As you all know by now, XL had a huge pile of debt and no longer had any contracts for shipping. Anatalia decided to take the Lammergeier out to salvage the wreckage around Tangerine Dream. Everyone except Eston (Lew) went. Eston was expected to stay behind for the two month round-trip duration and drum up some business.
The wreck near Tangerine was indeed from a Panoply/Military operation. It looked as though 3 cruisers (Panoply) and 2 unknowns had all been destroyed. Salvage of useful parts and metals went quickly, and among the goodies were some intact Panoply armaments, some valuable scrap metal, some useable snap matter, and a life support pod.
The pod was carefully brought on board and investigated. Inside was a Conjoiner, confirming suspicions that the two unknown vessels had been Conjoiner in origin. The Conjoiner (Svaedra, I believe) spun a couple of tales. The first was that the Demarchy was instigating a war against the Conjoiners and the other, that she and her crew were out here to rendezvous with an ancient Lighthugger, one of the originals that had left Earth's system hundreds of year ago on a deep space mission. That lighthugger (long story short) was commanded by Galiana, the founder, so-to-speak, of the Conjoiners. The hive had lost contact with it until recently. Galiana's body had been recovered and Svaedra had been sent to deal with the ship, which was in "interstellar" space just outside the Yellowstone system.
Always in a mood for adventure, the Lamm journeys out to meet the drifting lighthugger. The ship is badly damaged though, and utterly infested by black cubes of all sizes. Black tentacles plunge in to the crew members' skulls, freezing them in mid action aboard the ship. Though the cubes (Svaedra calls them wolves) seem inert, there is no guarantee that they are.
Svaedra wants to either direct the ship into deep space, away from its current Earth bound trajectory, or move it a little ways out and self destruct it. Svaedra seems insistent on this suicide mission.
And that's about where we are right now...
Eston, you received word that the two month voyage has now become a four month one.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
more info
In the GlitterBand...
Angular velocity and gravity (If you're referring to the ring-shaped stations as seen in the film 2001, then it depends on the radius of the ring.
To generate a force equal to one 'g', the station would have to spin sufficiently quickly to cause an acceleration of 9.8ms^-2.
The velocity necessary at any point within the ring is given by:
9.8 = v^2 / r
9.8 = v^2 / 100 =>
v = 980^0.5
v = 31m/s
To calculate the angular velocity in radians/sec, use the equation:
W = v/r (Let W represent angular velocity)
W = 31 / 100
W = 0.31 rad/s
If you want this in RPM, we must first express 1 rad/s in RPM:
1 rad/s = 60 / 2pi = 30 / pi RPM
0.31 rad/s = 30 X 0.31 / pi RPM
0.31 rad/s ~ 2.96 RPM.
This may seem slow, but don't forget that I set the radius equal to 100m.)
More specifically:
You are all living on carousel New Haven, a hubless wheel 10km in diameter and a half click wide. Because there is no central docking hub, all docking occurs along the outside under edge of the wheel, which is moving at a velocity of 221m/s to generate 1G of gravity for the inhabitants. ( A single rotation of the wheel takes about two and a half minutes). The disadvantage is that ships must match velocity and angular acceleration, inducing there own “gravity” as they accelerate to dock with the carousel. Of course, autopilot routines are quite capable, but the best pilots love the challenge of doing it “by wire”, an old term borrowed from ancient times when atmospheric aircraft control surfaces were rigged to the pilot’s controls by actual wire or rope. Why not dock on the inside of the wheel, you wonder? If a vessel loses positive attitude control or its engines while on an “under” approach, the craft can simply “fall” away (although, technically it will just drift on the tangent line way from the rim). If the same were to happen on an inside approach, the craft would “fall” into the wheel.
The advantage of a hubless carousel is over 31km of docking space and a lack of a central Port Authority. Although it is obvious that such a set-up would make it easier to smuggle people and goods, a large portion of the New Haven’s bay spaces are independently run repair facilities or micro shipyards. The rest of the docking space is owned by various small moving and shipping companies, along with some charter yacht businesses. There are in the number of 120 docks/bays, ranging from 500m X 400m monsters to 100m X 25m service areas.
Characters: The initial in parantheses indicates owner. Embrace the confusion. You will learn about your "old" characters in due time.
Anatalia Berence - (T) Head Pilot of the Lammergeier, the primary business vessel of XL Salvage and Shipping (XL is short for Xavier Liu, the founder of the company, now deceased).
Chen Dera - [C] Head technician and engineer for XL. Anatalia may be the pilot, but Chen has a special bond with Lammergeier because of the hundreds and hundreds of hours he has put into repairing and modifying the old crate.
Eston Farlanx - (L) The only sales rep that XL has, Eston is the people person behind, or should I say, in front of the business.
