Straight to Summary
Undead Impostor Sought
An IRS Special Investigator is in the area with instructions to "Regularise" several singularities in the local tax profile.
Genest Times - an apology
Last month's Genest Times was withdrawn from sale on the orders of Expediensis Scrope, due to the inclusion of an article implying that the Imperial Revenue Service might have been in error in classifying Paniteles Woodstock as dead, that is, not living. The Genest Times wishes to make it clear that the last thing it wants to do is mislead its readers and wholeheartedly backs the official view that the imposter passing himself off as Mr Woodstock should be rounded up and roundly Chastised for spreading Untruths Persuivant to Injurious and Pernicious Implications Against the State.
Village News
Stone Family Arrested
The entire Stone family was recently arrested for non-payment of 850 years' back-taxes. The IRS issued the following statement: "It has been proven that the Stone family has deliberately and with great cunning contrived to evade their legal tax due to the State ever since the founding of Karmania. In accordance with Imperial policy, they have been arrested, and their goods seized."
SMALL ADS
Lost (again): Small giant, 10' tall, answers to the name of Little Ron. Speaks Rathori. Last seen eating a cow near Nu-Faith. If found please return to The Grey Mountains. Big Ron
Summary
The PCs had travelled to Northmarch with Praxos Periledes, on the trail of an amulet which they suspect protected the old Baron from the spirit Unuk-Halai. At the end of the previous game they had visited a pyramidal Trickster / Erath shrine... Looking around North Northmarch, an old manor house was found and some interesting documents were discovered. Pan and Gelert investigated a nearby Lunar shrine and Pan ended up bearing a magical, glow-in-the-dark, Rune on his forehead. Pan and Marcus fell out in a big way and Marcus split from the group. The (remaining) PCs climbed the pass into the mountains to the Erath shrine they knew of behind the Ice Curtain, because it sports runes similar to those of the lost amulet. They felt there was someone following for a while (didn't look like Marcus) but they disappeared eventually. At the shrine, an experiment with the gems acquired in the previous game resulted in an intense blue glow. Shortly thereafter, Praxos' henchman Jer contracted the Blue Plague. He died within 48 hours. The group decided to continue over the mountains to see what lay beyond. The first game ended as they reached the Ice Bridge.
The second, shorter game can be summarised as: the PCs descended from the mountains - discovering a curious sphinxlike statue on the path - and had a fight with some scorpionmen on the way. Ammerdale (Alan) died (again!). The survivors reached the Char-Un village of Char at the foot of the mountains, where the local traders were delighted that the Pass was open again.
The third game involved exploring a bit of Erigia. First, the PCs visited the refugee village of Sanctuary, where some ex-Northmarchers had settled after fleeing the Plague. Joshua (Alan's new character), joined the party and they all set off north to see what Earthfort might be, 'cos it seemed important on a map they'd found. Earthfort was a stone circle on an artificial-looking hill, thrumming with some kind of Power. All pretty enigmatic. However the PCs knew what to do when some Elves attacked them there: which is to say, Run Away (except Mr "Exoskeleton" Pan). The party returned to Char, then passed back over the mountains, through Northmarch and thus back to Genest.
Details
Dramatis Personae: Present: Pan (Charlie); Gelert (MarkB); Marcus (Lynne); Bart (MarkLD); and a brief appearance by Ammerdale (Alan), aka Joshua. NPCs: Praxos; Praxos' henchman, Jer
The PCs had passed here before once, but hadn't looked around due to the proximity of vampires at the time. Looking around now they noticed that there seemed to be a curious local custom of leaving mirrors on the inside of external doors, facing the door, which Marcus went around polishing up religiously.
