Plynck
March
13, 2010
XP Starting Out:
85,115
Pail 28, 5040
8:30 am
Ben and Jenna use spells and wands to heal everyone to full.
Consider what parts of the building we haven't been to yet. Go
down (C) stairs and up the other side. No traps found.
Ulfgar opens the slightly ajar door the rest of the way, and:
0. Ulfgar is hit by bludgeoning, Ar'tes is hit by bludgeoning.
1. Ulfgar is hit twice by bludgeoning, Ar'tes is hit twice by
bludgeoning; Kes casts Flare
into the room, still nobody sees anything in there, starts singing Inspire Courage; Zora moves to in-line
and reserves for a partial charge when she has a target; Fuori casts Faerie Fire on the space just inside
the doorway: now there is a tall humanoid shape outlined (a giant);
Zora charges and criticals for 93; Ar'tes tumbles to back of
giant and sneak attacks for 25; Beri reserves; Ben casts Bless;
Ulfgar criticals on giant for 104, kills.
XP 245
Running Total: 85,360
Beri believes that this is an Invisible Giant, that it is seemingly
(and perhaps moreso now that it is dead) made of stone, and that each
of the eyes can be used to make a potion of Improved Invisibility good for two
hours - however, it will take half an hour to chisel out each eye.
Also find 1,700 gp.
Ar'tes and Ulfgar are healed.
Planning session on how to handle the fiery rock creature that everyone
avoided on Pail 27 (an Ember Guard). Best idea: Beri to cast Mass Resist Elements::Fire, and Fly on everyone. We can all come
up over the railings of the space, rather than one at a time up the
pipe-staircase. Kes will start singing Inspire Courage to the group just
before we start out. Ben casts Bull
Strength on Zora and Greater
Magic Weapon on her sword; also casts Aid on Kes.
9:30 am
1. Ar'tas reserves to flank; Ulfgar charges, gets hit
twice, misses; Ar'tas tumbles and hits; Zora flanks, hits for 36; Fuori
casts Electric Orb but it
fizzles; Beri flies over it, above its reach, and casts Magic Missile; Jenna casts Searing Light; Ember Guard,
half-damaged causes fire damage to all within 30', but the Resist spell
protects those four, Kes casts Glitterdust
but it fizzles; Ben casts Dismissal
but it fizzles. Ember Guard breathes a Flame Burst overhead at Beri, hits on
Zora and
Ulfgar.
2. Ar'tas hits for 33; Zora hits for 26, kills. Ember Guard
explodes into fiery chunks of rock, doing damage to the entire party.
XP 480 Running
Total: 85,840
No treasure, no useful parts (all gravel now).
Everyone gets healed.
Search the room, find no doors or secret stuff. Fly down walkway
to ladder, fly up ladder, fly across drawbridge, and continue to search
areas on the way.
Ar'tas searches more. Reach spiral staircase going up (this one
in phase). At top of staircase is a doorway. Ar'tas sends Ulfgar
into the room first. Room has windows looking out over the main central
open space. There is a huge lever in the middle of the floor.
Ar'tas searches for traps, finds none. Ar'tas searches
lever to see if/how it is connected - can only determine that it
affects something under the floor. Pulls lever. Lever makes
all out-of-phase stairs turn in-phase, all in-phase stairs above the
first level turn out-of-phase, and all walkways which intersected the
now-in-phase spiral stairs are now out-of-phase. We fly down to
the very bottom point, look again at the window-like opening:
everything in it is still hazy. All the "building memories" of
people are also still hazy.
We exit. I'ts raining. The two horses are very hungry.
We heal. Beri casts a second Mass Fly (on everyone plus the
two horses), and we head across the granite shield as far as we can on
the time of that spell. Then land, Beri casts Leamund's Secure Shelter, and spend the
night. Beri casts Identify
and works out what each of the magical items found is:
Ruin Chanter: Light Mace, Adamantine, +2 Magic, +3 total (stacks in
Plynck despite what books says)
Ruin Chanter: Ring, Blinking
Ruin Elemental: Gauntlets of Ogre Power, +2
Rot Reavers: Clevers, +1, 16 count
Rukarazyll: Cloak of Charisma, +4
Rukarazyll: Belt of Giant Strength, +4
Greater Spawn of Jubilex: Amulet of Health, +2
Greater Spawn of Jubilex: Wand of Magic Missiles, 1st Level, 38 shots
Necromancer: Boots of Striding and Springing
Necromancer: Cloak of Resistance, +3
Necromancer: Amulet of Natural Armor, +4
Necromancer: Bracers of Armor, +8
Necromancer: Composite Longbow, +2 magic, +2 mighty
[No record in diary of who took which item to use -- but perhaps that
doesn't matter to much: with this adventure over, and since there are
magic shops in New Glysoph, selling items at full value should be no
problem (availability of things to buy might be a different story, of
course).]
