9th of Vatermont (month 2), 1031

(continued)

She, the unnamed, is resurrected. We discuss things.

(46) Grey: (she looks like: a young, maybe 16, or perhaps even 15) (46) Grey: (female, of course)
(46) Grey: So young...
(45) Hannes: (Not so young. Marriagable age.) (46) Grey: (in uber good armour)
(44) Mysterious Ancient One: So....who are you people? (44) Mysterious Ancient One: and why are we camping? (46) Grey: I'm Grey, this is Safranna and Roland (46) Grey: And Thora
(46) Grey: (etc)
(44) Roland: Hi.
(45) Thora: How are you feeling? You've been through quite a bit. (44) Mysterious Ancient One: No, I mean who do you work for? (44) Mysterious Ancient One: I'l feeling a bit light headed, but otherwise fine. I've been resurrected? (46) Grey: Yes, you have.
(46) Grey: We're, well, independent. It's been a long time, I' afraid. (46) Grey: You won't recognise who we work for. I'm sorry. (44) Mysterious Ancient One: I am Furir Elin. (46) Grey: Pleased to meet you, Furir Elin. (46) Grey: Is Furir a rank?
(44) Furir Elin: Yes.
(44) Furir Elin: I'm surprised you don't reconise it, but then, I don't recognise where we are. A colony world? (45) Thora: Mystara.
** (44) Furir Elin nods **
(46) Grey: We're on Brun
(44) Furir Elin: Which means nothing to me. (45) Hannes: (Brun?)
(46) Grey: We're perhaps a few thousand miles from the base you were at. (46) Grey: (Brun is the continent)
(44) norse_dm: The known world continent. (46) Grey: What's a colony world?
(44) Furir Elin: A world which have been colonised. (46) Grey: Oh yes, of course.
(44) Furir Elin: In the void, you know? ** (44) Furir Elin peers curiously at Grey ** (46) Grey: Yes, the void. We've recently started to explore it. (45) Thora: The void is not a common thing to traverse anymore. (46) Grey: (DM away from keyboard)
(44) Furir Elin: Oh.
(46) Grey: Furir, it's been a few thousand years, I'mm afraid. Sorry, but there's no easy way to put. (44) Furir Elin: How long has been been? (44) Furir Elin: a few thousand!!!
(46) Grey: Do you the remember the conflict with the Carnifex? (44) Furir Elin: who?
(47) norse_dm (enter): 14:29
(46) Grey: Your calendar was dated about the year 2000. 2000 years since what? (46) Grey: Who are the Blackmoorians?
(44) Furir Elin: We use the Blackmoorian calendar, so it was 2000 years since the founding of the kingdom of blackmoor (44) Furir Elin: They are ur southern allies (45) Hannes: Booting '(44) norse_dm' from server... (44) norse_dm (exit): 14:30
(45) Hannes: Oops..
(45) Hannes: Sorry!
(48) norse_dm (enter): 14:30
(45) Hannes: I thought it was a relog. :( (46) Grey: (duh!)
(46) Grey: (lah lah lah)
** (48) Furir Elin has a momentary dizzy spell :) ** (46) Grey: Perhaps we should explain what we know of events. (45) Thora: I have not heard of them before. (48) Furir Elin: Yes, they did have tall buildings made of glass. So did we. ** (48) Furir Elin looks curiously at Grey again ** (46) Grey: We found your base at the north pole. (46) Grey: Under a few thousand feet of ice. (48) Furir Elin: That would make sense. A twisted kind of sense. (47) zim: He means your base at the top of the world (48) Furir Elin: It wasn't the top of the world all of the time, not until the end. (46) Grey: We believe that your war must have used large, powerful magic,s that disrupted the axis of the world. ** (48) Furir Elin nods **
** (47) zim offers Furir Elin a drink ** (48) Furir Elin: Thank you
(47) Zim: water
(46) Grey: It was only by chance that I started a project to dig there. We detected some magnetic anomalies in the region. Probably from that massive golem that's sitting there. ** (48) Furir Elin nods **
(47) Zim: Grey is one of those rich eccentrics. ** (45) Thora grins. **
(48) Furir Elin: Garble garble garble.
(46) Grey: Ah, yeah.
(46) Grey: What?
(48) Furir Elin: Don't you understand me? ** (45) Thora shakes her head. **
(48) Furir Elin: Garble garble garble garble. (46) Grey: You must be trying to say something that doesn't translate well? (48) Furir Elin: I was talking about the garble garble. Statue? Golem? (46) Grey: Ah, the defender?
(48) Furir Elin: It defends against attacks from the void. (48) Furir Elin: and from Mystara that comes via the void. ** (45) Thora nods to herself. **
(46) Grey: What do you need so much power for? What's so dangerous in the void? ** (48) Furir Elin makes an arc motion ** (47) Zim: Or on Mystara?
(46) Grey: That was a long time ago since anyone had that level of power (46) Grey: void ships?
(48) Furir Elin: Void ships, yes.
(46) Grey: I see...
(47) Zim: Belonging to who?
(46) Grey: You had an amazing society.
(48) Furir Elin: You need that kind of level of power to get the appropriate range. (46) Grey: How do you aim?
(48) Furir Elin: We handled near-void, out to a bit beyond the moon's garble garble. (45) Thora: I'm not sure we want to know how to use it. (48) Furir Elin: Aim? You garble garble garble. (46) Grey: (blank look)
** (48) Furir Elin looks around **
(46) Grey: Point and shoot?
(48) Furir Elin: Ummm...is this a city? (46) Grey: It's Thora's village.
(47) Zim: No, it's a village.
(45) Thora: No. I just founded this place around a year ago. (48) Furir Elin: Oh. Is this...typical? ** (45) Thora grins. **
** (48) Furir Elin looks at the wooden log contruction ** (47) Zim: Only for this part of the world. (46) Grey: There are bigger cities, but they just have more people and taller buildings. (45) Thora: For small villages in backwaters, yes. (46) Grey: Stone construction, sometimes magical. (46) Grey: Horses, etc.
(48) Furir Elin: Ah, I see.
(48) Furir Elin: I've never seen a horse. (46) Grey: From what we gather, after the war, everyone ad to, well, start over again. (46) Grey: What?
(46) Grey: Never? What did you ride into battle on? (48) Furir Elin: In in the flesh. In books and stuff, yeah. (46) Grey: You read? Ah, educated.
(47) Zim: The thought had occured to us that the gods may not be happy with the defender being discovered and uncovered (48) Furir Elin: We garbel garble garble. Garble? Devices? (48) Furir Elin: You sit in?
(46) Grey: Blank look.
(48) Furir Elin: Ummm, don't worry about it. (46) Grey: Flying carpets?
(48) Furir Elin: Yes!
(48) Furir Elin: Did you find just the one? (46) Grey: Just one golem, yes.
(45) Thora: There are more than one?
(47) Zim: You mean there's more?!
