Day 8:
The Erebus tome claimed that Bahamut was dead, but revived as an undead god by a being called "Iblis". The Obelisk seemed to be suppressing the dead god. The book contains rituals for raising an army of undead. It turns out Belzerius was planning on using it to attack Eibelstat and stealing Albrecht's power so he could destroy the monolith in Erebus. After hearing his offer we decided he had to die. When the knight put her sword through his guts, he dropped a shadowstone fragment, which immediately stopped functioning.
The town around us fell into decay and most of the villagers turned out to be undead! We managed to save most of the living ones. I guess the shadowstone can shape or mask things here in the Shadowfell. It turns out the platinum reward was really just copper. I suspect that the real Silvi died back in Erebus, but we had to fight a very nasty fake version of her! I suppose Belzerius needed a real zealot to work with Eibelstat. Well, we raided the coffers for some gold and a cracked soulstone. I'm not sure if the cracked soulstone will be enough to get any of the group's memories back, but finding it doubled my anxiety about the nature of my team's lost memories.
There was nothing we could do except escort the remaining villagers out of Acheron and to the Eibelstat outskirts. Even though Eibelstat was under an immigration freeze, they granted the Kitzingen villagers temporary shelter. I wonder if Kitzingen can be reclaimed? Someone definitely needs to do something about that portal to Erebus. I'm scared of that place and I'm scared someone else will find it and make a huge mistake! We informed the Eibelstat authorities about the whole Acheron/Kitzingen/Erebus story. They said we could either give them the book, or take it far, far away. Either way, Vel wants to meet with us when we get a chance.
We noticed the book was broadcasting it's location vehemently, probably to every wizard in all the worlds. The mystic started really freaking out about Helmut. He probably knows where we are now because of this stupid book. We decided to take the book to Katja as soon as possible; she's got enough magic to deal with it. I hope she's not miffed with us for bringing something this dangerous into her home---maybe the shadowstone fragment will help her overlook the inconvenience.
Our experience with Erebus showed me how NOT ready we are to attempt a Rift crossing. If I lose these guys, there's no telling what Victor will do! I guess we'll be staying on this side for a while. My life is complicated. It looks like there's a distinct possibility my team mates are going to get at least some of their memories back today. I think I'm just going to have to come clean with them about what's going on with Victor. They've been doing a lot of good deeds since leaving the game, even when doing the right thing wasn't the smartest thing to do. Maybe they'll be understanding of my situation.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 7
Day 7:
This day definitely turned out to be the scariest day of my life so far, but it started innocently enough. We departed for Kitzingen in the morning. Along the way, the lush landscape quickly died off and the land started becoming fragmented. It started reminding me of Nebel. I wonder if it is nearby. We noticed several landmasses floating in the clouds. Perhaps there is something interesting up there, but we can't fly, yet. We passed a petrified forest. There's a portal inside. It reminds me vaguely of the other forest portals. I bet it goes to Katja's place, but there's not way to be sure. It would be nice if it did; that would save us about 6 hours of walking between Keening and Eibelstat. We decided to conserve our resources and leave it alone for now.
Acheron and Kitzingen
We eventually discovered a lonely portal on an island held to a larger landmass by huge chains. We passed through the portal into a terrible place, Acheron, part of the Shadowfell. It is a vile, stinky swamp under a hot orange sky. The plants wanted to attack us, but we stuck to a well worn path. After following the road through the jungle for some time, the plants became green and calm and the sky blue. We arrived at a strangely lush town, Kitzingen. The most prominent feature is the granite temple of Bahamut, the platinum dragon emperor. We met a priest named Belzerius who seemed like some sort of deranged youth minister. He praised Bahamut for turning this patch of Acheron into an inhabitable place. I couldn't help but notice the parallel with Eibelstat's emperor, though I have many more reservations about this place.
Belzerius said the zombies were coming from an ancient graveyard. The town had been using it, but I guess the old corpses weren't happy to have company. I can't say I'm surprised given the nature of Acheron. Anyway, Belzerius wanted us to guard them while they relocate the friendly corpses. We did. There were a few zombies, but not much. It's strange. I would have thought Belzerius and Silvi could have handled it. They seemed surprised, though, at the lack of resistance. I was still suspicious.
Anyway, Silvi promised us a reward so we met them in the temple. Our priest was practically giddy. *BARF*. Belzerius promised the invoker a personal audience with his god. He took us downstairs to a strange portal . . . creepy. He gave us some platinum and some healing potions for our trouble and Silvi started opening the portal. Great black tendrils dragged all of us, including Silvi and Belzerius through the gate!
Erebus
We landed in a bad place. Probably Erebus, the deepest shadow known---it had to be! At first, I though we were lost in sand dunes in total darkness. Upon closer exanination we discovered the sand was, in fact, finely crushed bone! We were surrounded by huge bones (dragons?) and stifling stale air. We saved Silvi from suffocating, but it looks like Belzerius didn't make it. His life seemed to be suppressed, somehow.
We followed Silvi and the Invoker as their holy symbols led over a dune. On the other side we found a dais surrounded by huge bones. If the dragon's skull had been exposed, I'm certain the paladin could have stood easily inside it's eye socket. A huge, black, featureless monolith rested in the center of the dais. Silvi followed her holy symbol to it, but died immediately upon touching it.
Nonetheless, the invoker found the obelisk irresistible. It sucked us nearly dry, but we managed to extract a book from within the monolith. The invoker plunged his hands through the stone as if it were jelly and pulled out a book covered in platinum scales. The book contained dragon flesh and blood, but we didn't have time to otherwise examine it.
We decided to try to weaken the obelisk further, but that caused a bunch of skeletal dragons to approach from the darkness. I didn't get a good look at them, and it's hard to tell from the skeletons, but I don't think any of them bore any resemblance to Katja. The huge bones around us shifted a wiggled. We concluded that the monument was actually doing us a favor and maybe the book was not going to be a boon for us. Luckily, the shifting bone sand revealed a portal out. We used the healing potions and some of my life force (not that I have a lot!) to open the door and return to the temple basement.
We were obviously dismayed to find Belzerius and Silvi(?) on the other side. They acted as if nothing bad had happened and asked if Bahamut had blessed us. They immediately noticed the book and wanted it. We were naturally reluctant to hand it over (we went through a lot!). They agreed to let our priest study it overnight. We rested uneasily, but we had to sleep; Erebus nearly killed us.
This day definitely turned out to be the scariest day of my life so far, but it started innocently enough. We departed for Kitzingen in the morning. Along the way, the lush landscape quickly died off and the land started becoming fragmented. It started reminding me of Nebel. I wonder if it is nearby. We noticed several landmasses floating in the clouds. Perhaps there is something interesting up there, but we can't fly, yet. We passed a petrified forest. There's a portal inside. It reminds me vaguely of the other forest portals. I bet it goes to Katja's place, but there's not way to be sure. It would be nice if it did; that would save us about 6 hours of walking between Keening and Eibelstat. We decided to conserve our resources and leave it alone for now.
Acheron and Kitzingen
We eventually discovered a lonely portal on an island held to a larger landmass by huge chains. We passed through the portal into a terrible place, Acheron, part of the Shadowfell. It is a vile, stinky swamp under a hot orange sky. The plants wanted to attack us, but we stuck to a well worn path. After following the road through the jungle for some time, the plants became green and calm and the sky blue. We arrived at a strangely lush town, Kitzingen. The most prominent feature is the granite temple of Bahamut, the platinum dragon emperor. We met a priest named Belzerius who seemed like some sort of deranged youth minister. He praised Bahamut for turning this patch of Acheron into an inhabitable place. I couldn't help but notice the parallel with Eibelstat's emperor, though I have many more reservations about this place.
Belzerius said the zombies were coming from an ancient graveyard. The town had been using it, but I guess the old corpses weren't happy to have company. I can't say I'm surprised given the nature of Acheron. Anyway, Belzerius wanted us to guard them while they relocate the friendly corpses. We did. There were a few zombies, but not much. It's strange. I would have thought Belzerius and Silvi could have handled it. They seemed surprised, though, at the lack of resistance. I was still suspicious.
Anyway, Silvi promised us a reward so we met them in the temple. Our priest was practically giddy. *BARF*. Belzerius promised the invoker a personal audience with his god. He took us downstairs to a strange portal . . . creepy. He gave us some platinum and some healing potions for our trouble and Silvi started opening the portal. Great black tendrils dragged all of us, including Silvi and Belzerius through the gate!
Erebus
We landed in a bad place. Probably Erebus, the deepest shadow known---it had to be! At first, I though we were lost in sand dunes in total darkness. Upon closer exanination we discovered the sand was, in fact, finely crushed bone! We were surrounded by huge bones (dragons?) and stifling stale air. We saved Silvi from suffocating, but it looks like Belzerius didn't make it. His life seemed to be suppressed, somehow.
We followed Silvi and the Invoker as their holy symbols led over a dune. On the other side we found a dais surrounded by huge bones. If the dragon's skull had been exposed, I'm certain the paladin could have stood easily inside it's eye socket. A huge, black, featureless monolith rested in the center of the dais. Silvi followed her holy symbol to it, but died immediately upon touching it.
