13/20/745 A.E. Opening Scene, the Great Dwarven City of Pedas.
It had been 60 days since they all last gathered. For all the time they spent together in the field, very little had been spent together these past 3 scepters, but then they all had their own little projects or concerns to which to tend. Thankfully, splitting up the proceeds of 45,000 GP worth of pearls tended to go a long way; even if their projects and training easily cost them thousands of gold, they each had enough cash to do most of the other things for which they had hoped. Luckily they had been able to arrange the sale of the pearls through the Temple of Poseidon. The dwarves in Pedas had little love for pearls, except maybe some sea dwarves, but they had little cash compared to the mountain dwarves who almost found the jewels of the sea repulsive. Rubies, it seemed, were the favorites of the Mostoli, though sapphires still commanded the highest prices in the world as far as gems were concerned, for the Imperial use of the stone as a token of love (engagement and wedding rings) and the unusual affinity for magic made the sapphires the most valuable gems in the world.
NOTE: On Earth, in many western cultures, diamonds are traditionally used for engagement rings, but on Orlantia, sapphires have that happy honor. But also, for reasons I won't go into here, magic bonds better to sapphires than it does to diamonds, rubies, emeralds, or any other precious stone. In general, this tends to make sapphires more valuable than diamonds on Orlantia.
The temple had managed a fair price for the pearls and the vast majority of those pearls ended up being sold in Alodar and Handor, though the lone black pearl managed to go as far as Nahecha before being claimed by one who would pay its exorbitant price. Many of the normal pearls would also eventually be used by curious mages, used up as mere material components for certain spells. Still, such things mattered not to the adventurers, and they would never know these details, having left them for others; they only needed the cash, and they got it up front from the temple, and right away, assured they would perhaps be losing only a few percent on the whole deal since they didn't have to do the legwork and spend their own time doing the wheeling and dealing. Garren kept the two trident-shaped ones where the mother of pearl cloaked whatever trident-shaped objects had been used as their seeds.
A man wearing a loose, dark blue silk tunic hanging over a loose pair of black pants, held up with a thick brown belt sporting a golden buckle around his waist, entered the first level of the city of Pedas. The ends of his pants went over a pair of worn-in hiking boots. He wore a fine, black cloak around his shoulders, pinned together with a brooch. On his head he wore a violet hat with a feather sticking out of it. Poseidon's symbol on a silver chain hangs around his neck. He strode along the somewhat narrow streets (more like halls, really) of the first level of Pedas until he found a busy tavern. There, wearing clothes he finally could afford and had always wanted, Garren entered and began to sing and play and entertain a large body of dwarven miners. Though he had been warned not to contribute to their delinquency, he fully intended to sing a few racy songs, anyway. He also found Isabelle there, drinking rather heavily. So heavily, in fact, he began to wonder is she might be an alcoholic. She seemed a bit depressed or lost in thought, or perhaps the strong, dark, dwarven ale was just creeping up on her and getting the best of Bell. Garren wasn't sure, but he decided to keep an eye on her.
Lycorne was also on the first level of Pedas, but she had found her way to an underground garden oasis once more. She had been living with Beu in a rented apartment here, but he was gone now and she began to explore the city more. Here in this "room," the entire ceiling radiated light, probably from a few dozen Continual Light spells, she decided, and underneath the ceiling a small stream dominated the entire room. The water, she knew not whence it came, rolled off a miniature, artificial waterfall where there stood a statue of some dwarf she didn't know. The small pool below then had an outlet, the source of the stream, and from the stream water troughs drew off moisture to every part of the huge room. She judged the entire room to be over 500 feet wide at its greatest dimension. All of this had been carefully design to grow more plants and herbs than she could shake a stick at. "So, this is what passes for a dwarven apothecary shop," she thought to herself. It made the little ones in Alodar pale in comparison, but upon reflection, she didn't get better service here or find items she could not find elsewhere, so she decided Alodar's shops were just spread out more and organized differently, perhaps even more efficiently. This place was mostly just big, and as it was underground and away from the sun, it was just an unusual place to grow things, and any chamber that big and underground was in and of itself impressive. She paid for her treatments and took them with her, going in search of Gillmesh.