Fuori proposes that, since she doesn't want to wait for a complete
treasure split, the group give her the (lightweight) gems from the
Greater Spawn of Jubilex, plus cancel her fee for hiring the group and
her payment to purchase new horses. Also, she offers to take the
two remaining horses off the group's hands, if Ar'tes and Ben (whose
horses they are) would like her to. The group agrees to this.
Fuori says that the village she'll be stopping at is not rich:
they probably couldn't even have replaced the six dead horses, let
alone do anything about dealing with magical items. Also, it's
rather parochial, so she'd just as soon not gather a lot of attention
by appearing out of nothing (the Wind Walk mist) with a large group of
adventurers. So she intends to drop out from the group shortly
before they reach the village. [She anticipates regaining her
sense of direction once she's off this huge granite shield.]
Dragon 1, 5040
Clerics get spells back at higher slots again. Jenna calls
Birath. We give him map and explanation.
He thanks the group.
Looks at Ulfgar. Says, “Yes, she would fetch a lot
of money at the right slave
market. (beat) And then her grandfather
would track you down and kill you.
(beat) I’d help.” And
then he disappears.
This puzzles many in the group, and Jenna in particular looks
appraisingly at Ulfgar.
For exploring Good-blocked space:
XP
2,500 Running
Total: 88,340
Ben and Jenna cast Wind Walk,
letting the group travel at 60mph. Shortly before Noon, Fuori
takes the two horses and drops down to the ground. Jenna comes
down to say good-bye. Fuori gives directions towards Glysoph --
she'd never heard of New Glysoph while she lived here. Cautions
against flying into a land-ruled country: the ruler could detect them,
and could cancel they spell, tumbling them all hundreds of feet down.
She casts Change Self and
appears to be a female elf with nearly exactly the same body shape and
featues (but with her half-Nymph gaze aspect thereby blocked), waves
good-bye to everyone.
For successfully getting Fuori to her destination:
XP
1,000 Running
Total: 89,340
Fly on for the rest of the day. Land and set up camp. Get
through the night.
Dragon 2, 5040
We tarvel again and late afternoon see civilization. W alight and
de-mist and walk to border guards. Show safe conduct and get
directions. We re-mist and make it to the next border -- city --
before sunset. We de-mist and walk up.
Ben hails the guards. Shows safe conduct. This results in
escort to Baron Quokaphun’s
palace. However, first the city watch
want to safety bond every weapon the group has.
They take special red & blue striped strings for doing this:
the
strings’ ends meld tightly into each other to form a single loop. They warn the group that breaking or cutting
a loop will cause the city watch to descend upon the location.
Next they want to adhere a red & blue sticker to the
forehead of each spell caster in the group, and each scroll, wand, and
staff. If a wearer casts a spell while
wearing the sticker, or successfully removes it, the
city watch will descend upon that
location. Stop by a watch gatepost on
your way out to have the safety bonds removed.
Enjoy your stay in New Glysoph; this is a civilized, orderly
city –
please keep it that way.
The chamberlain will show you to a suite of rooms, will
announce the time
until the next meal, to which you are expected as guests, and says that
the
Baron is rearranging his schedule to meet with you at the earliest
possible
time – probably sometime after dinner this evening.
He extends the Baron’s gratitude that the
group has traveled to meet with him.
After dinner the chamberlain escorts
you down a hallway to a pair of doors.
Two bodyguards outside the lounge wish the group
to divest
itself of all armor, all wands and staffs, and all weapons larger than
tiny. Inside the lounge there are
several cushioned chairs, sofas, and other places to sit.
Zora and Beri say they'll stay outside
and watch over the group's possessions. The others divest
themselves (Ulfgar counts on is armor's undetectable nature and does
not take it off) and enter. There are two more bodyguards
immediately
inside the door; and eight more spaced around the edges of the room.
The Baron comes forward, welcomes you, invites you
to sit,
asks for introductions, offers refreshments (there is a servant and a
side
table with wines, crackers, and cheeses against one wall), and thanks
you again
for making the journey to meet with him.
He says:
You have learned of the existence of a large crater, far to
the North and West. And you are aware
that there is something, some artifact, in that crater which is of
great
interest. From my researches, I believe
that it is an artifact of Great Power.
Please note: I am using these words with care.
I am not saying that it is a source
of Power; I am saying that it is a Power. I
believe that the artifact is a gate which,
if opened, will allow this Power to enter this world of Plynck. Or perhaps to return to Plynck – that
point
is not clear. If this Power were here
sometime in the remote past, there is no indication of that, other than
perhaps
the artifact gate itself. And therefore
there is no record of what compelled the Power to leave, if indeed it
were ever
here.
I believe that if this Power were
to be allowed onto Plynck,
it would be a worse disaster than all of the undead which plague all
peoples,
regardless of their alignments and Deities of preference.
