Brier Patch Tussle

Treas 8, 5540

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer

Treas 8, 5540

After camping for (the rest of) the night in the goblin village, the party journeyed onward. After a short conversation with one of the ancient trees - who didn't have much to say about the location to which they were heading, as trees don't have much concept of travel, apart from their original fall and consequent growth up, down, and out - they used a ring of Command Plant to move the tree aside, letting in sunlight, and letting them easily fly out through the canopy. They traveled on, avoiding any creatures beneath the canopy, and eventually running into a group of young copper dragons. The dragons weren't terribly interested in the "site of great power", saying that their parents had told them it was dangerous, and that they should't go over there.

Ignoring the obvious warnings of danger, the group continued toward their destination. They stopped to sleep, and fought a regenerating hydra, pummeling it with enough damage to keep it from regaining its heads. Once again, they flew onward, finally reaching the location by later afternoon. It wasn't hard to find; the deep, dark forest was entirely cleared around the area. The site was a perfect square, with four large mounds at the corners, and a jagged series of earthen berms forming a sort of simple maze to the center. The berms were covered with strange, jagged things, like enormous briers, with huge, sharp thorns. On closer inspection, the briers were inorganic - stone, not woody plants. Weathered metal signs filled the maze, with images of skulls, running people, people covered with sores, and many more pictures of the dark angel on the maps.

In the very center, there was an irregularly shaped four-sided structure; the architecture was strange, with no line being parallel or perpendicular to another. On each of the four sides was a sign; the forth side had an additional, weathered wooden sign. A helm of comprehend languages could not read the original writing, but it could decipher the writing on the wooden plaque:

This place is a letter message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We consider[ed?] ourselves a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor... no respected act is remembered here... there is nothing appreciated here. What is here is dangerous and retaliatory for vengeful towards us. This message is a warning about danger [specific]. The danger is in a specific location... it increases towards a center... the center of this danger... is of a particular size and shape, and below us. The danger still exists, in your time, as it was in our time. The body [society?] is at risk and can kill [body kills or danger?]. The form of the hazard is derived from energy. The risk peril is only dropped released if you are physically disturbing this place. It is better to avoid this place and leave it unattended.

After a few minutes of puzzling over the message, the party was interrupted by the arrival of five men, clad in somewhat odd leather armor, but otherwise unarmed. The leader demanded that they leave this place; Lorita was the only one who could understand them, and asked why, but was only repeatedly told to leave. After a few more requests for more information, and explaining their quest, the men became even more terse, finally ending with, "Leave or be destroyed!"

The men were... well prepared. Before the fight even started, they spread out to avoid area attacks; though they were only wearing leather armor, the armor was of such quality that they dodged damage like it was nothing. Their bare fists rained down damage, nearly taking down Wendy and bashing the rest of the party pretty well too. Two of the men ran behind a nearby berm, and returned with two contraptions following them - strange mechanical platforms with heavy shields and dual repeating crossbows that shot up the battlefield with ease. One after the other, however, the men dropped; eventually, the machines were damaged, and the last of the men brought down.

Realizing the men were lawful only after the fight, the party began binding their wounds and bringing them back to the land of the living... The leader was restored to full health, with minor scarring, only requiring a night of bed rest; two of the others also only needed a night of bed rest, though while one only had minor scarring, the other sustained damaged genitals (though, oddly, he didn't seem very upset by that fact). One of the fighters sustained a severed hand, and needs a week of bed rest, keeping the two engineers company, both of whom were lamed. The last of the fighters was utterly destroyed, and unable to be brought back without a powerful spell...

• XP from encounters:
  • 1 Martial Artist leader (2600 XP)
  • 2 Martial Artist (3200 XP)
  • 2 Martial Artist (2200 XP)
  • 2 Engineers (1200 XP)
  • 2 shielded moving platforms (4** HD, 380 XP)
• XP from treasure: (none)
• Total XP from encounters: 9580
• XP per PC: (Laurita, Saphira, Wendy): 1916
• XP per Henchthing: 958 (Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, Alun)
• Further XP once you reach civilization and sell treasure: 487 (total)

The moving platforms were reduced to composite parts (and fewer than they started with), but the crossbows were mostly ok. There are four crossbows - automatons - of exquisite design, though two sustained some damage; you don't know much about automatons, but these appear to be quite expensive.

As a note, automatons fall into two categories: those that require an operator, and those that do not. Those that require an operator are essentially just machines, and will not count towards XP - though they do count towards treasure. Automatons that do not require an operator are treated like enemies, giving XP by their HD and special abilities. What that means is, an automaton with an operator is similar to a magical weapon; as long as it is not used, it can be sold as treasure, but researching it removes the ability to get XP from selling it.

It Takes A Village (Out)

Treas 7, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer

Treas 7, 5540

After much discussion about the map, where it could lead, and exactly what they should do first, the party collectively decided to teleport to near the location on the map. They still had a great deal of ground to cover, however; the map was only precise to about a hundred miles. And teleporting into the largest forest on the planet probably meant a little searching...