Gillmesh had been busy looking around the city and making inquires about sages. It took several days, and he crossed the palms of many dwarves with bits of silver, but he eventually was directed to a general knowledge sage named Rork, who was reported to know something about Mt. Windus.
"My, Windus, yes, a place of snow and ice near the top; very inhospitable," said the dwarven sage. For 2 GP, Rork tells Gill about Yeti and Winter Wolves in the area, probably the greatest possible problems in that area. He explains the Yeti will leave them alone unless they get too close to one of their lairs, and the winter wolves are particularly nasty, though the fur of either is rather valuable if not all hacked to bits. Gill asks about Rock Bunnies and this generates a low whistle from the sage. "Rock Bunnies you say? You have reason to believe they might be there?" The warrior nods his head. "Well then, if they are there, that's information well worth having, and well worth the 25 GP this wretched dwarf must ask for it," he smiled.
Gill didn't like paying for every new bit of information, but each time he didn't, it ended up costing him more, so he eventually relented and coughed up the cash, saying, "Aye, et hea better be." The sage then disclosed the vital information. "The rock bunnies are not so tough by themselves, but their sheer numbers can take a man down. Almost like land piranha, they're deadly in numbers. And they'll mark you with a scent that can only easily be cleaned off with alcohol. If not cleaned off, you'll draw more of them toward you from miles around. If they attack in numbers, there is little you can do. The rock bunnies can't be stopped when they frenzy, but may be soothed with music before that happens. Once attacked and marked, however, they will frenzy, so be aware." He also tells Gill about the rock piles they frequently live in and how it would generally be better just to avoid them. Then Gill asks about his sword, Ekibar, but the sage knows little except it is very old and dwarven. He suggests that Gill seek out Strataclip, a sage most wise in ancient dwarven lore and languages, and he pays another small fee for the letter of introduction, along with permission pass to the lower levels of Pedas. With those documents in hand, Gill proceeds downward. He runs into Lycorne along the way and she accompanies him.
Way toward the back of level one they find a mammoth, spiral stone staircase. Hundreds of dwarves moved up and down its corkscrew length, those going down firmly keeping to the outside of the spiral, while those going upwards kept toward the inner half. They got in line, but were stopped by a pair of guards at the top of the staircase before they could step onto the stone structure.
"Where do you think you two are going," one guard asked in a gruff manner, his disdain for non-dwarves perfectly apparent. "We hav ah letta," Gill said, handing it other to the guard, not trying to explain where or actually answer the question since the sage had made clear the Pass Document would do the talking for him. The guard opened it, studied it for a whole 15 seconds, and then crumbled it up. "Very well. You may pass, for now, but know your place," he finished, and then he went back to talking to his buddy, the other guard. Gill and Lycorne then got on the stairs and went down, eventually emerging on the second level of Pedas. Guessing, Gill figures the "floor" between the two levels must be over 15 feet thick. The stone on this level was redder in color and Gill could tell the place was a few degrees cooler as well. He had heard it was cooler on the first few levels down, but also that it became steadily warmer past that point, but he wasn't in a position to determine the veracity of such beliefs just then. There was a slight breeze rushing through his hair and he also wondered about its source, considering they were in the heart of a mountain, but he had come for other things and so did not explore or succumb to his natural curiosity. Asking for directions and getting them, it came to pass the pair found themselves in front of Strataclip's chamber door.
Bell, in the meantime, had had way too many. Perhaps she misjudged the strength of the ale; it was a common thing to do for any not used to its dark, creeping influence. Garren struggled to help her out of the place, as she seemed about ready to fall over. Finding and paying for a room in a nearby inn, he lay her down on the bed, induced her to vomit, clean her up a bit, and then went in search of the others. Bell dozed soundly.
Strataclip's office looked like a library of both extensive size and clutter. The sage looked up from the letter of introduction, then at Gill's sword. "Oh my," he said, looking at the ancient weapon. "This is indeed a find. Have you done battle with it?" Gill said that he really hadn't yet and the dwarf frowned. "This is very old and it was common practice back then to use blood runes. When smeared with blood, invisible letters may appear and help tell the sword's story. Or a Detect Invisibility spell would do it, or some other such magic. Do you know a mage?"
