# Chronicles of Mesion: Considering Hiatus; Comments Needed.



## LordVyreth (May 14, 2006)

Well, my original version of this Story Hour began less than a month ago and thus was eaten whole by the ENWorld crash, so I'll begin it anew.  Luckely, nothing new was lost; just some of the campaign data I already gave my players.  Because this game, like the Quill campaign I finished a Story Hour for earlier, is based on a homebrewed setting, I wanted to give the readers some basic information about the game before I get started on the actual Story Hour, which I should have the first excerpt of in a day or two.  For now, though, I'll start with the basic timeline and history of Mesion, as far as the players understand it, and go from there.

Oh, and if you want to read my earlier Story Hour, which does have some ties with this one, you can find it here. 

History of Mesion
Mesion’s Creation

Little is known about the true origins of Mesion.  Sages speculate that the world is nothing but the balance between two great opposing forces; forces that may not be good or evil but that nonetheless are wholly incompatible with human life.  Clerics tend to speculate that the gods themselves live beyond the boundaries of inhabited Mesion, and they explain that this is why explorers who go beyond the boundaries never return: because beyond the boundaries exist the afterlife.

The Beginning of Life

  The sages and clerics, however, agree on the origin of life.  The Gods created this world and seeded it with life, as they have done with all the mortal-inhabited planes known as the Primes.  However, it was believed that Mesion was special, because of its proximity to the home of the gods or the opposing forces.  As a result, the gods hungered for control of this land and fought over it endlessly.

  As the gods fought, the people of Mesion suffered.  They were caught in the crossfire of the battle and forced into an endless primitive state of want and fear.  Finally, peace was reached with the help of unusual servants of the gods.  Their names and nature were lost to history and the gods are silent about them, but they are believed to be the primal servants; beings that existed before the celestials and fiends the people of Mesion know all too well.

  Their task completed, the primal servants disappeared from Mesion and the planes at large.  It is believed that they broke into countless other outsiders, and that these outsiders became the fiends and celestials that serve gods both evil and good today.  And with the peace negotiated by the primal servants, the gods organized and strove to make Mesion the world it should be.  The gods were split into two pantheons, however.  The larger pantheon came from outside Mesion to help its people develop.  In addition, a pantheon unique to Mesion developed on its own.  This pantheon was known as the Sisters, for it consists of twelve goddesses who claim to be a family.

The Godfield Years

  For thousands of years after this point, civilization developed as normal, but in a world as war-torn as Mesion, that wouldn’t last.  The Godfield Wars were started as a result of escalating tensions between celestials and fiends that started eons ago.  The exact spark of the war is unknown, but all that matters is that it eventually came down to what was supposed to be a final battle between good and evil, with the winner deciding the fate of all the planes.  

  Once the final battle started, nothing could stop it for centuries, save for a mysterious truce that lasted a few years and that seemed to have no explanation.  Once again, mortals were forces to hide and survive the crossfire as best they could.  In the meantime, other changes to the world began.  Unlike the earlier wars between Order and Disorder, the good and evil forces saw value in the mortals, even as they were endangering their lives.  Both found allies among the people, and both also worked to create new mortal warriors to serve in the battle.  Oddly enough, the new creations were largely skewed not between good and evil, but between law and chaos.  The archons and devils created the first warforged to serve as tireless symbols of defense and order.  Meanwhile, the eladrins and demons created their own chaotic warriors known as shifters out of the world’s increasingly large lycanthrope population.  All sides relied on the recently created changelings, who by and large willingly worked for any side as spies, scouts, and often assassins.  Finally, as the war raged on, actions by the humans and other mortals created the kalashtar and the inspired.

  One unusual and disturbing trend developed as the war continued, and as the creation of the new mortal races suggests.  Before, lawful and chaotic good outsiders worked together to oppose evil, and even lawful and chaotic fiends did the same.  As the war progressed, however, these alliances weakened, and soon they broke off altogether.  Direct warfare between lawful and chaotic forces of the same moral alignment never occurred, but there were even some indications that forces of the same law/chaos beliefs would even form brief allegiance despite being technically opposed on the good/evil access.  For example, while many assume that archons and devils independently researched the warforged, some believe that they actually worked together to make these living weapons!  It’s unknown how this would have affected the war, had it continued.

  However, one day, it just ended.  Almost all the celestials and fiends stopped their fighting and rose, as one, to escape the world.  There were a few stragglers who resumed fighting, others who were magically trapped or prevented from fighting, and a surprising number of deserters who tired of the conflict of the gods and decided to remain behind to live new lives, but for the most part, the war was over.  The outsiders and even the gods refuse to speak about why the war ended, however.  The gods won’t answer the clerics when they ask the question, captured outsiders won’t speak on the subject even on threat of death, and even summoned and magically compelled outsiders will claim they don’t know the real reason for the war’s ending.  This sudden end of the war and the relative peace afterwards is known as the Bladestill.

Aftermath of the War and Bladestill

  With the war over, society began to recover yet again from years of violence.  There were quite a few major situations that had to be dealt with almost immediately after the war ended, starting with the nearly complete collapse of all former empires.  Oddly enough, that problem was partially solved, albeit violently, by another one.  Much like the war between Order and Disorder, the Godfield war had a palpable effect on the land itself.  It didn’t render whole continents uninhabitably aligned, but many areas were permanently warped to resemble the alignment of the outsiders that inhabited it.  Fortunately, only areas that were inhabited by a single alignment of outsider for sufficiently long periods of times, usually over a century, were affected, so usually only the capitals and most important strongholds of each faction.  However, there were enough areas of this nature to encourage settlement by appropriately aligned societies.  Fledgling empires eager sought the most lawfully aligned regions, the most terrible of monsters congregated in the most evilly aligned realms, and so on.  As expected, there was often brutal fighting for the most ideal of locations despite the war fatigue the people felt, but in the end, a number of stable societies developed fairly quickly due to the supernaturally good environments.

  Another notable change came from inter-species relationships.  Following the end of the Godfield War, the “civilized” races were largely divided into three groups; the old races, the new races, and the lost races.  The old races included humans, elves, dwarves, halfling, gnomes, half-orcs, and to a lesser degree the more primitive humanoids like orcs, goblins, kobolds, lizardfolk, and such.  These races existed since the Gods first seeded the world with life.  After the Godfield wars, they lost some control over the world to the newer races, but by and large they remain in power.  The old races still harbor some suspicions and hostility between each other, but overall they get along better than these races normally do in other fantasy realms.

  The “new” races include the warforged, shifter, changelings, kalashtar, and inspired.  In other words, it includes all the races apparently created as a result of or during the Godfield War.  In general, the new races are treated with suspicion, with open discrimination common in some places.  In fact, some societies haven’t even recognized the basic rights of the new races and even condone their slavery.  The “lost” races were re-discovered during the Godfield War, but each one apparently has a history that stretches back thousands of years.  As far as sages can determine, these races were as old as the “old” races, but all of them fled from ordinary civilization early in Mesion’s history.  In addition, all the lost races had one common feature; they all practiced the mysterious power known as psionics.  However, despite the general fear of psionics, there were many students of all races with a natural talent for the mysterious power, and the spread of the power made the lost races slightly more accepted than the new races.  They still face discrimination in some circles, but they also haven’t faced the outright slavery, oppression, and accusations of treason that the new races often have.

  Finally, one of the most important issues in the aftermath of the war is what to do with the remaining outsiders.  A vast majority of the outsiders who refused to leave or were abandoned continue to act in or near their base alignment despite no longer having allegiances with their old divine organizations.  Many celestials now serve as aids to good kingdoms, for example, and demons and devils have begun to congregate in evil-tainted lands, in the world’s underground tunnels, and other places to continue their villainy.  These actions are not universal, however.  Some celestials were so shocked by the level of violence in the Godfield War that they went mad or simply gave up on their ideals.  Similarly, there are fiends who managed to be disgusted by the war despite their inherent mindset or who developed a kind of “madness” called morality.  The rights of outsiders continue to be a major issue of debate, with some kingdoms banning all evil-based outsiders or even all outsiders entirely, others are judging them on a case by case basis, and others are starting far more elaborate tactics.

Timeline

	Approximately tens of thousands of years BPO (Before Primal Outsiders): Speculated creation of Mesion is believed to occur at this point, assuming it isn’t truly eternal.
	Approximately twenty thousand of years BPO: The Gods sow Mesion with life, but they get jealous of each other and begin to fight.  
	0: The Primal Outsiders are created to finally end the battles of the gods.
	Approximately 300 APO: Based on the best research, the xeph and elans respectively leave Mesion proper for its cliffs and hid inside society itself around this time.
410 APO: After centuries of battle, the Primal Outsiders unite the gods and begin to purge the world of Mesion of the many mistakes and weapons left on Mesion.
	430 APO: The war of the gods finally officially ends with the last trace of their destruction removed from Mesion.
	440 APO: Their task complete, the Primal Outsiders bid the world goodbye and leave Mesion, perhaps forever.  Some believe that just as they helped create the celestials and fiends that would later become the primary servants of the gods, the Primals finally broke down into the same substance, becoming the more advanced outsiders completely.
Approximately 450 APO: The dromites and maenads, perhaps troubled by the united society of Mesion or sensing the trouble of the Godfield War to come, isolate themselves from the rest of Mesion.
455 APO: The night sky is lit up with what is often called the Star of the Primals.  Many celestials and fiends are known to have witnessed it, which seemingly is a tribute to their creators, for they met on that night at peace with their enemies and left Mesion again without incident.
	459 APO: Grandithin’s Glory, the first nation to formally establish itself after the wars, reaches empire status.
	463 APO: The Church of the God’s Voice, a sect dedicated equally to the Sisters and the Primal Outsiders first appears.
	481 APO: The first churches of the Core Gods (often referred to as the Alien Gods by the followers of the Sisters and the Universal Gods by their own followers,) start to gain recognition.
	690 APO: Palous, a theocracy dedicated to Pelor, becomes the first nation to challenge Grandithin’s Glory in terms of power and organization.
	813 APO: Demons are sighted in or near Palous, making this the first seemingly self-willed case of demonic incursion (as opposed to ones merely summoned or otherwise utilized by the usual villains.)
	825 APO: Negotiations as a result of the demon event over a decade earlier break down, leading Palous to declare war on several other nations, including an evil but lawful dictatorship run by worshippers of Bas known as Cylnexus (often simply known as the Bastion.)
	830 APO: The Palous/Bastion war pours over into other nations and becomes an all-out holy war.  Palous even blames Grandithin’s Glory for their lack of support, turning it into a battle between the Sister and the Core God worshippers.
	1073 APO: The hot/cold war started by Palous finally ends with the destruction of the Bastion and the surprise merging of Grandithin’s Glory and Palous, who were both devastated by the long-term war.  The combined nation is renamed Solar Devotion, and it becomes one of the first examples of cooperation between the two pantheons.
	1211 APO: Celina Braye is formed out of multiple smaller elven communities gathered by powerful elven heroes.  The nation becomes the first nation not controlled by humans and competes with human nations.
	1376 APO: The first dragon exodus off the plane begins as a result of dragons of multiple alignments and colors simultaneously discovering something about the future.  These flights repeat periodically for almost a thousand years, leading to the comparative rarity of Mesion dragons.
	1512 APO: The second major holy war between the pantheons begins.  This one takes place between evil forces, however.  Bas worshippers leading evil members of other Sister sects launch a full-on attack on Hextor, leading to desperate alliances between them and other evil gods like Nerull and Lolth.  As both sides become increasingly reliant on evil outsiders, a miniature Blood War seemingly begins.
	1700 APO: The second holy war ends when Solar Devotion, who initially tried to stay out of the war but found itself caught in the crossfire for decades, finishes a magic ritual to summon an army of celestials and destroy both sides.  Casualties on all sides were high, and Solar Devotion is largely ruined after the battle, reducing it to a satellite nation of more powerful empires.  It is believed that the tensions and bad blood of this battle leads eventually to the motivations for the Godfield War.
	1755 APO: A band of adventurers whose names are lost to history discover a massive dungeon complex that would later be known as the Gate of Madness.  It becomes a focal point for explorers and risk-takers for centuries to come.
	1811 APO: Stahl Modred is founded by idealists who work to undo the hatred as a result of the second holy war.  Its peace, optimism, and tolerance help it absorb various smaller nations to become a new empire
	2254 APO: Following a period of relative peace, events building to the Godfield War begin.  A number of religious orders start the concerns with a number of predictions of an upcoming apocalypse.  Many religions begin a push for militant reform as a result.
	2281 APO: Fearing the events of the upcoming prophecised battles, Solar Devotion, which gained some power again over the years but mostly was known for its powerful religious artifacts and clerics, again perform the ritual of celestial summons.  Armies of celestials destroy a number of evil organizations and drive churches dedicated to Bas and other evil gods out of their civilizations.
	2302 APO: Dubbed the Retributive Cleansing, evil organizations join to summon an army of fiends that strike at the very heart of Solar Devotion.  Many of its most powerful political leaders and clerics are assassinated, and their holy sites are defiled, preventing a third mass summoning of celestials.
	2340 APO: A number of prominent adventurers and politicians are assassinated on the same day.  All are killed in private, but common evidence points to evil outsiders.  The deaths are highly debated, with some believing that the members belonged to some sort of conspiracy or secret society, as there are no other apparent links between them.
	2350 APO: A second group of prominent adventurers and politicians suffer a similar series of assassinations, but these are far more public.  In additions, the killers are both fiends and celestials, and they don’t always attack targets their alignment would suggest.  Some of the killers claim they were forced to kill their targets through mind control, but the wave of violence that results from the assassinations silences all of them before the truth can be completely known.
	2370 APO: Solar Devotion declares war on multiple evil nations at once, citing holy texts and the previous assassinations as justification.
	2400 APO: Following decades of brutal conflict, Solar Devotion nearly manages to conquer several of their target nations, only to be suddenly attacked by a second wave of fiendish summons, suggesting secret alliances between evil forces.  The summoned fiends turn the tide of war, as do a number of nations that ally against Solar Devotion.  Some of these nations follow evil forces, but others are only interested in their survival and believe that Solar Devotion became megalomaniacal in its expansion.
	2425 APO: Solar Devotion’s capital is invaded, and the ruin of the nation appeared imminent.  In desperation, the city’s remaining leaders and clerics plead with their gods and celestials for assistance.  They lack the power of faith to summon celestial aid of a sufficient power themselves but cite the previous apocalyptic prophecies and insist that the normal rules for divine non-interference no longer apply.  The gods reluctantly decide they may have a point and unleash their own celestial armies upon Mesion.  The survivors of Solar Devotion flee the country to form a new nation.
	2427 APO: Though Solar Devotion was destroyed, its allies are bolstered by the celestial armies, turning the tide of the war.  The Godfield War officially begins, however, now that the evil gods and demon/devil lords are free to send their own armies to Mesion due to the gods’ actions at Solar Devotion.
	2430 APO: The tide of the war again changes when Stahl Modred pulls out of the celestial alliance, beginning its long slide into moral ambiguity and oppression.  They justify it by pointing out the rising number of fiendish armies and their proximity to Solar Devotion and thus to the main borders of the war.
	2480 APO: The survivors of Solar Devotion enter a new settlement in a celestial stronghold.  They ally unconditionally with their saviors.  In time, this new settlement would be renamed Zoridel.
	2504 APO: The first of the “lost” races, the maenads, are discovered following a major coastal battle.
	2519 APO: The elans, the only other “lost” race discovered during the actual Godfield War, reveal themselves after several of their leaders choose to use their powers to defend their homes.
	2588 APO: Celina Braye is destroyed in one of the major turning points of the Godfield War.  The city remains a flooded ruined filled with undead, and the elves largely flee to Shi Nella or to the wilderness
	2602 APO: The first warforgeds appear in battle.  Only a few months later, the shifters first are utilized by the chaotic armies of good and evil.
	2611 APO: Changelings are first employed by both sides.
2659 APO: Primal Mountain, long considered a major target for all sides of the Godfield War, is instead conquered by pilgrims who are turned into the inspired.  The kalashtar meanwhile return to the rest of Mesion to begin spreading the word of their powers.
	2681 APO: A particularly brutal aerial battle creates the Splintered Peaks, which later becomes a haven for undead and fiends.
	2690 APO: Mennotmoritar, a solar general and previously one of the most important soldiers for the celestial armies, openly deserts his armies following what he claimed was a revelation.  He gathers armies of celestials, fiends, and mortals alike and encourages all of them to throw down their arms.  He proposes that this war had gone on long enough and that all sides participate in a massive peace summit he calls the Bladestill.  He is killed, however, before he could finish his plans, but his message resonates throughout Mesion, leading many to believe this is what ultimate ends the war.
	2704 APO: The first Polythropes seen in centuries are recorded.
	2712 APO: This year is known as the Year of the Bladestill.  Suddenly, and without any real warning, all the fiends and celestials end the war and flee Mesion, leaving just the stragglers, the deserters, the imprisoned, and those conjured to Mesion via magic behind.  To this day, no one on Mesion has any real idea what ended the war, but the end of the Godfield War was enough to make most people happy.
	2713 APO: With the Godfield War over, the struggle for power began.  Zoridel officially becomes a city-state, the Fra Danes began their raids on abandoned military camps, and the xeph officially reveal themselves to the world.  Ulrich Bludwright builds the devil city Ulgurtha.
	2714 APO: Enterprising gnomes form the Coin Counters Guild, which becomes a major economic and political force.
	2719 APO: The Fra Danes, now an extremely wealthy organization, establishes itself as a city on top of the ruins of Solar Devotion.
	2721 APO: The dromites, the last of the “lost” races, establishes itself as a recognized race on Mesion.
	2722 APO: Xurim begins an expedition into the Gate of Madness.
	2723 APO: Orr Kalen, having fought off dozens of rival forces, finally forms a peaceful, if brutal and totalitarian, nation on evil-tainted land.
	2725 APO: After what happened in Orr Kalen and Ulgurtha, various good factions form the Grim Ward to prevent the last evil-tainted land from becoming an established nation.
	2728 APO: Xurim, long believed to be dead, returns more powerful than ever.  He uses his magic to create a new nation known as Lirawonowaril, which he rules unconditionally.  Meanwhile, his information first gives the Gate of Madness its current name.  Even though his reports were first considered the ravings of a madman, later adventurers (who mostly avoided the dungeon during the Godfield War,) discover that many of the nightmares he reported on are real.
	2731 APO: Concerned with Xurim’s rule and the abuses he may be starting using magic, a number of powerful but moral wizards found The Toridanir Arcanum, a magocracy dedicated to using magic to improve society.
	2734 APO: Durrackrej is formed to be a civilized, or at least semi-stable, alternative for orcs and other primitive humanoids.
	2737 APO: After numerous failed attempts to found a stable nation, a jointly run society is established in what becomes known as the Arcadia/Elysia Crossroad.
	2738 APO: Two cities are formed this year.  Fearing further discrimination, the warforged found Altectonis-1.  About the same time, the extremely wealthy dwarves and gnomes of the Coin Counters Guild create Darfal-Zezzin.
	2742 APO: Modern day.  The campaign begins here.


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## LordVyreth (May 14, 2006)

*Mesion Campaign Details #2*

Moving Right along in the restoration of Mesion information, this update will include information about Mesion's unusual theology and physical design.

Geology, Cosmology and the Planes

  Mesion is a flat world with some very unusual physical conditions even beyond this.  For one thing, only two of the world’s sides apparently have a physical ending.  The east and west sides of Mesion end in jagged cliffs that drop for at least miles and possibly forever.  The exact distance of the drop-off is unknown, because while there is a limited atmosphere on the sides of the world, breathable air ends several miles down to be replaced with an opaque and toxic mist.  Few who enter the mist ever return, and even those that did return claimed to never get out of the mist or find the bottom of the Mesion land-mass, if such a thing exists.

  The north and south sides of Mesion, meanwhile, are bordered by mountains and other inhospitable conditions.  Beyond the southern mountains is a seemingly endless cloud of shifting colors and appearance.  The cloud has an alien and sickly look to it, and those who live near the cloud report that it often rains unnatural things, ranging from acid and fire to live animals!  The northern border, meanwhile, is filled with a shifting light field similar to the Aurora Borealis.  The lights are beautiful but very dangerous to anything they touch, and their extreme complex shifting patterns prevented anyone from exploring very far in this direction either.  As a result, once again nobody knows what is at the end of the world in these directions, if there even is an end.

  Because of Mesion’s unusual geology, its relation to the cosmos has some unusual properties.  It has a day/night cycle like Earth and a similar week and month cycle, but the sun doesn’t follow a normal cyclical pattern around the world or visa versa.  Instead, a sun passes from the northern sky to the southern every day.  Its location creates an equator-like climate in a line in the middle of Mesion from north to south, with the far eastern and western sides of Mesion having colder climates.  However, both temperature extremes tend to be more mild on Mesion than on Earth.  Similarly, while “the” sun (though there’s no way to know if it’s the same sun every day or if Mesion gets a new sun every day,) often tilts slightly in its path to create the seasons, summers and winters are less drastic on Mesion than on Earth.  Despite being on the eastern and western sides of the world and being even farther away from the sun, the cliffs on the sides of the world have relatively temperate climates.  This appears to be based on excessive head rising from the mist, suggesting that either the mist absorbs heat or that it hides an incredible heat source far below Mesion’s surface.

  Mesion has the standard connections to the planes.  It connects to the Astral, Ethereal, and Shadow Planes as normal and travel to the various Inner and Outer Planes is unhindered.  What is noteworthy is that there are multiple Material Planes that can be accessed like any other plane.  These include Eberron, the Forgotten Realms, and other standard D&D locations, but exploring them is generally beyond the scope of this campaign.  Sigil and Union are both well-known and popular destination for high-level adventurers, and both planar metropolises are likely to be useful when buying and selling treasure if the campaign nears or surpasses epic level.

Theology

  Inhabitants of Mesion can choose between two pantheons for which god or gods to worship.  The default gods are the standard core rule gods of the Players Handbooks, but many Mesion residents prefer the Sisters.  The Sisters are believed to be a set of twelve goddesses that created or were created by the Primal Outsiders.  The Primal Outsiders, according to ancient myths, taught the people about the Sisters and encouraged their worship.  As the Core gods took an interest in Mesion, they tried to force the worship of the Sisters away, but the religion proved too popular to the natives, so the Core Gods grudgingly agreed to co-existence.  Even so, numerous holy wars throughout the history of Mesion erupted as a result of the dual pantheons.

  The Sisters are, as their name suggests, supposedly a family of related goddesses.  The head of the pantheon is a goddess known as Bha-Ael, who supposedly created Mesion and then created the other eleven Sisters to bless it with the gifts of living.  They were allegedly responsible for the creation of many human emotions, the arts, and even the afterlife.  Many of the goddesses and their worshippers frequently find each other at odds, but the most controversial of the goddesses is Bas, the only overtly evil Sister.  Some theologians believe that Bas doesn’t deserve her place in the Sisters, as she supposedly betrayed them and was cast out of the pantheon.  Bas apologists, however, claim that even the Primal Outsiders insisted that Bas was an equally valid part of the pantheon and that attempts to exclude her were blasphemy.  All goddesses have their alignment aspects and all within one step of that alignment as domains.  For example, Nowne, who is neutral good, normally has clerics that can select the Good domain.  Lawful good or chaotic good members of the church could also select Law or Chaos as a domain, respectively.

Bha-Ael

  Bha-Ael is a Lawful Good goddess who is considered the origin of the entire pantheon.  Despite her importance, she is worshipped fairly rarely, as she doesn’t show much interest in her worshippers or people in general.  The common belief is that she is responsible for maintaining the universe itself and generally leaves the details to the other Sisters.  Nonetheless, she is known to have a very strong love of life itself and the needs, at least of the biological quality, of people.  Surprisingly, the Bha-Ael church also has a strong martial bent which is generally dedicated to opposing any overtly destructive force, with many undead and evil outsiders as their primary target.  Bha-Ael is normally portrayed as a female humanoid (usually a human or elf, with drow being a surprisingly frequent choice for unknown reasons,) with skin as black as space and riddled with stars.  Her facial and other features are often vague or nonexistent.  Her domains include Air, Knowledge, Protection, Sun, and War, and her favored weapon is a greatsword.  Her holy symbol is a map of the Mesion plane cradled in a pair of hands.

Krista

  Krista is believed to be the oldest goddess after Bha-Ael, and she is credited for creating the sense of physical pleasure.  This includes amusements like games (she’s also a goddess of luck and chance,) food, and physical contact.  Krista is often worshipped by bards, gamblers, courtesans, and hedonists in general.  She is chaotic neutral, and she normally is pictured as a human or halfling woman dressed in the formal attire of a casino dealer if her chance/luck aspect is emphasized or in far more revealing or simply no clothes if her more pleasure aspects are the focus.  Her domains are Earth, Trickery, Luck, and Travel, and her favored weapons are darts.  Her holy symbol is a die with the face of a woman on at least one side of the dice.  Krista’s church often finds itself idealogically opposed to that of Ordhari and Jolia.

Ordhari

  According to the mythology of the Sisters, while Bha-Ael created the universe itself, Ordhari, the third Sister, gave it a sense of order.  She created the logical equations that would later be used to create science and technology.  This makes her a popular goddess for rulers, scientists, explorers, and a surprising number of wizards despite the presence of Lore as a goddess of magic.  In fact, Ordhari and Lore tend to fight on many issues, leading to some epic battles between spell-casters.  Ordhari is lawful neutral and portrayed as a human or gnome woman with glasses.  She’s usually pictured carrying a book or some exotic device.  Her domains are Fire, Air, Knowledge, and Destruction, and her favored weapon is a crossbow.  She uses a scroll extending off into infinity as a holy symbol.

Lore

  As the fourth goddess, Lore theoretically was created right after Ordhari, and her gift to the world was supposedly in reaction to Ordhari’s.  Disgusted at Ordhari’s need for order, Lore created a system specifically designed to be impossible to perfectly explain, understand, or control.  In other words, she created magic (and theoretically psionics as well.)  Lore is often the goddess worshipped by arcane spell casters, though many wizards (especially lawful ones,) and artificers don’t believe that Lore created all magic and tend to side with Ordhari.  The position of psionics is more difficult; many believe Lore created it as an alternate form of magic, but others believe Ordhari created it as a logical and ordered version of magic that would one day be perfect understood.  Lore is chaotic neutral and usually as an elf wielding incredible magical power and dressed in clothing adorned in runes and other symbols of magical energy.  Her domains are Magic, Water, Earth, and Destruction, and her favored weapon is a quarterstaff.  Her holy symbol is a magical circle of incredible complexity.  More advanced worshippers often intentionally make their circle more complicated to demonstrate their devotion and status.

Nellkiss

  According to the Sister’s mythology, before Nellkiss, the fifth Sister, existed, creatures who died were simply permanently obliterated.  Nellkiss, who was horrified at the destruction caused by the fighting between Ordhari and Lore, created the first afterlife and placed herself in a position to judge the worth of those who died.  Unsurprisingly, as a goddess of death who has no interest in causing death or dealing with the undead, she has few worshippers except for doctors, morticians, and others who often deal with the undead.  She is lawful neutral and is usually pictured as a half-elf with pale white skin but black hair and dressed in black clothing.  Her domains are Death, War, Earth, and Destruction, and her favored weapon is the warhammer (to indicate her role as a judge.)  Her holy symbol is a black hammer on a white field bordered by more black lines.

Tregfillia

  Tregfillia’s role in Mesion is simple compared to many of her sisters.  She is the goddess of nature and thus is responsible for guiding it and protecting it from excessive encroachment by civilization.  As a result, she’s very popular among druids, rangers, and many barbarians, but she and Nowne consider each other to be enemies, and their worshippers battle constantly.  Tregfillia is a chaotic good goddess who by default emphasizes the healing and nourishing properties of nature.  She is usually pictured as an elf wearing nothing but natural materials or sometimes just the plants themselves.  Her domains are Animal, Plant, Healing, Earth, and Sun, and her favored weapon is the short spear.  Her holy symbol is called the “loop of life,” and is a circlet made of a flexible material carved to resemble plant images that slowly morph into animals and then back again.

Nowne

  Nowne is another case of a goddess who seemingly exists just to counter the previous one.  In Nowne’s case, she’s the goddess of progress, civilization, labor in general, and warfare when needed.  This emphasis on the needs of the people above all put her at odds with both the nature-centric Tregfillia’s worshippers and with more powerful legal bodies, but Nowne worship is so popular among farmers, laborers, and the lower classes that she has remained very powerful.  She also has a martial subset of the church with its own paladins that support the virtues of bravery and valor when in battle for a greater purpose.  Nowne is neutral good and usually portrayed as a very strong female dwarf that wears armor or simple clothes.  Her domains are Strength, Protection, War, and Earth, and her favored weapon is a battleaxe.  She uses a holy symbol of an anvil with a hammer and an axe resting on top of or in front of it.

Bas

  Bas’s origins are vague and mysterious.  The most commonly supported theory according to the myths is that Bas was the eight sister, but for some reason she didn’t choose a gift in time before the later sisters appeared.  Having lost her chance to affect the world, she grew bitter and later “gifted” the world with war and strife.  According to some theories, she was kicked out of the pantheon as a punishment, but other beliefs suggest that she added a much needed sense of balance to the world and was grudgingly accepted by the Sisters.  Regardless of her origins, she now is clearly an active goddess who grants her worshippers powers like any other god.  Most of her worshippers are villains of some kind, though her church has very few dealings with undead for some reason, but some druids and other believers in balance worship her as a counter to the other Sisters despite not being evil themselves.  Bas is neutral evil and normally portrayed as a beautiful but cruel human woman with weapons and wearing a dark blue dress.  Her domains include Death, Destruction, Trickery, and War.  Her favored weapon is the scimitar, and in fact she encourages her followers to learn how to wield two scimitars at the same time and uses a pair of crossed scimitars as a holy symbol.

Merida/Tepedin

  Though the ninth and tenth Sisters are separate goddesses with their own churches, the two have very similar portfolios and ideals, making their churches allies and the sisters themselves are often considered twins.  However, the one thing that almost universally makes worshippers of the twins goddesses angry is if someone, especially a Core pantheon worshipper, gets their specific ideals mixed up!  Merida is the goddess of music and is a favorite among bards and musicians in general, while Tepedin is the goddess of art in general and in terms of painting, sculpture, and literature in particular.  Almost all artists worship one or both of the twin goddesses.  Both are true neutral and tend to be portrayed as gnomes or elves that are dressed in popular artists garbs and respectively wielding a lute or other instrument and a paintbrush or quill pen.  Merida’ domains are Knowledge, Air, Travel, and Luck, and her favored weapon is the longsword.  Tepedin’s domains are Knowledge, Water, Sun, and Travel, and her favored weapon is the rapier.  Merida’s holy symbol is a lyre or other stringed instrument with scenes from popular operas or sonnets between the strings, and Tepedin’s is an open book with a painting on one page and writing on the other.

Jolia

  Though Jolia claims to be the creator and the goddess of love, she often is accused of being a devotee of only a very specific, idealized form of chivalrous love.  As a result, many of the worshippers who normally are attracted to “love” gods prefer the more open-minded Krista, leading to a very bitter rivalry between the churches that often spills over into civil rights versus state-enforced morality issues.  Jolia tends to be worshipped by the nobility and by romance-centered bards and poets.  She is neutral good largely due to her stance on non-violence, and she is usually pictured as a human or dwarf woman dressed in the finest and most fashionable clothes.  Her domains are healing, strength, protection, and travel, and her favored weapon is the sap, which Krista worshippers never stop laughing about.  Her holy symbol is a perfectly shaped woman’s face with an emotional and loving look.

Tsykie

  Tsykie is the last of the Sisters, and she took that youngest aspect to heart in creating her gift.  She became eternally linked to the state of childhood, and in fact she never has appeared as an adult.  She gifted the world with the joy and innocence that should theoretically be the essential aspect of childhood.  She is usually worshipped by teachers, nannies, and other caretakers of children, and while normally a non-violent religion, they are extremely vicious against anyone who would hurt a child.  Tsykie is chaotic good and is often pictured as a halfling woman, but almost never by actual halflings, who consider this comparison to a child goddess insulting.  Just to be annoying, they often portray her as a dwarf of half-orc girl.  Her domains are Animal, Plant, Healing, Sun, and Trickery, and her favored weapon is a sling.  Her holy symbol is intentionally simple, so even a child could draw an accurate one, and resembles a flower.


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## LordVyreth (May 14, 2006)

*Mesion Excerpt #1: Exalting the Primals*

This was the first of what will eventually be a series of letters or slice of life events on Mesion, including some that reference major future events of the series.  This plan was partically delayed due to the ENWorld crash and an unexpectedly busy week at work, but I expect to finish at least the initially planned excerpts by the end of next week, while starting work on the actual Story Hour.  At any rate, three of the initial excerpts have already been finished, including this one.

Exalting the Primals

	Gods are a very real and inescapable part of our lives.  We see their churches in ever town and city and their followers surround us every day.  Their power is inherent; the very real miracles of their most devoted servants are undeniable.  The only thing more real than the gods themselves are their servants, as anyone over 30 can attest to.  The celestials, fiends, and other spiritual beings transformed everything we know about our world, from its nations to the smallest details of our lives.  And yet, when we think of the gods as inherent beings, we also think of their worthiness as worshipped beings as equally inherently their right.

	Why is that?  What makes the gods so “right” that we must, or at least should, devote our every fiber of our being to their glory and might?  Was it really our best interests they cared about when they started the Godfield War?  Or were we considered just pawns at best, and nothing but scenery at worst, for their own advancement?  Now, I hear your objections already.  The war was regrettable, to put it mildly, but it was a necessary action on the part of the good gods to counter the advancement of evil.  I heard these arguments countless times, but it shows an ignorance of history.  Before the so-called good gods acted, the evil forces were limited to mortals and their fiendish servants, who were summoned and controlled again by mortals.  By acting, the good gods must have known that the evil gods would be able to deploy their fiendish servants directly, leading to the apocalyptic war we endured for over a generation.  And yet the good gods acted anyway, and for what purpose?  In theory, it was just to save Solar Devotion.  And how has that gone?  Solar Devotion is gone, and in its place is a city rotted and corrupted before it even began, a city that pays lip service to the gods but worships profit above all else.  Truly, such a victory for good was worth our decades of suffering!

	Ah, but what of the greater ideals of the war that developed?  After all, this wasn’t just about Solar Devotion in the end, but the ultimate victory of good over evil!  And how did that turn out?  What should have been the final resolution of the ultimate moral principles that guide the planes themselves turned out to be about nothing!  After the Bladestill, what happened to the evil gods?  They’re still as powerful as ever.  And their servants, the fiends, have not diminished in the slightest.  Instead, we have to put up with the results of the war; the tainted ground, the blessed lands that instead spawn more conflict and tyranny, and the scattered remains of the evil army that no longer serve the gods but have no difficulty continuing to inflict misery upon us!  And despite all this, we still waste our time with the gods!  Why?  I have no idea if the gods are sinister, uncaring beings who use us as playthings in their eternal game, or if they are merely incompetent and blind beings unaware of the futility of their struggle, but I place no value on the lot of them!

	Instead, I place by faith and hope in the one group that ever seemed to care about us mortals before any higher ideal: the primal outsiders.  I’m sure you know of them.  While the gods were fighting among themselves over who could rule over us and we suffered and died, the Primals, allegedly the servants of the gods, force a truce and negotiated peace, giving us for the first time the chance to form our own societies and live without fear.  Yes, I know the myths about what happened to the Primals; that they were little more than intermediaries of the gods, that they were transformed into celestials and fiends and no longer exist, that they themselves taught us about the Sisters.  I believe none of them.  The Primals had something that inspired respect, if not fear, in the gods.  To presume that they served the gods is utter nonsense.  Equally nonsensical is the theory that they became the celestials and fiends.  The Primals were above such zealotry.  Why would they sacrifice their freedom and passion to remain locked in lesser forms for all eternity?  No, I believe the Primals still exist, and they again can help us bring peace to Mesion.  Perhaps they already have; can you give me a more plausible explanation for the Bladestill?  They deserve our honor and our worship, and I implore you to reject your gods and join me in this worship.  If enough of us can be united in this goal, we can finally put aside the endless war that has entrapped the other planes and prevent another Godfield War or other disaster in the future.

-Auric Entavil
Member of the Petitioners of the Primals


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## LordVyreth (May 15, 2006)

*Mesion Campaign Details #3*

Unfortunately, Mother's Day events took up nearly my entire day, so it'll still be a day or two before I can actually get out my first Story Hour entry.  Until then, I'll finish catching up on previous entries from the pre-crash Story Hour.  This one details the city of Fra Dane, the setting for the game's first adventure and possibly a major location in the campaign at large.  My trademark tendancy to go into development overkill is really obvious here.  Though there's no guarantee the party will ever return to this city after the first adventure (though I certainly hope so,) attempts to make the city detailed and full of enough information that I can be prepared for whatever the party does resulted in a city description over a dozen pages in length and with over 60 unique locations!  For your sanity, I'll restrict this update to areas that could be important in the first adventure.

Fra Dane

About Fra Dane

  Fra Dane is a fairly young city, like most of the city-states are, but it has a strong since of history as a result of being built on the ruins of the ancient city Solar Devotion.  The city was bounded by a band of adventurers known as the Fra Danes, led by the ranger Revine Fra.  The Fra Danes were known for hiring only female adventurers and it believed that their name was a play on words or alternate misspelling of the term Dame, as in a female titled Knight.  Regardless, most of the Fra Danes eventually settled into positions of power inside the city of Fra Dane itself after founding the city and retiring from adventuring.  Revine Fra herself was appointed queen.  She was assassinated in 2736, but she had since had a son that ascended to the throne.

  Besides its self-entitled sense of culture, Fra Dane is known for its mercenary morality beyond its own belief systems, which is appropriate given that the city was founded by a city of adventurers known for their willingness to raid dangerous and often taboo sites like battlefields and the abandoned strongholds of demons.  The city is generally considered very cosmopolitan in terms of gender relations, which is again no surprise since the adventurers that founded it were all female, and it has few elements of class warfare despite being a monarchy.  However, it is lagging behind in race relations.  It has a number of intolerant and discriminatory laws against warforged, shifters, and some of the other new and lost races.  Even worse, it specifically lists which species are considered sapient beings worthy of rights, excluding most intelligent monsters, who can be legally pressed into slavery.  