Nonetheless, the invoker found the obelisk irresistible. It sucked us nearly dry, but we managed to extract a book from within the monolith. The invoker plunged his hands through the stone as if it were jelly and pulled out a book covered in platinum scales. The book contained dragon flesh and blood, but we didn't have time to otherwise examine it.
We decided to try to weaken the obelisk further, but that caused a bunch of skeletal dragons to approach from the darkness. I didn't get a good look at them, and it's hard to tell from the skeletons, but I don't think any of them bore any resemblance to Katja. The huge bones around us shifted a wiggled. We concluded that the monument was actually doing us a favor and maybe the book was not going to be a boon for us. Luckily, the shifting bone sand revealed a portal out. We used the healing potions and some of my life force (not that I have a lot!) to open the door and return to the temple basement.
We were obviously dismayed to find Belzerius and Silvi(?) on the other side. They acted as if nothing bad had happened and asked if Bahamut had blessed us. They immediately noticed the book and wanted it. We were naturally reluctant to hand it over (we went through a lot!). They agreed to let our priest study it overnight. We rested uneasily, but we had to sleep; Erebus nearly killed us.
Frei's Memories: Day 6
Day 6:
Something must have happened to the dark elf; he's acting a bit strange this morning---He probably had the lucky room. On the upside, Katja seemed in an unusually good mood. She even enchanted most of our gear!
Keening
We passed through Katja's portal near Keening, where the big essentia mine operates. The town is quite a bit bigger and uglier than Berlitz. It kind of looks like a rough place, but we didn't go in so I'm not sure about that. We did visit the mining area. It was heavily defended. We observed some sick people; the unrefined essentia is poisonous! We learned a man named Herrick runs the essentia mine than dominates Keening.
On the road to Eibelstat, we encountered Nico and the elves from the game on the road to Eibelstat. They wanted to make sure we weren't taking essentia to Eibelstat. They acted worried that Eibelstat would use the essentia to attack Keening and take the mine for themselves. The elves compared Eibelstat to Zerthadium and vowed to prevent the analogous history from happening. I think they're just covering for banditry, but they seem almost crazy enough to really be freedom fighters. They still seem to be in contact with the Elementals; we'd better remember that. They mentioned Herrick was nasty and also not a fan of the dragon refining the essentia. We stayed on Elves good side by selling them what little essentia we had left. We were careful not to mention our association with Katja.
Eibelstat
We encountered some brigands. At least one of them misunderstood what "Highwayman" means---he had a shovel and a hard hat. The other bandits didn't like him, much. To their dismay, we were just inside Eibelstat territory and an angel appeared. Strangely enough, the angel seemed bored so he offered to allow us to duel for money. We beat them handily and they departed in shame. I get the impression this has happened to them before. I didn't catch their names but they should be easy to recognize. A strange thing happened during the fight. The rogue erupted a pair of insubstantial dragon wings and then so did we! They protected us from arrows for a few seconds and then vanished.
Paradoxically, the dark elf reported feeling a little less strange afterward.
Serradus contacted us through a mirror we were carrying. He asked us to collect some info on Eibelstat's emperor if we could. If the Emperor is really a god-man, like Til said, I'm not surprised that the Aons are interested.
We witnessed a ceremony in the pastoral outskirts of Eibelstat. A young man and woman were taken from their families, who were compensated. We learned that they are not allowed to leave or communicate to the outside once they have entered the Palace Sanctum. We had a long conversation with a local pastor and learned some things about the city and it's emperor.
The Emperor, Albrecht, has been in power for 26 years. Before that this place was a wasteland. Albrecht's ascension and terraforming requires LOTS of essentia. We entered the main city and immediately a tour guide found us. We were given room and board passes and allowed to explore the city. Eibelstat is a nice place. They are turning people away. I doubt they are interested in taking over Keening. Nonetheless, they seemed ready for war. Also, the administration recognized us as Returned. Vel, Albrecht's second in command said she might have jobs for us.
While eating a feast in the market, we met Silvi, a Bahamut zealot. She was preaching from a booth. Eibelstat is awfully tolerant of this kind of thing. Maybe Albrecht is just that confident. She had a long conversation with our Bahamut Priest. They had a platinum dragon party. She's from Kitzingen in the North. She asked us to help kill some undead there. Naturally, the priest insisted we go to Kitzingen after our tour finished.
We looked around Eibelstat a while longer. When the sun set, the magical streetlights turned on. What a sight. This place even has running water. No wonder they're turning people away. I wonder what Til's problem with the place is. We stayed at a fancy hotel and even received a complimentary massage! I even got a gecko scale massage, yea!
I bet there's someone here who can help us get across the Rift and back to Zerthadium. I don't think the team is strong enough to handle it, though, so I'll put off mentioning it for a while.
Something must have happened to the dark elf; he's acting a bit strange this morning---He probably had the lucky room. On the upside, Katja seemed in an unusually good mood. She even enchanted most of our gear!
Keening
We passed through Katja's portal near Keening, where the big essentia mine operates. The town is quite a bit bigger and uglier than Berlitz. It kind of looks like a rough place, but we didn't go in so I'm not sure about that. We did visit the mining area. It was heavily defended. We observed some sick people; the unrefined essentia is poisonous! We learned a man named Herrick runs the essentia mine than dominates Keening.
On the road to Eibelstat, we encountered Nico and the elves from the game on the road to Eibelstat. They wanted to make sure we weren't taking essentia to Eibelstat. They acted worried that Eibelstat would use the essentia to attack Keening and take the mine for themselves. The elves compared Eibelstat to Zerthadium and vowed to prevent the analogous history from happening. I think they're just covering for banditry, but they seem almost crazy enough to really be freedom fighters. They still seem to be in contact with the Elementals; we'd better remember that. They mentioned Herrick was nasty and also not a fan of the dragon refining the essentia. We stayed on Elves good side by selling them what little essentia we had left. We were careful not to mention our association with Katja.
Eibelstat
We encountered some brigands. At least one of them misunderstood what "Highwayman" means---he had a shovel and a hard hat. The other bandits didn't like him, much. To their dismay, we were just inside Eibelstat territory and an angel appeared. Strangely enough, the angel seemed bored so he offered to allow us to duel for money. We beat them handily and they departed in shame. I get the impression this has happened to them before. I didn't catch their names but they should be easy to recognize. A strange thing happened during the fight. The rogue erupted a pair of insubstantial dragon wings and then so did we! They protected us from arrows for a few seconds and then vanished.
Paradoxically, the dark elf reported feeling a little less strange afterward.
Serradus contacted us through a mirror we were carrying. He asked us to collect some info on Eibelstat's emperor if we could. If the Emperor is really a god-man, like Til said, I'm not surprised that the Aons are interested.
We witnessed a ceremony in the pastoral outskirts of Eibelstat. A young man and woman were taken from their families, who were compensated. We learned that they are not allowed to leave or communicate to the outside once they have entered the Palace Sanctum. We had a long conversation with a local pastor and learned some things about the city and it's emperor.
The Emperor, Albrecht, has been in power for 26 years. Before that this place was a wasteland. Albrecht's ascension and terraforming requires LOTS of essentia. We entered the main city and immediately a tour guide found us. We were given room and board passes and allowed to explore the city. Eibelstat is a nice place. They are turning people away. I doubt they are interested in taking over Keening. Nonetheless, they seemed ready for war. Also, the administration recognized us as Returned. Vel, Albrecht's second in command said she might have jobs for us.
While eating a feast in the market, we met Silvi, a Bahamut zealot. She was preaching from a booth. Eibelstat is awfully tolerant of this kind of thing. Maybe Albrecht is just that confident. She had a long conversation with our Bahamut Priest. They had a platinum dragon party. She's from Kitzingen in the North. She asked us to help kill some undead there. Naturally, the priest insisted we go to Kitzingen after our tour finished.
We looked around Eibelstat a while longer. When the sun set, the magical streetlights turned on. What a sight. This place even has running water. No wonder they're turning people away. I wonder what Til's problem with the place is. We stayed at a fancy hotel and even received a complimentary massage! I even got a gecko scale massage, yea!
I bet there's someone here who can help us get across the Rift and back to Zerthadium. I don't think the team is strong enough to handle it, though, so I'll put off mentioning it for a while.
Frei's Memories: Day 5
Day 5:
The people of Berlitz were still very grateful. The innkeeper promised us free room and board for a month, the tailor gave us a good discount on nice clothes for us and even the dragonborn, and a the winery sold us a cheap case of nice wine. Several ladies even baked us some tasty looking pies! Later that day, we brought the wine, pies and dragonborn with us to Katja's party.
Katja's Party
We were the only guests, but it was still a good time. Katja, startling all of us, appeared as a very fat drow woman. We noticed she was wearing the comb the sniper gave her. He complemented her on her appearance. I was beginning to suspect something awful was about to happen, but I kept it to myself.