Glass Henamei - (M) A general assistant to XL, he helps with freight loading and also sometimes pilot’s the company’s tug, “Red Rover”. Glass is also personable enough to be a flight steward on those occasions that the Lamm carries passengers for hire.
Isaveralt Jyln - [R] Energy Systems Specialist Isaveralt is freelancer who often works as overhire for Chen. Isa often does repair work in the XL’s bay for both XL clients and for his own personal side business. Isa also sometime builds custom ornamental skiffs for clients; quite an accomplished ship builder/designer in the very small craft arena.
Ships
The are a couple of overlapping categories of ships to be found in Yellowstone space.
There are Demarchist, Conjoiner, and “other” ships. Demarchist ships are mostly practical ships from a design aesthetic. Their forms are sleek and simple, like wedges or great space-faring manta rays. Conjoiner ships, mostly found as Lighthuggers, are also spartan in appearance. Some smaller Conjoiner craft, of which there are very few, will take on the design aspect of some exotic deep-sea creature with graceful arcing spines or fins which serve some inscrutable purpose.
“Other” ships, while mostly technically Demarchist in current technology, vary widely in design. Some 500 years of design aesthetic have evolved some exotic designs. Among some of the wealthy, it has become fashionable to take the shells of several ancient craft and stitch them together into some new “instant classic” design.
A detailed grid of reference info for broad categories of vessels is forthcoming.
Have questions? Bring 'em. You will each receive personal data very soon.
Angular velocity and gravity (If you're referring to the ring-shaped stations as seen in the film 2001, then it depends on the radius of the ring.
To generate a force equal to one 'g', the station would have to spin sufficiently quickly to cause an acceleration of 9.8ms^-2.
The velocity necessary at any point within the ring is given by:
9.8 = v^2 / r
9.8 = v^2 / 100 =>
v = 980^0.5
v = 31m/s
To calculate the angular velocity in radians/sec, use the equation:
W = v/r (Let W represent angular velocity)
W = 31 / 100
W = 0.31 rad/s
If you want this in RPM, we must first express 1 rad/s in RPM:
1 rad/s = 60 / 2pi = 30 / pi RPM
0.31 rad/s = 30 X 0.31 / pi RPM
0.31 rad/s ~ 2.96 RPM.
This may seem slow, but don't forget that I set the radius equal to 100m.)
More specifically:
You are all living on carousel New Haven, a hubless wheel 10km in diameter and a half click wide. Because there is no central docking hub, all docking occurs along the outside under edge of the wheel, which is moving at a velocity of 221m/s to generate 1G of gravity for the inhabitants. ( A single rotation of the wheel takes about two and a half minutes). The disadvantage is that ships must match velocity and angular acceleration, inducing there own “gravity” as they accelerate to dock with the carousel. Of course, autopilot routines are quite capable, but the best pilots love the challenge of doing it “by wire”, an old term borrowed from ancient times when atmospheric aircraft control surfaces were rigged to the pilot’s controls by actual wire or rope. Why not dock on the inside of the wheel, you wonder? If a vessel loses positive attitude control or its engines while on an “under” approach, the craft can simply “fall” away (although, technically it will just drift on the tangent line way from the rim). If the same were to happen on an inside approach, the craft would “fall” into the wheel.
The advantage of a hubless carousel is over 31km of docking space and a lack of a central Port Authority. Although it is obvious that such a set-up would make it easier to smuggle people and goods, a large portion of the New Haven’s bay spaces are independently run repair facilities or micro shipyards. The rest of the docking space is owned by various small moving and shipping companies, along with some charter yacht businesses. There are in the number of 120 docks/bays, ranging from 500m X 400m monsters to 100m X 25m service areas.
Characters: The initial in parantheses indicates owner. Embrace the confusion. You will learn about your "old" characters in due time.
Anatalia Berence - (T) Head Pilot of the Lammergeier, the primary business vessel of XL Salvage and Shipping (XL is short for Xavier Liu, the founder of the company, now deceased).
Chen Dera - [C] Head technician and engineer for XL. Anatalia may be the pilot, but Chen has a special bond with Lammergeier because of the hundreds and hundreds of hours he has put into repairing and modifying the old crate.
Eston Farlanx - (L) The only sales rep that XL has, Eston is the people person behind, or should I say, in front of the business.
Glass Henamei - (M) A general assistant to XL, he helps with freight loading and also sometimes pilot’s the company’s tug, “Red Rover”. Glass is also personable enough to be a flight steward on those occasions that the Lamm carries passengers for hire.
Isaveralt Jyln - [R] Energy Systems Specialist Isaveralt is freelancer who often works as overhire for Chen. Isa often does repair work in the XL’s bay for both XL clients and for his own personal side business. Isa also sometime builds custom ornamental skiffs for clients; quite an accomplished ship builder/designer in the very small craft arena.