Alas, no blood was handy, though Gill kept it in mind for later. The warrior relayed all the information he could, its name, Ekibar, where he got it (in general), the lines of poetry, so eventually everything he knew, the sage knew. The sage was intrigued and agreed to help, but the cost could run very high. A lot of research could be done while Gill was away, so Gill paid the sage 50 GP, signed a contract with a thumbprint (Gill still he cannot read) and Lycorne signs the contract as a witness (the Mostoli love contracts, and two copies are made, one for each party). The sage feels 50 GP will not get him very far, but it will be a start, and so the pair of adventurers leave the sage behind and return to the upper level.
No pass was required to go to level one, but he wondered about how he'd get back to level two since the guard had taken his pass. "Say, fella," Gill address the same guard at the top of the spiral staircase, How am Ay supposed to git back down to the sage again since you took mah pass?" The guard looked at him and said, "You don't. Unless you acquire another pass, or you have a business contract with someone who lives on the lower levels showing you have a good reason to go there. Gill took out his contract, "You mean like this? This gives me parmishen to go bac down?" he asked in all honesty, wishing to avoid any misunderstanding. The guard took the document, looked it over, and returned it. "Yeah, until the guy cancels the contract, fulfills it, or a year is up. After that, you have to renew the contract or find another pass to go below. But until then, with this, you can go to level two as you please. Be warned, though. You get into any funny business down there, maybe a guard will revoke your contract and take it away and kick up upstairs." The guard's manner and tone had improved from before, and he was obviously trying to be helpful, so Gill took him at his word and thanked him, putting the folded contract back in his inner pocket.
Eventually, back on level one, Gill and Lycorne hook up with Garren and he takes them to Isabelle's room. A bit of a struggle, but after they purchase a lot of alcohol (some bottled liquid called Everclear in case they find rock bunnies) they pay for passage on a small coaster bound for Korale, the city in the shadow of Mt. Windus. Katsumi finds them just before they depart and goes along with Jarmain, who also hustles on board, sporting his spellbook, which now contains something more meaningful for him to work with.
It's a rather uneventful two-day passage (typical of the coastal waters along the western perimeter of the Imperial Continent, thanks to the Imperial Fleet, which keeps the waters safer for travel, but soon they enter the small fishing village of Korale.
14/02/745 A.E. Evening, just after docking.
Korale is a friendly place, but small, a one-tavern kind of hamlet. A dog is barking somewhere, and the wind rolls off the sea on toward the land in a characteristic manner. The smell of salt air and fish permeates everything, and one can hear the fishing boats bumping into the wooden docks as the waves splash along the shore, but only the tavern seems to have any life in it. Speaking of taverns, they make their way toward it, as it is the only place that is well illuminated. Oddly enough, the town sports one Continual Light streetlamp, typical of Imperial cities, but very atypical of such a small place far outside the empire (or anywhere with unpaved streets, like here). It's a bit of a mystery, but not one that interests our adventurers, apparently, as they pass within the doors of the White Wolf Tavern. A drunken man staggers out of the pub and makes his halting way down the dirt street singing (or trying to, but by the gods, he's awful).
The place is filled with old salts of the sea, fishermen all, by the look of 'em. Oh wait, there's a dwarf there and a gray robed man talking to him in a dark corner. A second home to a bard like Garren, he automatically goes into his routine and soon the somber place lights up with a joyful radiance and the drinks begin to flow more freely. As if drawn to the sounds of merriment, more fishermen enter, following the hopes of a good time promised by the cheery sounds of laughter and music played with some skill. Strangers are in town, and that means something to talk about and speculate upon for weeks to come other than where one thinks the fish might be today or what the weather will be like tomorrow. Many wives will not be pleased with their husbands tonight when they learn they stayed out all night having fun and spending what little money they had rather than returning home as normal. Not that they would have objected so much if their thoughtless hubbies took them out for a similar good time, but the White Wolf's proximity to the docks made such things a secondary consideration at best. By the time they got home, convinced their wives to come, and got back again, the fun would probably already be over.