Katja offered to restore the group's memories if they brought her a soulstone (condensed, crystallized, essentia). She once had a few from the mine, but sold them to Eibelstat a while ago. That's when I started getting nervous. I didn't think we'd be able to find a soulstone, so I didn't say anything. I wish I knew what was in their memories. I hope there's not something Victor really doesn't want them to know. Katja helped me send a message to Zerthadium. I worded it carefully so I wouldn't attract too much attention from the group. "Dear Family: I just wanted to tell you that I'm alive and well and will be coming home as soon as I can. I'm bringing my new friends with me---they're great!. --Frei"
Katja was very interested to hear about our adventure in Letherna. She wasn't happy to hear someone else was making essentia (she doesn't like competition). She pledged to help us fight the wizard. She assured us that we are privileged in our ability to cross the breach, so the wizard should not be able to send an army after us or Berlitz in revenge since we destroyed the portal. Ark promised to keep an eye on Berlitz and keep the cave well lit at all times. Katja suggested trying to find a spy to keep an eye on Nashik and the wizard. Anyway, we should be safe from Helmut in Eibelstat.
We learned quite a lot about the dragonborn at dinner. They were insulted when our priest again assumed they worshiped Bahamut (I guess he constructed that fantasy since they looked dragon-like). What a gaffe! The priest also made the mistake of promising to find them some fine females. Ark and the rest of her team ARE females. That was a laugh. Most importantly, they are some kind of warrior nuns of a nontheistic religion. Ark said that they died fighting to keep Zerthadium's armies from tearing down their temple. I'm amazed they aren't more hostile to us!
We stayed the night at Katja's mansion, which she had fixed up just for us. We each had our own cushy room for the night. I ended up in an unlucky room, though, because I think the room right above me was the lucky one. Don't get me wrong, this mansion is nice, but it sounds like the floor must be paper-thin. I guess Katja's been alone too long.
The people of Berlitz were still very grateful. The innkeeper promised us free room and board for a month, the tailor gave us a good discount on nice clothes for us and even the dragonborn, and a the winery sold us a cheap case of nice wine. Several ladies even baked us some tasty looking pies! Later that day, we brought the wine, pies and dragonborn with us to Katja's party.
Katja's Party
We were the only guests, but it was still a good time. Katja, startling all of us, appeared as a very fat drow woman. We noticed she was wearing the comb the sniper gave her. He complemented her on her appearance. I was beginning to suspect something awful was about to happen, but I kept it to myself.
Katja offered to restore the group's memories if they brought her a soulstone (condensed, crystallized, essentia). She once had a few from the mine, but sold them to Eibelstat a while ago. That's when I started getting nervous. I didn't think we'd be able to find a soulstone, so I didn't say anything. I wish I knew what was in their memories. I hope there's not something Victor really doesn't want them to know. Katja helped me send a message to Zerthadium. I worded it carefully so I wouldn't attract too much attention from the group. "Dear Family: I just wanted to tell you that I'm alive and well and will be coming home as soon as I can. I'm bringing my new friends with me---they're great!. --Frei"
Katja was very interested to hear about our adventure in Letherna. She wasn't happy to hear someone else was making essentia (she doesn't like competition). She pledged to help us fight the wizard. She assured us that we are privileged in our ability to cross the breach, so the wizard should not be able to send an army after us or Berlitz in revenge since we destroyed the portal. Ark promised to keep an eye on Berlitz and keep the cave well lit at all times. Katja suggested trying to find a spy to keep an eye on Nashik and the wizard. Anyway, we should be safe from Helmut in Eibelstat.
We learned quite a lot about the dragonborn at dinner. They were insulted when our priest again assumed they worshiped Bahamut (I guess he constructed that fantasy since they looked dragon-like). What a gaffe! The priest also made the mistake of promising to find them some fine females. Ark and the rest of her team ARE females. That was a laugh. Most importantly, they are some kind of warrior nuns of a nontheistic religion. Ark said that they died fighting to keep Zerthadium's armies from tearing down their temple. I'm amazed they aren't more hostile to us!
We stayed the night at Katja's mansion, which she had fixed up just for us. We each had our own cushy room for the night. I ended up in an unlucky room, though, because I think the room right above me was the lucky one. Don't get me wrong, this mansion is nice, but it sounds like the floor must be paper-thin. I guess Katja's been alone too long.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 4
Day 4:
The team had a tasty breakfast. I had to have the priest cut some sausage into tiny pieces so I could eat. Upon leaving the inn, a child paid us a few silver coins to kill the Barghest that killed his grandfather (the wood cutter we found upon arriving in Silesia). The mystic vowed to kill the beast. On our way out of town, Til told us something surprising. He said a team of dragonborn that had been driven off by the villagers two days ago left us a note. Sure enough, it was a letter from Ark, the dragonborn from the Game. It said, quite simply, "HELP US. WE ARE STARVING!"
Feeding Ark and friends.
We brought some food to Ark and company. We found them hiding out in the mountain caves above Berlitz. They were thankful for the food and told us about some strange noises and lights in one of the caves further up the mountains. We decided it would be best to kill the Barghest as soon as possible. Ark and friends agreed to help us hunt the Barghest. The priest made a special prayer to the platinum dragon, just for them. Ark didn't seem thrilled.
Slaying the Barghest.
We accidentally alerted the Barghest's advanced scouts. Like a good predator it avoided us because we (the 8 of us) were too much to handle. We decided to lure it in with some fresh deer. We sighted the Barghest and killed its entourage, but it escaped. After some time we managed to track it to some unnatural caves. We figured we only had one chance, so we made sure to trap or block the other entrances. We had the dragonborn camp outside the main entrance and we stealthily entered the caves from another entrance. The dragonborn intercepted additional reinforcements that would have made the battle a lot harder. The beast did not escape us that time.
The cave was an abandoned and very dangerous mine. We collected a few treasures, including a very nice jeweled metal comb. I was surprised and very happy that the beast seemed to be an isolated incident; it did not appear to be part of a larger problem. We brought the heads and pelts of the beast back to Berlitz and made sure to emphasize the Ark's role in the mission. The townspeople accepted the dragonborn.
The mountain portal
We investigated the cave Ark mentioned. It seemed like an evil gateway to an evil place. We decided to learn more about dealing with portals before attempting anything that might get us killed. We paid a visit to Katja and Ward. Ward didn't know much about magic portals, but he did extend an invitation to a party at the mansion. We found Katja drawing some kind of powerful transmutation circle. She gladly paused and consulted with us. We offered the jeweled comb as a gift and she seemed to like it. What a dragon would do with a comb, I have not idea. The ritual to lock the portal turned out to be beyond our ability, so we decided to physically break the portal while protected by a magic circle against evil. We executed the plan and disrupted the portal. However, we still sensed something odd about the cave. We found an unstable breach to another world in the back of the cave. It only functioned in the absence of light.
Neth, Letherna, and Nashik
We emerged in strange, black mountains in a dark, dark world. It bore a vague resemblance to Silesia. On the Berlitz side, the world appeared somewhat unstable . . . we later learned the region was called "Neth" by the people of the shadow world. We were greeted by floating jellyfish. They were attracted to any light and flashed like fireflies. We harmed one of them and it painted us with light and triggered a swarming response. That was scary. We decided to leave them the hell alone!
Upon investigating Neth, we discovered the (un)living city of Neth. I guess, it moves around and eats people. It must have accumulated great treasures inside, but we decided it was more than we could handle.
A Shadar Kai arrived and lead us to his hometown (Nashik) on the other side of the mountains, a region known as "Letherna". He spoke a similar language to one our Shadar Kai party member knows, but it is obvious that they are from different lands and do not know each other. Normal life seems to be sustained by some nasty black gunk seeping out of cracks in the earth. There are feathery worms and crabs and even giant spider crabs. The people Nashick cultivate them . . .
Slavery is normal here. The people regarded our Shadar Kai as a nobleman, since we seemed very high quality slaves! The Shadar Kai of Nashik have quite a few deep gnomes slaves from raids of surrounding towns. The wildly successful raids are, reportedly, the only reason the king stays in power. We heard rumors of a powerful wizard and we investigated a small magic market, but we did not pursue it further.
The nightmare beast
Instead, the Knight and Mystic triangulated the direction of the nightmare beast. We immediately left Nashik and ventured to a forest resembling a coral reef. Signs were posted "Keep out: Trespassers will be killed." We had to stop the nightmare best, so we decided to brave it. We met and fought guards at a small building with an antenna-like spire. Inside, we found a wizard's lab complete with the imprisoned nightmare beast! It was hooked up to the tower. We presume this modification amplified it's psychic power. We did not believe we could take the monster in a pitched battle, but we also did not believe it would want to fight one so we opened all the doors and released it. The beast retreated without harming us and we let it go.
Through further examination, we determined a wizard was using the beast to steal the souls of the dreamers in Berlitz and refining them into some kind of purple dust. (Katja later confimed that the dust was essentia, forcibly harvested.)