Ships
The are a couple of overlapping categories of ships to be found in Yellowstone space.
There are Demarchist, Conjoiner, and “other” ships. Demarchist ships are mostly practical ships from a design aesthetic. Their forms are sleek and simple, like wedges or great space-faring manta rays. Conjoiner ships, mostly found as Lighthuggers, are also spartan in appearance. Some smaller Conjoiner craft, of which there are very few, will take on the design aspect of some exotic deep-sea creature with graceful arcing spines or fins which serve some inscrutable purpose.
“Other” ships, while mostly technically Demarchist in current technology, vary widely in design. Some 500 years of design aesthetic have evolved some exotic designs. Among some of the wealthy, it has become fashionable to take the shells of several ancient craft and stitch them together into some new “instant classic” design.
A detailed grid of reference info for broad categories of vessels is forthcoming.
Have questions? Bring 'em. You will each receive personal data very soon.
Friday, February 24, 2012
The next adventure
Now that Esai is out of the way you begin the next Chapter of your epic adventure! The storyline will be broken up into three, perhaps four, distinct locations or places in time. There will be an element of confusion brought on by this, but rest assured that is all an intentional part of the aesthetic of the story. The storyline itself becomes part of the mystery that must be solved.
Much of the inspiration for these next events is unabashedly stolen/influenced by Alastair Reynolds work. I mention this outloud because his fans have found this blog and ripped the image of the lighthugger I rendered and have plastered it all over the internet. So, I would not be fooling anyone if I pretended these coming chapters in the game were all original ideas. I am sure that as soon as you all interact with the universe you will cause plot strings to spiral off into unknown territory. But I am choosing this derivative starting point because of the overall strength of the plot and how well it fits with all that has come before.
I will update the game’s informational website with terms concerning people, places, and technology to help you orient yourselves. You’ll have questions, so don’t hesitate to ask!
You will start in the Glitter Band around Yellowstone. I have found an updated spreadsheet form for your characters and now all I need is your current character info to get everything updated and back to you.
Much of the inspiration for these next events is unabashedly stolen/influenced by Alastair Reynolds work. I mention this outloud because his fans have found this blog and ripped the image of the lighthugger I rendered and have plastered it all over the internet. So, I would not be fooling anyone if I pretended these coming chapters in the game were all original ideas. I am sure that as soon as you all interact with the universe you will cause plot strings to spiral off into unknown territory. But I am choosing this derivative starting point because of the overall strength of the plot and how well it fits with all that has come before.
I will update the game’s informational website with terms concerning people, places, and technology to help you orient yourselves. You’ll have questions, so don’t hesitate to ask!
You will start in the Glitter Band around Yellowstone. I have found an updated spreadsheet form for your characters and now all I need is your current character info to get everything updated and back to you.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Ab'Hara Thahn
So there you are, face to face with Esai who has possessed the body of a nine-year-old girl, and (s)he is telling you that you have done a wonderful job of throwing the world into a state of chaos. Now won't you all just help him light the Ab'Hara Thahn forge so he can complete a small little project?
How on earth did you get HERE?
It all begins with that cool tunnel that lit up and did funny things to your runic items. The tunnel lead into the Runic Temple of the Ab'Hara Thahn forge, not to be confused with Khul-Thahn Forge. What you all figured out over the course of time was that the temple was laid out in the form of the Tree of Life. In the first room on the inside of the runic circle on the floor were a set of 10 stone cylinders arranged as if they were on the hour positions of a clock; 12 and 6 were blank spaces without anything at all. Silus used his split phase powers to make 9 copies of himself and he pulled all the cylinders out at once. Once removed, the metallic rune circle rotated around nearly a full revolution. The holes where the cylinders had been closed up and a slot opened up at the six o'clock position.
Each cylinder had a number on the bottom, 1 though 10, and with the help of Mirella, Agar, and Landros you figured out how the cylinders must be arranged in the temple. You made it is far as the “Knowledge” room which left you with three more cylinders to put in place. This room houses a library of scrolls: some seem to itemize things made at the forge while another set of documents seems to include extensive directions on how to use the forge. It was at this point that you realized you had company. A number of demonic little beasties were gathering in the Kingdom room (secret passage ways behind the fireplaces) presenting you with a dilemma. Do you go ahead and just complete powering up the forge, or do you deal with the bad guys first?
You decided to try to take out some of the monsters, which went pretty well, but the thing is, they are just blocking the only exit out of the temple. This is when the crowd parts and a nine-year-old girl in tattered rags with dark, sunken eyes appears and asks you to follow her as she walks up to the Crown. Powering up the forge is easy she goes on to say, but she still needs Eldvod for some part of the process and she wants you to use it to light this forge for her. Oki suspects that Esai-En-Dar is actually nearby.