There were two interesting buildings:
The Manor House: one wing more or less OK despite 20-30 years' neglect; found some nice stuff: see loot . Also in a waterlogged, rotting, and burnt study: a map; a picture of Myros Periledes (Baron of Northmarch in 1580) who bore a remarkable resemblance to Praxos ... and not really at all to Antigonus; and a journal fragment
An old Lunar shrine: Pan and Gelert investigated. Seemed in remarkably good repair, and relatively unlooted. Main deity: Dee'Zola. In an underground room here Pan found a copper (!) snake ornament, like a 2-foot long snake coiled to strike. Pan put it in his backpack with the intention - of course - of returning it to his cult (Dee'Zola) in case it now get stolen after all this time; when he left the shrine, however, the Warding hit him and he acquired a glowing Rune (Lune) on his forehead. This precipitated an immediate argument with Marcus - Wot you been up to Pan? - but Pan wouldn't say. Marcus thus concluded he had been a "bad boy" and up to something behind everyone else's backs. He pressed Pan to come clean but strangely Pan refused to say anything on the matter. However, he did eventually show Gelert, in another room of the Manor House, the snake; they found that magic points would bring it to 'life'. Unfortunately its sole purpose in life seemed to be to bite them, and the others heard various sounds of struggle as Pan and Gelert sought to avoid a snakebite. Eventually it re-froze, and Gelert returned it to the shrine ... but the Rune stayed on Pan's forehead. Marcus now felt he was unable to put his trust in Pan and, rather than continue on the expedition, he left the group and started to journey home, despite pleas from Praxos. Marcus felt either he or Pan had to go, and that the others needed Pan's fighting skills more than they needed his scouting skills. (The Pan / Marcus argument went on so long, MarkB got worried that Charlie and Lynne [friends for ~10 years] were really going to fall out over this. Actually they thought it was great fun. Someone said to me at the height of all the shouting: "Paul, are you really going to marry this woman?"- which I did ~6 days later)
The PCs (sans Marcus) spent the night in the Manor House, listening to wolves howling in the distance.
Next morning, they set off to see the Erath Shrine up the mountain.
Passing near the Castle, they were challenged by a group of Black Karmans who seemed to be in temporary residence. "Git orf our land!" demanded the Blackarms, one of whom is a Quentin Periledes who claims to be the True Baron of Northmarch. (He certainly looks ugly enough to be, with the same sort of squashed-up bulldoggish face as Praxos.) The group left them alone and continued north, but on meeting a Newtling, warned it of the Castle's new residents.
A short way further up the path, the party came across the traces of "a roving band of French Surrealist Chefs!". A body lying on the path ... a stake protruding from its heart ... its head missing (chopped off) .... smoking and burnt, as if a gorp had partially digested it ... and a striking smell of garlic in the vicinity. Closer examination revealed a silver coin with curious writing on it.
Curiously unconcerned, the PCs carried on up the path where a strange sheep was found. Its wool was beautifully formed of spun crystals instead of fibre, and it sparkled and chimed so charmingly that most of the party were entranced.
Gelert, however, has never had the benefit of a lesson in art appreciation and so he bludgeoned it to death.
Its pelt was no longer beautiful, just dull now, but he whipped out his portable Black & Decker workmate & jigsaw and hacked its horns off.
Thus perished the Fearsome Chaos Beast of the Grey Mountains.
As they continued up the pass, Ammerdale had the feeling there was definitely something following them. He almost saw it a couple of times...
Eventually, the PCs reached the Erath Shrine behind the frozen waterfall, and set up camp inside.
A thorough search revealed nothing new ... certainly no amulet; Praxos tried a Detect Magic, but beyond finding the Ice Curtain was magical (with a certain patch more so than the rest), no further information was gained.
Night fell; and to pass the time, the PCs played with the 5 gems they'd found.
They found the gems absorbed worship (Power); and when they "Powered" one it emitted a blue glow and a pure audible tone. Oddly, the others did too, faintly (in resonance?): same light, different tones. Sitting roughly in a circle, 5 people tried Powering them all together with more power. The sound and light grew... and grew... the noise became ear-piercing, the crystals brilliant, and an intense blue glow began in the centre of the circle, along with a swirl of air. It seemed to be some kind of vortex. Alarming enough on its own, but the PCs now noticed that the eyes of the male statue in this shrine glowed too! And "Something" in the ice curtain appeared to move! .... Just as panic was about to break out it all died down again.