Two of the guards surrendered to us, so we did not kill them. We did send them off into the forest, however, while we retreated back to Silesia. Oddly enough, we discovered the the breach can move and only opens when we shine light on it. What we did was a crime (but for a good cause!). The wizard is going to be miffed and he's going to have the local law on his side. I hope we know what we are doing.
Party At Berlitz
The comatose people at Berlitz, including the innkeeper's daughter, recovered. We told them the story of the cave and they showered us with praise. There was food, drink and song---it was a heck of a party.
The team had a tasty breakfast. I had to have the priest cut some sausage into tiny pieces so I could eat. Upon leaving the inn, a child paid us a few silver coins to kill the Barghest that killed his grandfather (the wood cutter we found upon arriving in Silesia). The mystic vowed to kill the beast. On our way out of town, Til told us something surprising. He said a team of dragonborn that had been driven off by the villagers two days ago left us a note. Sure enough, it was a letter from Ark, the dragonborn from the Game. It said, quite simply, "HELP US. WE ARE STARVING!"
Feeding Ark and friends.
We brought some food to Ark and company. We found them hiding out in the mountain caves above Berlitz. They were thankful for the food and told us about some strange noises and lights in one of the caves further up the mountains. We decided it would be best to kill the Barghest as soon as possible. Ark and friends agreed to help us hunt the Barghest. The priest made a special prayer to the platinum dragon, just for them. Ark didn't seem thrilled.
Slaying the Barghest.
We accidentally alerted the Barghest's advanced scouts. Like a good predator it avoided us because we (the 8 of us) were too much to handle. We decided to lure it in with some fresh deer. We sighted the Barghest and killed its entourage, but it escaped. After some time we managed to track it to some unnatural caves. We figured we only had one chance, so we made sure to trap or block the other entrances. We had the dragonborn camp outside the main entrance and we stealthily entered the caves from another entrance. The dragonborn intercepted additional reinforcements that would have made the battle a lot harder. The beast did not escape us that time.
The cave was an abandoned and very dangerous mine. We collected a few treasures, including a very nice jeweled metal comb. I was surprised and very happy that the beast seemed to be an isolated incident; it did not appear to be part of a larger problem. We brought the heads and pelts of the beast back to Berlitz and made sure to emphasize the Ark's role in the mission. The townspeople accepted the dragonborn.
The mountain portal
We investigated the cave Ark mentioned. It seemed like an evil gateway to an evil place. We decided to learn more about dealing with portals before attempting anything that might get us killed. We paid a visit to Katja and Ward. Ward didn't know much about magic portals, but he did extend an invitation to a party at the mansion. We found Katja drawing some kind of powerful transmutation circle. She gladly paused and consulted with us. We offered the jeweled comb as a gift and she seemed to like it. What a dragon would do with a comb, I have not idea. The ritual to lock the portal turned out to be beyond our ability, so we decided to physically break the portal while protected by a magic circle against evil. We executed the plan and disrupted the portal. However, we still sensed something odd about the cave. We found an unstable breach to another world in the back of the cave. It only functioned in the absence of light.
Neth, Letherna, and Nashik
We emerged in strange, black mountains in a dark, dark world. It bore a vague resemblance to Silesia. On the Berlitz side, the world appeared somewhat unstable . . . we later learned the region was called "Neth" by the people of the shadow world. We were greeted by floating jellyfish. They were attracted to any light and flashed like fireflies. We harmed one of them and it painted us with light and triggered a swarming response. That was scary. We decided to leave them the hell alone!
Upon investigating Neth, we discovered the (un)living city of Neth. I guess, it moves around and eats people. It must have accumulated great treasures inside, but we decided it was more than we could handle.
A Shadar Kai arrived and lead us to his hometown (Nashik) on the other side of the mountains, a region known as "Letherna". He spoke a similar language to one our Shadar Kai party member knows, but it is obvious that they are from different lands and do not know each other. Normal life seems to be sustained by some nasty black gunk seeping out of cracks in the earth. There are feathery worms and crabs and even giant spider crabs. The people Nashick cultivate them . . .
Slavery is normal here. The people regarded our Shadar Kai as a nobleman, since we seemed very high quality slaves! The Shadar Kai of Nashik have quite a few deep gnomes slaves from raids of surrounding towns. The wildly successful raids are, reportedly, the only reason the king stays in power. We heard rumors of a powerful wizard and we investigated a small magic market, but we did not pursue it further.
The nightmare beast
Instead, the Knight and Mystic triangulated the direction of the nightmare beast. We immediately left Nashik and ventured to a forest resembling a coral reef. Signs were posted "Keep out: Trespassers will be killed." We had to stop the nightmare best, so we decided to brave it. We met and fought guards at a small building with an antenna-like spire. Inside, we found a wizard's lab complete with the imprisoned nightmare beast! It was hooked up to the tower. We presume this modification amplified it's psychic power. We did not believe we could take the monster in a pitched battle, but we also did not believe it would want to fight one so we opened all the doors and released it. The beast retreated without harming us and we let it go.
Through further examination, we determined a wizard was using the beast to steal the souls of the dreamers in Berlitz and refining them into some kind of purple dust. (Katja later confimed that the dust was essentia, forcibly harvested.)
Two of the guards surrendered to us, so we did not kill them. We did send them off into the forest, however, while we retreated back to Silesia. Oddly enough, we discovered the the breach can move and only opens when we shine light on it. What we did was a crime (but for a good cause!). The wizard is going to be miffed and he's going to have the local law on his side. I hope we know what we are doing.
Party At Berlitz
The comatose people at Berlitz, including the innkeeper's daughter, recovered. We told them the story of the cave and they showered us with praise. There was food, drink and song---it was a heck of a party.
Frei's Memories: Day 3 (Part 3)
Day 3 (Part 3):
We stumbled into a forest not unlike the one in Nebel, except this one was in an even stranger world. This world between worlds features a black, mostly-textureless landscape underneath a uniform orange sky dotted with jagged, paper-like, purple clouds. There are many, many portals there. The trees of the portal forest are sharp, but featureless, almost as if they are crude, general models of trees. It looks like whoever put this place together was in one hell of a hurry---or just didn't give a damn.
Walking out from the forest, one finds a flat nothing in all directions. We took a long walk, but arrived back to the forest of portals. It wasn't until we noticed the tiny outline of a house and a singular mountain in the distance and followed it that we were able to escape the forest.
As we approached the house, the landscape gained detail and grass emerged from the floor. When we arrived, we found a fully detailed manor house complete with stone walls and an elaborate iron gate, which had been left open. We noticed a light on though one of the windows on the ground floor and proceeded to tentatively knock on the great doors.
To our surprise, and joy, a young butler named Ward greeted us and invited us inside. The inside of the mansion looked as though it had been spectacular some time in the past, but had fallen into disuse. He was disturbed when he learned that we had come through the portal to Nebel. He was happier when he learned how we had opened the portal; since we used our souls to open the gate, it only opens for us (unless it gets some more souls from someone else!).
Ward mentioned his master might help us, but she wouldn't work for free. In fact, she would be grumpy with us if we disturbed her without offering some kind of gift. We had something in mind so we asked Ward to take us to his master. I felt nervous as Ward led us out of the mansion and toward the lonesome mountain. "Great," I thought, "I'll bet she's a dragon. I hope these guys don't do anything to get on her bad side."
I was right about one thing. Katja was a dragon all right---a huge, blubbery, obsidian dragon. She had a nice place, though, with jewels, art, books, and wall to wall cave carpeting! She greeted us with measured excitement and graciously accepted our gift (that ritual book Serradus filled up with nonsense). We introduced ourselves and she did likewise. She used some ritual and immediately recognized us as Returned. That made me a bit concerned. I hoped that knowledge wasn't widespread. While I was worrying about that, I couldn't help but notice she spent an inordinate amount of time staring at our sniper. I had no idea what that was about.
Katja:
Based on her historical knowledge, I think Katja has to be at lease 2,000 years old. I guess that's about 34 in dragon years. Anyway, she lived like a queen until shortly before the war between the gods and the primordials, when she killed one of the gods over a property dispute. They gods punished her by putting her in the obsidian prison and crafting lots of portals into it. The idea was for everyone to use the portals to wear her down and kill her. I guess they forgot about her when the war came up. Katja can't leave the prison; the gods made sure there's no way the portals will respond to her. They've been dead a while, though, so maybe there's a way . . . but I'm not 100% sure it would be a good idea. Anyway, she makes her living refining essentia ore from Keening for a mining company.
When the priest asked Katja about the fate of his deity, Katja told us that her two sons had joined the platinum dragon. Unfortunately, she never saw them again. She seemed very tired after telling us the story and dismissed us.
Since Katja's place has some fixing-up to do, Ward suggested we stay in a small farm town called Berlitz in the mountains of Silesia. I thought we were back on the road to a normal world, but I was so very wrong. The first thing we saw on the road to Berlitz was the carcass of an old woodcutter, torn to pieces by some nasty monster. The sounds of wolves in the distance hurried our anxious trip to Berlitz.