Other things of note that you have learned: Ab'Hara Thahn is a Third Order Forge. The implication is that there are many forges of different “Orders”. Oki strongly suspects that Atai is a higher, Fourth Order runic item.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
D'Agshalem
Node, Khouri and Agar went to work to try to repair Theoninn. Supplies are limited of things like optic cable and multiconductor (24,32, 48 pin) interconnects, and you are right out of LCD/plasma screen displays. So, while you can regain a fair amount of funcionality, things will not be perfect. Fortunately, most critical engine and life support systems use analog gages. Flight attitude, slip and elevation have basic gyro, vacuum and pitot-static driven gages. Advanced flight instruments for IFR flight are offline.
The rest of the party (Farallon, Oki, Landros, and Silus) uses Raven and Vaka to locate Lodos and Treasda. What remains of the captured Theoninn crew (Mirella, Treasda, Svarturinn and Ginsberg) are being force marched by a dozen Gromeks up into the mountains a couple hundred miles south of Marhund. Landros uses Vaka to look through Treasda's eyes to suss out a good attack point. The original plan involves having Oki and Landros banf in half the party in front of the Gromeks and half behind. Unfortunately (?) Void latches onto a passing thought of Farallon's and you all arrive in style in the Mako directly in front of the Gromeks. Another bit of wishful thinking and fate conspires to make killing the Gromeks easier than taking candy from a baby.
Mirella's lost her ring and pinkie finger of her right hand (she is a lefty). Treasda has been thoroughly beaten, and Ginsberg and Svarturinn are in no better shape. However, thanks to the Healing Circle cast by Landros, everyone got better quickly.
Mirella knew of an old Dwarven ruin in the mountains; you all suspect that is both where the prisoners were being taken and where Lodos (and Abassi) have been hidden. The other four prisoners of the Gromeks (a merchant, etc.) have become replacements for your old, dead red-shirts. A short journey onward and you came to a ravine which leads to the great silver doors of D'Agshalem.
The main entrance corridor has a vaulted ceiling and an upper hidden gallery with arrow slits that look onto the hallway. Obviously the defensive architecture of this location suggests is was built sometime during the Great War. The middle of the corridor is intersected by a circular room with a portculis at either end. Oki walked into the room and set off a trap which brought both gates down, trapping her there. She used her various powers to ascertain how the device worked and reported that info to Silus who then used Chronos to rewind time before Oki set off the trap. Silus then related to everyone what would happen if they went forward...
The work around involved levitating various party members across the room; these folks then went around and found the gate controls and disarmed the system by wedging an iron spike in the gears of the machine. At this point it was safe for everyone to cross the circular room.
Exploring the underground city you quickly found the 'throne room' which then lead, room by room, to a secret door and passage way. This brought you to some sort of ancient dwarven 'office' building of some sort which you found your way out of in short order. “Outside” of this building you find yourselves in a massive cavern with a series of waterfalls and a river running through it. Other buildings of various types are carved into the cavern walls giving t he sense of a real city built underground. Further wandering and you find a field of glowing flowers that have obscured an stone pathway (sort of) that leads to a circular metal double door. This door leads to a temple.
The corridor beyond the door is also circular and the walls are covered in runes. All the runes glow in a wave down the hall, pulse, and then glow softly. Farallon enters first; as he takes a few steps in, various runes along the walls light up in vibrant colors. He takes out Eldvöð and the runes along the blade project off like 3D holograms, revealilng another dimension to the shape of the letters. Landros enters the corridor and attempts to use his past sight ability, but is overwhelmed by seeing all past events simultaneously – so he steps back out.
A quick view of the past reveals that Ililsus and about 40 of his henchman entered the temple area only a couple of days ago. And, of course, the energy signature of Lodos is coming from within.
The rest of the party (Farallon, Oki, Landros, and Silus) uses Raven and Vaka to locate Lodos and Treasda. What remains of the captured Theoninn crew (Mirella, Treasda, Svarturinn and Ginsberg) are being force marched by a dozen Gromeks up into the mountains a couple hundred miles south of Marhund. Landros uses Vaka to look through Treasda's eyes to suss out a good attack point. The original plan involves having Oki and Landros banf in half the party in front of the Gromeks and half behind. Unfortunately (?) Void latches onto a passing thought of Farallon's and you all arrive in style in the Mako directly in front of the Gromeks. Another bit of wishful thinking and fate conspires to make killing the Gromeks easier than taking candy from a baby.
Mirella's lost her ring and pinkie finger of her right hand (she is a lefty). Treasda has been thoroughly beaten, and Ginsberg and Svarturinn are in no better shape. However, thanks to the Healing Circle cast by Landros, everyone got better quickly.
