Term 2 Adventure Summaries

Week 1: Mandatory BanditryLaslow heard a rumour that the Bandits living in the Kexus-nel desert had acquired some sort of artefact from the Nameless, who were keen to get it back. Sensing a business opportunity, he recruited Dresc and Lyly and they headed into the desert. They soon rescued the villagers of Sandy Springs from the local Desert Shark population, and returned a lost Terra-camel for good measure.The adventure soon took a turn for the worse however, as Dresc and Lyly decided to drink some juice from a nearby cactus. The effect seemed to be hallucinogenic, and the party were forced to fend off some convincing hallucinations. During this time Lyly was sought out and attacked by a mysterious Golem that appeared to have mastered the use of Shadow, although whether that was part of the illusions is anyone’s guess. The party eventually found the Bandit hideout, still recovering from the hit it took from adventurers some 2 months ago. The party managed to draw out and kill some of the bandits without attracting suspicion, then escaped with the contents of the “vault” (one corner of the hideout with a guard blocking it from the other bandits). Of particular note was the Totem inside, which caused the holder to disappear into thin air. After messing around with the Totem for a bit, the party headed back, intending to discuss the item with Henri Simnel of Aestas. Near the edge of the desert, the party discovered some “friendly” Desert Sharks, but after one attacked a resident of Sandy Springs they were regretfully forced to kill the beasts.

Week 2: Groundhog Deeps

Timothy, Geraint, Dresc and the Dramaturgist found themselves in the town of Spiderditch, a Skoi settlement in the Deeps. There was a festival going on, the celebration of 80 years since Skoi reportedly created the cavern and founded the town. The party mingled, and the Dramaturgist performed a play between acts on the central stage. His act was followed by the Mayor’s speech, which was dramatically cut short by a pistol shot from the crowd injuring the mayor. As the party began to react however, the central statue in the town of Skoi holding aloft a totem emitted a wave of magical energy. The party found themselves back at the entrance to the town, and the mayor appeared to have not yet gone on stage.

This situation repeated quite a few times, with the same scenes transpiring slightly differently each time. After the party stopped the shooter, the mayor shattered the statue, exposing a brightly lit green totem underneath where the stone totem lay. Heading backstage, the party eventually found the actual mayor tied up backstage, with the man onstage appearing to be someone who could match the appearance of the mayor. However, the imposter managed to shatter the statue anyway and the festival reset. Joined by Numaril, the party lead a Skoi congregation backstage to surprise the imposter. He slipped through the crowds using Windways, but the party exposed him onstage and took him down before he caused too much damage. The festival saved, the scene carried on, although the party felt a lot more tired than the rest of the festival seemed to…

Week 3: The Knight of Flowers

Captain Phoebus, The Dramaturgist, Geraint and Numaril set off from Aestas with the aim to find a True mage of fire, in order that they could identify the totem from the desert that the Captain had acquired several months ago. The best suggestion they received from Aestas was to head to the deeps, so that way they went. Before reaching a cave, they came across some of Henri Simnel’s engineers constructing what they described as a railroad, though they were having difficulty getting the cart they had to run along the rails. They also bound a magical item with a wilds fragment, resulting in an item capable of tracking a target in a similar way a wolf might.

Once in the deeps they made their way to Spiderditch, where the fire totem began behaving very oddly. They quickly moved on, ignoring the warnings of a mysterious figure challenging fighters. They soon encountered the figure, who introduced himself as Toby, and seemingly managed to convince him to protect connections instead of break them. They learned the name of the fire mage of Skoi they had heard about, Lydia Underfoot, and passed through her village. Eventually they came across her and helped her destroy a spider nest. She identified the totem as an Artefact of Hellen, long since lost to the mists of time. It appeared to be corrupted, but she managed to draw some sort of fragment out for the party to kill.

The party re-encountered Toby, who had not fared well in his attempt at protecting things. Upon closer inspection they found that Toby appeared to only be present by eye, things passed straight through him. He met the gaze of Lydia and saw at once a powerful follower of Skoi. Challenging her to a duel, her blows landed and he was defeated. Toby began to fade from existence, and in an instant Toby’s sword was held by Lydia.

Week 4: The Temple of the Master

Adventurers one and all arrived at the temple to the south east of Lutamas, once known as the temple of He who is the Master. Now abandoned, they managed to solve the puzzle on a door, leading them to a room occupied by Banada, the spirit of camouflage. While they chatted, Laslow used his smokebombs to disappear briefly and squeeze through a crack in another door. He found on the other side some form of deformed spirit. Numaril managed to get into the room as Banada cast Windways on him. After some time, Dresc eventually took on the spirit, and with Laslow’s help dispatched it. The group managed to find several pieces of a mural, as well as an alchemical set that they spent some time playing around with.