We met the guard at the gate, Til. He noted our strange clothes and quickly pieced together our nature. I was a bit relived when he turned out to be Returned also. He warned us to avoid the Barghest roaming the countryside. He also went off on a tirade against a distant town, Eibelstat, where he used to work. He said Eibelstat is some kind of utopia, ruled by a godlike emperor, where there is little freedom. We weren't interested in city politics at the time so we made our way into the town and searched for a place to stay.
Berlitz seemed like a nice town. The people were friendly, the half-timber buildings were pretty, and it had a beautiful view of the mountains. Of course, nothing can ever really be that nice---it turns out some phantom was invading people's dreams and killing them. Our psychic knight met the monster firsthand in the inn after examining the innkeeper's daughter, who had been attacked by the beast.
We were exhausted and had to sleep. It was tough. It turns out they don't make geko-sized beds in Silesia. I had to steal a somewhat smelly sock from the priest to use as a bed. And how that darn priest can snore!
We stumbled into a forest not unlike the one in Nebel, except this one was in an even stranger world. This world between worlds features a black, mostly-textureless landscape underneath a uniform orange sky dotted with jagged, paper-like, purple clouds. There are many, many portals there. The trees of the portal forest are sharp, but featureless, almost as if they are crude, general models of trees. It looks like whoever put this place together was in one hell of a hurry---or just didn't give a damn.
Walking out from the forest, one finds a flat nothing in all directions. We took a long walk, but arrived back to the forest of portals. It wasn't until we noticed the tiny outline of a house and a singular mountain in the distance and followed it that we were able to escape the forest.
As we approached the house, the landscape gained detail and grass emerged from the floor. When we arrived, we found a fully detailed manor house complete with stone walls and an elaborate iron gate, which had been left open. We noticed a light on though one of the windows on the ground floor and proceeded to tentatively knock on the great doors.
To our surprise, and joy, a young butler named Ward greeted us and invited us inside. The inside of the mansion looked as though it had been spectacular some time in the past, but had fallen into disuse. He was disturbed when he learned that we had come through the portal to Nebel. He was happier when he learned how we had opened the portal; since we used our souls to open the gate, it only opens for us (unless it gets some more souls from someone else!).
Ward mentioned his master might help us, but she wouldn't work for free. In fact, she would be grumpy with us if we disturbed her without offering some kind of gift. We had something in mind so we asked Ward to take us to his master. I felt nervous as Ward led us out of the mansion and toward the lonesome mountain. "Great," I thought, "I'll bet she's a dragon. I hope these guys don't do anything to get on her bad side."
I was right about one thing. Katja was a dragon all right---a huge, blubbery, obsidian dragon. She had a nice place, though, with jewels, art, books, and wall to wall cave carpeting! She greeted us with measured excitement and graciously accepted our gift (that ritual book Serradus filled up with nonsense). We introduced ourselves and she did likewise. She used some ritual and immediately recognized us as Returned. That made me a bit concerned. I hoped that knowledge wasn't widespread. While I was worrying about that, I couldn't help but notice she spent an inordinate amount of time staring at our sniper. I had no idea what that was about.
Katja:
Based on her historical knowledge, I think Katja has to be at lease 2,000 years old. I guess that's about 34 in dragon years. Anyway, she lived like a queen until shortly before the war between the gods and the primordials, when she killed one of the gods over a property dispute. They gods punished her by putting her in the obsidian prison and crafting lots of portals into it. The idea was for everyone to use the portals to wear her down and kill her. I guess they forgot about her when the war came up. Katja can't leave the prison; the gods made sure there's no way the portals will respond to her. They've been dead a while, though, so maybe there's a way . . . but I'm not 100% sure it would be a good idea. Anyway, she makes her living refining essentia ore from Keening for a mining company.
When the priest asked Katja about the fate of his deity, Katja told us that her two sons had joined the platinum dragon. Unfortunately, she never saw them again. She seemed very tired after telling us the story and dismissed us.
Since Katja's place has some fixing-up to do, Ward suggested we stay in a small farm town called Berlitz in the mountains of Silesia. I thought we were back on the road to a normal world, but I was so very wrong. The first thing we saw on the road to Berlitz was the carcass of an old woodcutter, torn to pieces by some nasty monster. The sounds of wolves in the distance hurried our anxious trip to Berlitz.
We met the guard at the gate, Til. He noted our strange clothes and quickly pieced together our nature. I was a bit relived when he turned out to be Returned also. He warned us to avoid the Barghest roaming the countryside. He also went off on a tirade against a distant town, Eibelstat, where he used to work. He said Eibelstat is some kind of utopia, ruled by a godlike emperor, where there is little freedom. We weren't interested in city politics at the time so we made our way into the town and searched for a place to stay.
Berlitz seemed like a nice town. The people were friendly, the half-timber buildings were pretty, and it had a beautiful view of the mountains. Of course, nothing can ever really be that nice---it turns out some phantom was invading people's dreams and killing them. Our psychic knight met the monster firsthand in the inn after examining the innkeeper's daughter, who had been attacked by the beast.
We were exhausted and had to sleep. It was tough. It turns out they don't make geko-sized beds in Silesia. I had to steal a somewhat smelly sock from the priest to use as a bed. And how that darn priest can snore!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 3 (part 2)
Day 3 (part 2):
We awoke outside the game, but not in a nice place. I hid in the priest's clothes like a coward; I was just sure something unfriendly was going to eat me.
Nebel:
All that remains of El's once great capitol drifts asunder in this place near the great rift. Huge stone buildings drift and collide in a violet haze called Nebel. I have no idea what happened here suffice to say that El hasn't been heard from since the war that destroyed his realm. As with other places near the rift or the edges of the mortal world, there is little gravity---only a weak force pulling toward whatever large stone happens to be near. A weak cycle of day and night determine just how hazardous Nebel is. During the day, the largest danger is getting lost in the haze and pummeled to death by the drifting stones. Night, however, is deadly. Piranha-like bats swarm though the area, killing anyone foolish enough to be caught in the open and evil spirits suck the life from those who venture into the intact structures for shelter from the duskriders.
I was quite dismayed; Nebel is on the wrong side of the rift! I was deeply worried, unless my team reached Victor in Zerthadium soon, something awful might happen to my family. I didn't say much about it to my team. They didn't need to worry about it. Immediate survival was of greater concern. We began to search for anything to help us.
Nebel Cathedral:
We explored a ancient cathedral full of broken, stained glass. The place must have been magnificent in it's heyday, but it was cold and lifeless when we found it. The basement held an unpleasant surprise. We discovered a morbidly crafted ossuary, complete with a study with chair and desk made of bones. Shadows lurked in every corner, skittering away from our lights, but stalking us as we progressed. We found a dangerous looking chest of bones deep withing the catacombs. It nearly killed us when we touched it. An undead book made of stitched flesh appeared on the desk and we offered it some of our life energy to reveal its secrets.
We used some of our essentia (distilled soul stuff) to form a magic circle around the chest and we opened it. In response, a very angry wraith emerged and gave us the toughest fight, yet. We made the very angry wraith very very dead. It was comforting to know that we retained the powers we had back in the game. We found an old signet ring, a land deed, and a load of essentia. We decided to take our gains out of the cathedral without the necromantic grymoir; it was just too dangerous to carry around.
It seems to me that El's kingdom must have rotted right out from underneath him. I have no idea why, though. I doubt anyone knows.
Nebel Tower:
On a whim, the mystic decided to take advantage of the strange gravity and walk around to the underside of the cathedral. He returned with an obviously magical oil lamp. I had a bad feeling about it (it's hard to be brave when you're a small lizard), so we decided not to examine it until we reached safety.
Given the gravity, we easily ascended a large tower. What we found there, we won't so easily forget. The place was barricaded and filled with burnt bones. It looked like a large number of people and been trapped and burned to death. We witnessed a ghost of a woman leaping to her death. More alarming, the gruesome scene seemed to melt away, replaced by visions of the tower at an earlier time. We were then confronted by a ghost, who didn't seem to know she was a ghost, claiming her mother had jumped out of the tower a while ago. She was happy to have us around and asked us to help her leave. When the apparition tried to leave, she vanished and the whole scene repeated itself. We decided to leave before we lost our sanity. I still wonder what happened here and if there is anything we can do about it.
We didn't have much time; night was falling and the duskriders were swarming. We frantically made our way across a debris field and into a forest of dark, dead trees. There, a portal sucked some of our life energy in exchange for passage elsewhere.
What's With the Soul Sucking?:
It turns out the souls of mortals who have been though the Aons' game (known as the Returned) are supercharged. The Returned can donate a portion of their life force in place of using essentia to activate magic items. They are especially effective at opening portals to other worlds. Fortunately for the Returned, their souls can regenerate within a day's time.
We awoke outside the game, but not in a nice place. I hid in the priest's clothes like a coward; I was just sure something unfriendly was going to eat me.