** (45) Thora looks alarmed. **
(48) Furir Elin: We lost contact with the others and were on local control at the end. (48) Furir Elin: when the fleet arrived. (47) Zim: Ack!
(46) Grey: Fleet?
(46) Grey: What fleet?
(48) Furir Elin: Of void ships. Don't know who they were. (46) Grey: Umm, maybe you could just tell us the story behind the war, as background? That would be very helpful. (48) Furir Elin: Probably from a colony world, which is why I asked. That, and this seem rustic enough to be a colony world. (47) Zim: You say you were also defending against people from Mystara. What did they call themselves? (47) Zim: Hey!
(47) Zim: We have flying cities thank you very much! (48) Furir Elin: Well, there were a variety....maybe I should start from the start of the final war. (48) Furir Elin: You do? Wow.
(47) Zim: Well, one city.
(47) Zim: Maybe start from your life as an adult? (46) Grey: Yes please. The start. The very start. Even the start of what you remember of history, if you could... (47) Zim: Back soon guys.
(48) Furir Elin: Uh, ok. I'm not a historian or anything. ** (47) Zim leaves the room **
** (48) Furir Elin thinks for a moment ** (46) Grey: (patiently waits)
(45) Hannes: (I will be AFK for a bit. Thora will still be there though.) (48) Furir Elin: I guess I should start at the start of the Thonian empire. (46) Grey: Hey, they're still around!
(47) Zim: /me returns with a bowl of stew (47) Zim: \me
(48) Furir Elin: Huh. Anyway...
(47) Zim: Here, Elin. Have something to eat. (48) Furir Elin: Thanks.
** (48) Furir Elin stalks between mouthfuls. ** (47) Zim: It's stew, made of cow meat and vegetables. (48) Furir Elin: Hey, this is really good. ** (48) Furir Elin pauses and then continues eating. ** (46) Grey: There's a lot more where that came from. ** (46) Grey smiles **
(47) Zim: Do you eat meat?
(48) Furir Elin: Yes, when I can get it. (48) Furir Elin: It's very expensive.
(47) Zim: OK, so it'
(47) Zim: s not offensive to you.
(47) Zim: Did you have cows?
(48) Furir Elin: Anyway, the Thonian empire was the first human empire to rise up. We were a fair way north of them at this time. (48) Furir Elin: Our civilisation was attacked by beastmen. This was about...a thousand years ago. (46) Grey: What's a beastman? Orc, goblin? (48) Furir Elin: You know, ugh?
(47) Zim: What do beastmen look like?
(48) Furir Elin: The Thonian empire was overrun by the beastmen, which caused the fall of the 2nd republic. (48) Furir Elin: After they rebuilt, King Uther Andahar rebelled against the empire, and formed Blackmoor. (48) Furir Elin: Eventually Blackmoor took over the northern part of the Thonian empire. (48) Furir Elin: At this stage we were raiding Blackmoor and Thonia. ** (48) Furir Elin grins **
(48) Furir Elin: Which is where all those tales of fierce Skandharian warriors come from. (48) Furir Elin: Anyway, lots of stuff happens in the emantime, but eventually there are different countries across Mystara. (47) Zim: yep
(45) Hannes: (b)
(46) Grey: (we're letting her storytell) (48) Furir Elin: Us, the Blackmoorians, the Thonians, the Oltecs, the Azcans, the Golden empire, Grunland and Evergrun, and the Serpentine empire. (48) Furir Elin: Plus the colnies out in the void of course. (48) Furir Elin: colonies*
(47) Zim: Serpentine? Were they snakemen who could change shape? (48) Furir Elin: Yes, some of them could. They could assume the shapes of humans too. (47) Zim: Bloody yuanti!
(48) Furir Elin: Evergrun was elves and halfling, like you (points at Zim) (47) Zim: So the Evergrun were elves?
(47) Zim: \OK
(47) Zim: Grunland was dwarves?
(48) Furir Elin: No, that was elves too. (47) Zim: Did he dwarves leave anywhere in particular? (47) Zim: the
(47) Zim: live
** (47) Zim sighs **
(47) Zim: And the Golden Empire - what were they like? (48) Furir Elin: The dwarves lived over here (gestured at the eastern part of the western continent on her map) (45) Thora: Zim, how about you let her tell her story? (48) Furir Elin: The golden empire was dragons. (47) Zim: I'm just curiouis as to what the... (47) Zim: Dragons had an empire?!
(48) Furir Elin: You lean this stuff in school. (45) Thora: We can get the details some other time, Zim. If we get side tracked we'll be here all year. (47) Zim: OK
(48) Furir Elin: Anyway, in the end, I think the Azcans and the Oltecs struck at each other first. (48) Furir Elin: A few cities were wiped before we forced them to a peace. (48) Furir Elin: Then the depression happened. (47) Zim: Economic depression?
(48) Furir Elin: Yes.
** (45) Thora wonders about money getting sick. ** (48) Furir Elin: People lost faith in the gods, in their in countries, in garble garble garble. (46) Grey: (Elin indicates that Mystara is not Hollow, and that a sun could not possibly be put there.) (48) Furir Elin: Yes, leaders too.
(48) Furir Elin: Then everyone was fighting each other. The Free Dwarven Principalties declared war on the Draconian empire, the Tangor kigdoms fell into anarchy. (48) Furir Elin: This was 10 years ago. (48) Furir Elin: Then we lost contact with the moon in 1996, and we saw large explosions there. (48) Furir Elin: We sent ships, but the defense systems shot them down. (48) Furir Elin: There was rioting in the streets everywhere, and all was chaos. (48) Furir Elin: Only some places escaped the chaos. We buttoned up and tried to ride through it, although we were affected inside too. (47) Zim: Do you know what invaded the moon? (48) Furir Elin: I was one of the last graduates. (48) Furir Elin: No, we think one of the lunar colonies attacked the others maybe. (48) Furir Elin: Don't really though though. (48) Furir Elin: Near the end we found out what was behind all of this chaos. (47) Zim: Graduate of what?
(48) Furir Elin: It seems sometime in the past a disease of the blood had come into us, and was catalysed by the dirt in the air and water. (47) Zim: The red curse.
(48) Furir Elin: This was just a year ago by my time. (47) Zim: Or something like the red curse. (48) Furir Elin: It drove peopel mad, made them turn against each other. Some people seemed immune, but you couldn't be sure who those people were. (48) Furir Elin: Red ciurse?
(48) Furir Elin: I think I was immune.