Bell sits in on a game of cards, her skill with gambling soon becoming apparent after she finishes 3 men off in the time it took to drink as many different types of ale. The robed figure, a monk named Aarkon, strikes up a conversation with Lycorne. Gill joins them and they speak of Mt. Windus. The monk knows something about the mountain, but mostly he knows about mountains in general, and soon they all agree it would be of interest for him to accompany them all on the morrow. They rent two rooms, not very big or good or comfortable, from the owner (A guy named Bork).
Winter is now only 17 days off, they estimate, and the mountain weather will be worse than it is down here where the warm air rolling off the sea keeps the place much warmer than the mountainous heights. Right now, it's around 60 degrees F. Up there? A lot colder - probably already below freezing. The signs are there, and winter is approaching. Soon most places around here will settle in for a cold, hard, nigh 100 days of ice and snow, moving little, relying on stored goods already set in, or soon to be set in, before the snows make that task no longer possible.
Katsumi, still somewhat distant, retires to one of the rooms and gets some sleep. Bell arranges to have a love letter delivered to Darien, though she's told it may well take two weeks to get to Alodar, but she pays for the service, anyway, and leaves the letter with a barmaid. A local, the village elder they figure, takes a keen interest in what they are doing, but they tell him little. Last call comes and they all order more drinks, but even those are soon gone and they invite the monk to join them in the shabby rooms upstairs. Traveling together in the field is often much more intimate than sharing rooms, and he's already agreed to do that tomorrow, so he agrees to start their closer relationship tonight, even though he hardly knows these people. The women take one room, the men the other. Night passes uneventfully.
14/03/745 A.E.
In the morning, after a rather uninspiring meal, they head out to find some last minute equipment (furs, blankets, etc.). A trapper (Bork's brother) and his wife (a seamstress) supply them with high quality furs, but they pay top gold for it too (hundreds and hundreds of gold), yet no one feels like they were cheated, and now many of them sport fine fur garments and wraps most suitable for the mountain's frigid weather.
They travel a few hours and come to Mt. Windus. Best guess, they feel it will take three days to climb it if nothing bad happens, and so Garren and Isabelle (skilled at climbing) break the trail. The cold day passes and when Gill sees a suitable spot (large, free of rocks, mostly level) he sets up the black, silk tent. Isabelle, Lycorne, and Aarkon, who have never seen this tent, let alone heard about it, stand in awe and marvel at it. Magic! Large, enough room for eight people, and it's warm, too! This is the first time any of the new members have seen magic of this type, and the first time it was warmer inside than out - mostly having been cooler than the hot outside in the tropics like before. Besides, they had been planning all day on hunkering down in the cold snow and a sleeping bag or whatnot, and now they discover they will not only be free of the awful and chilling experience, they may instead rest in warm comfort. Happily, they enter.
They bed down for the night after renewing their spells and finishing their meal, all the while talking and getting to know one another. Setting up a standard three watches, they go to sleep. During the third watch, when Jarmain and Lycorne are awake, they hear an odd gibbering outside the tent. Jarmain has Lycorne wake the others while he peers outside. Gill, wishing to see what it is, joins Jarmain, sans platemail, but still wearing the leather he sleeps in. Suddenly, a huge 8-foot tall, white, fury creature jumps up in front of Gill, its icy blue eyes almost making the warrior freeze with terror, but the warrior's skill is too great to allow that. It charges Gillmesh.
COMBAT BEGINS:
R1: Lycorne was ready, peering past the pair huddled in the entryway, and when she saw the hostile attack, her reflexes began to uncoil the readied spell from her mind. Two Magic Missiles shot into the white beast, its howls only increasing as two more slammed into it from Bell's mystically energized fingers. The Yeti claws at Gill, scratching through his leather, but only slightly wounding him, and Gill finishes the halted creature, so the Yeti's concerns of horror at the mysterious pains from the funny lights was only short lived, like it, and it dies. But there are more. How many more, they can't tell yet. Garren jabs another with his trident while Jarmain cast a Bless spell. Aarkon jumps out past the blocked entryway, rolls, and comes up fighting, missing his opponent. Katsumi is stuck behind Jarmain and Gill, and she curses softly.