Meanwhile the group outside the cracked room were also acquiring mural pieces, solving Banada’s various riddles. Installing the mural pieces into the wall, a third room opened up, with more devious puzzles inside. The group found some sort of coded message, as well as a raven necklace that was hidden inside a mirror until it was shot repeatedly. Geraint felt compelled to touch the necklace, and then to attempt to slit his throat. Numeril and Dresc touched the necklace without further incident, until Dresc put it on. A shadowy form took his place claiming to be the master, requesting that the group leave his temple in piece. He specifically threatened Geraint, Lyly, Phoebus and Tegan for “meddling” then disappeared, leaving Dresc seemingly unharmed. Deciding that they should investigate the necklace further, the group decided to consult the Hellenites in the Deeps.

That night the group received strange dreams about shadows and ravens (see your personal lore documents).

(Week 5 was not ran by me)

Week 6: Great Minds Think Alike

The party, consisting of Numaril, The Dramaturgist, Tegan and [Alex] started in the Deeps, inside Hellenite territory. Their goal was to protect Lydia Underfoot while she attempted to unbind a magical raven necklace discovered in The Master’s Temple. After much effort they managed to complete the unbinding, where upon a large shadow fragment rushed out of the necklace and paralysed everyone nearby. After looking around briefly, it ran and disappeared into the nearby cave system.

The party then headed towards Vernas. Their goal was to disrupt cheap trading of lumber happening in the town, in order for Aestas to charge more for their lumber supply. They managed to convince the Legitimate Business People in Vernas that they could protect a set of carts. Setting off towards Nivalas, they then terrorised the cart driver with mind and shadow magic, convincing him that the wood was haunted. They continued this tactic in Nivalas, blaming the wood for damage in the town caused by the mists. They then returned the Vernas and continued to create shenanigans around the lumber in the town, casting shadow rituals and using various other conversational magical effects.

At this point Numaril received a voice in his head saying that he had done well, and that he should return to Aestas. A priest of The Master, who’s group had previously been aggressive towards the party, bowed in respect and knew Numaril by name, which seemed to trouble him. Just as they were putting two and two together, a man showed up with an alternative offer to returning to Aestas, proposing to “poach” Numaril from The Master’s clutches. While his authenticity was questionable, he appeared to have a Totem dedicated to Mind magic, which he claimed he borrowed from Aestas. His soul opened to the power of manipulating minds, Numaril used the totem to ascend to be a True Mind Mage.

Week 7: Off The Rails

A three-man party consisting of Geraint, Lyly and Tegan accepted the request of Henri Simnel's associate Boron. Boron was overseeing the construction of a railroad that was supposed to originate from Aestas and bore through the mountains to terminate somewhere in Southernel. However, there have been strange things happening along the railroad; workers going missing, outposts descending into madness and such. Moreover, the construction of the railroad came to a crashing halt as the Arbiters arrived at the base of the mountains dividing Dimbernel and Southernel. They claimed that the magic Henri used to construct the railroad is illegal and he has no right to drill through the mountains. The party agreed to find out what's causing these issues and sort it out.

The trio set off down the railroad, eventually encountering corpses of railroad workers with one survivor. He told the party that they were attacked by wolves and told them where the beasts came from. Following the directions and fighting off wolves, the three adventurers found the den of the Great Wolf; a spirit of the forest whose territory was being enroached on by the railroad. After listening it out the party returned to Boron and convinced him to redirect the railroad tracks such that they went around the Wolf's territory. Pleased, the spirit made its' wolves stand down.

Further on, the party found an outpost of workers who were building a stretch of the rails. However, construction was slowing down due to a strange madness taking over the workers. They were running away in fear, claiming ludicrous things and the like. This turned out to be the work of a minor spirit, casting spells on the workers from hiding. The party pressed on to investigate, rescuing another missing worker and finding an ancient temple some distance from the outpost. A spirit of trickery resided in there, along with its' minor spirits. It claimed that the railroad was made as a weapon aginst it, for the magic infused in the tracks made spirits unable to cross them. Suspicious of the true purpose behind the railroad, Geraint asked the spirit to carry on non-lethally disrupting the track constructions and the party pressed on. Along the way the party met up with the Dramaturgist, a wandering thespian that recognized Lyly as a friend. The two set off together, leaving Geraint and Tegan to finish the task at hand.

Travelling further along the train tracks, the duo met up with a wandering mage by the name of Marko. He claimed that a cloaked figure convinced him to leave his village and go adventuring. Persuaded by Tegan and Geraint, Marko took the two back to his village. There, the two learned that some more villagers also took off in a similar manner to Marko. This happened right around the time that the nearby railroad constructions were taking place, causing some villagers to put blame on the railroad. Geraint convinced the workers to pack up and halt operations, citing the wolf attacks and outpost madness as well as Boron's agreement to redraw the path of the railroad.