Fra Dane (Metropolis): Conventional; AL LN; 100,000 gp limit; Population 135,000, Mixed (human 73%, dwarf 7 %, gnome 6%, half-elf 4%, halfling 4 %, warforged 2 %, half-orc 2%, shifter 1%, other 1%).
Notable NPCs

Town Politicians
Prime Minister Sadine Preston (LN human female Aris 16)
King Trovarr Fra (LN human male Aris 12)
Queen Fidine Fra (TN human female Aris 4/Psion 9)
Prince Amin Fra (NG human male)
Princess Talia Fra (CN human female)
Dane Duchess Shillix Medli (LE half-elf female Sor 14) – former Fra Dane
Duke Kalban Pemorne (LG human male Pal 10) – former Solar Devotion noble
Duchess Moire Pemorne (LG maenad female PsyWar 5)
Duke Nathaniel Bellor (NE human male Aris 4/Rog 9) – bought way into nobility
Dane Marquessa Gelmindis Tarrynot (TN gnome female Aris 2/Rog 12) – former Fra Dane

City Watch and Militia

Sir Mathew Millwater (LN human male Fight 18) 
Captain San(dy) Ruet (NG human female Fight 12)
Dane Lieutenant Bellitress Evley (CN elf female Barb 14) – former Fra Dane
Lieutenant Boral Smithe (LN dwarf male Monk 8)
Operative Vel (TN changeling male Rog 13)
Operative Grock (TN half-orc male Fight 11)

Guild Leaders

“Multitudes” Malfin Bloombell (LN gnome male Aris3/Wiz 10)-Count Counters Guild
Patricia Thazar (NE half-elf female Aris 4/Bard 4)-Performers Guild
Daniel Thurgood (LE human male Aris 2/Ranger 9)-Achieve Entertainment
Dereg “The Dirk” (CE halfling male Rogue 13)-Thief’s Guild
Neri Fia (NG elf female Wiz 12)-Wizard’s Advisory

Religious Leaders

Galtan Serin (LN human male Cle 14)-Church of St. Cuthbert
Dane Delia Skywhistle (LG halfling female Cle 14)-Church of Bha-Ael
Crone Ulver (LN half-elf male Cle 8/Wiz 3)-Church of Ordhari
Rivan Wrestliss (LG human male Cle 8)-Nelkiss half of Twin Churches of Death
Meladir Fulsen (LE human female Cle 8)-Wee Jas half of Twin Churches of Death
Grending Truering (LG dwarf female Cle 7)-Church of Moradin
Shalendi Bergil (NG gnome female Cle 6)-Church of Garl Glittergold
Endur Laburr (TN dwarf male Cle 6)-Church of Nowne
Sixitili Enbi (TN elan female Cle 5)-Church of Krista
Anuan Liamar (CN elf male Cle 4/Sor 3)-Church of Lore
David Elfkin (TN half-elf male Cle 4/Bard 2)-Tepedin Head of Church of Culture

Other Notable Citizens

IDL9 (NG warforged male personality Bard 3/Exp 3)-warforged anti-Achieve activist
Wrejid (CN shifter male Barb 6)-Often-violent anarchist
Levign (NG avoral guardinal female)-Former Solar Devotion ally, opposed to ruins replacement projects
Warren Statil (CG human male Cle 7)-Former priest of Jolia, now a vagrant and secret healer
Dane Vorgen Skullcrust (TN half-orc Fight 14)-Retired Fra Dane, given over now to excess
Eske Talltale (CG human male Bard 7)-Popular Non-Guilded entertainer
Mirana Mirage (CN half-elf female Bar 9/Cle 2)-Prima donna singer

Locations
Castle Fra (1.)
The Hexaglyph (2.)
Achieve Entertainment Center (3.)
Church of St. Cuthbert (4.)
Church of Bha-Ael (5.)  
Twin Churches of Death (6.)
Church of Culture (7.)
The Giant Gullet (8.)
The Gleaming Vista (9.)
Meadhall Primeval (10.)
The Leaky Bucket (11.)
Zimmit’s Bane (12.)
The Wounded Xvart (13.)
Gormir’s Ale (14.)
City Walls (15.)
Gatehouse (16.)
Watchtowers (17.)
Church of Ordhari (18.)
Church of Moradin (19.)
Church of Garl Glittergold (20.)
Church of Nowne (21.)
Church of Krista (22.)
Church of Lore (23.)
Resting Place of the Devoted (24.)
Sunblessed Cemetery (25.)
Ill-Judged Cemetery (26.)
Watcher’s Keep (27.)
Operative Waypoints (28.)
The Preston Estate (29.)
House Medli (30.)
House Pemorne (31.)
House Bellor (32.)
House Tarrynot (33.)
Coin Counters Guildhall (34.)
Performers Guildhall (35.)
Achieve Entertainment Head Office (36.)
Achieve Supply Storage Facilities (37.)
Arcane Advisory Council (38.)
SRUFBT HQ (39.)
Houses for the Wretched (40.)
The Ruins District (41.)
Old Capital (42.)
The Ichorveins (43.)
Lost Shrine of Pelor (44.)
House Stormblood (45.)
Skullcrust Manor (46.)
The Seasight Inn (47.)
The Dane’s Edge (48.)
The Commonroom (49.)
The Effervescent Tower (50.)
The Just Cause (51.)
The Gears of War (52.)
Oki’s Intrigue’s (53.)
Jorgan’s Smith (54.)
Sadine’s Seraph (55.)
Dane Garden (56.)
Celestial Park (57.)
The Tainted Ground (58.)
Hallefur Theatre (59.)
The Place (60.)

Life in Fra Dane

	The people of Fra Dane are known for a sense of arrogance and self-worth born largely for the constant need to prove themselves as a legitimate city.  Initial reactions to the city were dismissive due to the city’s founding by a ragtag group of untitled and previously unspectacular adventurers.  The common accusation made against Fra Dane is that it bought its way into success.  Others complain about both the methods the Fra Danes used to gain wealth and their building of a largely pragmatic city over what was considered a holy and idealistic city’s ruins.

	The response to this claim by both the people and the ruling party has been one of competitive self-assurance and an active interest in most citizen’s daily lives to the arts and philosophy, if at least on a superficial level.  As a result of this and some of the city’s more archaic laws, political activism is common in Fra Dane, especially against Achieve Entertainment and various racial laws.  The city is dotted with both technological achievements of useful or dubious value and with often ostentatious art displays.  Ironically, many of these innovations and displays are created by destroying some of the remaining buildings of Solar Devotion, often hurting the very impression Fra Dane tries to make on other cities.  The most noteworthy example of the city attitudes can be summed up in the city’s annual Prosperity Parade.  The tradition started in 2724 when the Fra Dane displayed many of their remaining recovered magical items of power to simultaneously demonstrate that they had great power beyond wealth and to dare their enemies to take their treasures.  Not surprisingly, many enemies attempted to do this that.  Despite the damage done to the city itself, the enemies were fought by the city, resulting in a surprisingly enthusiastic response from the populace, who felt they proved themselves.  Decades later, the parade has become more ceremonial, but the procession of magical items continues, and there have been annual attempts to steal them or otherwise wreck the parade since then.  These attempts have become far less tenacious, however, since any halfway intelligent enemy of Fra Dane knows that the city is well prepared for attacks these days.  Most of the attackers are more interested in making a statement or are just crazed attention-seekers.
Exploring Fra Dane

	Castle Fra (1.) Castle Fra is, simply put, the capital of the entire city-state.  It houses the official living quarters of the royal family and the office of the prime minister.  Castle Fra is closed to normal travelers and visitors except on specific holidays, where the royal family and other crucial staff are usually outside the castle or given extra protections.

	Achieve Entertainment Center (3.) All the political battles in Fra Dane seem to revolve ultimately around this building.  This open-air building is often used as the center of city festivals, musical performances, royal audiences, and other major events, but it’s most controversial role is that of the city’s coliseum.  It’s here that Achieve Entertainment often pits various animals and monsters against each other.  Though the events usually attract sold-out audiences, it also attracts its share of protesters, peaceful and otherwise.

	Church of Bha-Ael (5.)  The Church of Bha-Ael was actually built on the ruins of a church to the same goddess in Solar Devotion, and much of the building was restored from those ruins or meant to emulate the same style.  This made the church popular with the historical elements of the city, supporting its rise to power as the second-largest church in Fra Dane.  Since then, the city earned further recognition with its general populist beliefs systems, making it a popular choice for Fra Dane citizens who want to challenge the more discriminatory parts of the Fra Dane law.  The rivalry with the Church of St. Cuthbert that resulted has resulted in a slight increase in tensions between the Core and Sister pantheons.

	The Giant Gullet (8.) The Giant Gullet is possibly one of the oldest buildings in all of Fra Dane.  It was not only older than Solar Devotion; it originally was moved, stone by stone, from the nation of Grandithin’s Glory back when it united with Palous!  The building is officially considered a historical artifact, but it still remains a functioning tavern and inn.  The Giant Gullet’s clientele tends to be extremely quiet, mostly out of an understanding that the city appointed guards and bouncers would throw people out for coughing loudly!  Despite the strict nature of the place, it’s a popular target for tourists due to its age and historical importance.  

	The Leaky Bucket (11.) Every sizable city needs at least one dingy, run-down, out of the way inn/bar that any sane person would avoid if given the chance, and in Fra Dane, The Leaky Bucket is one bar that fits such a description nicely.  The Leaky Bucket is actually located below one of the city’s rivers due to natural changes in elevation and intentional city planning.  As a result, the roof and walls of the bar have almost constantly had at least one leak or another that needed patching, giving the bar its name.  Its poor location and tendency to attract river-traveling mariners who have long since learned to ignore such conditions eventually made it a popular location for shady business and conspiracies.

	The Wounded Xvart (13.)-Though this bar is known to be rather pricey for what’s generally considered sub-par food and drink, it has a popular reputation in Fra Dane because of its success in recruiting bards and other performers.  As a result, the Xvart is one of very few places in Fra Dane where non-Guilded acts can be seen.  These range from common bard songs to elaborate musical works from entire bands often composed of races normally received with hostility in Fra Dane, like warforged, shifters, and even the primitive humanoids.  Because of this acceptance, the Xvart often attracts political activism and the controversy that goes with it, but tavern owner Brelynn Mirten (NG half-elf male Exp 4) doesn’t seem to mind.

	Operative Waypoints (28.)-Nobody knows how many of these waypoints exist, but their numbers are believed to be sizable.  These safe-houses work as the only actual bases of the city Operatives, special forces agents the royalty employ for extremely important missions.  It is believed that the Operatives often work as if they are above the law, and many discriminated against races often work for the Operatives to earn their respect.  It is believed that even criminals are recruited for the Operatives to pay off their debts to society (and sometimes avoid a damned afterlife in Ill-Judged Cemetery.)  The only known Operatives are Operative Vel, who works organizing the city’s watch and various militias according to royal orders, and Operative Grock, a half-orc who’s notoriously incompetent with public relations but who is usually placed in charge of that duty regardless.  Surprisingly, his simple-minded attempts at diplomacy and intrigue have a way of comforting people with his simplicity, as if the very fact that they’d be willing to let Grock handle a situation is enough to convince people that it isn’t that bad.

	House Pemorne (31.)-The family of Duke Kalban Pemorne (LG human male Pal 10,) used to be nobles in Solar Devotion before the city’s destruction.  Unlike most of the nobles, who lost their titles and land when the city itself was destroyed, the Pemorne would often revisit the city even during the Godfield War to restore and preserve their territory on the assumption that they could regain their noble stature when the war ended and Solar Devotion was restored.  Their hopes proved to be only half-fulfilled when the Fra Danes instead took control of the region and founded a new nation.  However, to avoid open warfare with both Zoridel and other nations when they first founded the nation, the Danes made a number of compromises, including honoring the Pemorne’s noble status by making Kalban, the family’s latest head, a Duke of the new nation.  Kalban eagerly accepted this and moved his family back into their ancestral home.  Some time since then, he made the unusual decision of marrying a maenad, Moire (LG maenad female PsyWar 5,) a former adventurer like Kalban himself.  Though maenads are granted full citizenship Fra Dane with no specific legal restrictions, they’re still regarded as alien and slightly improper beings, but Kalban ignored these comments and respected Moire’s similar attitude towards life.  The two have collectively become strong social crusaders in Fra Dane, particularly towards race relations.

 	House Bellor (32.)-Nathaniel Bellor (NE human male Aris 4/Rog 9,) became a Duke in almost the opposite way that Kalban did.  He had no noble heritage or titled family members, and his own career labeled him a merchant at best and a swindler or rogue more accurately.  However, even with their wealth, the Fra Danes needed some investors to get their city off the ground, and while most were willing to loan them money in exchange for some economic control of Fra Dane, Nathaniel wanted something more.  He wanted political power, or possibly just the status that a noble name granted, and he was willing to put all his ill-gotten gains earned by exploiting the Godfield War to do it.  Since then, he appears to mostly use his status to show off his prestige, earn invitations to the best parties, make reluctant famous friends, and otherwise make a laughingstock of himself.  Some speculate, however, that old habits die hard, and that Nathaniel still is running some organization or another to profit off of his newfound power, and his public attempts to appear as a buffoon are just a ruse.

	Achieve Entertainment Head Office (36.)-Of all the businesses in Fra Dane, this is certainly the most reviled.  As usual, Achieve tries to maintain a positive perception through its outward appearance, as their office demonstrates.  Their head office is several stories high, constantly clean and well-maintained, and is often used for free concerts (always agreed upon with the Performers Guild,) and charity events.  The actual business they work in seems to be completely absent based on their main office, which instead is full of eager-seeming employees, seemingly unknowing executives, and endless open spaces and recreation facilities full of positive images of Achieve’s impact on the community.  Only when the company’s highest executives, including president Daniel Thurgood (LE human male Aris 2/Ranger 9,) are safely sequestered from all public appearances do they discuss the actual monstrous slavery and violence they do business in.  Everywhere else, their “products” are hidden behind technical jargon.

	Achieve Supply Storage Facilities (37.)-Similarly, despite the name, these Achieve buildings are nothing but prisons of often the most brutal nature.  Unlike the head office, though, these buildings, which always bear no mark of the Achieve name, are not pretty and definitely not for the public to see.  Captured monsters are often subjected to torture, experimentation, and mind control to be rendered suitable for their purposes, and monsters that prove valueless are often killed and dissected.

	SRUFBT HQ (39.)-SRUFBT, better known as Sentient Races United For a Better Tomorrow, is an activist political force in Fra Dane.  It’s leader, IDL9 (NG warforged male personality Bard 3/Exp 3) is unsurprisingly focused primarily on racial issues, given his own anti-warforged discrimination.  Their most common rallying cry, “No more symbols,” refers to the identification marks all warforged, shifters, and primitive humanoids must wear when in the city.  As a mark of solidarity, many SRUFBT supporters purposefully wear similar symbols or even get tattoos resembling identification marks.  SRUFBT is smart enough to realize how easily it would be destroyed if it ever openly committed a crime, so it openly is very careful to restrict their efforts to speeches and legal protests.  Secretly, however, and without IDL9’s input or approval, many members launch illegal raids on Achieve and other enemies of their cause or even ally with the more radical allies of Wrejid.

	Houses for the Wretched (40.)-Unlike the SRUFBT headquarters, these resistance bases are neither legal no are they on any map, largely because Wrejid (CN shifter male Barb 6,) the leader of the resistance movement, is smart enough to often move them to prevent raids.  Wrejid, who is well aware how closely his name is to the word wretched and thus incorporates the word into his resistance often, belonged to a family of shifter squatters who lived in the ruins of Solar Devotion before the Fra Danes founded their city over it.  Wrejid’s early childhood and the fate of his family are unknown, but it is well known that when Fra Dane first enacted its law to put symbols of identification on all shifters, Wrejid violently resisted, killed several of the milita who were responsible for the symbol dispersal, and began his anarchist movement within Fra Dane.  Houses for the Wretched work as both official meeting places for his movement and safe-houses for fugitives, especially of monstrous races that are unable to live in Fra Dane legally.

	The Dane’s Edge (48.)-Off all the inns in Fra Dane, The Dane’s Edge tends to hover resolutely in the middle.  Save for its location, there is nothing spectacular about this inn.  The Dane’s Edge is noteworthy for the fact that its built into the city walls itself.  The inn, according to legend, was actually either some sort of guard tower or observation platform during the Godfield War, or it was actually part of an enemy siege tower that got lodged into the wall and was rebuilt as a permanent part of it.  Either way, it’s location, which actually extends outside of the wall by around 5-10 feet, makes it a popular inn for visitors since it’s so easy to find.  The inn unfortunately has a bit of a reputation for smuggling based on the theory that it could be used to get people past the city walls fairly easily, but the city’s militia is aware of this threat and patrol the inn’s vicinity more regularly to confirm that nothing illegal goes on.  The inn’s owner, Tinker Goodwit (TN male halfling Exp 6,) is known for being a friendly but quiet businessman who goes out of his way to prove his honesty by staying on very good terms with the guards.

	The Commonroom (49.)-Though the quality of this inn is poor, guests can be assured at least of the low levels of crime this inn is known for.  The Commonroom portrays itself as the inn of the people by offering rooms at a very low price and removing almost every frill and luxury.  Many of the inn’s accommodations, including most food and privy services, are communal, and half of the inn guests tend to avoid a room entirely and prefer to just sleep in the inn’s fairly redundant common room.  The inn only asks that its guests share mutual trust and respect, a belief encouraged by the inn’s owner, the idealistic and pacifistic Ms. Kharn (CG female kalashtar Pion 7.)  Kharn believes in resisting the more evil elements of Fra Dane with love and comraderie, which she also hopes will eventually lead people to her views on the universal psychic collective that can unite all people.


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## LordVyreth (May 15, 2006)

*Mesion Excerpt #2: Letter to Prime Minister Sadine Preston*

And, now that we have the details of Fra Dane covered, I can share another excerpt with you.  The final pre-Story Hour excerpts will be posted tomorrow, followed as soon as possible by the official beginning!

Letter to Prime Minister Sadine Preston

  As usual, what should be Fra Dane’s happiest day, the day of the Prosperity Parade, has been mired by the incessant complaints and outright hatred towards some of our city’s most loyal and important citizens.  I’m sure nobody was surprised to once again see the Achieve Entertainment Center, perhaps the most respected source of entertainment and culture on Mesion, surrounded by protesters and even violent anarchists.  But you can count me among those who nonetheless remain disappointed by these actions and the annual proposals among the more foolish members of the nobility who actually agree with these protests.

  I respect your wisdom and decisions since your inauguration as prime minister, and I realize you have ruled against these proposals every year, but I feel it is my civic duty to assert my support in favor the current laws.  After all, the protests and overt crimes committed by Wrejid and other enemies of our city-state get more brazen and desperate with every year, deluding some citizens into believing their movement is gaining strength or the support of the people, a delusion I want to ensure you is totally baseless.

  I would like to address the typical two justifications these hoodlums use to defend their crimes.  The first is the city’s laws regarding dangerous species like the warforged, shifters, other “new” races, and even primitive humanoids like orcs and goblins.  The protesters are against our city’s policy that these creatures are required to wear identifying symbols while in the city and are limited in their use of weapons and employment.  The protests claim these beings are being mistreated unfairly with these laws, a claim that is completely nonsensical.  Certainly, I understand their concerns.  Our city, like all enlightened ones in our day, are aware of the dangers of placing one species above another, and our laws guarantee the rights of humans, elves, dwarves, the other civilized races that have existed throughout Mesion’s history, and even most of the recently discovered lost races.  But to assume that races bred for the sole purpose of warfare deserve these same rights is foolish.

  Much as we try to deny it, warforged, shifters, and the older races like orcs and goblins are not like us.  The recently created races like warforged and shifters may try to live normal lives, and often they may succeed, but at their most basic, instinctive level, their primary functions are to fight and kill.  What else could they be?  The celestials and fiends, and thus the gods themselves who the outsiders serve, created them for the Godfield War to be perfect weapons.  They were not meant to live in peaceful societies, and to even let them in our city is risk enough.  Give them total freedom, and we’ll be surrounded by thousands of Wrejids; unrestrained killers who can be set off by any of myriad possible stimuli.  And the primitive races are no better, despite their age.  In fact, ask yourself; in the countless years since Mesion’s forming, during which we humans and other races constantly built new civilizations, why did the primitive races never establish their own societies?  Instead, they exist to ravage our own societies, as living tests the gods provided us with.  Some may argue that Durrackrej, the recently established city of primitive humanoids, proves that they can form stable societies.  I ask those who argue this, however, have they ever actually set foot in the place?  A city is more than a few buildings.  It’s a willful attempt to create order and a safe, prosperous haven for its people.  Drej, as the place is so eloquently nicknamed, is little more than an anarchic hovel.  And the same thing will happen to Fra Dane if we give them the right to alter our culture without limitation.

  As to the so called slavery that Achieve practices, I offer not even the slightest sympathies towards its critics.  They expect us to respect and honor the rights of monsters?  Where would the limits for such sympathies be?  If a mind flayer enters the city, should we cautiously wait until it eats someone’s brain before responding?  Are beholders given the benefit of the doubt?  Researchers estimate that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of sentient species on this plane and beyond.  It should not be our duty to determine which should be protected and which should be considered enemies.  If a race wants to be given rights and protection within Fra Dane, it should demonstrate its peaceful intents first, much like the dromites, xeph, and other lost races have.  Otherwise, they merely have to stay outside of Fra Dane’s limits.

  I implore you, Ms. Preston, to consider my words.  The last thing this city needs is to accept the foolishness of these well-intentioned but misguided protesters, and in doing so doom it to destruction.  This isn’t what Revine Fra wanted.  She and the other Fra Danes knew when to show diplomacy and when to use the sword, and this city must do the same.

							With your regard,
							Duke Nathaniel Bellor


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## LordVyreth (May 16, 2006)

*Mesion Campaign Details #4*

Next up is a quick guide to other major locations on the world of Mesion.  There's no guarantee the party will visit all or any of them, but it's a good start in terms of preparation for future adventures.

The Toridanir Arcanum

  The Toridanir Arcanaum is a neutral good city.  It is a magocracy run by well-meaning idealists who believe in creating utopia through the use of magic.  Artificers are trained here, but the penalties for leaving the nation are minimal, largely because entry into the program is so restrictive that only the most loyal and idealistic members are allowed in the first place.  Toridanir is known for its elaborate magic-based programs intended to fix long-term societal problems, though other cities often disagree with the existence of a problem in the first place, let alone their solution to it. 

Zoridel, The Glorious Eternal Light

  Zoridel is a lawful good city located on a good-aligned area left over from the Godfield War.  The Zoridel administration (named after St. Zoridel of the Heironous faith but also a play on the city name Solar Devotion, which Zoridel has its roots in,) is unusual in its insistence that the Godfield War was a justified battle and that clearly the celestials won, as the world isn’t overrun by evil.  Nonetheless, they believe that the ultimate campaign against evil is not over; it just progressed beyond open warfare.  The city still supports a number of militant orders whose members maintain order inside and outside the city, much to the frequent annoyance of other nations.  Those crusaders, often nicknamed Zores, are potential adversaries of even other good forces.

Lirawonowaril

  Lirawonowaril is the second mage-run city-state.  Its leader is a True Neutral sorcerer named Xurim of the Unblinking Eye.  He is regarded as incredibly intelligent and a good leaders in general, but he’s also considered crazed.  He’s paranoid and obsessed with balance, and his traits got far worse recently after an expedition into the Gate of Madness.  He actually may know far more about the truth than nearly everyone, but it’s mixed in with more delusional ideas.  His city has a very strict observance of neutrality, and churches dedicated to gods of the four extreme elements are not allowed in the city.

Orr Kalen

  Orr Kalen is the only city-state built on an evil-tainted land.  It’s a lawful evil nation, unsurprisingly, and is known for its strong beliefs on the superiority of the old races and even the primitive humanoids over the new and lost races.  They practice warforged and shifter slavery, which is not unique among the city states, but they do so far more openly than other nations.  In addition, they have a policy of not allowing any kalashtar, dromites, xephs, or maenads into the city, and they execute elans and changelings upon discovery!

Stahl Modred

  Stahl is the only surviving state that existed as a formal nation before the Godfield War.  It was originally regarded as a bastion of culture and tolerance, though not necessarily democracy and civil rights.  To survive the war, however, its people grew increasingly desperate and they lost many of their most treasured values in an attempt to preserve their civilization.  The end result was lawful neutral, mostly benign dictatorship with strong military elements and a people with an almost Spartan level of state and military devotion.  While the common citizens have a relative level of rights (though free speech is often curtailed,) individual races are subjected to slavery or overt discrimination, especially the warforged, shifters, elans and changelings.  The government itself doesn’t take actions against any races except for elans and changelings, but it lets private businesses engage in their reprehensible actions.

Shi Nella

  Though the elves had a fairly impressive structured society before the Godfield War, the devastation of the war and the elves’ general decision to return to nature destroyed many of those civilizations, leaving only Shi Nella.  Shi Nella managed to avoid much of the damage of the war due to both their isolation and magical protections.  They have since emerged as a dominant force for elven culture, despite its own internal struggles.  The political crises in Shi Nella mostly revolve around battles between the gray and high elves, who are generally progressive and in favor of advanced technology and relations with other city-states, and the wood and wild elves, who are traditional, emphasize the city’s natural properties, and often justify their positions based on their longer history with Shi Nella.  Much of Shi Nella’s culture is of vaguely Asian influence.

Gilded Darfal-Zezzin

  Calling this city a fully-recognized city-state is controversial.  It only recently increased its population to that near the other city-states, and its unusual government makes it position as a city or state questionable.  In many ways, it’s much closer to a massive business!  Darfal-Zezzin is co-ruled by dwarves and gnomes and it treated as a plutocracy with the presidents of the Coin Counters Guild and other guilds as the city’s rulers/owners.  The city is located inside a mountain and is dedicated almost entirely to Guild business.  However, the workings of the corporation have created an even larger number of support businesses, from housing for the workers and providing for their needs and entertainment to a fully functional military dedicated to protecting company interests.

Durrackrej (Drej)

  If Darfal-Zezzin’s claim to city-statehood is a controversy, Duurackrej (or just Drej, as most people call it,) is considered little better than a joke.  The nation was formed when an orc chieftain of great power absorbed similarly powerful lizardfolk and gnoll tribes.  The latter two were too powerful for him to simply conquer, so he reluctantly agreed to form a new governing trifecta, though he would have the greater authority of the three leaders.  The combined force soon created a permanent settlement that attracted other humanoid tribes like a beacon, creating a vaguely stable city that existed contrary to the normally chaotic or at least primitive nature of the uncivilized humanoids.  Nonetheless, the city maintains ordered and culture in only the loosest of terms.  Riots, fights, crime, and racial conflicts are continuous throughout the city, which remains alive only because the combined force of its residents has proven useful both in distributing mercenaries and in less legal economic growth, like extortion.  Surprisingly, however, the city has absolutely no slavery, gladiator battles, or even legal discrimination, suggesting that some or all of the ruling trifecta has an interest in the city for ideological reason, not just pragmatic ones.

Devil City Ulgurtha

  Of all the cities on Mesion, this one is arguably the most unusual.  It was founded right after the Godfield War when Ulrich Bludwright, the vaguely human name taken by the only pit fiend left on Mesion after the war, led an army of devils and other evil outsiders to the previously uninhabited evil-dominated land.  He erected the city with supernatural speed and surprised all his neighbors by launching a surprise surrender on them!  In other words, he immediately and unconditionally offered the city to all of its neighbors.  Said neighbors, who were already in the middle of plans to just invade the place, were suspicious of this plan and none of them were willing to be the first to walk into what they assumed was a trap.  A few crusading orders did enter the city, but they soon left when they were welcomed by open arms by the devils and almost were given the keys to the city itself.  Since then, the city has been at relative peace with its neighbors, and nobody’s really sure if Ulrich truly wants peace with its neighbors, if it plans on maintaining an image of peace while letting the city’s residents secretly make war on its mortals, or if it’s just biding its time before launching an all-out assault.  Certainly, some of its citizens have committed crimes against mortals, but while Ulrich has stopped any investigations of the war crimes of the city’s fiends, he has allowed investigators to catch criminals that have acted since then.  This has proven helpful to various demon and devil hunting organizations, but if anything, it has made them even more suspicious about the city’s mysterious king.

Altectonis-1

  Though nowhere near large enough to justify the name of city-state, Altectonis-1 is nonetheless a prosperous city with a population that consists almost entirely of warforged.  Given the inherently lawful nature of the warforged, the city not only sprung up quickly, it managed to achieve a very enviable level of stability.  Crime is low, though police presence is high to assist in this, and the letter of the law, while not overtly cruel or punishing, it very strict and leaves little room for interpretation.  The city is also relatively unfriendly to non-warforged simply because it lacks most of the amenities organic beings need: inns, restaurants, taverns, and even privies are almost nonexistent!  Instead, Altectonis-1 makes it money mostly by assisting in hiring out its people as laborers or mercenaries.  The warforgeds’ ability to resist many things that could endanger common laborers make them popular in hazardous jobs like mining, though this has earned the city’s people some enmity from normally warforged-tolerant races like the dwarves, who are afraid the constructs might steal their own jobs.  The ruling body of Altectonis-1 (a republic) has expressed interest in not expanding the city further to create a new city-state, but instead preferring to create a new city entirely, which will presumably be called Altectonis-2 (Altectonis was a warforged veteran who earned great respect for his actions in the war.)

Dromis Prime

  Actually, the dromites don’t use this naming system for their own cities, but their names for their cities are unpronounceable in normal language, so a common naming system was created for their cities in Common.  Dromis Prime isn’t even an especially big city for the dromites, or at least it wasn’t until recently.  However, Prime is not only one of the city-hives located closest to the surface, it is conveniently located near a major trade route.  As a result, it quickly became popular first as a tourist attraction and later as a convenient place to re-supply and simply rest during expeditions.  Once the dromites realized how useful this was in improving their relations with the other races, not to mention their own economy, they poured even more money into expanding the city, making it openly accommodating to any sentient race that is willing to stay there.  Some dromites, however, are starting to feel that attempts to commercialize the city have gotten out of hand, and are arguing towards preserving more of the city’s traditions.

Scintinorius, The Cove of Colors

  Much like Dromis Prime, this seemingly minor maenad city gained popularity due to its proximity to established civilization.  It was discovered just offshore of the small elven town of Lyria Mein, and it was soon discovered that both Lyria and the maenad city were within the realm of a good-aligned region located mostly on the water.  Soon, Lyria became a major shipping city with a special business of transporting visitors to and from the Cove of Colors, which is located inside a massive cave and is only accessible by water.  The city got its name from the way sunlight reflected off of the water and then on the largely glassy and gem-laded walls of the cove, creating a very frequent effect similar the aurora borealis right in the middle of the city!  However, the maenads were afraid that their city would become a cheap tourist attraction if they over-emphasized the simple visual appeal of their city.  Instead, they worked to turn it into a world-renowned center of culture, the arts, and theology, using the good-influenced environment to boost both these purposes and the city’s own ecological properties.  So far, it has been successful, but it has a long way to go before obtaining Mesion-wide renown.

East and West Xegil

  These two cities of the xephs are the closest that they come to a capital.  Like all xeph cities, their locations at the literal edges of the world make them a rare place for other races to visit, but they have gained some interest due to a unique feature about these cities.  Despite the fact that they are almost as far away from each other as possible while still being on Mesion, the cities are apparently linked by a massive psionically generated teleportation circle that fills the far edges of both cities, making both cities into an almost completely connected whole!  Besides making travel much easier for cross-Mesion trips (when the xephs let their city be used for that purpose, which is admittedly fairly often,) the sheer power of such a portal has made it the focus of a lot of research.  Even the xephs aren’t sure where the portal came from; some think it always existed, and others believe that earlier xephs created the portal but didn’t record the process they used.

Primal Mountain

  Once, Primal Mountain was considered little more than an awe-inspiring natural landmark (as the largest mountain on Mesion,) and a popular destination for pilgrims because of its rumored spiritual properties.  This changed when the pilgrims that eventually would become the kalashtar and inspired visited the mountain during the Godfield War.  Now, Primal Mountain is an increasingly populous and advanced civilization that could arguably be called a city-state if anyone outside of the inspired culture ever was allowed to visit it and confirm their size.  Inspired, however, have a very strict and mercilessly enforced isolationist state that prevents anyone from entering the region.  If possible, inspired try to eject nonviolent visitors without killing them.  The exceptions to this rule are kalashtar, who the inspired consider traitors and thus kill on sight when within their country.   

Arcadia/Elysia Crossroad

  This strange region is located at the last of the known three good-aligned territories.  To prevent a major land-grab for what should be a peaceful region, a number of good forces collectively gained control of the land and were able to prevent any further incursions despite the lack of a solid city-state.  Instead, the more neutral and chaotic good forces that control the city (including many eladrins and guardinals, and even some angels,) have let the area be decided by the people directly.  Ironically, this has made the area very bitterly contested, but in the most polite way possible!  The major conflict comes between the Arcadians, who tend to have lawful to neutral alignments and believe in creating a systematic, if not oppressive, society similar to that of modern suburbia.  The Elysians believe in a very limited, semi-nomadic existence with little to no public buildings.  The two have engaged in most nonviolent but often very bitter struggles about how much of the region should consist of each group’s ideal terrain.  The actual ratio has changed constantly, with each group seeking constant support for an increase of their region and yet another change to the region’s name (hence why most people just call it the combined name or just the Crossroad.)

The Playground

  The most important rule of the unsettled territory known as the Playground is that you never, ever call it that while there.  The Playground is a relatively fertile but extremely dangerous set of hilly plains that have become controlled entirely by halfling bandits.  In fact, the area is so entrenched that many of the bandit leaders have become de facto warlords who fight each other for increased power.  Everyone who enters the region is at risk of robbery or worse, but between their playful (if often cruel,) sense of humor and a twisted code of honor, many bandits can be tricked or negotiated with by the cunning.

The Splintered Peaks

  Nobody goes to the Splintered Peaks any more, at least not anybody sane.  Though the Splintered Peaks was never inhabited by fiends long enough for it to develop an evil taint, it was the site of many of the Godfield War’s most brutal battles, including one that gave the mountains their names.  A particularly strong magical attack ran through the tops of the mountains, causing massive avalanches and leaving cracks in the mountains themselves.  Since then, the place has been a breeding ground both for undead, who were apparently created both by fiends to serve as soldiers and from the deaths from the avalanches themselves, and for stranded or resisting demons and other evil outsiders.  The mountains’ many cracks have made attacks in the region nearly impossible, while the demons and outsiders can regularly attack nearby towns and foolish travelers.  For now, the area has been avoided, but the attacks have been getting more frequent and at more distant targets, suggesting that the forces in the Peaks are getting stronger, or at the very least bolder.

Forest of Wrath

  The Forest of Wrath has had a reputation for being haunted for as long as anyone could remember, and not inaccurately.  The Nature’s Wrath, a nightmarish undead whose exact physical form is unknown, has made the forest his home.  The Wrath itself lives at the very heart of the forest and rarely ventures out beyond it, but much of the forest is filled with Nature’s Rages that rose due to the proximity to the Nature’s Wrath and other undead created by the Wrath and the Rages.  Nonetheless, particularly reckless and stupid hunters sometimes try to hunt in the forest, which usually costs them their lives.  One especially obsessed brand of undead hunters that include the Wilderness Devoted even made this part of their rituals; they are required to go into the forest, kill an animal, and wait until it raises as a Nature’s Rage that must then be itself destroyed by the hunter.  The only sane reason to go into the Forest of Wrath is to meet its only intelligent non-evil resident known locally as The Eccentric.  There are many rumors about her true nature, including theories that she’s responsible for the evil of the forest, that she’s a simple druid or madwoman, or even that she’s a surviving Primal Outsider, but the few reports from those who met her are insufficient to determine exactly.

Grim Ward

  No city can be found in the area known as Grim Ward, but it is an important site nonetheless.  Unlike other evil-dominated lands following the Godfield War, no major societies had the chance to develop in Grim Ward, giving various good factions the chance to secure the borders and keep the tainted land uninhabited.  However, this has proven to be a grueling and difficult task.  In addition to stopping both evil outsiders and power-crazed mortals from entering the region, the area’s guardians have had to fight with nature itself.  The area is filled with bizarre, damaging storms, fiend-tainted animals and monsters, bizarre environmental effects, and the seemingly spontaneous generation of even more unnatural monsters.  The clerics, paladins, and other noble keepers of the land have to often be rotated due to injuries, deaths, and mental fatigue, and even the ones who get out without physical arm often end up going mad as a result of what they endured.

Celina Braye

  Though it was not a city-state in itself, Celina Braye was once a great nation of the elves that was spread through the entirety of a massive valley.  The elves created and maintained massive magical forces in this valley, and as a result it was a frequent target in the Godfield War.  Despite this, they were able to repel attacks for years before finally being taken by one side (which side has been lost to history.)  They town was immediately assaulted by the other side of the war, but the power of the occupying force coupled with the valley’s defenses proved unbeatable.  In desperation, the attacking side decided that if they couldn’t have Celina Braye, no one would.  They diverted a series of nearby rivers into the valley, which soon turned it into a flooded ruin.  The elves were almost universally killed as a result, and the war moved on, leaving the countless relics of the former nation behind.  The valley is a popular target for treasure hunters as a result, but it is also a very dangerous one.  Besides the hazards of underwater travel, the valley is plagued with the Sunken, undead monsters apparently created from the elves who were drowned.  

The Gate of Madness

  Many dungeons, caverns, and underground societies dot the world underneath Mesion’s surface, but none are as infamous or as feared as the Gate of Madness.  Before the Godfield War, the labyrinth that would be called the Gate of Madness was simply famous for its impressive size, as it is the result of many connected natural cave systems, underground dwelling creature’s cities, and ancient burial chambers and catacombs.  This massive dungeon was so large that many of the most notable battles of the Godfield War occurred here, though witnesses to said wars are few given the location.  Sometime after the Godfield War, however, things changed.  The upper layers of the dungeon were more or less normal, though even there strange creatures and incidents were reported.  The deeper one goes into the dungeon, however, the stranger things get.  Reports from the few who explored the depths of the Gate of Madness and survived claim that insanity itself seems to rule over the dungeon.  The laws of common sense, biology, and physics itself are overruled to create a surreal nightmare.  Despite the obvious dangers of this place, more and more adventurers are attracted to the wonders the Gate of Madness claim and the hope that the place was warped to create the stuff of the dreams in addition to the stuff of nightmares, or failing that, that at least the massive treasures left behind haven’t been altered significantly.


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## LordVyreth (May 16, 2006)

*Mesion Excerpt #3: Travels of the Target*

And now for a bit of ominous foreshadowing.  The details of this update are intentionally vague, both to avoid giving anything away and because I'm still tying the details of the game to the plot as it develops and the characters' motivations.



	The target arrived at its next stop, which by all appearances is just another nondescript village.  That was just how the target liked it.  Harrin’s Steading, Dawn Grove, Capeville, and countless other villages just like this one blended in the target’s mind.  The target knew the rules.  Stay out of cities.  There, the target’s enemies could be anywhere and the target’s identity could become known.  Stay out of the wilderness.  Enemies can stage an ambush behind every rock or tree, and an accident or simple monster attack could ruin everything.  No, it was best to stay in the relative anonymity of small towns.  Above all else, though, the target knew that the first rule now is simply to flee.  In earlier days, the target and its organization could afford to hide in plain sight.  But the target, and more importantly what the target had, was too valuable right now.

	The target’s name is not to be revealed.  If possible, neither is the target’s title, profession, race, or even gender!  Until the target’s organization is no longer in crisis and the target can return its possession to safer hands, it must avoid making contact with anybody.  And yet, the target is becoming increasingly worried that this is no longer an option.  The target was supposed to be contacted by more powerful and higher ranked members of the organization as soon as possible, but it has been months now without even the first hint of communication, and the target is worried that the worst has happened; the target is the last member of the organization alive!  In addition, the target knows that it is a target.  It was attacked several times already, and though it managed to through off pursuit so far, it knows it can’t last forever.  It will have to either get help by the organization, or it will have to find some trustworthy allies soon; people that its enemies don’t know about.

	The target knows all too well about the threat of its enemies.  Ever since its organization existed, there have been forces that threatened to end the organization and its goals.  But in the last few years, things have changed for the worst.  A new secret society is threatening the target’s organization.  This new threat has the resources of a small nation, perhaps suggesting that a city-state is directly funding the society.  They also appear to be fully committed to finding and eliminating everyone in the target’s organization, making their goal obvious; they seek the very object the organization was created to protect; the same object the target is now forced to protect with its life alone.  The target knows that the odds are against it.  It has absolutely no hope that it will even survive the next few weeks, assuming it survives the day.  But it tries not to think about the seemingly doomed chances of long-term success, or what it means for Mesion if it fails.  It just has to deal with each day and each village at a time.


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## LordVyreth (May 19, 2006)

*Chronicles of Mesion: I Love a Parade: Introductions*

Fra Dane!  It is a city of culture, a city of progress, but also a city of controversy.  Founded by wealthy and opportunistic adventurers who saw the abandoned ruins of an ancient city devastated by supernatural warfare as an opportunity, Fra Dane has had its share of troubles and has yet to truly impress the rest of the world of Mesion as an independent and powerful city-state in and of itself.  Nonetheless, it is developing a culture of its very own, one that demonstrates both the wealth and sophistication of its people and its bloodthirsty willingness to defend the same.

These attributes come together perfectly in an event commonly known as the Prosperity Parade.  At first, it was simply a public display of the wealth and opulence the adventuring party, known as the Fra Danes, had earned in their long careers that gave them the opportunity to found their own city.  When said display was simultaneously attacked by dozens of greedy criminals and warriors under the employ of rival nations, only for the Fra Dane forces to fight them all of in a spectacular battle, the Parade became known for a different message.  The people of Fra Dane were clearly wealthy and powerful, but more importantly, they were willing and able to fight to maintain their power.  This nationalistic message emboldened the city, slowly turning the annual Prosperity Parades into the city’s most popular holiday and tourist attraction, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the still annual attempts to steal some of the treasure.  The festival attracts attention both among the city’s natives and its many visitors, all eager to find some method, legal or otherwise, to make some money on the festival.

Luke, one of the city’s natives, was in the process of joining one of the legal methods.  He was currently standing in the middle of a mostly empty building he previously thought of as just another warehouse.  For now, however, it was a staging ground for the Parade itself and a headquarters for the city’s elite Operative unit, a semi-secret police system that answered to the prime minister herself directly.  One such Operative, a man who only identified himself as Operative Vel, was addressing the recently inducted members of the watch and free-lancers hired on to provide extra security for the Parade.  

“Some of you have been with us for years, so I’m aware that you have heard this before, but you will have to bear with me,” Vel began.  “After weeks of training, the Parade itself is only 24 hours away, and your assignments have been determined.  All of you have been called here because of your career’s records to date, your abilities, or simple random chance.  It is not my position to determine these roles, nor to question them.  I am only here to give you your assignments.”

