The Destined

Session 23 – Old Durnick

The party, consisting of Krodmich the Dwarf, Porodo the Ranger and Eilenos the Half-Dunnar are traveling through the Midlands from the Spine Mountains. Upon reaching the south area along the river they come to the River Rat.

In a booth toward the rear they see a Meriiki and a Kithsara. Porodo sees that they carry Kili’s Storm and robes similar to Thatsaru’s. They approach the party.

The bartender motions for Krodmich to come forward. He gives Krodmich a letter from Josephus. There is a map and the letter tells us to go to Old Durnick (for Nadia) on our way to the Port of Gredaine and then the Island of Nyambe-Tanda. He says that Grom’s Bane, the enchanted warhammer of Antinius the Lightheart, resides here in the possession of the “Jungle Protector.”

The lizard introduces himself as Sarthisis and says that he also got a letter from Josephus. The others ask if he will be accompanying them on their mission. He says that he is not sure; the person who delivered the message saved his life and he felt bound to respond to it. Eilenos says that they do not have to answer now as the party means not to leave until morning.

The party speaks with Brom Amerton, a riverboat captain, to book passage to Salgran. The man says that the trip takes about 4 days. Sarthisis listens around and hears that one of the barges were attacked by thieves recently.

The group is able to procure two free merchant suites at the River Rat. Before they retire, Eilenos plays dice and wins a whole 2 silver after several rounds. Krodmich arm wrestles and wins twice against patrons from the bar.

The next morning the party comes to breakfast and asks the two newcomers if they will be coming along on the journey. They agree and all leave presently on the barge. The trip is very boring. Porodo asks the lizard and the bird how they came to be here. Sarthisis (the lizard) says that they were kidnapped.

The bird says that he was jumped by Necros’ assassins and he awoke in a dungeon. A week later there was a battle and another Meriiki appeared and saved him. He was given the swords and the other Meriiki died. The rest of the group realizes that it was Dan’Tok. We explain that he was our friend.

We continue, on the second day we encounter a tradesman on a raft. He is selling pelts and we buy none. We move into the area of the Blood Marshes. The next day another barge passes with 15 soldiers, the River Patrol. They stop us and demand to know why we are traveling in this area. Eilenos says that the party is making a delivery to the River Patrol in the amount of 50 silver. They accept the bribe and continue on.

The next days we come across another ship with many people on it. They are drowning someone and we ready to attack them, but realize it is just “pirate justice” and move on.

On the fourth day we come to the Trader’s Post. There is a stable, a smoke house and some other building. We stop and purchase repair pieces for our armor and some other supplies. We buy two horses and a modest cart. Krodmich purchases a keg of ale.

We leave and Nadia leads us around the forst to Old Durnick. It takes us three days to get to the town. On the second day we are attacked by brigands, but they are greatly outmatched and we kill all of them. The lizard mounts their heads on pikes as a warning for other brigands.

New World

Session 4 – History Lesson

The party decides to infiltrate Readi-Med’s warehouse to find evidence before we make our demands to the president of the company. Reg tries to hack into their servers for several hours, but is caught in the act by security. He jacks out before they can identify him, but takes massive strain by doing so. Skaale is able to ease some of his pain with healing spells.

The party is unsure of the correct approach at this point, so they go to consult with Smoke Jaguar. Smoke tells the group that he can hook them up with some stealth suits to assist them in getting into Readi-Med’s facility. However he cannot get silencers, the party would need to do that themselves.

After retrieving the equipment, the group sneaks their way into the complex by snipping through the barb wire fence. Though they are not extremely stealthy, they manage to get to the building undetected.

The building is broken into, and the group finds a cold storage area. Reg hacks the inventory records of a nearby computer and looks for items listed as “body parts.” He finds a room that is designated for organs, and the party stealths its way towards the location. Guards are detected nearby and they are passed without raising the alarm. The party goes into the organs room and sees various frozen bits in containers.

Skaale and Jack fill a cooler with random organs and the party sneaks out of the room. Several dwarf guards are seen at the exit of the building, blocking their way. Reg hacks one of the guards’ cybereyes to make him see the illusion of someone running down the corridor. The guard does not move and Reg gets kicked out of his system. The building’s doors suddenly locks; it appears that security has been alerted.

Jack ducks his head out into the hallway and sees a very strange sight — monkeys on roller skates, with Uzi’s?! The monkeys begin firing on our position and whizzing past. Jack takes a couple of slugs and falls back; Skaale heals him. Nacre jumps out of the door and fires a grenade arrow towards the monkeys. The others follow him, firing their weapons. The monkeys shoot back and a they suddenly explode from detonated cranial bombs. The party is wounded badly; Nacre is unconsious and possibly dead.

The group makes their way out of the building and ahead of them they see what appear to be a pack of hellhounds. The party is confused and thinks that they have possibly died and gone to Hell. Suddenly from the top of the hill, massive gunfire erupts. It kills the hellhounds and covers the group’s escape from the building, but as they reach the summit of the hill, no one is there. A wall of fire comes up behind them to cover their escape. They don’t ask questions, but leavel quickly in the van.

The party returns to home base and Smoke Jaguar meets them there. He says that the group’s plan of threatening Readi-Med will not work; using their connection with DocWagon would be a much more effective method. Most likely they would wish to avoid a PR scandal and would bring Readi-Med in line.

A professional-sounding letter is prepared and sent to a corporate member of DocWagon. He responds to the party within a day and a meeting is arranged at a high-end restaurant. The group members dress nicely for the meeting.

The party shows him photo evidence of the crime and an agreement is reached. In exchange for the group’s silence, the man will give 250,000 nuyen to the boy’s family as well as lifetime DocWagon contracts. The party is offered 1 million nuyen and lifetime super-platinum DocWagon contracts, as long as they agree never to do a run against DocWagon. The party accepts the offer.