Mirella knew of an old Dwarven ruin in the mountains; you all suspect that is both where the prisoners were being taken and where Lodos (and Abassi) have been hidden. The other four prisoners of the Gromeks (a merchant, etc.) have become replacements for your old, dead red-shirts. A short journey onward and you came to a ravine which leads to the great silver doors of D'Agshalem.
The main entrance corridor has a vaulted ceiling and an upper hidden gallery with arrow slits that look onto the hallway. Obviously the defensive architecture of this location suggests is was built sometime during the Great War. The middle of the corridor is intersected by a circular room with a portculis at either end. Oki walked into the room and set off a trap which brought both gates down, trapping her there. She used her various powers to ascertain how the device worked and reported that info to Silus who then used Chronos to rewind time before Oki set off the trap. Silus then related to everyone what would happen if they went forward...
The work around involved levitating various party members across the room; these folks then went around and found the gate controls and disarmed the system by wedging an iron spike in the gears of the machine. At this point it was safe for everyone to cross the circular room.
Exploring the underground city you quickly found the 'throne room' which then lead, room by room, to a secret door and passage way. This brought you to some sort of ancient dwarven 'office' building of some sort which you found your way out of in short order. “Outside” of this building you find yourselves in a massive cavern with a series of waterfalls and a river running through it. Other buildings of various types are carved into the cavern walls giving t he sense of a real city built underground. Further wandering and you find a field of glowing flowers that have obscured an stone pathway (sort of) that leads to a circular metal double door. This door leads to a temple.
The corridor beyond the door is also circular and the walls are covered in runes. All the runes glow in a wave down the hall, pulse, and then glow softly. Farallon enters first; as he takes a few steps in, various runes along the walls light up in vibrant colors. He takes out Eldvöð and the runes along the blade project off like 3D holograms, revealilng another dimension to the shape of the letters. Landros enters the corridor and attempts to use his past sight ability, but is overwhelmed by seeing all past events simultaneously – so he steps back out.
A quick view of the past reveals that Ililsus and about 40 of his henchman entered the temple area only a couple of days ago. And, of course, the energy signature of Lodos is coming from within.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Anskut
You had been trapped in a temple wrapped in a nightmare hosted by Anskut, the baalrog that was working for Ililsus.
You had decided that the "crying baby" in the cell at the end of the corridor was most likely a trap, so you went in the opposite direction. The smooth cut stone walls gave way to rough, natural stone. A spell or toxin of some sort was present and temporarily incapacitated Agar. Farallon sacrificed his cloak to be used as a sort of rug so that you could all drag the very heavy and limp Agar along with you.
After a short journey you found yourselves in a large open cavern. There was evidence that this place was used for sacrifice...human sacrifice. Three diverging passage ways lead from the cavern toward what you hoped might be the surface. Only a few steps in the direction of freedom, and you saw dozens of demonic beasts coming for you from what you had hoped was an escape path. Landros quickly threw down a circle of protection.
Then, from behind you came the horrible slow stomping of the baalrog. Oki grabbed and joined the two parts of Atai. As a team you all made very quick work of Anskut, despite the fact that he was wielding Void.
Ah, Void....
Farallon now has Void.
But there was more: you learned from Anskut and some random clothing and body parts that the alternate team in Theoninn had been captured.
You immediately traced down Theoninn, damaged and partly sunk in marsh flats of a river delta just outside of Marhund. The ship was ransacked, and there is much work to do to put it back together again. Ginsberg had escaped capture by hiding in the Raven chamber; he explained that he and the others had been tricked by a fake distress call from Farallon.
So Mirella, Treasda, and the others are missing. Presumably held hostage somewhere or dead. You at least have the digit of Mirella to show that some form of torture has been going on. Now you must find your friends - if they are still alive.
You had decided that the "crying baby" in the cell at the end of the corridor was most likely a trap, so you went in the opposite direction. The smooth cut stone walls gave way to rough, natural stone. A spell or toxin of some sort was present and temporarily incapacitated Agar. Farallon sacrificed his cloak to be used as a sort of rug so that you could all drag the very heavy and limp Agar along with you.
After a short journey you found yourselves in a large open cavern. There was evidence that this place was used for sacrifice...human sacrifice. Three diverging passage ways lead from the cavern toward what you hoped might be the surface. Only a few steps in the direction of freedom, and you saw dozens of demonic beasts coming for you from what you had hoped was an escape path. Landros quickly threw down a circle of protection.
Then, from behind you came the horrible slow stomping of the baalrog. Oki grabbed and joined the two parts of Atai. As a team you all made very quick work of Anskut, despite the fact that he was wielding Void.
Ah, Void....
Farallon now has Void.
But there was more: you learned from Anskut and some random clothing and body parts that the alternate team in Theoninn had been captured.