Upon teleporting into the forest, they peered out into the darkness, and after some careful investigation, realized they were standing in a village - a goblin village! But these goblins were no cowering, mewling pushovers - they were scary goblins, with long, sharp teeth and dangerous looking claws. Wendy, the terrifying clown, challenged their leader to a fight; out of the darkness stepped an obese man, towering over the goblins. He strode forward, and as the fight began, transformed! He was a demon boar, a were-boar of massive size! He tanked though several solid strikes from the clown, but dished out a fair amount of damage in return. Finally, the boar fell to the ground, his insides burning from within. The goblins, enraged that their leader was dead, attacked; with some careful manuvering, the party was able to protect its casters and mow down the goblins. Injured but still standing, they felled the last of the goblins as it tried to flee. As they went about looting the village, they heard a squeak; charging forward, they discovered three bulky goblins and two goblin casters, who managed to survive a single round before being turned into goblin paste. In the wagon they were dragging away were two shapes - humans, bound and gagged!

The two introduced themselves as Lautaro Rodriguez, a level 1 explorer, and Gunilla Sandström, a level 6 White Mage. They explained that they had been kidnapped by the goblins, and then... nothing. They couldn't remember what happened after that. However, they were on a quest to find a place of power - and the map they were using seemed to match the one the party carried! Lautaro boasted that he could lead them all the way there. Using every bit of his wit and charm, Aria convinced Gunilla to work for him; as Lautaro was already working for Gunilla, that means Aria has two new henchpeople!

• XP from encounters:
  • 1 village of
    • 48 super-goblins (15 XP each)
    • 12 super-goblin champions (20 XP each)
    • 3 super-goblin subchiefs (35 XP each)
    • 1 super-goblin shaman (59 XP)
    • 1 super-goblin witch-doctor (47 XP)
    • 1 absolutely massive Demon Boar (5,400 XP)
• XP from treasure:
  • 1000 Copper weighing 1st, worth 10gp
  • 6000 Silver weighing 6st, worth 600gp
  • 10 bone fetishes and figurines, weighing 1.7st, worth 300gp
  • 3 rolls of cloth weighing 12st, worth 30gp
  • 8 rugs weighing 48st, worth 40gp
  • 2 barrels of preserved fish weighing 16st, worth 10gp
  • 3 barrels of beer weighing 24st, worth 30gp
  • 6 cord of hardwood log weighing 48st, worth 30gp
  • 5 ingots of common metals weighing 10st, worth 5gp
  • 6 gallons of lamp oil weighing 12st, worth 12gp
  • 3 pouches of wolfsbane, weighing 0.5st, worth 30gp
  • 11 bone fetishes and figurines, weighing 1.83st, worth 66gp
  • 1 shells trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 110gp
  • 1 bronze trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 100gp
  • 1 Fine wood trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 800gp
  • 3 Glass trinket weighing 0.5st, worth 300gp
  • 1 Bloodstone weighing 0st, worth 50gp
  • 1 turquoise weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 Agate weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 jasper weighing 0.167st, worth 50gp
  • 1 lapis lazuli weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 tiger eye weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
• Total XP from encounters: 6571
• Total XP from Treasure: 2186 in coins and gems, 487 in other treasure
• XP per PC: 1251
• XP per Henchthing: 626
• Gold per PC: 546.5 gp
• XP once you reach civilization and sell treasure: 487 (total)

Additionally, there were a few items of armor and weapons that belonged to the two adventurers, including a treasure map to the place of power:

• Treasure Map (to the place of power)
• Shield +1
• Crossbow Bolts +1 (Quantity: 7)
• Dagger +2, +3 versus beastmen
• Potion of Heroism
• Potion of Sweet Water

The two adventurers are:

Gunilla Sandström (Female, level 6 White Mage, 26 HP)
Str: 13 (+1), Int: 10 (+0), Wis: 9 (+0), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 12 (+0)
Plate Armor (AC 6), Bola, Sling, Water skin, Ink (1 oz)
General Proficiencies: Healing, Collegiate Wizardry
Class Proficiencies: Transmogrification, Apostasy
Languages spoken: Nobiran

Spells:

Lvl 1 (2)	Lvl 2 (2)	Lvl 3 (2)
Cure Lt Wounds	Magic Mouth	Water Breathing
Sanctuary	Choking Grip	Glyph of Warding

Lautaro Rodriguez (Male, level 1 Explorer, 7 HP)
Str: 11 (+0), Int: 7 (-1), Wis: 13 (+1), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 13 (+1), Cha: 5 (-2)
Chain Mail (AC 4), Shield, Flail
General Proficiencies: None
Class Proficiencies: Ambushing
Languages spoken: Nobiran

Fee Fie Fae Fell?

