Session Recap #13 – Portals and Parley

Loot List
Rare Items

• Bastard Sword of Sharpness – Justus
• Glamoured Studded Leather +1 – Senko
• Bead of Force – Senko(?)
• Ring of Protection +1 – Parallax
• Burnt Othor Fumes
• Dagger of Venom – Senko
• Adamantine Ring Mail – Justus
• ?????? – Kangrog (Reward due for beating Asim)

• Common Items
• Medical Kit with 4 uses.
• 83 gold
• A tobacco pouch
• A spyglass of decent make and quality.
• Symbol of Justaro
• Small bag of coal
• Grapple hook
• 2 gems (14gp ea)

Finish the Monastery

• Discuss with a Djinn Named Gusto that he will stay here, but will initialize the teleport portal for the Group.
  • Head to the Teleporter
  • In doing so, you travel first down some passageways, with Gusto opening two different secret doors to open to the next region.
  • All areas seem to have been abandoned for a least a season or more, due to the dust laying around.
  • As you arrive in the portal room, you find the signs of a battle in here, dried and desiccated limbs, dried pools of blood.
    • It seems to have been a last stand of the monks as they let others get away.
    • Oddly, almost all of the bodies in the room are around the edges of the room, there is almost a 30ft circle in front of the portal steps that is clear of all bar two bodies, both in the exact center of the empty circle, and coated in a very fine covering of black dust or ash.
      • Later, this would be identified as the effects of a Bead of Force, as one was found in the room, and the black dust is assumed to be a used/dissolved stone.
  • The High Monk – One specific form, laying on the steps of the portal, is wearing the robes of a High Monk of Kithloth, His end appears to have been from the massive crater in his chest, that looks like one of Asim’s lightning blasts.
    • A small ring can be found on the Monks left hand, a small band of reddish stone, with a simple, small blue gem inset in band, that glows slightly when hidden from the light. (Protection +1 AC and STs)
    • as you shift him to get the ring, a small black sphere falls from a packet in his robe, measures 3/4 of an inch in diameter and weighs an ounce.
    • Senko knew this to be a Bead of Force from his past (History Check to Identify)
  • The Guardian – On the steps, almost on top of the High Monk, is an armoured figure in a cloak the same blue as the Monk.
    • It appears he died protecting the monk, looking as though he jumped in the way of a particularly nasty dagger that is entangled in the dusty dry tendons skin and bones left of the warriors neck. (a Dagger of Venom)
    • His chain mail armour is an odd purple hue… Identified by Justus to be Adamantine Chain Mail
  • The Half-Alchemist – Behind the Monk, the bottom half of a figure lays halfway into the portal, as they were sliced in half horizontally.
    • Around his waist lies a pouch that was severed in half, and within it is a couple of vials, one looks to be a potion of healing, the other is labelled “Burnt Othur Fumes“, below those, folded into a small leather pouch, is an Alchemists kit.
  • Bodies in the Circle – One the figures in the center of the empty circle, you find them both to have a sigil of a bloody eye on the front of their chest. Each of them possess a scimitar, a leather sheild that looks suspicious human in colouring.
    • One of them has a Bastard Sword of Sharpness
    • The other, is wearing a set of completely normal clothes, that, seem to weigh far too much (eventually ID’d as Glamoured Studded Leather (+1 AC) )
  • Around the room, on the other bodies in the room if searched, are a few other items to be found
    • Medical Kit with 4 uses.
    • 83 gold
    • A tobacco pouch
    • A spyglass of decent make and quality.
    • Some minor weapons and Armor of various less-than-stellar quality and age, but useful if players want to switch up. (None taken)

Mattock

• Say Goodbye to Mattok, who is going to head South again, towards Relast and the Wander-Where. He is open to being contracted again, but will want more money because he knows you’re likely to let him die in combat (like, you know, you did 😉 )