I believe that this Power would not enter
into our political and combative fray, would not take sides with any
group or
race, but would instead embark on a campaign to conquer the entire
world –
perhaps to destroy the entire world.
Most of the people I have talked
to about this, I have been
unable to convince as to the seriousness of the disaster opening before
us. Admittedly, most of the people I have
talked
to are perhaps what youall would consider to maintain a, shall we say,
more
selfish and overly pragmatic attitude towards possessions and other
people. Encouraged no doubt by the other
people
around them, and the Deities worshipped in common with those other
people. Nevertheless, almost
everyone with whom I
have broached this concern has heard me as far as the word
“Power”, and then
has become lost in daydreams of what they would do, did they personally
acquire
that Power. My caution, again, that this
is not a source of power falls on completely deaf ears.
Accordingly, I have unilaterally
begun a campaign to find
and eradicate all knowledge of this crater and its contents. If I can convince other people, directly or
otherwise, that any efforts to reach that artifact are doomed to
failure
through lack of knowledge, then that would be as good as somehow
removing the
artifact from our world completely.
So. That
is what my
assassins were doing in Greater Woodknife, and why they were trying so
diligently to permanently remove both scholars and documents there.
I have hopes that you and your
group, Honorable Ben, will be
more receptive to my cautions than have been the people I have spoken
with
heretofore. And that you will agree to
join me in establishing the protection of our world.
Here is a copy of the document which started me on this
quest. My researchers believe that my
original was itself a several generation copy, having gone through
changes in
language more than once. Their best
estimates, based on grammar oddities and strange phrasings and things I
don’t
understand, is that the true original was written thirty to forty
thousand
years ago.
Here is the document the Baron
offers to you.
There is no evidence that a tunnel was ever constructed.
But after tens of thousands of years, all
such evidence may well have been erased.
It is clear, however, that the writer of that document did not
succeed
in releasing the Artifact’s Power, as it is still there.
If you agree with me that the best way
to treat with this
menace is to destroy all references we come across, then I will leave
you to
hunt down documents in parallel with my own efforts – and I will
instruct all
of the teams I send out that they are to recognize your group and
inform you of
any actions they are intending. And not
to interfere in any way with your own stated activities and intensions.
And I’ll ask that you hand over to me, now,
all documents
which you have acquired, so that I may destroy them.
Contrariwise, if you believe the best approach is to learn
as much about the Artifact, and the Power behind it, then I will
respect that,
and will suspend my own activities for, shall we say, three years?
He starts to say something else, then breaks off and suggests that
perhaps you would like to discuss this among yourselves. Take
what time you need: you are guests here. Whenever you are ready,
find the chamberlain and he will arrange another meeting as early as
possible.
Everone leaves, picks up weapons, etc., plus Zora and Beri, go back to
suite, and discuss this. Decide that cooperating in suppression is not
to our taste - whether or not it means ourselves also being targeted to
be killed. Decide that three years is simply not enough time to
do any investigating on our own, given how long travel takes on Plynck.
Hope that the Baron is sincere, and that he actually is looking
for a different approach - other than suppression - as a means of
removing this menace. Decide to ask for seven years of grace time
from him, while we investigate; and also set up some faster
communication channels.
Dragon 3, 5040
In the morning we find the chamberlain. He comes back to us to
say the Baron can meet immediately after lunch. This time only
Ben, Ulfgar, and Jenna meet with him. He agrees to the seven year
time period, and has obviously also been thinking about communications
as he says that he'll need to insist on intermediate reports if he's
waiting that long. Mutually determine that Ulfgar is willing to
have one of the Baron's mages become able to Telepath to him; meanwhile
Beri will memorize the details of the Baron's teleport chamber.
Agree that the two solstices each year will be regular contact times;
and that others can be instigated by either party (by telepath or
teleport). Ben asks for a means of identifying any of his agents
in other countries, and the Baron declines. Ben asks what if we
determine that the artifact is helpful, not harmful -- perhaps it could
rid the world of undead? The Baron says that if the group does
find any such evidence, they're welcome to present it and try to
convince him. Both sides agree to these terms.
The Baron goes on:
As an earnest of my good wishes and willingness to
cooperate, you might find these useful (give envelope). There are
two more puzzle pieces inside.
My scryers have discovered where one more of these enigmatic
pieces is. If you like, I will have
directions to that spot given to you. It
is NorthEast of here, and a fair distance away; but perhaps you have a
faster
means of travel than walking or riding?
I have not
sent anyone to recover this fragment. It
seemed safe enough where it is: in the
middle of a hive of Formians.
Ben asks about magic stores in the city. The Baron says that the
group is welcome to stay in the palace for as long as they want, and
that any of the businesses in the city are certainly open to them.
Click here to see the New Glysoph Magic Shop's contents and what was
purchased
The run stops here.
For arriving at the Baron's, and successfully dealing with him:
XP:
2,000 Running
Total: 91,340
Fourteenth Level!
The third Plynck adventure stops here.