Treas 6, 6640 + 111 days PTS (post time stop)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard

Treas 6, 5540, plus 111 days

Meanwhile, far away, a day's walk from the capital of the Summer Fae, a gnome named Aria Balakdo, riding on his dog Dewey and accompanied by his bodyguard Emily Emerald, came across a very large, very scary-looking clown named Wendy. Wendy, having just left a traveling circus, was willing to accompany the gnome on his trip to the city, to help organize the library. They had only traveled a few miles before they ran into a nest of beetles! After a quick skirmish, in which Emily Emerald was nearly taken down, and the clown mopped up nicely. Cleaning themselves off, they continued on.

Not long afterwards, Aria received a harried phone call from the Head Librarian, who was quickly pushed out of the way by the Queen's Army! Distraught, the gnome gave new orders to Aria - something had happened to the Winter Fae, and it was up to him to verify that it applied to the Summer Fae as well.

The party, meanwhile, felt the first few rays of sunlight strike their faces, and sighed in relief... right up until Alun, the Summer Fae Ranger, grabbed his boss's arm. "Miss Moonstone... I don’t feel so good!"

He stared down at his hands as they flickered, and in a moment, he vanished entirely! While everyone stared in shock, Alun suddenly flickered back into reality... but looked very different. His skin was red, and on inspection made of smooth scales - no longer a Fae, but a dragonborn! Wondering what was going on, they once again attempted to teleport with the staff - and this time, it worked. Instantly, they were zipped across the vast oceans (Caranthir stayed behind, to ferry Luce across the oceans), and they found themselves standing near the city of the Summer Fae, Alun's home. Not far off, Aria and Wendy stopped in shock, seeing the group of adventurers suddenly appear out of thin air. After some cautious introductions, they completed the journey to the Fae city together.

The Fae city seemed the same as when they saw it last, except that instead of Fae, there were naught but dragonborn! At the library, Aria found a distraught librarian, who showed him a book about the dragonborn - written by that same librarian, though he had no memory of it! It seems the Fae had becoem dragonborn overnight... somehow. Further investigation showed that the dragonborn believed they had always existed, but that neighboring cities somehow believed that they had changed. Oddly, it was only the larger cities that seemed to care; none of the smaller baronies had checked in. Nonetheless, Brenvull Crerthar, King of the Dragonborn, was too busy to be seen.

Oddly, Alun spoke Draconic now, but Saphira still speaks Fae; the librarian realized that what he was speaking wasn't Fae, but no longer understood Fae. Very strange...

After their investigation, the party settled into a decent tavern for the night. Saphira and Baelnor heard a few dragonbron talking: "The Kingpin is hiring new men." Saphira successfully seduced one of them, though his plans to take her upstairs were thwarted when she suggested that he arm-wrestle the clown... and worse, Emily. He lost both times, and left in shame.

That night, Saphira received a dream from a grumpy old woman, who introduced herself as the Old Mother, and crossly added that she was no three-legged cow, just because she was old and used a cane. She said that there was something dreadfully wrong, and that old magic had been awoken that was long laid to rest. The party must investigate, and get to the bottom of the problem - but first, they needed to return to the Old World; the ordeal with the clock was not finished. When Saphira awoke the next morning, she found a map tucked under her pillow...

It's obvious that the location is in the forest of the northern continent of the Old World...

• XP from encounters:
  • 8 bombardier beetles (20 XP each)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP for Wendy and Aria: 64
• Total XP for Emily: 32
• Special XP: 100 XP for Wendy and Emily, for beating a dragonborn arm-wrestling

Wight Supremecist

Treas 6, 6640 + 111 days PTS (post time stop)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

So, I screwed up and didn't actually write the writeup for this. I'll try to remember what happened, but... yeah. Oops.

In the main city, Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right) helped the party find the source of the halted time; eventually, they began fighting hordes of Wights, and eventually a rather nasty Wight Supremacist. Even so, they destroyed the creatures, and eventually found a clockmaker named Sadgitbolt Quietnifty Macrospindle - a strange Gnome, who showed them the clock he had made, based on the vibration of the universe itself, that kept time perfectly. The party destroyed the clock, and with it the force that was holding Chrona. The Goddess of Time was released, and so was the hold over time itself; the Goddess took the clockmaker for safekeeping - he wasn't truly to blame, as he was working off the Wight's plans, but his knowledge was too dangerous to be exposed.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 3 5hd Time Guardians (800XP each)
  • 2 11hd Time Guardians (4200 XP each)
  • 20 Wights (80 XP each)
  • Wight Supremacist (10,000 XP)
• Special XP
  • Freeing a Goddess (50,000 XP)
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Laurita, Crolack, Saphira): 7240
• XP per Henchthing (Noona, Llarm, Rhea, Elenora, Luce, Herman, Baelnar Grimtor, Kurt, Pentzkin, Alun): 3620

Fast And Luce

Treas 4 - 6, 6640 + 90 days PTS (post time stop)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

The party returned, briefly, to Mor-thir, to pick up Caranthir and Aingeal, among others. From there, they continued on their search for Old Gods, this time teleporting through the Endless Desert. After visiting an ancient, still-active volcano, and finding nothing but ash and igneous rock, they explored the ridge of mountains in the center of the desert. That night, a group of travelers found them, and offered them some shelter in a huge cathedral, built in the center of the mountains. After staying the night and sharing their food and water, the party offered to teleport the travelers to their destination - Lushea, far to the south. After a short day of shopping in the tiny village, they teleported back to the mountain ridge. They dropped off some supplies, and the travelers spent a day cleaning and sorting. They also shared a bit of wisdom - Sof Zamd was not fond of visitors, and would likely drive them off in a sandstorm, if he didn't try to kill them outright.

