May 21, 2010 Synopsis
Ginsberg, Oki, and Landros, along with Palfin and some other red-shirts leave Palladium on Theoninn. A quick check of Raven indicates the direction of the nearest runic item, which you immediately head toward. Long story short, you meet up and dock with the Infinity and then continue to the Telemachus station.
Khouri is now added to the to party and you all investigate ways to get to the surface of the moon since that is where Raven indicates the item is. Gaining access to the moon is a little tricky because of the political climate, but help comes in the form of Node and Svarturinn who offer to join you, act as guides, and get you onto the surface colony hassle free.
You arrive at the mining colony to find that Grunner Corp is packing the place full of a lot of mercs in light of some recent tensions between the freeman workers and the corp. Node knows of a seer/mystic which he brings you all to see in hopes that you may find a lead as to where the runic item may be. Node and Landros also do some hacking and discover that some freeman found an interesting object while working in the tunnels.
You investigate this lead to find that some freeman had indeed extracted some boxlike object and hae hidden it somewhere in the colony. You also learn that the Grunner mercs are about to put the colony in lockdown so that they can search for this item. The freeman, whom you offer to help, are sending three teams out to try to escape; each team believes it has the item in an unmarked box.
Landros creates a diversion while the rest of you try to get a team of freeman to the shuttle pad to get off the moon. With some help from the Infinity you manage to make it back to your shuttle, but discover your team's box had nothing of value in it. You wait awhile to see if anyone else shows up, but no one does. So, you leave, heading back to the Infinity. There you learn that the object is no longer on the moon...Raven is tracking it as being on the lighthugger The Elegance of Π, which is starting to pull away from Telemachus.
Tough week...you were set up in a trap and had very little chance of figuring it out from the inside. On the bright side, if you analyze what the goal of such a trap might have been, namely to hold you up in Grunner's lockdown, then you did quite well in getting out of there as quickly as you did. And the get-away car is just pulling into traffic, so you're still very much in the hunt.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Crows
You had left Marhund intent on reaching Aja where you hoped to make contact with the Theoninn crew. The Skedic power boat got you just past Slodaulur when the river became too rocky and shallow too continue. While 'hiding' the boat and preparing to leave, Silus happened to notice a strange beetle crawling out from your sacks of gear; something reminded Silus of things Demonic, perhaps from his younger days hanging out in Marhund. You all concluded this was a sign that you had been followed and spied on, presumably by Ililsus.
Farallon attempted to arrange air transport from Aja to come pick you up, but it took a while, and, ultimately, they would not agree to send you an aircraft until morning light. You all decided to forge ahead through the forest around 2:30am. It wasn't long before “something” started following you, staying at the fringes. Despite the efforts of Silus and Farallon to figure out who or what these pests were, they offered no clues.
An relatively uneventful night gave way to dawn and the news that a V-Lift transport would meet you all in a clearing about 2 miles south. You make it to the rendezvous location and meet the craft. On your way out to the airship, a sudden stampede of forest animals – chipmunks, squirrels, deer, bears – comes rushing out of the forest behind you. You all run for the ship. Suddenly 13 crows dive out of the sky and transform into wraith-like creatures sitting astride black steeds. The ground crumbles into sinkholes, trapping all the animals. The ring of sinkholes creates a small island on which the V-Lift waits.
You all jump on board and order the pilots to swing around and strafe the black creatures with the 50mm guns. As the ship rises into the sky the creatures return to crow form and fly towards you. Treasda's shield keeps them at bay for only a few seconds before one drops through the shield and gets sucked into the turbine. The engine explodes, sending shrapnel everywhere, one piece pegging Farallon in the arm (lucky for his kevlar diggs). The ship immediately spirals out of control, heading for a wicked crash landing...
And Silus saves the day by using Celeros to reset time to when you first boarded the ship. So a change plans: Agar, Silus and Farallon decide to draw their Dragon bone weapons – an action which gets a bit of a rise out of the creatures – and essentially charge the enemy. Two crows down, and the rest of the horsemen flutter into the trees as crows. That's when you all sense that a dragon is heading your way.
You run for the ship! From back over your shoulder you can gleaming in the golden morning light the scales of a dragon you will never forget – Echo.
The group consensus was that Mirella would use her amulet to banf you all to safety at this point, but Mirella will have to make that call, and see where she wants to go.
Musings: I don't think there has been talk of what the relationship, if any, between Ililsus and Echo might be. For perspective, Echo is probably at least 4 times the foe that Anskut, the Baalrog, is. But, it is disturbingly possible that Anskut has Void. And then there's the question of Necros: what are its powers and limitations; how might that effect how to approach a massively powerful foe like Echo?
Farallon attempted to arrange air transport from Aja to come pick you up, but it took a while, and, ultimately, they would not agree to send you an aircraft until morning light. You all decided to forge ahead through the forest around 2:30am. It wasn't long before “something” started following you, staying at the fringes. Despite the efforts of Silus and Farallon to figure out who or what these pests were, they offered no clues.