New World

Session 3 – History Lesson

The group surveils the building for three days and do not see the van again. Apparently the lead has gone cold.

The group decides to find out some more info on Harris Corp to see if there is any evidence of the crime. Reg hacks in and finds that there are 3 warehouses on the site. The firewall is very tough but he sees a flaw in it — several hours later he is able to get in. He finds records on their vans and some of them seem suspicious. He looks into the buildings futher and finds a very secured area in one of the buildings. He tries to gain entry to the secured area and succeeds. He finds the name “Kelemen Torcidek” encrypted in the file, and a similar file to the one found before with strange symbols on it.

Reg comes out and tells the rest of the group what he found out. Kelemen is apparently a regional director of DocWagon. The group begins thinking of ways to get into the building…for a very long time.

The party devises a plan to get into the Readi-Med building; Skaale and Eclipse go in first and Skaale tells the receptionist that he has a headache. He goes into the lobby and pretends to fill out a form. One of the guards comes over and recognizes the runners — he introduces himself as the son of one of the men we got out of Chicago 15 years ago. His name is Bertoldt Freiherz. Skaale thinks that he can be trusted and tells him the whole story. He says that he can get the runners into the secured area but we must avoid the cameras. Reg is able to log in and loops the cameras for one hour so we can move about undetected.

Bertoldt lets us in and the Skaale and Eclipse look around. They see bodies but not the body of the Ork kid, unfortunately. There are boxes in each body drawer with random body parts and organs. They have symbols on them that correspond to the fields in the database. They have an idea and put RFID tags on all of the organs, and then quickly get out of the room when they are finished. Jack pretends that he was getting sick and comes out of the clinic as well. They thank Bertoldt for his help and tell him to call if he ever needs anything, and also tell him to say “hi” to his dad.

A week later, the party is alerted that the organs have moved and they have gone to Harris Corp. A day later most of the RFID chips are deactivated, save one. That one goes to St. Luke’s Hospital downtown.

It is decided that Mark, the Ork boy, is surely long gone by now and the party probably won’t find any trace of him or his organs. There is discussion of what to do, since those responsible must be caught in the act. A camera is left on the building. After two weeks, there are six people captured by the camera who are matched up as being missing.

The information is packaged up nicely by Reg and a video is made showing the missing person’s report along with the video evidence collected. The words “WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING” are placed in block letters at the bottom of the video. Before sending this out, the apartment is cleaned out entirely and the party abandons the area. Also, Bertoldt the security guard is notified that he should terminate his position with the company so he could not become liable.

The party prepares to send an email to the president of the company of Readi-Med, but they are as of yet unsure how to word it.

New World

Session 2 – History Lesson

We decide to case the West Allis clinic to see if Reg can hack in and get some information, security tapes, etc. from their network. He fails in his attempt to get in and gets out of the network by the skin of his teeth, with no info.

We park the car a few blocks away and prepare to do some physical investigation. Skaale goes astral and studies the building, seeing that there is a strong astral barrier surrounding it. He recognizes the signature as being of corporate origin. He returns to his body and reports what he saw. The others except for Skaale and Reg leave the car and do a walk-by.

Reg continues trying to hack into the network for several hours. Jack, Nacre and Eclipse go around the building and then go to George Webb’s for some food. Reg is eventually able to gain access but is caught again by security. This time he manages to talk his way out of the situation by telling the security program that he is an operator doing routine maintenance. He digs through some security recordings but does not find anything of value. He tries for info on which doctors were working that night and finds the names of three along with their addresses. They all live up on the prestigious north side, however, which we cannot go visit or risk being caught by the authorities.

As Reg is continuing to sift through the data to find anything else of value, Skaale notices a suspicious black van pull into the ambulance entrance of the clinic. He backs up the car a few feet so he can see what is going on. The men are bringing several large cooler-type containers into the van. Skaale and coms the rest of the group to tell them what has happened. The group exits the George Webb’s and comes back towards the car. Skaale pulls around the south side of the clinic and the other members of the group meet him there. He jumps in the back seat and Jack takes the driver’s position. Reg is still deep in the Matrix.

The van pulls out of the clinic driveway and we follow. Jack tries to stay a fair distance away but it seems that they have caught on to us. They swerve wildly and turn right down another street, and then left at the next one. Skaale says not to follow them, but Jack ignores him and squeals the tires as we make the turns to pursue. The van turns into an alleyway and we follow once again. They slam on the brakes and the van doors open. Two men with submachine guns begin to open fire on Jack’s car. He rams them and one of the men falls off onto the hood of the car, but he is still firing his weapon.

One of the other men tosses a grenade underneath the car as they continue to fire on us. The windshield is busted and Jack’s car is now immobile, so the three group members bail and run away from the car. When they are not twenty feet away the car explodes in a huge ball of fire, lifting up some ten feet off of the ground. Reg gets a piece of shrapnel in his neck from the explosion, and Skaale rushes to heal him. As we are recovering we see the van hurriedly pull away and disappear.

Skaale, Jack and Reg walk the mile or so back to the other party members. Jack is cursing the whole way about his car and vows revenge on the guys that did it. Skaale and Reg take their motorcycles back to the warehouse, and the others take the bus. Even the weirdos on the bus won’t sit next to Jack because he is scorched and covered in blood.

Back at the warehouse everyone recuperates for a day or two. Reg is healing from the damage he took and Skaale is attempting to bond his sustaining foci with various spells. Reg plays a joke on Jack by anonymously purchasing a month pass to the bus for him. Jack guesses that it is Reg who did it and is none too happy. Jack later enlists Wiz Kid’s help to salvage what is left of his car, but there isn’t much left except the frame.

Reg, remembering the license plate of the van, searches out the owner and finds it registered to Harris Corp at 1310 E. Grange. Jack searches online for information related to Harris Corp. He finds that it is a subsidiary of Abbott’s Labs, which is owned by DocWagon. We surmise that either someone on the inside of ReadyMed is working with DocWagon to do the organ harvesting or DocWagon is trying to frame ReadyMed for the crimes.