That night, Caranthir felt a hand on his shoulder, and quickly turned and snapped at whoever tried to wake him. Luckily, he missed; he blearily opened his eyes to find Luce! Wait... Luce? Caranthir blinked in confusion - he had seen Luce only two days before, when he left his kingdom! How could she have traveled all this way?

She explained: I was supervising one of your armies, skirmishing against a nearby landowner, when suddenly the battle halted, unmoving. Everyone was frozen. At first, I though it was some kind of spell - Timestop, maybe - but then it just kept being stopped. After a while, I went looking for answers; it took two years of searching, but I finally found you!

She broke down in tears, but quickly found her composure. She went on to explain that while she wasn't affected, everyone else was; she could touch things or creatures or people, and they would "wake up" for about 12 hours, but then stop again. She traveled the world by foot, stealing food and trying to avoid cities... because cities held strange, dangerous creatures. Eventually, she found her way deep into the desert, and located the spires. She was hungry, tired, and miserable.

After unfreezing their group, they attempted to teleport to the northern continent... only to find that the staff no longer functioned! Instead, Caranthir carried Luce on his back, and the others took their various flying contraptions. It was a long flight - roughly 90 days - but eventually, they made it back to the anti-magic continent. Luckily, they found that a good "night" of rest brought back their spells, even without an actual passage of time.

In one of the cities, they fought some strange shadow-creature; deeper inside the city, they found more and more of these creatures, larger and larger, until eventually they met a towering, skeletal monster that called more creatures to it. After a long, difficult combat, they finally managed to bring it down, though the party was badly hurt by the end. At the very end, an old acquaintance showed up - the sneaky fellow that sold them the "magic-hiding brands"! Who, as it turned out, was none other than the Old God Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), patron of thieves, conmen, charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes!

He told them about the most ancient of gods - Chrona, Goddess of Time, who gave movement to the universe. Gyda Dyn had been doing some local research to figure out who was responsible, and was fairly sure that the culprit was somewhere in the continent... but where, he wasn't sure. Moreso, he hoped that it was merely a ritual or something that could be unwoven, rather than an outright slaying. In that case, well... it was goodbye world. The best place to start looking would be the capital, where it all began...

List of Old Gods known and met (c'mon guys, figure it out!):

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Hiezlie, Old God of Dexterity, speed, and defense
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Con men, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges
  • Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bed-rest
  • And, likely, two others
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • The Decorated Tortoise, Old God of Stubbornness, Slowness, and Grumpiness
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
  • And, likely, three others
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from encounters:
  • 4 5hd Time Guardians (3200)
  • 6 7hd Time Guardians (11040)
  • 1 30hd Time Guardian (26500)
• XP from treasure: (none)
• Additional XP from meeting Old Gods: 1000/PC, 500/Hench
• Total XP per PC: 4704
• Total XP per Henchman: 2352

Here's Mud In Your Eye

Treas 3, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

The trek to find the Old Gods didn't take as long as they had hoped, so the party spent the rest of the time hanging around a while. Having spent 6 weeks for Saphira to get her tattoos finished, they were ready to go, and decided the next place to visit would be the scattered islands at the south of the large continent.

They headed for the capital city, and found the largest temple they could: a temple of Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bedrest. The temperature was brain-meltingly hot - a rarity, but not unknown. After a lovely nap in the cool temple, the party attempted to teleport away... and realized that inside the temple, that was not possible. Outside, they managed to teleport to the other large island. As a note - the priest there spoke Majasten.

There, they eventually found a temple of Moenga Moe, the God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges - who owned the bone staff Aingeal tried to swipe. They set up an appointment with an ancient secretary, who asked that they come back that evening, at 1:30 AM.

Killing some time in a shop, they found a few water-based spells, items, and tools. After spending some money, they realized the entire city had a bit of a nautical flair - all the buildings looked like they were built from ships, down to billowing tarps as roofs.

That night, when they returned, they were directed to a large room, full of cots, one each. Falling asleep, they found themselves in a dream, and were soon able to speak directly with Moenga Moe. After filling him in on their adventures, and reassuring him that his staff was safe with Chaos, they asked about other Old Gods. He mused for a moment, then suggested a possible location, deep in the sea...