Vel held out his hands to gesture to the contents of the warehouse, which included several elaborate parade floats.  “These three floats are your official priority; you are to take any steps needed to protect them.  Thanks to the efforts of our city’s most powerful magic-users, they have been altered to move the entirety of the parade route on their own, removing the risk of vulnerable or disloyal teamsters and easily attacked animals of labor.  In addition, all floats are protected by fields which prevent any form of magical teleportation within their vicinity, making an ambush of this nature impossible.  This does not remove all risk of attack, of course.  You will be expected to ride on the floats themselves and while you obviously should not interfere with the treasures or the public’s enjoyment while witnessing them, you will have to fight off all attacks that threaten then the treasures themselves.  You will note that each float contains a system of walkways and defensive barricades that have been constructed for just that purpose.”

Vel traversed the warehouse while pointing the various heavily guarded treasures that would soon be placed on these and other floats.  “Most of the treasures you will be guarding are of little value to the city.”  He indicates a massive six foot column seemingly made entirely out of gems.  “This, for example, is just a curio found over the course of the Fra Danes’ raids on abandoned fiendish outposts near or after the Bladestill.  The gems that make up the column are nearly indestructible, but any attempt to remove them from the column would ruin them, and their value as jewelry is nearly worthless.”  He moved on to point out a suit of armor and other treasures.  “These non-magical treasures are simply considered part of the city’s art treasures.  They are fairly valuable but not especially important to the city or a worthy target for thieves.”  Finally, he stops at a large ruby.  “This, however, is a likely threat and your main concern during the play.  It is a magical item known as the Jewel of Success.  In addition to being extremely valuable, this magical item is known to improve the luck of its wielder.  The Fra Danes claim it saved the lives of one or more of its members on many occasions, and it has been targeted on previous years.”

As Vel continued to talk about the exact details of their duties, Luke sighed inwardly and tried to figure out, once again, how his life came to this.  Just days earlier, he was a respected, if extremely low-ranked, member of the prominent church of Ehlonna.  Despite his young age and lack of experience, his potential was already acknowledged by his superiors.  But all that changed at his discovery of something horrible at the heart of his church; a corruption seemingly started by the church’s new high priest that an idealistic devotee like Luke couldn’t abide.  When he threatened to reveal what he witnessed, he was threatened with expulsion from the church.  Luke elected to resign instead, letting him preserve his dignity and his faith.  However, dignity and faith don’t pay the bills or help him eat, at least not at his level of theological devotion, so he was forced to take the first honest job he could find.  Well, he figured, the city militia isn’t so bad.  If he was reasonably successful on a high-profile mission like this, maybe he could gain some stature and titles within the city’s justice department.  From there, maybe he could finally use that power to go after his former church, removing its corrupt elements and letting it be the beacon of justice that Luke expected it to be.

But Luke’s hopeful daydreams were cut short when one of his fellow watch members had a question.  “What can we expect to go up against tomorrow?  Is the Thief’s Guild a threat?”

Vel came as close to smiling at the question as he seemed capable.  “No, the city is well aware of the Thief’s Guild and has taken a pragmatic approach to its role in the Parade.  A sizeable donation has been made to the Guild’s interests, ensuring their alliance for the span of this holiday.”

“The city bribed the Guild into doing nothing?” Luke asked with disbelief.

“Oh, the Guild will do something.  They’ll launch a very impressive and flashy raid at a very precise location and time where we coincidentally will have some of our strongest defenders.  The attack will be amazing and dramatic, forcing the members of the Guild to flee for their very survival, save any that the Guild decided are too rebellious or incompetent to be worth their furthered support, who will of course not be informed at the details of this plan.”

“No,” Vel continued, “Your threats will likely be smaller targets.  In general, the most common threats to the Parade now are political idealists or violent anarchists who try to disrupt the Parade to make a statement.  Given the annual gladiator contests at the Achieve Entertainment Center, there will certainly be protests at its gates, but your floats are far enough back in the order of the Parade that it won’t be your concern.  Random attacks by some of Wrejid’s zealots are your most likely threat.”

“Wrejid?” a newcomer to the city and one of the free-lancers among the recruits asked.

“Wrejid is considered one of the city’s most dangerous criminals,” Vel explained.  “He and his family were squatters in the ruins of Solar Devotion when we arrived to begin work on the city.  When we implemented the Symbol Act requiring that all shifters, warforgeds, and other sapient races deemed a threat by the government be given unique identifying symbols they are legally required to wear at all times, Wrejid went crazy during his symbol assignment.  He killed many government workers and escaped into the city, and ever since, he and his so called “resistance” movement have harassed or threatened Achieve employees, disrupted their business, wrecked symbol assignments, harbored other criminals, and generally caused random mayhem.”  After seeing the nervous looks on many of the newer recruits, Vel made an attempt at sounding reassuring.  “Now, we don’t anticipate anything of that sort happening here.  Wrejid usually goes after Achieve targets or more obvious symbols of the city than fairly minor random magic items.  The worst you’ll have to deal with will likely be some over-enthusiastic children, if that.  In fact, we recently came up with a lead that there is a small group of potential troublemakers that could cause a hindrance to the floats, and your target specifically.  We doubt you’ll have to do anything more elaborate than kicking in the door to their hideout; a currently empty residential establishment located on 1942 Rodent’s Way.  We would like some of you to investigate this site and scare off its residents before they could cause a distraction during the parade.  Any volunteers would be welcome.”

Eager to prove himself to the militia, Luke volunteered, but something about this entire job seemed wrong, somehow.  “Are you sure the worst things we’ll go up against are disaffected children?”

Vel responded, “It isn’t certain, but it is likely.  The Prosperity Parade has been going on for years now.  Between the Thief’s Guild’s attempts to silence any competition and our own increasingly vigilant defenses, any professional criminals have by and large given up on any sort of attack on the floats.  The only major attempts to steal anything are manufactured shams by the Guild or our own forces to impress the crowds.  You’d have to be insane to attempt a heist at this point.


	The Leaky Bucket Tavern has a reputation for the its poor, watered-down drinks, its poor, watered-down environment in general, and an unusual quirk of geography and city design that actually places it underneath a riverbed, which explains the first two parts of its reputation.  It’s also known for a propensity of tavern brawls, shady dealings, and other things the less reputable brand of adventurers tends to love.  The night before the Parade, a small collection of newcomers arrived at the bar, each entering or living in the city for his or her own reason, though the motivation of gold has united these strangers.

	One of the new arrivals in town, Enrique (or as he prefers, Enrique the Great,) was the first of this collection to arrive.  He arrived in this town with one purpose, vengeance.  One of his own, a friend of his from a life long past, had wronged him.  He would have that wrong paid back, and with interest.  He managed to track his adversary as far a Fra Dane, but it was here that his money began to run out.  As a result, he decided to seek some quick employment before his quest would continue.  He sat at the bar and decided to see how the situation played out before he got himself involved personally.  As he looked at the paltry remains of his money, he shrugged and ordered the cheapest drink in the bar.

	The next to arrive was an unusual elven man with an even more unusual name.  Elvis, however, has a justification for such an unusual name, as he came from a world as alien as it is.  Elvis was born and raised in another world known as Eberron, where he was recently inducted as a member of the Gatekeeper druidic order.  However, early in his career, he was trapped by a Rakshasa who struck Elvis with a magical blast of light.  The Rakshasa’s actual intent is unknown, but the blast of light transported Elvis to Mesion, where Elvis has been forced to wander and try to adapt to despite its differences.  The land is different.  The people and races are different.  Even the gods are different.  Fortunately, and by an extreme coincidence, the languages are almost exactly the same, but Elvis nonetheless has had difficulty finding a place in his new society.  He hopes to eventually find a wizard or other powerful being capable of sending him home, but he realizes that such a request would likely be very expensive, so he began to look for ways to make the massive amounts of gold he will eventually need.  After arriving at the Leaky Bucket, he cautiously scanned the bar, getting an idea of the patrons and employees before seeking his employer.

	Anastacia, the third to enter the bar, looked a little more experienced and world-weary than the others, at least in terms of life in general if not combat.  Her story, however, remained a mystery, and she made no attempt to interact with the other patrons of the bar.  She merely waited until other interest parties appeared ready before joining them.  The most one can tell from her is that she apparently has military training, judging by her armor and numerous weapons.

	Lorren, the final of the fledgling adventurers to enter the bar, also appeared nervous, but it was mixed with an unrestrained eagerness.  Unlike the other visitors to the bar and like Luke, he was a native to Fra Dane.  At the age of seventeen, Lorren is extremely young for a fully trained, if inexperienced mage, and during his apprenticeship he was known as a child prodigy.  Despite his success, the nature of his apprenticeship grew intolerable to Lorren’s own ideals, which is impressive given his general lax view of morality in the first place.  He willingly ended his apprenticeship, which earned him his freedom but forced him into the dangerous job of adventuring far sooner than he initially planned.  However, Lorren was happy to embrace his newfound premature adulthood, including his first visit to a real bar!  As soon as he arrived, he eagerly sat at the bar and was about to order his first alcoholic drink, when he realized he had no idea what any of them were.  He decided to ask the nearest patron what he was drinking and just have the same.  Unfortunately, he asked Enrique.  Enrique, upon hearing the question, smiled and replied that he was having the bar’s best.  “After all,” Enrique thought, “If I have to drink this slop, I don’t see why everyone else shouldn’t.”

	Finally, after the four adventures took some time to go over the tavern and each other to determine there was no immediate threat, they slowly made their way to the contact they were each told to meet if they were interested in the job.  The contact was a typical shadowy figure who remained largely hidden behind a hooded robe and was further obscured by the darkness and mist that filled the tavern.  Nonetheless, when the four adventurers neared him, he nodded in recognition and motioned for them to come closer.  As the proto-party drew nearer, they could see that the man was an elf of some sort.

	“Excellent, I expected your arrival,” the man simply said.  “I have need for some combat experts for a heist me and my compatriots have prepared.”

	“And just what is this heist?” Elvis asked.

	“Something that should make all of us very right,” the elf replied.  “We’re going to steal the Jewel of Success!”

	OOC: And so ends the first official Story Hour update.  This covers approximately the first half of the first session.  The next update will finish the session, begin the second session, and introduce most, if not all of the remaining party members.  So far, we’ve seen five of them introduced.  Yes, Luke is so far one of the player characters, despite being in opposition to the rest of the party so far.  It’ll be resolved by the conclusion of the adventure.  I hope.


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## LordVyreth (May 24, 2006)

*I Love a Parade: Recruitment*

After initially hearing the plan, the four adventurers were skeptical, if not outraged, by the mysterious elf’s plan.

	“That’s insane!” Lorren, who lived in Fra Dane and saw many of the parades personally, shouted.  “We won’t get near the Jewel before the city militia will tear us apart!”

	The elf, however, simply smiled.  “Normally, you would be correct.  However, I have allies within the city that arranged to make this heist possible.  The floats normally are given a set of instructions that let them travel across the city on the parade route automatically.  However, this float was given alternate programming, causing it to take a detour at a crucial part of the parade route.  It will travel down a narrow street in one of the poorer and emptier parts of town.  This will give you five hundred feet or so of room to board the float, fight off its attackers, and steal the jewel.  Unfortunately, I myself am no fighter, and taking the Jewel would be risky at best for me.  That’s where you come in.  I have determined that all of you are competent and skilled individuals who are still relatively unknown to the city, letting you work without raising too much alarm.  All you have to do is steal the Jewel and return it to me, and we can split the money it’s worth when we sell it.”

	“How much can we expect to make?” Enrique asked.

	“Given my channels of buyers, each of us can make several thousand gold.”

	That seemed to satisfy Enrique, but Lorren and Elvis remained suspicious.  “And how will you actually be selling this Jewel, Mr…?” Lorren asked, implied that he would like more information about their “benefactor.”

	“You may call me Treafilel,” the elf replied.  “I understand your suspicions, but a mutually beneficial arrangement like this has no need for such deceit.  I will be waiting here tomorrow at this time for the Jewel.  In the meantime, I must go, as it is not wise for us to be seen together for long.  I recommend you leave and get your rest tonight, for tomorrow will be a busy day.”

	With that, Treafilel left, but the party took a few moments to converse quietly.  “I don’t think he’s telling us the whole story,” Elvis admitted.

	Anastacia nodded her agreement, and Lorren suggested, “I think we should follow him.  He might reveal more about who his allies are.  If he plans on betraying us, we might be able to get the drop on him or even go over his head to sell the Jewel ourselves.”

	Enrique, however, shrugged.  “I have no interest in these things.  I may need some money to stay alive, but my concern is vengeance.  You try to follow him if you want, but I’d rather find my enemy.  I’ll be there tomorrow for the heist, of course.”

	So saying, Enrique went on his way, while the other three began to track their theoretical employer.


	As Luke and the other militia members selected to investigate the lead Vel gave them traveled to their destination, Luke pondered the troubling final instructions Vel gave Luke personally.  “I should warn you that we seem to be understaffed somewhat this year.  Either people are losing interest in working as guards for the Parade or something is discouraging them from joining.  As a result, we’re still looking for immediate free-lancers to shore up our defenses.  If you can find any trustworthy-looking professionals to hire, you will be rewarded with a bonus upon the completion of the parade.”

	The last thing any trained fighter wants to hear is that his superior doesn’t think he has enough soldiers.  As a result, as he traveled to the house, he kept his eyes open for anyone that might help his cause.  He paused as he passed the Commonroom, arguably the cheapest inn Fra Dane has that a visitor could hope to stay in without seriously risking one’s life.  He noticed what looked like a down on her luck minstrel playing for charity at the door.

	The woman saw the unknown cleric pause and eagerly prepared to play.  As another newcomer to the city, she was happy to get any attention, especially from anybody that looked like they had some money to spend.

	After a song dedicated to a god totally unrelated to Luke’s own Ehlonna, Luke was left a little aghast, but nonetheless he decided to extend the offer.  After all, Ehlonna works in mysterious ways; perhaps this odd but devout young woman (who was human, as far as Luke could tell,) was a fated encounter for him.  “Young lady...” he began.

	“Ik,” the woman replied, forgetting for a moment that changelings are not very welcome in Fra Dane, at least not without registration.

	Fortunately for her, Luke was not an expert on the nomenclature of other races.  “Well, Ik, I have a business proposition for you,” he began.  “The Fra Dane government has authorized me to recruit promising citizens and free-lance mercenaries to increase security for the Prosperity Parade.  I believe that you would be suitable for this task, given your talent with a musical instrument.”

	The implications of that last comment didn’t seem to bother Ik, not when more important matters were on her mind.  “How much does it pay?”

	“Well, the base rate is about twenty gold, but if we succeed in protecting our target objects, we get a bonus.”

	“I’m in!” Ik happily replied, and she joined Luke’s team.  “This could be a big break for me,” she thought to herself.  “Finally, I can put those last two performances behind me.  It's not like the fires were my fault or anything…”



	Not all the visitors to the city with an interest in quick and less than legal employment are crazy or chaotic enough to actually steal from the Fra Dane government, however, or are so willing to do anything to earn their money.  Urr Steiner, a halfling sorcerer who was generally interested only in more noble causes, spent the day before the Parade drinking at the Giant Gullet and pondering how he’ll be able to pay for the trip home.  He was at the Gullet because of rumors he heard that the place was secretly owned by powerful unseen forces, and between that and the fact that it’s a famous historical site and popular among tourists, it’s supposed to be a good place to learn about local jobs to do.  However, as the sun set and it got late in the night, he was wondering if the rumors were just that.  Just as he was about to give up for the night, however, the barmaid dropped off a drink he hadn’t bought and a note.  Curious but cautious, Urr read the note and learned that it was sent by a man in the corner of the bar.  The man had a bright red symbol attached to his armor and a bestial appearance, suggesting that he was a shifter.  According to the note, the man indicated that he was looking for more moral adventurers for a job.

	Urr approached the man, who introduced himself.  “For obvious reasons, I can’t give out my name, but I work for Wrejid, our city’s foremost hero.”  After seeing some confusion on Urr’s face, the shifter explained about Wrejid’s past and the role of the symbols he and others of his kind are forced to share.  “But that’s not my purpose here tonight,” the shifter clarified.  “As you may know, one of the most noteworthy events of the Prosperity Parade is a battle in the city’s coliseum known as the Achieve Entertainment Center.  Those greedy sadists spend months before the Parade hunting for any unusual monsters they could find and shipping them into the city.  Wrejid has always opposed turning a slaughter of this sort into twisted fun and has worked to free as many captured creatures that he can.  We have recently learned of an Achieve holding center disguised as an abandoned residential building.  There aren’t enough of us among Wrejid’s followers to take care of every captive since he have so much to do to oppose the battle itself tomorrow, so we’re looking for passionate heroes capable of assisting us.  Of course, there will be money involved should you succeed.”

	“What do you want me to do, exactly?” Urr asked. 

	“We want you to investigate their prison and try to release the prisoner if the guards are minimal.  If you can free the prisoner, you can take him to one of our Houses for the Wretched.  From there, we’ll help the prisoner escape the city or integrate itself within our organization if it so desires.  It’s not our place to determine the prisoner’s fate for it after we release it, after all.”

	“Very well, I’ll do it,” Urr replied.

	“Excellent.”  The shifter slipped a piece of paper containing the addresses of the Achieve holding cell and a nearby House for the Wretched.  “If you do well here, perhaps you’d like to become one of our own?  The need for devoted warriors is greater now than ever, and with time and effort, the evil of Achieve will finally cease and we can finally be freed of these symbols.”

	“Maybe,” Urr said, noncommittally.  He had no definite plans to even stay in the city after the Parade, after all.  As he left, he glanced at the addresses the shifter gave him.  “1942 Rodent’s Way,” he noted, as he set off.


	Grim, another visitor to the city, was actually here for honest work.  Ever since his parents, both half-orcs like he himself was, were killed by unknown attackers, Grim has traveled with his aunt and uncle’s employer, an animal expert named Merlin.  Merlin travels the world with his menagerie of strange animals and monsters, and as Grim grew up, he learned both his boss’s love of animals and the strength and force often necessary to capture and protect them.  Despite his love of animals, however, he also feels a constant anger about his parent’s deaths and a desire to avenge them, letting him channel that anger into a violent rage when needed.  On the night before the Parade, however, he had far simpler ambitions.  He simply was looking for something interesting to do in town, which he soon found more of than expected.  While entering an alleyway, he overheard voices ahead and ducked into the shadows to learn what was going on.

	“What do you mean you lost him?” Lorren demanded.  “I thought you were a trained tracker, and you can’t follow one man down an alley?”

	“Well, I’m still fairly new at this, and I never had to track someone in an urban environment,” Elvis protested.  “Plus, I think Treafilel was trying to avoid being followed.”

	Suddenly, Anastacia shushed her new allies and pointed in front of them.  A figure in leather armor was slowly walking up to the trio, and it was obvious that he was not their quarry.  As he drew his weapon, Lorren instinctively took a few steps back and ducked behind the warrior women.

	“Hey, you!” the figure shouted.  “I have a message for you from the Thief’s Guild.”  As he spoke, a pair of men emerged from other intersections in the alley, further threatening the trio.  “We learned about your plans at the parade tomorrow.  We in the Guild do not appreciate having these little unauthorized plans ruining things.  If anything goes wrong tomorrow, the city will look bad, and they’ll ask us why we don’t keep the city’s criminals in line.  You see the problem we have?”

	“What do you intend to do about it?” Elvis asked with as much courage as he had at this point.

	“Well, we ‘intend’ to either encourage you to get out of the city before this foolish plan of yours is put into action, or we’ll use far more forceful encouragement to make sure you won’t be able to do anything embarrassing to us tomorrow, if ever.”

	Elvis glanced back at his allies, who nodded.  Risky though it was, none of them were interested in giving up on a great opportunity like this just because some lackey with the Thief’s Guild wanted to bully them.  As Grim looked on with a shocked look, both sides drew weapons.


	Enrique, meanwhile, was wandering through other dark streets in the generally regarded bad part of town and thinking of ways to find his adversary.  “I will find you, Jose,” he thought.  Jose was once a friend of his, and one day he may be again, but first a debt must be repaid and pain must be delivered.  As he walked, he initially was unaware of the arrival of a group of people near a home just at the edge of his vision in the nearly lightless street.  

	Luke and a group of the militia had reached 1942 Rodent’s Way.  “Okay, let’s do this the straightforward way Vel suggested,” he recommended.  He pointed to two of his militia and Ik as he said, “You three back me up at the front door.  Everyone else surround the house and watch for any reinforcements or funny business.”  His plan established, the four walked up to the door, not noticing either Enrique or Urr, who just approached the house himself and chose to watch the situation after seeing so many armored people outside of it.

	Still thinking that he was about to confront children, Luke confidently walked up to the door and literally kicked it open.  The authoritarian speech he was rehearsing in his head the entire way here was forgotten immediately when he was what was inside the building, however.  Instead of children, the house contained over a half-dozen kobolds and goblins!  They apparently were aware of their assailants and prepared to charge.  Even stranger were the voices all sides heard coming from under the house.  There was the sound of armored individuals moving very quickly and a man shouting, “Jose, what are you doing?” 

 	The shout could be heard outside as well, and even Enrique heard it.  As combat began, Enrique eagerly dashed to the scene.  Perhaps he’ll have his vengeance sooner than he thought.

	OOC: And so the first game session ends, with the eight PCs established (at this point, there may or may not be more still,) introduced and grouped, in a way, between two groups.  Actually, Grim didn’t join the game until the beginning of the second game, but I introduced him directly into the alleyway fight, so I introduced him slightly early.  Combat, officially the first time I ran a 1st level through it in fact, began the second session, as both storylines so far indicate.  In an unusual move, I actually handled both group’s combats simultaneously.


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## LordVyreth (May 31, 2006)

*I love a Parade: First Blood*

Elvis looked over their three adversaries, saw that the rogue who apparently was in charge of this ambush was closest to him, shrugged, and went after the obvious target.  The rogue was caught off guard by how quickly his target shrugged off his threat and was unprepared for the sudden attack.  Before he could even say another word, Elvis’ sword struck true, leaving the rogue as a bleeding, dying mess on the alley floor.

	The rogue’s two brutes prepared to avenge the death of their leader, but before either one could get the chance, Lorren and Anastacia were on the nearest of the two warriors.  A ray of fire projected from the studious Lorren, leaving the warrior reeling, and in only an instant, Anastacia was there.  She sunk her rapier deep into his chest, and the man collapsed as well.

	Finally, the third Guild enforcer burst out of the alleyway.  However, the shock of the situation turning against him and anger at the death of his friends made him swing blindly, and his nearest target, Anastacia, easily sidestepped him.  Lorren wounded the man with a bolt of magic, and Elvis and Anastacia quickly surrounded him.  Well aware that the situation turned against him, the enforcer surrendered, putting the party in the awkward situation of how to handle a prisoner.  

	For starters, they decided to do an old-fashioned interrogation.  “All right, what do you know?” Elvis asked.

	“About what, exactly?” the prisoner asked.

	“Well, umm,” Elvis hesitated.  He didn’t actually expect the prisoner to talk.  “Well, how did you find out about us?”

	“We have an informant at the tavern.  He let us know all about your plan.  Normally we overlook that sort of thing, as anything going on in the Leaky Bucket is too minor for us to worry about.  But the Parade is another story.”

	“Heh, I guess now we know why they call it the Leaky Bucket,” Lorren chuckled.

	“Do you mind, I’m interrogating here,” Elvis snapped.  “Who’s the informant?  Is it Treafilel?”

	The prisoner stammered, “I don’t know!  I’m not even an official member of the Guild!  I’m just hired muscle.  They won’t tell us anything important.”

	“Well, who would know?”

	“Well, our immediate superior is Jarred Cutter.”

	“And where can we find him?”

	Wordlessly, the prisoner pointed to the bleeding body of the rogue.

	Elvis sighed.  “Never mind.  Why does the Guild care so much about the parade?”

	“Like he said, the Guild needs the Parade.  The city bribes us, err, them every year to only attack at the right time and place.  Prime Minister Preston would prefer if the traditional raid on the Parade made the city looked good but didn’t actually threaten any city treasures.  If something unplanned happens, the city blames the Guild for not controlling its own members and unpaid criminals like you lot.  But this year has been especially bad about this sort of thing.”

	“What do you mean?” Anastacia asked suspiciously.

	“Well, you’re not the only ones going after the Jewel of Success.  The Guild’s been trying to control some other groups who are planning on stealing it.  That’s why they had to use a low-level member and a few non-guided bandits like us to try and stop you.”

	“Other groups are going after this treasure.  This keeps getting better and better,” Anastacia complained.

	“What other groups?  Who are we up against?” Elvis said to continue the interrogation.

	“I wouldn’t know!  It wasn’t something we were supposed to be concerned with.”

	“Well, who would be concerned about it?”

	Once again, the prisoner pointed at Jarred’s bleeding form.

	Finally, Grim could not wait any longer.  He realized that Jarred was still alive, and after hearing so much of the conversation, he realized the motives behind this attack.  He was sympathetic to the victorious group, and after hearing about the fact they have a plan of some sort that is enough to make the Thief’s Guild upset, he decided he wanted in.  He moved towards Jarred’s dying body in a desperate attempt to save his life before it was too late.  The party was shocked to see another figure enter the alleyway, but before they could draw weapons on the stranger, Grim quickly called out, “Don’t worry, I want to help you!  I’m interested in working with you after hearing your plans.  I wanted to find some excitement in this city.”

	However, the limited vetinary skills he gained as an animal handler just didn’t translate well to a human body, and Jarred soon passed away.  Undeterred, Grim offered his services to the group, and though suspicious of this new figure, they decided that some extra muscle could be helpful given what they learned about potential rival groups looking to steal what they want to steal.

	At this point, all that remained to discuss was what to do with the prisoner.  “I think we should just kill him,” Lorren suggested.

	Elvis appeared disturbed at the suggestions, and offered a more peaceful alternative.  “We could just tie them up or dump them somewhere, at least until after the Parade.  There’s no sense in making us bigger targets to the Guild, after all.”

	This plan, however, soon fell apart when everyone admitted they didn’t have any rope.  “Well, I suppose we could just knock them unconscious and dump them in a ditch or something…” Elvis reluctantly thought.

	“And have the city guard or the Guild discover them?” Anastacia asked incredulously.

	Lorren sighed and drew his crossbow.  “Let’s not make this any more complicated than it has to be.  They did try to kill us, after all.”  After a few seconds without any protests (except from the one conscious prisoner, of course,) he fired a bolt right into the thug’s chest, causing him to slump over and quickly begin to bleed to death.  The others quickly looted and then disposed of the bodies in the first abandoned building they could find, and then split up for now to avoid drawing further attention to the group.

	After they left, Lorren patted his backpack, and then chuckled to himself.  “Well, what do you know; I did have some rope,” he muttered, and he laughed all the way home.



	Meanwhile, a far more brutal and less one-sided fight was continuing elsewhere.  A number of kobolds rushed to the door and cut at Luke with their swords.  Shocked by the sudden attack and change of plans, in pain from the attack, and highly embarrassed from his near-death experience at the hands of kobolds, he wisely retreated while the two militia men that supported him at the front door stood up and began to swing at the kobolds.  Luke quickly healed himself and then worked to heal his allies whenever they got injured, while Ik, who rarely experienced combat before, at least in a more formal situation like this, watched the events with horror and confusion.  She was even more confused when a strange man slowly approached the group from behind.  He was stealthy enough to avoid attracting attention from the other militia men on lookout, but not so stealthy that the more streetwise Ik was taken unaware.  However, he seemed harmless enough and was more interested in watching the fight, so she merely kept a close eye on him for now.

	The situation changed again when one of the doors in the house burst open.  An armored but currently unarmed man was on the other side, and he was still screaming “I surrender!” in absolute terror.  This terror got even worse when he saw the battle unfolding in the next room, and even more so when a goblin saw the sudden arrival of another potential threat and broke of to attack him.

	Finally, this prompted Enrique to act.  Shouting, “Jose, I will have revenge,” he entered the house, ignoring the looks of the surprised militia forces, and did battle with the goblin blocking him from the target of his vengeance.  Instead of dealing with these new factors, the militia forces focused on the surviving kobolds and goblins, who they were making headway with at last, while Ik, who had trouble with combat still but more than understood the concept of getting money where you can, started to steal anything she could from the downed bodies of the enemy!  

	After a brief battle, Enrique downed the goblin and descended on his foe.  As Jose looked at Enrique in fear, Enrique shouted, “We had a deal, Jose!  And now I intend to keep it!”  So saying, he promptly punched Jose in the stomach.  “Now where are the twenty gold pieces I lent you?”

	Jose, now at the edge of his wits, babbled, “I’m sorry!  I meant to pay you back!  Let me explain!”

	Enrique briefly let up on his incredibly excessive response to his underwhelming motive for vengeance so he could listen.  At the same time, with all the kobolds and goblins dead, surrendered, or fled, Luke, Ik, and the watch listened in as well.

	“Well, it’s about your uncle,” Jose began.  “You know, Guillermo, the weird one who always goes on long trips?  Well, he told me he was looking for bodyguards and offered top money for the job.  I decided to do it, but I didn’t have enough money to buy a decent weapon and armor, so I asked you if I could borrow some.”

	“Yes, and I agreed to give it to you, and you agreed that if you don’t return the money in time I get to demand it back and punch you in the stomach for my troubles.  So what?”

	“Well, things went horribly.  We left home, and we barely traveled for more than a day or two before we were attacked!  We were outmatched from the start.  The other bodyguards were killed in a matter of seconds.  Guillermo looked at me sadly and said that there was nothing I could do for him at this point, and I was better off leaving before I got killed.  He then rode away so fast to escape his attackers that I knew he had to be using magic of some kind.  I wanted to pay you back, not to mention getting away from those killers, so I decided to go to the nearest big city I could find and look for work.”

	Enrique, upon learning about the troubles of his uncle, was shocked beyond thoughts of Vengeance.  “Guillermo,” he sadly said to himself.

	“Look,” Jose said, “I’ll give you what I have for now, and I’ll pay you back when I can, okay?”  He pulled out a money pouch and tossed it at Enrique.  “There’s 93 silver.  That’s all I have, okay?”

	Jose then tried to leave, but found Luke and the rest of the watch in his way.  “Just a minute.  What were you even doing here?  I heard you surrendering before we even got in the building.”

	Jose quickly explained, “Well, I got a job as a guard for Achieve.  They needed to guard some monsters that they were escorting into the city.  We have one chained up down there until we can get it moved.  I don’t know when these creatures got here.  We were down there for a while.”

	Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard on the stairs.  Jose, who was barely conscious after the initial pummeling Enrique gave him, was quickly dragged out of the room, and most of the rest of the party fled the immediate vicinity in an attempt to clean out the signs of battle before too many questions could be asked.  The man who reached the top of the stairs was better armed and armored than Joe, suggesting that he was in charge of this holding cell.  He looked at Luke, noticed he had a badge that indicated his role in the watch, and put down his sword slightly.  However, he still looked very hostile.  “What is the meaning of this?”

	Luke tried to explain the situation.  “I’m with the city militia, as you seem to be aware of.  We heard reports of potential threats to tomorrow’s Parade located here, and we quickly moved to deal with the danger.  It seems that you inadvertently placed a holding cell in the same building that these criminals chose as their hideout, presumably without them knowing you are here.  We have to finish clearing the scene of the battle.”

	The leader nodded, but he still didn’t look friendly.  “Well, see that you do, and then be off.  We are paying citizens and within our legal rights to set up a cell here, and we do not need any further interruptions with the Parade tomorrow.  You know how much Achieve relies on the post-parade entertainment for its revenue.”

	Inwardly, Luke hated being ordered around by Achieve employees.  He never really believed in the company’s cruel policies towards other races.  On the other hand, he was right; they did have the law on their side, and he knew this was a battle he couldn’t win.  If the incident with his high priest taught him anything, it was that there was a time and a place for even the most worthy and righteous of battles.  For now, he accepted he could do nothing with the situation, and he left the room to finish cleaning the mess.

	Enrique and Ik, however, were still curious about the situation.  Enrique ducked into a corner of the room before the cell commander arrived and managed to avoid detection.  As for Ik, she decided that she could go downstairs herself by appearing as Jose.  Once everyone else left the room, she changed her form to resemble the cowardly guard and Enrique’s quasi-friend, and then entered the basement.  There, she saw the commander Luke just spoke to and another guard armored like Jose was.  She also saw the monster they were guarding.  It appeared to be a giant, vaguely humanoid ant.  She remembered some of the stories she heard from other bards about extra-planar monsters known as Formians, and she thinks this creature was one of them.

	As soon as he saw “Jose,” the commander suddenly shouted.  “And Jose, what happened to you?”

	Realizing that “Jose” might be in trouble with the commander as well after his cowardly actions, Ik tried to bluff.  “I went upstairs to…umm…investigate the noise!”

	“While shouting ‘I surrender’ and dropping your weapon?”

	“Well, I’ll do a really good job from now on?”

	The commander angrily advanced on Ik at this point, and Ik began to nervously think, “This is it, he’s discovered I’m lying.  He’ll soon figure out I’m a changeling, and I’ll be arrested or fined and then arrested or something…”

	Instead, the commander simply glared at her and said, “That’s it, you’re fired!”

	Shocked by this change of events and more hurt than she expected given she wasn’t even the man the commander thought he was chewing out, Ik/Jose angrily replied, “You can’t fire me; I quit!  You don’t know what you’re missing!”  She stamped out of the room, disappointed that she never got the chance to speak to the ant-creature.  With his chance passed, Enrique left as well, only to find Luke outside waiting for him.

	“You know, you proved to be a competent warrior in there,” Luke said.  “I’m looking for people to assist the watch with guard duty during the Parade tomorrow.  Are you interested?”

	Barely able to keep a straight face, Enrique happily said, “Sure.”  As he went back to the warehouse with Luke, he realized this would be a great way to learn more about the actual site of the heist for tomorrow!

	Finally, as everyone left the building, Urr fled back to the House for the Wretched.  He realized early in the fight that he stood no chance of getting near the holding cell with so many other people around, but he gave his report about what he did learn about it based on what he heard from Jose and the cell commander.  Hopefully that would be enough for the resistance group to take some action, or at least reward Urr for his help.

	And so, the night drew to a close, and the various factions prepared for what would soon be possibly the most important days of their lives; the day of the Parade.  

	OOC: This takes us about midway through the second session.  The second half of that session plus the next should end this adventure and finally get the party together as a single force.  Unfortunately, because of Memorial Day weekend plans for most of the players, we didn’t game this weekend, so the next game will be on Saturday in two weeks, and the next update of this Story Hour will be in about two weeks from today.  I’ll add a couple more excerpts in the meantime to keep things current.


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## LordVyreth (Jun 8, 2006)

*Mesion Excerpt #4: The Secret Sermon*

The Secret Sermon

	I look at those gathered around me and I feel pride.  For years unfathomable by the mortal mind I have struggled to reach the level of power that I now have, but it was worth it.  I knew that I would not be able to conquer my own weaknesses, let alone have the right and the honor to lead and inspire others, until I could become the equal of the creators themselves, using my own skills and abilities to be a peer of the makers of Mesion and the beings that guide it to this very day.  You must understand that to be a teacher and a guide to you, my people, is the most difficult and rewarding task of my long life.

	And yes, I do refer to you as people.  I know that few would give you that right.  They’ve called you animals, monsters, and simply threats to “society.”  But I know that you are thinking, feeling creatures, because I have felt what you feel and thought what you think.  I know the conflict; the desire to be part of two worlds as one, and the temptation to give in to one side entirely.  I have struggled against that temptation to the point that I was willing to become little more than a slave and a pawn of greater forces to resist it.  But those days are long gone, and now I offer the same gift of control that I once received.  Instead of unquestioning loyalty, however, I request only your faith and honor, the same honor I want to give you.  Give me this, and you will be able to retain the strength and power you can now call your own without shame while holding on to the things that make you above a mere creature.  And I know your suspicions regarding this, but I assure you that when I speak of such things, I am not referring to the foolish morality that emphasizes so-called good and evil.  We more than anyone know that the only rule of reality that remains consistent is that the strong thrive and the weak are the tools of the strong, and that civilization is nothing but this rule with further complexities added.  But those complexities are what we must value the most!  The appreciation of fine art, the way the music moves the very soul, the splendor of nature’s beauty, and the love of one’s kin are our right as much as anyone’s to enjoy.  No, it’s our right more than others, because we have to strength to claim them and we know what it’s like to lose them.

	My people, my followers, my friends: join me and create a new, better, authentic society.  United, nobody can stop us.  Not the half-beings some of us once were, not the muddled crossbreeds that betray our nature to join their civilization, and not even the celestials and fiends that so often ravage our land will oppose us.  Even the Primals will be helpless before our strength.

	Name of high/priest avatar withheld

OOC Notes: Unlike Earlier Excerpts, this one's source is potentially obvious to readers or players of my earlier campaign.  To others, there's some clues as to who the speaker is addressing, but beyond that you'll have to wait and see!


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## LordVyreth (Jun 14, 2006)

*I love a Parade: The Night of the Parade*

Just as the sun started to set and evening began, an excited crowd gathered around a seemingly unimportant turn in the middle of the parade route.  As expected, they cheered the city’s various heroes and the treasures on display until a float approached that, unlike all the others, didn’t seem to be slowing down for the next turn.  In fact, it wasn’t turning at all!  Panicking, the crowd fled in every direction to get away from the barricade the float was about to crash into.  With a deafening smash, the float burst through the barricade without even slowing down.  As it did so, one of the two watch guards on the float was knocked screaming from the float.  He landed in a heap in the middle of the float’s path, and was apparently knocked unconscious by the fall.

	From the float right behind it, Luke and Ik looked on in shock.  They knew about an attack, but despite the research the rest of his team were doing, they didn’t know that such an elaborate plan to separate the target float was underway.  They had little time to ponder this, however, for they soon realized that both their float and the one right behind it, which held the unbreakable column, also were going into the dark alleyway behind the barricade.  Fortunately, since the first float smashed into it so hard, the barricade was mostly destroyed before the other floats reached it, ensuring no more accidents like the one that was about to claim the life of one of the watch guards.

	From the shadows of the alleyway, Anastacia, Enrique, Elvis, Lorren, and Grim emerged.  None of them were too pleased with what they saw.  “I thought Treafilel said only one float would go this way,” Anastacia muttered.

	Enrique shrugged.  “Maybe we can’t trust our patron as much as he claimed.  I’m not surprised.”

	They soon realized they would have bigger problems, however.  From above, the howls of countless humanoids monsters could be heard.  Luke, who had a better view from the top of the second float, looked up with worry.  Why were so many creatures attacking one treasure, no matter how valuable it is?

	Before the floats reached the first humanoids, however, they had to worry about the more traditional thieves.  From the ground, Lorren fired on the last surviving guard on the Jewel’s float with a bolt of magic, and Elvis followed it up with an arrow, sending the inexperienced warrior to the ground in a bleeding heap.  Meanwhile, Enrique, Anastacia, and Grim made their way onto the catwalks of the float itself, with the swift-footed barbarian Grim easily taking the lead.  He already was at the gem’s pedestal and trying to pry it out when the first threats appeared.

	From the second float, Ik made a risky leap onto the lead float, and she managed to successfully land on one of the twisting catwalks leading to the top of the float and the pedestal.  Meanwhile, three goblins made the equally daring leap from nearby rooftops.  One made it as far as the top of the float, a second made it to one of the side catwalks, and a third severely mistimed a jump and ended up dangling on one of the float’s railings.

	Elvis boarded one side of the float and began to swing at the goblin on the lower catwalks, while Enrique and Anastacia moved to block the top goblin from distracting Grim as he continued to work on removing the Jewel of Success.  When Enrique reached the top of the float, however, Ik looked at him with recognition.  “Hey, I know you!” she shouted accusatorily.  “You were hired to help guard the float.  You were supposed to work for us!”  

	His co-conspirators looked at Enrique angrily, but he just shrugged.  “I just wanted to get more information.  Don’t worry; I’m here to protect you.  I want in on this Jewel as much as you do.”

	Meanwhile, Lorren fired another blast of magic at the dangling goblin, and when that didn’t finish him off, he picked him off with a crossbow shot.  With the goblin dead, he quickly ran to catch up to the lead float and leapt onto the lower catwalk before he got left behind.  

	Back at the top of the float, Anastacia and Enrique were trading blows with the goblin, but Anastacia appeared to be doubtful about the whole thing.  She looked at Ik, who had a similar hesitation about current events, “Hey, you?” Anastacia muttered.  “What do you say that we work together on this one?  Whichever side wins, the other will vouch for the loser?”

	Ik thought about it, and shrugged.  “Fair enough.  I’ve only been with the watch for a day anyway.”

	Back on the second float, Luke blessed his dwindling side, and then began to fire at his enemies with his own crossbow.  For now, his main concern were the humanoid monsters, since he knew firsthand how brutal they could be and how many were in the city.  One shot struck the lower goblin, which Elvis finished off.  The final goblin was killed by Anastacia and Enrique just as Grim managed to finally pry the Jewel from its pedestal!  The heist was already almost a success!