Since the group no longer has a vehicle they decide to go car shopping. Jack buys a Bulldog Stepvan that will ostensibly hold everyone and all of their gear. Eclipse and Skaale pitch in 12,000 nuyen each.

Reg sets up Jack with a new fake SIN and the group leases out a space in the building across the street from the clinic in his name in order to surveil the building. It is on the first floor just west of the ambulance entrance. The party watches the goings-on at the clinic for a few days before making their next move.

New World

Session 1 – History Lesson

We are introduced to Register Zero, or “Reg” who is a 19 year old Technomancer. He carries around a small musical keyboard and will sometimes zone out and play. His companion is a Dwarf shaman. We learn that Nutz was not put in cryo-freeze with us and escaped away somewhere instead.

Wiz Kid says that they overlooked the abilities we gained from the staff, otherwise they might really have dissected us. Even so it took months for his staff to detox us before they brought us out of freeze. Hopefully they didn’t miss anything.

Wiz Kid takes us to the old warehouse, which he has kept everything preserved the way we had it when we left. The sub, Jack’s car and Skaale’s motorcycle are in storage here. We start getting comfortable with the warehouse again, and Jack goes next door to his old office. He finds a 15 year old whiskey in the drawer.

Moments later an elderly couple comes into Jack’s office and ask for his help. Their son Mark worked at a bar somewhere in Milwaukee and after work a few nights ago he disappeared and no one has seen him since. They offer to pay 9000 nuyen for us to find him. He says he will do it for 7000, but asks how they found out about his services. They say that they found him listed in the book.

Jack coms the rest of the group and they agree to take the job. Skaale mentions that he wouldn’t mind doing an easy job since they all have to get their bearings. Reg hacks into the others’ conversation and offers to help. Jack tells him the name of the bar and Reg starts to look into their records. He finds some security videos that were supposedly deleted from the previous night. There is also one from the night of the incident but he isn’t able to recreate that one.

Mark’s parents return with a pair of his pants. Jack gets the scent and tells the rest of us that we should visit the bar to see if we can find anything there. Jack meets us all at the warehouse and helps Reg disguise himself so he looks older, with a ridiculous moustache. We leave for the bar and purposefully arrive separately a few minutes apart so we don’t gain attention.

Reg goes to the bar and drinks 2 beers, and watches the trid. The others filter in. Jack asks the head bouncer if he saw anything happen to Mark. The bouncer is surly at first but once he hears that Jack was hired by Mark’s parents he is more helpful. He says that there was a Ready-Med van in the alley behind the building 30 minutes after Mark left. He noticed that it was van #269. He never saw Mark after that.

Jack asks around to the other patrons, but no one is particularly helpful. He goes outside to the alleyway an dpicks up Mark’s scent. There are also tire tracks here, ostensibly from the Ready-Med van. He calls the rest of the group out to help look for other clues, but we find nothing further. Jack hypothesizes that the Ready-Med van kidnapped him.

Reg hacks into the Ready-Med servers and finds a record showing that a van was sent to the bar, but there is no record of who the technicians were or why they came. Reg makes a user account for himself so he can log in easily at a later date. There is also a strange file in this directory. He downloads the file and sees that it contains the names and addresses of two Ready-Med employees. Afraid that someone might catch him, he quickly jacks out with the pilfered info.

Reg examines the file and it is very strange. It has columns of data with dates, icon symbols, and seemingly random numbers. We figure that these cannot be records of stops, because the dates go several days into the future. Perhaps they are schedules of some sort or a list of people to be kidnapped.

Reg checks the papers looking for reports of missing people and finds nothing. He then checks the public message boards and sees mentions of people who went missing the same night as Mark. Five of these people had accounts with Ready-Med. He finds their personal information and downloads it all.

Using the name and address info we found, we go to the house of the driver, a man named Fred Savage. We interrogate him and he is very scared and cooperative. He says that they picked up Mark because he had a heart attack. They were able to revive him in the van and he was taken to one of their clinics — he knows nothing more. Skaale manifests in the room, scaring he and his wife half to death, and they ascertain that Savage is telling the truth. The party departs, and on the way out Reg blocks all of Savage’s calls so he cannot phone the police. We question the other driver, a female, and she corroborates the info that Savage gave us.

After more study we realize that the “12” column may correspond to organs they need, since there are 12 general areas of the body. We decide to go to the clinic Mark was taken to and look around.

The Codex

Epilogue 2 – Hit the Deck (Again)

We continue through the basement of the Ares building, but the card fails to open any more doors. Nutz hotwires the next door and Jack and Nacre bust their way through. WE go into the next room and find it to be a large, sterile office area.

We hear movement from some of the other rooms, it seems that there are more robot sentries here. Nacre takes a look down an adjascent hallway but does not see anything. We move forward and we hear the robot noises again. Jack discovers a turret blocking our path and we decide to take an alternate route through the nearby bathroom wall.

Nutz sets a charge and blows through the wall. We climb through and he uses his eye laser to get through a metal grate. We climb down to the sub-basement.

There is a laser turret in the main room. We decide to run past it instead of just standing still. Jack goes first, but he sees that there is a robotic sentry near the exit. He shoots it on his way past, and soon sees another one which he destroys as well.

WE finally come in to the main lab. They have several large vaults set into the floor here. Scale Fang goes astral and ascertains that more than 20 of the vaults have items in them. A robot approaches from down the hall and Nacre, Eclipse and Jack open fire. Nacre is hit and is healed by Scale Fang. Scale Fang runs out and levitates the robot upside down and Jack destroys it. Scale Fang then heals Nacre’s wounds.