After sorting out the problem in the village, Tegan and Geraint set out further only to encounter the figure that persuaded Marko to become an adventurer. It turned out to be a Spirit of Journeying, angry about the railroad tracks preventing it and other spirits from travelling where they please. It reveals that a merchant was talking about some mysterious, large shipment that Henri Simnel was planning to have delivered from the South using the railroad. Investigating further, Tegan and Geraint discover that the shipment is actually a large quantity of the rare material that Simnel uses to create his Simnel devices for trapping spirits. The merchant also mentioned something about bandits stealing spoons from a Spirit of the Feast. Now convinced that there is a sinister purpose behind the construction of the railroad, Tegan and Geraint set out to the mountains.

Along the way there, Tegan and Geraint were side-tracked by the quest to return the Spirit of the Feast's spoons to it. After laborous negotiations with the bandits responsible for the theft, Tegan struck a deal with the bandits. The spoons were returned and the two got back on track (ha-ha). They finally reached the mountains where they were greeted by a standstill between the Arbiters and the railroad workers. By relaying the information they gathered about Simnel's plans and the questionable safety of the railroad, the two made the workers stand down. The head of the Arbiters standing against the railroad construction promised the duo that an investigation would be launched into Simnel's dealings, and compensated them for their work.

yes

Week 8: Helping Henri Simnel

Numaril, Colonel Phoebus and Geraint set into motion their plan to free Henri Simnel of The Master’s influence. They were soon joined by Mortimer, a Vitalist investigating the history behind The Master. The group headed to Aestas, dealing with bandits en route. They were joined by Dresc, arriving at Simnel’s laboratory in uptown Aestas. Geraint waited outside while the others entered, asking to speak to Simnel in private. Numaril subjected him to several conversational mind effects, then Phoebus attracted attention by casting doubt in the office. Dresc caused a “distraction” outside, while those inside managed to remove a raven necklace from Simnel’s neck. Simnel claimed to have never seen the necklace, but satisfied that the party were telling the truth, he manages to talk down the Wardens that were responding to Dresc’s distraction.

Deciding to head to Kexil’s Hearth in order to ensure Simnel was not under additional influence, the group encountered Lyly, as well as the Dramaturgist, who appeared to look just like Henri Simnel. After some brief confusion, they ventured on, capturing a large Oak fragment into the cracked raven necklace they had previously unbound.

Eventually they reached Kexil’s hearth, where Kexil purged the last of The Master’s influence from Simnel. He remembers a plan he was involved in, ordered by the council of Aestas. He was to build a device to de-fog the mists of the southlands temporarily, so that they could access something there. He’s not sure what it is, but if The Master wants it then maybe moving it is a good idea?

Week 9: Colonel Phoebus’s 7 Point Plan

Colonel Phoebus, Dresc, Teron and Ulfric set off to attempt to steal the Master’s hidden artefact in the mists to the south. After much discussion, it was decided that half the party weren’t secretly working for the master, or if they were then they didn’t know about it. A plan was formed.

What follows is an excerpt from Colonel Phoebus’s notes (probably):
Step 1) Find Mortimer and get him to cast death magic, so that Dresc’s magical tracking device could pick up the scent of death.
Step 2) Find Numaril and get him to use his control over mind magic to free the party of the master’s influence
Step 2.5) Get distracted by Numaril’s pet wolf and roam the woods looking for it for ages.
Step 3) Go to Aestas to meet Henri Simnel, so that he can provide a defogging device for the mists.
Step 3.5) Aid in the creation of some form of exaggerative newspaper, known as the Daily Chainmail.
Step 4) Go to the deeps and find a Protection Priest to guard from future influence by The Master.
Step 4.5) Realise we need the fire totem now. Retrieve fire totem from Hellenite Citadel. Forget to bind it to defogging device.
Step 5) Find Lydia Underfoot, breaker of connections, and make extra sure we’re not connected to The Master.
Step 6) Get the totem. We already did this.
Step 6.5) Find priest from earlier so that we can bind the defogger to the fire totem.
Step 7) Head south and find the totem in the mists.
Step 7.5) Kill a Warden and chuck the body into the mists.
Step 7.6) Trade the fire totem for the Cup of The Master with Honcho.
Step 7.7) Kill some more Wardens.
Step 7.8) Escape while Dresc and Teron distract.

Despite help from Honcho, Dresc and Teron were quickly subdued by the Wardens who had arrived, along with Councillor Note of Aestas. Ulfric and the Colonel managed to escape through a separate area of the mists, and head northwards at speed.

In a completely unrelated incident, the residents of Nivalas wake up the next day very warm. Looking outside, the mists seem much darker than they were the previous day, and they seem to be glowing…