The Portal – **Cutscene #1

• Gusto opens it, but is unable to connect, instead showing an inky black void.
• An C&C Era EVA Lady keeps repeating that ‘Unable to Connect, Network Registration has been blocked, please contact your Portal Guild Helpdesk for further assistance‘
• The players did not contact the helpdesk.
• A voice emerged from the portal, but seems directed at someone else. The voice was distinctly… Draconic.
  • “Xenth… some adventurers are trying to connect the Woken Winds portal, are these the ones you mentioned?”
• Xenth’s voice will reply a few moments later
  • “Yes, thank you Balazarass, I’ll take it from here.”
  • Then to the players.
  • “You can hear me, but I will not be able to hear you. Let me re-connect this portal temporarily to the network, it should connect in a moment. Once it turns violet, it is ready to use, but note, it will drop you at the Tos Calos portal, which is in the Town Square where you may have company. Alright, one moment…”
• The portal will slowly fill with color, first icy white, then blue, and settling into a whirling vortex of Violet and Mauve.
• In the center, faintly through the whistling streaks of powers beyond ken, you can see tall stone walls, towering over a dry sandy hill, below which a nearly dried up river runs weakly into the bay.
• A large keep is on a cliff overlooking both the port and the town, and a large tower seems to be set on the opposite corner of town.
• Appears, by all effects, to be Tos Calos, at long last.
• Justus went First, Senko Second, Parallax.. well…

The Connection Sure is Wonky

• As the Senko steps through the portal the portal flashes Red just as the person steps through, and then back to a whirling vortex.
• Balaz again : “Lady Sorceress, it appears the connection is unstable”
• To which Xenth replies: “No, someone in Tos Calos is fighting me… I should have this. Whoever is remaining, go. Go now!”
• after stepping through

Between the Ways

• You all appear on a flat grey disc, around 12 ft across, floating deep in the gloom of the abyss. You are all placed equally, about 1ft in from the edge of the disc, facing each other. Despite there being no point of refence, in both air currents, G forces or visible landmarks, you feel as if the disc is flying along somewhere in breakneck speeds.
• Within seconds, the blackness around you turns a bloody red, then flickers back to black and red again before settling onto black again before you hear Xenth exclaim “Hold on!!” before screaming and being cut short and going completely silent.
  • While the Abyss was red, you could see vast shapes floating in the clouds above and below, some serpentine, some indescribable.
• The Sky changes again, this time a great white tear appears high above you, as if light was streaming into the realm from another. A great vision appears, of what seems to be a gargantuan bloodred eye, filled with Galaxies and Pubescent Stellar Masses, appears distantly beyond the crack, before zooming in towards you, as if something on the outside is trying to peak in.
• The very fabric of reality starts to scream around you, the molecules shrinking in both fear and pain, as a huge…. thing… starts to press in on the cut and tear at the edge, as if it was a finger, slowly widening the crack in reality.
• Xenth’s voice appears distantly, Chanting what appears to be something, which only Parallax heard: “GetOutGetOutGetOutGetOut! GET OUT NOW!”
  • Before yet again falling to silence.
  • The crack continues to widen, and matter, either Light or Dark, Material or Anti, is rushing out through the void.
• This world, it turns out, may in fact, be ending at this very moment.

++ Intermission ++

• As Senko panicked about the lack of a door to ‘Get out’ through, a voice slices through the chaos, the same draconic one as before:
  • “Xenth is gone, I will aid thee, head into the light”
  • As it says this, a light appears in the center of the platform you stand on.
• Dont go into the light? The rift continues to grow, the thing gets into the astral pocket, and the player is lifted from the disc by the thing beyond, and the player must roll a new character.

The Desert
You find yourself tumbling onto a blisteringly hot sandy waste, with nothing in sight except some tumbleweeds, an arroyo, and mountains far, far to the east, and a small pathetic road near where you stand.

The dragons voice echoes faintly in the back of your skull before it fades for good “You are as close to your destination as I dared, The city is to the south-west. Avoid discovery.”

The Plants / Snappers Cut
Less than a half day south of the landing, is a large, old riverbed, filled with vicious snapping trees and savage looking briar thorn bushes.