The group rubbed their eyes (it had been bright as day). Hmmm, glad that's over, they thought.
Next morning, Jer had a high fever. He had a distictive blue pallor, too - the Blue Plague! The group carried him back down the mountain, but he died the next day on the way down. Praxos ordered his body burnt. Some Blackarms came to see what the pyre was for, but left hurriedly when told!
Note: The PCs spent a day nursing Jer. During this time, they saw 2 mounted women approach the Blackarm-occupied castle. They were well armed, and observed the castle surreptitiously for some time, then returned Eastwards.
Pan pointed out that although this expedition had failed to find the amulet, they might find something interesting over the mountains and that they shouldn't come all this way for nothing.
Persuaded by his glib tongue, the party spent a day preparing for another assault on the mountain - gathering food, Erathflowers, and a couple of flagons of Blessed Water off the newtlings (this being proof against vampires, they've heard).
Reaching the foot of the path, the PCs stayed under cover in the forest a while because a group of 6 men mounted on ponies were descending. (Later they learnt their garb was that of the Char-Un.) These passed without seeing them.
By late afternoon the group had reached the Ice Bridge. They passed over, and got as far along the path as possible before night fell.
As dawn broke on the far side of the mountains, the PCs looked down on a vast plain. There was some concern that the extensive forests shown on a map found in Alliswood... were gone! Eventually the PCs were to realise the map was quite old, perhaps centuries. Another feature of the view was that the morning mists on the plain never dissipated. Next game, they were to find the plains always smell faintly of woodsmoke, and smoke still seeps from the ground hundreds of years after the Skyburn destroyed the great forest here ... and there are still some malevolent elves left...
The path down seemed to be 'guarded' by a curious statue. It had the forequarters of what we would call a sphinx, though the PCs associated it more with a centauress.
It was formed of red igneous rock which seemed to grow organically out of the mountainside just at the site of this formation. The PCs thought the face resembled that of Erath. There are no runes. It is of one piece. It accepts worship.
Positioned at a bend in the path, it appeared to have a good view of the plains below.
The party passed by cautiously......
One lone scorpionman hunter was encountered - he was weird, frightening even, but he ran away.
Unfortunately he was back a few hours later with some mates: making 5 in all.
Bart's survival tactic was to climb a large rock, or scrabble frantically at any rate. He did eventually get up, only to fall off later. He then took cover beneath a scorpionman engaged vs. Pan, but this backfired when Gelert killed it and it collapsed on him, all 20-odd SIZ points.
Gelert also traded blows with a novice barely out of its egg ... and was eventually rescued by the more experienced partygoers.
Ammerdale was not so lucky - he was stung repeatedly. Praxos had tried to help him by casting Fanaticise on him (a favourite Yara Aranis tactic), but it failed.
When the dust finally settled, it was discovered that Ammerdale was dead.
"This is terrible ... " said Corporal "Death" Pan sympathetically ".... has he got anything on him?"
The group hid the more valuable arms of the dead and staggered downhill.
By and by they came to a stockaded village of some 250 souls.
A posse of riders stormed out and challenged them, but when it turned out they had a Trader amongst them and they had come over the mountains, an older fellow calmed the riders down and they escorted the group excitedly into the settlement of Char.
The PCs found out that Char used to do very well out of the trade which came over the mountains, but when the Plague and Quarantine closed the pass, the village's prosperity died. Now there are only a handful of people who speak Tradetalk or Lunar, though fortunately Praxos had enough Firespeech to get by. These people are part of the Char-Un, horsemen similar to the horse nomads of Pent, and many are Yelm worshippers.
Bart was whisked off to the run-down caravanserie by an excited local trader.