Nutz uses a security disc that Wiz Kid gave him, and it successfully opens all of the vaults. There are chips, decks, laser units and prototype engine parts. Nutz, Jack and Eclipse all grab laser packs. The rest of the party grabs other things that aren’t too bulky. We get about half of the stuff that was in the vaults.

Jack goes to get a garbage cart to take the robot and the laser packs in. There is a maintenance robot and Jack kills it and throws it in, as well. Scale Fang levitates the cart up the stairs. We exit the building safely after a few more brief firefights.

We leave and go back to Gigi’s, and for her services to this point we leave one of the prototype decks for her decker. We decide to take 12 people with us back on the sub, and leave the next day.

While in the sub, we come to the underwater fence and it appears to have been fixed where we cut through. Nutz sends his drone out and it cuts through after a few minutes. As we come through the fence, something appears on sonar. Nutz quickly fires the dummy torpedo and we wait at the bottom of the lake for several hours. After we decide that it is safe, we continue our journey and arrive safely in Milwaukee.

Wiz Kid is ecstatic with all of the equipment we brought back. The rest of us relax and take it easy for a few nights.

After almost a week, we are ambushed in the warehouse by an Ares Special Ops unit. the break in to the warehouse and take us all prisoner. We are knocked unconscious and have strage dreams of voices and flashing images. They are examining us for some unknown reason.

We awake to see a red-haired man who looks like Wiz Kid. Scale Fang doesn’t recognize him immediately, because he appears much older. The man says that it’s good to see us again, and that 15 years have passed since the Ares Special Ops group kidnapped us. They apparently caught wind of our raid, and put us in cryso-sleep and did experiments on us. A few years later the facility we were in, some sort of research lab, was sold to another company. It took Wiz Kid 15 years to find us, and he bought the company so he could set us free.

Wiz Kid has been paying the rent on the warehouse since we left and our equipment and truck are in storage. He says that the world has changed, and that everything is wireless now; people can access the ‘Net without any equipment. A lot has changed, and perhaps so have we due to the experiments.

The Codex

Epilogue 1 – Hit the Deck (Again)

We reconvene at Gigi’s to heal and to rethink out our method of approach on the Ares building. Scale Fang and Jack rejoin the group and are brought up to speed. Jack has a few crazy ideas that involve crashing his Jackrabbit through the loading bay door.

We decide to do recon on the building. It is a 4-story neo-Gothic building with lots of columns and glass. After a while we see armed robotic sentries walking through. The rear atrium is most likely glassteel and therefore almost impenetrable. There are turrets that drop down from the ceiling along most of the perimeter as well.

Nutz rigs a bag of explosives and Eclipse sneaks to the front entrance. She sets the bag down and sneaks away. We sneak up to the rear door and Scale Fang swipes the card they were given to gain entrance. The loading bay door opens and we are able to get inside.

Jack listens around and cannot hear anything. We go to the rear door and see several cameras along the way. Scale Fang swipes the card again and opens the next door. Eclipse sneaks through and checks the stairwell. Jack jams a gun clip in the door so it can’t close. Eclipse motions to us and we move down the stairs. We open the door and go into the basement door. There is a sentry there, and we all freeze. We prepare for an attack but Scale Fang notices that it doesn’t appear to have any weapons.

We try the keycard on the next door and it does not work. We try it again and this time it opens. Jack peeks into the room and a large sentry gun comes from the ceiling. He ducks back in and the door closes. Nutz tries the keycard two more times and it doesn’t work.

Eclipse goes to open one of the ceiling vents in the room to try and gain access to the ventilation system when Jack and Scale Fang hear sentries coming from the double doors. They come through shooting and we retaliate, Jack blowing one of their heads clean off with his revolver and then quickly blasting the second one as well.

A third robot appears in the room and fires on Eclipse, wounding her badly. Scale Fang runs to get Eclipse out of the line of fire and quickly heals her.

Suddenly we hear a hissing sound and it seems that some sort of gas is being pumped into the room. Scale Fang casts the spell “oxygenate” on himself and the others put on breath masks. The remaining sentries are destroyed, but soon Scale Fang passes out from the gas. Nutz busts the door to a nearby closet open and goes in. Jack and Eclipse drag Scale Fang into the closet and the door is closed. Nutz slaps a stimpatch on Scale Fang and he awakens presently.

Adventures in Tymirr

Chapter 20 – Knights of Tymirr

As the horde of Terrors continue their charge north towards the party, our heroes decide what to do. After debating for a few moments, they plan to descend the ridge and have Galandil use his Arc-miner spells to cut a hidden trench in the sand in front of their position in order to trap the oncoming Terrors.

Following Galandil’s lead the party climbs down the ridge and readies their weapons. Galandil creates a fissure in the sand and quickly climbs into it, using his amulet to dig a 100 foot long and 40 foot wide tunnel. As before the sand at the sides of the tunnel fuses to glass, holding it open. However he figures that the weight of the huge Terrors will crack the roof of the tunnel and send them plummeting down 40 feet.

The party stands ready as the Terrors come closer. As they near it is seen that in addition to the 22 huge spider-like Terrors, two Red Tower cultists are among them on horseback. Lionel and his Tymirr knights are in hot pursuit only a few hundred yards behind.

When they are within range of Meran’s longbow he fires and scores an impressive hit on one of the Terrors. Galandil fires an elemental bolt at one of the cultists and hits her in the chest. She topples off of her horse and is trampled by the rampaging Terrors behind her. One of the archers in Lionel’s party finishes the job a second later when he buries an arrow in her back. The second cultist is skewered by Meran’s arrows moments later.

The battle commences as the Terrors come within melee range, however the first ones break through the thin dome of earth over the trench and fall down into the dark. Only a few manage to make their way across to attack the party as the dome continues to shatter and swallow more of them. As the remaining Terrors slow down to avoid the others’ fates, Lionel’s band reach them from behind and dismount their horses to begin attacking in close combat. Also, Atentir summons two dogs to his side to assist in the attack.