Nebel:
All that remains of El's once great capitol drifts asunder in this place near the great rift. Huge stone buildings drift and collide in a violet haze called Nebel. I have no idea what happened here suffice to say that El hasn't been heard from since the war that destroyed his realm. As with other places near the rift or the edges of the mortal world, there is little gravity---only a weak force pulling toward whatever large stone happens to be near. A weak cycle of day and night determine just how hazardous Nebel is. During the day, the largest danger is getting lost in the haze and pummeled to death by the drifting stones. Night, however, is deadly. Piranha-like bats swarm though the area, killing anyone foolish enough to be caught in the open and evil spirits suck the life from those who venture into the intact structures for shelter from the duskriders.
I was quite dismayed; Nebel is on the wrong side of the rift! I was deeply worried, unless my team reached Victor in Zerthadium soon, something awful might happen to my family. I didn't say much about it to my team. They didn't need to worry about it. Immediate survival was of greater concern. We began to search for anything to help us.
Nebel Cathedral:
We explored a ancient cathedral full of broken, stained glass. The place must have been magnificent in it's heyday, but it was cold and lifeless when we found it. The basement held an unpleasant surprise. We discovered a morbidly crafted ossuary, complete with a study with chair and desk made of bones. Shadows lurked in every corner, skittering away from our lights, but stalking us as we progressed. We found a dangerous looking chest of bones deep withing the catacombs. It nearly killed us when we touched it. An undead book made of stitched flesh appeared on the desk and we offered it some of our life energy to reveal its secrets.
We used some of our essentia (distilled soul stuff) to form a magic circle around the chest and we opened it. In response, a very angry wraith emerged and gave us the toughest fight, yet. We made the very angry wraith very very dead. It was comforting to know that we retained the powers we had back in the game. We found an old signet ring, a land deed, and a load of essentia. We decided to take our gains out of the cathedral without the necromantic grymoir; it was just too dangerous to carry around.
It seems to me that El's kingdom must have rotted right out from underneath him. I have no idea why, though. I doubt anyone knows.
Nebel Tower:
On a whim, the mystic decided to take advantage of the strange gravity and walk around to the underside of the cathedral. He returned with an obviously magical oil lamp. I had a bad feeling about it (it's hard to be brave when you're a small lizard), so we decided not to examine it until we reached safety.
Given the gravity, we easily ascended a large tower. What we found there, we won't so easily forget. The place was barricaded and filled with burnt bones. It looked like a large number of people and been trapped and burned to death. We witnessed a ghost of a woman leaping to her death. More alarming, the gruesome scene seemed to melt away, replaced by visions of the tower at an earlier time. We were then confronted by a ghost, who didn't seem to know she was a ghost, claiming her mother had jumped out of the tower a while ago. She was happy to have us around and asked us to help her leave. When the apparition tried to leave, she vanished and the whole scene repeated itself. We decided to leave before we lost our sanity. I still wonder what happened here and if there is anything we can do about it.
We didn't have much time; night was falling and the duskriders were swarming. We frantically made our way across a debris field and into a forest of dark, dead trees. There, a portal sucked some of our life energy in exchange for passage elsewhere.
What's With the Soul Sucking?:
It turns out the souls of mortals who have been though the Aons' game (known as the Returned) are supercharged. The Returned can donate a portion of their life force in place of using essentia to activate magic items. They are especially effective at opening portals to other worlds. Fortunately for the Returned, their souls can regenerate within a day's time.
Frei's Memories: Day 3 (part 1)
Day 3 (part 1):
We awoke the third day and we were decidedly screwed six ways over. Greyon, an Aon deserving his own sidebar, gave us a next to impossible scavenger hunt with portal keys, esoteric riddles, and much more powerful adversaries.
Greyon:
This older, apparently higher-ranking, Aon is in charge of the game. He has some authority over Serradus and, if subtle clues really mean anything, Serradus resents it. (As for Greyon's relation to Manath, who knows?) Anyhow, Greyon is the one that turned me into a gecko as punishment for entering the game illegally (without dying). He many times expressed concern that someone might be trying to steal the Aons' power. In my case, at least, he's right.
As luck would have it, the cloaked man came through and the obelisks triggered massive explosions, tearing openings in the very fabric of Elysium. Elementals of all varieties swarmed the game, killing everything in their path. The most formidable of the elementals, a pyroclastic dragon, burst into the world and immolated the cloaked man along with some of the players.
The dragonborn stood their ground and fought the elementals in defense of a team of gnomes and dwarves who were getting their beards handed to them. The elves, on the other hand, risked leaping through one of the rifts. Honoring our debt to the dragonborn, we fought beside them. Just in time, Serradus, Greyon and Manath arrived and protected us from the dragon. The battle was vicious, but we survived.
The Elemental Invasion and the Truce:
I'm still not sure what happened back there. The cloaked man was instrumental, but the elementals must not have cared much for him! I think the invasion is part of a feud that goes way back. I've gathered that in earlier times, a super-deity known only as El ruled over gods and primordials, who ruled over mortals. Well, El must have died or left because the gods and primordials started killing each other and dragging mortals into it. The war destroyed everything, including the gods, the primordials---heck, it even tore the mortal world in two! Afterward, the Aons (descendants of the gods) and the Elementals (descendants of the Primordials) forged a pact to stay out of the mortal world and out of each other's hair. I guess that Truce must be on the way out.
The battle left Elysium so devastated the Aons were forced to cancel the rest of our game. I was flabbergasted when Serradus suggested we be returned to the mortal world as a reward for our heroic teamwork with the dragonborn. Greyon resisted with all his usual hot air, but Serradus insisted that returning us would benefit mortals and fulfill some age-old promise binding the Aons. Unbelievable, Greyon and Manath accepted his argument and released us.
We awoke the third day and we were decidedly screwed six ways over. Greyon, an Aon deserving his own sidebar, gave us a next to impossible scavenger hunt with portal keys, esoteric riddles, and much more powerful adversaries.
Greyon:
This older, apparently higher-ranking, Aon is in charge of the game. He has some authority over Serradus and, if subtle clues really mean anything, Serradus resents it. (As for Greyon's relation to Manath, who knows?) Anyhow, Greyon is the one that turned me into a gecko as punishment for entering the game illegally (without dying). He many times expressed concern that someone might be trying to steal the Aons' power. In my case, at least, he's right.
As luck would have it, the cloaked man came through and the obelisks triggered massive explosions, tearing openings in the very fabric of Elysium. Elementals of all varieties swarmed the game, killing everything in their path. The most formidable of the elementals, a pyroclastic dragon, burst into the world and immolated the cloaked man along with some of the players.
The dragonborn stood their ground and fought the elementals in defense of a team of gnomes and dwarves who were getting their beards handed to them. The elves, on the other hand, risked leaping through one of the rifts. Honoring our debt to the dragonborn, we fought beside them. Just in time, Serradus, Greyon and Manath arrived and protected us from the dragon. The battle was vicious, but we survived.
The Elemental Invasion and the Truce:
I'm still not sure what happened back there. The cloaked man was instrumental, but the elementals must not have cared much for him! I think the invasion is part of a feud that goes way back. I've gathered that in earlier times, a super-deity known only as El ruled over gods and primordials, who ruled over mortals. Well, El must have died or left because the gods and primordials started killing each other and dragging mortals into it. The war destroyed everything, including the gods, the primordials---heck, it even tore the mortal world in two! Afterward, the Aons (descendants of the gods) and the Elementals (descendants of the Primordials) forged a pact to stay out of the mortal world and out of each other's hair. I guess that Truce must be on the way out.
The battle left Elysium so devastated the Aons were forced to cancel the rest of our game. I was flabbergasted when Serradus suggested we be returned to the mortal world as a reward for our heroic teamwork with the dragonborn. Greyon resisted with all his usual hot air, but Serradus insisted that returning us would benefit mortals and fulfill some age-old promise binding the Aons. Unbelievable, Greyon and Manath accepted his argument and released us.
Frei's Memories: Day 2
Here's another installment of the gecko's memories.
Day 2:
When we became conscious again, we found ourselves outside the Elysium tower. Serradus, one of the lower ranking Aons and the game master, appeared and gave us eight hours to make a sad statue happy. With a minimum of searching, we found one of the marble statues in town was missing it's hand and, given the message on the plaque, a soccer trophy as well. Surprise, surprise, when we walked past the area we noticed huge signs advertising a soccer tournament. We entered the area in time to notice an ersatz goblin score a goal on a minotaur. Then, the minotaur's team was consumed in pillars a fire! I had seen Serradus's favorite game, "sudden death soccer", but never this early in the competition. The Aons were trying kill everyone early this time.
We signed up to play the game, along with a team of elves and a team of dragonborn, but we had to wait over an hour to play. From the look of the brackets, we suspected the tournament could easily last more than our alloted eight hours. That was typical of Serradus. He always seemed like a nice guy, but his games usually killed a huge fraction of the players. We immediately decided to gain the prize by other means.