The large but dilapidated Inn offered rooms and the PCs had a night of Beer, Song and Real Beds (but not Women - these are Fire cultists, you know!)
The villagers at Char were curious as to how Pan came by his forehead's Lune Rune. They seemed dubious at his claim it was a mark of great devotion.
The PCs were woken by a great hubbub. The neighboring village of Sanctuary had heard the Pass was open again and had come to see the new arrivals.
A few miles East of Char lies a collection of huts where a hundred or so refugees from Northmarch congregated. The Char-Un intimidate but tolerate these farmer types as they have some useful skills - pottery, some crops the Char-Un find hard work to grow, etc.
The older members of the community remember Northmarch as a wondrous place of safety, law & order, freedom, plentiful food, and easy living; and so it was, compared to life on the fringe here.
These villagers were awed to hear that Praxos was the new Baron of Northmarch (well... he aims to be and why disillusion these poor lost souls) ... and the PCs had to stay at Sanctuary for a whole day just to satisfy these folks' craving for news, and so as not to offend them. There was some swapping of stories. Gelert read out some of his scroll on The Fall of Mortarex.
The nearest thing to a shrine in the village turned out to be an icon of Erath, an old family heirloom.
The next day the PCs declared that they were going to visit Earthfort - a site on the old map from Alliswood. Joshua (Alan's new character) was recruited as local cannon-fodder and off they went.
There was some discussion as to Joshua's appearance. An Afghan coat, clogs and a beard were all suggested. On asking if he could join the group, Corporal Pan asked, "What makes you think you're qualified to join our band?" "He's alive!" shouted someone. "Well, due to recent unplanned militia downsizing," quoth Pan, "there is an opening..."
It took a couple of days to reach Earthfort. The broad plain is punctuated by copses here and there; once, the PCs thought they saw some Centaurs.
A feeling of ancient throbbing energies pervades the place, like being at a Temple worship ceremony.
picture...
There are 10 peripheral obelisks, the Southernmost two of which are knocked down. The obelisks are covered in marks - runes? Writing? Praxos made a copy of some.
Bart barged into the middle and found a stone pyramidal arch. This curious construction is oddly cool. Gelert ran through, and felt Changed somehow. Bart followed him, and also felt Something. Pan and Praxos felt nothing when they went through; Joshua timidly asked, "should I go through?" and being met with indifference from the others, cautiously went through, but felt nothing.
Gelert climbed the central arch and found a hollow and some carved characters on top. From here he could see a white brightness up north (Valind's glacier, but Gelert doesn't know that); and a strange spike of rock, at the Western end of the Grey Mountains. Somehow (?) Gelert decided the squiggles were references to blood sacrifices here, so he cut himself and dripped some blood into the hollow - nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Bart, not to be outdone, high-spiritedly started graffiti-ing the ancient holy place. Such is the way of 17-year old lads he declared. "Oy! Stop that right now!!!" Yelled Praxos, on discovering this.
It was around now that 4 elves jumped the party.
Pan and Praxos did all the fighting, although Gelert cunningly popped up at the end and narrowly avoided the others' chastisement for Running Away.
Finding nothing else, and growing nervous now, the group returned to Sanctuary with haste (2 days).
From there they passed back over the mountains...
The PCs had to camp that night in the mountain pass and were attacked by a vampire! (#824).
Surprisingly, luckily, they managed to damage it enough that it turned into smoke; it was essentially unarmoured. They then put as much distance between themselves and it as possible.
(I realise now I mis-ran that. I thought vampires can't reform for 1-3 hours after turning to smoke but now realise that's only under a particular circumstance... Joshua lost no SAN during this fight because he had no idea what it was.)
Finally the PCs returned to Genest.
Predictions for next game: Myra and Genest Villagers notice the Rune floating in front of Pan's forehead; Ammerdale's Pa not too happy ...
Note: After this mammoth trip, you can do all experience checks collected. Allow a day each for practice, meditation, etc. You all gain 2d6 SAN for surviving this stressful series of events.