The party and Lionel’s group make short work of the remaining Terrors, using their superior position to rain arrows and magical projectiles into the pit. A few Terrors manage to scale or jump the slick walls of the cavern, only to be cut down seconds later by the party’s blades.

After the battle is concluded, Lionel rushes to see his sister. He hugs Neith and says that he’s very glad she is okay. When he heard that the Terrors were coming to attack them he assembled the team of riders and took off in pursuit after them for more than two days. Many members of his party we killed during the trip but they also managed to thin the numbers of the Terrors slightly.

Lionel tells the party that he and his guard will protect them as they return to Tymirr so they may get some well-deserved rest. After a while everyone packs up their gear and they start off on their return journey.

As they leave, Elowisyl and Atentir notice that their brother is looking unwell. His skin is looking a bit greenish and his eyes appear sunken, not unlike the appearance of Alexander Drem from whom they acquired the silver circlet. It is decided that they will immediately take him to see Yeador and Orunn once they reach the city.

A few miles into their journey, Elowisyl receives a message on his magical scroll from Erillas. It reads: “The Ch’zak crossed the river into the town and were assaulting the castle. The great beasts were thrashing against the citadel walls and attempting to gain entry; the east wall partially buckled from the assault. We lost many men. During the conflict we saw a bright flash of light to the South. Almost immediately we noticed a change in the behavior of the Ch’zak. They became disorganized and many of them fled. I don’t profess to understand magics, but whatever you did, it worked. Our soldiers are fighting off the ones that managed to get into the city and the groups of stragglers outside. All of you have done us proud. Come home safely and we will celebrate.”

Heartened by this news, the party continues on their long journey. There are no further Terror sightings during their three-day trek, and the land seems to already be healing. As they approach the mountainous and grassy areas of Tymirr they see that winter is in full swing. There is already two inches of snow on the ground and the air is brisk but clean and refreshing.

A day into their journey the party members notice that Galandil looks even more sickly than the day before. He is starting to feel the effects and can sense his willpower waning to the might of the circlet’s dark magic.

Finally two days later they reach the city, and can see the destruction ahead of them. The earth for miles around the city has been almost completely scorched. It can be estimated that it will take a year or more for the foliage to return here. The castle itself has sustained heavy damage and the city is now completely leveled. The east wall of the castle has smashed and buckled, and a huge 200-foot millipede lies dead in the midst of the rubble. Around the castle are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Terror corpses. It appears that most of the human casualties are inside the castle or have been removed from the battlefield.

Near the city is a huge encampment of Tall Ones. Their warriors and scouts are patrolling the area along with members of the Tymirr guard. They pay little attention to the party as they come in as they seem very busy.

As they approach the city there is activity on the ramparts. The drawbridge is lowered and they are welcomed into the city. As they come in they see all of the wounded and dead soldiers being cared for and moved to triage areas. However a huge cheer comes over the crowd and hundreds of people of all races come in to swarm the newcomers. It is difficult to move as they pour adulation and praise upon the party for their actions.

They are asked to come to the steps of the castle, where a crowd has gathered. First they visit the tent of the Elves, where the Elf brothers are greeted warmly by their mother and sister. Elowisyl asks where Orunn is, and his mother says that he is with the others at the steps of the castle.

The proceed to the citadel where Erillas (wearing the purple clothing of a Tymirr elder), Combellon, Yeador, the King’s advisors Peratus & Verak; a young dark-haired man in a blue waistcoat, Duke Rontus of East Tymirr; a balding overweight man in blue robes is Biran, the Duke of North Tymirr are all present. It seems that the priestess Eleiana and King Arayen are absent.

The four Nomads and the members of the group that went to Calese (a Tall one, a Human and a Savage) are there as well, although the party remembers that they seemed to have more members the last time they saw them. Erag and the other Kaern seem to be missing as well. The party members are given purple tabards with a stylized “T” (similar to a cross) upon them to wear. Galandil refuses to put his on despite pleads from the servants.

From the doors comes the King’s son, Prince Cortus, wearing the crown of Tymirr. He says to them in turn, “You must repeat after me: I swear to defend Honor, uphold Truth, and fight for Justice.” Each of the party members comply except for Galandil, who takes a step back.
“I am not asking for your fealty,” Cortus says. “This is merely to honor your service to our great city.” Galandil shakes his head, and Cortus continues with the others.

After the party members speak the words, Cortus gives them each a shiny master-crafted longsword. Yeador also approaches and pours a thick, sweet smelling liquid over their heads, just enough to begin dripping down their faces. They feel the effects of this oil giving them vitality. “Now rise as Knights of Tymirr!” Cortus says. He congratulates the party and the crowd cheers. The other nobles also congratulate the party, but Peratus & Verak’s greetings sound forced.

After the excitement dies down, Erillas and Combellon come to the party and usher them into an adjascent room, asking the guard to close the door. They congratulate everyone and Erillas is positively beaming. Combellon seems regretful having seen none of the action, but is happy nonetheless. Erillas names the Men (and Woman) in the party as eternal Elf-friends, welcome into their homes and into their tribe forever. He says that this honor will carry on to their children and their children’s children.

Elowisyl says that they must see Orunn immediately to assist with Galandil’s condition, but Erillas says that he wishes to speak with them for a moment first. He explains that after the King fled, Combellon searched him for several days using the best scouts of the Elves and Men, along with two of Yeador’s apprentice magicians. They came up with no trace of the King except his crown which was lying on the bed in his chambers. For all intents and purposes he completely vanished from his chambers. No trail or secret door was found.

The people of Tymirr were confused as to why the King would flee at such a dire moment, and assumed that he left in a cowardly fashion as the legions of Terrors were soon to bear down on Tymirr with their full force. They ultimately lost faith in him so it was decided that his son, Prince Cortus, due to his strong leadership during the crisis, would be named as successor and King. The coronation occurred two days ago.

