mastadon into thecamp and the walk it right into the really huge bonfire in the middle. The men all go down with the sacrifice along with the beast. Now there's devotion!
Now we have to see what the cult will do next...
After some snooping over grub you find a lead...
You see, the reasoning for coming here was that if you were some deific creature looking to hang-out quietly, get some minions, plot world destruction, what better place than here? Outcasts of the adventurous sort come here in search of spiritual meaning, and seems there is a new cult in town.
You figure out how to find these cult followers and there camp, but there things get a little sticky as the priest takes bit of blood from each of you and initiates you into this cult. Agar gets special treatment, is made to walk (unscathed) through a huge bonfire and seems to be of interest to these cultists. You all hang out all night, enjoying the revelry into the morning hours. That is when some 20 to 40 men lead a large mastadon into thecamp and the walk it right into the really huge bonfire in the middle. The men all go down with the sacrifice along with the beast. Now there's devotion!
Now we have to see what the cult will do next...
And then there were two...
Your recent adventures:
To recap: So you all went to what you thought was Khul-Than Forge. There you meet up with Ankar and his men and to make a long story short, you release some skeletal dragon from its prison, get Ankar's son killed (okay, not really your fault) and hightail it out of there and blast the place shut.
So in an effort to figure out what was going on, you went to the library of Alessia and then to the Misarlon Temple. Seems you released Esai-En-Dar, better known in old lore as Lord Essenar, an Elven Runelord - well, obviously not Elven. Although details are lacking, it seems that the popular belief is that Essenar and this Dwarf, D'Barok, had something to do with the Cataclysm.
There was discussion of what to do next; go after Echo's prize, Necros, or find Celeros? Celeros it was, which was in the possession of Ulves Falcon's son. You manage to “stealth land on his keep and then infiltrate you way inside to his inner sanctum. Quite a team effort! And Landros did quite a number on several of Falcon's men. Celeros nearly gives Falcon an edge, but nearly isn't good enough and so you rather quickly end the Falcon problem and acquire Celeros.
You re-board Theoninn and are confronted by a conundrum. If you all pursue Esai together - right now - you will probably find him, and you will probably get your collective asses handed to you. Maybe getting Necros and Vaka would make more sense, but that would give Esai time to gather strength. So M7's mission must be a simultaneous forked approach. And this means the party must split up.
One half will get on the ground and infiltrate Esai's effort on a grassroots level. Hopefully they will learn much about Esai while also keeping him on the move, which should slow down the process of his recovery.
Meanwhile, group two will go off (perhaps off-world) in search of other runic items that might prove useful against Esai. This includes kicking Echo's ass...at some point.
You will all play out both sides of this story and determine the ultimate outcome. More than likely, there will be alternating between storylines at certain points. For now, the majority has decide to get on the ground and pursue Esai, so that is where we'll start. That group is:
Agar Prime – (Matt)
Farallon – (Chris)
Treasda – Lodos (Rudy)
Silus – Rök (Lewis)
???? - (Tamiko)
Tamiko can choose to continue with Oki, or choose to be Mirella, Ginsberg, or one of the Skedic soldiers (create a new character).
At some point, everyone will also play members of the other group. For example, if Oki joins the ground crew, then when we have an alternate-night ,you will all take over for Mirella, Ginsberg, Landros (Rudy gets his primary back), and two surprise guests.
To recap: So you all went to what you thought was Khul-Than Forge. There you meet up with Ankar and his men and to make a long story short, you release some skeletal dragon from its prison, get Ankar's son killed (okay, not really your fault) and hightail it out of there and blast the place shut.
So in an effort to figure out what was going on, you went to the library of Alessia and then to the Misarlon Temple. Seems you released Esai-En-Dar, better known in old lore as Lord Essenar, an Elven Runelord - well, obviously not Elven. Although details are lacking, it seems that the popular belief is that Essenar and this Dwarf, D'Barok, had something to do with the Cataclysm.
There was discussion of what to do next; go after Echo's prize, Necros, or find Celeros? Celeros it was, which was in the possession of Ulves Falcon's son. You manage to “stealth land on his keep and then infiltrate you way inside to his inner sanctum. Quite a team effort! And Landros did quite a number on several of Falcon's men. Celeros nearly gives Falcon an edge, but nearly isn't good enough and so you rather quickly end the Falcon problem and acquire Celeros.
You re-board Theoninn and are confronted by a conundrum. If you all pursue Esai together - right now - you will probably find him, and you will probably get your collective asses handed to you. Maybe getting Necros and Vaka would make more sense, but that would give Esai time to gather strength. So M7's mission must be a simultaneous forked approach. And this means the party must split up.
One half will get on the ground and infiltrate Esai's effort on a grassroots level. Hopefully they will learn much about Esai while also keeping him on the move, which should slow down the process of his recovery.
Meanwhile, group two will go off (perhaps off-world) in search of other runic items that might prove useful against Esai. This includes kicking Echo's ass...at some point.
You will all play out both sides of this story and determine the ultimate outcome. More than likely, there will be alternating between storylines at certain points. For now, the majority has decide to get on the ground and pursue Esai, so that is where we'll start. That group is:
Agar Prime – (Matt)
Farallon – (Chris)
Treasda – Lodos (Rudy)
Silus – Rök (Lewis)
???? - (Tamiko)
Tamiko can choose to continue with Oki, or choose to be Mirella, Ginsberg, or one of the Skedic soldiers (create a new character).
At some point, everyone will also play members of the other group. For example, if Oki joins the ground crew, then when we have an alternate-night ,you will all take over for Mirella, Ginsberg, Landros (Rudy gets his primary back), and two surprise guests.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Need any updates?
Anyone need any updates? Desire any additional info on the website? Let me know and I will see what I can do. Otherwise, see you all on Oct 12th!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Land of the Damned
Following information from Avenar you all went to a meeting spot in Harkem-Viol. The city ruins were of some race about twice the size of humans. After a little while you notice some strange things, like the movement of the ruins themselves. Fearing an attack you retreat to Theoninn and take off. Soon after, sensors pick up an energy spike and then a creature of some sort which Landros flies out to chat with. The story Landros tells you is that the creature instructed you all to meet in Marhund in 24 hours with the ring or else you would be pursued.
Instead, you all head for Raven , hidden somewhere deep inside the Land of the Damned. You find a desolate city formed of countless numbers of petrified insects that seems to be deserted. Of course, you quickly learn that this is the nocturnal dwelling of Mantus and his cohorts; so you return during the day when it is safer.
You don't run into too much trouble getting to the area of Raven, but you do run into the Goddess who tells you that you are welcome to take Raven as long as you are aware that removing it will lift the curse that banishes Mantus from this world in the daylight. Naturally, you have some misgivings about this, but she assures you that Mantus has no intentions for this world. Allowing Mantus to escape here might help balance the powers of the demon lords' various quests for power; Mania has been looking to overthrow and destroy her husband and having him in the land of the damned might save him a while yet.
So, with Raven in hand you head to Khul-Than Forge, discovering along the way that this runic item works in consort with Theoninn to power its Albucierre Drive. The ship rifts into an interior chamber. From there you head down a very large hallway with statues of armies lining either wall. At the end of this corridor you find what you believe to be the forge itself.
Before you can do much, Skedic troops launch an attack on you which is quickly supressed by Theoninn. Shortly after Ankar shows up hoping to negotiate with you; he wants the forge lit and asks for your help in doing so.
Could this be the culmination of a lifelong search for runic knowledge?
NOTE:
Technically, I made an error regarding the warp drive of Theoninn. In fact you would not have rifted into this area - you cannot pass through solid objects using the ship. It is essentially a line-of-site travel path. Obviously, I allowed you to get in, and getting out won't be a problem from a logistics point of view. But no more warping through solid objects.
Instead, you all head for Raven , hidden somewhere deep inside the Land of the Damned. You find a desolate city formed of countless numbers of petrified insects that seems to be deserted. Of course, you quickly learn that this is the nocturnal dwelling of Mantus and his cohorts; so you return during the day when it is safer.
You don't run into too much trouble getting to the area of Raven, but you do run into the Goddess who tells you that you are welcome to take Raven as long as you are aware that removing it will lift the curse that banishes Mantus from this world in the daylight. Naturally, you have some misgivings about this, but she assures you that Mantus has no intentions for this world. Allowing Mantus to escape here might help balance the powers of the demon lords' various quests for power; Mania has been looking to overthrow and destroy her husband and having him in the land of the damned might save him a while yet.
So, with Raven in hand you head to Khul-Than Forge, discovering along the way that this runic item works in consort with Theoninn to power its Albucierre Drive. The ship rifts into an interior chamber. From there you head down a very large hallway with statues of armies lining either wall. At the end of this corridor you find what you believe to be the forge itself.
Before you can do much, Skedic troops launch an attack on you which is quickly supressed by Theoninn. Shortly after Ankar shows up hoping to negotiate with you; he wants the forge lit and asks for your help in doing so.
Could this be the culmination of a lifelong search for runic knowledge?
NOTE:
Technically, I made an error regarding the warp drive of Theoninn. In fact you would not have rifted into this area - you cannot pass through solid objects using the ship. It is essentially a line-of-site travel path. Obviously, I allowed you to get in, and getting out won't be a problem from a logistics point of view. But no more warping through solid objects.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Temple of Ptelas
Using Lodos you are able to find the Temple in the mountains of the Yin-Sloth jungle. The plateau at the entrance of the temple is littered with very large cairns made of boulders, so landing Theoninn there was not possible. Fortunately there was a clearing near the base of a set of stairs that ascends from the depths of the jungle floor to the temple plateau.
Silus immediately senses something watching you from the jungle and Treasda quickly neutralizes about 12 tribal warriors. Things go uneventfully until you reach the plateau where a sniper starts taking shots at you all. Silus, Farallon and ??? sneak around to flank the sniper while Agar and the others keep him occupied. Eventually Silus drops the snipe with a poison blow dart and you all tie the bastard up. Farallon correctly guess from the Skedic uniform that this snipe was from Eta, meaning that Sonjia was most likely here.