With the henchmen staying above the water on a lovely raft, the others swam beneath. It didn't take too long until they found the bottom; it was smooth and well-kept. Moments later, a number of mermen arrived, speaking, well, Mer. For a few tense moments, the mermen seemed intent on bringing them to their city, but when someone mentioned and Old God, they were suddenly all smiles. "Oh! Sure, we can take you there!"

Along the way, the four glimpsed shadows in the water - more mermen, at least one of which was riding a giant rockfish!

They lead the four to a steep incline, and pointed down into the murky water. "He's down there. Good luck!" - and with that, went on their way. Sighing, the group swam down into the depths. At the bottom of the incline, they found a hill, about 40 feet across. Crolack swam around it, looking for any possible entrances or portals, and was about to give up... when suddenly, an enormous head shot out! He kicked to the side, and the sharp beak of the enormous turtle slammed shut just inches away. His battle-reflexes kicking in, Crolack swung his sword, jabbing the turtle in the eye!

Realizing that... maybe that wasn't the best idea... Crolack quickly swam towards the others, hoping they could all teleport away. The turtle shook itself, revealing the previously-mud-covered hill was, in fact, its shell - covered in brilliant colors, every patch different! It rumbled, and a spell tore through the water! Only Saphira managed to avoid it - the others found themselves slowed. The turtle - actually the chaotic Old God, the Decorated Tortoise, readied another spell, but Laurita teleported them away, as quickly as her slowed action could.

Sitting on the raft above, miles away, they heard the voice of the tortoise growling at them...

List of Old Gods known and met:

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Conmen, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges
  • Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bedrest
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • The Decorated Tortoise, Old God of Stubborness, Slowness, and Grumpiness
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Mermen (none, escaped from)
  • Giant Rockfish (pets of the mermen) (none, escaped from)
• XP from treasure: none
• Special XP: 1000 XP to each PC for discovering the Decorated Tortoise
• Special XP: 2000 XP to each PC and 1000 XP to each Henchman present for learning about Therapeftis and speaking with Moenga Moe
• Special XP: 1000 XP for Crolack, for stabbing an Old God in the eye, and living to tell the tale! Also... remind me to tell you about something new and interesting that your weapon can do...

So Two Old Gods Walk Into A Temple...

A'chiad 17, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

In the strange BNaaN city at the point of the 'arrow', Crolack, Laurita, and Rig (along with their henchmen Herman, Baelnar, Noona, and Kurt) investigated the reports of an Old God being worshiped there. They found a temple - later known to be a temple to Wairangi, God of Pigs. The cleric outside freaked out at the sound of Laurita's talking club, and the men inside the building seemed loathe to give out any information, preferring to communicate via unanswered questions. Moving on, the group spoke to a cleric of another nearby temple - again to Wairangi, but this time Wairangi, God of Fools. Narrowly missing a face-full of pie laced with a rather nasty spell, they moved on.

They found a pub, thankfully rather more normal than the strange priests and worshipers of Wairangi, and ordered some stew, beer, and information (and learned that the local economy used Shells, worth about 2 copper each). The barkeep directed them to a local, who lead them to a house at the edge of the city - the house of a shaman, an elderly woman. She told them the way to Wairangi's main temple, but warned that the priests there were real, and likely to cause quite a bit of trouble for them.

Instead, the adventurers decided to head to the mountains, where another Old God was rumored to be worshiped. Teleporting near where they heard the temple was, they were quickly met by a group of griffons; Rig managed to talk his way out of fighting them. That night, they set up camp, but were interrupted near midnight as the sky rumbled and... cracked! The clouds sheared apart as if a massive earthquake were taking place! Rig and Baelnar were deafened by the roar, though thankfully only for an hour or so.

Traveling on in the morning, the keen eyes of the party spotted a handful of bugbears waiting to ambush them! They spoke, managing to communicate through spells, and convinced the bugbears that they were very powerful... through using the Godstaff to turn a pile of rocks into gems. They were lead inside the mountain, where they realized this was no small encampment - there were over 200 bugbears inside! They were taken to King Egrim, Dragon Slayer (with the skull of a dragon to prove it), an enormous bugbear - Dire Bugbear, actually. The king offered them a deal; he would help them on their mission, if they would help him kill a pair of storm giants. The party quickly agreed, and left... intending to never go near the giants at all! Hopefully they would never see the bugbears again...

After about half a day's walk, they finally made it to the temple, a massive structure on top of a mountain. The moment they stepped into the path carved up the side of the mountain, the wind stopped; somehow, through the shape of the path, the wind naturally blew around them. The dwarves marveled at the intricate details carved into the solid stone; everyone marveled at the impressive steps, carved at different heights, so everyone was comfortable walking up them. Even though the steps went on for nearly a mile, the walking seemed easy.