(48) Furir Elin: Heal? No, a heal won't be enough to cure it. (48) Furir Elin: The last thing that happened was a void fleet arriving, which attacked Mystara. (48) Furir Elin: We struck back, some of the other countries took the opportunity to strike at their enemies.... (48) Furir Elin: ...in the end I think we were just firing at anything that could be seen. (48) Furir Elin: We lost contact with everywhere else. It's possible we were the last survivors on Mystara. (46) Grey: You weren't the last survivors, we're fairly certain of that. (48) Furir Elin: Some of our people, when we realised the axis had shifted, decided to trek west, now south, to find shelter and safety. (48) Furir Elin: I didn't think they would make it though. (46) Grey: They made it.
(48) Furir Elin: This is why I wondered if this was a colony, or maybe if you were from a colony which had resettled Mystara after the poisons were gone. (48) Furir Elin: So, that's my story.
(46) Grey: What poisons?
(48) Furir Elin: They make the land uninhabitable for thousands of years. That was just a side effect though. (46) Grey: Is this why you buolt so deep? (47) Zim: We're not sure of the timeline, but we know some of the elves went underground for many years to escape and survived and their descendants are alive today. (46) Grey: (built)
(48) Furir Elin: Mainly they were used against cities, military installations, that kind of thing. (46) Grey: To kill peasants?
(46) Grey: What kind of area did they effect? (47) Zim: The word is common people, Grey. :) (48) Furir Elin: Oh, not that large. Maybe 20 miles across. (46) Grey: You're kidding, right?
** (45) Thora shakes her head. **
(48) Furir Elin: Each city would be hit by multiple strikes though, to ensure some got through. (46) Grey: How many people were in these cities? (48) Furir Elin: Per city? Lots.
(48) Furir Elin: Maybe 20 for a largish city./ (46) Grey: 20 thousand?
(48) Furir Elin: Er, no. Million.
(46) Grey: ah ha...
(48) Furir Elin: The human population was about 3.5 billion. Plus the dragons, the beastmen, the lizardmen, etc. (45) Thora: This is truly frightening.
(46) Grey: I know of no city today which has even a million people. How would you feed 20 million??? (46) Grey: 3.5 billion!!!!
(48) Furir Elin: Big farms.
(46) Grey: Why did the gods not step in and end the madness??? ** (47) Zim tries to do the math in his head ** (48) Furir Elin: Maybe they did.
(45) Thora: Sounds to me like they did step in to stop it. (46) Grey: When most were dead already? (48) Furir Elin: It was a good year for Thanatos. (46) Grey: The base we uncovered. It indicated that something was ready for teleportation. This wouldn't be one of those stupidly dangerous weapons would it? (45) Thora: The madness is a people who can destroy millions with one poison attack. Innocent people. Non warriors. ** (48) Furir Elin shrugs **
(46) Grey: It is insanity.
(45) Thora: We better make sure no-one gets anything from that base. We don't want this sort of thing happening again. (48) Furir Elin: No, we were a defensive installation. That would have been transport. (46) Grey: To escape?
(48) Furir Elin: Just for tgeneral transport. Supplies and such. People too. (46) Grey: Ah, fair enough. To where?
(48) Furir Elin: It was a bit mad to build these thinbgs in the first place, but what do you do when everyone else has them? (48) Furir Elin: Around the country. The void too. (46) Grey: So if you didn't have them, then you would be conquored? (48) Furir Elin: Yes.
(47) Zim: The gods must have destroyed them, because we've never heard of any others. (46) Grey: Well, thankfully, I don't think any country today has them. At least, has them and knows how to make them. (48) Furir Elin: Unless our allies protected us, with their own weapons like this. That doesn't really help now does it? (45) Thora: Talking about the gods. Did you follow Odir and the others? (46) Grey: Well, it's all in the past now. (48) Furir Elin: Yes.
(47) Zim: Glantri doomsday device, hmm... (48) Furir Elin: Odir was the patron of our country. (47) Zim: People still worship him.
(48) Furir Elin: Although many people weren't very religious in those times. (46) Grey: He is now known as Odin.
(45) Thora: I am a priestess of Freya.
(47) Zim: One of our group is a priest of Odin. (48) Furir Elin: Freey-ya. Can't say I've heard of them. (46) Grey: SO the fuel cell magic, where magic is stored in, well, cells. This is not what caused such massicve destruction? (48) Furir Elin: No.
(46) Grey: Good.
(46) Grey: How old are you, by the way? (48) Furir Elin: 20 years old.
(46) Grey: You look young for your age. (48) Furir Elin: If it's not rude, how old are you? (46) Grey: Oh, about 40'ish (I think)
(46) Grey: Don't really need potions of longevity yet. (47) Zim: I'm 113.
** (45) Hannes doesn't remember Thora's age and is too lazy to hunt it up. ** (48) Furir Elin: I was one of the last graduates of military school. (48) Furir Elin: Before it got burned down in a riot. (48) Furir Elin: By the students. Tempting, I admit. (48) Furir Elin: Armour. Oh, all the raiders get them. (45) Thora: You didn't like your school? (48) Furir Elin: Umm, it was ok. Just joking. ** (45) Thora nods. **
(48) Furir Elin: Yeah, powerful people got better armour than I had. I just had standard issue stuff. (48) Furir Elin: All the raiders got them. (48) Furir Elin: The raiders are a Skandharian elite line regiment. (48) Furir Elin: You know, acting like we were some kind of berserker. (47) Zim: Yours was standard issue? Wow. ** (48) Furir Elin chuckles **
** (48) Furir Elin tries to explain what a void circle is. ** (48) Furir Elin: Void? You know, empty! (48) Furir Elin: Breathable? You pulling my leg? (48) Furir Elin: Flat planet? Now I know you are definitely pulling my leg. (48) Furir Elin: Backlore elves? The name doesn't mean anything to me. (48) Furir Elin: Food? Yeah, you press the biutton and out comes the food. Unless you feel like cooking. ** (45) Thora will generally boggle. ** (48) Furir Elin: Colony worlds, yes we traveled to other worlds. (48) Furir Elin: The stars are like suns, like ours, just small because they are too far away. (48) Furir Elin: It's takes a few weeks to go there. (45) Hannes: ( I think I better sign off.) (48) Furir Elin: (ok)
(48) norse_dm: cya next time then Hannes (47) Zim: cya
(45) Hannes: (Will hopefully have confirmation tomorrow about Singapore.) ** (45) Hannes waves. **
(48) norse_dm: Ok