You pick you way through a couple of booby-traps, find the main worship hall of the temple, disarm a remote alarm device and finally come to a great battle.
You reach the central shaft of an extinct volcano and discover/disarm 8 other Skedic who are working for Sonjia. Unfortunately Sonjia has already obtained the ring Chronos and attacks you. Although some of you take a little beating you manage to kill her just after Landros arrives on the scene, plummeting down the shaft in a frogsuit. Avenar, Ankar's son, also shows up demanding to know what is going on. You quickly school him and gather the information that Sonjia and he were going to meet someone named Fermarcus at an ancient ruin call Harkem-Viol.
Farallon manages to convince the Etan Skedic to leave the employ of Ankar and you all pack into Theoninn to go to Harkem-Viol. The maximum comfortable capacity for Theoninn, in terms of bunk space, is 24. As it stands, Landros is "guarding" Chronos and won't let anyone have it yet. The ruins of Harkem-Viol seem to belong to a race of beings about twice the size of humans. You have landed in a sort of town square near one of the glacial lagoons that dot the area around this town/ruin.
Silus immediately senses something watching you from the jungle and Treasda quickly neutralizes about 12 tribal warriors. Things go uneventfully until you reach the plateau where a sniper starts taking shots at you all. Silus, Farallon and ??? sneak around to flank the sniper while Agar and the others keep him occupied. Eventually Silus drops the snipe with a poison blow dart and you all tie the bastard up. Farallon correctly guess from the Skedic uniform that this snipe was from Eta, meaning that Sonjia was most likely here.
You pick you way through a couple of booby-traps, find the main worship hall of the temple, disarm a remote alarm device and finally come to a great battle.
You reach the central shaft of an extinct volcano and discover/disarm 8 other Skedic who are working for Sonjia. Unfortunately Sonjia has already obtained the ring Chronos and attacks you. Although some of you take a little beating you manage to kill her just after Landros arrives on the scene, plummeting down the shaft in a frogsuit. Avenar, Ankar's son, also shows up demanding to know what is going on. You quickly school him and gather the information that Sonjia and he were going to meet someone named Fermarcus at an ancient ruin call Harkem-Viol.
Farallon manages to convince the Etan Skedic to leave the employ of Ankar and you all pack into Theoninn to go to Harkem-Viol. The maximum comfortable capacity for Theoninn, in terms of bunk space, is 24. As it stands, Landros is "guarding" Chronos and won't let anyone have it yet. The ruins of Harkem-Viol seem to belong to a race of beings about twice the size of humans. You have landed in a sort of town square near one of the glacial lagoons that dot the area around this town/ruin.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
From Shroud to Palladium
A quick synopsis of the last couple of meetings...
You left the Elven home world as members of M7 aboard the Infinity which headed out for the Shroud at Lascaille. This was part of Sylveste's plan. During the journey Glaston and Ephemera plot to kill members of the party, but because of Silus' cunning ways you all get the jump on this and loop Volya into the know.
Once at the Shroud, Galston and Ephemera launch their short lived plan and end up being quickly dispatched. Oki and Landros journey into the Shroud boundary and discover many wild and interesting facts, none of which they have had time to divulge to much of anyone except Sylveste. And, in its own special way, the Shroud has left its mark on Oki and Landros.
Sajaki is pissed about the recent goings on, such as the death of two long-time crew (Glaston and Ephemera), and the lack of help for the captain. He calls a meeting which quickly dissolves into an attempt to take over. Sajaki demands that Volya turn over the ship's command bracelet, an item which she seems to be the exclusive keeper of, and tries to use it. He quickly loses his hand as the bracelet severs it allowing Volya to step in and take charge. Akar and Landros escort Sylveste back to his quarters and lock him in there while Oki and Farallon escort Sajaki to the med lab and Jermea to an airlock to be used as a holding cell.
The plan was to then meet back up at the bridge with Volya and Khouri, but things get hairy as Sun Stealer begins to take control over parts of the ship. In an heroic effort, you all manage to find environmental suits and avoid the pursuit of stalking Frog suits. Volya orders you all to take a shuttle, a favorite of hers called Theoninn, and to escape the ship for now. Landros departs the group to go get a Frog suit with the hopes of meeting up with everyone later. He doesn't make it in time. Although the rest of you reach the ship just fine, your troubles begin with the Theoninn being shut-down. Agar valiantly works to get systems online as other shuttles under malevolent control begin to target the sitting duck. Mirella, much to peoples dismay, uses her new amulet to banf the ship into the upper atmosphere of Palladium, somewhere above the Yin-Sloth jungle.
Needless to say, Agar lands the ship just fine (well, crashes into the jungle, but reasonably safely). You meet a tribe of locals who take a liking to the ship. Oki discovers that Theoninn is about 110 million years old and seems to have or use some kind of runic energy. Well, a team effort gets the ship in reasonable condition and you all set out toward the Temple of Ptelas because Lodos has sensed there is a rune object there.
Think of this (brief) time back here in Palladium as an opportunity to settle old scores, tie up some loose ends, and help the Misarlon get the remaining few runic items off-world before you go scouring the heavens for the vast majority at large.
You left the Elven home world as members of M7 aboard the Infinity which headed out for the Shroud at Lascaille. This was part of Sylveste's plan. During the journey Glaston and Ephemera plot to kill members of the party, but because of Silus' cunning ways you all get the jump on this and loop Volya into the know.
Once at the Shroud, Galston and Ephemera launch their short lived plan and end up being quickly dispatched. Oki and Landros journey into the Shroud boundary and discover many wild and interesting facts, none of which they have had time to divulge to much of anyone except Sylveste. And, in its own special way, the Shroud has left its mark on Oki and Landros.
Sajaki is pissed about the recent goings on, such as the death of two long-time crew (Glaston and Ephemera), and the lack of help for the captain. He calls a meeting which quickly dissolves into an attempt to take over. Sajaki demands that Volya turn over the ship's command bracelet, an item which she seems to be the exclusive keeper of, and tries to use it. He quickly loses his hand as the bracelet severs it allowing Volya to step in and take charge. Akar and Landros escort Sylveste back to his quarters and lock him in there while Oki and Farallon escort Sajaki to the med lab and Jermea to an airlock to be used as a holding cell.
The plan was to then meet back up at the bridge with Volya and Khouri, but things get hairy as Sun Stealer begins to take control over parts of the ship. In an heroic effort, you all manage to find environmental suits and avoid the pursuit of stalking Frog suits. Volya orders you all to take a shuttle, a favorite of hers called Theoninn, and to escape the ship for now. Landros departs the group to go get a Frog suit with the hopes of meeting up with everyone later. He doesn't make it in time. Although the rest of you reach the ship just fine, your troubles begin with the Theoninn being shut-down. Agar valiantly works to get systems online as other shuttles under malevolent control begin to target the sitting duck. Mirella, much to peoples dismay, uses her new amulet to banf the ship into the upper atmosphere of Palladium, somewhere above the Yin-Sloth jungle.
Needless to say, Agar lands the ship just fine (well, crashes into the jungle, but reasonably safely). You meet a tribe of locals who take a liking to the ship. Oki discovers that Theoninn is about 110 million years old and seems to have or use some kind of runic energy. Well, a team effort gets the ship in reasonable condition and you all set out toward the Temple of Ptelas because Lodos has sensed there is a rune object there.
Think of this (brief) time back here in Palladium as an opportunity to settle old scores, tie up some loose ends, and help the Misarlon get the remaining few runic items off-world before you go scouring the heavens for the vast majority at large.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Updates
Coming soon...
There will be a new character sheet form that references all of the new tables. It even fills in OCC skills based on OCC. Maybe it will have even more functionality by the end of next week. Does anyone remember what bonus I allowed for OCC skills? Was it a flat number, like 15%, or did everyone take it from the book? I think it was a flat rate.
Also, the synopsis for last week will be out sometime soon, but not before Wednesday in all likelihood.
There will be a new character sheet form that references all of the new tables. It even fills in OCC skills based on OCC. Maybe it will have even more functionality by the end of next week. Does anyone remember what bonus I allowed for OCC skills? Was it a flat number, like 15%, or did everyone take it from the book? I think it was a flat rate.
Also, the synopsis for last week will be out sometime soon, but not before Wednesday in all likelihood.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Welcome to M7
A brief synopsis...
Sylveste drags you all to the ruins that started the entire Skedic research project. There you learn that the native race, the Amarantin, is known to you as the Yema. The Yema were divided into two tribes; one tribe believed that god had punished them and that should never seek to fly while the other, more rebellious tribe left and journeyed among the stars for ten thousand years. They returned being pursued by the Inhibitors, whom they knew would destroy their entire race. The space-faring Amarantin grabbed as many refugees as possible and left behind an enormous "time capsule" of sorts to their culture, the sphere.
Another four years (20 years total now) and you all arrive at Gliese, the home of the elves. Mirella invites you all out and ends up leading you to an M7 meeting where you are greeted by their leader, Eyvinon. Eyvinon invites you all to join the Misarlon/M7 as allies (an offer which you all accept) and then gives you the first mission of stopping Sylveste and Sajaki...in essence, stealing the lighthugger. Well, over Volya's dead body, of course, but maybe she could prove to be useful.
But before you can begin your mission you are sworn in. And Twession, one of the elder members, presents Landros a medal of distinction for his years of faithful service in the Ipinidaan.
Your seven are:
Mirella
Farallon
Agar Prime
Oki
Landros
Silus
and Treasda.
the Kankoran gone Bohemian is just a tag along...and he has changed his name to Ginsberg.
Sylveste drags you all to the ruins that started the entire Skedic research project. There you learn that the native race, the Amarantin, is known to you as the Yema. The Yema were divided into two tribes; one tribe believed that god had punished them and that should never seek to fly while the other, more rebellious tribe left and journeyed among the stars for ten thousand years. They returned being pursued by the Inhibitors, whom they knew would destroy their entire race. The space-faring Amarantin grabbed as many refugees as possible and left behind an enormous "time capsule" of sorts to their culture, the sphere.