Because of the bond created between Erillas and Cortus during the battle and the absence of his father, Cortus has asked Erillas to stay with him as his chief advisor until he can finish rebuilding the city and come into his own. Erillas says that he has agreed and will stay as long as necessary. Combellon seems uncomfortable with this.

Erillas charges Combellon and the rest of the party with scouting and establishing a new home for the Western Elf Guild, so the survivors of their tribe could begin anew. He then excuses Combellon so he may speak with the party in private.

Combellon, Erillas says, has matured greatly in the past months during this crisis. He will one day succeed Erillas so choosing the new site for their home is a trial that he must do. He will be under the care of the party and his combat skills as well as his leadership will be tested. Erillas asks the party to watch over him during all of this. The Humans of the party are asked to accompany them as well if they so wish.

Erillas says to think about everything he’s said, and refers them to Orunn to help with Galandil’s curse. Orunn says that they must see Yeador, and take the party to his laboratory in the citadel. Yeador examines the circlet and asks Galandil about the effects that it is having on him. Yeador studies it through a glass orb about the size of an apple, and he and his apprentices search through large volumes of magical reference for clues as to its origin or source of its powers.

After several hours Yeador says that it obviously is powerful and has a link to the magical plane, but he does not have the means to remove or de-power it. He suggests that the party seek the help of a Thaumaturgist, a master of magical items, who lives near Calese. Yeador says that he has met this man and trusts him, but he does not know where to find him now. According to his measurements Galandil has less than a month until he falls completely under the control of the circlet. The party thanks him and returns to the Elf tent.

Elowisyl retuns to the man who had promised to carve him the symbol of his clerical order, and retrieves the piece. It is of exquisite quality and helps Elowisyl focus his magical powers.

Later that day they visit the smith that was making the armor for the party out of monster hide. He has all of their pieces completed, and has made several soft and rigid leather armor sets out of the hide. The sets include helms, aventails (the piece which goes over the shoulders), bracers, gauntlets, greaves, boots and cuirasses (chestplates). The man says that there is quite a lot left over and if he can use the rest of the hide for making armor for the soldiers and townsfolk, he will refund their money since the party saved the city from the Terrors. The party agrees and he refunds their money, fitting them for their armor and sending them on their way.

Galandil begins searching for Erag and is directed to the triage tent. The Priestess Eleiana and her clerics are there working overtime to assist all of the wounded soldiers and refugees. Elowisyl quickly begins to help with the wounded as well. The priestess stops only for a moment to congratulate the party and says that she must be on her way. She shows them to where Erag is and returns to her duties.

As they enter his room, Erag looks very somber. Apparently he has not allowed anyone to heal him since he returned from his journey and his arm is at his side, broken. He still carries many bruises and other hastily patched wounds, and is standing over the bed of Gorn Rockfist. He explains to the party that the Red Tower Cult had many of their powerful necromancers working to assemble the Gate in the north mountains, and their resistance was fiercer than the cult’s group in the mines near South Tymirr.

They were ultimately successful, but Bogder Shale, the Kaern warrior that the party initially met, was mind-controlled by one of the necromancers and Erag and Gorn were forced to kill him. Erag and Gorn traveled all the way back together, but as they arrived at Tymirr Gorn finally succumbed to his wounds and died. He is currently watching over Gorn’s body before he has to bury him. Elowisyl heals Erag and tells him that he must take care of himself and honor the memories of his friends by continuing on.

Erag thanks Elowisyl for his supporting words and for healing him. He congratulates the party on their success. Galandil tells him of the cursed circlet and that he will not be able to accompany him back to Tymirr to take the trials of the Arc-miner. Erag tells Galandil that he will be waiting for him at Kaern and he believes that he will definitely one day pass the trials. Erag says that before Galandil leaves the town he must visit the Kaern tent to speak with the elders. He then asks to be left alone to mourn his friends.

Later that day, after Elowisyl assists Eleiana in the triage tent for a while, the party visits the Kaern tent. There the elder who lent Galandil his amulet asks for him to return it. Galandil complies, and as the amulet changes hands the elemental emerges from the amulet’s crystal just as it had done in the first conferring ritual. The elemental nods at Galandil before returning to the amulet.

The other Kaern recognize Elowisyl and ask him if he needs more lichen beer. Elowisyl says that he does and one of the brewmasters bring him a quarter barrel of the foul-smelling drink.

The party stays in the city for another few days to rest and tie up any loose ends before they leave. Meran visits the tent of the Nomads, trading stories and sharing a meal. During their conversation they ask that Meran accompany them back to the Erstland Wastes. There is much work to be done, and a man of his skill would certainly be useful.

Neith is approached by Lionel, who says that he is returning to Merrill and asks her to come with him. She declines and says that she would rather stay with the party for the time being. He honors her wish and says that he will not tell their parents that she is alive; rather he will lie and say that his search was unsuccessful. However he says that they are very worried about her and have almost lost hope. Neith gives her a piece of her clothing and says to show it to her parents, giving them some hope that she may someday return home alive. He agrees and says his farewells to her.

A week or so later, Combellon comes to them and says that it is time that they must leave on their quest to search for a new home for the Western Elf Guild. The other party members (except Meran) agree to come along. Meran tells the party that he will be leaving with the Nomads, but perhaps he will rejoin them at a later date. Elowisyl says that they say that a detour must be made to Calese to see the Thaumaturgist about removing Galandil’s circlet, and Combellon agrees.

Just before they leave Yeador visits the party and gives Galandil a handful of 15 peanut-like Isre nuts, which will help keep his stamina up as he fights against the influence of the circlet.

The party says their good-byes to their family and Meran, and ride off with Combellon towards Calese.

Adventures in Tymirr

Chapter 19 – The Silver Circlet

After gathering their gear, the party moves to the next cavern in the northern portion of the mine. This room is seemingly empty except for a pair of inert miner skeletons. The party takes no chances and destroys the skeletons in case they might arise.