Our sniper spotted the trophy and statue hand on the balcony overlooking the arena. Our team, along with the dragonborn, tried to create a ruckus on the path up to the balcony to distract everyone while the sniper found his own way up to the balcony. To our surprise, Serradus allowed us on the balcony and told us to enjoy the view. About that time, a group of humans met their ends on the bloody field of sudden death soccer. Naturally, the shining trophy was an illusion. Our priest asked Serradus for the ritual he used to create the illusion and Serradus, the joker that he is, completely filled the priest's ritual book with some kind of obfuscated spell. He then wished us luck and told us, "I think it's your match, now!"
We had a couple of close calls with a hobgoblin running a Hail Mary play on us, but our team beat the ersatz creatures to death before they could score on us (it doesn't matter how you kill the other team in sudden death soccer). Afterwards, we went into the city with the dragonborn and the elves to find the trophy. We found the hooded man from the day before. He told us three places in the city to find ways out of Elysium and instructed each of us to hurry. After following his directions, we neared the end of a dead-end alley.
Strangely, a black obelisk appeared out of nowhere when we neared the end of the alleyway. I emanated a destructive aura and had a slot shaped like the game piece the cloaked man had given us. Our mystic placed the piece in the obelisk and it reacted by sucking the life out of all of us. The obelisk hummed menacingly, but nothing else developed quickly enough for us to notice. I still have trouble believing such a thing could have survived undetected by the Aons for as long as it did. I surmise the Aons' unity is less solid than they let on.
A short while later, we met up with the elven and draconic teams. They reported similar experiences with the obelisks. We decided not to rely on the cloaked man's plan to save our hides and resolved to continue our search for the trophy. We discovered the artifact in a museum of all places. With the dragonborn covering us and the elves creating a distraction by streaking through the museum, we disarmed the traps on the display case and made off with the trophy. With all due haste we escaped the museum and sprinted to the statue, pursued by a hoard of ersatz creatures.
With the statue in sight, we thought the game was over, but we were mistaken---Manath appeared. The crazy Aon taunted us and erected a tall stone wall to block us. Thinking quickly, the dragonborn stacked themselves and then launched our sniper over the wall with the trophy. The dark elf channeled his adrenaline, fought through the pain of the fall, and repaired the statue seconds before we were all overwhelmed by our enemies. Victory! Serradus congratulated us on our teamwork. He didn't seem upset at all.
Day 2:
When we became conscious again, we found ourselves outside the Elysium tower. Serradus, one of the lower ranking Aons and the game master, appeared and gave us eight hours to make a sad statue happy. With a minimum of searching, we found one of the marble statues in town was missing it's hand and, given the message on the plaque, a soccer trophy as well. Surprise, surprise, when we walked past the area we noticed huge signs advertising a soccer tournament. We entered the area in time to notice an ersatz goblin score a goal on a minotaur. Then, the minotaur's team was consumed in pillars a fire! I had seen Serradus's favorite game, "sudden death soccer", but never this early in the competition. The Aons were trying kill everyone early this time.
We signed up to play the game, along with a team of elves and a team of dragonborn, but we had to wait over an hour to play. From the look of the brackets, we suspected the tournament could easily last more than our alloted eight hours. That was typical of Serradus. He always seemed like a nice guy, but his games usually killed a huge fraction of the players. We immediately decided to gain the prize by other means.
Our sniper spotted the trophy and statue hand on the balcony overlooking the arena. Our team, along with the dragonborn, tried to create a ruckus on the path up to the balcony to distract everyone while the sniper found his own way up to the balcony. To our surprise, Serradus allowed us on the balcony and told us to enjoy the view. About that time, a group of humans met their ends on the bloody field of sudden death soccer. Naturally, the shining trophy was an illusion. Our priest asked Serradus for the ritual he used to create the illusion and Serradus, the joker that he is, completely filled the priest's ritual book with some kind of obfuscated spell. He then wished us luck and told us, "I think it's your match, now!"
We had a couple of close calls with a hobgoblin running a Hail Mary play on us, but our team beat the ersatz creatures to death before they could score on us (it doesn't matter how you kill the other team in sudden death soccer). Afterwards, we went into the city with the dragonborn and the elves to find the trophy. We found the hooded man from the day before. He told us three places in the city to find ways out of Elysium and instructed each of us to hurry. After following his directions, we neared the end of a dead-end alley.
Strangely, a black obelisk appeared out of nowhere when we neared the end of the alleyway. I emanated a destructive aura and had a slot shaped like the game piece the cloaked man had given us. Our mystic placed the piece in the obelisk and it reacted by sucking the life out of all of us. The obelisk hummed menacingly, but nothing else developed quickly enough for us to notice. I still have trouble believing such a thing could have survived undetected by the Aons for as long as it did. I surmise the Aons' unity is less solid than they let on.
A short while later, we met up with the elven and draconic teams. They reported similar experiences with the obelisks. We decided not to rely on the cloaked man's plan to save our hides and resolved to continue our search for the trophy. We discovered the artifact in a museum of all places. With the dragonborn covering us and the elves creating a distraction by streaking through the museum, we disarmed the traps on the display case and made off with the trophy. With all due haste we escaped the museum and sprinted to the statue, pursued by a hoard of ersatz creatures.
With the statue in sight, we thought the game was over, but we were mistaken---Manath appeared. The crazy Aon taunted us and erected a tall stone wall to block us. Thinking quickly, the dragonborn stacked themselves and then launched our sniper over the wall with the trophy. The dark elf channeled his adrenaline, fought through the pain of the fall, and repaired the statue seconds before we were all overwhelmed by our enemies. Victory! Serradus congratulated us on our teamwork. He didn't seem upset at all.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 1
My purpose for posting these logs is to help new players get up to speed with the story and to help current players remember what happened. Of course, that sort of violates one of my rules about players---don't expect players to read anything. Oh, well, maybe someone will find them interesting nonetheless. The following tract was taken from the memories of a tiny house gecko named Frei, the helper NPC in the Razvalitsya Redki series of adventures.
Day 1:
I was greatly disappointed to find myself back in Elysium, the Aon gaming capital of the universe. The name, Elysium, I think is some kind of cruel joke, because this sure isn't Heaven. The Aons decided to give me a handicap to make sure I die here; they turned me into a damn gecko! I really hope those guys Victor is supposed to send show up soon. If not, I expect the Aons will be getting their wish, because I'm not going to get very far if the only power at my disposal with the ability to stick to things.
The Aons and their Game:
When a person dies, that person's latent life energy goes to the Aons. They usually refine it into essentia, the raw material of magic, and use it to fuel their godlike power. However, a certain fraction of souls are infused with extra essentia and allowed to play the game, a 14 day battle of attrition. Winners are allowed to join the ranks of Aons' angelic host or return to the mortal world, complete with essentia-soul-infusion-granted super-powers. Survivors are allowed to reenter the game. Those who perish in the game get melted down with everyone else. The Aons put on the game once a month and it's been going on for who knows how long. In the past ten years, only two teams have won. I was fortunate enough to witness a win, but not fortunate enough to be on the winning team.
My life link started flickering as a band of people approached the bush I was using for cover. They (a priest, a knight, a crossbow sniper and a mystic) were all clad in some top notch equipment from Zerthadium. A sign of relief passed my lizard lips as I realized Victor must have been successful and there was a chance I wasn't going to die on the first day of the game. I just hoped they didn't turn out to be complete idiots! I gave them a cautious interrogation, to see if they really were the right people, but they acted like amnesiacs. I wasn't sure why they lost their memories, but I suspected Victor might have had some reason. Anyway, I lied and suggested that it might be a handicap from the Aons. That might not have been the right decision, now that I think about it.
About that time, Geralt, the game master appeared on the little floating island where we were standing and gave us our task, reach the top of Elysium's central tower before the day was out. He gave us plenty of time, but we didn't waste any. We were on an isolated mote of land, one of many, floating in the clouds and we could just barely see the central island. There wasn't anyway to get to it without teleportation, so we immediately searched the little farm for the glyphs. Immediately, the usual, ugly, ersatz creatures came pouring out of the farmhouses. Manath, an Aon that's four flavors of crazy, appeared and offered us rewards for destroying the ersatz creatures in nasty and creative ways. I honestly don't what purpose she serves or why the other Aons tolerate her, but it is fun to kill the ersatz creatures in nasty and creative ways.
Ersatz Creatures:
The Aons use some of their essentia to make these copies of creatures, but they're not fully real. Of course, the Aons promise to make them real, free beings if they kill us!
We marched through the teleport circle to the main island. Well, the adventurers marched, I had to ride on the priest's shoulder, but that's beside the point. On the other side, we were working on the typical need-a-key-to-enter-the-tower business when something decidedly odd happened. We met a hooded man who promised us a way out of the game if we helped him. He remarked on the inhumanity and injustice of the Aons' Game and handed us a piece to a board game, then vanished. I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be in the game. I had seen the Aons' tricks before---he wasn't one of them.
We had to jump through a few hoops to get into the tower, and we had to bash the heads of tons of ersatz creatures to get to the top, but we made it there with plenty of time. Then, another strange thing happened. The game master personally challenged us. They usually don't to that on day 1. I have a feeling they just had it in for me, but to this day I'm still not sure. The really strange part was how Geralt acted like he was being forced to fight us. I felt a bit sorry for him, but it was him or us and my team slaughtered him and his minions before he had a chance to swing his sword a second time. Manath seemed disturbingly pleased.