Another four years (20 years total now) and you all arrive at Gliese, the home of the elves. Mirella invites you all out and ends up leading you to an M7 meeting where you are greeted by their leader, Eyvinon. Eyvinon invites you all to join the Misarlon/M7 as allies (an offer which you all accept) and then gives you the first mission of stopping Sylveste and Sajaki...in essence, stealing the lighthugger. Well, over Volya's dead body, of course, but maybe she could prove to be useful.
But before you can begin your mission you are sworn in. And Twession, one of the elder members, presents Landros a medal of distinction for his years of faithful service in the Ipinidaan.
Your seven are:
Mirella
Farallon
Agar Prime
Oki
Landros
Silus
and Treasda.
the Kankoran gone Bohemian is just a tag along...and he has changed his name to Ginsberg.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Synopsis: Into the Heavens
After a few minutes you were able to figure out that you were in some sort of rotating space station (colloquially, a “carousel”) and that you were near the hub. Farallon pressed Mirella for information on where exactly you were and how you got there. Seems that Mirella, though Elven, is not from Palladium, but rather Erysterai, a world which orbits Gliese 876. She is part of the Misarlon, but that is only the Palladium name for a larger group known throughout the Cognoverse (known set of systems and colonies) as M7.
M7 starts with Fermi's paradox which briefly put states that given the theoretical number of planets that could support life and advanced civilizations it is improbably that we should find so very few races living among the stars. Research over the years found that there were, in fact, as many civilizations as Fermi's equations suggested; they were just all extinct, and not by natural causes, or so it came to be understood. So M7 was formed a very long time ago to help safeguard the newer races that had appeared in the galactic scene. It is believed that these other extinct races had attracted the attention of something known as the Inhibitors. Races that tried to expand boundaries of travel too far or had used “runic” energy tended to attracted this unwanted attention, so M7 tries to keep the profile of the human races and its neighbors below the radar of the Inhibitors.
Not wanting to just sit around, you all decide to take an elevator ride down to the outer ring of the station where the gravity approaches something normal, but you unfortunately disturb the denizens of this semi-derelict station, a group of Juicers who want to play. You all race back up to the hub where Treasda and Lodos seal the safety hatches and Landros (using Eldvöð) heats up the locking rings to become untouchable, buying you all enough time for Oki to telehack into the computer system. Oki gets you all clearance to the shuttle bay and prewarms a craft for you to leave. By this time the Juicers have armed the station's weapons and are merely waiting for you to leave the bay before they destroy you. Mirella calculates that even at the 10G maximum thrust, the Juicers will have more than enough time to pick you off as you leave. Agar Prime devises a scheme to clear the bay at 10G's, which will render everyone else unconscious, and then swing the nose around and unleash the shuttle meager fury at the other ship in the bay and the bay itself. Seconds before this plan can be executed a very large dark shadow slides between the station and the gas giant below. It is a lighthugger. With nothing to lose, you follow through with Agar's plan. It works splendidly, and a fraction of a second later the lighthugger send out a series of beams that reduces the station into a shimmering cascade of tiny metal pieces.
A radio hail from the lighthugger, “Nostalgia for Infinity”, informs you that you have been arbitrarily selected to join their crew. You oblige.
On board you meet Volya, a female triumvirate of the ship and head of weapons and engineering, Sajaki, triumvirate number two, unstable megalomaniac, and Jermea, the third wheel. There is also Kori, a crew member as well as Glaston and Ephemera, both highly chimeric Ultras. Oki tries to bond with the ship and encounters a force, “Sun-Stealer”. The mere mention of Sun-Stealer makes Sajaki very mad...
To make a complicated story short, the crew is looking for a cure for the captain ,who has the melding plaque, a disease which causes the nano-chines in his body to run amok and begun melding into other things. In this case the captain is melding into the ship and has bonded with about ten percent of it. Sajaki believes that the answer can be found on Palladium, but because that system is so far away and dangerous to get to, they will travel to Anasaria and use the Rifts. Fast forward through a six year stint in hibernation and you wake up to find that this entity, Sun-Stealer is trying to destroy the entire planet of Anasaria. Apparently it does'nt want the rifts open and believes that if they are not closed the Inhibitors will come and destroy everyone. Oki is able to determine that Sun-Stealer is about a billion year old entity.
The story that emerges is that billions of years ago several races ascended to the stars and fell into conflict with each other. The war between these races lasted so many millions of years that it became impossible to tell how many races had ever been involved in the war, since the races had evolved so much over the course of the conflict. Eventually, all but one race disappeared from the conflict, those that became known as the Inhibitors. From that point forward the Inhibitors prevented any other such war from starting by preventing any race from ever achieving the technology necessary. It has been between three or four billion years since the end of the Dawn War. Sun-Stealer's people learned all of this about the Dawn War once they had stirred the hornets nest and just before they were destroyed.
M7 starts with Fermi's paradox which briefly put states that given the theoretical number of planets that could support life and advanced civilizations it is improbably that we should find so very few races living among the stars. Research over the years found that there were, in fact, as many civilizations as Fermi's equations suggested; they were just all extinct, and not by natural causes, or so it came to be understood. So M7 was formed a very long time ago to help safeguard the newer races that had appeared in the galactic scene. It is believed that these other extinct races had attracted the attention of something known as the Inhibitors. Races that tried to expand boundaries of travel too far or had used “runic” energy tended to attracted this unwanted attention, so M7 tries to keep the profile of the human races and its neighbors below the radar of the Inhibitors.
Not wanting to just sit around, you all decide to take an elevator ride down to the outer ring of the station where the gravity approaches something normal, but you unfortunately disturb the denizens of this semi-derelict station, a group of Juicers who want to play. You all race back up to the hub where Treasda and Lodos seal the safety hatches and Landros (using Eldvöð) heats up the locking rings to become untouchable, buying you all enough time for Oki to telehack into the computer system. Oki gets you all clearance to the shuttle bay and prewarms a craft for you to leave. By this time the Juicers have armed the station's weapons and are merely waiting for you to leave the bay before they destroy you. Mirella calculates that even at the 10G maximum thrust, the Juicers will have more than enough time to pick you off as you leave. Agar Prime devises a scheme to clear the bay at 10G's, which will render everyone else unconscious, and then swing the nose around and unleash the shuttle meager fury at the other ship in the bay and the bay itself. Seconds before this plan can be executed a very large dark shadow slides between the station and the gas giant below. It is a lighthugger. With nothing to lose, you follow through with Agar's plan. It works splendidly, and a fraction of a second later the lighthugger send out a series of beams that reduces the station into a shimmering cascade of tiny metal pieces.
A radio hail from the lighthugger, “Nostalgia for Infinity”, informs you that you have been arbitrarily selected to join their crew. You oblige.
On board you meet Volya, a female triumvirate of the ship and head of weapons and engineering, Sajaki, triumvirate number two, unstable megalomaniac, and Jermea, the third wheel. There is also Kori, a crew member as well as Glaston and Ephemera, both highly chimeric Ultras. Oki tries to bond with the ship and encounters a force, “Sun-Stealer”. The mere mention of Sun-Stealer makes Sajaki very mad...
To make a complicated story short, the crew is looking for a cure for the captain ,who has the melding plaque, a disease which causes the nano-chines in his body to run amok and begun melding into other things. In this case the captain is melding into the ship and has bonded with about ten percent of it. Sajaki believes that the answer can be found on Palladium, but because that system is so far away and dangerous to get to, they will travel to Anasaria and use the Rifts. Fast forward through a six year stint in hibernation and you wake up to find that this entity, Sun-Stealer is trying to destroy the entire planet of Anasaria. Apparently it does'nt want the rifts open and believes that if they are not closed the Inhibitors will come and destroy everyone. Oki is able to determine that Sun-Stealer is about a billion year old entity.
The story that emerges is that billions of years ago several races ascended to the stars and fell into conflict with each other. The war between these races lasted so many millions of years that it became impossible to tell how many races had ever been involved in the war, since the races had evolved so much over the course of the conflict. Eventually, all but one race disappeared from the conflict, those that became known as the Inhibitors. From that point forward the Inhibitors prevented any other such war from starting by preventing any race from ever achieving the technology necessary. It has been between three or four billion years since the end of the Dawn War. Sun-Stealer's people learned all of this about the Dawn War once they had stirred the hornets nest and just before they were destroyed.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Lighthugger
Lighthuggers are about 3km in length. The sleek hull is designed to cut through the relatively thick gas of space as the craft travels at 0.99c At relativistic speeds a very large gossamer sail can be unfurled to collect molecules for use in the Conjoiner engines.Alliance craft, while capable of being pushed to 0.75c, are really only designed for 0.25c to 0.45c and the design differences between the craft are astonoshing.
Alliance Vessel
Alliance Vessels are about 1000m (1km) long. Maximum Speed is 0.75c (3/4 of the speed of lilght). Absolute Maximum acceleration is 10G's. Nominal acceleration is 4G's, although for human comfort it is most often 1G.
A new era
Although the Androsien would only have a sketchy outline of the human timeline and culture (and the elf would know nothing at all), I felt it important to get everyone on the same page as we prepare to move forward.
I draw heavily on the fiction of Alastair Reynolds and his “Revelation Space Series” for much of the following.
The Timeline
2035 – Moon Resource Center Online
2051 – First Permanent Research Facility on Mars
2067 – Colonization of Mars begins
2074 – Outer Satellite Resource Project Begins
2075 – Mars colonists become Conjoiners
2083 – OSR Factories online
2087 – Conjoiner RamDrive
2090 – Deep Space Exploration Probes Launched
2096 – Alliance formed joining former Chin-American and Lunar States
2101 – Chimeric technology begins to grow in general popularity.
2111 – Alliance technology creates CFR Engines
2112 – Conjoiner Drive is created.
2116 - Epsilon Eridani Probe reports on habitable world in system
2120 – Mars Colony reaches 1 million
2121 – Alliance vessel “Plymouth” leaves for Eridani
2122 – Lighthuggers leave for nearest 100 stars, except Eridani.
2125 – Conjoiner Civil War
2129 – Civil War ends.
2131 – Conjoiner Lighthugger “Relative Legacy” leaves for Eridani based on more probe info.