Her armour also has DR 5/-.

Leo commune:

Their wizards used elemental taps to get the energy required to make magic items. She doesn't know how to make one.

We take her to the North Pole. We get to know her a bit more. She's not that strong. Not without her armour. She's very self assured, like an adventurer. She seems relatively smart. They had compulsory education from age 5 to 18. She has decent Military Tactics. She's reasonably bubbly.

She says the disease was incurable. Sometimes, trying to cure it made things worse - they could turn into monsters.

She refers to the week of no magic as an anti-magic bomb. But it doesn't seem like the concepts are necessarily related.

They used to bury the dead, but with the riots towards the end, they took to burning their dead. A practice, it appears, that has continued to this day.

The room with the water. She seems surprised. She says it was where they made things. She seems horrified that there are pumps that are still pumping water. She gets some devices, and says the water is poisonous. One might feel sick from it, or even spontaneously mutate. If Lani goes in it for too long, she herself will become poisonous to others.

We leave quickly. The plates with IMD on it stand for: "Individual Magical Device".

We hold a funeral pyre for the dead we uncovered. We then set her up in some quarters in Sind, so she can relax.

She's handling things reasonably well.

10th of Vatermont (month 2), 1031

We take her to Linear. We chat.

She identifies the coincidence that Glimreen Gemeye (the maker of Serraine) came from around Linear, and the fact that Serraine's engines are Jet Engines, as she names them.

We go to Serraine. She likes Serraine. She doesn't find it overwhelming.

Anyway, for now, she's going to try to fix her armour. (It's got many little components. To use the armour requires a feat, which requires much training.) Gives low-light and dark vision as well (we didn't know this before). The inbuilt targeting system gives +2 to ranged attacks and damage. Plus various HUD information.

The Skandarians were the only true democracy in the world. They all voted, usually on some policy matter every week.

All very interesting.

Incidentallly, the Furir is shocked at the lack of sanitation in Sind. She says that disease is spread through dirt. We discuss this at length, and also discuss the potential benefits of educating the populace.

Grey has the base at the north pole stripped.

She will be staying in the party's mansion in Serraine and the palace in Baratpur, Sind.

20th of Vatermont (month 3), 1031

Start thinking about Dast.

Go to Darokin city to discuss the issue. The nature of the reward has changed, unfortunately.

Anyway, the original situation was that some of the leaders from Aengmoor have moved to Dast, and seem to have an agreement with the Orcs there. This includes the Ogre King Ale Bane, the Hobgoblin Hutai-khan, and a yellow orc known as General Tlatepetl. (Dast has yellow orcs, not red orcs.) They've also made an alliance with the orc Moghul Clan, who are refugees from Ethengar. They were rading into Ethengar.

The situation with the orcs raiding into Ethengar has changed. They have not raided for a while. Instead, there were internal fights. Orcs have now turned trolls into slaves, and an alliance of Ale Bane, Hutai-khan, and Tlatepetl rule Dast. Plus, C'Krag is ruled by Tlatepetl, and Zorg is ruled by Ale Bane. Hutai-khan's base of operations is not in Ethengar. C'Krag is being fortified for reasons unknown. This is of some concern to Darokin.

They are no longer offering a reward on Dast. They're not sure what to do, as they don't know what they intend. The alliance in effect controls the entire region. He has one more piece of information: there have been reports of a large red dragon in the area, sighted near C'Krag. The dragon might have been the mastermind behind the troll attacks (the trolls were unusually expansionistic). It does not seem likely that the red dragon would have willingly given up control of, well, anything.

We scout each of the cities in the region. The population of the whole region is about 15000, half of which are combatants.