The trees behav

A path leads to a serious of perilous pillars of rocks between the snapping trees, that will need to be leapt between to softly cross, though truly, nothing here felt ‘safe’

The crossing was made initally with some rope walking, desperate climbing, and some flaming fists to burn holes in the Fauna/Flora hybrid where needed.

Senko looted someone who hadnt made it in the past, finding a symbol of Justaro, Lord of Justice and Righteousness and some other common items (see: loot list)

Then someone used Water Whip, and much like sharks in the sea, or Zombies in 28 Days Later, ever plant in the riverbed turned to focus on the players and some started relocating closer. fuck.

A mad dash for the end was successful, with only Senko close to limb loss.

Little did they know, someone had been watching.

Senko Crosses – Cutscene #2
The minute Senko crosses the riverbed, a vision slams into his consciousness, taking over all he can see, hear and feel.

He sees a flicker of images at first,

• an Iron knight flying over a massive city by a warm lake
• A circle of thirteen sickly grey flames, circling a blue one that is roaring inside a glass orb.
  • All but three of the grey flames are almost out, flicking on their last legs. Of the three, one feels familiar.
• He sees the underground lake where he met this curse, but he is standing on the sand at the bottom of the lake, staring at a huge carved face of jade, lying on its side. He is listening to it, but of what it says, we do not hear.
• He sees Tos Calos again, but this time under siege by a vast army of desert warriors. It seems to be early Summer (maybe a month or two away).
• Finally, he sees himself, resplendent in epic armor, wielding a firearm of some sorts in one hand, and a glowing green rapier in the other that cuts through flesh as if it was butter. He is fighting, against figures you cannot see, but you hear it’s labored, mechanical breathing in the darkness around him. A serpentine voice whispers in his mind before he returns back to normal: “Your Journey will be dark, and full of Death. Find us, Free us, and we will protect and provide”
• He feels a pull, somewhere to the west of here, on a different heading to the road.

Empty Camp w/ Hungry Hungry Orcsies

• “There is an empty camp off the side of the road ahead, alongside some small dunes. The campfire still appears to be smoldering with a small wisp of smoke rising into the air from the little remaining fuel. The camp seems to be setup for maybe 3-4 people, with a tent and a few bedrolls laid out and look to have been used at some point in the past. Cooking and eating utensils are left near the fire, and there appears to be a post where mounts would have been tied if someone was here.
  There is no sign of life in sight, other than some errant tumbleweeds rolling past.”
• They Approach from far off, and have a chance to look around and scout, Senko just misses seeing the give-away (Meta)
• Parallax cleverly sparks the flame high, with a small cantrip, causing something in the shadows to flinch but not reveal itself, and the party started circling the camp.
• As Justus saw the hiding orcs, Parallax trod on one in the sand, and much like Dune (no relation) the Orcs jumped out of the sand and started a standoff with the players.
• A deal was struck, the players would give food and suppliers, and the Orcs would join them in 3 days, at the Ruins of Mekk.
• Senko really wanted to check out some heavy crates, but the orcs were cagey and wouldnt allow it. They looked heavy Barak – NPC Notes
• Motivation: They are hungry and poor, and regret ever coming down out of the mountains to the south, but they know without good supplies to help them get home, or without good loot to buy their way back into the tribe with, they would never survive.
• The Blood Rage: A history DC 3 will remind people the Orcs, Ogres and Giants are all cursed with Berserker rage by Slerikek.
• Leader: Barak Bogchugger. Smarter than the average Orc, but can be bought off. Knows a good deal when he hears it, and keeps the long term goal in sight: Getting out of this fucking desert.

The Traders
We end the session, arriving at the traders, a few miles south.

Sasha SlowScale warned Crass and Calvin, Sevillian traders of the Orc attack, and they are now camped a day or so to the south. The camp above was theirs, having fled the orcish attack.

They have wares for sale, but also news of the world, having recent camp south from the wildling tribes of the desert, having traded basics for crates of beautiful aquamarines and lapis lazuli from a secret location the natives will not reveal. They managed to escape with one of their three chests, and would greatly appreciate the other two being returned to them for a great reward.

Players are able to request the traders have items, and I will (probably) set it up for next fortnight.