2141 - “Plymouth” and “Legacy” arrive at planet, Anasaria
2142 – Lighthuggers have visited all 100 nearest systems. Palladium system not among visited because it is about 100 light years away. Emergence of Ultras. First alien race “Elves” are met near Gliese 876.
2200 – Lighthuggers become the trade ships of the expanding reaches of human colonization.
2250 – Furthest human colonies now 40 light years from earth. Divergence of human culture on a profound scale.
2262 – Conjoiners cease production of Lighthuggers.
2347 – Anasaria has grown on its own to such a size that they begin exploration star systems further out. Alliance research vessel “California” detects ruins on a desolate rocky planet in a nearby system
2455 – Archeologists learn about the demise of this ancient alien culture
2465 – Rifts successfully established to Palladium
2474 – 2500 Skedic outposts on Palladium are built.
2524 – Cataclysm
2542 – Lighthugger “Nostalgia for Infinity” stops at Anasaria for a trade run and discovers the mass destruction. Inter-System Trade Rules require that a quarantine beacon be placed until a Threat Assessment Team can be sent in.
2552 – Alliance Deep Space Listeners here quarantine beacon and assemble a task force.
2567 – Alliance TAT arrives in Anasari orbit. TAT commanders request back-up from mercenary vessels in area (“The Splendid Verschränkung”) while they observe and research the alien activity on the planet. They do establish supply drops of food and medicine for the trapped humans, although they do not travel to the surface themselves.
2575 – Return of Rifts to Palladium, “Verschränkung” arrives in orbit and assists Tar in eliminating threats.
Human settlements outside of the Solaris (Earth) system are all very isolated from each other. At best, an Alliance or Lighthugger ship will come by every dozen or so years unless, like Solaris, they are at a hub of trade. It is not uncommon for a system to remain out of direct contact with anyone else for 30, 40, 50, or more years. If you think that the midwest is a decade behind the times, then you can extrapolate how out of touch entire colonies can be. There is no over-arching interstellar government; instead each colony is highly independent and culturally utterly different from its neighbors. This is true to such an extent that humans from different colonies may seem to be only tenuously related as a species at times.
Conjoiners
A human sub-race that began augmenting the human brain by grafting on nano-neural processors. They have altered themselves to such an extent that their skulls must be modified by the addition of huge cooling fins in order to avoid overheating their gray matter. The size and style of the fins has become a symbol of which “tribe” a Conjoiner belongs to. They are extremely aloof and very bored by almost all other humans. They traverse the great divides visiting various worlds, but no one ever seems to know what they are doing. They created the technology for both the Conjoiner drives and the alliance Cold Fusion Reactor Engines. The technology inside of the Conjoiner drives is so far advanced from typical human understanding that it is totally inscrutable. Although the Conjoiners are intellectually capable of solving any human problem that is solvable, they just don't seem to care about what happens to the rest of the race.
Ultras
Ultranauts. These intrepid souls are the crew members of the intersystem ships. They spend most of their time between ports in reefersleep (hibernation); this means that most of the Ultras crewing lighthuggers today started over 400 years ago and yet they may only be in their 40's or 50's, since to their perspective only about 20 or so relative years would have passed in the last 400 or so. Despite this relative time problem, there are still Ultras who were born on ships and have never set foot on a planet. For this reason Ultras are a strange breed, often seen as sociopathic, and certainly completely out of touch with the experience of being “human” in a traditional sense. They bounce from one port to another, trading and selling goods, enjoying a few days of party and drink, and then it's back to reefersleep for another ten years until the next stop. Many Ultras are chimeric: hybrid machine and biological human, although the symbiosis is much deeper than mere cyborg implants or bionics. In chimerics, nano machines can co-opt living cells to produce a latex like skin armor, or harness mitochondrial activity to power implants, or any other number of things.
All lighthuggers are manned by Ultras. This is sort of a Chicken/Egg Paradox. Those who were suited to intersystem travel stayed on the ships to run them while those who couldn't stomach it left. When the Conjoiners stopped manufacturing ships, there was no need to recruit large numbers of crew; the crews already in service were well on their way to forming the Ultra culture we know today. And, given the lack of a grand unifying government, we can see why these ships have no political affiliation. Furthermore, given the scale of time and the relative fragility of corporate entities it should not be a surprise that, although the multi-trillion dollar price tag of the lighthuggers was originally paid for by companies, no lighthugger is currently “owned” by any corporation. Of course, there are a couple of legal battles outstanding, but it is very difficult indeed to serve a summons over the vast distances and times involved. Thus, all intersystem trade is controlled by the Ultras.
What about the Alliance? Alliance technology is vastly inferior, even the old CFR drives made by the Conjoiners are wimpy in comparison to the lighthuggers. Alliance ships also lack the integration and nano-systems built into lighthuggers, so they age and take wear and tear much more quickly. Only the Conjoiners can build CFR engines, and so the total number of Alliance ships is dwindling with no hope of replacement. In a couple of centuries all that will remain are lighthuggers and Ultras.
Earth
What the Anasari know of Earth is that it was a political mess and an environmental disaster when they left to start their own colony over 350 years ago.
I draw heavily on the fiction of Alastair Reynolds and his “Revelation Space Series” for much of the following.
The Timeline
2035 – Moon Resource Center Online
2051 – First Permanent Research Facility on Mars
2067 – Colonization of Mars begins
2074 – Outer Satellite Resource Project Begins
2075 – Mars colonists become Conjoiners
2083 – OSR Factories online
2087 – Conjoiner RamDrive
2090 – Deep Space Exploration Probes Launched
2096 – Alliance formed joining former Chin-American and Lunar States
2101 – Chimeric technology begins to grow in general popularity.
2111 – Alliance technology creates CFR Engines
2112 – Conjoiner Drive is created.
2116 - Epsilon Eridani Probe reports on habitable world in system
2120 – Mars Colony reaches 1 million
2121 – Alliance vessel “Plymouth” leaves for Eridani
2122 – Lighthuggers leave for nearest 100 stars, except Eridani.
2125 – Conjoiner Civil War
2129 – Civil War ends.
2131 – Conjoiner Lighthugger “Relative Legacy” leaves for Eridani based on more probe info.
2141 - “Plymouth” and “Legacy” arrive at planet, Anasaria
2142 – Lighthuggers have visited all 100 nearest systems. Palladium system not among visited because it is about 100 light years away. Emergence of Ultras. First alien race “Elves” are met near Gliese 876.
2200 – Lighthuggers become the trade ships of the expanding reaches of human colonization.
2250 – Furthest human colonies now 40 light years from earth. Divergence of human culture on a profound scale.
2262 – Conjoiners cease production of Lighthuggers.
2347 – Anasaria has grown on its own to such a size that they begin exploration star systems further out. Alliance research vessel “California” detects ruins on a desolate rocky planet in a nearby system
2455 – Archeologists learn about the demise of this ancient alien culture
2465 – Rifts successfully established to Palladium
2474 – 2500 Skedic outposts on Palladium are built.
2524 – Cataclysm
2542 – Lighthugger “Nostalgia for Infinity” stops at Anasaria for a trade run and discovers the mass destruction. Inter-System Trade Rules require that a quarantine beacon be placed until a Threat Assessment Team can be sent in.
2552 – Alliance Deep Space Listeners here quarantine beacon and assemble a task force.
2567 – Alliance TAT arrives in Anasari orbit. TAT commanders request back-up from mercenary vessels in area (“The Splendid Verschränkung”) while they observe and research the alien activity on the planet. They do establish supply drops of food and medicine for the trapped humans, although they do not travel to the surface themselves.
2575 – Return of Rifts to Palladium, “Verschränkung” arrives in orbit and assists Tar in eliminating threats.
Human settlements outside of the Solaris (Earth) system are all very isolated from each other. At best, an Alliance or Lighthugger ship will come by every dozen or so years unless, like Solaris, they are at a hub of trade. It is not uncommon for a system to remain out of direct contact with anyone else for 30, 40, 50, or more years. If you think that the midwest is a decade behind the times, then you can extrapolate how out of touch entire colonies can be. There is no over-arching interstellar government; instead each colony is highly independent and culturally utterly different from its neighbors. This is true to such an extent that humans from different colonies may seem to be only tenuously related as a species at times.
Conjoiners
A human sub-race that began augmenting the human brain by grafting on nano-neural processors. They have altered themselves to such an extent that their skulls must be modified by the addition of huge cooling fins in order to avoid overheating their gray matter. The size and style of the fins has become a symbol of which “tribe” a Conjoiner belongs to. They are extremely aloof and very bored by almost all other humans. They traverse the great divides visiting various worlds, but no one ever seems to know what they are doing. They created the technology for both the Conjoiner drives and the alliance Cold Fusion Reactor Engines. The technology inside of the Conjoiner drives is so far advanced from typical human understanding that it is totally inscrutable. Although the Conjoiners are intellectually capable of solving any human problem that is solvable, they just don't seem to care about what happens to the rest of the race.
Ultras
Ultranauts. These intrepid souls are the crew members of the intersystem ships. They spend most of their time between ports in reefersleep (hibernation); this means that most of the Ultras crewing lighthuggers today started over 400 years ago and yet they may only be in their 40's or 50's, since to their perspective only about 20 or so relative years would have passed in the last 400 or so. Despite this relative time problem, there are still Ultras who were born on ships and have never set foot on a planet. For this reason Ultras are a strange breed, often seen as sociopathic, and certainly completely out of touch with the experience of being “human” in a traditional sense. They bounce from one port to another, trading and selling goods, enjoying a few days of party and drink, and then it's back to reefersleep for another ten years until the next stop. Many Ultras are chimeric: hybrid machine and biological human, although the symbiosis is much deeper than mere cyborg implants or bionics. In chimerics, nano machines can co-opt living cells to produce a latex like skin armor, or harness mitochondrial activity to power implants, or any other number of things.