At the top of the steps, they found two massive doors. Knocking, they heard a gong-like boom; the doors were built such that even the lightest knock was amplified. Moments later, a small window in the doors opened, and two eyes peered out. After a moment of hemming and hawing, the voice greeted Laurita in Mehastan! She was somewhat startled, but quite happy to hear her native tongue. The man at the door then proceeded to greet each member of the party in their own native tongue - no mean feat, since Dark Dwarf is hardly well known! Satisfied that they meant no harm to the place, the man opened the doors. The doors rolled sideways, easily enough that he could move them with a single hand, even though they were easily 30 feet tall and 40 feet wide stone doors.

Inside, he asked that they store their weapons and magical items, as those were not allowed inside the temple. They did so, making sure to remove the items from the bag of holding just to show off. The man didn't seem terribly impressed.

Inside, they saw countless creatures, all steadily working on projects - carving, building, lifting and carrying all over the temple. Not only that, but beside the humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes, there were numerous beastmen - goblins, orcs, even bugbears and trolls! The man lead them to a Hall he called the Hall of History, and hurried them through, explaining bits and pieces of the Hall to them. It was, as the name suggests, the stone-carved history of the temple. The beginning depicted the split from the mainland, well over a thousand years before; it continued, every 15 feet or so a full year of events. Some events were large, stretching into multiple years, while others were tiny, a few square inches of wall-space. They walked on for nearly 45 minutes as the hall wound around and down (that's 3 miles, if you're interested). Finally, at the bottom, they came to a dead end, where a group of workers were tunneling out the next portion. They were directed by a large man - a giant, really, at 10 feet tall, though without the proportions of a giant. He was swinging a massive hammer, though through careful flicks of his wrist, he controlled the impact beautifully, carving rough shapes out as he tunneled! A loud gong sounded as they reached the workers, and they put down their tools, packing up and cleaning the area. Their guide introduced them: Manu, The Hand of God, neutral god of labor, construction, and work ethic.

Somewhat stunned, the party greeted him, not having expected to meet an Old God working in a mine shaft - even one as beautiful as this. He laughed, and explained some of his work. With a mighty clap, he teleported everyone to the surface, where a huge meal was already prepared. He introduced them to another Old God: Burli, Lawful Old God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness. He was dressed in... well, traditional lumberjack attire. It seems he and a few of his followers had been clearing trees, farther down the mountain. Together, Burli and Manu explained why the Old Gods were so... well, small. The other gods the party had met were huge, towering creatures.

The Old Gods were the prototypes, extensions of the very foundation of the world, individual personifications of characters themselves. They built the world, and shaped its foundations, but left the actual development and oversight to others. They gave up their mighty forms for something a little more practical, and gave up their hordes of righteous followers for the chance to actually be a part of the world. Unlike the gods the party had met previously, the Old Gods can act directly on the world, rather than being forced to act through their followers. As evidenced by the huge Temple that Manu is still building. Unfortunately, some of the chaotic Old Gods refused to give up their power, and stuck around causing trouble. Wairangi was one, but Manu and Burli kept him in check.

After a long discussion, where the Old Gods asked after Kaos (and if he still had Manu's Pick), and told stories of some of their old friends, they had a restful night's sleep in the temple, then said their goodbyes, gathered their stuff, and teleported to Nock, the more civilized city at the far end of the arrow... in the midst of a huge storm!

List of Old Gods known and met:

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Conmen, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of ...?
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 8 Griffons (3520)
  • A huge village of bugbears (none; escaped)
• Additional XP from (knowingly) meeting Old Gods: 1000 XP each PC, 500 XP each henchman
• XP for each PC (Crolack, Laurita, and Rig): 1704
• XP for each henchman (Herman, Baelnar, Noona, and Kurt): 852

The Fifth Horseman

A'chiad 16 - Treas 3, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

Continuing the exploration of the strange rooms, Aingeal moved to the room full of items. As she was looking, Laurita used a Rod of Cancellation to un-freeze poor Saphira. After perusing the displays, she grabbed a wand, then a staff; and, spying a rather old, twisted staff made of bone, picked that up too. She and the others looked over some of the other artifacts further in - an ancient pick, a strange flask (which Saphira kept), and a number of other objects. Eventually, having found all they could find, they sighed and moved towards the darkened doorway. After trying a few things, like Continual Light and Dispel Magic, nothing seemed to work, so they shuffled forward, feeling their way through the darkness. It continued for a short way before a trench; they bottom was only about 5 feet down. After some careful climbing and jumping up and down to make sure there was no trickery at work, they each climbed down... and the trench immediately began sinking into the ground!

After a few minutes, a band of light suddenly flashed into the room; a moment later, and they were stepping out into a lush garden, full of... tomato plants? The various vegetables seemed well taken care of, orderly and free of weeds or damage. On the other side of the garden was a doorway, and a man stepped out, greeting them somewhat reservedly. Seeing the staffs in Aingeal's hands, he asked if he could have the ornate staff, then immediately spent a charge from it to Command Aingeal to return the two staffs where they had come from. She did so, though grabbed another wand on her way out, the sneakthief.