	But there was no time to celebrate.  As the floats proceeded forward, the lead one drew parallel to a wooden mechanism on a nearby roof.  Suddenly, the device lowered, creating a bridge from the roof to the float!  Four kobolds carefully navigated the bridge, mindful of the difficulty of reaching the still moving float before it got past the bridge.  Seeing how crowded it was on top of the float, only two of the kobolds reached that point, where they swarmed on Enrique to reach Grim and his treasure.  The other two jumped to the lower catwalks to engage Ik and Elvis.  One scored a lucky shot on the confused bard, knocking her unconscious.  It was rewarded, however, by a crossbow bolt between the eyes by an increasingly frustrated Luke.  

	Despite the element of surprise, however, the kobolds had a very short-lived success.  As Grim pocketed the gem and moved away from the upper layers to escape with the reward, Anastacia, Enrique, and Elvis converged on the three surviving kobolds.  Anastacia, enraged at losing her new ally, drove her rapier right through one of the tiny reptile’s heads, while Elvis struck another one down with his longsword.  Enrique wounded the third, and it was brought down with more magic by Lorren.

	The next wave of humanoids struck immediately, but it was underwhelming at best.  Four more goblin leapers dove at the float, but the roofs were farther from the road at this point and the jump was much more difficult.  One missed the float entirely and landed on the ground.  A loud, audible snap could be heard from somewhere inside its body, and it collapsed immediately from the pain.  A second suffered an even worse fate, as it mistimed the jump completely and fell between the first two floats!  It couldn’t move out of the way in time, and with one last anguished cry, it was crushed by the wheels of the massive float.

	As the party moved to engage the final two, they saw that another barricade was set up just a few dozen feet down the road!  Unlike the last one, this one didn’t appear to be set up by the city, as it looked like it was made hastily and with little effort.  Most likely, it was done by the humanoids, the thief’s guild, or whatever forces rigged the floats and hired much of the party in the first place.  With the risk of falling off the float now the priority, the party moved to duck behind railings and defenses and only swung at the goblins after it was safe.  Nonetheless, another goblin was killed by Grim.  When the lead float hit the barricade, some of the part was knocked off their feet, but the only once knocked off the float entirely was the final goblin, which apparently didn’t see the barricade in time.

	But while it appeared that the assault of the humanoids was starting to slow down, some of its most powerful allies still remained.  Two orcs charged out of the next houses passed, where they quickly got onto the float and targeted Elvis and Lorren, who were still on the lower levels of the catwalk.  Elvis nimbly dodged the attack, but Lorren was surprised by the sudden threat.  The orc effortlessly stabbed the young mage in the chest, leaving him dying.  Before he could climb farther up the catwalk, however, the orc was nearly sliced in half by the suddenly enraged Grim!

	As Enrique and Elvis teamed up on the remaining orc, Grim used his limited training as a healer to stop the bleeding on his ally.  Unlike his efforts on the wounded rogue earlier, he was successful here.  Meanwhile, Anastacia and Luke noticed that more kobolds were waiting on the next few roofs.  Unlike the earlier kobolds, they didn’t have bridges, and they didn’t seem the type to leap onto the float.  Instead, they were armed with slings, suggesting that they were archers.  Both sides fired a volley of arrows, bolts, and rocks at each other until the party noticed the next obstacle.  A small trench was dug into the road, and while it wasn’t likely to cause a float to crash completely, they did look deep enough to shake up the floats again!  The party dove behind more barricades just in time.

	When they got up again, most of the party turned their attention on the archer kobolds, but a few noticed that they were under attack by less obvious threats.  Luke chanced a look behind him and noticed a strange figure was boarding the last float, which contained nothing but the supposedly useless gem column.  The man was fully clad in a strange black armor, and while he couldn’t see the details due to the obstruction of the column and the poor light, it almost looked like the armor was shifting and moving, as if it was alive.  Meanwhile, Enrique noticed a cloaked figure was sneaking onto his float.  He carefully moved behind the hiding threat, and noticed with a shock that it was Treafilel!

	Enrique tried to shout a warning while attacking their treasonous employer, but while he gave the rogue a vicious cut across his back, it wasn’t enough.  He plunged his sword into the unaware Grim, leaving the unconscious barbarian grasping onto the last inch of his life.  He noticed Enrique was staring at him with hatred and smiled.  “You fools,” he gloated.  “You were nothing but a diversion to our real target.”  Enrique silenced him with one swing of his sword.

As Treafilel crumpled over dying, though, the mysterious black armored man reached the column.  He drew a tiny, seemingly useless hammer and swung it at the column with all of his might.  Despite being supposedly unbreakable, the column shattered with one blow!  The man casually tossed away the hammer and took his apparently target; a strange rod that was apparently contained inside the column.  Luke desperately fired at the man, but he walked on without seeming to care about the attacks.  He leapt off of the float and then jumped down an open sewer entrance that was right next to the float when he got off.  If this was what Treafilel gave his life to distract the party from, it apparently went off perfectly.

But the rogues of the party had bigger concerns than that.  They had allies to heal and heist to finish.  Elvis quickly took Grim’s pouch containing the Jewel of Success and then tried to heal the dying Grim.  When that failed, Anastacia and Enrique desperately tried to help, even though they weren’t as trained at the art of healing as Elvis was.  Nonetheless, they managed to stabilize their friend just before he would have died from blood loss.  Anastacia and Elvis grabbed the unconscious Grim and Lorren, respectively, and dashed towards the nearest open building.  As they fled, a loud sound could be heard from the other side of the alleyway, and hundreds of guards and soldiers began to rush in to secure the area!

Luke, grateful to finally get reinforcements, shouted, “Over here.  They went this way!”  He then began to follow the fleeing thieves, unaware that Enrique was sneaking up on Luke himself.  With the heist successful, Enrique didn’t want to further endanger his reputation by killing another guard of the city, and attacking a priest of a notably good god just struck him as wrong anyway.  He instead swung at him with his sap, hoping to simply knock the cleric unconscious.  He narrowly missed, but Elvis noticed the attack and moved to help Enrique.  He decided to follow Enrique’s lead and simply struck Luke in the head with the blunt edge of his sword.  Already wounded from the kobold’s earlier rock barrage, Luke collapsed, and as he watched the rogues flee, everything went black…

“Are you alright?” someone shouted, much louder than he appreciated at the moment, as Luke regained consciousness.  He found himself in the same alleyway, and it looked much darker out, suggesting that several hours had passed.  He looked around, and he noticed both Ik and the guard that Lorren and Elvis brought down were similarly recovering from their wounds.  

“I’m fine,” he groaned.  “Look, we have to go after the thieves!”

“Don’t worry about that,” the militia officer questioning him ordered. “Just tell me what happened.”

Luke explained the entire story, and as he neared the end of it, he saw Operative Vel approaching him.  He pulled the officer aside, exchanged a few quick words too quietly for Luke to hear, and then looked at both Luke and Ik.  “Both of you, come with me,” he tersely addressed them.  Nervously, the two began to follow him.

	They quickly made their way through the crowds witnessing the investigation and noticed a half-orc in an Operative uniform addressing the people.  He was trying to placate the situation as well as he could.  “Let me explain what happened.  It nothing important.  There was crash, a big fight, some guard casualties, but nothing go wrong.  Investigation ongoing.  We find anything serious, we let you know.”

	“Who is that?  I can’t believe he’s an Operative,” Ik comments with disbelief.

	“That’s Operative Grok,” Luke explained.  “He’s the Operative’s public relations man.  They always bring him out when something goes wrong.  He’s supposed to be relaxing to the public.  I think the general assumption is that people think that if anything really horrible happened, they wouldn’t let somebody like Grok talk about it, which makes it easy to convince people that nothing really horrible happens.”

	Vel led the worried duo to a hastily assembled tent, where they had at least some privacy.  As soon as he was away from the crowd, Vel’s voice turned softer and more serious.  “As you are aware of, we have a situation we must deal with.”

	Luke gulped.  “Yes, about the Jewel of Success…”

	Vel interrupted him, however.  “Forget about the Jewel of Success!  We already have contingencies in place for that.  The destruction of the gem column, however, and the mysterious rod that was inside it are much bigger issues.  We already had magic used to divine its purpose, and the gods have been silent.  We haven’t seen them be this quiet since the Bladestill and their unwillingness to discuss its cause.  This situation may be urgent.”

	“What are we going to do about it?”

	“Well, we’ll do as little as possible in public.  If it gets out that we let a major magic item disappear during the Parade, public confidence in our government will shatter.  An investigation will be needed, however, so preferably information about this event will involve as few people as necessary.  That’s where you two come in.  As eye witnesses, you already are aware of the event, and as you are the only ones who saw both the rod and its thief, you are ideally suited to lead this investigation.”

	Ik looked worried about this.  “Just the two of us?  What about that third guard?”

	Vel shook his head.  “He was knocked unconscious before he saw anything, making him strictly outside of the “need to know” classification.  However, we have some other investigators that could prove useful to you.”  He slid a bag full of papers to Luke.  “This contains information on where to find them, means to help you persuade your other investigators to join you, initial funds to finance any starting equipment, some leads to help you start your investigation, and a location outside of the city where you will meet with another Operative, who will give you additional funds equal to 1,000 gold.”  He then tossed ten gold each at Luke and Ik.  “And this is your pay for last night’s work.  Given the success of your ‘guarding,’ I’m sure you can understand if we don’t give you any further bonus.  However, if you can assist us in this investigation, your rewards will be much greater”

	“I’m in!” Ik eagerly said after hearing about how hefty their initial reward was.  She left to make preparations, but Luke waited behind.  He seemed conflicted about the mission and its scope still.

	Sensing that hesitation, Vel leaned in.  “We are also prepared to offer further rewards based on a successful performance.  We are well aware of your concern about High Priest Infernis of the Ehlonna church.  We agree that he may have some disturbing positions, but a response to it is not our priority.  However, if you work for us in ending this incident, we may be more inclined to alter our priorities.  Do I make myself clear?”

	Luke sighed.  He couldn’t refuse if working for Vel meant his church could be saved.  “Very well.  I’ll work with you, but I still don’t think the Jewel of Success can be ignored.

	Vel just smiled.  “As I said, we already have preparations for that made…”


	“Well, at least I owe you one thing,” the old man said as he examined the Jewel of Success.  “You finally proved something I always suspected.  The city fakes at least some of the treasures on display in the Prosperity Parade.”

	Anastacia looked crestfallen.  “You mean it’s a fake?  How do you know that?”

	The old man shrugged.  “You don’t work as a fence and live to be 92 years old without learning the real value of goods.  The gem itself is pretty expensive, but the only magical aura on it is there to make the thing only look magical.”

	“So how much is it really worth?”  Lorren, who along with Grim was brought back to consciousness with rest and a little healing, asked.

	“Well, you could probably get three thousand gold or so in the right market.  If you’re willing to travel a bit, the city of Ciudadbonita has a well-respected curio shop.  But good luck getting anything near that here.  I’ll give you five hundred gold for it, and I’m being generous.  I’ll never find a buyer for it here until things quiet down.”

	Enrique glowered at Lorren.  “Are you sure we can trust this guy?  I still think we shouldn’t have shown this to anyone until we got out of the city.”

	“I know him, he can be trusted!” Lorren protested.  “Besides, what makes you think we’ll get out of the city any time soon?  We’ll get caught if we even try.”

	“In a city this big?  That’s ridiculous.  They’ll never find us,” Enrique argued.

	“Maybe not if we just go into hiding here, but they’re bound to stop us if we try to leave, at least through the main gates.  Remember that there were eyewitnesses.  Those guards at least know what we look like.”

	“Actually, I have a plan to help all of us,” a voice announced from outside.  All eyes turned to see Luke and Ik standing outside.  Several hands went to weapons, but Luke shook his head and held up his own unarmed hands in a gesture of peace.  “No, I only want to talk!” he quickly said before violence can erupt.  “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do, but I learned that the Fra Dane government is willing to make a deal.  You remember that black-armored warrior that shattered the pillar and stole a rod?  The city doesn’t care about the Jewel of Success.  They just want to know about this guy and the rod, and they’re willing to offer you full pardons and a share of a thousand gold in exchange, with more money available if we find anything.”

	The five rogues pondered this, and after some negotiations, they agreed.  “But that doesn’t help us out of the city, does it?” Elvis asked.

	Luke pulled out the first of several documents from the satchel and showed it to his new party members.  “They Operatives even took care of that.  There’s an inn known as the Dane’s Edge, which leans slightly over the wall.  The watch patrols the area with extra care, but there are gaps in the patrol which the Operatives gave us.  All we need to do is order the ‘special’ room extends past the wall, and we can escape from there.”


	Later that night at the Dane’s Edge, the party was examining the materials in the satchel to plan their next move and what lead to follow.  “According to this file, they tracked the humanoids we killed to three tribes.  The good news is that the three tribes are more or less in the same area.  The bad news, though, is that all three reside in the Gate of Madness,” Lorren read.

	Grim groaned.  “Well, that’s out.  I’m not going in that place.  I heard that since the Bladestill, the whole dungeon’s gone insane!”

	“That’s not entirely true,” Ik retorted.  “The first few levels are supposed to be more or less normal.  It gets weirder when you get deeper in, but it’s not uninhabitable.”

	“Well, I’d prefer to wait on that until we’re better prepared,” Enrique said.  “What else do we have?”

	“The city’s convinced somebody smuggled the humanoids into the city.  They suspect some performing group called Henna and Hecubine’s Otherworldly Wonders.  The group already has some suspicions about using performers as a cover for smuggling and even slavery, or possibly the reverse and they harbored escaped slaves.  Either way, they want us to infiltrate them and find out what they know,” Elvis said as he reviewed another file.

	Ik looked excited at this possibility, but Anastacia was dismissive.  “Forget it.  How are must of us supposed to convince them that we’re performers?  Besides, I’d like a mission with a little more action.”

	“Well, this is the last one,” Luke muttered as he examined another file.  “The city thinks some sort of secret society must have created a plan this complex.  They want us to find a man they believe belongs to a local secret society.  His name is Guillermo Del Grande…”

	Enrique recognized the name instantly.  “That’s it!  He’s my uncle; we have to find out what’s happening to him.”

	Luke shrugged as he read the rest of the file.  “Well, his last known location is Ciudadbonita.  You said that there’s a good place to sell your so-called Jewel of Success, right?”

	“I still don’t think it’s a fake…” Enrique began, but Grim, who was still nursing his injuries that almost killed him, nodded eagerly, as he needed no convincing the item didn’t help at all.

	“We can kill two birds with one stone if we take this lead, right?” Luke asked.  The others soon agreed, and a plan for tomorrow was made.  The party looked at the other items in the satchel, including the disposed and seemingly innocent hammer used to the destroy the pillar, a flute that Vel insisted could be used to contact the Operatives in most civilized lands, and a tiny sculpture of an arrow that the files suggest might be related to Guillermo.  This would be the beginning of their adventure together, but the ending was far less obvious and its consequences could change the face of Mesion itself.

	OOC Notes: And so the first adventure ends after a third session.  The party is now working together, so the party’s options expand.  From hereon, there will be several leads or alternate adventure paths the party can consider, and I intend to railroad this game as little as possible.  

	Grok deserves a special mention.  He was originally my character in another game.  He started out as a generic half-orc fighter, but when I noticed how cheap a hat of disguise is, I couldn’t resist giving him one.  His gimmick was that he’s a generic stupid orc, but he refuses to act like one.  He would always wear disguises, try tricking people, and even provide exposition, and that legacy lives on in Mesion.


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## LordVyreth (Jun 27, 2006)

*Discovering a New World: The First Journeys*

The first order of business would be finding a way to Ciudadbonita.  Many options were proposed: simply walking, buying horses, getting a wizard to teleport the new party, even taking a boat part way.  But all were considered too dangerous or too expensive.  They even considered combining two of their leads by working for Henna and Hecubine and convincing them to go in the right direction, but they realized it was unlikely getting them to go in exactly the right direction, especially if the city is right and the duo really were involved in nefarious deeds.  Grim even considered suggesting that they travel with his menagerie of animals but thought better about getting his loved ones involved.

	Finally, the party decided to rent the service of some carriage drivers.  It was relatively cheap, and at least they’d have the protection of the vehicles if something went wrong.  When they looked for interested drivers, they only found one group interested.  A kalashtar named Kanatash and a xeph named Cyra were co-owners of their small transportation service, and they were willing to make the fairly risky journey of 150 miles to the city.  However, as they were planning for the journey, a messenger suddenly brought something to Ik.  Her face darkened as she read it.  “I’m afraid I can’t join you on this specific mission,” she said gravely.  “I have something I must do.  As soon as you finish with Guillermo, return to Fra Dane and I should be able to assist you again.”

Luke and the others were disappointed to lose an ally, even if only temporarily, but they parted ways for now.  With that settled, the party quickly finished selling what they could find from the heist, bought provisions, and then simply decided who would go in which carriage.  

	“I’ll keep watch in the front,” Elvis volunteered, and he went into the front carriage, where Kanatash was already waiting to guide the horses.

	Luke nodded.  “Well, that’s not my specialty.  I’ll stay in the rear carriage to protect and heal anybody who needs it.”

	As soon as they heard the cleric would go in the back, Anastacia and Enrique dashed into the front carriage.  Grim, however, just watched them and chuckled as he and Lorren joined Luke in the back carriage.  “Apparently they never met an enthusiastic kalashtar before,” he muttered with amusement.

	As the carriages set off, the party members in the back carriage could faintly hear Kanatash ask his riders, “Say, friends, have you heard the news about the All-Powerful Truth of the Universe?  Let me explain…,” followed by the screaming of Enrique.


	Almost a day and a half passed without incident, and the party almost reached the town of Rosavilla, a fairly popular crossroads almost sixty miles from Fra Dane.  However, on the second day, the carriages suddenly skidded to a halt.

	“What’s the problem?” Lorren asked with irritation.

	Cyra pointed ahead to a river blocking the path.  “There used to be a bridge here.  We were just on this road a couple of months ago, and it was fine then.  We’re going to have to find a safe place to ford the carriages.  The river’s too deep here.”

	As the combat-inexperienced drivers waited behind, the party explored the nearby paths to find a way across the river.  They soon came to a wide, often used clearing right next to the river.  Sensing an ambush, however, they carefully examined the area, and Enrique stumbled upon a symbol carved into a nearby tree.  “It looks like a bull’s head,” he commented as he studied the symbol.  “Or a demon’s,” he added ominously.

	Anastacia looked at the symbol and shook her head.  “No, that’s Adventurer’s Cant.  Explorers use it to warn each other of danger or inform them about unusual or useful locations.  This symbol means ‘Be prepared to defend yourself.’”

	Elvis looked at the clearing, and thought he saw something moving in a bush on the other side.  “Sounds like a good idea to me!” he shouted as he suddenly fired to catch whatever was hiding in the bush by surprise.  To his own surprise, however, the bush itself started screaming!

	As Elvis, Luke, and Lorren fired on the bush, and became increasingly surprised as the bush itself fired back at them, Enrique, Anastacia, and Grim carefully entered the clearing to check for other enemies.  Their concern was soon justified, for a strange red snake slithered onto the top of a nearby hill, seemingly to watch the battle, while a strange predatory cat bounded towards the frontrunners of the party.  Horrifyingly, the skin around its face somehow peeled away from its face as it looked at Enrique and screamed a terrible, agonized wail!  The scream left Enrique shaken, but he quickly recovered and helped Anastacia and Grim attack the cat.  

	Lorren, meanwhile, was just about to fire at the bush again when a volley of massive thorns struck him.  The pain was excruciating, but the young wizard cursed at the bush and fired one last sphere of magical force before ducking behind a tree.  The blast finally struck the bush right into the center and shattered its central stem, causing the strange, screaming bush to collapse in a heap.  While Lorren finished the bush, Grim crushed the cat’s exposed skull and led the charge on the snake.  Surprised at the new threat, the snake simultaneously coiled aggressively and burst into flame.  It spat a wide fan of fire at Grim and Anastacia, burning them both severely even though they both dived out of the way of the worst of the flames.  Angry at seeing the pain his new friends were in, Enrique slipped behind the snake and drove his sword into and through its head.  It collapsed instantly as its fire died with it.

	As Lorren began to pull the barbed thorns out of his skin and Luke traveled among the party to heal the worst of their wounds, Elvis examined the river near the clearing and Enrique searched for other objects of note.  Behind the hill, he discovered the nest of the snake, where he found the remains of an unfortunate humanoid who was apparently caught by this same ambush, a single gold coin and a small gem, and a nest made of wood and paper.  Curious about the paper, Enrique took the nest apart and found that some of the paper had some sort of notice on it.  He quickly read it.

	To All Heroes of Great Courage and With a Drive to Show Valor:

The City of Zoridel is Working to cull the fiendish hordes from near our fair city while obtaining living subjects in our studies to eradicate the evil beings from our world forever.  Expeditions are forming to investigate and cleanse noted fiendish enclaves.  Rewards as high as 25 gold multiplied by the power of the fiend will be offered for the remains of slain fiends.  Captured, living fiends will be worth triple this amount.  The most triumphant heroes will be celebrated throughout Zoridel and be given a title of honor by Zoridel’s Chosen.  Come to your nearest Headquarters for the Chosen of Zoridel to join the hunt and earn your worthy rewards!

	As he returned to the party, he had what he thought was a potentially easy way to make money.  “I think we should bring the bodies with us.  You know, as trophies or to sell to scientists or something.  And I don’t suppose anyone knows where a place called Zoridel is?”


	Later that night, the party was surprised when they arrived at Rosavilla and found it was in the middle of a celebration of some sort.  No sooner did they arrive than free food was thrust at them by the happy partygoers.  The apparent, if surreal, source of both the food and the cause of the party were obvious moments later when the party first saw the remains of a giant bird the size of a large house.

	“So, what happened here, exactly?  I bet it’s a good story,” Luke asked.

	A nearby partygoer explained the recent events.  “Well, this bird first flew close to town a few days ago, and we were worried it would get too close and attack us.  Fortunately, a wandering group of adventurers were in the area and agreed to destroy the bird for us.  Once it was dead, they determined that it was actually safe to eat, provided we throw out the eyes.”

	Lorren glanced at the dead bird’s eyes in response.  Sure enough, though the eyes have been removed, the eye sockets were several times larger than expected for a head of that proportion.  Lorren heard about a creature like this before.  They’re called Hive Birds, and they apparently have semi-petrified eyes that house swarms of insects.

	“To celebrate our safety,” the villager continued, “We decided to hold a feast using the bird itself.  It’s done wonders for almost all the inns and taverns in town.  They’re nearly all packed!”

	Worried about the implications of this, most of the party decided to find rooms for the night, though Luke preferred to look for supplies for the next leg of the journey and Enrique decided to find some information and excitement in town.  After hearing many villagers inform him that all the taverns and inns are full except for one known as the Jagged Blade, he decided to find out why.  He soon discovered the reason when he entered the tavern and saw that a half-dozen harpies were drinking in the corner!  After seeing everyone else in the tavern giving them a wide berth, he followed suit, but he noticed that they didn’t seem to be hostile, and they were paying generously.  Nonetheless, he decided it was time to return to the party.

	When he rejoined them, he was shocked to find they managed to get rooms in the best inn.  “How did you pull that off?” he asked with shock.

	Anastacia, with no small amount of embarrassment, admitted, “They just gave me them when they saw that I was, well, the ‘Prophesized One.’  A lot of half-elves think I’m some great savior because I was born on the same day, and supposedly the exact time, of the Bladestill.  Nobody really knows what I’m supposed to do, though.  I think I have to bring peace to the half-elves or something, but nobody can agree on the specifics.  It does get me special treatment at times, though.”

	The next morning, Enrique explored the town with a clearer head and better daylight, and he soon found out that the Zoridel’s Chosen had a headquarters in town.  Eagerly, he showed the bodies of the creatures killed the other night to them, but their response was disappointing.  “Indeed, these are fierce beats, and this snake is an intelligent and evil foe who some have claimed is tied to an evil god, but none of them are fiends,” a Zoridel’s Chosen agent commented upon after his headquarters examined the beasts.  “If you want to participate in our noble plan to rid our world of fiends, we are organizing expeditions in Zoridel itself.  We would be honored for brave heroes such as yourself to join us!”

	Enrique, however, quickly felt his allergy to excessive nobility flare up and mumbled his goodbyes as he joined the group back at the carriages.  They set off for the next leg of their journey.  Ciudadbonita, where the truth about Guillermo and perhaps about the purpose of the rod itself would be found, was only 91 miles and a three day journey away.

	OOC Notes: The party made more progress last game than I expected, so the second half of the adventure will be posted later this week.  Keep in mind that this update and the next are from the same adventure, as this may become important later.  Sharp-eyed readers might have even noticed a pattern between recent adventures.

	One thing I planned on doing with these fairly inconsequential combat and role-playing opportunities is to tie all of them into the central storyline of the world in one way or another.  For example, there’s the flyer the party found in the combat, and there might be more to the dead hive bird than expected as well.  More about the adventure in general following the next update.


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## LordVyreth (Jun 30, 2006)

*Discovering a New World: A Brave New World*

As night fell on the first day out of Rosavilla, the party once again witnessed firsthand the dangers of traveling in Mesion’s wilderness.  While traveling through the woods, the party first heard the howling of a wolf, and then the sound of battle.  The carriages slowed slightly when they reached the source of the battle: what appeared to be a heavily armored man was fighting against a horde of animals.  What was unusual was that the animals were not all of the same species and made no sense working together.  A giant lizard seemingly led the attack, but he was joined by a hyena, two badges, and most inexplicably an enraged deer!

	“This makes no sense.  The animals must be insane,” Enrique commented.  Grim could only respond with a quiet sob.  The sight of animals driven to such a horrible state was almost too much for the strong but gentle warrior.

	“Do you want us to stop?” Kanatash called to the heroes.

	“Sure,” Enrique replied.  “Maybe he’ll reward us.”  As the carriage slowed, Enrique kicked the door out and leapt at the deer, the closest of the threats.  Before the deer could even realize it was being attacked, Enrique calmly stabbed his sword into the creature’s neck.  It collapsed silently.

	Anastacia, however, was not pleased.  “How could you do that?  It was just an innocent deer!”

	The man, who looked like he had already received a number of wounds, shouted out, “Don’t trust these animals!  They’ve been infected by some sort of madness!”

	Anastacia still looked reluctant, but she had far less trouble attacking the slavering hyena.  As she went after that foe, Grim followed with even more reluctance, as fighting animals was such an anathema to him.  Elvis and Enrique, meanwhile, charged the badgers, and Lorren and Luke were content to fire from a distance.

	The party made short work of the hyena and the badgers, but they and the lizard wounded the man as well.  Fortunately, whatever madness made such a strange group of animals attack a seemingly innocent man also made them far less effective in combat.  Often, they would cease attacking entirely to stumble in a semi-coherent haze, and the lizard even fled from some unseen fear midway through the battle.  The man, taking advantage of this lull, raised a holy symbol over his head and called upon his god’s power to be healed.  Luke, however, realized he didn’t recognize the god called upon or the symbol (a triangle decorated with rows of animal weapons, like claws and teeth,) and he grew suspicious.  While the rest of the party went after the fleeing lizard, he used his own holy power to sense the presence of evil.  

	Soon, the lizard was dead, and the party returned to the victim victorious.  The man eagerly greeted his rescuers.  “Thank you.  I am Ralfan.  If you didn’t come along when you did, I don’t know what those animals would have done to me.  I must give you a reward…” but he stopped after seeing the look Luke gave him.

	“You’re no innocent victim,” Luke claimed.  “You radiate the stench of evil.”

	The party, realizing the situation might have changed, began to surround the man they just rescued.  “Yes, I was wondering why animals would just attack someone, unless that person did something to them,” Grim muttered ominously.

	Ralfan narrowed his eyes.  He looked at the party unapologetically, but he replied diplomatically nonetheless.  “Like I told you before, I had nothing to do with this.  Something in this forest drives the animals crazy.  I am grateful for your help, and have no desire to fight or betray you.”  As he spoke, he removed a pouch and tossed it towards Enrique.  “Here is a reward for your services.  If you have no further quarrel with me, I will be going.”  So saying, he scooped up the bodies of the two badgers, presumably for food, and began to slowly back away.

	The party turned to Luke, letting him make the decision.  Again, just as when he was forced to confront the Achieve employee, Luke was conflicted between stopping evil and the situation at hand.  Even if the man was evil, he did nothing to the party, nor did he do anything immoral that the party was aware of.  He stood, watching Ralfan leave, until it was clearly too late.

	As he turned to walk away at a more normal pace, having sensed that Luke’s inaction was the party’s decision, he added one more warning.  “If you do find the source of this forest’s madness, whatever you do, keep your horses away from it.  They react especially badly to it.”  As soon as he finished his warning, he vanished into the woods.

	Enrique carefully picked up the pouch Ralfan left behind, and not eager to open it himself, he tossed it to Luke.  Luke ensured it didn’t radiate evil, and then turned it upside down to test its contents.  100 gold pieces tumbled out.

	“Well, at least he was honest,” Lorren admitted.

	“Yes, but look at this,” Elvis countered.  He pointed at the ground.  “I was wondering why we didn’t see that wolf we heard earlier, so I checked for tracks.  There’s a series of unusually large wolf tracks leading right to where Ralfan was standing, but they never moved from there.”

	Grim groaned.  “So, not only did we let an evil cleric go, we let an evil werewolf cleric go?”

	Lorren pondered this.  “He was strange, if he was a werewolf.  Most of their kind isn’t supposed to be so ordered.”


	A few uneventful days later, the party finally arrived in Ciudadbonita, where they immediately headed for Magnificent Magecraft, the curio shop they were told about.  As they arrived, they noticed that the place had an unusual number of guards.

	“Why is this place so well-guarded?” Lorren asked with suspicion.

	Gabriela, the store’s caretaker, explained, “We recently received a large number of items from one of our citizens.”  As she spoke, she gestured towards piles of paintings, sculptures, and even large furniture.  “He also warned me that some soldiers might come to the store.  I decided to hire some of the local militia to keep the store safe, and it proved to be a wise decision.  Just a few hours ago, some men in black armor came to the store.  They looked at the items I just purchased, and then left angrily.”

	Realizing who those men likely were, Enrique urgently asked, “Do you know a man named Guillermo?  I was told he lives in this city?”

	Gabriela looked surprised.  “Why, yes.  That was the same man who sold me all of these items.  He’s sort of a local recluse.  Sometimes he leaves the town for months or years, only to come back and stay in his house for more months.  He lives in a house just outside of town.”

	Enrique quickly asked for directions, but before they left, the party also showed her the other reason they came this far.  “Oh, I heard about this one.  News travels fast in my circles,” she commented.  “That is the fake Jewel of Success, right?  I should be able to find a buyer.  I can give you 3,000 gold for it, but give me a day to liquidate some assets, first.”

	Their first business done, the party set off for Guillermo’s house.  They found it, as Gabriela explained, several miles from the rest of town, adjacent to large tilled field.  As the party arrived, they noticed that a farmer was circling the farm.  Lorren glowered as he looked at the farmer, but the rest of the party was in too much of a rush to investigate.  As Lorren watched behind him, Enrique first knocked on the door, and then when there was no answer, he simply kicked it in!  

	The scene in the home confirmed his worst nightmares.  His uncle, his estranged but nonetheless beloved family member, was lying on the ground in a pool of blood!  To make matters worse, his apparent murderers left a few surprises for anyone who investigated the death.  A gigantic bee suddenly stirred from the corner of the house, and a wasp nest tossed onto the floor suddenly shook with activity.  Anastacia, Grim, and Elvis made short work of the bee, but Enrique, blinded by despair, went to the side of his fallen uncle and was immediately swarmed by the wasps.

	“Lorren, help us!” Luke called from the doorway.

	“But…” Lorren began hesitantly.  He looked behind him and saw the “farmer” take off the instant the door opened and the insects attacked the party.  It was obvious to Lorren that this was some sort of spy or lookout, probably for the same people that killed Guillermo.  But by the time he noticed what was happening, the man was out of Lorren’s range.  He sighed and turned to help the party, only to see that the bee was already dead and his magic was useless on a swarm of thousands of insects.

	Elvis retreated to the doorway to help Luke, who was already lighting a torch to scare off the swarm.  “Run!” he called to those still inside the building as he lit a torch and helped Luke.  Anastacia didn’t need to be told twice.  She smashed the first window she saw, dove out of it, and ran for the nearest pond.  Grim followed, but not before grabbing Enrique, who was now poisoned, half-mad with despair, and sickened by the insects crawling on his body.  He grabbed the unfortunate rogue and dove into the pond as well.  With their allies safe, Luke and Elvis split up and made for safety as well.  

	Several minutes later, the party converged back at the house after the wasps dispersed.  They smashed the hive and began to investigate the house for some clues on what motivated Guillermo’s death.  However, the place was almost complete empty.  Like Gabriela said, nearly everything was sold before the party arrived.  The question was, why was it sold, and will any of it help the party?  

	Enrique searched the place, but he soon admitted defeat.  “I can’t find a thing,” he said.  “The only unusual things are the nails stuck in the walls.”

	“What’s unusual about that?  We know he had paintings that he sold to the curio shop,” Anastacia asked.

	Enrique pointed to one nail.  “This one is of a much better quality than the others.”

	“Maybe he wanted to be especially certain that painting was in a certain spot?”  Elvis offered hopefully.

	The question, though, was which painting.  The party returned to the curio shop, where they looked through the paintings Guillermo sold.  There, they asked about the paintings Guillermo, and if they could see them.  “Ah, yes, the paintings,” Gabriela said dismissively.  “None of them were worth anything; they were of no artistic value.  I could show you them if you want.”  She returned a few moments later and began to sort the pictures.  “Let’s see, there’s an archer preparing to fire at a bullseye, a woman in profile, a still life of various fruit, a picture of a warrior fighting a bullette, and, well,” Gabriella hesitated before handing over a majority of the remaining pictures, “There is a surprising number of scantily clad elf women in various states of undress.”

The party examined the pictures, especially the last ones.  Finally, Anastacia solved it.  “Wait, Luke, what was that item that Operative gave you?  It was the one that was supposed to be related to Guillermo.

“It was an arrow,” Luke replied, and the revelation hit him as well.  He quickly pulled out the picture of an archer and realized that neither the archer nor the bullseye had any arrows.  

Quickly, the party gave Gabriella a few gold for the picture and returned to the house.  There, they hung the painting on the notable nail, and when nothing seemed to happen, they put the arrow onto the bullseye.  As Enrique did so, he noticed something; there was a nearly microscopic hollow right behind that part of the painting!  After finding the button right behind it, part of the wall slid up, revealing a hidden compartment.  Inside were only two things: a strange black egg the size of an ostrich’s, and a note.  Enrique quickly snatched up the note and read it.  A moment later, barely able to move, he wordlessly passed it to Anastacia, who anxiously read it to the rest of the party.

“To Whoever May Find this,” she began, “If you have found this, then I fear the worst has happened, and I am no longer able to fulfill my duty.  I pray to the gods that you are a person of wisdom and loyalty; who can be trusted with this artifact.  What you see here is the single most important and dangerous weapon on Mesion.  Until recently, the Hivekeepers, a secret society dedicated to keeping it hidden, has kept it from the world.  But we have new enemies now.  There is another society that calls themselves Effervo Vesica.  I don’t know what they want exactly, but they are increasingly powerful and dedicated to taking this item, the Infernal Swarm Egg, for themselves.  I believe they have access to great resources, possibly even the wealth of a nation, and from what I have heard from my fellow Hivekeepers, they may have greater, inhuman monsters at their beck and call.  I fear they have almost succeeded, for I do not know if any Hivekeepers are still alive.  

	“The Egg is very powerful but more delicate than one might expect.  It resists weapon blows generally well, seems to be immune to fire and acid, can partially resist other energies, and slowly heals itself if damaged.  However, a dedicated attack or even something as simple as a great fall could be enough to destroy it, and if it destroyed, all hope is lost.  Even worse, it appears to be tied to Mesion itself.  It can leave this plane for an instant, but if more than a few seconds are spent with it outside of this plane of reality or even in a pocket plane, it will become agitated and then shatter, scattering its contents back into our world. 

	“Even we don’t know exactly what the Egg can do.  For unknown eons, it was unknown and hidden from the world save for us.  But during the Godfield War, it was discovered by the outsiders and taken from us.  Foolishly, they sought to find a way to control it.  In a seemingly impossible truce between celestials and fiends, they created two artifacts that, if combined with the egg and taken to a control center the outsiders built on Order’s Peak, can be used to take control of monstrosities inside the Egg.  The two artifacts, rods made of strange metal, were split between the sides, with one going to the fiends, and the others to the celestials.  We have no idea what happened to those control rods, however.  Fortunately, this plan gave us one shred of hope, for if both rods are used to control the Egg, they can be used to destroy the Egg harmlessly.

	“My last hope, I beg of you to treat this quest with the respect it deserves.  If you are ever unable to take the Egg with you safely, perhaps because you must leave this plane or hide in a demi-plane, find an ally you can trust with it, or keep it well hidden.  If there are any other Hivekeepers left alive, you can find them at a secret headquarters 500 miles east of Dromis Prime.  Go to that city and find the tavern Rhylixx Qvist.  Ask the bartender there if they know of any groups nearby with an interest in beekeeping, and she’ll guide you from there.  Be warned that this headquarters is a fair distance from here, and it is located in the Playground.  Make sure you are prepared before undertaking such a journey.  My hope and faith go out to you, Guillermo Delgrande,” she finished.

	“So this egg is the most powerful thing on the planet?” Grim asked incredulously.

	“So it would appear,” Luke replied.  “At least now we know what happened at the Parade.  That man must have been a member of Effervo Vesica, and now they have at least one of the Control Rods.”

	Several minutes passed in stunned silence, before Elvis asked the question on everyone’s mind.  “So,” he asked, “What do we do now?”

	OOC: What indeed?  That’s more or less where we are at this point.  The next game is a little more than a week from now, so expect the next Story Hour update a few days later.  In the meantime, if things don’t get too busy, I’ll contribute a few more excerpts by then.  The next few games, though, should be…complicated.

	For the record, though I fully intend to use the dreaded railroad as little as possible in this campaign, I was planning on the party finding the Egg sooner or later.  I definitely planned on letting them find it this low level (they just hit second level at the end of this game.)  I wanted to make this a central challenge to the campaign, regardless of how the party handles it.

	And before you ask, no, I didn’t base any of this plotline on the DaVinci code, either in movie or book format.  I do recognize the similarities, what with the old dead relative who belonged a secret society and who had to protect an important, world-changing artifact from a more evil secret society.


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## LordVyreth (Jul 13, 2006)

*Opening the Gate: The Sinister Caravan*

“So, what do we do now?”  That question lingered on everyone’s minds for several minutes, without an answer among the party.

	Finally, Lorren came to his senses.  “We get out of here.  If that man really was a lookout, they know we’re here now.  I don’t necessarily think Guillermo’s right about this Egg, but we can’t risk endangering it if he is.”

	“Wait,” Anastacia protested.  “We can’t just leave.  We have 3,000 gold ready for us tomorrow, and we’re injured from the fight.”

	“Very well,” Grim said.  “We leave this house immediately and spend a day at the town’s inn, and then we head back to Fra Dane as soon as possible.”

	“What about Guillermo’s body, though?” Luke asked.  “It seems wrong to just let it rot here.”

	“We could burn it,” Elvis suggested.

	“No,” Enrique said angrily.  “He wouldn’t have wanted that.”  All eyes turned to the devastated rogue, as they knew this must be his choice.  Finally, with an agonized look in eyes, Enrique made his decision.  “We have to leave him here.  We may not even have the time to dig a grave, and we can’t let the townspeople know what happened without getting ourselves involved.”

	The party left the home, as Enrique turned to the body of his dead uncle.  “I’m sorry, Guillermo.  I’ll do my best to fulfill your dying wish.”

	The day at the inn was otherwise uneventful, and the party spent much of the next day planning their next mission, what they will tell the Operatives, and preparing to leave by purchasing superior weapons and items.  The services of Kanatash and Cyra were again utilized, and this time, the trip home was uneventful.  At Fra Dane, the party was met at the edge of the city’s shantytown outside of the walls by Ik, who happily met again with her friends.  

	Before leaving town, the party decided it would be wise to meet up with Operative Vel again and update him on the success of their mission so far.  Of course, the problem was exactly how much they wanted to tell him.

	“We have to give him something,” Luke insisted.  “Otherwise, he might take us off the investigation, or worse, start his own investigation and find it leads right to us.  Besides, you still need those pardons.”

	“Well, we should definitely avoid any information about the Egg itself,” Anastacia nervously proposed.  “But what about the rods?”

	“Let’s just give him information about Eff-Eflu Vicar…”  Luke started, sheepishly.

	“Effervo Vesica,” Lorren sharply corrected.

	“Right, we’ll talk about them,” Luke replied.  “And we have to mention the Hivekeepers to at least explain what was so special about Guillermo.  But if that’s enough, we can avoid revealing anything about the rods for now.”