You immediately traced down Theoninn, damaged and partly sunk in marsh flats of a river delta just outside of Marhund. The ship was ransacked, and there is much work to do to put it back together again. Ginsberg had escaped capture by hiding in the Raven chamber; he explained that he and the others had been tricked by a fake distress call from Farallon.
So Mirella, Treasda, and the others are missing. Presumably held hostage somewhere or dead. You at least have the digit of Mirella to show that some form of torture has been going on. Now you must find your friends - if they are still alive.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Updates...
Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since an update! I feel as though some intervening got lost somehow. Sorry about that...
Well, really quickly, you returned to Palladium and found Aja under seige by forces from you local demon temple at Naylon. Actually, the city was deserted and it looked as though maybe everyone escaped through the rift point in the main facility, but the corridors in there kind of reminded you all of the inner depths of Naylon, which seems ominous, so maybe they did not have a happy ending. The gem was a nuclear warhead parked right there by the doors, timer ticking away. You easily disarmed the timer and took the warhead with you.
Next, you returned to the site of your last run in with Echo and those crazy crow beasts. By following the underground limestone caverns you were able to find and reunite the entire party.
Then on the agenda was wiping out Echo by using the warhead. It took a while to hammer out the logistics, but you nailed it and vaporized Echo. This also means that Necros is buried under tons of radioactive rubble deep inside the mountain, so it is unlikely anyone will retrieve this any time soon.
You know that Anskut and Illilsus are still hunting for you, so you decided to return to Marhund to confront them. You re-entered the temple and made your way deep inside and found yourselves in a small room, tucked neatly inside a deep illusion....
and that's where I get a little hazy, so if any of you remember details, let me know.
Well, really quickly, you returned to Palladium and found Aja under seige by forces from you local demon temple at Naylon. Actually, the city was deserted and it looked as though maybe everyone escaped through the rift point in the main facility, but the corridors in there kind of reminded you all of the inner depths of Naylon, which seems ominous, so maybe they did not have a happy ending. The gem was a nuclear warhead parked right there by the doors, timer ticking away. You easily disarmed the timer and took the warhead with you.
Next, you returned to the site of your last run in with Echo and those crazy crow beasts. By following the underground limestone caverns you were able to find and reunite the entire party.
Then on the agenda was wiping out Echo by using the warhead. It took a while to hammer out the logistics, but you nailed it and vaporized Echo. This also means that Necros is buried under tons of radioactive rubble deep inside the mountain, so it is unlikely anyone will retrieve this any time soon.
You know that Anskut and Illilsus are still hunting for you, so you decided to return to Marhund to confront them. You re-entered the temple and made your way deep inside and found yourselves in a small room, tucked neatly inside a deep illusion....
and that's where I get a little hazy, so if any of you remember details, let me know.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Crionysus
Alright, here is what has happened recently:
You returned to the Infinity and Pi from the research planet/facility run by Sylveste
Ah'eishabutan does a fly by in Dilemma, damaging Pi. He is then on a 24 hour loop to meet back up with you.
You use Theoninn to bust on board the Pi and take down Orlos, whereby you acquire Vaka-Svefn.
Node nearly gets killed by a bunch of soldiers on board while he is holding Vaka.
You all return and get medical attention.
You use Vaka to take out Ah'eishabutan.
You interrogate the captured C10 soldiers and discover that Gavorran is among them
Gavorran reveals that Svarturinn is actual a C10 operative.
You follow Raven's (Gavorran's?) lead to Crionysus where...
You get involved in a cult serial murder case (because of a possessed computer ticket terminal in the “subway”), the clues to which reveal a hidden message.
“The angel of darkness, that steals all living light, may be found on the lifeless moon, Tatsos.”
You don't know (or do you?) who was responsible for these murders.
You are all owed some backlog XP, which I will allow to be transferred to your favorite character. Try 2150 for size.
You believe (some of you) that you are already in possession of Atai and Abassi. What do you really have? What are the amulets?
The time to return to Palladium is nigh...but not before you have everything!
You returned to the Infinity and Pi from the research planet/facility run by Sylveste
Ah'eishabutan does a fly by in Dilemma, damaging Pi. He is then on a 24 hour loop to meet back up with you.
You use Theoninn to bust on board the Pi and take down Orlos, whereby you acquire Vaka-Svefn.
Node nearly gets killed by a bunch of soldiers on board while he is holding Vaka.
You all return and get medical attention.
You use Vaka to take out Ah'eishabutan.
You interrogate the captured C10 soldiers and discover that Gavorran is among them
Gavorran reveals that Svarturinn is actual a C10 operative.
You follow Raven's (Gavorran's?) lead to Crionysus where...
You get involved in a cult serial murder case (because of a possessed computer ticket terminal in the “subway”), the clues to which reveal a hidden message.