R2: Aarkon drives his skillful fist into the solar plexus of a Yeti, satisfied as he heard the bone in its chest snap. One Yeti runs off at the unexpected opposition, but the biggest one attacks Garren, raking him with both claws. More missiles from Lycorne, together with Gill's sword, puts down the largest of them, while Isabelle produces a flaming sphere and rolls it up toward the white terror of the mountain. The Yeti dies but the ball of fire gets too close to Garren and singes him badly. With three dead Yeti at their feet, and one, perhaps two others on the run, the battle is over almost before it began.
COMBAT OVER:
With 4 more hours to go before sunrise, they try to pass the remainder of the night in peace.
Isabelle, looking around outside, notices when it is below freezing outside, their tent emanates heat quite readily, almost like a beacon in the infrared range, and she realizes her Infravision could zero in on this thing under such conditions quite easily from more than a mile away. At last, the tent proves to have at least one draw back, but how often they will find themselves camped in below freezing weather remains to be seen. They speculate the Yeti may have seen it and came to discover what it was. Had they not used the tent, they probably would have gone unnoticed. Perhaps they were too close to the Yeti's lair, wherever that may be, but they seem uninterested in it. They also let the dead Yeti freeze solid, perhaps making it much harder to skin them later (their fur was said to be valuable), but come morning, they didn't bother, leaving the dead Yeti behind in the snow, perhaps for the wolves to tear to pieces later. Ah, the circle of life.
14/04/745 A.E.
The next day offers nothing but climbing. As the sun sank, however, Gill and Jarmain (the priest in eagle form) could not find a spot to set up their magic tent, which required a large, level area. Alas, they would have to rough it after all. Fortunately, Jarmain and Garren called upon their faith and spells and supplied them all with Endure Cold spells for 7 and one half hours of the night. It seemed sufficient to ward off the major ill effects of sleeping in below freezing weather.
14/05/745 A.E.
The next morning it starts to snow. The going is slow and laborious, and the cold starts to take its toll, but our adventurers are made of hearty stock and, for the most part, ignore most of the ill effects of the inclement weather. Again, no place to set up the tent can be found on the steep slopes of the mountain, and again the Endure Cold spells are passed around, virtually exhausting the priests' compliment of 1st level spells. Thankfully, the night passes uneventfully.
14/06/745 A.E.
Praying and studying, they renew their spells while eating their breakfast. Again they climb, but this time they make the summit. Nothing. Not a single sign of what or why they came. Ekibar does nothing to aid them, and Garren feels nothings with his sensitivity to psionic impressions. Both Katsumi and Lycorne feel no emotions in the area other than their own, and Isabelle uselessly melts large patches of snow with magical fire, but that also reveals nothing. Even a Detect Magic spell reveals nothing in the immediate area. Gill recites the lines aloud. "High atop Mt. Windus, wha rock bunnies love en pley, tha keepa guards tha nexus, en thar dos evil lay." Poorly spoken, but nothing happens anyway. Other magics are employed and other magics similarly reveal nothing of interest. "Instead of searching at the top, maybe you should search for where these rock bunnies are, the ones of which you so often speak," commented Aarkon, having heard the poem several times already. They sit and argue for a time before they finally spread out and start searching below the summit. Hours later, Gill spies a large, craggy, snow-covered pile of rocks and boulders. Bell sees some tracks. Thinking they are rabbit tracks, she follows them and sees a bunny crouching next to a rock that Gill is approaching. Nearing it, he is attacked before Bell can sing out a warning. A dark, furry bunny zips through the air past Gill's ear, its razor sharp teeth just missing his head. It lands a few feet away in the snow and begins to rebound, turning for another attack. Before it can spring again, however, both Bell and Lycorne bring it down with Magic Missile spells. It took all four missiles to kill it! (Pretty darn tough for a bunny).
Katsumi skins it, but not being particularly good at such an endeavor, favoring the more practical skills of finding food and shelter in such climes, she mangles it a bit and pierces an odd sack of liquid inside its guts, which then runs over her hands. She tries to clean them off with snow, but Gill rushes over and neutralizes the fluid with alcohol, thus killing the barely perceptible scent to humans that would draw rock bunnies to them in swarms.
(XP granted from on high).
Kat finishes the rest of the vile of alcohol by drinking it (whew, everclear is strong stuff), and it burns, and then warms her insides and she coughs a bit more than she figured she would. "Smooooth," she gasps, wheezing a bit while clearly lying.