	With the information prepared, Ik and Luke entered the city, since the rest of the party was still unable to legally enter it.  They soon met up with Vel, where they explained the situation.

	“So, tell us exactly what you found out about Guillermo,” Vel prompted.

	“Well, we did learn that he belonged to a secret society called the Hivekeepers, but he wasn’t responsible for the theft.”

	“Oh, who was?” Vel prodded.

	“We learned of another group, known as…” Luke quickly looked at a note Ik handed him, “Effervo Vesica.  They were the ones who stole the rod.”

	“Really?  How did you learn that?  Did Guillermo tell you?”

	“Unfortunately, he was already dead when we got there.”

	“Then how did you learn all this?”

	“Well,” Luke hesitated.  He’d rather not spread information about the note the party found, or even imply that it existed.  “We talked to the owner of the curio shop.  She told us some of this.”

	“I see,” Vel replied.  He carefully adjusted some papers in a way that somehow unnerved Luke immensely.  “Well, that is very helpful, but we’d like some information about what this Effervo Vesica organization’s ultimate goals are, or what the purpose of the rod is.  You truly have nothing else for us?”

	Luke gulped, “No, but we want to investigate the Gate of Madness next.  We might learn more about Effe…the thieves from there.”

	Vel nodded.  “Excellent news.  We actually can help you with that objective.  We are aware of a Hensen and Children expedition headed in that general direction.  We can ‘persuade’ them to take a slight detour and delay their departure long enough for you to join them, and we are even willing to pay for their services.  They should be able to get you to the destination in only nine days or so; much faster than an ordinary travel service.”  Vel then ended the briefing by sliding a pouch containing a thousand gold pieces and the dearly desired pardons.  

	As Luke and Ik gratefully left to tell their fellow party members what happened and prepare for their journey with the Hensen caravan, Vel summoned some of his fellow Operatives.  “Make preparations for a strike force,” he instructed.  “We need to learn more about this knowledgeable curio shop owner.”


	“These are very strange carriages,” Grim commented as the party located the caravan’s departure point.

	“You mean, besides the fact they aren’t attached to any mounts?” Elvis asked.  “Do you think they pull themselves?”

	Grim shook his head.  “No, they have harnesses, but they’re very strange.”  He demonstrated by holding one of the harnesses up.  “Look how much they can be moved.  They look like they can go all the way above the carriages themselves.”

	“And the sides of the carriage are very wide as well,” Lorren noted.  “Maybe they can float?”

	“Hey, look back here!” Enrique called.  “I found a carriage with animals!”

	The party dashed the rearmost of the twenty five cars of the massive caravan, where they saw it was being pulled by strange, gray lions with paler manes.  “Oh, I know what those are!” Lorren commented.  “Those are Leoni.  They’re a sort of magical lions.  They can be transformed briefly by supernatural magical pressure points.  But that doesn’t explain why they’re used for this wagon and not the others.”

	Their answer came later that day, when first the other passengers and then the “animals” joined the caravan.  The passengers were for the most part the children of affluent nobles, though they were an unusual lot.  Most were dressed strangely and were adorned with skulls, demonic imagery, and other dark clothing.  At first, the party was worried that they had somehow been surrounded by an evil cult, but further investigations revealed the truth.

	“So, where are all of you going?” Ik asked her fellow carriage, a young human woman.

	“Oh, we’re going to see the Shrill Harper!” the woman, who introduced herself as Rilliana but insisted that everyone call her Rumor, explained.

	Upon seeing Ik’s confused face, Rumor pulled out a paper explaining further.

You know Her!  You Love HER!  And now, Shrill harper is coming to ulgurtha!

Her fans have called her passionate, spirited, terrifying and yet wondrous.  Fiends and mortals alike have been charmed by her wit and power.  She defies the performer’s guild, the common superstitions about morality, and the pointless conflict of nature itself.  Her songs have motivated love, hate, death, rage, and all the primal emotions.  She is shrill harper, and Ulrich Bludwright is honored to have this woman, who represents all that Ulgurtha holds dear, perform for as long as her fans demand!  Born of a mortal harpy and a fiend and raised in the bleakest realms of the Gate of madness, she has crawled out of that dark place to bring the musical world of the surface to its knees!  Come, all fans of music, to share in the magic!

	Ik looked shocked.  “You’re going to a city inhabited by demons and devils to hear the music of a fiendish harpy?”

	Rumor shook her head.  “I know how that sounds, but she’s not like that.  She struggled out of her horrible fiendish nature out the pure desire to sing!  It’s the noblest thing a person could do!  She inspires me!”

	Ever the bard, Ik was intrigued.  “Could you sing some of her songs?”

	Rumor struggled with an answer.  “I’ll try, but I’m not nearly as good as she is.”  Ik soon learned that Rumor was putting it mildly, and her journey just felt a lot longer.

	But the rest of the party was more impressed with the creatures pulling their carriages.  After the crew first checked that nobody was traveling with any natural animals, a series of bizarre creatures were fastened to the wagons.  Each seemingly had no permanent features; one moment one would have the head of a goat, and the next, it would be more like that of a great cat.

	“What the hell are those?” Grim asked with shock and not a little disgust.

	Aware of the pattern at this point, all heads turned to Lorren.  Sensing their expectations, the young genius sighed and said, “I think those are called Environs.  One of the Hensen’s children discovered the creatures recently, which catapulted them to the position of dominant transportation service on Mesion.  Apparently, they can cross any terrain without difficulty, because their bodies always adjust to that of the ideal animal.  They can even climb steep cliffs, swim across the surface of a body of water, or fly!  They just have some issues with normal animals.  Apparently, animals get spooked by their presence.  I bet that’s what the Leoni carriage is for.  If we did have any animals, they’re magical creatures, so they could transport the animals.”

	Grim, however, said nothing.  He remembered the forest earlier where the animals were all seemingly driven insane, and he was a little suspicious that these unnatural things had some relation.

	As the days turned into over a week, the party soon met more of their fellow passengers and drivers.  Luke made friends with Avale Zherri, a paladin of Pelor and a member of Zoridel’s chosen.  She and several other clerics and paladins from both Zoridel and Fra Dane were sent to investigate the concert for possible sinister purposes beyond simple musical expression.  Even a paladin and a cleric from Luke’s own church of Ehlonna were participating!  Meanwhile, Ik (when not trying to charm the nobles with her own music,) made friends with Pellene Stirring, a bard traveling to Ulgurtha as an expert for the Performer’s Guild.  He seemed pretty depressed during much of the journey, however, possibly as a result of the presence of Guild representative Trish Bline.  From what she learned, the Guild’s use of Pellene as an expert meant that he hasn’t been hired to actually perform, making it against Guild rules for him to sing in public!  

	“What are you planning on this trip?” A naturally suspicious Ik asked the Guild official.

	Trish smiled.  “Well, we want a professional critique of the Shrill Harper, of course.  If she’s as competent as we’re hoping, we’re considering persuading her to enter the Guild.  We could get her to perform in Fra Dane and other cities that aren’t as inherently dangerous or such a long a distance away from more humanoid-populated lands.”

	“Yes, I’m sure that’ll be a big success for you,” Ik muttered, now sick of the Guild’s general attitude towards music.

	Unaware of Ik’s intent, Trish merely nodded.  “Oh, I’m sure it will change the world.”

	Ik, understandably, spent much of the rest of the trip avoiding Trish and playing for the nobles and the more traditional merchants, who Enrique was more interested in charming as possible connections later.  Elvis and Grim were more interested in studying the strange creatures and conversing with the caravan’s crew, Lorren took an interest in the caravan’s wizard advisor, Advisor Bathail Malph, and Anastacia hobnobbed with the rebellious children of Fra Dane.

	The caravan was a bumpy but uneventful trip for the first eight days, but that changed midway through the eighth day when the caravan abruptly stopped, seemingly for no reason.  Curious, the party disembarked to investigate and found themselves on the top of a tall cliff, where Callis Torrand, the caravan’s leader, was observing something.  The party moved in to look as well and saw that in the jungle below, a strange building rose above the canopy of trees.  It was hemispherical, seemingly made entirely of metal, and though it was hard to tell from the distance, it seemed to be slowly rotating!  

	“What’s that?” Anastasia asked.

	Bathail frowned.  “That appears to be a modron enclave.  They’re strange, semi-mechanical creatures that represent pure law.  This is most disturbing; they haven’t been seen on Mesion for hundreds of years.”

	Callis turned to his advisor and issues his command.  “We need more information about these creatures.  Contact the nearest towns and see if they know anything about this, and then we’ll speak with command about this.”

	A few hours later, Callis gathered both the rest of the crew and the increasingly anxious passengers to share his plan.  “Bathail spoke to the local villages magically, and he learned that this enclave has interfered with the local villages lately, and they pose a threat to the area.”

	“Interfered?  How?” a skeptical Grim asked.

	Bathail hesitated, as if he didn’t expect an interruption so soon, but he replied.  “They have attacked local hunters.  They haven’t killed anyone yet, but they have been willing to use lethal force.”

	“So, that sounds like they’re just defending their territory,” Grim pressed.

	“And they have been expanding that territory,” Callis finished.  “So we have been authorized to destroy the enclave and collect a bounty offered by the villages.  We have been given permission to seek assistance from any combat-minded passengers in exchange for a share of the bounty, but we can’t promise your protection if you agree to this plan.”

	The party agreed, though Grim did so with extreme reluctance and Luke seemed uncomfortable about the whole thing.  Also joining the raid were Avale Zherri and the other paladins and clerics, Rumor and several other noble children with some training or special powers, and, after hours of arguments with Trish, Pellene himself.  Callis split the entire assembled group into four wings, with Callis, Bathail, and Pellene leading the attack into the enclave’s core.  The other three groups were to guard the other three exits and defeat and modrons that attacked from that side.

	Before long, the environs had dropped the party off, and they carefully made their way to their interception point.  As the shouts of combat rose up all around them, they charged their own entrance as a small army of spherical, flat rectangular, and triangular metal creatures poured out.  They engaged the party with teeth, claw, and even simple weapons like spears, but it was clear that they were simple-minded foes, and soon the battle was over.  As the party recovered from their wounds, a victorious raiding party, including Pellene at the happiest the party’s ever seen him, returned, dragging a five-legged metal starfish with them.  The party returned to the carriages to count their earnings and confirm that the egg was safe (they left it with Ik during the fight, as she planned on staying in the back and assisting the party with her magic,) but as they left, Grim noticed something.  Bathail had a tear in his robes as a result of the fight, and Grim noticed he had a tattoo on the small of his back of two dragons attacking and eating each other.  For a moment, he could barely control himself; that same symbol was on the same attackers that killed his parents.  For a barbarian, though, Grim was unusually known for his ability to keep his cool.  He decided that it would be suicide to do anything about this now; Bathail was wounded, but he was still a highly respected wizard within a powerful organization.  He might be able to destroy Grim in an instant, and even if Grim got the upper hand, Callis and the rest of the Hensen staff would attack him.  He would, however, make a note of this.  This was the first hint about the death of his parents that he received so far, and he intended to do something about it sooner or later.

	OOC Notes:  This was actually only the first half of this session.  The numerous role-playing opportunities and background information takes generally produces more story in less time than the average fight.  The modron fight was slightly more difficult than it seemed here, but not too fascinating.  Low-level modrons really disappointed me from their lack of abilities; bring on the screaming bushes and face-peeling cats in my opinion!  Nonetheless, like nearly everything that happened so far, it gave the party some clues about future events or potential leads.  Very little has been accidental so far…

	You might have noticed some edits in earlier entries.  I gave the party the option to change some features about their characters now that they know them a little better, and Luke decided to opt for a slightly less lawful character and the deity of Ehlonna instead of Bha-Ael.  This still puts him at or near the moral center of the party, though, so it didn’t change things too much, yet.


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## LordVyreth (Jul 16, 2006)

*Mesion Excerpt #5: Musings of a Beginning*

The mission was a success.  Contrary to the assumption of their enemies, their plan was not merely the fate of the Egg.  That was important, and perhaps the beginning of it all, but it would not be the end.  But of all the threats they faced, they feared the Egg the most.  Whether used for good or evil, the Egg represented something that they despised; that was the absolute opposite of their ultimate goal.  At least now, they knew that no sentient group would be able to use the Egg for their own ends, now that they had part of the only system that can control it.  But it wasn’t enough.  They never really were opposed to the Hivekeepers; they just knew that the Hivekeepers never went far enough.  But they did keep the Egg safe for these many years, and now it was over.  The Egg is lost, and thus, it could be used by the foolish, or hatched on accident.  “No,” Invenir thought, “We need the Egg.”

	That was Invenir’s task, at least primarily.  The Egg’s return to Mesion civilization was only the start of the new developments.  Everything on Mesion was returning; was changing.  This was exactly the problem Invenir and her people wanted to correct.  Invenir knew better than to work directly, she (if she could even call herself a gender now; it’s been so long since she had a relatable form,) was better suited to seek assistance from allies, whether those allies were good or evil.  Her allies suited her well in this last mission, but the Egg has been another story.  Invenir realized they might need new allies for this mission.

	It was a difficult task, but a necessary one.  With effort, the changes of Mesion, which would ultimately twist it beyond value, can be delayed long enough for it to be Invenir and her people’s chance to change again.  And then things could change in the way they desire.  After all, they already saw, and even participated, in the escalating of events that led to the destruction of an entire universe.  They knew what it looked like, and since they already did so much for Mesion, it was time to do one more thing.


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## LordVyreth (Jul 21, 2006)

*The Gate of Madness: Beware the Squeakers!*

“Well, that was a fun trip!” Ik enthusiastically commented.  “And I think I made some fans.”

	Lorren grumbled.  “I didn’t have as much luck.  I thought I could get some assistance in my magical research from Bathail, but he was far more interested in magic far too…subtle for me.  Also, well, he remembered me from my work in Fra Dane.”

	“Your work?” Elvis asked cautiously.

	“Well, one of my experiments was officially known as Sulphur Day, because of the smell.”

	A look of recognition passed on Luke’s face.  “That was you?  It took me weeks to get the smell out of my clothes!  What did you do?”

	Lorren shrugged.  “Every genius has to make a few mistakes.  I’m happy knowing that I’m already a living legend at such a young age.  It’s not for something I’m exactly proud of, but it’s a start.”

	As they continued their discussion, the party slowly made their way to the entrance of the Gate of Madness, mere hours after the caravan dropped them off near it.  The party already began their preparations for their first dungeon raid.  According to Callis, the caravan they just left could pick them up, but since it takes over forty days to reach Ulgurtha, by the time the caravan was returning, almost three months will have passed!  Since that would put the date into winter, this was not an attractive option.  Alternately, another caravan was arriving much sooner, but it only gave the party seven days to find out all they could about the humanoid tribes Effervo Vesica hired.

	The entrance to the Gate of Madness was almost disappointingly plain.  There was nothing to mark it but a hole in the round and a simple wooden sign.  Lorren read the sign.  “The Gate of Madness.  Abandon all ‘blank’ ye who enter here.”

	“It says blank?” Enrique asked with skepticism.

	Lorren shook his head.  “No, but something was blacked out, and then somebody wrote something else over it.  And then somebody crossed that out and wrote something else.  It goes on like this for dozens of words.  Apparently, the most recent word is ‘parsnips.’”

	Ik eagerly grabbed a quill and some ink.  “Oooh!  I want to write something new.  How does ‘Abandon all Arugula’ sound?”

	While Ik fiddled with the front of the sign, Enrique noticed further writing on the back.  Among the writings were more symbols in Adventurer’s Cant, which spelled out to say “Be prepared to defend yourself,” “Mean monster here,” “Natural Dangers,” and “Trap.”  A less general but more ominous sentence under that the Cant symbols simply read, “Leave the squeakers alone.”  Unfortunately, the party had no idea who or what the squeakers were, so they made a note of it as they carefully assembled the party, drew their weapons, and descended into the dungeon.  It was about halfway down the stairs into the first cavern of Mesion’s largest and most dangerous dungeon that they realized none of them brought a lantern.

	“What do you mean we don’t have anything?” Luke asked angrily.

	Grim shrugged.  “I can see in the dark.  I don’t know what your excuse is.”

	Elvis pulled some torches out of his backpack.  “Look, this will have to do for now.  Hopefully we can find something better as we travel.  If worse comes to worse, we can find that town that’s a day or so off from here.  It’ll cost us a few days, but it beats stumbling around in the dark.”

	The party found themselves (once they could see it,) in a seemingly normal-looking cavern with three tunnels extending to the northwest, southwest, and northeast.  After a brief investigation, only the northwest tunnel stood out.  For one thing, it smelled slightly of honey, which was unusual at the very least.  More importantly, another Adventurer’s Cant symbol was above the entrance to the tunnel.  After translating it to read “A good and/or kind resident lives here,” the underequipped party had no trouble choosing this direction to start their journey.  They didn’t get far, however, before finding another large cave at the end of the tunnel.  Grim, who was taking the lead because of his ability to see in the dark, quickly scanned the cave for threats, and noticed a flock of bats on the roof.  “I see some bats,” he simply pointed out.  “But I’m not sure if they’re a threat.”  Grim seemed hesitant.  He had to fight enough animals or creatures he had no immediate problems with already.  

	“Wait, don’t bats squeak?  I thought we were supposed to leave the squeakers alone!”  Anastacia said worriedly.

	Lorren shrugged.  “Well, if they leave us alone, we’ll do the same to them.”

	Grim took a few cautious steps into the cave, immediately prompting the bats to fly down and swarm the unfortunate barbarian.  Even as the bats began to suck his blood and leave brutal wounds that seemed unable to close on their own, the party was slow to respond out of fear from the warning.  Eventually, though, they decided to stop the bats’ attack, and so with weapon and torch the bats were dispersed.  The tunnel continued on the other side of the cave, so the party traveled northwards until they came to a door.

	“The good person the Cant symbol told us about could be here,” Luke offered.

	Enrique looked skeptical.  “After what the ‘squeakers’ did, I’m not so certain we should trust random symbols that could’ve been written by anyone.”  He searched the door for traps, made sure it was unlocked, and listened for any suspicious noises on the other side.  After finding out that the door was harmless and the next room was quiet, he and Grim quickly opened the door and stepped inside.

	Finally, the first signs of the bizarre nature of the Gate were revealed to the party.  The next room perfectly emulated the interior of a giant bee hive, complete with its inhabitant, a humanoid-shaped bee!  The bee, however, seemed harmless enough.  He was simply reading a book on insect zoology when the party entered, and he gave them a glance but didn’t appear hostile after seeing them.

	Luke took the lead as party goodwill ambassador.  “Hello.  I was told that a friendly force could be found here.  Are you he?”

	The bee looked confused, and replied in Common, albeit with high-pitched, buzzing voice.  “I would not know what you speak of.  I have been in this facility for months now, so I do not know who or what would tell you that.  But I am not your enemy.”

	Lacking Luke’s tact, Elvis asked, “What are you?”

	The bee replied.  “We are the Abeil.  We live in the mountains near this dungeon.  We value knowledge above all things, so frequently our queen schedules expeditions into this dungeon to learn about its secrets.  When these expeditions are over, one remains behind to maintain our facilities.  I am that one.”

	“So you know what we can expect to find in this dungeon?  Can you give us a map?”  Anastacia asked.

	The abeil shook its head.  “I’m afraid not.  After the raid, the abeil leave with all the information gathered.  I am left with only a few books to pass the time and everything needed to keep the hive maintained.  I have not left the hive in months.”

	Enrique nodded, and then he noticed another door at the far end of the hive.  “Excuse me, Mr….what should we call you?”

	“We have no names,” the abeil replies.  “We are just given identification numbers.  I am Worker #89.”

	“Well…89,” Enrique replied.  “Do you at least know what’s behind that door?”

	89 nodded.  “That’s where the explorers come from.  I don’t think you should go that way; you won’t get very far, so it’s pointless.”

	“What are the explorers?” Ik nervously asked.

	“Oh, they are relatively safe, at least at this level.  They periodically arrive on this level and simply pass through, mapping everything and recording every change.  It’s best to leave them alone.”

	The wording of that phrase set off alarms in the party’s heads, but they decided that these explorers merited further investigating.  Taking their leave of number 89, they traveled through the north door to find a long hallway.  At first, the hallway appeared empty save for one creature, an imp-like monster that sat at the far end of the hall and seemed unconcerned with the party’s presence, and a strong-looking metal doorway at the other end.  Watching the potential threat carefully, Grim strode quietly into the room, where he promptly was struck by a swift-moving scythe trap.

	“Can I stop taking point?” Grim complained, as he bandaged his new wound.  Despite the sudden attack from the trap, the creature remained inactive.  

	“Well, I might as well,” Enrique replied.  “I might be able to spot any future traps before it’s too late.”

	He carefully searched the hallway, but when he closed with the monster just a bit further, it finally acted by screaming as loud as it could!  The screams echoed down the hallway and seemingly proved too much for Enrique, who could do little but block his ears and try to recover from the sudden pain.

	“An alarm system!” Elvis yelled, and he quickly prepared his bow to finish the creature.  Lorren followed through with his own magic, and the rest of the party opened fire as well.  Grim, however, was not interested in attacking from a distance.  He preferred to face his enemies directly, and so he charged the monster, where he promptly fell into the pit trap just a short distance from the monster!  This was not his day.

	Fortunately, the beast eventually fell to the volley of attacks, and Enrique promptly finished exploring the hallway while the party retrieved Grim.  His explorations only lasted a few minutes, however, when the metal door opened.  A half dozen vaguely humanoid figures emerged.  Each was wrapped head to toe in a strange black cloth, making it impossible to see any of their features, but they had a reptilian gait.  One of them was sitting on a metal tray of some sort, which was slowly pushed by the other creatures.  As it moved, its thick, rusty wheels made a sharp squeaking noise, alerting the party about the nature of these beings.  Heeding the message’s advice, they simply watched as the monsters visited each trap, where they removed a number of tools from the trays and reset them both.  As they did so, the one on the tray was furiously scribbling on a pad of paper, drawing every detail of the room, including the heroes, perfectly.  Finally, one of the creatures grabbed the corpse of the fallen monster, while another took a perfectly healthy monster of the same race out of the tray.  The new monster was trapped in a jar, but in a few moments, the metal door opened, the black-clothed creatures removed the screaming imp-creature and placed it where the last imp was, and all half-dozen of them re-entered the darkness beyond the metal door.  With a long, slow rumbling noise, the door was closed and the mysterious creatures were gone.

	OOC Notes: And that’s as far as the party got through the Gate of Madness so far.  I wanted to impose the weird, surreal, creepy nature of the dungeon early on, and hopefully between the giant, friendly bee-man and the “squeakers,” I got things off to a good start.  I got the idea for the Gate of Madness from ENWorld, actually.  A topic in the main forum was discussing the merits of dungeons, with many complaints about the unrealistic nature of the old-school dungeons.  Another poster supported the old dungeons and thought they worked as a more symbolic place than a literal one; a descent into nightmares and the classic underworld, instead of just being a big hole in the ground with its own ecology.  Now, I can see the point of the other posters about making it make sense, but I also realized that if handled right, capturing that old-school sense (albeit with more realistically balanced encounters,) could work in a modern game, Hence the Gate of Madness.  Now, the reason the Gate is the way it is still poses a mystery, at least to the players, but trust me; I worked out something.


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## LordVyreth (Aug 2, 2006)

*The Gate of Madness: Ophidian ophidian ophidian*

“So, I say we go after them!” Enrique suggested, to the amazement of Luke and the general acceptance of the rest of the party, which only surprised Luke more.

	“Why?” Luke eventually sputtered out.  “We have to find the local humanoid tribes, not distract ourselves and probably get horribly killed by bothering the one thing that everyone we met in the Gate so far has agreed that should be left alone.”

	“Oh, don’t worry about it; I won’t bother them,” Enrique said.  “I’m just going to talk to them.”

	“And kill them if we think we have a chance, right?” Elvis asked with an unusual amount of bloodlust.

	This prompted a small argument, before Enrique shrugged and approached the door (so far, the replacement screaming creature ignored the party, possibly because they were already inside its sphere of alarm when it was released.  “Well, we’re not going to figure out anything by just standing here.”  So saying, he simply knocked on the stone door at the end of the hallway.

	In an instant, the door opened, revealing at least a half dozen of the strange creatures.  The door itself slid open sideways and didn’t even have a doorknob.  In addition, a second, much stronger metal door opened just as the stone one did, with a small gap in the walls, floor and ceiling between the doors.

	For a moment, both sides wouldn’t move; they simply watched the other in anticipation.  Finally, after several minutes of peace, one of the Squeakers pushed a button on his side of the wall.  With a soft whir noise, the doors closed, the party heard an audible ring now on the other side of the wall, like the peal of a bell, and then another rumbling sounds abruptly started before fading away.

	Enrique tried to knock again, but to no avail.  Finally, he and the others decided there was nothing more that can be done here, so they returned to the abeil in the hopes the could rest for the evening in the relative safety of his hive.  Negotiations were difficult, but eventually the party agreed to exchange a potion they already required in exchange for a safe night’s rest.  The night was uneventful, though Anastacia was greeted by an unpleasant realization that the water in her skin spontaneously turned to blood overnight!  After refilling her waterskin and cursing the Gate of Madness in general, the party resumed their journey the next morning, when they returned to the central cavern of the Gate of Madness and tried another direction.  This time, they decided to travel the northeast path strictly on a whim, since they saw no other traits that distinguished one of the remaining paths from the other.

	Soon, the party came to a strange underground pond, where they met even more of the dungeon’s unusual inhabitants.  Four strange reptilian heads rose out of the water, and while three seemed wary of the party and kept their distance, the fourth drew closer and spoke to the party.  “What do you want ophidian?” it spoke in a raspy and irritated, but not necessarily hostile, voice.  

	Luke looked surprised, but he tried to maintain order, much to Elvis’ disappointment.  “We are looking for some of the inhabitants of this dungeon.  Do you know what is beyond this cavern?”

	The lead reptile snorted.  “Sure we do ophidian.  Beyond here is the goblins ophidian.”

	Anastasia already was getting annoyed.  “Will you quit saying that?”

	The reptile looked confused.  “Quit saying what ophidian?”

	Even Lorren was starting to get confused by these creatures.  “What are you thing?”

	“We are the Opidians ophidian.”

	Finally giving up on the subject, the party decided to see if these creatures could be helpful to them.  “Can you tell us anything about the goblins?” Luke asked.

	“Sure ophidian.  They call themselves the Suncrush tribe, we think ophidian.  They’re not really a tribe, though ophidian.  They’re more an outpost for a bunch of hobgoblins ophidian.  The goblin chief here gets them something special from here, so he makes a lot of money by trading with the hobgoblins ophidian.

	“Does he ever deal with others groups?”

	“Sometimes ophidian.  Just a while ago, a man in black armor came this way, and he brought a whole bunch of goblins out with him ophidian.”

	Luke quickly glanced at the others, who revealed they were thinking the same thing he was.  “Was there anything strange about the man’s armor?”

	“Yeah ophidian.  It looked like it was alive or moving or something ophidian.”

	The look on Luke’s face said it all.  “Thank you for your help.  Is there anything we can give you in return?”

	“That depends ophidian.  Are you going to fight the goblins ophidian?”

	“It’s possible,” Luke admitted.

	“Good ophidian.  Bring any goblins you defeat back to us ophidian.”

	Luke agreed to the deal, and soon the party was entering goblin territory.  Unsurprisingly, the entrance was guarded, though initially it appeared that only three normal goblins blocked the entrance.  As soon as the party approached, they leveled their weapons and shouted at the party with an angry and warning tone, though sadly no one in the party knew what they said.

	“Well, what do we do?” Grim, who was again leading the party, asked.  “We need information from these creatures, but we don’t understand their language!”

	“We need to speak to their leader at least!” Luke suggested.  “Even if he doesn’t speak Common, he must have some translator to do it.”

	“But how do we even reach the leader?” Ik asked.  “These goblins don’t especially look friendly.”

	Elvis smiled as he drew his bow.  “I recommend the traditional way!”

	Grim groaned.  “We can’t simply invade their home just to force information from their leader!”

	“I’m sorry, are we talking about the same goblins that attacked MY home?” Lorren asked.  “Because I’m pretty sure they deserve some retribution, if we’re talking about those goblins!”

	Nobody could argue the point, so Grim quickly led a charge on the goblin guards.  This was quickly followed by a retreat FROM the goblin guards when a trap was apparently triggered, shooting lines of electricity across the room!  From the relative safety of the corridor, the party instead fired at the goblins while enduring the goblins’ own ranged attacks, but soon the party was victorious.  This just left the problem with the trap, which had since reset.  Enrique took a moment to investigate the floor, and while he could find a pressure point that apparently triggered the trap, he was unable to disable it without setting off the trap again.

	“Anyone else have an idea?” a frustrated Enrique asked.

	Grim quickly studied the room and responded.  “I think I can reach the other side of the room without touching the ground.  Did you notice the goblins were never hit by the electricity?  I think there’s a safe place to stand over there.  Once I get there, I can try to find a way to turn off the trap or help everyone else get a cross.”

	After getting a running start, Grim easily cleared the room.  However, he didn’t have any luck find a way to disable the trap on his side, either, and the rest of the party didn’t have as much faith that they could reach the other side of the room with a simple jump.

	Finally, Lorren came up with an idea.  After driving a dagger into the opposite wall, he tied one end of a rope to it and tossed the other end to Grim.  “He can keep the rope taut, and the rest of us can climb across it to reach the other side!”  The others agreed it wasn’t a bad plan, but they were less enthused after Lorren, who didn’t exactly have the upper body strength to easily cross ropes, volunteered the rest of the party into trying it first!

	Finally, Enrique and Anastacia made it across, when they discovered another problem.  There wasn’t any more room on this side for the rest of the party without taking the risk of standing where the goblins didn’t, and thus possibly setting off the trap again.  Sick of waiting around, Enrique finally snapped and just opened the door into the goblin territory, where he discovered by a strange lever and a number of additional goblins.  While Grim and Anastacia moved up to deal with the new threat (which was in doubt until Grim managed to pull the dagger from the wall again,) Enrique pulled the lever, hoping that it was the control for the trap.

	The two close-range fighters in the party soon reached the goblins, but not without difficulty.  As they traversed the hallway, a massive, barbed chain burst out of the wall and tried to trip them.  They managed to avoid falling at such a crucial time, but not without a cost, as the blade managed to slice at each them.  As the duo neared the goblins, the rest of the party cautiously took a few steps into the electrically trapped room, and to their relief Enrique indeed managed to find the trap release, letting them assist the lead members of the party.  This proved very helpful, for moments later, another half-dozen goblins poured out of two side paths of the hallway.

	The party was suddenly outnumbered.  Granted, it was by goblins, but nonetheless it was a difficult situation for a party wounded by traps and still slightly recovering from past injuries.  Nonetheless, the party prevailed.  Many of the goblins were fortunately unable to get into the corridor with the party’s strongest warriors blocking their paths, letting the rest of Fra Dane’s unlikeliest heroes surround the goblins and pick them off using distance weapons or emerge behind any goblins that managed to get into the hallway and try to overwhelm the opposition.

	The party was victorious, but they also had too many injuries to safely continue into the goblin’s territory.  “I don’t like having to retreat this far into the goblin’s base,” Luke pondered.  “They’ll be ready for us next time.  But we can’t confront the goblin chief with any kind of authority if we can barely stand up, either.  We need to find a safe place to rest.”

	“What about Worker 89?”  Ik asked.  “He seems trustworthy.  He didn’t do anything to us last time.”

	Most of the party, though, looked reluctant.  “Something about him really disturbs me,” Elvis commented.

	“Besides, he’ll probably make us pay for it again,” Enrique added.  “I’d rather not waste any more of our treasure if we can help it.  What about the ophidians?  They said we should bring the bodies of any goblins we defeat to them.  Maybe we can work out a trade.”

	Elvis didn’t look any happier trusting their lives to the lizard people than the bee person, but the rest of the party seemed to agree.  They quickly stripped the goblin bodies of any worthwhile items they could find, including a note that was unfortunately also written in goblin, and then dragged the bodies back to the strange amphibious monsters.

	“If we give you these goblins, will you let us rest by your pond?” Luke asked the creatures.

	The only ophidian who can apparently speak common nodded.  “Yes ophidian.  The goblins won’t attack us here ophidian.”

	“What do you want the goblins for, anyway?” Anastacia asked.

	The ophidian grinned.  “They’re delicious ophidian.  We can’t eat fish all the time ophidian.  But did you take any of them alive ophidian?”

	Before anyone could stop him, Lorren asked “Why?  What’s so special about living goblins?”

	“We need them to make more ophidians ophidian.  We aren’t many now ophidian.  We need more to fight the goblins or return to the lower level ophidian”

	Nobody seemed interested in learning more about how the ophidians reproduced, or at least they managed to stop Lorren from asking this time, but information about the lower level could be useful, they realized.  “How do you get to the lower level?” Luke asked.

	“The goblins have their own way ophidian, but we have a tunnel to our river below this level ophidian,” the lead ophidian replied.  “But we can’t go down there now ophidian.  Too many enemies would fight us ophidian.”

	“Like what?”

	“Our most hated enemies are there ophidian.  We call them the inphidian ophidian.  They’re very bad ophidian.”

	Not eager to talk further (and really sick of the word “ophidian,”) the party let the creatures return underwater, and then made camp at the far end of the pond.  They spent several hours planning the next day, and were well aware that if they wanted to escape the Gate region before winter, they only had only five days left.

	When they returned to the goblin camp the next day, the party wasn’t surprised to see that new guards were at the entrance, and they were certain the electric trap was set again.  What was surprising, though, was that one of the guards was shouting at the party as they arrived, and not in a hostile way.  Instead, he was waving a piece of paper, and when the party was sufficiently confused by his actions into holding their attack, he slid the paper to the party.  

	Grim, being an unusually literate barbarian, quickly read the note.  “It says that he goblin chief decided to speak to us,” he said.  “He wants us to meet with him.  Apparently we got his attention after our actions yesterday.”

	Enrique snorted.  “Yeah, we’ll just meet with him in the depths of his cave, with who knows how many goblins between us and the way out?  If we’re going to do this without violence, make him meet us on our territory.  What about next to the Ophidians?”

	The party generally responded the same way, so Grim wrote the party’s response on the paper and slid it back to the goblins.  The goblin that picked it up didn’t even bother reading it; he simply banged on the door behind him, and then gave it to the goblin that opened the door.

	A few minutes later, a voice called out to the party in Common.  “This is Geritch, the chief of the goblins.  I understand that you have been responsible for some concerns within my tribe.  I suggest, if you do not trust me sufficiently to visit my office, that we compromise and meet here.  It will give us both a means to withdraw should negotiations break down.”

	The party conferred before reluctantly agreeing.  A few moments later, a goblin in unusually impressive clothing entered the room, accompanied by both more goblins and more exotic creatures.  A bat, seemingly made of fire, rested next to the goblin leader.  Even stranger, a mass of electricity in a semi-humanoid form stood in front of the goblin chief, serving as an obvious if unusual bodyguard.  The party could even swear they saw a miniature storm cloud on the other side of the door before it inexplicably slammed it!

	After finishing his obvious display of power, which as usual ruined Elvis’ plan to just kill him, Geritch opened the dialogue.  “So, what exactly did you need from me so urgently that you had to kill my warriors to get it?”

	Luke tried to take a conciliatory tone.  “We are from Fra Dane, and we do apologize for the attacks on your tribe, but we came to see answers for your own attack on our city.”

	Geritch nodded knowingly.  “Ah, so that’s what this is about.  Yes, some strange humans in black armor sought our assistance.  We were supposed to work with some of the other tribes to procure something called the Jewel of Success.”

	“Were they upset that you couldn’t get it?” Enrique asked, while barely hiding his smug tone.

	Geritch shrugged.  “They never mentioned it.  I suspect they just wanted a diversion.  I decided it was better not to ask.”

	“And you don’t mind what happened to your people?” Grim asked with disgust.

	“Not really,” Geritch replied with a laugh.  “The payment they provided me made it more than worth it.  My employers, if you will, provide me with enough men to make up for any losses.”

	Anastacia was in awe of this.  “They must have paid you a lot of money for such a flippant response.”

	Geritch shook his head.  “Oh no, they didn’t offer something as simple as gold.  My skills and this location provide me with enough resources that mere money wouldn’t have made it worth it.”

	“So what did they offer you?”  Luke asked.

	Geritch considered this, and then shouted in Goblin towards the door.  “One moment, please,” he said pleasantly to the party.  A moment later, a goblin carrying a small class case entered the room.  The case seemed to contain a tiny wasp-like insect with a tail that glowed slightly.

	“This is a phase wasp,” Geritch explained.  “Our new ‘friends’ apparently breed them in mass.  They offered me three entire hives worth of the creatures for payment.  Only a few have reached maturity now, sadly, but soon, I’ll have an entire swarm of them!  I haven’t decided if I should sell most of them to my hobgoblin brethren, or use them to consolidate power here.”

	“Are you sure we shouldn’t kill him?” Elvis asked anxiously, but Luke brushed him off.

	“We really have more interest in the people in black armor.  If they organized the raid on our city, we must take our vengeance to them.  Can you tell us anything about them?”  Lorren asked.

	“Well, they said their organization was called Effervo Vesica,” Geritch offered.

	Lorren looked disappointed.  “We knew that already.  What about the names of the people themselves?”

	Geritch replied, “Actually, we only dealt with one of them.  There was apparently another member who was once in charge, but he first went to the kobolds, and, well, he didn’t come back.  This second man was intelligent enough to treat both us and my kobold neighbors fairly.  He had somewhat more trouble with the orcs on the next level, but he apparently cowed them into servitude as well.  If you speak to the kobolds, you might be able to get the head of their less diplomatic ambassador.  As for the one that spoke to us, I believe the orcs learned his name during the fight.  He was a very unusual man, I believe.  He wore some sort of strange living armor.”

	Luke nodded excitably.  “That’s our man!”

	Enrique was less enthused.  “So, let me get this straight.  You can offer us nothing about him?”

	Gretich smiled.  “Oh, not at all.  You see, while we were happy to work for these Effervo Vesica people, we don’t obey their every word.  Specifically, he ordered us to never follow him back to his local base camp, so I had my little assistant here do it.”  He pointed to the fiery bat, who shrieked on cue.  “As a result, I have a very accurate map to a nearby base of theirs.  I will be willing to part with it for, say, 500 gold.  In addition, my lair has other features you may be interested in.  We have control of the only physical staircase to the next lower level.  If you plan on confronting the orcs, we can grant you safe access to it for another 300 gold.”

	“We’ll definitely need that map,” Ik whispered after the party formed a huddle.  “But I’m not sure if we need another way down.  After all, the Ophidians mentioned they had a way, and we already are on good terms with them.”

	Luke nodded.  “Very well.  We’ll give him five hundred gold for the map, and see if we can do business afterwards if necessary.  After all, we nearly made five hundred gold just from the goblins we already fought.”  He turned to Gretich.  “We will take your, map, but not the access to the next level.”

	“Are you sure?” Gretich asked innocently.  “We can let you visit our sauna while you’re here.  And I can show you the frescoes we discovered after settling here.”

	“You have a sauna?” Ik asked with interest, but Luke shook his head.

	“No, that will suffice for now.  Perhaps we can make some sort of other deal later?”

	“Maybe,” and Gretich’s eyes narrowed, “On one condition.  I noticed that some of your friends aren’t so inclined to trust me.”  Almost on cue, Elvis and Lorren started whistling as casually as possible.  “If we want to remain on good diplomatic terms, I want you to swear to your god that you will keep your people under control and honor our truce.”

	Luke hesitated, but he related.  “Very well.  In Ehlonna’s name, we will remain peaceful with you so long as you do the same to us.”

	“Fantastic!” Gretich cheered, and he quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Luke.  Luke skimmed it, and realized it was a message written in both Common and Goblin that the holder of this note are to be treated well and not attacked by goblins.  At least, that’s what Luke thought the Goblin part said, but he couldn’t really be certain.

	And so, the first part of their mission was successful.  They obtained information from the goblins about Effervo Vesica.  Now, it was time to shake the kobolds down for whatever they could tell the party.

	OOC Notes: One thing about the Gate of Madness that I enjoy is the ability to use enemies from nearly any source.  The last two adventures had monsters from nearly every monster book I collected.  The next few games should be fun, though, as I’ll be able to soon use monsters I made myself!


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## LordVyreth (Aug 19, 2006)

*The Gate of Madness: The Horror of the Giggling Door*

Negotiations with the kobolds were breaking down.  After finding the entrance to their lair on the only path they haven’t explored yet on the first level, the party confronted the two guards at the door, only to find that they didn’t speak Common, either.  However, concerned with the respect the goblin chief had for a mere kobold, the party decided to try negotiating first.  This brought a kobold diplomat who did speak Common, but apparently he and the chief shared a lack of interest in the party.  As the negotiations turned to shouting and threats of violence, the two kobold guards, who couldn’t understand a word of the conversation but easily picked up its tone, looked increasingly desperate at their so-called ambassador.  