“The angel of darkness, that steals all living light, may be found on the lifeless moon, Tatsos.”
You don't know (or do you?) who was responsible for these murders.
You are all owed some backlog XP, which I will allow to be transferred to your favorite character. Try 2150 for size.
You believe (some of you) that you are already in possession of Atai and Abassi. What do you really have? What are the amulets?
The time to return to Palladium is nigh...but not before you have everything!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Gavorran
Oh, I almost forgot. You also learned from Calais that a very effective assassin/bounty hunter, Gavorran, is after you. Be Careful!
Goodbye, Froggy
Synopsis of 6-28-10
Volya piloted the Infinity to follow Pi as it headed out from Telemachus Station, but she avoided radio contact to unsettle the crew of Pi. It is almost completely unheard of for two lighthuggers to head off in the same direction or follow each other. The act would seem ominous and hostile, even though it is also unthinkable for two lighthuggers to engage each other in combat; since there are so few left, they are viewed as almost sacrosanct. There has only ever been one incident between lighthuggers after the end of the Conjoiner civil war. So, after a couple of days someone on the Pi gets nervous and radios to ask what the hell is going on.
Volya says nothing.
Another day passes.
The Pi is getting downright edgy and fires a “warning” shot across the Infinity's bow. Volya knows this is a bluff, so she chooses to ignore them, but pulls the ship closer to theirs, just to put the pressure on.
A day later, the crew of the Pi is making desperate offers to share profits or trade leads or something. Now Volya acknowledges them, but doesn't say much yet.
Meanwhile Node, Svarturinn, Oki, Landros, and Khouri hop on Theoninn and use the FTL capabilities to travel back to Telemachus and the moon to see if they can learn something more about what the “item” was that got secreted out of the mining facility. A little spying reveals that Grunner Corp does not believe the item has left the moon and they seem to be more concerned with the arrival manifests of The Elegance of Pi.
Khouri searches for an alternate way in to the mining facility and finds one: a cave that leads to an old abandoned service entrance or shaft. Oki bypasses the airlock security - “Fr33dom” - gaining entrance. Everyone agrees that, because of your high profile exit last time, Landros should stay back and guard the ship. Long story short, you all drive the Mako vehicle down the service tunnel as far as possible, get out, walk some, and easily foil an ambush by Resistance Fighters who didn't know who the hell you were. The Resistance folks quickly figure out who you are and they show you their find – the item you thought you had been searching for. It turns out to be an ancient alien power coupling that comes from the wreck of a many million old ship now covered in millions of years of sediment on the moon. (Hint: now airless, barren moon that can no longer have sedimentary processes...)
Grunner doesn't want this info to get out because it supports the theory of the Inhibitors, which is largely considered to be bunk. Also, the alien technology might prove useful, but if the crackpots start a media campaign about Inhibitors, then they lose the ability to capitalize off of “their” discovery.
You all go to see Calais, the Mystic, who explains this situation to you and asks you to help “spread the word” about the alien artifact (and help to get it off-world). You also find out mainly from her that there is a bad Androsien, Orlos, who has Vaka-Svefn and he represents a great threat to you. He is on the Pi and headed towards Mesmuth where he hopes to find Castlerake.
Oki has an odd experience, like someone is poking around inside her head. You decide to leave the moon in pursuit of Orlos. When you get back to Theoninn you discover that Landros has had an strange episode of sorts: he walked around the ship looking at things like the cockpit, the weapons locker, the engineering room....he seems fine, and nothing was harmed or touched, he just did some “sleep-walking”.
You decide to just go directly to Mesmuth to retrieve Castlerake before Orlos can get there (it will take him five years via lighthugger). This goes well, and you find yourselves above a moon that Sylveste research has turned into a biological testing/gene splicing facility. Not wanting to mess around too much with what these mad scientists might have come up with, you hone in on exactly where Castlerake is and go straight for it.
Khouri deftly pilots the ship down into a large, deep sinkhole type cave. At the bottom you all head out on foot towards the signature of Castlerake, but, before you can go very far, Landros pulls out four guns and locks the rest of the party in his sites. He forces you all to march into what ultimately turns out to be an albino dragon's lair, complete with two babies.
Landros fires at the dragon, but only pisses it off. After all, it isn't really Landros piloting the frog suit, but Orlos using his body (Orlos rolled an 06% in his attempt to gain control of Landros and got it hands down. Saving throw didn't...well, save). The dragon grabs Landros in its mouth and violently throws him against the cave wall, rendering him unconscious. At this point, I thought Landros was safely out of combat harm's way, and he was, but...Khouri runs over and, using her decades of training on the frog suits, accesses control to release the unconscious Landros. The idea was, of course, to use the suit to save everyone else's asses, which she did.