Investigating the rocks, they are attack by another rock bunny. Aarkon's staff misses, but Gill hits it with his dart-like stiletto knives and kills it due to the tremendous strength with which he hurls such missiles.
Inside the rock hutch, they find it leads down into a cavern-like area well below the surface level. Unfortunately, a wall of ice quickly blocks it, though they can see there is a chamber beyond. They spend considerable time chipping away at it with magic weapons and Bell uses a fire spell to help melt it away, so they eventually break through into the chamber beyond. It is a small, circular chamber with a stone altar toward the back. Columns of ice adorn the place, numerous stalactite icicles and stalagmite mounds of ice are everywhere. When proper light is brought in by Garren, they can make out depictions on the wall near the altar of a priest sacrificing a small animal (looks like a bunny) upon the altar. The altar even has narrow grooves in it to channel blood. They manage to squeeze enough blood out of the one bunny and into the grooves such that it begins to glow, and to the left, the wall begins to shimmer. Then, magically, upon the altar there appears something that resembles an Earth Elemental, though it has many more crystals and glassy patches on it than ordinary looking rock or dirt one might expect of an earth elemental.
"Speak!" it commands. They do, and ask questions of it, but it seems uninterested or unaware of what they say to it. "Speak!" it commands again. They try again, and they fail again.
"Speak!" it commands once more. "Ekibar bid us come here. Who be you?" asked Gill. "Ekibar? Prove it," said the icy, rocky creature upon the altar. "Speak the litany." Gill looks confused. "Ah did nea know it!" and with that, the creature disappears, the blood upon the altar vanishing with it. Upon consideration, they decide the bit of poem Garren psionically gleaned from Ekibar might be the required litany, but they needed another rock bunny. The rest of the day was spent looking for one. Splitting up, they found two and made sort work of them, washing themselves with alcohol after killing them. (Though they used even more spells and depleted their dwindling supply).
Again, rock bunny blood is spilled upon the altar and again the wall shimmers, and the rocky creature of ice and crystal forms upon the altar once more.
"Speak!" it commands.
"High atop Mt. Windus, wha rock bunnies love en pley, tha keepa guards tha nexus, en thar dos evil lay." The warrior seemed pleased he recited it so well, but the guardian looked at him sideways. "Very well, there does indeed lay evil most foul beyond the nexus. Do you accept the challenge?" it asked. Gill wondered what it meant. Again it asked, "Yes, an abhorrent evil does dwell within, beyond this nexus. Do you accept this challenge?" Gill finally responded, "Um, ok, ya, Ah do accept et." The guardian smiled (Gill thinks it's a smile, but it's hard to tell for sure). "Very well. Then receive my blessing one and all, touch the altar and go within, but only if you dare. If you do succeed, only then will you be returned."
And with that, one-by-one they move along the shimmering wall toward the altar, touched the alter, and then step into the shimmering wall, each slipping beyond the confines of this mortal plane as they do. Soon, they were all gone from the Prime Material Plane.
A cold, barren wasteland greeted them. They could tell it was freezing here, but the guardian's blessing gained from touching the alter seemed to protect them from the cold (the same as the Endure Cold spells did). They couldn't even be sure quite where the "gate" lay since they couldn't see it, feel it, or find it once they passed through it. Only empty air remained there. Ahead they could see a mountain in the distance, perhaps half a day's march. Immediately to the left, a chasm of ice blocked passage in that direction. Examining it, they discovered a body frozen within, but the body glowed with a yellowish shimmering, an envelop of amber energy. Debate ensued as to what to do, but they all agreed to try to free the man. Working again, they chipped away at the ice, employed heat and fire spells (how many can they have yet?), but eventually they freed the man. They found they could not touch the man himself, though the field around him could be felt, its unyielding amber surface slick and smooth. There was only an odd metal, silver box attached to the man by two drawn wires. They cut the wires after a time, a daring move, but the amber field (most reminiscent of a Sepia Snake Sigil spell, though the duration was a mystery) faded, and a Magic Mouth upon the box began speaking. "Auker bor, auker tway, auker file, auker neure, auker weli, auker thile, auker zam, auker to, auker on, auker null."