The next room to the north has two zombies in it, but they quickly fall to the party’s attacks. However, with the recent pulse of mana the spellcasters are almost exhausted of power.

Moving on to the final room, the party finds amongst piles of rubble a group of eight ghouls and the ethereal form of Christopher Drem. Christopher appears as an translucent emaciated floating form with long dark robe on. His face is sunken and greenish, however his most striking feature is the brilliant silver circlet worn on his head.

The ghouls seem eager to attack, but he holds them back with a gesture. His voice is an ethereal whisper as nebulous as his form, and he says “Do not attack them, my children. We have not had visitors for many years.” He then turns to the party and says “Who are you? Why do you tresspass in my father’s house? Why do you kill my children?”

Galandil explains to him that they are here to research the wonders and mystery of Selena. Christopher does not seem to believe him. Galandil then asks why he is here. Christopher replies, “I am here to safeguard all that we have built here, along with my grandmother. Years ago I was a member of the Red Tower Cult, but during my training I was killed. Later I was resurrected by the cult and became as you see me now.” Galandil asks him who his father is, and he replies “You have not heard of the great Alexander Drem?”

During this time Meran moves to attack one of the ghouls, but Alexander tells him to stop or he will have his ghouls kill them. Soon after Elowisyl casts an invisibility spell on himself and begins charging straight towards Alexander. The specter seems to still be able to see Elowisyl and tells him to stop. When he does not, he sighs and tells his ghouls to kill the party.

Elowisyl continues to rush Alexander, but he and his sword pass right through him without causing damage. Galandil fires a magical earthen bolt at him and it does seem to cause him some pain.

A battle ensues and the party kills the several of the ghouls in the room. One of them is swallowed by a chasm opened by Galandil, and Meran tosses a flask of oil down upon him and lights it with a torch. Christopher flees from the flames and passes through Elowisyl’s body to get to the other side of the room.

Meran is struck savagely by one of the remaining ghouls and falls down, bleeding from his neck. Elowisyl rushes to heal him and uses the last of his magical power to do so. The rest of the ghouls are killed by melee attacks, but Christopher continues to pelt the party with cold spells, causing some damage. Melee attacks on Christopher continually pass through him, so the party decides that their attempts are futile. Elowisyl pulls out the magic scroll and begins to scrawl a message to Erillas.

Finally Meran runs for the door, telling the others that they must follow him or they will all be killed. At that moment Galandil has the idea to try and strike the circlet from his head. After several attempts from three party members and arrows from Meran, Galandil finally knocks it off and it clatters to the ground.

Christopher yells “No!” He seems to have become more corporeal without the circlet, and rushes to retrieve it. Before he can do so, Neith slashes him through the waist with her rapier. Christopher fades into mist and dissipates, the only remainder being his ragged robes which fall to the ground.

Immediately Galandil rushes for the circlet and puts it on his head. It seems to bond itself to him immediately and he can’t seem to move or remove it. Elowisyl searches Christopher’s robes and finds nothing there.

Galandil looks around the room and sees that his awareness has changed. All around them he sees a blue glow, which appears to be the magical leyline coming from the north to the south. Also when looking at his companions he sees that they along with their magical items are also glowing. Granted also to him by the circlet are two spells, both of which are related to cold magic. In wonder and awe by the new world he is seeing, he looks around the room as if he is drunk. The others are not sure what to make of his behavior.

A few minutes later, Galandil hears a low, booming voice speaking into his mind: “Ah, I recognize you now. You were one of the men I saw through the gate — one of the ones who murdered Duke Perius. Very interesting that you’ve made it this far.” The voice then fades away.

After only two hours of rest with Neith standing watch, the party decides to continue on and try to find the Gate. Remembering that Corrina Drem told them the Gate was above the Red Tower Cult’s lair, they journey back into the mansion and go to the third floor. As they pass through the tunnels they seem much less dreary now, more like a mine and less like a tomb.

Upon reaching the third floor they search the ceiling for clues, but are unable to find any. They decide to exit the mines and approach from the top of the slab at the peak of the ridge. Traveling to the north end of the mine where they entered, they again use the unbroken amulet to pass through the door, and find that Galandil’s tunnel is still intact.

Climbing up using the ropes they had tied, they ascend to the top of the ridge and survey their surroundings. Several of the party members see a dust cloud to the east, and Elowisyl is able to see that it is a group of Terrors coming towards them at incredible speed. Pursuing behind the Terrors he sees a group of riders on horses.

Finally reaching the slab, the party clears the accumulated sand off of it and begins searching for any clues. As Galandil approaches it he sees the two local ley lines, brilliantly blue, intersecting inside the slab. The whole area is aglow with ethereal light. In the center of the slab he sees a small area that is glowing orange rather than blue, and discovers a tiny slot. He places the ring that Corrina gave them into the slot, and the marble cube begins to quickly melt away.

The party members scramble to get off of the slab and on to the rock ridge, and they turn around to see a giant orb of orange light ascend out of the hole where the slab previously was. Within the light they see a landscape of pitted gray rocks and a purple night sky. This image fades and flickers, and sometimes they are able to see the normal landscape of the Erstland Wastes through it.

Galandil sees the ley lines feeding into the orb, but also a clear bubble around the orb itself. The source of this bubble is unknown.

Underneath the orb a platform raises up to ground level, with curled claws of reddish metal protruding from the edges. Around the platform are carved intricate runes which Elowisyl translates as “SELENA’S GRACE CAPTIVATES AND PURIFIES THE WICKED.” He speaks this aloud, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect.

At this moment Galandil again hears the voice in his head, which says: “You know what must be done. Kill your friends, for they are about to betray you!” For a moment Galandil resists the urge to act, but then succumbs. He turns and opens a fissure in the rock under Elowisyl’s feet. The elf falls and hits the bottom ten feet below with a thud.