The rest is humdrum. Dragon was M7 helper. You acquired Castlerake and everyone got out safely.
As for Landros, although obviously somewhat crippled from a past injury that no one else present saw happen, he is/will be fine ( i.e. Not die). He is still unconscious aboard Theoninn and will wake when we next meet to discover that he is no longer in suit.
Volya piloted the Infinity to follow Pi as it headed out from Telemachus Station, but she avoided radio contact to unsettle the crew of Pi. It is almost completely unheard of for two lighthuggers to head off in the same direction or follow each other. The act would seem ominous and hostile, even though it is also unthinkable for two lighthuggers to engage each other in combat; since there are so few left, they are viewed as almost sacrosanct. There has only ever been one incident between lighthuggers after the end of the Conjoiner civil war. So, after a couple of days someone on the Pi gets nervous and radios to ask what the hell is going on.
Volya says nothing.
Another day passes.
The Pi is getting downright edgy and fires a “warning” shot across the Infinity's bow. Volya knows this is a bluff, so she chooses to ignore them, but pulls the ship closer to theirs, just to put the pressure on.
A day later, the crew of the Pi is making desperate offers to share profits or trade leads or something. Now Volya acknowledges them, but doesn't say much yet.
Meanwhile Node, Svarturinn, Oki, Landros, and Khouri hop on Theoninn and use the FTL capabilities to travel back to Telemachus and the moon to see if they can learn something more about what the “item” was that got secreted out of the mining facility. A little spying reveals that Grunner Corp does not believe the item has left the moon and they seem to be more concerned with the arrival manifests of The Elegance of Pi.
Khouri searches for an alternate way in to the mining facility and finds one: a cave that leads to an old abandoned service entrance or shaft. Oki bypasses the airlock security - “Fr33dom” - gaining entrance. Everyone agrees that, because of your high profile exit last time, Landros should stay back and guard the ship. Long story short, you all drive the Mako vehicle down the service tunnel as far as possible, get out, walk some, and easily foil an ambush by Resistance Fighters who didn't know who the hell you were. The Resistance folks quickly figure out who you are and they show you their find – the item you thought you had been searching for. It turns out to be an ancient alien power coupling that comes from the wreck of a many million old ship now covered in millions of years of sediment on the moon. (Hint: now airless, barren moon that can no longer have sedimentary processes...)
Grunner doesn't want this info to get out because it supports the theory of the Inhibitors, which is largely considered to be bunk. Also, the alien technology might prove useful, but if the crackpots start a media campaign about Inhibitors, then they lose the ability to capitalize off of “their” discovery.
You all go to see Calais, the Mystic, who explains this situation to you and asks you to help “spread the word” about the alien artifact (and help to get it off-world). You also find out mainly from her that there is a bad Androsien, Orlos, who has Vaka-Svefn and he represents a great threat to you. He is on the Pi and headed towards Mesmuth where he hopes to find Castlerake.
Oki has an odd experience, like someone is poking around inside her head. You decide to leave the moon in pursuit of Orlos. When you get back to Theoninn you discover that Landros has had an strange episode of sorts: he walked around the ship looking at things like the cockpit, the weapons locker, the engineering room....he seems fine, and nothing was harmed or touched, he just did some “sleep-walking”.
You decide to just go directly to Mesmuth to retrieve Castlerake before Orlos can get there (it will take him five years via lighthugger). This goes well, and you find yourselves above a moon that Sylveste research has turned into a biological testing/gene splicing facility. Not wanting to mess around too much with what these mad scientists might have come up with, you hone in on exactly where Castlerake is and go straight for it.
Khouri deftly pilots the ship down into a large, deep sinkhole type cave. At the bottom you all head out on foot towards the signature of Castlerake, but, before you can go very far, Landros pulls out four guns and locks the rest of the party in his sites. He forces you all to march into what ultimately turns out to be an albino dragon's lair, complete with two babies.
Landros fires at the dragon, but only pisses it off. After all, it isn't really Landros piloting the frog suit, but Orlos using his body (Orlos rolled an 06% in his attempt to gain control of Landros and got it hands down. Saving throw didn't...well, save). The dragon grabs Landros in its mouth and violently throws him against the cave wall, rendering him unconscious. At this point, I thought Landros was safely out of combat harm's way, and he was, but...Khouri runs over and, using her decades of training on the frog suits, accesses control to release the unconscious Landros. The idea was, of course, to use the suit to save everyone else's asses, which she did.
The rest is humdrum. Dragon was M7 helper. You acquired Castlerake and everyone got out safely.
As for Landros, although obviously somewhat crippled from a past injury that no one else present saw happen, he is/will be fine ( i.e. Not die). He is still unconscious aboard Theoninn and will wake when we next meet to discover that he is no longer in suit.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Switch to the Other Crew
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.
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, 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...
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)