	Fortunately for the two of them, at least for now, the last display of power by Lorren was enough for the kobold ambassador to take notice.  Seemingly cowed, he called the two guards in from the entrance (to their undisguised relief,) and then told the party to enter so that they can begin “negotiations.”

	“There’s no way it’ll be this easy,” Elvis said suspiciously.

	Luke sighed with resignation.  “I have to admit I agree, but if we can at least try to resolve this peacefully, we should.  After all, we still have the orcs to deal with, and we’re running out of time.”

	As the party passed a completely empty guardhouse, Luke’s hopes at least initially appeared correct.  That changed, however, when their guide entered the next room.  Before the party could follow, the door slammed shut, forcing the party to take precious seconds to get it open again.  By the time they could see the next room, their guide was gone.  Instead, the room had a pair of wooden catwalks that covered both sides of the room and numerous dark alcoves containing potentially anything.  

	“We’ve been betrayed!” Enrique yelled angrily, and he rushed into the room with Grim and Anastacia.  Before they could get far, though, foul creatures emerged from the alcoves.  They were humans, or at least they used to be, but now they were little more than stitched together flesh or bone.  As the zombies and skeletons descended on the party, the kobolds fired using surprisingly well-built slings.  The party returned fire, only to find that the kobold archers were surprisingly well-armored and hard to hit.

	“We need your power!” a frantic Elvis shouted at Luke while he tried to even damage the archers.

	Luke looked at his holy symbol nervously.  He knew in his heart that Ehlonna would protect him from creatures like these, but then again he never had to test that theory before.  Nonetheless, he concentrated on his lifelong faith while raising his holy symbol.  Even though the doubts that rose from his church’s sudden dubious new leader gave him pause, he was pleased to see that his hope was not ill-founded; many of the undead monstrosities were driven away by the light of Ehlonna.  

	With their enemies scattered, the party fought on with renewed vigor.  Though wounded fairly heavily in the fight earlier, Anastacia and Grim held out long enough to finish the remaining undead, while Lorren and Elvis finally eliminated the kobold archers.  Enrique led the fight against the turned undead and finished them before they could recover and again attack the party.  However, from his position on the other side of the room, he noticed that in addition to a door directly opposite the one they used to enter the room, there were additional doors on the same level as the catwalks the archers used.  Enrique carefully climbed up to the nearest catwalk (which he would have done anyway to search the enemy bodies,) and then called out to the party, “Hey, I have an idea!  If the kobolds are expecting us to attack them from the main door, we can sneak in and ambush them using this door.”

	Eager to avoid another death trap, the party agreed, and after Enrique secured a room up to the ledge, they carefully climbed up and traversed the narrow path further into the kobolds’ lair.  Soon, they came to another room, and while it apparently led to the same room that the main doors would have reached, if the massive doors on the ground level on their side were any indication, they apparently had the two guards in the room caught unaware.  However, another complication soon hindered the party; they tunnel was so narrow that only one of them could look out of it and attack the kobolds at a time!  Enrique responded to this problem by climbing a ladder down to the next level, while Grim decided to make things simpler by just leaping to the ground and attacking the kobolds!  Lorren was next in line and attacked the nearest kobold with his magic, but that left Anastacia, who was next in line, without any way to reach their targets.  Eager to at least try to help the party, she rushed to the front of the tunnel, which unfortunately involved pushing poor Lorren out of the tunnel!  As he landed in an uncomfortable heap on the ground, the party continued to swarm on the surprised guards, and despite their armor, they were quickly finished off.

	Besides the kobolds themselves, the room seemingly contained only a single, gilded door.  Enrique excitedly examined the door, only to reply moments later, “No, it’s just gold paint,” with disappointment in his voice.  He sadly gestured toward the door, obviously expecting someone else to open it.  Anastacia was the first to open the door, prompting a massive stone block to swing out of the wall and knock her unconscious!  All eyes, except for Lorren’s, glared angrily at Enrique, who shrugged.  “Well, I figured out what the door wasn’t,” he admitted.  “I wasn’t that certain what it was, exactly.”

	While the party stabilized Anastacia’s wounds, Enrique disarmed the trap and Grim opened the door.  To the part’s surprise, the door actually fell over backwards like a drawbridge.  It even required a rope and pulley system to close again.  After his most recent failure, Enrique was quickly made to take point so he could confirm that the way was safe before proceeding.  He slowly made his way down the corridor beyond the drawbridge door.  About the time he got halfway down it, however, the party had another surprise.  A kobold, in a way that seemed casual, opened a secret door and sauntered into the room.  Upon realizing that the party was still there, he stopped mid-stride and immediately tried to escape.  However, it was not to be.  Grim and Luke charged the unfortunate kobold while Lorren, Elvis, and Ik supported the party from a distance.

	Enrique, however, didn’t even realize there was a fight until he returned to the party.  “The route seems safe,” he confirms, “but it doesn’t really lead anywhere.  There’s a huge cliff at the end of the hall.”  Eager to examine the phenomenon, the party carefully approached the end of the tunnel to see the massive cliff.  The walls of the cliff extended beyond their vision, and the same was true for the drop, making it at least sixty feet to the bottom.  Grim even cautiously dropped a rock down the pit and shuddered slightly when the rock could never even be heard hitting bottom.

	“To be honest,” Lorren admitted as he looked over the edge, “I’m sort of glad Anastacia is still unconscious right now.”

	The party returned to the gilded door and carefully closed it.  The secret door was now the only way they had of getting further into the kobold’s realm, but even with the last kobold’s unaware response to the party, they still suspected another trap, so once again Enrique was stuck going ahead to make sure the path was safe.  And once again, this caused more problems than it solved.  Enrique tried to silently sneak through the tunnel into the next room, but before he could get near it, he almost tripped on a rock.  As soon as he stumbled into the next room, he saw that its inhabitants, two zombies and a hideous dog with two heads, where well aware of his presence and on their way to attack!  

	“Zombies!  Doggie with two heads!” Enrique screamed as he dashed out of the tunnel.  The party quickly responded, with Grim taking point and Luke preparing to turn the undead.  However, the narrow confines again proved problematic for the party.  Luke was successful at holding the undead at bay, and he even caused one zombie to dissolve into ash instantly, but Grim had more trouble with the dog, and the rest of the party couldn’t fire at it without risking an attack on Grim.  Finally, though, Elvis decided to chance it, only for him to drive an arrow right into Grim’s back!  As the unfortunate barbarian collapsed, the dog ran right over his “defeated” foe and leapt on Elvis, mauling him with both pairs of its filthy, disease-ridden jaws.  Finally, though, the dog was brought down, and Grim’s wounds were bandaged.  The party realized that they were too injured to safely travel further today, but at the same time they didn’t want to give up too much land and give the kobolds an opportunity to rebuild their defenses.  Of course, there was also a risk of attack while the party was resting.  Finally, the party agreed to partially make a tactical withdraw to the abandoned guardhouse they saw on the way in.  After carefully confirming that it actually was still abandoned, the party rested four the third time since they came to the Gate.  Only four days remained before the caravan would return for them, however.

	When they returned to the room with the wooden catwalks, they found the bodies of both the kobolds and the undead gone, but there were no additional forces waiting for them.  The same was true of the gilded door room, though the secret door was closed again.  When they entered the secret room, it was also bereft of bodies, but when they tried to open the next door, they were shocked to hear the door itself actually giggle!  Enrique immediately investigated the door, out of a misplaced fear that there was someone on the other side of the door laughing at them, but after he heard the door chuckle when he put his ear to it, he quit in disgust and opened the door, which caused the door to really laugh.  “I’m starting to really hate this place,” he muttered.

In the next room, apparently the throne room of the kobold chieftain, they finally found kobolds waiting for them.  Surprisingly, though, the two kobolds in question were unarmed and clearly willing to surrender.  The party immediately recognized one of the kobolds as the same ambassador that met the party at the front door.  “Where’s your leader?” Elvis growled at the kobold, but he just glumly responded by pointing at a caved-in tunnel.

	“She decided that fighting you more would not be to her benefit,” the ambassador replied.  “She left me here to negotiate with you.”  The other kobold, who apparently didn’t speak Common, simply cowered in the corner of the room.

	Enrique, Anastacia, and Ik immediately searched the room for valuables.  Enrique was excited about the throne, which unlike the earlier door was actually made of gold, but Ik was even more enthused about a piano in the corner.  “Wow, it has a full 88 keys!” she said excitedly.  She quickly sat down to try it out, demonstrating to the entire party and two unfortunate kobolds that the piano was one instrument she was not professionally trained in at this point.

	Luke tried to ignore the rancor and ask about what they came for.  “We want the skull of the Effervo Vesica agent you killed.”  

	The ambassador nodded.  “She understood that, but she kept it with the other trophies of enemies she defeated.” He indicated a door in the room.  “She kept the skull in here, but she arranged with two other skulls, and I don’t know which one is the real one.  She only told me to give you this and said it would help you.”  With that, he handed the party a skin full of what was, at least in theory, water.

	The party cautiously opened the door and saw the three skulls hung up on hooks.  Above the skull, a simple message was written:

Three Skulls of Enemies Long Dead
Each Died A Death Unique
One Breathed the Fumes of Death
One Met a Demise of Water
The Last Was Crushed By Earth Itself

	Elvis groaned.  “She left us a puzzle?  Why would she do this?”

	Lorren glared at the kobolds.  “If I had to guess, I’d say she hoped we would set off a trap.  She knew we couldn’t leave without the skull, and this way, she’d have a chance of killing us without endangering more of her own people.”

	Enrique finished searching the room and found the only other object in it.  “I think this bucket might be useful,” he said dubiously.  

	Grim offered the simple option.  “Well, the diplomat gave us water, and the message suggests a death by water.  What if we filled the bucket with the water and tried to pour the water on the skulls or even submerse them?  That way, if there’s a trap, we can figure out if there’s anything special about the skulls without touching them.”

	Lorren shook his head.  “That just seems too simple.  And how can we trust the kobold’s assistance?  Maybe the water just sets the trap off.”

	Elvis responded by grabbing the diplomat.  “Well, who says that WE have to do it?  It seems to me that the chief gave us the solution to the trap after all!”

	Luke seemed reluctant.  “We can’t just use them as bait for traps!  They’re surrendering prisoners!”

	Anastacia rolled her eyes.  “It’s their own trap, though.  If they’re still technically trying to kill us, I don’t think it’s a problem.”

	Luke conceded the point, and soon the simple kobold assistant, who figured out the situation soon enough despite the language barrier, tried to place the bucked under the skulls.  One sunk into it normally, but the other two seemingly repelled the bucket, preventing it from submersing them.  At the party’s orders, the same kobold took the seemingly normal skull from off the hook and gave it to the party without any further incident.

	“Huh, so it WAS that easy,” Lorren admitted.

	Elvis grinned evilly.  “We can make them take the skulls off of the other hooks and see what happens.”

	Anastacia was more practical, if no more merciful.  “What about giving them to Ophidians?  They said they needed goblins to reproduce.  I’m sure the kobolds aren’t that much different.”

	At this, the diplomat looked up with shock.  “No!” he shouted.  “I’d rather be thrown off the cliff into the Gravity Well!”

	Lorren sounded interested in this Gravity Well, which he assumed was the cliff they found earlier, but Luke finally put his foot down.  “Stop that!  We got what we wanted from them, so no throwing them into traps, throwing them off cliffs, or somehow turning them into weird lizard-people.”

	“Weird lizard people with speech impediments!”  Ik clarified.

	The party grumbled but accepted Luke’s decision this time, and they decided to leave the piano and the throne behind as well, at least until they were ready to leave and their excess weight wouldn’t cause a problem.  With the kobolds and the goblins dealt with, they only had to proceed to the second level to find the orcs and learn the name of their adversary.  Of course, the question remained: how to get there?

	“I don’t suppose we can try the elevator again?” Enrique offered.

	The party tellingly ignored Enrique, and Luke made the next suggestion.  “What about the tunnel the Ophidans suggested?  They seem friendly towards us.”

	Anastacia shuddered.  “I don’t like the idea of having to find a tunnel underwater, not to mention being at the mercy of those things.   Let’s just re-negotiate with the goblins.  We can afford to now.”

	The party agreed that the Ophidians were too bizarre to be trusted, and soon the party was back in goblin territory, where their previously obtained papers got them an audience with he chieftain himself.  The party was soon escorted back into a familiar hall and from there in a room with several closed wooden trap doors.  From there, the party was taken to a domed room with a fresco covering the ceiling.  Geritch himself barely acknowledged the party as they entered and seemed more interested in a hole in the wall.  “Hey, good to see you again,” he casually said as the party entered the room.  “Take a look at this.”

	The party, wary of a trap, obediently approached and looked at the hole.  The saw that the hole opened to the top of a massive, bowl-shaped room far too perfectly shaped to be natural.  The bottom of the bowl was dominated by a sphere of blinding light.  Strange, tiny humanoid figures slowly moved on the slope above the light, their shapes creating dark shadows over the sphere.

	“We call this the Energy Bowl,” Geritch calmly explained.  “We think it’s a portal to the Plane of Fire or something.  All I know is that it and the storms it makes keeps me in business.  Plus, it’s great for my tan.”  He turned to the party.  “Now, I heard that you were interested in buying the rights to use my passage to the next level after all?  I assume you’re willing to pay?”

	The party was almost willing to pay the price Geritch offered, but Enrique had another idea.  “Well, we found a piano when we raided the kobold’s lair.  We can give you that.”

	Geritch looked very interested.  “You attacked the kobolds?  How did you do?”

	Lorren smiled.  “We drove them out past the throne room.  They sealed the tunnel as they fled, though, so we couldn’t get any further.

	Geritch chuckled.  “And you offer me her personal piano!  Excellent!  I will gladly take such payment!  In fact, for a gift like that, I’ll even let you use our tribe’s sauna!”

	Anastacia looked excited at the chance for some actual luxury, but Luke looked more reluctant.  “Perhaps…on the way back,” he offered.  With that, the party left to retrieve the piano, though as they did, Elvis told the rest of the party about an idea he had.  Moments later, the two kobolds, as they tried to figure out what they were going to do to survive for the months before the tunnel is cleared, were surprised when the party burst back into the room, shouting and with weapons drawn!  The two kobolds were too terrified to even move and thus did nothing but stare in confusion as the party suddenly changed directions and then calmly lifted the piano up and carried it out of the room.

	OOC: This takes us to nearly the end of the second full adventure in the Gate of Madness.  The party’s adventures through the second level continue from here, but they didn’t get far yet, and the game resumes tomorrow.  As you might have noticed, the undead turning rules were altered for my campaign.  Basically, each undead has a TR (Turn Resistance) equal to 10 + their CR and any turn resistance bonus they may have.  The cleric rolls a caster level check plus Charisma for each undead.  Beating the undead’s TR will turn them as normal, but beating it by 10 will destroy them, letting even a low-level cleric like Luke destroy a weak undead at times.


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## LordVyreth (Aug 29, 2006)

*The Gate of Madness: Giant Hideous Insect Monsters Are Too Trusting*

A quick glimpse around their immediate location made their next path clear.  Upon entering the second level, the party saw three paths.  The path to the northwest was periodically buffeted by jets of steam that could be seen even from the stairwell.  The northeast path was full of steam as well, and while Geritch told the party of a safe place to rest in that direction run by semi-friendly elemental creatures, the party thought it would be wise to try the other way for now.  Once again, Enrique insisted on going ahead (at an extremely strong suggestion from Anastacia.)  As he crept carefully down the tunnel, he clearly heard the sounds of battle ahead.  He got closer to investigate and saw firsthand how the creatures of the Gate were clearly getting weirder.  A massive, semi-humanoid crab was apparently being ambushed by two tiny frogs!

	Enrique quickly got back to the party to give his report, prompting the party to eagerly investigate the event.  When they got near, Lorren took a quick look at the fight and explained the combatants as best he could.  “The large creature is called a crabman.  Or, if you insist, a crabfolk.  They’re generally isolationists, and they rarely attack unless provoked.  The frogs, however, are dangerous.  They’re known as Blindheim, and they can, as their name suggests, blind their opponents.  They’re also very hostile in pursuing food or power.  I can say with near-certainty that they started this fight.”

	With that, the party rushed to attack.  If they were going to get into a fight, they were much happier siding with the one who might be grateful afterwards.  The crabman, for his part, was surprised to see the party arrive, but he ignored them to focus on the frogs.  The fight quickly turned problematic, though, as both the crabman and then Anastacia and Luke were blinded by the brilliant eyes of the frogs.  Fortunately, they were destroyed before they could cause further trouble, but then the party had to decide if they wanted to wait for the blindness to wear off, whenever that was, and what to do about the crabman.  Fortunately, after it heard the death croaks of the Blindheims, it immediately froze in place out of fear that it might harm its saviors.  As the party planned their next move, Enrique took the opportunity to pick the creature’s pouch!

	The party waited several minutes, and after the blindness failed to end, they decided to press on and leave the crab for now.  They passed several exits before coming to a cavern that seemed to be shrouded in a dark, shadowy mist.  Since the party was half-blind anyway, they decided to explore while the darkness wouldn’t bother them that much.  This almost proved a mistake when a large creature landed with a heavy thud in front of them.  Those in the party who could still see could just make out the dark outline of a bat before it screamed at them, stunning much of the party.  Despite much of the party being stunned and/or blinded, however, the remaining competent heroes defeated it and ventured farther into the depths of the dark cavern.


	The creature ran as it heard the panicked clicks of his friend.  He soon caught up with his terrified friend as he stood in a river.  He looked around and started to plead with the creature.  The two creatures didn’t share a same language, but their native tongues were based on the same emotional connections to the same sounds, so the creature could make out the crabman’s pleas.  “Help!  Items stolen!  Must find new friends for help!”


	“Well, that was a waste of time,” Lorren complained as they reached the end of the cavern.  “We almost got eaten by a bat, we’ve been blinded and deafened and the gods know what else.”  Elvis coughed as dramatically as possible.  “Oh yes, and Elvis came down with a cold something.  And all we found was a staircase further down.”

	Anastacia shrugged.  “Well, we may have to explore the lower levels some day.  It’s good to know where we’ll have to go in that case.  And who knows?  Maybe the Effervo Vesica made even more allies after the orcs.”

	“Even so, we’re better off backtracking from here,” Ik suggested.  “We won’t find the orcs from this direction.”

	As the party traveled back, however, they were surprised by two completely different groups.  First, mysterious snakes apparently made out of the very shadows emerged out of the walls themselves.  The party swung at them in desperation, but their weapons had no effect.  Just as the snakes were about to be upon them, they saw the second mysterious potential threat.  A mantis-like insect had entered the cavern and was impassively staring at them from the shadows!

	Fortunately, the insect seemingly had no interest in the party, at least at first.  This let them concentrate on the snakes, which were forced to shift into physical bodies before they struck.  They managed to get a few light bites at the party, but before they could do any real damage, they were easily ripped apart by the party.  At that point, though, the mantis suddenly turned and emitted a clicking noise.  The crabman emerged from the shadows and appeared to be speaking to the mantis in a strange clicking language.

	Surprisingly, the mantis turned to the party and spoke to them in Common.  “My friend tells me that you helped him when he was ambushed earlier.  Did you happen to see who stole his possessions afterwards?”

	Trying hard not to look at Enrique, Ik nervously replied, “No, we didn’t see anything.  It must’ve been…washed down the river.  Yeah, that’s it!”

	The mantis explained this to the crab in the same strange clicking language, and then introduced himself.  “I am Chitka.  My friend and I would like to accompany you for now and provide assistance in return.  Both of us have been separated from our people.  My friend here, who sadly lacks a name you can pronounce in this tongue, lives in this place, but he got separated and can’t find his way back down to his level.  As for me, my people first came to this dungeon to look for a new home, but we were attacked by something.  I wasn’t able to see what it was before the others told me to flee.”

	The party quickly debated on accepting these new allies.  “Well, I think we can use all the help we can get,” Grim suggested.  “It’s not like we didn’t find friendly bugs here earlier.”

	Enrique shook his head. “I don’t trust anything that strange,” he offered.

	Elvis nodded.  “There’s something about them that makes me nervous,” he admitted.  “Especially that mantis thing.  I think we had something similar creatures back on Mesion, and they didn’t get along well with elves.”

	“They didn’t like you?” Anastacia asked.

	“Oh, they liked us a lot,” Elvis replied.  “They thought we were delicious.”

	“Look, we can use all the help we can get,” Lorren grumbled.  “If they cause a problem, we can get rid of them, but until then, I say they can say.”

	The majority agreed with Loren, so Chitka and the crab joined the party.  Chitka, who was wandering this floor of the dungeon for a while now, pointed out that the orcs were living in the eastern path the party previously skipped.  Before they could even get to the orcs, however, they encountered yet another unusual Gate of Madness inhabitant the orcs were apparently using for a pet/guardian.  A snail, far larger than anyone in the party, slowly emerged from the tunnel.  The party was split in how to respond to such a strange threat.  Half of them, including Elvis and Lorren, preferred to fight the monster from a distance, but Enrique, Grim, and even the crab, who had difficulty working with the party in regarding battle tactics due to the language barrier, were already too close to the snail to withdraw.  Instead, they surrounded the creature and slowly reduced it to a puddle of goo, but it was a difficult battle.  The snail responded to their attacks by swinging at them using a number of antennae shaped like flails, and by the time the monster was brought down, half the party could barely stand.

	“We can’t fight the orcs like this!” Anastacia complained.  “Can you think of anyplace nearby where we can safely rest?” she asked Chitka.

	Chitka thought for a moment and then reluctantly offered a suggestion.  “Well, there is one place,” he said, “but the creatures inhabiting it are kind of, well, strange.”

	OOC Notes: Chitka is going to be a new player in the campaign.  Since I couldn’t find a level progression in Savage Species for the Thri-Kreen, I had to make one up.  That character should be…interesting once the game moves back into Fra Dane territory!  The “weird things” part of the adventure is not quite over, but it should get finished up by this weekend.  There’s probably only a 50/50 chance of playing this weekend due to Labor Day.


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## LordVyreth (Sep 15, 2006)

*The Gate of Madness: Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom*

For once, the party could put away their limited light sources, which was convenient, as they were running very low at this point.  The cavern they entered was far more massive than any they had seen since they entered the Gate of Madness, save for perhaps the energy bowl.  The entire cavern, in fact, looked less like part of an underground complex and more like a jungle, albeit an unusual one.  Giant, slightly luminescent fungi replaced the normal trees, and the sounds of geysers and flowing water reverberated off of the walls and echoed eerily around the party.

	“Are you sure you have friends here?” Ik nervously asked.  She exchanged glances with the rest of the party, and it was clear that not everyone trusted their new partner just yet.

	“Trust me!” Chitka replied.  “They’re fun guys!”


	Moments later, as they were exploring the fungal jungle and heading towards the sounds of the geyser at Chitka’s urging, the party was surprised when many tiny, vaguely humanoid mushrooms surrounded them.  Chitka greeted them with a friendly wave, quickly halting the party’s aggressive plans.  The mushrooms didn’t appear to respond, but one of them held up a strange sign, indicating some interest in communicating with party.  

	While some of the mushroom people left for unknown reasons, the party studied the sign, while Chitka looked at his new allies’ confusion with some amusement.  “I think I understand it,” Ik suggested a few moments later.  She pointed at what looked like a stick figure mushroom pointing its head at a stick figure human, with strange dots between them and an arrow pointing at the human.  “The fungi folk want to shoot us with something, by the looks of it.”

	“And this is supposed to be a good thing?” Anastacia responded skeptically.

	“Well, look at this,” Ik continued as she pointed at a second picture.  “This picture shows the mushroom and person talking.  I think the stuff they shoot us with let us communicate.”  As she finished, she glanced at Chitka for confirmation, who nodded enthusiastically.

	Sure enough, the mushrooms returned with a much larger member of their tribe, and he immediately released a spray of spores over the party.  The party, with some reluctance, trusted the mushroom and Chitka enough to let the spores settle on their minds, and as they did, they heard a strange voice in their heads.  “Sup, bra?” the large mushroom telepathically asked them.

	“Um, hello,” Luke replied.  “We were told by our friend here that you are a peaceful…people.  Can we rest with you for the night?”

	“Oh yeah, we’re all chillin,” the mushroom replied in what was mostly affirmatively.  “You can’t own land, man.  We’re just enjoying nature and ourselves here.”

	“I thought you said this stuff would let us understand them,” Enrique sarcastically replied to Chitka.

	The most surprising response from the spores, however, came from the crab man.  “At last, I can speak with my saviors!” he excited shouted through the mind of the mushroom, who the party learned was called a myconid.  “I owe you my life!  Thank you!”

	Enrique instinctively backed away while playing some light music in his brain (the universal method for telepathically hiding thoughts,) but Lorren, fascinated with his new friend, replied just as happily, “Think nothing of it!  We were happy to assist you!  And we’re VERY sorry that you lost so many of your possessions in the water.”  As he said that last part, he tried very hard not to look at Enrique.

	“Oh, that’s right!” the crab man replied.  “That means that the water flows deeper underground, doesn’t it?”  He looked at the myconid.  “Do you know where the river flows from here?”

	“No problem, dude,” the myconid responded.  “The river turns into a waterfall at the end of the jungle.  Just watch out for the sand man.”

	“Who’s the sand man?” Anastacia replied nervously.

	“Oh, he’s a good guy,” the myconid explained.  “But he’s a little too excited about making people sleep.  We invite him to join us when we commune with nature sometimes.  We don’t sleep, so his dust helps us expand our minds.”

	The crab man quickly prepared to leave, but before he did, he turned the party and said his farewells.  “I have to get back to my people, but if you ever find yourselves among the crab folk, seek me out.  I will repay our debt to you.  Just show my people this sign; it represents my name in our language.”  The crab man scratched a rough symbol on the ground, and then he left towards the loudest sounds of the water.

	The party looked at the symbol while Luke took the symbol down.  Lorren looked at the symbol with a puzzled expression.  “It looks like an eight on top of a seven,” he commented.

	OOC Notes: The myconids were actually placed in the dungeon before I determined their general personality.  The idea of mushrooms who themselves hallucinated amused me, and it struck me as a very convenient coincidence when I read about them and learned that was officially part of their core society.  I apologize for the lack of updates lately; we couldn’t play two weeks ago because of Labor Day weekend, but there will be a game this weekend, and another Story Hour update from there.


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## LordVyreth (Oct 8, 2006)

Sorry about the lack of updates lately.  I had to skip another game last week due to a family obligation, but there's still enough material for me to get an update done some time this week.  In the meantime, I'd like to hear from some of the readers about the game so far.  I admit I'm starting to lose my enthusiasm for a Story Hour, since there have been so few replies to it up to this point.  Some input would be helpful as I continue to improve my writing.


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## LordVyreth (Oct 13, 2006)

*The Gate of Madness: Few Moments are More Appropriate for Cursing in Orcish*

The next morning, the party, refreshed and eager to finish their mission and finally escape the Gate of Madness before it warped them too much, began their raid on the orcs as soon as possible.  The only exception was Chitka, who decided he would travel with the party when they leave the Gate and planned on spending his last day saying his goodbyes to the myconids that were so helpful to him.  They realized as soon as they entered the first room, however, that everything they heard about the unusual nature of the land the orcs were forced into was absolutely true.  Three orcs guarded the first room of the orc territory, but something had warped them physically.  Their bodies were normal, but it was as if they were somehow leaking, to put simply.  The skin, armor, and the very color of the orcs were seemingly leaking out of the unfortunate creatures, leaving others parts of their bodies literally empty of anything but a simple outline.

	As soon as the incomplete orcs saw the party, they moaned, “We must destroy the intruders!  Then, they may allow us back into the tribe!”  They attacked as one, but despite their grotesque forms, the orcs were no match for the heroes.  They tried to attack the party with blobs of their own oozing color, but nothing connected with the party.  Meanwhile, though the party’s attacks occasionally struck the transparent gaps in the orcs, seemingly doing nothing to them, they were able to wear them down with only a few attacks.

	As the party searched the remains of the orcs, they discovered that each carried a blindfold, and that there was an additional pile of them on the door leading out of the room.  “This is…ominous,” Lorren commented when he saw the items.  “I wonder what it exactly the orcs were so worried about seeing?”

	“Personally, I’d rather not find out,” Luke replied.  In response, Anastacia quickly snatched the one out of Ik’s hands before she instinctively tested it, much to the changeling’s disappointment.

	“Fine, then,” Enrique grumbled. “I guess I, as usual, will have to find out.”  He carefully opened the door leading from the gatehouse to the official orc territory.  Once there, he noticed a cavern opening to the west, though he couldn’t see anything inside it from where he was standing, and a wooden bridge over a pit.  As soon as he glanced over the pit, he had at least once guess as to what the orcs were so scared of.  He turned as pale as a sheet and half ran, half crawled back to the party.  “Man, I hate those things!” he stammered when he returned to the party.

	Nervously, the rest of the party approached the pit, and each soon saw what Enrique was so afraid of.  The entire bottom of the pit was covered with hideous, vicious maggots the size of small dogs!  Oddly, they seemed extremely passive.  They seemed to be sleeping on odd, opaque cocoons, and the sound of snoring could be faintly heard.

	Elvis shrugged.  “Hell, we could just shoot them from here, if they scare you that much.”  He drew his bow, but he was stopped by Lorren, who was watching the monsters intensely.

	“Don’t,” Lorren simply replied.  “These are no ordinary insects, or even giant ones.  They appear to be demons of some sort.  Who knows what sort of powers they may have if they became aggressive?”

	The point realized, the party decided to try to cross the bridge as carefully as possible.  Enrique was initially reluctant to go first, until he realized that if the maggot demons somehow woke up, he’d be the only one to get across the bridge in time.  As he crossed the bridge, though, he soon learned the real reason the orcs carried blindfolds.  From the cavern, a trio of undead monstrosities took notice of Enrique.  At first, they appeared to be nothing but slightly mummified zombies, but as the first neared Enrique, he could see into the creature’s eyes.  They looked into his very soul, and he could feel his sanity rapidly draining from him.  

	As the bizarre undead drew near, Luke realized he would be needed to keep the strange creatures at bay.  He drew as close as he could, braving their sanity-draining eyes as best he could, and gathered his faith to channel the raw power of Ehlonna through him.  One of the strange creatures was immediately reduced to ash, and the other two were driven back, letting Elvis, Grim, and the others destroy them from a distance.  With them defeated, the party could slowly and carefully cross the bridge.  The demon maggots were awakened by the combat, but fortunately, they didn’t seem able or sufficiently motivated to climb out of the pit and directly attack the party.

	The heroes, however, weren’t so lucky when they entered the next room.  This appeared to be another guardroom, and while the orcs in this room at least looked normal, before they or the party could respond, strange vents suddenly burst out of the floor.  A number of strange, eyeless insects shot up through the holes, where they immediately began to take note of their surroundings.  The orcs froze in place, desperately trying to avoid attracting their attention, but one orc was unlucky and too close.  The insect sensed it and, in a strange retaliatory measure, released a strange burst of energy around it.  In just an instant, the orcs vanished into thin air!

	Most of the party took the cue from the orcs and stayed clear of the bugs.  Grim, unfortunately, was still raised a barbarian.  He charged the nearest bug, intent on destroying it before it could send any of his friends away (not to mention possibly endangering the egg.)  In a way, he succeeded; the bug instead sent him away!  Fortunately, it, along with the first bug, died instantly after using its power.  This left the field mostly empty for the six remaining heroes, who destroyed the last bug using missile attacks before closing and destroying the remaining orcs.

	Grim, meanwhile, was having a much stranger adventure.  He found himself on a floating island of land surrounding by more floating islands and seemingly endless storms.  Next to him was the orc who was sent “away” earlier.  Unprepared for this situation, he was doing little but uttering orcish curses to himself.  Some beings, when trapped in an unknown situation with an enemy, would seek a truce until the greater environmental threat could be resolved.  Grim was not such a being.  After quickly killing the orc, he investigated the island and found a strange glowing rune.  Lacking other options, he stepped into the rune and found himself on another one of the islands.  He continued to use the teleporting runes to reach other islands, stopping occasionally to destroy more of the sanity-draining undead, and while they affected his mind as well, he found that slaying the creatures was more than sufficiently therapeutic to recover from the effect!  At the last island, he found a larger and more unusual rune, which he used to transport back to the party!

	After the party expressed relief at Grim’s safety and visa versa, it was time to move on.  After all, the orcs were surely aware of the party by now, so if they don’t hurry, they’ll be able to mobilize an offensive that could make all their efforts worthless, at best!  They quickly dashed into one of the doors in the room, hoping it would get them closer to the orc chief.

Their hunch soon seemed correct, as the next room was clearly set up to be a defensive checkpoint.  Only three orcs guarded the room, but they were better armed and armored than the ones the party encountered to date, suggesting that these were elite troops.  As soon as Enrique and Grim entered the room, they were bombarded with spears that the orcs threw while behind cover, prompting them to wisely withdraw.  However, the party couldn’t wait forever, so they eventually and carefully entered the room.  Anastacia, the first to enter, received the focus of the next volley of spears.  Two of them managed to penetrate her armor, but she endured the pain as she led the charge on the first orc.  No sooner did she and the rest of the party reach him, however, than he suddenly emitted a deafening roar as he began to froth at the mouth.  Grim knew this combat “style” implicitly, because it was little different than his own temperament when the fury of battle becomes too great.  He realized these orcs were very dangerous.

“Anastacia, look out!” he yelled, but he was too late.  As soon as the party defeated the first orc, she charged at the second, who became enraged just like his partner.  Anastacia was cut down in one blow, prompting her enraged (in both senses of the word) allies to finish the final two orcs with enough time to bring their comrade back from death’s door.  

The orcs defeated, the party looted as normal and began to search the room for clues to learn which door led to the orc chief.  Enrique had an idea, at least, after listening to one of the doors.  He quickly gestured to the party, indicated that they should listen as well.

“It sounds like…rain,” Ik suggested.  

“But that’s impossible,” Luke countered.  “We’re deep underground.  We can’t find a way outside here.”

Elvis look apathethic.  “Well, maybe it’s a waterfall or something,” he commented.  “Either way, it sounds like something we should check out.”

After what happened last time, the party charged in as one, hoping they could take the element of surprise or at least stop the enemy from ganging up on one of them.  It turned out that what they heard was indeed a waterfall.  Water poured over every wall of the cavern, constantly dampening the rocky pathway the party found themselves.  The ground they were on was quite a distance from the outer walls of the cavern, and with the damp floors, there was a real risk of falling off the side.  As the party carefully glanced over the edge, they could see fog or even clouds obscuring their vision, but the sound of thunder and dark shapes that resemble massive birds further dissuaded the party from going near the edge!

But they had other concerns.  This room was also inhabited.  Four orcs, again armed with primitive spears or javelins, were guarding the path, and a fifth was resting on an ornately carved stone throne.  The gaudy nature of the throne, along with general appearance and equipment, suggested that they found their target.

While the orc chief watched, studying his enemies, the party quickly closed on the lesser orcs guards.  They also thought to hide behind cover while attacking from a distance, but they clearly were not of the same caliber as the warriors guarding the checkpoint.  One fell screaming down the falls after being struck with one arrow, and the others fell just as quickly.

When the party reached the chief, however, things proved to be slightly more difficult.  Like the orcs at the checkpoint, he quickly worked himself into a battle fury, making him almost unstoppable to the inexperienced warriors.  Nonetheless, it was seven against one, and even with the party’s clumsy attempts to knock him out instead of killing him, they soon overcame the chieftain.

The orc awoke later in the fungal jungle, where he, along with all the treasures the party found and even the giant snail shell, was strewn about the ground.  As the orc came to, he saw his captures surrounding him.  Grim, being the most logical translator, explained the party’s intentions.  “We want the name of the man from Effervo Vesica.  The one who hired you to attack Fra Dane.”

The orc chief shrugged as best he could.  “I have no idea what those names mean.”

“Fine, then, let’s try another approach,” Grim replied.  “This one apparently caused a bit of trouble when he approached you.  He had black armor that looked like it was alive.”

As soon as he said that last part, the orc responded.  His eyes went wide, as if remembering something terrifying, and he uttered just one word, “Malordonus.”

OOC Notes: I noticed a problem when working on this dungeon.  Notably, when the party is free to explore in any direction they chose, it’s hard to estimate the level the party will be at for any given challenge.  I actually upped the level of the orc barbarians before the adventure, but there were still some slight balance issues later on, particularly against the undead and the orc chief.  This also has made me consider some changes for the turning rules; they work mostly well, but it’s a bit too easy to turn them.

Most of the unusual monsters in this adventure are adaptations from the Eternal Darkness video game.  Readers of my last Story Hour might remember I used these before, but the party was much higher level and couldn’t really be challenged by the lower levels ones.  This campaign “might” change that.  As for the demonic maggots, my source on that one is one of my ideas, but the details will have to stay regrettably classified for now.  Next time, the adventure will FINALLY leave the Gate of Madness, and a new, even more twisted adventure will begin!


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## LordVyreth (Oct 25, 2006)

*Welcome To...ure Chaos at its Most Depressed State*

As usual, the party had a prisoner to deal with, and as usual, Luke had to lead the argument about why simply killing him was wrong.  Again as usual, appealing to the party’s general greed seemed to do it.  The orc chief agreed to lead the party to his tribe’s treasure room and disable its traps in exchange for his life and the lives of the rest of his people.  And so, the party had to once again enter the orc territory to enter the orc’s treasure room.  On the way, they had to pass through the orc’s prison.  There, the rotting remains of a human or near-human humanoid could be seen chained to the wall.  At least two other cells were in the room, though both had solid walls, preventing the party from seeing the prisoners.  Luke was disgusted at the sight of the dead being.  “Why would you do this?” he demanded of their orc captive.  

	After Grim translated, the chief looked unconcerned.  “I wouldn’t worry about that one,” he replied.  “They’re allies of the Squeakers that ended up in the wrong place.  They invaded our home; there’s nothing wrong with defending your home.”

	The party considered complaining further, but Grim glanced at the body and noticed it too had the tattoo of a dragon eating its own tail.  He suspected that whoever this man was, he got what he deserved.

	While the party was debating, though, a voice could be heard shouting from the more well-maintained of the two cells.  “Who is out there?” the voice inquired in surprisingly well enunciated Common.  “Will I finally be rescued from these mental savages?”  

	The voice continued to plead, despite the orc chief orders to shut it up, but the condensation in the speaker’s voice made it hard for even Luke to find much sympathy for him.  Besides, the party had to quickly escape the Gate of Madness to get to the town Callis mentioned that was only a day from the Gate.  They weren’t entire sure if the caravan would actually stop at the entrance to the Gate itself or just the town, and they weren’t eager to find out!

	The orc chief led the party to the next room, which seemed to be a more natural cavern, but not before flipping a seemingly random number of switches in the prison.  As he opened the chest in the next room, the chief explained the switches through Grim.  As he explained, he pointed at several wooden doors located on the walls of the cavern.  “We trap our treasures.  If you opened the chest without the levers, those doors would open and release some of the monsters we captured.  They look like much worse monsters, but they actually explode when attacked.”

	Lorren nodded as he heard the description.  “If these things are what I think they are, it’s a very good thing we didn’t find this place before.”

	After looting the orcs’ treasures, the party decided that their business was complete, and they didn’t want to further incur the orcs’ (or Luke’s) wrath.  Leaving the orcs in relative peace, the party used the goblin’s stairway to return to the first floor.  Despite the goblin chief’s offer to again give their sauna a try, the party opted out and began what was a surprisingly uneventful journey to the nearby down.  When they reached Crimmor, the town, they were a little overwhelmed at its size.

	“I, I though Callis said it was a tiny town,” Ik stammered.  “This place is about half the size of Fra Dane!”

	“Say, does anyone even remember the name of the town that Callis gave us?  Maybe we’re in the wrong place,” Elvis asked, but everyone (besides Chitka, for obvious reasons,) looked like they couldn’t remember.

	“It only took us a day to get here,” Anastacia countered.  “This must be the place!”

	Anxiously, but eager for a real meal and a place to sell their treasures, the party entered the town.  There, they soon learned that the town had recently had economic boom in the last few years, primarily as the result of commerce coming out of the Gate of Madness and the trade that resulted.  The story sounded a little fishy to the party.  After all, if that was really true, why would the continent’s largest caravan company only have a stop every 2-3 months?  Nonetheless, the excess of wealth did come in handy both in unloading the many items the party obtained and to quickly obtain new magical and other items.  Soon, though, Elvis and Ik noticed something that bothered them, even if they didn’t understand it.  Almost one in every ten or twenty people they saw had at least some of a strange tattoo visible.  It resembled a dragon eating its own tail.  Confused on its meaning, they asked the rest of the party about it, but as usual, Grim didn’t seem interested in giving any details.  However, he definitely was far more careful in his journeys through the city from then on.