All lighthuggers are manned by Ultras. This is sort of a Chicken/Egg Paradox. Those who were suited to intersystem travel stayed on the ships to run them while those who couldn't stomach it left. When the Conjoiners stopped manufacturing ships, there was no need to recruit large numbers of crew; the crews already in service were well on their way to forming the Ultra culture we know today. And, given the lack of a grand unifying government, we can see why these ships have no political affiliation. Furthermore, given the scale of time and the relative fragility of corporate entities it should not be a surprise that, although the multi-trillion dollar price tag of the lighthuggers was originally paid for by companies, no lighthugger is currently “owned” by any corporation. Of course, there are a couple of legal battles outstanding, but it is very difficult indeed to serve a summons over the vast distances and times involved. Thus, all intersystem trade is controlled by the Ultras.
What about the Alliance? Alliance technology is vastly inferior, even the old CFR drives made by the Conjoiners are wimpy in comparison to the lighthuggers. Alliance ships also lack the integration and nano-systems built into lighthuggers, so they age and take wear and tear much more quickly. Only the Conjoiners can build CFR engines, and so the total number of Alliance ships is dwindling with no hope of replacement. In a couple of centuries all that will remain are lighthuggers and Ultras.
Earth
What the Anasari know of Earth is that it was a political mess and an environmental disaster when they left to start their own colony over 350 years ago.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Synopsis: Demon Temple of Naylon
So there you were - in the dungeons deep beneath the stepped pyramid at the center of Temple Naylon, walking down a hallway whose walls and ceiling were covered with fleshy pods and intestinal looking things - when the ceiling of the corridor behind you closes down sealing you inside. No way to go but forward. The kankoran and Treasda were freaking out, but Oki was able to calm them down for a bit.
A large stone double door held the party up for a while as they tried to figure out how open it. An object read and a search for concealment finally revealed the mechanism. Beyond the door was a large octagonal room with a total of four doors, one for each of the cardinal coordinates. The diagonal walls between the doors had carvings of: Charun, the demon beatles, Mania/Mantus, and Modeus. In the center of the room was a fountain, although it no longer worked. The ceiling was domed with a small hole at it apex, right above the fountain. The room was lit by an unknown light source bouncing a soft, honey light off of the dome.
The door straight ahead seemed appealing, so you opened it to find a corridor leading down to a room from which softly flickering amber light could be seen. Farallon was on his way to investigate when Oki became possessed(?) by some black, wraith-like entity. The wraith slew and beheaded Ashuntuc (one of the kankoran) using Void. Then the dark creature dragged the carcass of Ashuntuc to the fountain, raised the kankoran over its head with one arm, and slammed the decapitated body into the fountain. Immediately silver, gray, and black fibrous tendrils sprouted from the fountain, engulfing it and causing to collapse in on itself.
Regaining composure, Agar did at any rate, the party started to close the door. Oki/beast ran at the party but was tripped by Landros. She fell hard, Void clattering out of her hands. The wraith seemed to leave her, but the door finally shuts at the moment. After a second of debate, the party, bristling with weapons ready, opened the sliding stoned door just in time to see Void slide into the mass of tendrils and get sucked into the dark fibrous mass. Oki seemed fine, but then there were the footsteps. ..the footsteps of something enormous reverberating through the stone.
(past to present tense)
Lodos points the way through a door to the east. There you are promptly attacked by three Shedim demons. Treasda and Lodos protect the party beneath a powerful shield while teamwork helps whittle down the demons quickly. When the dust settles, you approach an altar at the far end of the room that seems to be protected by a halo of blue light. Silus is the first through and grabs Rök for himself.
The massive footsteps are still getting closer, so Landros opens up a rift allowing you to escape...only to face the witch. The witch of Wickmire almost has the best of you, but once you manage to land a hit, she goes down quickly.
Back at Aja you find out that the same black/silver tendrils have taken over the toriod research facility where void was scanned. Three skedic who had extensive contact trying to remove the fibers got infected and died, their bodies turned into empty husks. The party's attempts to help remove the tendrils goes nowhere.
Off to see Ecco, the dragon who is guarding Necros.
The journey is fairly uneventful and finally you arrive at a massive cave in the mountain glacier. Everything here is massive - the doors, the hallways, the rooms - all dwarven but scaled for very large dragon to use. Close to the entrance Agar notices a bloodied grat cloak on the floor.
A massive circular well ringed with a spiral staircase descends a mile into the mountain. At the base of the stairs are two Misarlon, chained to the wall. They reveal only that they were here to get Necros and then pass out. Again, Agar hears cries for help, so you follow the massive hallway down to a very large room (think indoor football stadium). Two-thirds of the room is covered in a sea of gold and treasure. Chained to metal stakes off to the side are four more Misarlon, one of whom is Mirella (the you met a while ago near D'Hurasel). She explains that Ecco had been entrusted to guard Necros for over a thousand years. The Misarlon, fearing that you would try to get Necros from him, decided to relocated the item - only Necros wouldn't give it up and killed one and imprisoned the rest. Mirella entreats you to free her, which you do just in time for Ecco to show up. One more Misarlon, a dwarve, gets it and it looks like it might be curtains when...
A blinding flash of white, everything falling away to darkness, almost unconscious, and then you all come to your senses floating weightless along with other debris in a dimly lit metallic room whose walls seem to be moving gently clockwise around some unseen axis.
A large stone double door held the party up for a while as they tried to figure out how open it. An object read and a search for concealment finally revealed the mechanism. Beyond the door was a large octagonal room with a total of four doors, one for each of the cardinal coordinates. The diagonal walls between the doors had carvings of: Charun, the demon beatles, Mania/Mantus, and Modeus. In the center of the room was a fountain, although it no longer worked. The ceiling was domed with a small hole at it apex, right above the fountain. The room was lit by an unknown light source bouncing a soft, honey light off of the dome.
The door straight ahead seemed appealing, so you opened it to find a corridor leading down to a room from which softly flickering amber light could be seen. Farallon was on his way to investigate when Oki became possessed(?) by some black, wraith-like entity. The wraith slew and beheaded Ashuntuc (one of the kankoran) using Void. Then the dark creature dragged the carcass of Ashuntuc to the fountain, raised the kankoran over its head with one arm, and slammed the decapitated body into the fountain. Immediately silver, gray, and black fibrous tendrils sprouted from the fountain, engulfing it and causing to collapse in on itself.
Regaining composure, Agar did at any rate, the party started to close the door. Oki/beast ran at the party but was tripped by Landros. She fell hard, Void clattering out of her hands. The wraith seemed to leave her, but the door finally shuts at the moment. After a second of debate, the party, bristling with weapons ready, opened the sliding stoned door just in time to see Void slide into the mass of tendrils and get sucked into the dark fibrous mass. Oki seemed fine, but then there were the footsteps. ..the footsteps of something enormous reverberating through the stone.
(past to present tense)
Lodos points the way through a door to the east. There you are promptly attacked by three Shedim demons. Treasda and Lodos protect the party beneath a powerful shield while teamwork helps whittle down the demons quickly. When the dust settles, you approach an altar at the far end of the room that seems to be protected by a halo of blue light. Silus is the first through and grabs Rök for himself.
The massive footsteps are still getting closer, so Landros opens up a rift allowing you to escape...only to face the witch. The witch of Wickmire almost has the best of you, but once you manage to land a hit, she goes down quickly.
Back at Aja you find out that the same black/silver tendrils have taken over the toriod research facility where void was scanned. Three skedic who had extensive contact trying to remove the fibers got infected and died, their bodies turned into empty husks. The party's attempts to help remove the tendrils goes nowhere.
Off to see Ecco, the dragon who is guarding Necros.
The journey is fairly uneventful and finally you arrive at a massive cave in the mountain glacier. Everything here is massive - the doors, the hallways, the rooms - all dwarven but scaled for very large dragon to use. Close to the entrance Agar notices a bloodied grat cloak on the floor.
A massive circular well ringed with a spiral staircase descends a mile into the mountain. At the base of the stairs are two Misarlon, chained to the wall. They reveal only that they were here to get Necros and then pass out. Again, Agar hears cries for help, so you follow the massive hallway down to a very large room (think indoor football stadium). Two-thirds of the room is covered in a sea of gold and treasure. Chained to metal stakes off to the side are four more Misarlon, one of whom is Mirella (the you met a while ago near D'Hurasel). She explains that Ecco had been entrusted to guard Necros for over a thousand years. The Misarlon, fearing that you would try to get Necros from him, decided to relocated the item - only Necros wouldn't give it up and killed one and imprisoned the rest. Mirella entreats you to free her, which you do just in time for Ecco to show up. One more Misarlon, a dwarve, gets it and it looks like it might be curtains when...
A blinding flash of white, everything falling away to darkness, almost unconscious, and then you all come to your senses floating weightless along with other debris in a dimly lit metallic room whose walls seem to be moving gently clockwise around some unseen axis.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Treasda's Thoughts
I wanted to clarify what Treasda believes is going on and thus thought would be the best course of action. She thinks that Ankar has become too obsessed with his quest for rune knowledge and that his goals, to unite the eastern and southern kingdoms against invasion (i.e. the Wolfen Empire), will lead to a massacre of the peoples of the Great Northern Wilderness. Of course, Treasda is a friend and sympathizer of the Wolfen and Kankoran, who are not friends with each other it should be noted, so she could be politically motivated. She knew of his plans to create a great runic teleportation device and points to this as being a huge and obvious threat to just about anyone who would oppose him.
While she is talking about contacting the Misarlon, it is clear that she is still trying to figure out what exactly to do. The vibe is that she might work with or along side them if they turned out to be okay. In other words, she is looking for allies since she seems to have concluded that Ankar isn't particularly trustworthy at this point.
While she is talking about contacting the Misarlon, it is clear that she is still trying to figure out what exactly to do. The vibe is that she might work with or along side them if they turned out to be okay. In other words, she is looking for allies since she seems to have concluded that Ankar isn't particularly trustworthy at this point.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Coming changes
As I've mentioned, I fear that the time is coming for some battles which might well prove to be rather "final" for some. And so it is now that I present some potential mods to the character system that seek to improve upon the base in the book. Hop efully this will help those who might fall in battle...