The reward has been increased to 150000gp.

We spy and prepare.

Lunadain, Flaurmont (month 4) 1, 1031

We attack Dast. We kick butt, except for a few elephant casualties. Overall, it takes a few months (mostly getting there and leaving).

We speak to the Ogre in charge. Ale Bane is not here at this time, unfortunately. We go to speak to the Ogre in charge, Ankh. He will agree.

However, he says that Dast wasn't raiding into Ethengar, as they conquered Dast about six months ago (it was ruled by Moghul Khan). He gives us a map of the region. It includes details of the Broken Lands, and the tribes there. Hmm, seems like we beat them up when we didn't need to.

We end up offering to potentially beat up on their neighbours. King Ale Bane later contacts us and says he will speak to us in the future, but he is busy at the moment. He also says to please not raid his people.

Lunadain, Felmont (month 7) 1, 1031

Dast is over. (Ie, the soldiers are back home.)

Lunadain, Felmont (month 7) 22, 1031

Lani is reading through a book, and reads an entry interesting entry. Something about someones legacy being taken to Seagirt. We look for information about it. Lani is artifact hunting. Apparently there's an unknown, fixed portal there.

Tserdain, Felmont (month 7) 24, 1031

Seagirt is the capital of the pearl islands.

Nytdain, Felmont (month 7) 26, 1031

We go to speak to the Consul for the Pearl Isles in Thyatus city. The Pearl Isles are a protectorate of Thyatus.

The Consul seems friendly enough. He says the Pearl Islands are a quiet, safe place. Some people go there for a holiday. We learn a bit about their culture. They have some unusual customs, including the exchanging of gifts.

Loshdain, Felmont (month 7) 27, 1031

We go to Seagirt. The Furir and Jussinea come along. Jussinea says that in her time, that part of the world was known as the Paradise Islands, or Tangor. (She's not entirely sure which it is.)

We get a local guide, a kid. There's not much to know. It appears that they aren't a Thyatian colony anymore, as they "left" during the great war.

The kid takes us to a historian, his teacher. He knows of a gate nearby, one in the volcano, to the elemental plane of fire. He's also heard that many years ago (one or more generations), some merchants came from somewhere else. They appeared from somewhere on the island, and they would trade weird, fantastic items. Apparently they stopped coming, and then more dangerous things started coming (dangerous people), so some adventurers found where they were coming from, and put a stop to it. It wasn't far from here, as Seagirt might have been set up as a result. They might have been from another plane.

The dimensional sextant indicates there is a portal nearby, and not in the direction of the volcano.

We go looking. We eventually find a spot where the dimensional anchor points directly down. Lani realises that the trees about here are a bit stunted.

Lani digs down, about ten feet. We find a ring of metal. There are symbols around the outside. It looks like a portal all right. Lani uses the dimensional sextant, and learns that the portal goes to a plane called Carrigmoor. Apparently it might have been another name for the Cage. Lani figures out all you need to do is touch silver to the gate.

We take Jussinea back, as she does not want to go through the gate. A weal or woe reveals weal to going through.

Lani wants to make herself alive first, as apparently Razud views lichdom as being a bit of a dead end, and so she feels it would be more appropriate to be alive. Lani kills herself, to get to her phylactery.

Loshdain, Fyrmont (month 8) 6, 1031

Lani materialises next to her phylactery, takes it, and returns to Serraine. She then goes and gets resurrected by Thora.

Lani sorts herself out.

Loshdain, Fyrmont (month 8) 27, 1031

We go to the portal, excavate, and touch silver to it. A portal opens, and we step through. We're on a city street. There's a street cleaner there. The air is dark, murky, and not particularly clean. He seems surprised to find out that this portal works.

This place is not the Cage, as we discover after talking to the street cleaner. Actuallly, looks like the street cleaner is a home owner, as he disappears into his house.

A bunch of thugs approach, and demand a fee for passing through. The boss is Cly. We're in his turf. His turf is Sack End. We hear a moaning noise in the distance. Slaves.

We pay the fee, and get some info from him. This is the once glorious Cragmoor, where you could get rich just from walking down the street. Then a 100 year plague hit, and now it's a bit of a ghost town. There are seven portals in total.

We're in Sack End. Nearby is Caval (wealthy people there). Cly reckons they're murderous cut throats. Further round is temple road - not many temples there. Ghosts are there, ghosts of the old priests, and they don't like company. Further on is Tirragaunt, where the Toffs live (important people). The Toffs run things. Then there's Upswich, a good place to go for a beer. In Traitor Town, not a bad spot. They'd probably try to take our stuff were we to go there, cause we look like Toffs. Cly's territory is in Sack End, but he lives in Traitor Town. Odd.

The government part of town is over there.

The door openers know how to open gates, or say they know anyway.

Some of the gates still work.

Apparently we're on a fragment of some world. It has some sort of shield. Ages ago some people blew each other up with war machines. This city was prosperous after that war.

We hire him as a guide. First thing he shows us is an air lock, which prevents bad air from getting in from outside the shield.

They have weird things here. Weird animals, weird stuff.

We look at the slaves. There are hundreds, if not thousands of them. The Frengal family is one of the major slave traders. They pop through a portal to a village, take the whole village, and leave before the authorities can do anything about it (or so the rumours go). Some say the Frengal family have their own portal, an eighth portal.

We get a tour, and eventually go to a bar, and hire a room for the night. The barman has a different view of the city, although his view is similar in some respects. He reckons there aren't ghosts in the temple area, and in fact there are still some priests around.

We decide to go back to Mystara. We try to use the portal, but it doesn't work. We need a key to make it work. However, we can gate back to Mystara without problem. We then go rest.

Soladain, Fyrmont (month 8) 28, 1031

We gate back to the inn room. We then go to the door openers area, and then the guild, to the door openers guild. There one can purchase tickets to go through different portals. The portals go to:

Tickets cost 5gp each per person, 10gp for a pack animal. To go out. The same to come back, if you can. The slaves don't come through these portals.