	Soon, the party realized that the caravan was apparently running late, and it was getting late in the day.  As a result, while the rest of the party was selling their equipment and buying new supplies, Anastacia once again taking advantage of her “Prophesized One” status to find a decent inn for herself and her friends.  The innkeepers here were less receptive than earlier ones, but she still managed to find rooms in one of the nicer inns.  When she went to her room for the night, though, she soon discovered another inhabitant.  From the other side of the window, a small cat was plaintively wailing at her.  Anastacia suspiciously looked at it, but after seeing that it just looked hungry, she apprehensively let it into her room and gave it something to eat.  Soon, the rest of the party, save Enrique who was more comfortable in a traditional dive, joined her at her inn.

	Before they could rest for long, though, their sleep was interrupted by an entire different cry outside.  The party (including Enrique, who could even hear the scream from his inn much farther down the road,) went to investigate, but they didn’t even have to look past their windows to see what happened.  A body was lying in the road, a pool of blood slowly growing underneath it!  Only Chitka, who apparently didn’t even hear the scream, remained behind in his room.

	By the time the party was outside, a small crowd had gathered.  This town gave the impression of a tough frontier town, but a brazen attack like this was enough to even attract the populace’s attention.  Even worse, the clothing of the man suggested that he was a nobleman, making this a very serious issue indeed.  Before the Crimmor law could arrive, the party gave the body a cursory once-over.  Elvis and Luke easily confirmed that he was dead, and that he apparently died of only one wound.  His throat was slit, and while there were some signs of struggle, it apparently ended very quickly.  Even more importantly, they once again saw the dragon tattoo on the body, letting Grim realize that this was more than it seemed.

	Finally, the law arrived.  A woman wearing the colors of the local guard quickly announced her presence.  Captain Gilliam Coldclence, as her medal read, quickly investigated the body and drew the same conclusions the party did.  “Gerard Ophal,” she muttered as she looked at the body.  “The son and heir of the Ophal noble family; this is a very serious crime.”  She appeared to have a hurried look about her, though, as if she was too busy to deal with the situation or simply didn’t want to in the first place.  Her gaze fixated on the party.  “You, I heard of you.  You’re the adventurers who arrived to town yesterday, right?”  

	The party exchanged glances; achieving notoriety might not be such a good thing in this situation.  “Yes, we are,” Luke finally replied with reluctance.  “Is there a problem?”

	“Oh, not at all,” Gilliam replied.  “Actually, I might be able to use her help.  We’re understaffed and buried in reports tonight.”

	“Are murders like this common?” Grim replied with concern.

	“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Gilliam responded quickly.  “It’s mostly just bar fights, muggings, that sort of thing.  Nothing unusual.  But each one still must be investigated.  Reports must be made, suspects questioned, and paperwork filled out.  We don’t have time to get this body to its proper place.  I heard enough about you to think that I can trust you to bring this body safely to the town’s noble crypts.  I’m willing to offer 2,000 gold.”

	Something didn’t seem right about this situation, but the party couldn’t say no to the price.  “I don’t suppose you’re willing to raise the price to 2,100?” Enrique asked.  “After all, there are seven of us here.”

	“Sure, no problem,” Gilliam tensely replied, raising the party’s suspicions further.  

	“Where is this crypt?” Luke asked.

	Gilliam pointed to the southeast.  “There’s a hill just ten minutes outside of town.  The crypt is located inside it.”

	Counting the trip outside of the city and the return trip, that was a reward of thousands of gold for an hour of work.  Even so, the party carefully agreed and began the journey to the crypt.  A few minutes after they began, while they were still in the city, the sound of a bell could be heard.  It sounded like some sort of alert or warning alarm, most likely to announce the death of a noble, but it apparently didn’t evoke the concern of the rest of the town.  As they left, Anastacia noticed that the cat was still following her.

	The party reached the crypt without incident.  When they arrived, though, they found that the gate to the crypt was poorly maintained.  Moss covered the name of the crypt and most of the rest of the gate.  It nonetheless opened properly, and the party easily entered.  There, they followed instructions Gilliam gave them to leave the body in the Embalming Room for study, possible clue gathering, and preparations for either resurrection or final burial.  Doing so, however, would involve using a simple hand-operated elevator.  As the party descended, they could hear a strange, inhuman sobbing coming from below.  When they reached the floor of the Embalming Room, they could see three gigantic, vaguely humanoid frogs bawling near the door to the room.

	After they realized that the frogs seemingly had no interest in them and weren’t obstructing their path to the room, the party mostly seemed intent on ignoring them, but Lorren couldn’t suppress his curiosity.  “What are you crying about?” he asked.

	One of the frogs contained his burbling weeping long enough to reply. “We can’t find our master,” he(?) explained.  “We know it must be here, but we can’t find it.”

	Ik seemed touched by the sad beings.  “Well, maybe we can help.  What does it look like?”

	The frog’s apparent ambassador replied, “It looks like everything.”

	That bothered Lorren.  “How do you know one of us isn’t your master, then?”

	The frog looked up and replied.  “You looked the same for too long.  You’re one thing.”

	This suggested, to Lorren at least, that this master must be some kind of shape-changer, but that didn’t help the party find it, and they were in a hurry.  “We hope you find your master,” Luke added as the party moved past them into the Embalming Room.

	As soon as they entered the room, they could tell that something was amiss.  The light of the Everburning Torch that Luke wisely purchased shone throughout the room, revealing that the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in dozens of magical runes.  Lorren quickly examined the runes and explained their purpose.  “They appear to have some times to another plane.  This might be a summoning circle of some kind.”  However, the runes seemed to have no effect, so the party placed the body in the room.  According to Gilliam’s instructions, they were supposed to wait for the official crypt’s undertaker to be awakened and taken to the crypt, which should only take a few more minutes than the party’s trip.  However, one minute later, the entire room went black, and the party soon realized that this job was not everything they were told it would be!

	The light soon returned to the room, but it was not the same.  The runes were glowing, and the very door the party used to enter the room was gone.  Instead, another tunnel led upwards.  As soon as the party came to their senses, they could see what looked like a spectral version of Gerard was rising out of his own body!  Almost instinctively, he left the room using the new tunnel.  As he left, though, he dropped a piece of paper, which turned solid upon touching the ground.  The party quickly looked over it and saw what appeared to be a map of Crimmor, with several locations circled in red.  

	With some hesitation, the party prepared to follow Gerard.  However, as soon as she set foot in the tunnel, Ik felt her backpack vibrate.  Remembering what Lorren said about the runes and the letter Guillermo left about the Infernal Egg, she immediately ran back into the room, where the egg harmlessly returned to normal.  

	“This means that we’re entering a different plane of reality entirely!” Lorren exclaimed.

	“I’m more worried about the Egg,” Enrique replied.

	“Well, we can hide it in this room,” Luke replied.  “Once we figure out how we got here and find a way back, we can go back and get the Egg.  There are plenty of places to hide it here.  There are urns, body wrappings…”

	“The body itself…” Enrique suggested.

	Everyone glared at him, forcing him to reply.  “What?   It’s not like he’ll notice now.  Who would look?”

	Ik chuckled.  “It would be funny if we somehow found a way to bring him back to life, only for him to die because of the giant egg inside his body.”

	While everyone was talking, an annoyed Luke simply grabbed the Egg and hid it in the urn.  Now satisfied, he left the room, and party immediately followed.  The path took them, oddly, to the same entrance the party used to first enter the crypt, even though the original hallway and all other paths to the room were gone.  In addition, the gate suddenly appeared better maintained, to the point where the party can read its name: The Silent Hill Crypt.

	OOC Notes:  This game will hopefully start a tradition in my game; an October horror-themed story.  Anyone who regularly plays video games or is into horror movies probably has some idea of what’s coming at this point, but I’ll leave the details for the next update.


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## LordVyreth (Oct 31, 2006)

*Welcome To...:Who was that Masked Man?*

The party surveyed the land beyond the crypt.  The hill itself appeared normal, but the weather was completely different.  For one thing, though it was night when the party entered the crypt, it seemed to be daytime now.  However, it was hard to tell, as a thick fog covered the land, and it even appeared to be lightly snowing.  The ground was not as strange, at least where it was present.  The hill itself seemed to be floating on an island of land with nothing but the fog and empty air around it.  However, a bridge of land connected the hill to another island which apparently held the whole town of Crimmor.  Lacking options, the party carefully made their way back to town.

	When they got there, they were a little surprised to find that it was completely abandoned.  An almost tangible silence could be felt in the normally busy town, making the party even more nervous than expected.  The continued presence of a semi-welcome visitor didn’t help, either.  

	“Do you have to bring that cat with you?”  Ik asked irritably.

	“What’s wrong with it?” Anastacia replied.  “It’s just a normal cat.  It didn’t do anything wrong.”

	Lorren looked doubtful.  “Why would a normal cat be so comfortable in a place like this?  I bet it’s evil or something.”  Lorren’s comments, though, just made Anastacia protect the cat closer.

	Trying to regain control of the situation, Luke looked at the map and tried to figure out what the party should do next.  “A couple of the circles are actually labeled,” he noticed.  “The one at the top simply says ‘headquarters.’  That might be the base of whoever sent us to this place.”

	Grim pointed at the other labeled circle.  “I think I prefer this one.  Listen to how it’s labeled.  ‘In the darkest times, I will watch over you.  I will keep you safe until the light of day.’  That sounds more inviting for now.”

	The party agreed that a safe harbor in a place like this could be helpful, but when the party reached the circled area, they found that it was circled with stone walls and the gate was shut tight, with the same message printed on the gate itself.  Enrique tried the lock, but soon he leaned back and shrugged.  “I can’t open it,” he admitted, “but that’s no surprise.  Didn’t the message say something about the darkest times?  Maybe this doesn’t count.”

	“Or maybe it doesn’t mean us,” Lorren postulated.  “What if the message is for Gerard, not us?  Maybe it’s keeping the ghost safe here.”

	Regardless of the message’s meaning, it also meant the party was back at square one.  With only one other location standing out to the party, they reluctantly began their journey to the headquarters.

	As the party neared the headquarters, Anastacia’s cat started to act very strangely.  It suddenly started hissing in the direction the party was heading.  The party stopped, concerned that the cat was attracted to something the party couldn’t sense.  Sure enough, moments later, four figures could be seen slowly shambling towards the party, and at the same time the sound of wings could be heard over the muffled sense of the fog.  As Grim and the rest of the party’s leaders approached the figures, Ik was suddenly surprised when the flying monster flew right at her!  It resembled a flying reptile, what the scholars tended to call a dinosaur, but all of its skin was removed, revealing nothing but its hideous musculature.  Before the party could react, it struck Ik with its claws and flew off again, pausing only long enough for Lorren to get off a simple attack with its staff.

	Meanwhile, the other four figures closed in on the party.  Three looked like similarly skinned wolves with disturbingly human heads, and the fourth was an ape with similar features.  The ape and one of the wolves converged on Grim, while the others split up to attack Anastacia and Enrique.  The fight was a brief one, however.  Only the ape could stand the party’s onslaught for long, especially with Lorren and Elvis providing long-range support.  However, just as the fight was starting to wind down, the flying monster struck Ik for a second time!

	“What is with this place?” Ik complained as she struggled to stay conscious.  “What did I ever do to that thing?”  While Ik struggled to find some cover from the assault, only to be forced to duck behind the wizard of all people, Elvis drew his bow again and watched the skies.  He wouldn’t let the creature make a third attack.  As it emerged from the fogs, Elvis buried an arrow in its chest, but it had enough momentum to make one last dive at Ik.  Only a surprisingly solid whack from Lorren’s staff was enough to bring it down.

	After defeating the monsters, the party reached the location the map claimed was the headquarters, only to find an empty crater leading seemingly to nowhere.  As the party neared it, though, a spectral image of a soldier wielding a bloody sword appeared.  “Speak my name,” a voice boomed out of the empty fog itself.  Lacking any knowledge of who the soldier was, however, the party was forced to guess names at random, and the image simply disappeared.

	“I think we must’ve gotten it right,” Enrique guessed.  “If we got it wrong, it probably would’ve attacked us.”

	The rest of the party, though, expressed doubts. “Maybe this is what we are here for,” Lorren postulated.  “If we can determine what this man has to do with Gerard, we can find his spirit or soul, or whatever is powering this place.”

	Picking one of the circled locations based on nothing but their proximity to the party’s location, they soon came to what clearly looked like some sort of tawdry nightclub or possibly even a brothel.  Inside, the party saw two strange monsters.  They were humanoid in appearance, but they seemed to be lacking arms.  However, they moved as if they had arms, but the arms were somehow trapped in the front of their own bodies, as if their very skin was a living straitjacket!  Horrified by the abominations, the party quickly attacked the creatures.  Initially, it appeared that both were killed easily enough, but just as the party was ready to continue exploring the building, one of them suddenly rose up, almost like a snake, and lunged at Grim!  However, the creature was stabbed by Anastacia and finally killed before it could pose a further threat.

As soon as the monsters died, a number of spectral images, including Gerard, appeared in the club.  The spectral image of Gerard was collecting some sort of tax of protection payment from the club’s owner.  The owner seemed reluctant to pay him, though, and even offered some sort of special “arrangement” instead, but Gerard seemed uninterested.  Suddenly, a number of soldiers burst into the room.  One of them, who looked just like the spectral image the party saw at the crater, announced himself.  “I am Lieutenant Douglas Cartland of the Crimman Guard.  Gerard Ophal, you are hereby under arrest for the murder of the town’s mayor.”  Gerard, panicked by the sudden arrest, tried to escape, but he was caught and stabbed by Douglas on the way out.  The attack was too much for Gerard, and he immediately lost consciousness.  Douglas showed little emotion from the attack, save perhaps for disgust.  He quickly pointed to one of his soldiers and said, “Take him to Bha-Ael’s Grace.  We’ll make sure he stands trial for what he did.  And,” he paused, showing some hesitation, “Tell his family what happened.  They deserve to know.”  After Mr. Cartland finished message, the spectral images faded, leaving only a blank scrap of paper.

	Lorren was the first to examine the page, and as soon as he touched it, writing began to appear.  Lorren read it to the group: “Our new allies are an amazing lot.  Mortals have always sought us for supplication, their awe of the darkness and the depths too great for them to live without it, but these mortals, the so-called Unmaking Legion, are different.  They embrace the destruction of their own world, or at least their civilizations, and they embrace the power of the Far Realm regardless of its consequences.  Despite this, they retain their own individuality. However, they know better than to work alone.  Their masters are a clear example of this, as is their allegiance with the Kaorti and our own alliance.  They may be all be completely mad, but at least they know how to gain power.”  Lorren shrugged.  “I have no idea what any of this means,” he admitted.

	However, as he said it, he could hear a voice whispering in Draconic, a language only he among the party knew.  “The Eight shall oppose the remaining six,” the voice whispered.  Lorren relayed that to the party as well, though he again admitted his confusion.

	Meanwhile, Luke was carefully writing the name of the guard down, but the rest of the part didn’t seem interested in going back to the headquarters crater so soon.  Either they thought that it couldn’t be that easy, or they wanted to know what happened to Gerard!  “What’s Bha-Ael’s Grace?” Ik asked.

	“Well, Bha-Ael is a goddess of the Sisters,” Luke explained.  “It sounds like it’s a temple, house of healing, or possibly both.”

	Enrique looked up.  “I think I saw that place when I was exploring town!  I can take you there right now.”

	Almost eagerly, the party traveled based on Enrique’s directions, and indeed it appeared that the destination was one of the five remaining circles.  In fact, they passed another circle on the way, but the party didn’t seem interested in stopping.

	When they got to Bha-Ael’s Grace, it did indeed appear to be a house of healing, and as soon as the party entered the building, the spectrals began the next scene.  This one, though, took place all over the building, forcing the party to split in order watch all of it.  In this scene, a woman and two small children entered the house of healing.  The woman was addressed as Juliet and she asked to see her husband, suggesting that this was Gerard’s wife.  However, as soon as she entered the building, a number of assassins burst in from the front door and a side corridor.  Panicking, Juliet fled down the hall to the room where her husband (not to mention Grim and Lorren) was waiting.  However, no sooner did she enter the room, but the assassins caught up to her.  As Gerard could only look on helplessly, his wife and children were killed before his eyes.  The assassins quickly went to work on the witnesses, leaving Gerard alone but killing another patient in his room and three of the nurses.  Even more horrifically, as soon as the scene image and the spectral images faded, monsters appeared where the four innocent witnesses were killed!

	The three nurses appeared as ghoulish creatures, and the patient appeared as another horrific monster with a living straightjacket.  The three ghouls were fortunately near Luke, who used his powers to destroy two and drive away the third long enough for the rest of the party to finish it from a distance.  Grim and Lorren, however, were less lucky.  This time, they were unprepared for an attack, and the monster responded by spitting a powerful acid at Grim.  Even though it, burned, however, Grim simply let the pain fuel his anger and charged the monster.  The frail Lorren, however, was not so courageous.  Low on magic, he simply fired a magic missile, one of the last spells he had today, and then fled down the corridor to warn the others.  Soon, Enrique joined Grim, but by the time he got there, Grim was just finishing up the creature, his clothes and much of his body still burning from the acid.

	When the last of the monsters fell, things started to change again.  A puddle of blood started to bubble up from where Juliet’s image was seeing lying.  Soon, the dark puddle suddenly spread until it covered the floors, walls, and ceilings of the entire building and beyond.  Where it touched, things changed.  The abandoned but normal walls of the building transformed into rotting metal, coated with blood or worse, or even seemingly living flesh.  The floors, meanwhile, transformed into a metal walkway.  Below the ground, there no was seemingly nothing, as if the entire building was floating above oblivion.  However, the change also revealed a trap door in Gerard’s room.  Showing hesitation after the complete transformation they saw around them, the party cautiously descended.

	In the building’s basement, the party could heart the sound of roaring water beneath their feet.  Unlike most of the grating, it appeared that there was a river or something else real underneath.  The tunnel that the stairway opened up into led immediately to a slightly larger room.  It was seemingly empty, save for what appeared to be a slightly weaker patch of the grating in the room’s corner.  The party prepared to examine it, but as they entered the room, a swarm of monsters rose up out of the water and through the gratings.  They resembled cockroaches, but they were larger and had twisted, vaguely human faces!  They hungrily descended on Enrique and the rest of the party.  Desperately, the heroes tried to fight them off, but nothing was helping.  Either the party was using edged weapons that had a hard time striking enough of the monsters, the monsters suddenly and mysteriously recovered from the wounds, or both.  Even fire didn’t seem to help, as Grim was disappointed to learn after throwing a vial of oil into the monsters.  Lack other options, Elvis led another group to the weak part of the ground in an attempt to make another way out.

	Suddenly, the party could hear the sound of a horn being blown off in the distance.  After the horn sounded a third time, the cockroaches fled back into the water, as if they were afraid of something.  The party collectively decided to work on destroying the grating, but suddenly, more spectral images appeared.  In this one, the same assassin that killed Juliet was speaking to another woman.  The assassin had his mask off, revealing a relatively normal human with messy blond hair.  The woman, meanwhile, was an elderly woman who also seemed normal, though her stance and clothing suggested that she was some sort of noblewoman.  In the scene, the woman was specifically instructing the assassin to chase Juliet and her children to Gerard’s room and kill them in front of Gerard’s eyes, making it obvious that this attempt to torture Gerard was no accident.  When the images faded, another blank piece of paper appeared.  Lorren, having decided that he would be the one to gather such obviously arcane and mysterious information, grabbed the paper, but it remained blank.  Puzzled, he gave it to Grim, the one closest to him at the time, and this time, the paper filled just as it previously did for Lorren.

	Grim read the letter to the others, just as Lorren did.  “Is the theory of the Adversary true?  It’s doubtful, and yet our allies of the Unmaking Legion accept it without question.  Most likely, it is nothing but the mindless ideology of mortals infesting the minds of even the most seemingly free of their kind.  They somehow instinctively think that if there is a monster, there must also be a hero.  Why can’t they accept that the “monster” has always been the default; the mortals are themselves the imposition on reality?  No matter.  The Legion, regardless, is obsessed with the Adversary’s identity, even wiping out entire villages to try and destroy him, or at least break him, making him incapable of resisting their plans.”

	As he spoke, more voices whispered to him in orcish, which he again translated.  “The Eight shall unite the discordant five,” he interpreted for the party.  Before they could try to figure out either of the cryptic messages, though, a figure slowly descended the stairs.  It was humanoid, but little of its skin could be seen.  It wore a thick apron that was coated in blood and that might have been made out of skin, though the party didn’t care to get a good look!  Its most notable feature, though, was a triangular red metal helmet that it wore, which obscured any chance to see its face.  It carried a massive sword as long as its arm, and while it looked like the helmet and sword were weighing it down, it moved with surprising speed.  Something about this creature made everyone uneasy at best, and by working together everyone was able to quickly destroy the grating.  Preferring the unknown to the blood-stained abomination, the party quickly leapt into the river.  Moments later, they were washed back outside, but things were no better out here.  The town, like the house of healing, had changed.  There was no normal ground to be seen at all, just the damned walkways crisscrossing paths throughout town.  Besides the house of healing, few buildings at all could be seen.  However, the sound of grinding gears and shifting metal reverberated throughout the air.  As the party looked wildly around their surroundings, they realized that darkness had come to this place, making it even more dangerous than before!

	OOC Notes: This puts us halfway through the adventure and at the end of the first session the party played in it.  All the monsters in this adventure, at least up to this point, were based on the original games in the Silent Hill series.  The story of Gerard Ophal, though, was my own creation, and as the party learns, it will tie in to the demi-plane more as they learn about it.  I should warn you, though, that updates may be limited next month.  Nanowrimo, the national novel writing month challenge, is coming up in November.  The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, so I’ll be mostly busy doing that, and what free time I have left will be mostly dedicated to finishing up the actual next adventure.  I’ll see what I can get done, though, and I’ll try to get at least an update or two done.


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## LordVyreth (Dec 7, 2006)

Just letting everyone know that I know there haven't been many updates lately. Like I warned, last month was busy with other writing projects, but we missed a game due to Thanksgiving vacation, so I'm not much behind. I have a game this Saturday, and expect the next update a few days from there.


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## LordVyreth (Dec 14, 2006)

*Welcome To...:Sympathy for the Unspeakable Horror*

“What do we do now?” Anastacia quietly asked, her voice quiet out of fear shock at what she saw around her. 

	Luke had pulled out the map, desperate for answers.  “We should try the park again,” Enrique suggested as he looked over Luke’s shoulder.  “After all, it’s night now.  Maybe the park is open now.”

	Lacking any better options and not especially interested in exploring this even more warped version of Crimmor, the party agreed and sprinted to the park as quickly as possible.  Just as Enrique thought, the gate was now open, and the park itself was almost normal by comparison.  The only unusual trait, besides yet another blank card lying in the middle of the park, was a gigantic statue.  A memorial plaque under the statue read, “Dedicated to Mayor Amelie Horsen, brutally murdered while she had dinner at the Burning Wagon.”

	Meanwhile, the party examined the card and passed it to another party member who hadn’t used a card yet.  Anastacia looked at this one, and while the now expected voices said, “The Eight shall balance the extreme four,” she read the message seemingly meant for her.

	“The one we are most interested is known as the “’prophesized one,’” Anastacia read.  “We know not which one she is, but we believe she will have some sort of tie to the demi-plane.  She is tied to the event that sealed this world’s fate.  We believe that if she is not stopped, she could bring about the end of the world.  As we would still be inhabiting the world at this time, this is not our ideal solution despite it nicely removing our other enemies”

	As she read, her cat casually moved up to the statue of the slain mayor, which was so large the party couldn’t even see the top, and curled up to go to sleep.  Trusting that the cat seemingly knew what it was doing, the party rested as well.  And so, night turned back into day in Crimmor, and the park itself remained safe and peaceful.  It didn’t even seem to be foggy here, unlike the rest of town.  The party woke up peaceful, refreshed, and calm…until somebody looked up.

	At last, they could see the top of the statue, and they were horrified to discover that while most of the statue was as solid as expected, the head appeared to be organic.  Even worse, it was bloated and gigantic to match the size of the body, and it appeared to be quite dead.  As it rotted, a wound in the head/statue’s neck started to bleed, leaving a trickle down the stone body.  

	Not eager to spend any longer in the park, the party planned their next move.  “I think I remember seeing the Burning Wagon,” Ik said while pondering the peaceful day spent in the original Crimmor.  “Maybe we can investigate that, now that we knew the mayor was there.”

	The party followed her lead to what appeared to be a fairly typical tavern and restaurant.  As they reached the restaurant, the ghostly image of Gerard and others appeared outside the restaurant.  Gerard was dressed similar to the assassins who would later attack him.  Meanwhile, more spectral images of the mayor and the various restaurant patrons and staff went about their days as normal.  The mayor ordered the local meal of rabbit pouches and a greensplatter with groundspears, which the party realized was just rabbit meat stuff with cheese and a salad with asparagus.  Gerard’s image chuckled and commented, “Heh, her last meal.”  Sure enough, midway through the meal, he and the assassins burst into the restaurant.  While the others assassins distracted the mayor’s bodyguards and the witnesses, Gerard lunged at the mayor and cleanly slit her throat in one swipe.  She collapsed, dead instantly, in her own meal, and Gerard made his escape while the crowd panicked.  As the image faded, monsters materialized to again fight the party.  

	Two of the creatures looked almost exactly like humans, but they initially appeared to be wearing masks.  As the party looked more closely, though, they realized the creatures were not wearing masks; they seemingly had metal or stone masks where their faces should be.  The third monster was much worse, however.  It resembled to human bodies that were seemingly conjoined and wrapped with black, tattered rags.  Both lacked lower bodies, and instead the entire being was supported by three metal legs.  The party charged in and made short work of the two masked beings.  However, in the interim, the conjoined creature leapt into the air and began spinning, and despite having any form of support, it managed to float in the air.  Worried about what this being could do, Elvis pulled out his bow to shoot it, but it immediately charged into and past him, striking him with its sharp metal legs.  Before it could have another chance, the party surrounded and overwhelmed it.

	Once again, a card fell out of nowhere.  Voices spoke, “The Eight shall terminate the living three,” as Ik picked up and read the card.

	She quickly read it to the party, “Despite our new allegiance, some of our “neighbors” have grown too attached to this world.  I refer specifically to the feared; they seem to need the very emotions of their food to live.  More importantly, they seek to expand beyond our home.  The ones known as the ‘teller of tales’ and the ‘singer of songs’ are the primary threats in this case.  While not ‘ordered’ in any reasonable sense of the world, they are surprisingly ambitious.  We believe they may even be secretly forming an army in a nearby city.”  She looked up at the party and shrugged.  She wasn’t sure what this one meant, either.

	Interested in learning the rest of Gerard’s story and escaping this horrible place, the party quickly traveled to the second circled area just next to Bha-Ael’s Grace.  This next building turned out to be a store called Belnare’s Bootery, which appeared to be a simple cobbler’s shop.  When they entered this building, though, all the furniture was removed or placed in a circle around the building, and dark symbols covered much of the building, suggesting that it was a front for the very cult that trapped the party.  Six more of the mask-face humanoids were here.  The party startled them by suddenly charging, and several were defeated before they could even respond.  However, the party got extremely nervous when one of the robed figures, instead of fighting back, raised a horn to its mouth opening and blew one long, low note.  It sounded just like the sound the party heard the last time the world turned dark, but it sounded three times in that case.  Afraid of what was coming, the party quickly killed the creature with the horn along with the others, causing more spectral images to again appear.

	Gerard, now without any assassin’s clothing, stood in the center of the room, surrounded by more cultists, including an elderly woman and a now very familiar man with wild, blond hair.  Gerard noticed him too, and it was clearly making him mad.  The elderly woman was issuing orders to Gerard about a party of adventurers who recently arrived in town.  According to the woman, they were some of the cult’ greatest “subjects,” and she ordered Gerard to give them a very special greeting.  The party members nervously looked at each other.  They had no idea of knowing when this happened, but it was certainly possible that these spectral beings were talking about them!  Gerard, however, was not interested.  In fact, while looking directly at the blond man, he told them that he had no interest in staying with the cult; he was quitting!  A few of the cultists rose, ready to kill him where he stood, but he warned them not to do so, because he had many allies outside of the cult, and the elderly woman told them to let him go.  As soon as he left, though, she calmly turned to the blond man and asked, as if she knew this would happen all along, if things were taken care of.  The blond man simply nodded and replied, “Uther has been told.  It will be done.”  Moments after he said that, a very familiar scream was heard outside, solidifying when this happened.

	As the images faded, another card appeared.  Enrique picked this one up, and the voices again spoke, “The Eight shall unite the opposing two.”

	Enrique, meanwhile, read the party the next message.  “It is in play, yet again.  We don’t know where, but we believe it may be close.  Ironic that the very item that gave us our home is now a threat to us all, yet this can not be questioned.  The masters of both our new allies and ourselves are very worried about it, for if it is not destroyed correctly, it could impose a new order that none of us could oppose.  If found, do not destroy it, and definitely do not bring it into the proto-plane!  Wait until the test is complete, and give it to the emissary of the masters,” Enrique looked up with a worried look.  Could they have been talking about the Egg?

	Besides the headquarters, two more circled areas remained on the map.  Picking at random, the party chose what turned out to be The Theater of Joy, a combined church of Tsykie, the goddess of joy and children in the new pantheon, and a school of sorts where the children of nobility are regularly tutored.  When the party entered the school, they discovered that it too was inhabited by more of the face/mask, beings, but unlike the earlier ones, who simply wore robes, these wore armor.  Unlike the earlier creatures, they were prepared as well, and no sooner did the party arrive than the most heavily armored of the creatures pulled out another horn and sounded a note!

	Aware of how poorly things were going, the party tried to charge through the door to stop him, but before they could, three of the other armored creatures blocked the door and pulled their swords on the party.  Before they could be defeated, the leader sounded the horn two more times, and soon the world again changed.  The school/church was transformed into a temple of evil, and the pulpit became an altar stained with the blood of many sacrifices.  Though they knew it was too late, the party quickly finished the surviving warriors and quickly examined the church.  They saw another series of spectral images appear.  In this scene, Gerard was much younger; the age of a young child, and he was surrounded by many other children, including a distinctly familiar blond-haired boy.  That boy was apparently leading the other children against Gerard.  According to the blond boy, Gerard apparently killed his brother Vincent, a claim that he didn’t exactly dispute.  Soon, the children were on Gerard, beating him unconscious as a result of the blond child’s claim.  As the images faded, Elvis noticed a staircase built into one of the temple’s support columns.  It was apparently hidden, but the false wall vanished with the day.  Since there was no card again, the party realized they weren’t done here.  

	The basement, like all of the dark version of Crimmor, was rusted, rotting, and stained, and the floor was again nothing but a simple catwalk.  Here, the party found another spectral scene.  Several cultists were meeting below the school, and though they were masked and unidentifiable, they were clearly talking about Gerard’s fate above.  According to them, they were the ones who told the blond boy about Gerard’s previous actions specifically so he could be beaten.  Even Lorren looked shocked this one.  “This guy had no chance from day one,” he gasped.

Otherwise, there was nothing but a locked door and another card.  Elvis took this one, and he heard voices say, “The Eight shall hold the apocalyptic one.”  As they spoke, he read his card.

	“The planes may be massive, perhaps infinite, but we know so little about the true nature of reality,” Elvis read.  “There are even hints that the great artifact is not of this reality at all, but rather of another dimension entirely.  If so, it is not unreasonable to assume that it still serves as a link to other dimensions, suggesting that events affecting the artifact have also drawn others to our dimension.  The strange visitor we had earlier, who spoke of a world of forests without end and dragons who permeated the very air, claimed that he was from such a world.  If so, he is likely cursed to remain here, for the capacity to cross the dimensions is beyond even the power of the gods.”  Elvis sighed at the card.  Forests without end sounded a lot like home.

	But he had little time to worry about such things.  As he finished reading the card, the pyramid-headed figure slowly descended the stairs, again blocking the party’s only means of escape!  Enrique quickly retreated to the door to try and get it unlocked while Elvis stayed behind to fire at the creature and hold it off.   However, whenever he fired an arrow at the creature, they just bounced off of his helmet or skin apron.   Was this creature as invincible as it seemed?  

	Fortunately, Enrique got the door opened before they had to find out.  Everyone, including Elvis, dashed out of the door and into the very relative safety of Crimmor’s streets, or at least the streets that still existed.

	“Back to the park?” Ik asked as she examined the nightmarish world.

	“No,” Luke said as he shook his head.  He wasn’t even sure if he could sleep after knowing what was watching above them.  But his argument sounded more resolute.  “We have to finish this.  Who knows if Gerard or the other spirits are trapped here, suffering?  And what about that master the frogs were talking about?  We should examine that last circle and get out of here as soon as possible.”

	The last circled location turned out to be Durndraaven Manor, the home of the Ophal noble house and presumably Gerard’s own home.  However, like the rest of the city, when the party arrived, it was twisted into a house of horror, a barely stable mess of metal and unidentified flesh.  Three more of the armored face/mask creatures were waiting for the party, along with another acid-spitting patient.  Eager to escape this nightmare, they made short work of them, but it was a costly battle, and by now, some of the party was barely able to walk.  Nonetheless, they held on long enough to explore the house and find Gerard’s room, where an even younger spectral Gerard was playing with a stuffed lizard while a woman was speaking to an unseen person outside of the room.  She was younger as well, but she was clearly the same woman that was issuing the adult Gerard orders in the earlier scene.   Ik suddenly placed her face.  “I think that’s Lady Zharnn Ophal, the noble house’s matriarch!” She explained.  “I heard about her.  There always were rumors that she was involved in some shady activities.  But I couldn’t have imagined this!”

	While Ik explained this, Zharnn continued her half of the conversation.  According to what they learned, she actually adopted Gerard very recently at that point after being impressed with his skill at surviving without a home or parents.  She even specifically mentioned what he did to “the other boy,” suggesting that the blond child’s rage might not have been unfounded.  However, the other being apparently explained that they wanted Gerard to be the “ideal subject.”  If this meant what they thought it meant, the party realized that Gerard’s entire life was building toward the construction of this plane.  The images faded, and Lorren noticed that the room contained both another card and the now rotting stuffed lizard.  He glanced at the lizard and realized that the name “Winslow” was written on the bottom.  Some sympathy, or perhaps madness, touched Lorren as he claimed the lizard for his own.  Meanwhile, Luke claimed the final card as voices chanted, “The Eight shall control destiny, opposed by none.”

	“Though both are infants compared to us, the ‘new’ pantheon intrigues us,” Luke read.  “Where did it come from?  Most of the theories suggest the so-called ‘primals’ brought it to the people.  This makes no sense.  Were the primals not themselves servants of the gods?  Why would they need to introduce new gods never heard of before?  We believe the primals came from another source entirely, bringing their gods with them to this world as a result.  The one known as Bas is particularly fascinating.  Why, of all the pantheon, is there only one evil goddess?  Was this a contentious subject among the primals?  Were her servants especially vocal or powerful, and if so, what became of them?”

	This left only one place to return to, but the party looked reluctant.  “I don’t think we can handle a place that serves as their headquarters in this condition,” Anastacia admitted, and Luke had to agree with her.  With no small amount of reluctance, they returned to the park to rest another day, and the horrors and injuries weighing all of them down were enough for them to sleep even with the realization of what was watching them sleep.

	The next morning, after the basic preparations were made, the party wasted no time in reaching the headquarters.  The crater was no different compared to the last time, but the image was different.  It showed Gerard’s wife, and when Luke shouted the name, “Juliet!” the world changed again.  For the third time, the warning bell sounded out from nowhere, and day somehow became night.  The empty crater was replaced with a catwalk bridge leading to a windmill.  Even the mill wasn’t immune to the grotesque nature of this version of the town; a body was tied by the legs to the one of the windmill blades, and whenever it tilted down, the body fell back and struck the ground with a sickening thud.  

	Ignoring the macabre display as best they could, the party entered the windmill to find whatever force controlled this twisted plane.  They found a corridor leading towards another chamber.  More of the masked creatures were inside the walls themselves, working on various machinery in an apparent effort to maintain the plane itself.  There were hundreds of them, but they ignored the party’s arrival, and for their part the party thought better of confronting them.  They had their leader to contend with.  As they neared the chamber, a loud, inhuman laughter could be heard echoing across the walls, along with dozens of screaming voices.

	The chamber the party discovered had circular walls and was dominated by a single cage in the center.  It was made of metal bars, but the four bars at the corners of the cage were most notable, as they were larger and contained a spike that pointed inward into the cage.  Inside the cage was a pitiful beast being pierced by the spikes.  It seemed initially to be a mess of seemingly random body parts, but they continually appeared and disappeared as the party watched it.  Suddenly, a bolt of energy emerged from the four spiked bars of the cage and struck the beast.  With an alien roar, it was briefly trapped in a single semi-coherent state before altering its form again.  

	The party, however, was more concerned with the monster above the cage.  It slightly resembled a jellyfish, but it floated through the air.  It also only had four legs, but they were long and ended in a series of cruel barbs that were, for now, wrapped around the bars of the cage.  It had a more spherical, pod-like head, which was filled with a green fluid.  Worse, ghostly heads, including that of Gerard, floated in the pod and gave off constant wailings.  The creature itself, however, was doing the laughing despite not actually having a mouth.

	Negotiations were brief.  “Welcome,” the creature greeted the party when they entered the party.  “How have you enjoyed the journey through my new world.”

	“We haven’t especially,” Grim acknowledged.   “Is that trapped thing keeping this place around?”

	“Yes…” the jellyfish admitted, but before he could begin the traditional evil speech, Grim shrugged.

	“That’s all I wanted to know,” he grunted before charging one of the bars and striking it with all of his might!

	However, it soon became obvious that it wouldn’t be that easy.  While the jellyfish uncoiled from the cage to confront the party directly, a wall in the corridor leading to the room suddenly split apart.  From the opening, Pyramid Head stepped out.  It turned to face the party and raised his sword.

	Anastacia was at the rear of the party when the fight began, but she courageously held her ground.  Even though it didn’t seem to have any effect, she even tried to stab the monstrosity while dodging his gigantic blade.  While she was dodging, however, she suddenly felt a dark force strike her in the bad.  She turned for a moment to see the jellyfish had descended in the middle of the party and was unleashing orbs of dark energy in every direction.  Save for Lorren, who wisely retreated to the far end of the room, everyone was caught in the blast.  Some managed to get out of the way, but Anastacia wasn’t so lucky.  Acting on her brief hesitation, Pyramid Head drove his sword straight into her chest.  She was killed instantly as her heart was ruptured!

	Fortunately, the party wasn’t the only one to take casualties. After unleashing its dark energies, the jellyfish grabbed Elvis in one of its tentacle and began to thrash him about while digging its blades into him.  However, this left the creature partially undefended, and Enrique took advantage of the opportunity to dive his blades into the creature’s pod head.  As vile green fluid leaked out, Grim stopped attacking the bars to take advantage of the opportunity.  He sliced at the creature with his own sword, and the leaks grew until the creature’s entire head split like a crushed tomato.  As the body twitched and fell to the ground, the souls of Gerard and the countless other beings drawn to this plane happily escaped, flying to their true eternal rewards.

	But none of this stopped Pyramid Head.  He turned his attention on the next victim, which turned out to be Enrique, and dropped the wounded rogue with one strike as well, though he at least still breathed.  Luke was the next closest target, but fortunately he at least had a way of curing himself.  Pyramid Head constantly inflicted wounds on him, but Lorren by now noticed that though the creature never seemed to physically take damage, the magical energies that sustained him were weakening.  He fired at Pyramid Head using every spell he had.  Finally, Pyramid Head apparently could no longer manifest itself.  With one single, grisly action, he turned his sword inward and drove it into his own chest, pinning him to the ground!

	With both of their enemies destroyed or at least stopped, it was easy to destroy the cage.  When the four bars were destroyed, the creature’s amorphous form slipped around the now non-threatening normal bars of the cage.  The instant it left the cage, the entire plane seemed to fade away, and instead the party found itself inside an entire different windmill.  This one was covered with more cultist circles and paraphernalia, including some very expensive-looking artwork of the dragon eating its own tail, but it at least it was the real world again.  The party cautiously stepped out of the windmill, and as they left, Elvis could swear he saw a black-armored, winged figure flying away.  Evil was certain, but the creature’s metal armor looked almost alive, similar to the armor Malordonus wore.

	The city watch, meanwhile, found the party almost immediately.  “You were missing for days!” the first guard gasped.  “You’re lucky the caravan didn’t leave yet.  It would have given up and left a day ago if he didn’t intervene.”

	Luke was confused.  “Who stopped them?”