After some polite conversation with the young man (who introduced himself as Ronnie, though mentioned that he was also known as Kaos, Ancient Old God of Order, and one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse), the merry band was sent on their way, teleported to BNaaN, a strange, magical continent...

As long as they were there, Saphira decided to have her tattoos replaced... a process that would take six weeks. While they wait, Luce, Elenora, and Crolac have had birthdays... And, some information: two Old Gods are known of on BNaaN, one that lives in the mountains, and one that lives in the far village. One final thing of note: as the days pass, the weather changes, but the weather in BNaaN is... strange. Winds blow that give flight, for instance. How odd.

• Old gods found or heard of thus far:
  • Kaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Conmen, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics ,Science, and Truth-Seeking (it was his flask)
  • Moenga Moe, God of ...?
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
• Additional not-so-old-gods heard of:
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from Encounters and Treasure: None
• XP from finding an Old God: 1,000 XP each, and 500 XP per henchman.

Learning To Spell

Dara 16, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker (on hiatus)
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate (on hiatus)
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord (on hiatus)
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

After spending some time in Elven Las Vegas, checking out temples and relaxing in the garishly bright lights, the party decided to return home for some general maintenance - making sure their cities were kept up, and in Caranthir's case, scoping out a new realm to rule. The first stop was the old mansion of Lady Dracul; there, they found a variety of somewhat jovial bandits and ruffians. Inside, they found the house redecorated in a much more militaristic style. They were introduced to Baron Vostvos, a towering, gruff man, and as it turns out, cousin to Lady Dracul. He re-took her lands from the invaders after some "trouble at home" left the place mostly unguarded.

That trouble was, in fact, Quetgar, who had been hired to wipe out the royal houses of those that attacked them. Of the four, two survived, and two were wiped out; the first that was wiped out was little more than a ghost town. Without a town guard (paid for by a ruler), there was nothing to stop the near-weekly bandit raids. At this point, almost anything not nailed down was already stolen. The second decimated city, a little farther east, was still kept up; a seneschal was trying to keep the place in hand. The poor man's wife met Caranthir at the gates, and was immediately cut down, having been mistaken for an ogre. Neither the town guard nor her husband were much upset. The seneschal, realizing someone else was going to take over, was all too happy to leave. Caranthir paid the town guard to restock, and vowed to return with the rest of his... well, everything.

That taken care of, they returned to the strange elf-city, and learned a little of what the mage they hired had found: namely, a list of information on the Old Gods, most of which they had found already, but with a few new things, specifically that this Chaos was mentioned as one of the Old Gods, and was possibly the reason for the cataclysms in the first place. Returning to the Temple of Chaos, Saphira managed to solve the riddle. They entered the code, and walked down the steps into the tomb-like interior...

At the bottom of the stairs, a well-hewn door stood; pushing it open, the party found themselves in a well-lit hallway, clean and almost homey. There were seven doors in the hall: three on each side, and another at the end of the hall. Door number 1, first on the left, contained a small library, though the text was entirely unreadable, even with a Helm of Comprehension. Across the hall behind door number 2 was another library; this one, at least, had understandable books. Interestingly, the books started as written in stone, then continued on animal hide, then treated leather, and eventually well-bound, hardcover, paper books. The books seemed deceptively small; after reading several minutes, no progress was made towards the end, as if the pages were enchanted to contain more than physically possible. Reading parts of the various books revealed nothing more than a dry narration of someone, as if the writer had simply watched someone all day and wrote down every action they took.

At the other end of the hall, doors 5, 6, and 7 were opened; door 7 opened into utter blackness. And, worse, the other door slammed shut. Doors 5 and 6 each contained shelf after shelf of tiny lights, some glowing brightly, some dimly, some gold, some white/gray, and some purple. Aingeal decided to go poke one of the lights, and found herself the victim of a life-drain spell! Luckily, it was only temporary. She poked around some more, and realized that each point of light was a tiny spell - and that by touching it, she not only experienced it, but gained an innate knowledge of that spell!

Saphira, eager to test out a hypothesis, began poking other spells, and managed to call an Efreeti! She bid it only to return to its plane. Which it attempted, only to blast itself into nothingness! It seems nothing can teleport, plane shift, or otherwise exit this area. Saphira was somewhat upset by accidentally ordering the creature to destroy itself... However, not so upset she didn't keep poking. After some non-starters, including a Cancellation spell that cancelled all her tattoos, she poked what may well be the last thing she'll ever poke - a spell of Tempral Stasis! While the spellcaster has the option of adding a trigger to end the stasis, she was unfortunately already under its influence before she could do so, which trapped her in a timeless shell...

Door 5, it appeared, contained divine spells, while door 6 contained arcane spells.

Meanwhile, doors 3 and 4 were opened, each revealing treasure! The room beyond door 4 was filled with carefully organized coins and gems, while the room behind door number 3 was filled with various magical items.