We talk to another member of the guild, regarding information. He has heard of a book (Lani had a clue regarding a book), which might be related to what Lani might be seeking. He heard tales of some guys with a magic book which told them useful facts. It is on Tevaeral. You can get there from the mountains of the five winds.

We then go to Temple Row. There are four temples intact. One to Vaprak (also known as Jamadaru), Lord of Nightmares, one to Bagni Gullymaw (normally a troll deity - a deity of eating, particularly living things), one to Cretia (an Ethengarian deity, tricks, jokes, and destruction), and Lupercus (also called Faunus, normally a patron of forest creatures, in particular, Satyrs - depicted as a drunken an debauched Satyr).

Given the nature of the temples, we give up. We decide to go to the Mountains of the Five Winds, but the clerk puts us off. It's meant to be very difficult, and one way only. We get the address of someone who's been there before. We go to speak to him. Order holds the high ground, chaos holds the low ground. Gate spells from the order lands will probably work back to here. He's not sure if gate spells will work from the chaos lands. There's a portal that goes back to Uno, then to Deluer, then back to here. The portal to here from Deluer is in mithral, and the portal between Uno and Deluer is in diamond. We can pay to use them.

He thinks the order side of the Mountaiins of the Five Winds are fairly safe, but he knows little of the chaos side, which is meant to be rules by powerful beings.

We get together a gang of people (as backup), before going. This includes Thora, etc.

We go through the portal. We meet some traders, and chat for a bit. They are selling pikes to the lawful side. The chaos side is, well, rather chaotic.

We get to a big wall of iron. The bored guards call out: "order or chaos?". We answer order, and head off in the direction indicated to us. The air is thin here. Not surprising, since we're above the cloud line. We're at the top of a mountain chain. We can see cities and farms here as well.

We go to one of the cities. The Eagle people (humans dressed as eagles). This city is devoted to research. Each of the five cities is devoted to a different facet of the war against chaos.

If we fight chaos or assist in whatever way we can, we will receive honour chips, etc.

The other cities are devoted to: temples (gods or nature), warriors (path to chaos is from here), spies (you can get stolen stuff back from the guild), and a city that combines elements from the other cities. This used to be a normal plane, but when chaos came here, some people besseched the aid of law. They received aid from the extra-intelligences from the plane A270-F33-UX415. They have a portal to this place. There are other portals about as well, including a permanent one to the chaos realm.

We split up, and search around. The research city has the magges guild, and they know of a portal to the plane that Lani wants to get to. It's south east of Grass Knoll, a town in the chaos area. It existed before the coming of chaos, and is still believed to be there.

The warriors city has many training areas, and a very organised military. Their soldiery is quite well trained, and fairly fanatical. They sell trinkets and such to protect oneself against the chaos of the chaos area. Without protection, one will become chaotic and warped. The area about the portal is controlled by a Tormentor named the Black Rider (a Tormentor can bend chaos to its will to change its own shape).

There are many temples in the temple city. Over 100. At the temple to Fredara, they are trying to breed axiomatic animals, which they could then send down to the chaos lands.

We find out various other tidbits.

Lunadain, Ambyrmont (month 9) 1, 1031

We fly in, using spells for protection. We understand that if we do get tainted by chaos, but then stay in the law lands for long enough, the taint will be removed. Zim navigates.

After a while, we arrive above the cloud line where we believe the Black Rider lairs. We descend. It's fairly murky here. Despite being in a cloud, the air feels dry here, like in the desert. We hear crazy music from nearby. It sounds as though there may be magical compulsion behind it.

Some motes of light that are chasing each other around turn into fireballs that chase each other around.

Some mushrooms run away from us when we get to the ground. We head downslope, and then hear a funeral dirge. Seems like someone was cut in half. We then find the trees singing. The trees seem really upset, as one of their number has been cut in half. There is some blood about, so the culprit appears to have been done in.

We get to the borrom of the hill, and find a structure made out of ginger bread. We knock. Something weird answers the door. A weird mutated person. Almost like a normal sized ettin. They get scared when we mention the Black Rider. The sun then sets and rises in rapid succession.

We head north. A few minutes later, we arrive at a black basalt tower. We then use the dimensional sextant to find the nearest portal. It points to the tip of the tower. Lani analyses the portall. To open it, one must touch it with a twig. However, it is currently locked (someone has cast seal portal on it). It is one way, and goes to where Lani wants to go to.

We open the tower door, and a slaad opens it. It appears to be a manservant. We get lead to the Black Rider. They are immersed in cushions. They have black leather armour, a black leather helm, and appear to be human.

He says that the other side of the portal is dangerous. It was sealed by those on the other side. It is a place of order (relative to hear, anyway). He'll give us a ring of wizardry if we open the portal, so he can go forth and spread chaos there. He will not accept anything else.

He's weird.

We don't accept his terms. We go to the top of the tower. Alas the top of the tower unfolds under us, exposing him. We attack. He's full of weirdness, and uses his cushions to great effect. Under the cushions, he is half giant wasp or something. He charges Rohir. He does much damage. Combat continues. He can do things like cast Horrid Wilting. We kill him with relative ease. We take his stuff.

Some mushrooms appear nearby. There is a tourguide mushroom.

We go through the portal. Grey is first. We appear in a valley. There is an old road, but a nearby field has obviously seen much more traffic than the road.

Rih flies up and has a look around. Rih sees a reasonably large army in the distance. About two thousand of them. Humans or humanoids. Brightly coloured pennants, horses, the whole works.

We discover that it is more difficult to cast spells here. Lani seals the portal behind us.

We approach the army. Cavalry approach us. They seem well organised. They charge us. We discover that higher level spells just don't function here.

They attack us, despite our attempts at communication.

They then flee us at our display of magic. They don't seem used to weird stuff like us. They fear us because magic is evil.