	“I did,” a voice said behind them.  The party whirled to find Operative Vel behind them.  “Now, could you explain to me where you were?”

	The party did their best to explain the situation, and meanwhile they learned that Vel, along with many other Fra Dane guards, were already in the very caravan the party was planning on using.  They learned the party went missing and investigated the whole city, soon learning of the cult’s existence themselves.  Already, most of the cult was arrested, including a dwarf named Uther who was guilty of murdering a local noble.  However, some of the cult apparently escaped, including Zharnn Ophal, who was last seen fleeing towards the Gate of Madness with a messy-haired blond man.

	Vel was surprisingly understanding and helpful towards the party, suggesting that he expected big things from the party’s success in the Gate of Madness.  He even offered to pay for Anastacia’s resurrection.  While the clerics pleaded for her soul and Ik watched over her friend’s recovery, Enrique and Elvis made their way back to the Silent Hill crypt.  They had to retrieve the Egg, after all.

	Meanwhile, Luke and the others sat down to began their briefing with Vel.  As usual, they weren’t sure how much to tell him about their discoveries and how much to keep secret.

	To their horror, Elvis and Enrique found all of the masonry and urns of the Embalming Room shattered, and the Egg was gone.  They realized that Vel mentioned a full investigation when the party vanished.  If his investigation was this thorough, he now had the Egg.

	Back in town, Vel smiled as he asked Luke, “Now, what can you tell me.  I want to know everything.”

	OOC Notes:  And so ends my first official Halloween adventure.  In 10 months or so, we’ll see if I can manage to make it an annual tradition.  Fans of the last campaign I ran may recognize the jellyfish monster as one of my many unique monsters.  Anyway, the adventure’s ending was tied to how long the party spent in the proto-plane, and this was admittedly an ending I expected.  What they do next, however, completely threw me for a loop.  But you’ll have to wait until next week for that update, which will be admittedly a little than this one.


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## LordVyreth (Dec 27, 2006)

*Swarm's Hive: Surrendering Your Way to Victory*

Vel studied his contacts carefully, eagerly scanning their every move and emotion.  This was where he must utilize all the skills he learned as an Operative.  He knew that his so called underlings were hiding something, but now he had something of theirs, and he suspected that by now, many of them knew as well.  He would have to discern the truth from the lies, filter out the facts, and even use them as pawns for his own plans, luring them into his machinations and tricking them into doing exactly what he wanted them to do.  But there was one response even a master of analysis like Vel couldn’t expect…

	“Very well,” Luke replied.  “I’ll tell you everything.”  And he did.  He told Vel about the Infernal Egg and about Enrique’s uncle with the Hivekeepers.  He even showed them the very letter that Guillermo wrote for the party!  

	If there was anything that Vel didn’t regular expect, it was complete capitulation.  “Well, that’s, excellent work,” he muttered.  “We arrested the curio shop owner at Ciudadbonita; now we’ll have to free her thanks to what you told us.”  He tried another tactic, though.  “So that Egg your letter mentioned is likely the one we discovered in the Silent Hill crypt?” he asked, almost hoping that he would actually react to this shock.

	“That would be it,” Luke just as happily admitted.  “You may have it.  After that last trip, I don’t think it would be safe with us.  You can protect it better than us.”

	Vel gave up.  Nobody ever willingly handed an obscenely powerful artifact over to him before.  It just shouldn’t be this easy.  “Very well then,” he accepted.  “Given what you told me, I believe we have all we need to continue your investigation from here.  I leave you to your own initiative for now.  We will let you know if we could further use you to assist in then needs of the Fra Dane nation.”

	A short time later, the party, free of almost all needs and responsibilities, prepared for their next move.  “What should we do now?” Luke first asked.

	“I vote we go back to the Gate of Madness!” Elvis offered.  “That place is probably full of treasure, and this time, we don’t have to take anyone alive!”

	Lorren and Enrique were similarly excited about this option, though Enrique wasn’t so sure about abandoning his uncle’s dying request.  “What about that Effervo Vesica fortress the goblins gave us the location of?” he suggested.  “Vel has to go back to Fra Dane before he could even start to plan an attack.  If we leave first, we can beat him to it and find out their secrets much faster.”

	Since they lacked any real destination or goal in the Gate and they realized it got notoriously worse and more chaotic at later levels, they eventually all agreed to head to the Effervo Vesica fortress instead, especially after they realized they could get there in as little as three days from Crimmor, if the map the goblins gave them was accurate.  All that remained was to say goodbye to Chitka, who decided that since he knew little of the surface and the party seemed to attract trouble, he would prefer to set off on his own.   Besides, he heard far too many unpleasant stories about how Fra Dane treated unusual creatures like him, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near such a place.  After seeing him off and spending the rest of the day doing the usually shopping, the party rested and set off for adventure the next morning!  A few hours later, they set off back for Crimmor when Enrique came down with a disease he got from something back in the Proto-Plane, and since he guessed he got it from the rat-sized demonic cockroaches, he decided to play it safe and get it healed magically.

	And so, that afternoon, the party set off for adventure!  Again!  At least initially, things went more smoothly this time, but soon the signs of civilization vanished, and the party found itself isolated on a pathless, hilly wilderness.  That first day of travel was uneventful, which is unsurprising given how little ground they could cover before nightfall, but by the second day, they were within the territory of the enemy, as soon realized.  In mid-day, Elvis noticed a tiny pair of dots floating in the sky.  As he feared, they were getting closer.

	“We’re under attack!” he shouted as he drew his bow.  Before the party could react, the two dots got close enough for Elvis and a few of the other more sharp-eyed members of the party to see who the threat was.  They appeared to be strange creatures that were half wasp, half spider.  Each one had a humanoid rider in black armor, but one was clearly more heavily armored than the other.  Both were heading right for the party, though, and they didn’t seem friendly.  Given the nature of the mounts, the party realized this was almost certainly a scouting party from Effervo Vesica’s fortress.

	The lightly armored of the scouts took the air above the party and began to rain down arrows at them, selecting the weak and defenseless Lorren as his first target.  Before the unfortunate wizard could even open his mouth to cast a spell, an arrow plunged deep into his chest, causing his to instantly collapse, dying!

	Luke ran over to administer to his wounds while Elvis began to fire at the archer and his mount, but the rest of the party was more concerned with the second rider, who eschewed melee weapons and was slowly descending to fight in close combat.  As soon as he neared the ground, however, Grim and Anastasia moved to block his path, forcing him to descend while surrounded by enemies, and Enrique leapt at him from behind, driving his blades into the scout’s back and killing him almost instantly.  His mount struggled to fight back, but it could barely scratch the party before being brought down.  Meanwhile, Elvis finally finished off the second mount, sending the already wounded archer plummeting to the ground, snapping his neck when he hit the ground.  

	“Well, if they are scouts, they’ll know something is up when they don’t return,” Grim commented while the rest of the party did the usual looting.

	“Look at the bright side!” Ik countered.  “We prevented them from warning the fortress that we’re coming!” she pointed out, a little too cheerfully.

	“I’m more worried that they had scouts out in the first place,” Enrique added.  “How would they know to look for us?”

	Elvis, meanwhile, continued too search the terrain nervously.  “What made you think they were looking for us?  Maybe there’s something else out here…”

	Despite Elvis’ concerns, the party otherwise had an uneventful day, and when night neared, they found shelter in a nearby valley.  As they set up camp, though, something bothered Elvis about the rocks strewn across the valley.  He quickly gathered Grim and Enrique before traveling to a nearby hill and look into the valley.  It was already dark at this point, but he could see the lights of the party’s campfire illuminating the lights.

	“It looks like the rocks are arranged in some pattern,” Enrique commented as he strained his eyes.

	“It’s not just any pattern,” Grim added.  “They look like…numbers.  Why would anyone arrange rocks to look like seventy-nine from above?”

	Their questioning ended abruptly, however, when Elvis raised his hand.  “I heard footsteps,” he whispered.

	The three quickly drew weapons and looked around anxiously, but the source of the noise identified itself without difficulty.  It was a rider, but his mount was another Environ, one of the ever-shifting beasts that were so profitably used by Hensen and Children.  

	“Lower your weapons,” the rider spoke as he approached the three.  “I mean no harm.  I would simply like a place to rest for the evening.  I have lived in this land for most of my life, but it has gotten increasingly hostile in recent years.”

	Enrique shrugged with apathetic acceptance, but Grim was curious.  “What has happened here?  We’re approaching where we think a fortress of our enemy is located.  Are they responsible for this place becoming hostile?”

	The rider shook his head.  “No, but they seem to be attracting their attention.  There is a strange…cult of sort that has taken up residence here in recent years.  They have been very unfriendly to me, presumably as a result of my mount.”  The rider then explained about the cult, including their holy symbol.  As soon as he described it as a triangle filled with the weapons of animals, the three remembered the werewolf cleric they saw in the earlier forest, and given what they heard about the Environs, they guessed what made the cult so hostile.

	Suddenly, Grim got an idea.  “Do you know why the rocks in this valley are arranged like numbers?”

	The rider looked at the outcroppings and shook his head.  “The cult possibly used this valley as a gathering place, but I can’t understand why they would make numbers out of the rocks.”

	The three decided that the rider seemed trustworthy enough, so they led him into the valley when they returned.  There, despite their suspicious guest, the night passed uneventfully, and the rider, lacking any specific destination, decided to follow the party and see more about the fortress for himself.

	As the party neared the fortress, their suspicions about the cult became more accurate.  They passed more valleys that were teeming with wolves and other ferocious animals of all sizes; exactly the kind of army werewolves and other lycanthropes would raise.  Even worse, as the day continued, what appeared to be a pack of wolves was bearing down right on them!  As the party watched them approach, though, they noticed a strange flickering of lights behind the wolves, and soon they realized that what they thought was an attack was something else entirely.  The wolves, presumably part of some scouting party, were desperately fleeing from a small swarm of the wasps.  Each one looked just like the one the goblin chief in the Gate of Madness was bragging about.  Considering that he claimed they came from Effervo Vesica, these insects were likely more defenses from the fortress.

	The party quickly dove for cover to evade the wolf stampede and ducked behind rocks whenever possible, hoping to stay out of the fight entirely.  However, when the wolves passed by them, the wasps neared the party and, lacking any capacity for more complicated tactics, recognized them as the closest threat.  Some, who had recently fired at the wolves, paused to gather energy, but the others fired orbs of magic at the party, striking with perfect accuracy.  However, the six insects were small and fragile, and they easily were destroyed by some concentrated fire.  The wolves, meanwhile, were too busy fleeing to even notice, or at least care about, the party, and they passed into the distance without incident.  With a better idea of what to expect when they finally found the fortress, the party continued onwards.

	OOC Notes: Vel’s surprise was based on my own in this adventure.  Given how mistrustful and tight-lipped the party was to Vel before, I expected them to only share a little information this time, learn that Vel had imprisoned, and might torture or execute, an innocent woman as a result of their earlier evasiveness, and they would return to Fra Dane to free her and get the Egg back.  Instead, they folded completely and gave away the world’s most powerful artifact.  In other words, I had to improvise the entire first half of the adventure, basically everything up to this point, from scratch.  Given that, I don’t think I did so badly.


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## LordVyreth (Jan 17, 2007)

*Swarm's Hive: Crazy Moon Cultists, Best Friends Forever!*

The party drew ever closer to the fortress, but by the time night fell, they were still several hours away.  Not eager to finish the journey in those conditions, they made camp for the night.  As he stood watch, Elvis noticed that it was an unusually bright evening.  Sure enough, when he looked up, he saw that the moon was almost full, and that the full moon would likely begin tomorrow.  Based on what they already learned from Narean, the traveler that joined the party the other night, this was a portent for violence.

	The next morning, they rushed to the fortress and neared its boundaries by early morning, but as they traveled, they saw that the wolves and their (currently) humanoid masters have already surrounded it.  They were in numbers too great for the party to face on their own, so once again they were forced to actually use diplomacy.  

	Ik took the lead after she located a woman that seemed to be in charge of a pack of wolves.  “Excuse us, but what do you intend to do with this fortress.”

	The woman looked at Ik suspiciously, but she shrugged and explained, “These people are invading our territory.  Even worse, they use the beings that drive nature to chaos.  They have driven our animals insane and are using horses to create their monsters.  We intend to make an example out of this fortress: burn it to the ground, slaughter its inhabitants, and make these people realize they are not welcome here.”

	“Yeah, the thing is,” Ik meekly replied to avoid making the bloodthirsty woman angry.  “We need some information about these people.  Would it be possible to let us examine the place first?”

	The woman considered Ik and her friends carefully.  “I can advise my peers to leave you alone, but I can’t promise your safety.  Our soldiers are animals after all, and while we can lead them, we cannot control them.  Besides, when the battle begins, my allies and I tend to be a bit…harder to control.  If you want anything from this fortress, I advise you to get it quickly and try to stay out of our way.”

	After their discussion, Ik returned to the party, so they can discuss their strategy.  “We should attack right away, to stay ahead of the lycanthropes,” Anastacia recommended.  “Even if they follow us in, it will still be daytime, so they won’t be too powerful.”

	Enrique disagreed.  “I don’t think we should launch an attack on a defended and alert fortress on our own.  We’d just be outnumbered.  Maybe the lycanthropes will help us, or maybe they’ll just cut off our only avenue of retreat.”

	“Let’s wait until night, then,” Luke suggested.  “We let the cult draw their fire and weaken the guards, and then we can sneak in ahead of them.  We’ll be done with the fortress before they can start to burn it.”

	“And then we can kill the werewolves when they’re wounded, too!” Elvis gleefully added, only to see that everyone (except Lorren) was staring at him, shocked.  “Well, I thought it would be a good idea,” he muttered.

	That night, the party watched from a nearby hill as the pack of wolves surged towards the fortress.  Their attack was met by immediate defenses, including archers and attacks by more of the energy-shooting phase wasps, which were regularly patrolling around the fortress.  However, the cultists soon encountered a larger problem when the wolf pack abruptly broke as soon as it neared the fortress’ front and apparently only gate.  They immediately moved to surround the fortress, but it was obvious that this wasn’t planned; something was driving the wolves away from the gate.  In response, some of the cultists, who appeared unaffected, began to assault the gate, while others began to climb the walls and attack the guard towers.

	Seeing an opportunity, the party carefully snuck to the back of the fortress, away from the fight and towards an undamaged guard tower.  The wolves, worried by the force repulsing them and the enemies with ranged attacks they couldn’t fight, let them pass, and soon Enrique made his way towards the wall.  He swung a grappling hook towards the wall’s battlements and grunted with satisfaction when he heard it connect with the stone.  As he began to climb, however, an archer on the wall noticed him and began to fire at him and the party, while two more guards burst out of the guard tower.  At the same time, two more of the phase wasps, continuing their patrol, turned the fortress’ corner and noticed the party’s attack.  All five of the fortress’ defenders engaged the party.

	Grim and Ik carefully followed Enrique up the rope and to the top of the wall, while Anastacia, Elvis, Lorren, and Luke attacked from the ground using ranged weapons and magic.  While Enrique and Grim stormed the guardhouse, making short work of the archers now that they were no longer protected by their arrow slits, Ik surprised everyone by finishing the archer on the wall by herself!  “Wow, I forgot what it was like to contribute without the Egg,” she carefully admitted.  Meanwhile, a pair of arrows from Anastacia’s rarely used bow finished one of the wasps, and some of Lorren’s magic missiles and Elvis’ arrow finished the second.

	It took some effort, especially for the heavily armored Anastacia and Luke, but everyone managed to climb up the wall.  From there, they noticed that the keep was right next to the wall, and the second story was smaller than the first, letting them actually walk on the edge of the first floor roof.  Some of the more agile members of the party did just that, while Luke and the others found a latter to enter the courtyard.  There, they saw the reason the wolves were driven away.  Two of the shape shifting Environs were chained just inside the front gates, and the party remembered that animals tended to be driven mad by their presence and instinctively shied away from them.  The magical lycanthropes were unaffected by this, but the natural animals wisely fled in either direction.

	As far as they were concerned, this was good news for the party, who were happy to see the cultists delayed until they could finish their business.  They quickly began to plan their next move.  Elvis pointed upwards as they prepared for their next move.  “I noticed that the fortress was unusually high, compared to the walls.  This thing’s five stories tall, though the last couple floors are little but a ramp and a spire.  I think I saw something moving up there when the attack first started.  We might be able to find their leaders that way.”

	Those on the roof carefully climbed down, and they collectively entered the keep through its front door.  They saw a small building attached to the main keep as they entered, and Grim guessed that it was a stable, but they decided it wasn’t worth wasting their time investigating it.  Similarly, when they found the first floor unguarded, they decided not to risk the time and danger of traps or ambushes that a full investigation would lead to.  Instead, they dashed upstairs, pausing only to note that the keep used ramps, not the usual stairs, and spent as little time on the second floor as they ran up to the third floor.  From here, they quickly found an archway that led outside to the start of the ramp.  Here, at last, they found something.

A black-armored figuring riding a giant wasp flew in circles around the ramp.  Near the party, a half-human, half-wolf woman who was seemingly fighting without a weapon angrily watched her prey.  The werewolf had the holy symbol of the cult tattooed on her body, but she otherwise didn’t possess one, and Luke realized the cult had more forces than direct worshippers.  The cult’s advance guard and the Effervo Vesica officer were already waiting for the perfect moment to strike, so the party’s arrival proved the perfect distraction.  “I will teach you not to meddle with the affairs of Phellis Mune!” she growled as she pulled out and fired a sling just as the officer charged her.

Out of nowhere, Enrique shuddered as soon as he heard the name of the cult’s god.  “I don’t know where THAT came from,” he admitted as he joined the fight.

He didn’t have time to worry about it, though.  From the floor below, a door burst open, and two armored guards, apparently waiting for one of the ambushes the party avoided, instead responded to the renewed sounds of battle.  Similarly, additional archers from the walls below saw the fight beginning above them and fired at the werewolf and the party in an attempt to protect their apparent leader.  “Where did all of these guards come from,” Lorren muttered irritably.  “You’d think the ones at the walls would have better things to do during an attack.”

Grim moved the block the archway and fight off the guards while the rest of the party moved inward on the ramp to stay out of firing range and help the werewolf assist in the fight against the officer.  The officer narrowly evaded the werewolf’s stones; it was clear she was not used to combat that impersonal.  However, Elvis, Lorren, and the rest of the party were far more effective against him and his mount, and in desperation he urged his mount down to strike his foes directly.  This soon proved to be a mistake, however.  In one quick set of motions, the werewolf lunged at him with both paws, flipped in the air to strike with her feet, and then came down biting.  The first strikes of her paws found weaknesses in his armor and struck him right in the chest, knocking the air out of him.  He was briefly disoriented while he regained his breath, and in the interim the werewolf dragged him off of his mount and onto the ramp.  There, the party made short work of him, and then turned to fire on the wasp as it retreated from the battle.  In a matter of moments, both foes fell.

Grim, however, was having far more difficulty with the guards.  The party rushed to his aid, but as they did, Anastacia lingered to watch the werewolf.  She rather gruesomely hunched down on the unconscious Effervo Vesica officer, and in one quick motion, she ripped his throat out!  Effortlessly removing his head, she held it high and gave a howl of victory; a howl that was echoed across the fortress.  There was now little doubt that the cultists of Phellis Mune had this fortress under their control, or at least they would soon.  The werewolf glanced at Anastacia.  “You have five minutes,” she growled at her.  “Then this place burns.”

Anastacia caught up with the party, who had made short work of the guards and were busy doing the usual looting.  “We have to go!” she insisted.  “The werewolf told us that in five minutes, they would burn the entire fortress!”

Lorren nervously looked down at the pack surrounding the fortress.  “I don’t think it would even be safe leaving now.  I don’t trust those creatures.”

“I told you we should have killed them when we had the chance,” Elvis muttered.

Grim, however, had another idea.  He gestured to the top of the ramp, where an even larger wasp was waiting, but its stinger was removed, rendering it harmless.  It was tied to a giant crate as large as the wasp itself.  Grim pointed at a bell on a wall next to the wasp.  “I believe the Effervo Vesica use these wasps for transport.  If we ring the bell, it should travel to wherever the society gets their orders and supplies.  We can hide in the crate and learn the truth about our enemies that way.”

Without much time to discuss it, the party agreed, but they decided it would be better to investigate the rest of the fortress before it was too late.  They quickly dragged the bodies of the two guards and the officer into the crate before exploring the rest of the fortress.  In the room that the guards burst out of, they discovered a large chalkboard with the next two priorities of this Effervo Vesica branch listed.  The rest of the room was filled with scattered and ripped or burned papers; the guards were apparently destroying all that they could before the party attracted their attention.  Lorren was able to make some headway with the scraps while Ik wrote down the completed priorities on the chalkboard and Luke and Elvis left to explore further.  

Eventually, Lorren managed to get at least the titles of the first six priorities completed.  Ik wrote those down above the remaining two:

	1. Confirmation of Hypothetical Target, Priority 1: The Fiendish Control Rod.
	2. Initiation of Recovery Mission.  Mission Leader: Captain Malordonus
	3. Use funds granted from benefactors for use in recruiting local humanoids to assist in acquiring Priority 1.
	4. Insertion of Mission Leader into Target Location.  Gain assistance of local mercenaries and invite ignorant mercenaries of minimal effectiveness (See Dossier 29Q,) to serve as distractions.
	5. Recovery of Fiendish Control Rod.  This is listed as Priority 0 and above the lives of any and all personnel.
	6. Promotion for current Captain, receive new lieutenant and promote current to captain.

She then read the two left on the chalkboard.

Annual Priority Target #7:

	Confirmation of Egg Tracking Theory A42 is requested.  Said theory speculates the specific creatures have some affinity to the egg.  This theory is based on Classified information shared by our benefactors.  Details of how this information was obtained are classified.  The creatures in question have some ties to insects and seem to fly to specific locations where the egg is located.  Last suspected Sighting: Rosavilla.  Projected success: 74%.

Annual Priority Target #8:

	This theory was put forth by former captain Malordonus.  Following the success of Priority Target #5, our benefactors recommended further investigation due to correlation between the resting place of said target and this one.  Speculation is that the second target, officially codified as the Celestial Rod, has a similar protective barrier.  Zoridel is known for crystalline statuary that uses that form of structure.  If confirmation is obtained, The benefactors are to be noted, where if they receive sufficient collaboration on this confirmation, the second Hammer of Shattering will be supplied.  Projected mission leader: Undetermined.  Projected Success: 83%.

	“That certainly brings new meaning to organized evil,” Lorren whistled, impressed.

	Meanwhile, Luke and Elvis finally found something interesting in the stables on the first floor.  The remaining Environ, along with another guard, were both brutally killed, presumably by the increasingly successful cultist raids.  However, the room also contained a simple mechanical platform that lowered into a basement.  Cautiously, the two lowered themselves down, where they saw a seemingly normal horse.  However, it was chained to a wall with thick manacles, and given the number and depth of the hoof prints in the wall, it was clear that this was no ordinary horse.  Even more obvious was a giant iron mask that covered most of the horse’s head, leaving just a little room for the nose and mouth.  Despite the uncomfortable mask, the horse was calmly grazing the food scattered across the floor, but neither Luke nor Elvis had any interest in getting near this thing.  Instead, they found a nearby door and fled down a hallway.

	The next room was far more interesting.  Stacked across the walls were countless gold bars!  But the fortress’ treasure was not left unguarded.  Seemingly unaware or uninterested in the battle all around them, a pair of warforged were chained the center of the room.  Reacting out of instinct or some deeply ingrained order, they raised their weapons as soon as Luke and Elvis entered the room.  Making note of the chains, the two simply backed out of the room and the warforged’s range, but in response, the warforged just as simply closed the door!  Sighing with frustration, they kicked the door in again and pulled their bows just as the warforged drew their own.  A brief ranged battle proceeded, but the two warforged were no match and quickly were de-activated by the attacks.  Luke and Elvis quickly grabbed the money, but Luke looked guiltily at the warforged as he left.

	“Do you think they’re still…alive?” he asked Elvis.

	Elvis, who was used to warforged from his days on Eberron, shrugged.  “They’re damaged, but they’re still functional.  If they healed, they can be brought back to activity.”

	In response, Luke began to attack their chains.  “Get everyone down here!” he insisted.  “We can’t leave them to burn to death.  You see these chains.  They’re not part of this group; they’re slaves.”

	Elvis looked reluctant, but he sighed.  “I don’t think we can transport all this treasure to the crate in time by ourselves, anyway.”  With less than a minute to spare, the party, the armor and treasure from all the guards they fought, the two unconscious warforged, the treasury gold, and the information they salvaged in the meeting room were in the crate.  Elvis throw a rock at the bell.  Instinctively, the giant wasp took off, flying northwards and towards the ocean.  As the party ventured off into the unknown, aware that once they reach the ocean, they had little opportunity to escape, they saw the fortress start to burn.  Suddenly, a pillar of fire shot out of the fortress while a loud, unearthly neigh echoed across the night.  It seemed the cultists found the horse…

	OOC Notes: I enjoyed this adventure because of its non-linearity.  I let the party generally plan their attack, including the direction of attack, when to attack, whether or not to ally with the cultists, and so on.  The only “railroad” thing I feel sort of bad about were the four archers that showed up in the final battle.  The players thought they shouldn’t have worried about us with the fight going on below them, and I have to admit they had a point.

	That being said, they almost freely chose to make a huge mistake near the end.  Despite the five minutes (of in-game time) that I gave them and the fact that we had almost an hour before the normal end of game time, they were all set to leave right after killing the officer.  This would have meant leaving all the plot information in the meeting room.  Oh, and the 25,000 gold in the treasury.  If they missed that, I would have so taunted them about it.  I’m glad they decided to stow away with the wasp; though.  I already had quite a few plans for where that path will lead them.


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## LordVyreth (Jan 29, 2007)

*The Scream of Steam: the Right Paranoia at the Wrong Time*

As the wasp flew over the inky, black ocean, the party had no idea what was in store for them.  One thing they didn’t guess, though, was how long it would take for them to get there.  The hours passed, and soon the sun rose again.  But still the wasp flew on, until the hours became days, and the days became weeks.  The wasp rested only briefly once or twice a day, when it deliberately landed on strange, artificial islands that dotted the ocean but were colored to be almost invisible.  The wasp, however, had no trouble finding them, possibly as a result of the fragrant, honey-based food supplies that the wasp consumed while resting.  It didn’t even notice or care about the party on these rest stops, giving the party a chance to stretch their legs, enjoy the sun, and eat something other than iron rations or magically created oatmeal.

In the meantime, the party healed the two warforged they took with them.  They immediately regained their approximation of consciousness, and despite initially fighting the party, once separated from their guard post, they had no aggression at all.  However, they also had no answers for he party, at least for now.  They only could explain that they were created to be slaves, and they lived their whole lives in servitude.  They were recently purchased and forced to guard the treasury the party just discovered, and there they stood, never sleeping, eating, or resting, for the indeterminate amount of time they worked as guards.

Finally, three weeks after the party started their journey, they could see the wasp coming towards a large mass of land, and they realized they reached the northern continent.  However, that was not the wasp’s actual destination.  Suddenly, it turned and landed on an airship flying near the shore.  Lorren, who spent his weeks improving his magical formulas and formulating new spells, was especially eager to put them to use and release the pent up aggression from weeks of boredom, but when he saw that archers were trained on the wasp as it landed and he realized he had no idea how many defenders this massive ship had, even he decided to wait.  They closed the crate’s hatch before they could be seen, and they could only hear the crate as it landed and somehow descended deep into the airship.  Surprisingly, as they waited, a note suddenly slipped into the crate.  Grim, the only one who could read the note in the total darkness, quietly read it to the party.

He began, “I assure you, this message is given in only the friendliest of intentions.  You are in a dangerous position, but you will be safe as long as you stay hidden.  You are currently in the ship’s cargo hold.  The journey should only last another week or so.  They think the crate is uninhabited, but I will sneak food to you.  Once the ship lands, wait until the crate is taken away for processing!  If you are discovered beforehand, you not only will have to fight the ship’s crew, but you’ll likely crash before you can escape!  Once you reach processing, someone will finally check the crate.  Take care of them as you must, and then meet at the Lucky Numbers.  When you attract attention, if someone asks you a question, respond with ‘It always ends up sixes.’  If you want to succeed here, or even get out alive, you will need friends!

“Someone who shares your goals,” he finished.  

“Well, it’s a good thing we didn’t attack,” Luke replied while glancing at Lorren.

Another week passed, and the party grew even more restless in the ship’s hold.  At last, the party could hear it descend, and soon their crate was moved outside of the ship.  A toneless voice loudly echoed, “You are cleared for Terminal Seventy Seven.  Please land and remove all cargo for inspection and transport.”

The crate was again moved and then lowered by some seemingly constant mechanism.  Finally, it was quiet, at least initially.  As the party prepared to spring into action, they could here two casual voices chatting.  “Looks like another package for Mr. Vespal,” one of them commented.

“Oh, he has been busy lately,” the second added.  “He must be doing something big to keep us employed.”

Before they could continue, one of them opened the crate just enough for the party to respond.  Luke and Enrique previously requested that the party leave them alive, but theirs was an idle hope.  Eager to the point of near-mania, Lorren launched a volley of magic that killed one instantly.  Enrique sighed and realized that now there was no choice.  He killed the other guard before he could raise an alarm or the noise of a battle attracted a much larger threat.

The party quickly determined their location.  By the looks of things, they were in a giant warehouse full of crates like their own.  A wagon, pulled by four of the same magical lions as the spare car from the caravan the party previously used, was apparently about to be used to move the party’s crate, so the party took advantage of it as well.  However, there didn’t seem to be any doors or other normal exits, just a moving platform like the one the party saw in the Effervo Vesica fortress, but it was far more advanced.  The party moved the wagon and lions onto the platform and pulled the lever next to it.

In a matter of moments, the dark building they were in vanished, and the party found themselves descending down the side of a massive wall hundreds of feet high!  The building they emerged from was just an extension of the wall itself, in fact.  Below and all around them, a massive city opened up.  It appeared to be night, but the city was still brightly lit, as geysers and glass tubes dotted the city and painted it in many different colors.  Even so late, it seemed to be a bustling place, but it made the party nervous.  

Luke shivered, though it was warm out.  “There is something unsettling about this place.  I can feel an evil throughout it, in the very air.”

The constructs, however, put it more simply.  “We are home.”

Finally, Ik realized where they are.  “This city-it must be Orr Kalen!” She immediately looked worried.  “This is not a pleasant city.  It was built in a crater left over from the war.  That’s why the walls can be so high; most of them are connected to the sides of the crater.”

In fact, nobody looked happy to be here, but there was no obvious escape, they were still too weighed down with equipment and money, and besides, they were here for a reason.  Somewhere, some of the secrets of Effervo Vesica could be found here.

Taking the note’s advice, the party went straight to the Lucky Numbers, eager to find a sanctuary and a place to hide their valuables.  They discovered that the Lucky Numbers was more than just a bar; it also was, appropriately enough, a massive, garishly lit casino.  Except for Enrique, the party quickly split up to find their contact.  Enrique, however, ignored the staff and simply sat at the bar to order their cheapest drink.  As soon as he saw Lorren glancing at him, though, he again smiled and said, “That’s right, I’ll have the best drink in the house!”

Grim was more effective.  One of the servers noticed him and casually asked, “Have you gotten any lucky sevens tonight?”

Trying to stay conversational, he shook his head and replied, “It always ends up sixes.”  As soon as he said it, the server suggested that he can find help in one of the private rooms, and Grim quickly led the rest of the party with him to meet with their supposed benefactor.

Inside the room were two people, a woman dressed in the same uniform as the casino’s staff and a gnome who looked at the party eagerly.  The woman spoke first.  “My name is Janice Nayona, the owner of this casino,” she introduced herself, “but everyone just calls me Chance.  But I have a much more important role in this city.  Orr Kalen is an evil place, a tyranny ruled by one despotic ruler named Salia the Unquestioned.  All kinds of monstrosities are commonplace here, especially slavery of the warforged and shifters.  I represent a resistance group dedicated to slowly bringing them down and freeing our city.”

Luke was impressed, but confused.  “What do you want with us?  How do you know who we even are?”

The gnome raised his hand.  “I told them about you,” he explained.  “I was in Fra Dane when you performed that daring raid on the float.  Since then, I was so impressed with your work that I researched what you did.  I realized that you were just the kind of heroes this city needed, so when I learned of its plight and moved here, I let them know about you.”

“Great, we have a fan,” Anastacia said, rolling his eyes.

“This is great, but we’re not really against the city’s government itself.  We have a specific target in mind,” Lorren pointed out.

“Yes, I know,” Chance replied.  “Effervo Vesica.  We know of them, too.  We don’t know if the government has anything to do with them here, but we do know that most, if not all, of their organization is centered here.  And we believe this connection is tied to one man: Mr. Vespal.”

Ik had a look of recognition.  “I remember him!  He was the one that was supposed to receive our package.”

Chance nodded.  “That’s not surprising.  Mr. Vespal is a very powerful businessman in Orr Kalen.  Once, he was a lowly druid, but one day his knowledge of certain animals led to a major commercial breakthrough.  Because of his skill with new strains of wasps, he created creatures both for everyday use and the city’s military, making him very rich and powerful.  He also is very highly ranked in the Effervo Vesica.  After the captains who run individual fortress like the one you destroyed, there are three ranks in the society: Hive Seekers, Hive Keepers, and finally the single Hive Master.  We don’t know what rank Mr. Vespal is, but if he isn’t the Master, he’s very close to it.  He is responsible for most of the society’s nonhuman forces.  We don’t personally have much concern with the society now, but you cold potentially prove a relation between them and Salia.  Even if you don’t, bringing down Effervo Vesica will weaken Mr. Vespal and Orr Kalen’s military.”

“Okay, but how do you propose we do anything to him?”  Anastacia asked, with a voice full of pessimism.  “We barely got out of that fortress alive.  I don’t see what chance we stand against someone this powerful.”

“Well, I don’t expect you to destroy him that easily,” Chance admitted.  “But perhaps you have a chance to damage him and Effervo Vesica.  We have a contact who is obsessed with the secret society.  When you’re ready, I can set you up to meet him.  Until then, you’re welcome to stay under out protection while you adjust to the city and can resupply.  We’ll also rehabilitate the warforged you brought with you and find a way to sneak him out of the city.”

The next few days passed quickly, and soon the days turned shorter and colder as the month of Jolia began.  The second to last month of the year, it was getting closer to winter weather, though the perpetual steam of the city kept everything unusually warm.  The party barely noticed, though, as they were eager to unload the almost thirty thousand gold worth of treasure they earned and buy new supplies. 

Finally, after equipped new magic weapons, items, and other items more worthy of their new stature, they agreed to meet with Chance’s contact.  “His name is Semi-Sane Tristam,” she whispered.

“Semi-sane,” Anastacia repeated, dubiously.

“I know what he sounds like,” Chance admitted.  “But he’s just a little paranoid; he’s been obsessed with Effervo Vesica for so long that he sees dangers at every turn, and he may have a point.  However, as he is extremely cautious, he won’t meet you just anywhere.  He wants to meet you at the Gas Garden, and only at night when the public can’t see him.”

That evening, the party entered the above mentioned garden.  Despite the name, the Garden was apparently more like a stone gallery or display.  Instead of plants, some of the steam vents that line their way throughout the city partially empty into glass tubes.  Each vent gave off a differently colored light, creating an eerie hodgepodge of lights casting prismatic shadows.  

“I was told to expect you,” a figure said, as he stepped out of the shadow.  “I was told we have a common enemy.”

“If you mean Effervo Vesica, then yes,” Lorren replied, glancing at Luke to make sure he didn’t reply first and thus mispronounce the name.

Suddenly, Elvis looked.  “We have company,” he growled.  Indeed, soon the rest of the party noticed dark figures were surrounding the Garden.

Tristam panicked.  “They’re hunter-seekers!” he shouted.  “They found me!”  Terrified, he took off down an alleyway.

Sighing, Elvis followed him, while the rest of the party moved to defend themselves from the attackers.  The four figures got closer, partially revealing themselves in the Gas Garden lights.  They looked humanoid, but they were also primitive and feral.  “Shifters,” Grim said with recognition.  “But they look more savage than most.  What did this city do to them?”

The creatures howled as one, and their forms became even more animalistic.  One charged at Lorren, another leapt into the area Tristam was once at, and two more flanked the party and attacked Ik and Anastacia.  Lorren cautiously backed up while firing magical missiles and rays of fire, and soon Luke and Anastacia moved to support him.  They made short work of all four, but soon they had to turn their attention back to Elvis and Tristam.

Meanwhile, Elvis tried to calm Tristam, but to no avail.  Giving up, he simply dove at the fleeing informant.  Tristam struggled to escape, but Elvis managed to hold onto the weaker, untrained fighter and pinned him to the ground.  “Stop running!”  He yelled.  “We have it taken care of!  Don’t worry; we can protect you.”  As he was saying it, though, he noticed more dark figures were approaching on the rooftops.

Fortunately, the party noticed the other attackers as well.  Lorren noticed not only more of the hunter-seekers, but he also could see one of the leani, identical to the ones that pulled the party’s wagon.  “Finally,” Lorren added, and he could barely contain his excitement.  He launched, for the first time, a tiny marble of fire that struck the roof and immediately expanded into a globe of flame.  The seekers and the lion survived, but all of them were scorched and not pleased!

But then the creatures retaliated.  The lion leapt off the roof and, with incredible speed, dodged and weaved through the alleyways to near Elvis, while a second emerged out of hiding to stop the party from reaching Elvis.  This one had an oddly serpent-like head, and it suddenly leapt on top of Grim, pinning him to the ground and biting with its poisonous tongue.

“I’ll take care of these,” an increasingly confident Ik shouted as she approached on the hunter-seekers wounded by the fire.  Luke gave some supporting fire, while Enrique and Anastacia moved to help Grim.  Lorren focused on helping Elvis and Tristam and fired his second favorite new spell.  A lightning bolt shot past Grim and struck both the leani approaching Elvis and two of the hunter-seekers.  Despite his work, though, the second leani, who had the rear legs of a wolf and incredible speed as a result, attacked Elvis, leaving him wounded and bloody.

	“I can’t take any more of this,” he admitted, and he let Tristam go to focus on defending himself.  As a result, a remaining hunter-seeker fired at the panicked informant as he continued to flee, but Tristam wasn’t left alone for long.  Grim managed to escape the snake leani and moved to help Elvis.  Anastacia and Enrique finished it off just as Luke arrived to heal Elvis as well.  With the wolf leani’s focus split, Elvis was able to fire at the hunter-seeker on the rooftop, and the wounded creature lost consciousness and fell off of the roof, quite dead.

	Within moments, the second leani and remaining hunter-seekers were defeated.  Finally safe, Tristam began to calm down.  He began to explain his plan.  “Mr. Vespal has a party planned at the end of the month for the Affective Harvest holiday.  I learned that he had an artifact of some sorts in his possession.  I propose that you use the party as a way to enter his home and steal the artifact.  If you can find it and the rest of the treasure in his vault, it will cause a serious problem for the society and will end or delay their plans.”

	Enrique was happy as soon as he heard the word “vault,” but Anastacia looked doubtful.  “How do you propose we actually do this?”

	“Don’t worry,” Tristam replied.  “I have a plan.”

	OOC Notes:  I was really excited about starting this adventure.  The whole fantasy version of the classic “heist” is one I’m looking forward to, even though the power disparity between the party and much of the city limits their options somewhat.  

	As for Urr, you may remember as a character from the first part of the game’s original adventure.  No, the player hasn’t returned; but I dislike it when characters lose their players and disappear into the vacuum.  A “groupie” for the party struck me as an amusing way to link them to the Orr Kalen vents.

	The Affective Harvest, by the way, is a holiday on Mesion that resembles Valentine’s day.  Expect a new excerpt in a few days containing the officially calendar: I didn’t have it when the campaign started, but I developed it for this game and future planning.  

	Lastly, the lion-creatures are another of my unique creations; I plan on using a lot more of them as the game starts to hit the high levels.  I originally made them as units for a real time simulator game I was working on years ago, albeit at the brainstorming/design doc level only.  The main trait of the creatures, the ability to adapt one of six special abilities, was retained to this day.


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## LordVyreth (Feb 13, 2007)

I expected to get an update this weekend, but to be honest, I couldn't find the time or concentration.  We didn't have a game last weekend, so I'm only one game behind.

That said, I'm considering a hiatus of some indeterminate length.  I'm beginning to worry about my motivation for this story hour.  I really enjoy the campaign itself, but I have to admit, it tends to be very low key.  A casual game of this nature makes it hard to commit to a more serious fiction tied to it.  At the same time, I have no idea what sort of reception I'm receiving.  I'd like some comments from either my players or just my readers in general, to determine if anyone is interested in maintaining the Story Hour, and if so, in what context.  I hope to hear from some of you soon, and I'll try to limit the hiatus' duration if possible.


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