Thinking the worst, most backed away from the speaking box to gain some distance, and when "Auker null" was reached, a small fireball explosion went off. The man inside the amber field, already wounded, almost died in the blast, weak though it was. Others caught some flack and fire damage, but it was minor. The man cries out in pain, though he is still unconscious. Garren rushes back over and dumps a healing potion down the stranger's throat. Jarmain also cast a spell of healing. The mage (seems he says he is a mage) recovers, though still wounded, and he looks extremely perplexed. "Where is Belamay?" he asks, but no one knows.
NOTE: In 676 A.E., Belamay and Cyris, Belamay's latest student, used the elder mage's amulet to travel to the Plane of Ice, a para-elemental plane, in hopes of finding the remnants of a staff said to have been destroyed on that plane and left behind. With a few more clues to go on, though he never shared them with his student, Belamay felt sure he could find it. Unfortunately, they were attack while there, and in a surprise maneuver, the creature, whatever it was, for it seemed invisible, knocked Cyris unconscious. Belamay himself fared little better. In the surprise attack, his amulet was torn off and its magic destroyed, but luckily he was able to then cast a Protection From Enemy 10' R spell, thus shielding himself and his charge. The creature, no longer able to reach through the protective wardings, eventually gave up and left. With few options remaining, Belamay employed a rather nifty trick, a bit of knowledge, a spell, and a rather limited relic and was able to encase his young charge inside a Sepia Snake Sigil spell of surprising duration as the boy was technically a willing recipient, despite being unconscious. He tucked the lad away in a nearby crevasse and went forth on his own, hoping to find a way home, a way back, and rescue for both of them. 69 years later, now, they surmise, it seems he never made it, and Cyris was freed of the ice that formed around him in the interim by an odd bunch of adventurers, if I do say so myself. A brave new world awaits him now, but those he left behind are probably all lost to him these past 7 decades.
Cyris introduced himself and explained best he could, but he really didn't know what happened, though he did have a better idea of where they were than the party did. He even told them they were on the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice. He seemed jittery and anxious, and Garren tried to cast a Sleep spell on him to calm him down (another wasted spell from so few remaining). Cyris, however, was able to fend off the effects (proving himself to be either rather experienced, or the possessor of some strange magic).
Gillmesh tried to set up the magic tent. "Plenty o room here," he thought, but to his dismay he discovered the tent no longer worked. A few of the mages speculated the Extra Dimensional Spaces use by some magic items sometimes will not function on a plane of existence other than those few where it was designed to operate. They also notice their magic items seemed more awkward than they should. Weaker?
NOTE: (Turns out all items are +1 less here, except Ekibar which is still +2. So +3 daggers are +2, a +2 staff or other +2 items are +1, and +1 objects are as mundane weapons and items of protection. It applies across the board, magic armor offers less protection, +1 rings are +0, etc. etc. They'll almost certainly return to normal upon returning to the Prime Material Plane, but while here, they are lesser magic items, or not magic anymore at all).
Off to the right they notice a moving mass, shimmering in the omnipresent light of the plane. It drifted, moved, and flashed in unison. It was extremely reminiscent of a school of fish or flock of some birds moving in unison, the entire colony shifting direction simultaneously at times. Later they saw the cloud was a mass of moth-like creatures, but as it was drifting harmlessly past them, they were not overly concerned.
"Oowwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooorarrrr," came a haunting cry from the mountain. A brilliant flash, like a mirror reflecting a non-existent sun, appeared. Then again, it flashed. "Oowwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooorarrrr," it came again, wailing in the distance, getting closer, closer. Something large, something airborne, it flew toward them at great speed. Gill judged it would be there in only a few minutes.
"Oowwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooorarrrr," came the call from the huge, icy, airborne creature, its wingspan obviously quite large, 20, maybe 30 feet? "OOWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOORARRRR." In less than two minutes it would be here.
They looked nervously at one another. Their magic items were less powerful, their spell reserves had been sorely tapped, and they had not had a proper rest for quite some time. The rock bunnies, the melting of ice, the uselessly cast Sleep spell, the Endure Cold spells, what was left? Whatever it was, they had little time to decide upon a course of action.
"OOWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOORARRRR."
14/06/745 A.E. nearing midnight.
SESSION ENDS:
© June of 2000
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096