We flee. It doesn't seem likely they'll be willing to talk to us. We go to some trees. Thora communes with nature. The area isin a normal sttate. There are six powerful, unnatural creatures in a cluster off in the distance. There are some people near some towers off in the distance.

We go to the towers area. There are a variety of magical creatures there, including a dragon. They are allied together against "Unity", a religion that preaches that magic is evil. Those here are the last who deal with magic. There are 250 spelllcasters here, and 100 non-spellcasters here. Not very powerful spellcasters, alas. There is a sphinx, and Ogre mage, nagas, orcs (who aren't reallly magical), etc. The army camped outside has been there for six months.

The religion, unity, started a few centuries ago.

They have tales of elves, who used to be the rulers of this world. The humans rose up against them, and attacked everything associated with them, including fey creatures, etc. Now humans are pretty much the only ones left.

Magic was not always difficult to cast here.

They have a special book here. They take us to see the book. It's an intelligent book. It's attitude somewhat resembles Ada. Ie, it isn't the most friendly book.

The book is known as the Book of Eldritch Might.

We ask it how magic could be restored to this world. He says there is a way to protect the people here. He reveals a spell, a 9th level spell, that could protect the people here. It can seal away an area such that no-one can get in or out. It can only be broken from the inside. It also prevents planar travel in and out. You have to be in the area on casting it. Alas, 9th level spells don't work here.

We chat about various other things.

The book remembers the guy who was wearing an effeminate girdle. The guy Lani is chasing after. However, the book says that one cannot follow where this guy went (he went to Violet). Not enough magic here anymore. (Need a gate spell [but 9th level spells don't work], or need to use a portal, but again, there's not enough magic.)

The book doesn't know why he wanted to get to Violet. He says that Violet has no magical, although he has heard tales of people getting out of Violet. The portal we need to use to get to Violet is too far away from here.

Most of Violet is anti-magical, hence why we need to use Gate to get to a very specific spot (where there are still portals on Violet).

The book does have a train of thought on magic. There is a theory that the existence of magic on this world is tied to one species: dragons. Were all dragons to die, magic would cease. Were we to bring dragons here, the level of magic might increase. However, the forces of Unity have a special group, the Doombringers, who specialise in hunting dragons.

He lets Lani learn an improved range detect magic.

Apparently, some dragons left, although the book doesn't know how, as they probably couldn't do so under their own power. A bit of a mystery.

We speak to the dragon Riall about dragons who left. He gives us a description of his father. Grey tries a sending. It succeeds. His father is willing to grant us an audience, but he cannot return to this world. He doesn't seem to know where he is - we have to find him. We scry on him successfully. We transport ourselves to him, via Mystara. We explain the magic theory to him. He says that dragons used to rule that plane, so it is not surprising magic may be linked to his kind.

However, he cannot return - some item threw him from the plane to this one. He was battling some knights, but one of them had an item of power, one that seemed inimical to dragon kind. He describes the item, and the wielder. This was about 10 years ago.

We return to Mystara.

Gromdain, Ambyrmont (month 9) 2, 1031

We return to Tevaeral. We don't go to the encampment, as we want to scry for him from elsewhere. We successfully scry for him. He is in the army encamped nearby. He has the rod that works against dragons. He has a greatsword, full plate, and a longbow. He is probably the commander.

We return to the encampment. We tell them what we know. We tell the book. He says it is known as Dragon Doom. It only works on this plane. It should be destroyed. Taking it off of the plane should be sufficienct.

We wait for nighttime. Lani does a flyby with the long rage detect magic. She detects magic from several (important looking) tents, including one overwhelmingly magical item.

Zim sneaks in to try and get the artifact. Zim succeeds. We leave the plane with it. We plane shift to Mystara.

Grey informs the father dragon that we've taken it away.

We start our travel back to the plane.

On the way back, the father communicates with us, saying he is in the process of routing the army, and is having tremendous fun.

He did not kill the enemy commander - many survived. They had some enchanted weapons.

The Father dragon will be communicating with others of his kind, including the coloured dragons.

Lani scribes some windsinger spells into the Book, as a form of payment.

We wait a few days, to see how things go.

The army comes back. We aren't overly concerned by this.

We'll come back in a couple of weeks.

Lani tries to identify the artifact, but fails.

Tserdain, Ambyrmont (month 9) 17, 1031

A number of dragons have returned. It appears that Unity banished the dragons one by one. The dragons are pissed - they lost their hordes.

About ten dragons come here. They attack at night, and they target all the leaders. They don't hold back. The army flees. The dragons have considerable fun chasing them away.

Maggic does not return, yet.

We go to the portal with the dragon. After a few hours, the portal to Violet appears. As there is no magic there, we should go prepared.

We pile through. There is no gravity on the other side. Everything is violet. There are violet vines everywhere. Some violet beetles stroll past on the vines.

The animals panic. Kanla calms them down.

Cantrips and first level spells work.

A snake approaches. It then disappears - time backed up, as we see it approach again. Weird. We kill the snake before it can attack.

We head off in a random direction. We avoid a violet Rast on the way. We decide to stop.

Thora and Remus can't shapechange here.

We stay for a week, so Kanla (with a bit of help from Thora) can train the mounts to not be afraid. (Meaning we don't have to pull them along.) We use create water and the dead snake in the meantime to supplement our food.

During the week, we get attacked by snakes, a cloaker, a Rast, and more snakes. The snakes are the worst, as they're poisonous.

Occasionally, time goes backwards. Sometimes it's seconds, sometimes its minutes, most of the time it's inbetween. If we were wounded, we become unwounded. We are aware of it happening, and remember all. It might happen more when the snakes are around.

Tserdain, Ambyrmont (month 9) 24, 1031

We travel in a random direction. We spot something big clumped in vines. We approach. There are colours other than violet here. It's made out of granite. It's an old building, covered in vines. Size of a small keep. By the looks of the front doors, someone ripped them off. Just inside, Zim finds three disarmed/triggered traps.