An relatively uneventful night gave way to dawn and the news that a V-Lift transport would meet you all in a clearing about 2 miles south. You make it to the rendezvous location and meet the craft. On your way out to the airship, a sudden stampede of forest animals – chipmunks, squirrels, deer, bears – comes rushing out of the forest behind you. You all run for the ship. Suddenly 13 crows dive out of the sky and transform into wraith-like creatures sitting astride black steeds. The ground crumbles into sinkholes, trapping all the animals. The ring of sinkholes creates a small island on which the V-Lift waits.
You all jump on board and order the pilots to swing around and strafe the black creatures with the 50mm guns. As the ship rises into the sky the creatures return to crow form and fly towards you. Treasda's shield keeps them at bay for only a few seconds before one drops through the shield and gets sucked into the turbine. The engine explodes, sending shrapnel everywhere, one piece pegging Farallon in the arm (lucky for his kevlar diggs). The ship immediately spirals out of control, heading for a wicked crash landing...
And Silus saves the day by using Celeros to reset time to when you first boarded the ship. So a change plans: Agar, Silus and Farallon decide to draw their Dragon bone weapons – an action which gets a bit of a rise out of the creatures – and essentially charge the enemy. Two crows down, and the rest of the horsemen flutter into the trees as crows. That's when you all sense that a dragon is heading your way.
You run for the ship! From back over your shoulder you can gleaming in the golden morning light the scales of a dragon you will never forget – Echo.
The group consensus was that Mirella would use her amulet to banf you all to safety at this point, but Mirella will have to make that call, and see where she wants to go.
Musings: I don't think there has been talk of what the relationship, if any, between Ililsus and Echo might be. For perspective, Echo is probably at least 4 times the foe that Anskut, the Baalrog, is. But, it is disturbingly possible that Anskut has Void. And then there's the question of Necros: what are its powers and limitations; how might that effect how to approach a massively powerful foe like Echo?
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Noose of Ililsus
A brief overview of your recent trials and tribulations:
A return to Ttumal after your adventures at JKLK nets you a new friend...one of Silus' old buddies. This leads you to the captain of the Black Shrimp, which leads you to some old Skedics with a power boat. A journey back to the Temple of Ptelas, then the Briar Rose town, and now you have a complete set of dragon armor and dragon bone swords.
It seems that the items left at JKLK helped you unlock the curse/spell that had hidden away Esai's weapons and armor, although there is the lingering possibility that it is merely his return which allows these things to be uncovered. By now you have concluded that Styphon of Dragonwright fame is synonymous with Esai-En-Dar. And also most likely the cause of the Cataclysm. And the cause of the destruction of the Skedic homeworld. And...
Again you journey back to Ttumal where you confront Silus' friend about his local dealings and discover that this road leads back to Ililsus and Anskut at Marhund. These are names you haven't come across since your initial dealings with Hasder, Omunis, and Zog. You debate whether to pursue Esai or go for the "lower" level henchman (or even to pursue Echo). Since Ililsus is a high ranking bad-ass locust demon, Anskut seems like an easier target.
You drag DB to Marhund and set out to find Anskut. Instead, something finds Farallon and leads you all to a temple where, at the last moment, you decide to scoot out the back and avoid confrontation. The group concern was whether or not this was a trap. But whose trap?
As I understood your reasoning, Esai was luring you to his henchmen in an effort to reclaim parts of himself so that he might be more fully resurrected. Of course, this perspective was largely that of Farallon's. So, how do you confront Esai or his allies without risking giving him the power he seeks? Can these weapons be used against him? Could it have been someone else?
Maybe an even bigger questions: What is it that Esai/Styphon wants? Can this be used against him? If you have to fight Anskut (a Baalrog) how can you beat him?
A return to Ttumal after your adventures at JKLK nets you a new friend...one of Silus' old buddies. This leads you to the captain of the Black Shrimp, which leads you to some old Skedics with a power boat. A journey back to the Temple of Ptelas, then the Briar Rose town, and now you have a complete set of dragon armor and dragon bone swords.
It seems that the items left at JKLK helped you unlock the curse/spell that had hidden away Esai's weapons and armor, although there is the lingering possibility that it is merely his return which allows these things to be uncovered. By now you have concluded that Styphon of Dragonwright fame is synonymous with Esai-En-Dar. And also most likely the cause of the Cataclysm. And the cause of the destruction of the Skedic homeworld. And...
Again you journey back to Ttumal where you confront Silus' friend about his local dealings and discover that this road leads back to Ililsus and Anskut at Marhund. These are names you haven't come across since your initial dealings with Hasder, Omunis, and Zog. You debate whether to pursue Esai or go for the "lower" level henchman (or even to pursue Echo). Since Ililsus is a high ranking bad-ass locust demon, Anskut seems like an easier target.
You drag DB to Marhund and set out to find Anskut. Instead, something finds Farallon and leads you all to a temple where, at the last moment, you decide to scoot out the back and avoid confrontation. The group concern was whether or not this was a trap. But whose trap?
As I understood your reasoning, Esai was luring you to his henchmen in an effort to reclaim parts of himself so that he might be more fully resurrected. Of course, this perspective was largely that of Farallon's. So, how do you confront Esai or his allies without risking giving him the power he seeks? Can these weapons be used against him? Could it have been someone else?
Maybe an even bigger questions: What is it that Esai/Styphon wants? Can this be used against him? If you have to fight Anskut (a Baalrog) how can you beat him?
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...
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