Day 1:
I was greatly disappointed to find myself back in Elysium, the Aon gaming capital of the universe. The name, Elysium, I think is some kind of cruel joke, because this sure isn't Heaven. The Aons decided to give me a handicap to make sure I die here; they turned me into a damn gecko! I really hope those guys Victor is supposed to send show up soon. If not, I expect the Aons will be getting their wish, because I'm not going to get very far if the only power at my disposal with the ability to stick to things.
The Aons and their Game:
When a person dies, that person's latent life energy goes to the Aons. They usually refine it into essentia, the raw material of magic, and use it to fuel their godlike power. However, a certain fraction of souls are infused with extra essentia and allowed to play the game, a 14 day battle of attrition. Winners are allowed to join the ranks of Aons' angelic host or return to the mortal world, complete with essentia-soul-infusion-granted super-powers. Survivors are allowed to reenter the game. Those who perish in the game get melted down with everyone else. The Aons put on the game once a month and it's been going on for who knows how long. In the past ten years, only two teams have won. I was fortunate enough to witness a win, but not fortunate enough to be on the winning team.
My life link started flickering as a band of people approached the bush I was using for cover. They (a priest, a knight, a crossbow sniper and a mystic) were all clad in some top notch equipment from Zerthadium. A sign of relief passed my lizard lips as I realized Victor must have been successful and there was a chance I wasn't going to die on the first day of the game. I just hoped they didn't turn out to be complete idiots! I gave them a cautious interrogation, to see if they really were the right people, but they acted like amnesiacs. I wasn't sure why they lost their memories, but I suspected Victor might have had some reason. Anyway, I lied and suggested that it might be a handicap from the Aons. That might not have been the right decision, now that I think about it.
About that time, Geralt, the game master appeared on the little floating island where we were standing and gave us our task, reach the top of Elysium's central tower before the day was out. He gave us plenty of time, but we didn't waste any. We were on an isolated mote of land, one of many, floating in the clouds and we could just barely see the central island. There wasn't anyway to get to it without teleportation, so we immediately searched the little farm for the glyphs. Immediately, the usual, ugly, ersatz creatures came pouring out of the farmhouses. Manath, an Aon that's four flavors of crazy, appeared and offered us rewards for destroying the ersatz creatures in nasty and creative ways. I honestly don't what purpose she serves or why the other Aons tolerate her, but it is fun to kill the ersatz creatures in nasty and creative ways.
Ersatz Creatures:
The Aons use some of their essentia to make these copies of creatures, but they're not fully real. Of course, the Aons promise to make them real, free beings if they kill us!
We marched through the teleport circle to the main island. Well, the adventurers marched, I had to ride on the priest's shoulder, but that's beside the point. On the other side, we were working on the typical need-a-key-to-enter-the-tower business when something decidedly odd happened. We met a hooded man who promised us a way out of the game if we helped him. He remarked on the inhumanity and injustice of the Aons' Game and handed us a piece to a board game, then vanished. I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be in the game. I had seen the Aons' tricks before---he wasn't one of them.
We had to jump through a few hoops to get into the tower, and we had to bash the heads of tons of ersatz creatures to get to the top, but we made it there with plenty of time. Then, another strange thing happened. The game master personally challenged us. They usually don't to that on day 1. I have a feeling they just had it in for me, but to this day I'm still not sure. The really strange part was how Geralt acted like he was being forced to fight us. I felt a bit sorry for him, but it was him or us and my team slaughtered him and his minions before he had a chance to swing his sword a second time. Manath seemed disturbingly pleased.
How To Be a Bad DM
You'll be seeing a lot of these echoed in my more specific posts, but I don't think it diminishes their value. Also, I'm sure there are lists like this one out there somewhere, but this one is mine.
If you have any suggestions, feel free to contribute. I doubt I've given everything you need to be the worst DM you can be!
- Compete against the players. Gloat when you destroy them and curse them for their incompetence afterwards. Extend your pleasure by never letting them forget the past.
- Get cocky players out of their comfort zone by designing encounters to thwart them. Repeat this mercilessly. For added bonus, negate player characters' powers arbitrarily and without warning.
- Complicate trivial tasks, but still give trivial rewards. While you're at it, just don't reward the players for anything.
- Encumber players' characters with campaign specific restrictions. Things will be much more interesting when the wizard's spells only work under a full moon.
- Make it impossible to the players to make characters with the race/class combination they want. If you do let them have it, correct that mistake by forcing them to change it later with a contrived plot device.
- Ensure your NPCs are much cooler than the player characters and give those NPCs the spotlight as often as possible. Use these NPCs as irresistible adventure hooks by bullying the players' characters into submission. Have this NPC steal their kills, but withhold aid when its really needed.
- Make frequent rules changes, especially if they limit player's options. However, remain completely inflexible about game rules that irritate the players.
- Don't bother preparing anything before game time. Don't bother knowing the rules, either. Just make everything up as you go, but be sure not to take notes---that way you can be inconsistent, too.
- Unleash your emotions. Become furious or hopelessly depressed whenever the players accomplish something you didn't expect. Being drunk helps.
- Pick one of the players, preferably an obnoxious one. Only make eye contact with that player. Favor that player's character in every possible way.
- Pick another player, preferably a shy one. Use your divine power to doom that player's character to fail at everything. For added effect, frequently put that player on the spot and berate that player whenever any undesirable thing happens.
- Punish the players for their successes. Completing mission goals and overcoming difficult challenges should make their lives much harder.
If you have any suggestions, feel free to contribute. I doubt I've given everything you need to be the worst DM you can be!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Dealing With Character Strengths
Suppose the scout in the adventuring party is specialized in awareness and ambushes such that only a few monsters or situations can ever surprise the party.
The worst thing you can do:
Take the scout's optimization as a personal challenge and optimize all encounters to negate the party's advantage, or even reverse it! Since you are the DM, you are all powerful, and beating a player character at something is not an accomplishment. Very little breeds bad blood in the group more than a competition between the DM and the players. And, since the player worked hard to build the scout, the negation of all the player hoped to achieve will result in that player requesting a new character or, worse, leaving the group and hate you for the rest of your life.
Another way to get it wrong:
Be lazy, or oblivious, and never consider stealth and perception rules and just have all encounters start with both parties aware, maybe even start them at fixed positions you decided when you. This attitude still negates the scout's labor, but won't make the player nearly as angry. The player will be bummed, and might complain, retrain, switch characters, or all of the above---but probably won't leave you.
A non-ideal, but not-quite-as-bad case:
Give full consideration to the stealth and surprise rules, but don't respond to the scout's optimization. The party will have surprise almost every encounter. If it continues, they will front-load their powers and make your encounters very, very short. If you respond at all, it will be by raising the difficulty of the monsters, which is going to eventually start risking total party knockouts, which are a pain.
A good case:
Fully cognizant of the scout's optimization, you intentionally let the party have surprise more often than a normal party (which is easy because it will be the natural course). Additionally, you sometimes design encounters that obviously depend on getting surprise. That way, they player's feel rewarded for their design work on their characters. On the other hand, you sparingly use terrain, weather, deception or ritualized combat to complicate advanced scouting.
Conclusion:
The bottom line is, as a DM, you are a fun enabler. You should be spending your time making the players' hard work pay off, not trying to compete with them or work against them. But, sometimes you have to protect the party from itself by kicking it out of a rut.
Annoying the Players
Introduction
Intentionally getting under the players’ skin is generally not good for the game. Eventually, the frustration with the game object will transfer to the DM. If you want to use an annoying challenge make sure you know when to quit and be sure to give a hefty payoff for dealing with it. If done correctly, the reward shows that you believe the players have accomplished something great. Also, be sure to only use this strategy sparingly because repeated use will tire the players and they will give up.
An example:
Suppose the adventurers are repeatedly attacked by a lich (who keeps reviving himself in his lair). The lich works his wonders by crippling the party when they are fighting otherwise normal monsters. You must quickly make the information for permanently destroying the lich available (or at least provide a method for keeping him away). Destroying the lich must also be possible soon (especially if keeping him away is not possible); don't allow more than one or two complications. When the players manage to destroy the lich, they should receive very nice magic items. Overcoming this challenge will give the players a real sense of accomplishment. Once it's over, be sure to wait a while before introducing another annoying challenge; give them some time to recover mentally.
Another example:
Using mind controlling monsters in random encounters just to abuse the fighter is mean and the players know it. You can do it once or twice, but, if you don't make effective countermeasures available soon. Also, stopping the mind control assault as soon as the party is ready for them denies them the satisfaction of getting back at the mind controllers---and that's also mean of you.
Conclusion
I generally don't recommend using annoying challenges because they are so likely to backfire. But, with proper judgment, I'll admit these sorts of challenges can be satisfying. Just always keep in mind that a game that ceases to be fun for the players ceases to be fun for you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)