The building looks like it has been made for this place, but by people who have a strong sense of "up".

We find a barricade and many triggered/disarmed traps, corpses, etc. Everything has been long looted. Near the center, there is an iron door that has been levered off its hinges. Inside is an iron room. There are some chalk markings on the wall, saying: "I was here, the treasure wasn't".

We also find a secret door. Beyond is a 20 foot long corridor without traps. Zim spends a long time searching. At the end is a closed, locked door. Zim opens the door. Inside is a 20x20 empty room. No magic. We step in, and all of our magic powers up. Lani casts Gate - it works. We have a way out.

We spend a couple of days here.

Lani figures out that this plane is effected by an anti-magic blanket effect, and that this room is like an inverse anti-magic spell. In theory, one could cast anti-magic shell in reverse to create a pocket of magic on the fly (DC 28), on this plane anyway. Lani tries this, and it works. She can cast gate from within this as well.

Lani casts a gate to Sind, and Turia tosses through some of our equipment which we had left behind.

Loshdain, Ambyrmont (month 9) 27, 1031

We head off. In the direction of where Thora thinks the vines are getting thicker (very slowly).

Gromdain, Sviftmont (month 10) 2, 1031

The vines are quite thick now. Ahead, the violet haze becomes solid. We've found the ground. It stretches in all direction.

Lani shapechanges into a Bulette, and goes underground. She finds nothing of interest. We walk (hop) along the ground.

Moldain, Sviftmont (month 10) 4, 1031

Zim spots a face that belongs to a big snakelike creature, hiding, wathing us. It has patches of non-violet colour. We chat to it. It's a Couatl (telepathic). It says the weird time backflips that happen here are probably natural.

There are a fair few Couatl here - they are "it" for civilisation. His parents fled here from another plane, and could not leave. They fled from a group of Genie's who wished them ill.

Some of the vines have things inside them, such as treasures, guardians, things best left undisturbed, etc. Alas, adventurers don't like this place, as magic is rather scarce.

Lani tells the Couatl what she knows. The Couatl can think of some places worth investigating. One is guarded by bone devils, the other is a big cylinder with locked doors at each end. No-one has been able to open the doors.

The Couatl is called Ion. He directs us to the place with the locked doors. It's like a pair of connected towers.

Loshdain, Sviftmont (month 10) 6, 1031

We arrive at the double ended tower. There are no windows. There are four doors, two at each end of the tower (double doors). Each door has a lock. Zim finds a scything blade trap at the first door. Zim disarms it. Zim disarms traps at each door.

Zim determines that to unlock the lock, all locks must be simultaneously unlocked. We conceive a scheme involving anti-magics, knock spells, wand of kolorum, etc. We succeed. Both ends unlock. We jam them open.

We enter. There are hundreds of trip wire arrow traps. We throw vines in in an attempt to trigger them, but the supply of arrows seems unending. Lani goes gaseous to enter, and finds a sealed door at the other end. She investigates the arrow traps - they have magazines of ten arrows each.

We fish for arrows using a vine attached to a rope. Time passes. After triggering all of the traps, we start removing arrows to clear a way to the door.

At the inner door Zim finds two more traps. The first, a minor magical trap, the second is a gas trap. Zim sets off the trap - a poison gas/acid combo trap. Zim does disarm the other trap.

Zim opens the door, and on the other side is a stone wall. Argh!

Grey chips away at the wall. Underneath is a blue wood, very hard (harder than adamantite). It smells of sour milk. It is not magical. Thora woodshapes an opening. On the other side is an anvil, floating in mid air. It is not what we are looking for. It is overwhelmingly magical.

We feel a magical effect roll over us. Remus draws his sword and attacks Thora, screaming "You bitch, you bitch!"

Rohir attacks Lani, cursing her existence. He casts destruction, but Lani somehow resists. Thora takes more pain from Remus.

The Furir moves to grapple Rohir, but fails. Lani casts Hold Monster, Mass, to hold Rohir and Remus. Rohir resists, and Remus, because he's raging, shrugs off the spell.

Lani moves away. Grey follows, and casts Heal on her from a wand.

Leo tries to stab Zim in the back. Zim tries to disarm Leo, but fails.

Thora retreats and casts heal on herself.

Kanla charges Grey, damaging him a bit.

Rohir casts dimensional anchor on Lani.

Thora casts shapechange. Zim subdues Leo. Grey belts Kanla. Furir Elin grapples Rohir successfully.

Lani casts hold person mass, holding Kanla and Remus.

Grey knocks out Kanla. Zim enfeebles Rohir.

We have subdued people. We manacle and gag the problematic people.

Zim doesn't seem to like Gwen much at the moment.

Lani casts legend lore. "Love spurned, turns to hate. Resthis slain, hands bloody stained. Korthas' rage, powers the blade."

We decide to seal the place back up.

We gate back to Mystara, many of us gagged as we don't know if we can trust ourselves. On arrival, Grey clearly gets along with Turia still. However, the Furir tries to attack Jussinea.

We get a priest to cast commune: Nothing less powerful than a wish will remove this affliction. A wish will remove this affliction. A wish is not required. No other 9th level spell will work. The affliction will be removed if they kill the target of their hate. There is another means of removing the affliction. If they believe they have killed the target of their hate, the curse will end. There is yet another way of removing the affliction. The passage of time will also remove it.

We lock them up. Thora determines that it will end within a week.

Within a day, the effects wear off.

Lunadain, Sviftmont (month 10) 8, 1031

We gate back to Violet, appearing in the magic room. We take a trapmaker with us to restore all of the traps to their original state. It costs a bit. We blindfold him for much of the time, so he doesn't know where it is.

Nytdain, Sviftmont (month 10) 12, 1031

We start travelling to see the Couatl.