• XP from encounters:
  • Ogre-like wife of the seneschal (5)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP earned: 5
• XP per PC: 1
• XP per Henchthing: 0

One God, Two God, Old God, New God

Dara 9, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

In Dimhaven, Rig, Crolack, Laurita, and Caranthir (and henchbeings) explored the museum for a while, learning a little more about this strange new world. Specifically, they learned a little about the old gods: one that looked rather a lot like Thor; another that looked like a 6-legged cow (named Old Mother, and still worshiped today); one known as the Unseen One, or Görünmez (also still worshiped, with a surprisingly large following); and finally, a fragment of one that was only ever represented as a disembodied hand. They also learned a little of the surrounding area, including where a few ancient ruins were: one at the end of the long river (a great citadel), one in the far north (rumored to have great riches), and one in the middle of the plains, once a great city.

After the museum, they went looking for a ship, hoping to get out into international waters and do a bit of teleporting. They found a merchant-adventurer, one Captain Alphonse Calleel, who agreed to take them out to sea. The journey was fairly easy, as the Captain's ship (a huge galleon named the Etcetera) was outfitted with strange, fire-spitting weapons. They encountered some pirates early on, and easily blasted them to pieces.

Their first stop, still within the bounds of the weird magic-eating area, was to an island a couple hundred miles off the shore. As the ship restocked and the captain made a few purchases, the adventurers went exploring again. Crolack got in an arm wrestling contest with another lizardman, and lost. They found a church, and attended the rather generic service, then spoke with a Father Lorden about his order. The Order, actually, as that was the name of his religion; he refused (though not unkindly) to explain too much, as his was a fairly secretive religion, and only those who were members could join. As they left, one of the Order pressed a religions icon into Rig's hand - a stone toad.

After much more traveling, they were finally in safe waters, and teleported south, to warmer climates - but not before asking Bear a few questions:

• Are the cataclysms related to the old gods? No, but yes (Bear sounded as if the question could, perhaps, be asked a different way)
• Does anyone in Lushea have knowledge of the nature of the cataclysms? Yes! (emphatically)
• Does anyone in the Dark Continent have knowledge of the nature of the cataclysms. Yes... (much less emphatically)

Their next visit was to Dinas Masnach, the City of Trade of Lushiea; Crolak got high on red fish, and the party learned that these people were far more magical than those up north. The people were a group of tribal, blue-skinned Elves, similar to the True Elves, but apparently much more violent and much less civilized, as they had recently attacked another tribe and returned with about 300 slaves!

The party asked about research opportunities, and were told to go to the capital. Dyffryn, capital of Lushea, turned out to be... essentially Las Vegas. Tall buildings, bright lights, and noisy people filled the streets. Rig found an information booth, and was able to get directions to the local Mage Guild (guild? Yep, guild, not college), which was in charge of much of the city's magical light display. After taking an elevator ride to the 5th floor, they met Elias Wibblethorn, Esq., Theological Archaeologist, and paid him 500 gp to research the old gods of Nobira. He was, of course, happy to oblige, and said he should have something by the next week. The party left to look at the temples of the city, and find out what they could about other gods. Their finding are detailed below:

• Old Mother, a six-legged cow, Old God of the earth, strength, and cattle
• Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), Old God of thieves, conmen, charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Moenga Moe, an islander god of ...?
• Sof Zamd, god of sand, feebleness, heatstroke, and dehydration - not so much worshiped as cursed, in the desert to the north
• Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.
• Oose Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, she's a gelatinous cube, draw your own conclusions. You can pet her for two copper pieces.

Along with the temples above, there was one further temple. Or rather... one missing temple. It was the Temple of Chaos; where it should have been, there was left only a placard, on which was engraved:

The Path to Chaos
Starts with the end of you
Continues with the first of nothing
Makes way for the eye
Places only the start of foundation
Appends that which is found inside you
And inscribes the cry of a pirate
To finish with the end of calm 

A series of letters and numbers followed the inscription:

123456qwerty
asdfghzxcvbn
7890uiopjklm

No XP was gained during this session; anyone starting a new character starts as King, with 620,000 XP and 815,000 gp, because that's how we roll.

New World Meets Old World

Naoidheamh 36-Dara 9, 6639 (this includes waiting for some magic teeth to be built and, er, installed)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

Crolack, overjoyed in his newfound wealth, quickly spent every last penny to order some +3 teeth; while waiting around, the others talked with the Council, asking about the true Elf Vampire and the Brass Dragons of the desert. The brass dragons were gone, and the tower empty; the vampire hadn't been heard from, but was assumed to be out and about somewhere.

(This is a holder for the rest of the writeup - went to the Old World, met a fellow who offered to be their guide, visited a museum, and the Council of Three; also got anti-magic wards and sacks)

• XP from Encounters:
  • Time Guardian (800)
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Laurita, Crolack): 107
• XP per Henchthing (Noona, Llarm, Rhea, Elenora, Herman, Baelnar Grimtor, Kurt): 53