One problem with the Palladium/Rifts attribute and skill system is that any attribute below a 15 is essentially the same. For example, whether you have a PP of 3 or 15 makes no difference in your character's ability to pick locks, perform acrobatics, or strike/parry/dodge in battle. Doesn't makes much sense, does it? So, with the help of Chris, I have worked out a system that is based on the idea of the bell curve distribution.
The game is rather anthropocentric and I decided that this was a fine way to "view" the megaverse - through the perspective of humans. An attribute of 3 would be equal (roughly) to someone in the 1st percentile while a human with an 18 would be in the 99th percentile. If you remember how percentiles work, that means, for the the person in the 99th percentile, that only 1 out of every 100 people will be equal or better than them. To make a long story short this leads to the idea that an attribute score of 10 or 11 is dead average. Anything below or above that incurs a penalty or a bonus.
The chart here is for IQ, but will adapted for the rest of the attributes. Not only does your IQ effect your starting skill level, it also effects how quickly your character learns as they level-up. If you are wondering why Rifts doesn't aleady use a system like this, it is probably because the math used to create it is not so simple, creating a situation where you pretty much have to use a chart to figure out whar is going on.
NOTE: Not all skills will be governed by IQ moving into the future. Acrobatics, for example, does not much depend on your brains as your physical prowess.
Friday, February 13, 2009
More from Ankar and Rune Weapons
Ankar has learned that the location of Eldvöð has been revealed and perhaps that would be a better option than the Kuhl-Thahn Forge at this time. Also, Eldvöð is not that far away, but lies in the ruins of an abandoned city in the grasslands. Truth is, it might be jumping the shark to go to Khul-Thahn at this point.
Runes Weapons Of Legend
Chronos type: ring
Appearing as a silver ring with intricate gold runes carved on it inside and out
Void type: sword
There are not any reliable descriptions of this weapon only a report that comes from a Halthar of Gyun who was a known liar and might never have actually seen this blade. His writing says that the blade is glossy black and highly reflective, although it mirrors everything in negative colors. If you stare at it for even a moment, the images start to swirl and distort in nightmarish fashion. The runes along the blade are hard to see and many swear that they move about like ants across the surface of water. The cross piece looks like the mandibles from some large, carnivorous insect and the hilt, unwrapped, looks like plain steel.
Necros type: septre
A hazy crystal ball about 3 inches in diameter with several blood-red runes inside of it is seated atop a ring of carved miniature human skulls that act like the prongs holding the ball in place. The shaft of the septre is a black and silver sculpture of a tower of dead naked bodies of all humanoid races.
Rök type: sword
The Stormblade is a beautifully crafted silver sword with a line of opalescent blue runes carved along its length. It is known that among its lesser powers it can predict/ know the weather in any part of Palladium. It is second in beauty, perhaps, to Ice.
Eldvoð type: sword
It appears as a plain steel sword with a thin line of runes carved down the center. It often seems to be faintly covered with carbon. The blade can glow red, as if just plucked from the smith's forge.
Vaka-Svefn type: helmet
The helm is said to be of a golden lion's head, although it is very lightweight to wear. The runes are carved along the inside rim of the helmet. The interior strap and cushioning are not runic, and so must replaced whenever it wears out. Literally, the helmet's name comes out something like ”waking-sleep”. Some believe this to be the Trojan Horse of runic items.
Ice type: sword
A white gold blade with sparkling silver runes, many say this blade is one of the most beautiful ever made. It is known that it can summon a blizzard in the tropics and freeze 5 square miles of ocean water.
Castlerake type: sword
A large, strong looking blade with faintly golden runes along its length. This blade has felled many a castle wall in its time.
Lodos type: staff
A very knotted and twisted wooden staff, its runes are hard to spot for some since they wind up its length like a ribbon, following the contours of the undulating wood. Some say this staff can raise a forest overnight while others claim it can cause a lunar eclipse of one of Palladiums two small moons. This is not generally a sought after item since it is not suspected to have any offensive power.
Raven type: sword
A strange white blade, like bleached bone or unglazed china, two ribbons of jet black runes twist in a helix like pattern up the blade. Its color has given it the nickname “Bone Blade”. Stories say that you never had to wipe the blade clean as it drank whatever blood it tasted. Although its powers remain a mystery, it is thought to be one of the most powerful blades ever created. It is perhaps second in creepiness only to Void.
It is suspected by some that Mephistopholes or Hel had some part in creating this sword, which would make it a demon-slayer. Others argue that Mantus, the demon lord of the dead more likely influenced its creation.
Celeros type: sword/ring
There is debate as to whether this is a ring or a sword. In either case it appears as if it were a fine lace or spider's web cast in silver blue metal. The runes, which are few, are formed by the negative space left by the holes in the ring/blade. There is a myth that Celeros was created to battle King Dewsduon, the original owner of Chronos.
Runes Weapons Of Legend
Chronos type: ring
Appearing as a silver ring with intricate gold runes carved on it inside and out
Void type: sword
There are not any reliable descriptions of this weapon only a report that comes from a Halthar of Gyun who was a known liar and might never have actually seen this blade. His writing says that the blade is glossy black and highly reflective, although it mirrors everything in negative colors. If you stare at it for even a moment, the images start to swirl and distort in nightmarish fashion. The runes along the blade are hard to see and many swear that they move about like ants across the surface of water. The cross piece looks like the mandibles from some large, carnivorous insect and the hilt, unwrapped, looks like plain steel.
Necros type: septre
A hazy crystal ball about 3 inches in diameter with several blood-red runes inside of it is seated atop a ring of carved miniature human skulls that act like the prongs holding the ball in place. The shaft of the septre is a black and silver sculpture of a tower of dead naked bodies of all humanoid races.
Rök type: sword
The Stormblade is a beautifully crafted silver sword with a line of opalescent blue runes carved along its length. It is known that among its lesser powers it can predict/ know the weather in any part of Palladium. It is second in beauty, perhaps, to Ice.
Eldvoð type: sword
It appears as a plain steel sword with a thin line of runes carved down the center. It often seems to be faintly covered with carbon. The blade can glow red, as if just plucked from the smith's forge.
Vaka-Svefn type: helmet
The helm is said to be of a golden lion's head, although it is very lightweight to wear. The runes are carved along the inside rim of the helmet. The interior strap and cushioning are not runic, and so must replaced whenever it wears out. Literally, the helmet's name comes out something like ”waking-sleep”. Some believe this to be the Trojan Horse of runic items.
Ice type: sword
A white gold blade with sparkling silver runes, many say this blade is one of the most beautiful ever made. It is known that it can summon a blizzard in the tropics and freeze 5 square miles of ocean water.
Castlerake type: sword
A large, strong looking blade with faintly golden runes along its length. This blade has felled many a castle wall in its time.
Lodos type: staff
A very knotted and twisted wooden staff, its runes are hard to spot for some since they wind up its length like a ribbon, following the contours of the undulating wood. Some say this staff can raise a forest overnight while others claim it can cause a lunar eclipse of one of Palladiums two small moons. This is not generally a sought after item since it is not suspected to have any offensive power.
Raven type: sword
A strange white blade, like bleached bone or unglazed china, two ribbons of jet black runes twist in a helix like pattern up the blade. Its color has given it the nickname “Bone Blade”. Stories say that you never had to wipe the blade clean as it drank whatever blood it tasted. Although its powers remain a mystery, it is thought to be one of the most powerful blades ever created. It is perhaps second in creepiness only to Void.
It is suspected by some that Mephistopholes or Hel had some part in creating this sword, which would make it a demon-slayer. Others argue that Mantus, the demon lord of the dead more likely influenced its creation.
Celeros type: sword/ring
There is debate as to whether this is a ring or a sword. In either case it appears as if it were a fine lace or spider's web cast in silver blue metal. The runes, which are few, are formed by the negative space left by the holes in the ring/blade. There is a myth that Celeros was created to battle King Dewsduon, the original owner of Chronos.
Some History Lessons
The Temple at Ar-Kem-Tiel
There are a couple of options open to you at this point. You can either head for the Flower of Cassea in Ellendel or the Khul-Thahn Forge in the mountains of Baalgor. And yet there is even more; but first, some more history.
Ahn-Mak-Gnar was the leader of the so-called Empire of the Southern Dragon. The myths of pirates originating from the the lands of southern Timiro starts back during the Golden Age just before the Great War and it is all because of this one being. Ahn was a powerful dragon who made dangerous alliances in his quest for power; he was worshiped as a god by a vicious assemblage of monsters who plundered anyone weaker than they in the name of Ahn's glory. Thus Ahn was able to amass vast wealth using his minions.
Had he not been betrayed his reign would have lasted a thousand years. As it was, he remained in deific power for only 211 terrible years. Ar-Kem-Tiel happened to have a meeting with a sour demonic lord, Succor-Behemoth, and boasted of Ahn-Mak-Gnar's wealth and power, suggesting that it must surely match the demon's. Succor is a psychotically jealous fellow and so became bent on destroying Ahn-Mak-Gnar.
The scrolls tell that Ahn fled his empire after hiding his vast wealth, living out his last two decades as an elf. His followers were all enslaved by Succor-Behemoth, but were then slain because Succor could not control his jealous thoughts that they had once served Ahn faithfully. Eventually Succor-Behemoth caught up with Ahn, for no one ever outruns a demon. In a last ditch effort to at least foil the demon, Ahn-Mak-Gnar made a deal with the devil Hel, the Lady of Dyval, the homeworld of devils. He had hoped she would grant him his wish for immortality before he faced Succor. However, she would not offer Ahn much, but agreed to bind his soul and the souls of his followers in a scroll so that they would become immortal in history. In return Ahn told Hel where (most) of his glorious treasure was hidden.
Knowing that Succor-Behemoth could not possess his soul, Ahn faced the demon lord and was killed in a great battle. Ahn's soul was sealed in slumber for thousands of years in a scroll. His followers were already dead, so Hel agreed that should the scroll ever be opened, Ahn would have his followers back: she would possess the souls of two thousand in his name and instruct them to worship him.