The others swarm to attack Galandil and manage to restrain him. Meran hits him with the flat of his axe and sits down upon Galandil, holding him down and binding his hands. He also stuffs a piece of cloth into his mouth so he cannot speak.

Elowisyl climbs out of the fissure and decides that the spikes of the platform must be destroyed. He breaks them one by one, and the orange orb grows larger and larger. Galandil sees the clear bubble fade away as Elowisyl is doing this. Soon all that can be seen around them is the rocky landscape of the Ch’zak plane, and the tear seems to be continuing to grow in size.

Many feet below them they see spider-like Ch’zak crawling over the rocks. Some of them seem to be able to see the party through the tear, and start coming towards it.

Finally able to resist the spell that was cast on him, Galandil stops struggling and Meran removes the gag from his mouth. “I think I know how to fix it,” he says. Meran lets him up and he focuses his will through the circlet, attempting to close the tear in the nexus point.

At first it is very difficult, and he is only able to close it a few feet at a time. After several minutes of concentration, the tear is reduced to its original size. Neith turns and sees that the Terrors coming across the desert are only a few minutes away.

Using all of his willpower, Galandil shrinks the tear and it finally disappears with a flash of light. He sees the nexus point glow fully blue again, and the alien landscape is gone. Also gone are the pulses of magical energy, so the ambient mana is now stable. The voice in Galandil’s head subsides, and he yells in elation.

However, their attention turns to the matter at hand, with Meran suggesting that they flee into the caves. Elowisyl says that they must stand and fight alongside the pursuing riders. As they are coming closer they see that there are twenty-two Terrors, and eight riders. At the head of the riders is Neith’s brother Lionel.

Adventures in Tymirr

Chapter 18 – Return to the Salt Mines

After defeating the undead in the first chamber, the party decides to rest. Setting up watch to allow the magic users to sleep, they stay for six hours and are not disturbed during that time. As they awake there is a fluctuation in the ambient mana, causing the magic users to feel as if their power has increased dramatically. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, they quickly move on.

In the second chamber of the south portion of the mines, they find two huge zombie trolls and two skeletons. Meran rushes forward quickly to attack the trolls, and is knocked flat (perhaps killed) by one of them as he counter-attacks. The rest of the group rushes into the room and they also attack the trolls with little success.

Meanwhile Galandil uses his magic to create a chasm in the ground underneath the skeletons, and they fall helplessly in. After a protracted combat the trolls are finally slain and Elowisyl rushes to assist Meran.

Just in time he is able to heal Meran’s wounds and saves his life. Atentir helps heal the also wounded Elowisyl as the others turn their attention to the skeletons. During the attack Galandil botches his spell attempt and knocks himself out cold. Meran and the others finish off the skeletons and start searching through the bodies of the trolls.

Atentir finds a large piece of gray cloth tied to one of the trolls’ loincloths, and sees that it is a cloak of some sort. Unable to find out what it does, Galandil takes it and finds that it is a Cloak of Shadows, able to shroud an individual in darkness.

Further searching the room, Elowisyl spies a large pond on the north side of the room. He senses magic here, and probes his sword around in the muck to try and discover what it is. He finds a small silver bracelet. Putting it on, he sees that it creates grants protective magic to the wearer.

Elowisyl also sees a hole, or tunnel, in the bottom of the pond, which disappears to an unknown depth. Neith volunteers to swim through and disrobes down to her knickers. A rope is tied around her ankle to pull her back if there is trouble, and magic is cast upon her by Elowisyl to give her the ability to hold her breath for a longer period of time.

The water is frigid, but Neith makes it through the opening and swims through for about 100 feet. She emerges in another room which not only smells terrible, but seems to have the contents of some kind of nest. It is currently uninhabited so she peeks around for any items that may be laying around. She finds two swords and an armored shirt, although it appears that there is a torso still in the shirt. She ties these items to the rope and is preparing to swim back when she hears footsteps shuffling up the cavern’s only entrance.

Neith jumps back into the water and pulls on the rope, signaling the others to pull her back through. A few seconds later she emerges sopping wet but heavier the swords and armor. They do not appear magical, however, and are discarded.

It is decided that the room is probably not on the map, or it could be one of the rooms further to the south. The group gathers their belongings and they move to the south area, somewhat weary from their battle with the trolls.

In the first cave they see six ghouls, and immediately attack them. The battle is swift and the ghouls fall, but two more come in through an adjascent cave. These are also killed. This cave does not seem to have any items of interest except a few silver pieces.

The group moves into the adjascent cavern and Neith identifies it as the one she ended up in after her swim. Indeed there is a large pool at the back of it. Two more ghouls assault them here but they manage to destroy them as well. The corpses are dragged down into the main room and burned.

It is decided that they must rest, especially the magic users, so they bed down for the night. It is quiet for the first four hours, but suddenly Elowisyl feels the magical parchment emerge from his bag and open to a letter from Erillas. The message reads:

“This will be my last writing for a while. With the King gone, things here are in turmoil. The King’s fool advisors, Peratus and Verak, are of little help and I have assumed many duties. The people here are uneasy as the army of Ch’zak are nearly on our doorstep, having broken through our first line of defenses. They will likely be here within the hour. Reports from the front lines say that some of these Ch’zak beasts are more than 100 feet tall. Orunn and Yeador are attempting to construct a magical barrier to hold them off for as long as possible. Our friends the Tall Ones have arrived in time to help, but this threat may be more than all of us can handle. It appears that you are our last hope, if sealing the gate will remove the cult’s influence on the Ch’zak. May the gods be with you.”

The party decides that they have no time to waste, so they prepare to leave for the other chambers to find Corrina’s undead grandson and relieve him of the circlet. Just as they go, however, the magic users feel a fluctuation in the local mana that reduces their spellcasting abilities.