Of course, Ahn's body is gone, so while his soul can be freed to enjoy the worship of a couple thousand followers, he has nothing else. But of course, this would not leave him entirely powerless. One could speculate that he might be out for a little revenge. But, perhaps he is just a devil's pawn in the war between Hell and Hades.
There are a couple of options open to you at this point. You can either head for the Flower of Cassea in Ellendel or the Khul-Thahn Forge in the mountains of Baalgor. And yet there is even more; but first, some more history.
Ahn-Mak-Gnar was the leader of the so-called Empire of the Southern Dragon. The myths of pirates originating from the the lands of southern Timiro starts back during the Golden Age just before the Great War and it is all because of this one being. Ahn was a powerful dragon who made dangerous alliances in his quest for power; he was worshiped as a god by a vicious assemblage of monsters who plundered anyone weaker than they in the name of Ahn's glory. Thus Ahn was able to amass vast wealth using his minions.
Had he not been betrayed his reign would have lasted a thousand years. As it was, he remained in deific power for only 211 terrible years. Ar-Kem-Tiel happened to have a meeting with a sour demonic lord, Succor-Behemoth, and boasted of Ahn-Mak-Gnar's wealth and power, suggesting that it must surely match the demon's. Succor is a psychotically jealous fellow and so became bent on destroying Ahn-Mak-Gnar.
The scrolls tell that Ahn fled his empire after hiding his vast wealth, living out his last two decades as an elf. His followers were all enslaved by Succor-Behemoth, but were then slain because Succor could not control his jealous thoughts that they had once served Ahn faithfully. Eventually Succor-Behemoth caught up with Ahn, for no one ever outruns a demon. In a last ditch effort to at least foil the demon, Ahn-Mak-Gnar made a deal with the devil Hel, the Lady of Dyval, the homeworld of devils. He had hoped she would grant him his wish for immortality before he faced Succor. However, she would not offer Ahn much, but agreed to bind his soul and the souls of his followers in a scroll so that they would become immortal in history. In return Ahn told Hel where (most) of his glorious treasure was hidden.
Knowing that Succor-Behemoth could not possess his soul, Ahn faced the demon lord and was killed in a great battle. Ahn's soul was sealed in slumber for thousands of years in a scroll. His followers were already dead, so Hel agreed that should the scroll ever be opened, Ahn would have his followers back: she would possess the souls of two thousand in his name and instruct them to worship him.
Of course, Ahn's body is gone, so while his soul can be freed to enjoy the worship of a couple thousand followers, he has nothing else. But of course, this would not leave him entirely powerless. One could speculate that he might be out for a little revenge. But, perhaps he is just a devil's pawn in the war between Hell and Hades.
The Library
The Library of Alessia
Mánadagur, Águst 18 3841
Using Ankar's teleportation device you make it to the grasslands just outside Alessia, an Elven city which sits across the river delta from the ruins of a dragon named city, Ar-Kem-Tiel. You all deftly avoid a herd of catoblepas after the Skedic members of your group have a mild break with reality caused by the nature of the land. Alessia seems harmless enough at first and Silus delivers the sealed note to the authorities of the library. You crawl off to an inn to rest for the night; Landros insists on having his own room while the rest of you all bunk together. That night you are attacked by four dwarves of the Ipinidaan who bungle your assassination utterly. You dispatch with them quickly enough (adding to you rep as badassess, I might add) and find little useful information from them.
After some meditative healing time in the morning you hit the library and enter your challenge after finding the correct “card” in the catalog. Some clever puzzle solving allows you circumvent a rather deadly yema and retrieve the scroll. Opening the scroll seems to invoke some magic as an ephemeral dragon formed of silver dust rises into the air and dissappears.
The exit from the library is uneventful until you run across Ankar wandering the streets in disguise. He arranges to meet you all across the river at a temple in the ruins of Ar-Kem-Tiel, which you do.
Mánadagur, Águst 18 3841
Using Ankar's teleportation device you make it to the grasslands just outside Alessia, an Elven city which sits across the river delta from the ruins of a dragon named city, Ar-Kem-Tiel. You all deftly avoid a herd of catoblepas after the Skedic members of your group have a mild break with reality caused by the nature of the land. Alessia seems harmless enough at first and Silus delivers the sealed note to the authorities of the library. You crawl off to an inn to rest for the night; Landros insists on having his own room while the rest of you all bunk together. That night you are attacked by four dwarves of the Ipinidaan who bungle your assassination utterly. You dispatch with them quickly enough (adding to you rep as badassess, I might add) and find little useful information from them.
After some meditative healing time in the morning you hit the library and enter your challenge after finding the correct “card” in the catalog. Some clever puzzle solving allows you circumvent a rather deadly yema and retrieve the scroll. Opening the scroll seems to invoke some magic as an ephemeral dragon formed of silver dust rises into the air and dissappears.
The exit from the library is uneventful until you run across Ankar wandering the streets in disguise. He arranges to meet you all across the river at a temple in the ruins of Ar-Kem-Tiel, which you do.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Arch of Etruscus
A New Deal or The Arch of Etruscus
(you end this night on the date: Föstudagur, Águst 16 3841)
After being so rudely interrupted while trying to restore power to part of the Skedic homeworld, you arrive back in Aja over two years after you left. Tar-Um-Lok decides to stay behind to deal with the demons and help get the power grid back on line.
Gendra, the governor of Aja, has been in negotiations with Ankar regarding the sharing of runic information. Because of your rep in avoiding the Misarlon, you have become the people of choice to work for Ankar in his mission to recover runic items that have been hidden across the land. In order to protect Ankar's interest, Silus has been sent to join your party.
The first task you have been given is to obtain a rubbing of the runes found on the Arch of Etruscus. Although legends of the Western Empire claim the arch was brought to Idelstone after the first BloodMoon War, it turns out that it is a fake. What else? Oh, yes, Ulves has taken over Idelstone and claimed it for himself in the name of the monster hordes of the western slopes of the Old Kingdom. The icing on the cake: eight dwarves, members of the Ipinidaan, are tailing you.
Silus arranges a quick exit b y ship and you find yourself in Otiven in no time where, again, Silus makes arrangements for you all to act as traders bringing goods up to Udohorn. Four of the dwarven Ipinidaan have tracked you here, but do not seem to pose an immediate threat. Oki does some mind delving investigation, discovering that they have warned the Misarlon of your plans. Specifically, they have had communication with a female elf, Mirella. Oki plants some false memories in the dwarves in order to sow the seeds of discord, and it works well enough to distract the dwarves.
You arrive at Udohorn without much trouble and after some busy work, you get your rubbing of the true Arch of Etruscus. The arch itself is part of a small dwarven temple devoted to ancestral prayer. After getting what you came for, Farallon is confronted by Mirella who beseeches you all to cease and desist your pursuit of runic knowledge. She makes the claim that it is somehow a trap – a trap that the Skedic in particular have fallen into – to seek this knowledge. Perhaps the Skedic cataclysm was a self-fulfilled prophecy? And maybe the Misarlon, having failed to get you through the use of force, are trying to use a little honey, or at least confusion.
You bring the information from the arch to Ankar in Gevril. Ankar spends some time explaining his project to you and how it relates to his vision of uniting the Eastern Territories and beyond. He invites you all to attend a party he is throwing that night which will be attended by dignitaries from all over the east.
(you end this night on the date: Föstudagur, Águst 16 3841)
After being so rudely interrupted while trying to restore power to part of the Skedic homeworld, you arrive back in Aja over two years after you left. Tar-Um-Lok decides to stay behind to deal with the demons and help get the power grid back on line.
Gendra, the governor of Aja, has been in negotiations with Ankar regarding the sharing of runic information. Because of your rep in avoiding the Misarlon, you have become the people of choice to work for Ankar in his mission to recover runic items that have been hidden across the land. In order to protect Ankar's interest, Silus has been sent to join your party.
The first task you have been given is to obtain a rubbing of the runes found on the Arch of Etruscus. Although legends of the Western Empire claim the arch was brought to Idelstone after the first BloodMoon War, it turns out that it is a fake. What else? Oh, yes, Ulves has taken over Idelstone and claimed it for himself in the name of the monster hordes of the western slopes of the Old Kingdom. The icing on the cake: eight dwarves, members of the Ipinidaan, are tailing you.
Silus arranges a quick exit b y ship and you find yourself in Otiven in no time where, again, Silus makes arrangements for you all to act as traders bringing goods up to Udohorn. Four of the dwarven Ipinidaan have tracked you here, but do not seem to pose an immediate threat. Oki does some mind delving investigation, discovering that they have warned the Misarlon of your plans. Specifically, they have had communication with a female elf, Mirella. Oki plants some false memories in the dwarves in order to sow the seeds of discord, and it works well enough to distract the dwarves.
You arrive at Udohorn without much trouble and after some busy work, you get your rubbing of the true Arch of Etruscus. The arch itself is part of a small dwarven temple devoted to ancestral prayer. After getting what you came for, Farallon is confronted by Mirella who beseeches you all to cease and desist your pursuit of runic knowledge. She makes the claim that it is somehow a trap – a trap that the Skedic in particular have fallen into – to seek this knowledge. Perhaps the Skedic cataclysm was a self-fulfilled prophecy? And maybe the Misarlon, having failed to get you through the use of force, are trying to use a little honey, or at least confusion.
You bring the information from the arch to Ankar in Gevril. Ankar spends some time explaining his project to you and how it relates to his vision of uniting the Eastern Territories and beyond. He invites you all to attend a party he is throwing that night which will be attended by dignitaries from all over the east.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Synopsis – The Plate Delivered
We'll keep this one short.
After several uneventful days of travel you found yourselves confronted with the option of dealing with the Witch of Wickmire or facing an ambush. Cleverly you avoided confrontation, made it through the potential ambush without incident, and were then saved by the old shepherd, who scared the witch off for some reason.
The old shepherd offers you shelter for the night and explains that it is very dangerous after dark in this place. So you take him up on the offer. The shepherd's home happens to be in some old Dwarven ruins and also so happens that the shepherd is really a dragon, Tar-Um-Lok, who wishes to trade the plate for a computer. You see, he happens to see the plate as being his since he could take it from you by force if necessary. But that won't be necessary, will it? In return for your cooperation he gives you an amulet by which you may call him in the future, safe passage to Aja, and a couple of baubles. Seeing no other attractive options, you once again accept the old shepherd's offer.
Tar teleports you all to Aja (more or less). There are some negotiations after which the Skedic agree to let all of you non-Skedic inside the city provided that you help re-establish communications with the homeworld. This is an operation that goes much better than expected and opens the rift back to the Skedic homeworld. You discover that only 20 years have passed since the cataclysm back there, meaning an astonishing 200:1 time ratio between Palladium and the homeworld. Needless to say, you all jump through the rift and begin exploring the Skedic home.
A beacon leads you to some 1000 survivors huddled inside a bunker. Along with Skedic forces, you escort these survivors back through the rift to Palladium. A group of you also takes forces out to a power station in an attempt to restore power and open up communications with other groups of refugees that may exist. You deftly defeat a group of 200 lasae demons that were guarding the outer perimeter of the station and manage to get to the main entrance. And there you stand, the lift to the lower levels of the power station before you...
Other Notes: Roughly 2 years and 2.5 months have passed back in Palladium. The plate has long since been analyzed by the Skedic—I wonder what they found? For extra credit (and XP points) What is the name of the Witch of Wickmire?
After several uneventful days of travel you found yourselves confronted with the option of dealing with the Witch of Wickmire or facing an ambush. Cleverly you avoided confrontation, made it through the potential ambush without incident, and were then saved by the old shepherd, who scared the witch off for some reason.
The old shepherd offers you shelter for the night and explains that it is very dangerous after dark in this place. So you take him up on the offer. The shepherd's home happens to be in some old Dwarven ruins and also so happens that the shepherd is really a dragon, Tar-Um-Lok, who wishes to trade the plate for a computer. You see, he happens to see the plate as being his since he could take it from you by force if necessary. But that won't be necessary, will it? In return for your cooperation he gives you an amulet by which you may call him in the future, safe passage to Aja, and a couple of baubles. Seeing no other attractive options, you once again accept the old shepherd's offer.
Tar teleports you all to Aja (more or less). There are some negotiations after which the Skedic agree to let all of you non-Skedic inside the city provided that you help re-establish communications with the homeworld. This is an operation that goes much better than expected and opens the rift back to the Skedic homeworld. You discover that only 20 years have passed since the cataclysm back there, meaning an astonishing 200:1 time ratio between Palladium and the homeworld. Needless to say, you all jump through the rift and begin exploring the Skedic home.
A beacon leads you to some 1000 survivors huddled inside a bunker. Along with Skedic forces, you escort these survivors back through the rift to Palladium. A group of you also takes forces out to a power station in an attempt to restore power and open up communications with other groups of refugees that may exist. You deftly defeat a group of 200 lasae demons that were guarding the outer perimeter of the station and manage to get to the main entrance. And there you stand, the lift to the lower levels of the power station before you...
Other Notes: Roughly 2 years and 2.5 months have passed back in Palladium. The plate has long since been analyzed by the Skedic—I wonder what they found? For extra credit (and XP points) What is the name of the Witch of Wickmire?
Monday, January 12, 2009
The trek along the smuggler's road
This was originally going to be used if I was running late tonight, but I decided it might be fun to put it out there now, anyway. Just to get the juices flowing.
The old road runs south-southwest just to the north and west of the river as it leaves the Bathfells area. The river runs though a kind of trough between the base of the mountains to the west and a ridge line of hills to its east. The path meanders in and out of mountainside meadows and evergreen forest, crossing many small brooks and streams that flow into the river which make the going slow and damp. In the clearings the view over the expanse of the Western Empire's forested interior is spectacular. It is truly a vast wilderness. The mountains which rise to your west, the right-hand side of the trail, are old, rounded, and bald granite domes, although none are particularly tall. Here and there a small shrub or some tough grass has found a crack of soil to take root in, and stands as a stubborn testament to the tenacity of vegetation even in inhospitable locations.
Fimmtudagur, April 6: After six uneventful days of lonely travel along the road you catch your first sight of another human, a goat herder tending to his flock up in the mountains. He is an old man who walks slightly hunched over, leaning heavily upon his cane. He doesn't seem to care much about you travelers and hardly acknowledges your presence.
Föstudagur, April 7: In the first rays of dawn you see that a large gray hawk has come to watch you from a high tree branch above your campsite. The hawk does not depart until you have packed up and begun moving. Later, you see the same old shepherd with his goats walking up on the mountain. It is remarkable how he is able to keep pace with you all while traveling over rougher terrain. Occasionally throughout the day you spot the hawk perched in some tree or other, always watching you. By late afternoon you round a bend in the trail and can see the path out in front of you. The road goes over an impressive old bridge made of rope, wood and stone. Far beneath the bridge the river rushes through the rapids as it passes through a narrow canyon in this stretch. Just up hill from the bridge you can see the top of some stone towers behind the trees, perhaps part of an old abandoned keep or fort. Across the river and off in the distance to the southeast you see a thin column of smoke rising into the late afternoon sky, like from a small cottage chimney. The main road that leads up to the bridge runs right along a ledge in the the canyon wall for about 40 feet and really makes you think that it is the perfect place for an ambush because you could be trapped from either end and attacked by someone at the top of the cliff, 15 feet above the road.
While your observational prowess is taking this in you notice two other things: the hawk is patiently watching you from a high branch, and; from behind a some bushes on the west side (mountain-side) of the road a stunningly beautiful young woman whistles softly at you like a songbird, beckoning you all to follow her off the path as she shoots a dark look toward the narrow ledge road.
So, what are you going to do?
The old road runs south-southwest just to the north and west of the river as it leaves the Bathfells area. The river runs though a kind of trough between the base of the mountains to the west and a ridge line of hills to its east. The path meanders in and out of mountainside meadows and evergreen forest, crossing many small brooks and streams that flow into the river which make the going slow and damp. In the clearings the view over the expanse of the Western Empire's forested interior is spectacular. It is truly a vast wilderness. The mountains which rise to your west, the right-hand side of the trail, are old, rounded, and bald granite domes, although none are particularly tall. Here and there a small shrub or some tough grass has found a crack of soil to take root in, and stands as a stubborn testament to the tenacity of vegetation even in inhospitable locations.
Fimmtudagur, April 6: After six uneventful days of lonely travel along the road you catch your first sight of another human, a goat herder tending to his flock up in the mountains. He is an old man who walks slightly hunched over, leaning heavily upon his cane. He doesn't seem to care much about you travelers and hardly acknowledges your presence.
Föstudagur, April 7: In the first rays of dawn you see that a large gray hawk has come to watch you from a high tree branch above your campsite. The hawk does not depart until you have packed up and begun moving. Later, you see the same old shepherd with his goats walking up on the mountain. It is remarkable how he is able to keep pace with you all while traveling over rougher terrain. Occasionally throughout the day you spot the hawk perched in some tree or other, always watching you. By late afternoon you round a bend in the trail and can see the path out in front of you. The road goes over an impressive old bridge made of rope, wood and stone. Far beneath the bridge the river rushes through the rapids as it passes through a narrow canyon in this stretch. Just up hill from the bridge you can see the top of some stone towers behind the trees, perhaps part of an old abandoned keep or fort. Across the river and off in the distance to the southeast you see a thin column of smoke rising into the late afternoon sky, like from a small cottage chimney. The main road that leads up to the bridge runs right along a ledge in the the canyon wall for about 40 feet and really makes you think that it is the perfect place for an ambush because you could be trapped from either end and attacked by someone at the top of the cliff, 15 feet above the road.
While your observational prowess is taking this in you notice two other things: the hawk is patiently watching you from a high branch, and; from behind a some bushes on the west side (mountain-side) of the road a stunningly beautiful young woman whistles softly at you like a songbird, beckoning you all to follow her off the path as she shoots a dark look toward the narrow ledge road.
So, what are you going to do?
Rumors in Bathfells
Laugardagur, April 1
Bathfells Rumors
The local folk have told you a tale or two about what you might expect to find on your journey south along the mountain path and river. The Witch of Wickmire, a horrific old hag, apparently traps unsuspecting travellers and feeds them to her familiars. In various tales she lives in an old keep, a stalwart fort, or an ancient abandoned palace. There is also Khourag's Band, a troupe of mercenaries thieves and convicts who “patrol” the mountain road. Money and privacy is what they want and they have no problem killing anyone in cold blood to get it. Somewhere a little deeper in the forest are the ruins of Naylon, a former temple city that was devoted to the worship of demons. This is unusual because demon worship temples are very rare, while devil worship temples can be found in almost every major city, particularly in the Western Empire.
There are also some old dwarven ruins in the mountains, but they remain shrouded in mystery and are considered dangerous, although there are no specific horror stories associated with them. Perhaps it is the fear of dragons that has kept even the foolish from exploring the potential riches of these mountain ruins.
It will be a long journey to Aja. Fortunately, most of the journey will follow the river upstream so water won't be an issue. Carrying enough rations will be difficult, however.
Bathfells Rumors
The local folk have told you a tale or two about what you might expect to find on your journey south along the mountain path and river. The Witch of Wickmire, a horrific old hag, apparently traps unsuspecting travellers and feeds them to her familiars. In various tales she lives in an old keep, a stalwart fort, or an ancient abandoned palace. There is also Khourag's Band, a troupe of mercenaries thieves and convicts who “patrol” the mountain road. Money and privacy is what they want and they have no problem killing anyone in cold blood to get it. Somewhere a little deeper in the forest are the ruins of Naylon, a former temple city that was devoted to the worship of demons. This is unusual because demon worship temples are very rare, while devil worship temples can be found in almost every major city, particularly in the Western Empire.
There are also some old dwarven ruins in the mountains, but they remain shrouded in mystery and are considered dangerous, although there are no specific horror stories associated with them. Perhaps it is the fear of dragons that has kept even the foolish from exploring the potential riches of these mountain ruins.
It will be a long journey to Aja. Fortunately, most of the journey will follow the river upstream so water won't be an issue. Carrying enough rations will be difficult, however.
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