Plot started 03/19/2018, ended on 10/29/2018. Plot summary: The Wayfarer adventurers (Kasimir, Kachi, Mappy, Treya, Joule) are tasked to retrieve two ancient books from a ruined city of magic. 03/19/2018 Session: * Azalyn goes over basics: * The planet name is Perbrellum. The portal city they are entering is Rezneea. * Planet known for pretty, ruby-like auras at night. * The weather should be comfortable in the daytime, but a little cool at night. Lizards beware! * Portal city is modern, with magitech, and has just about everything available for purchase. * Huge portal hub, a trade city. A jumping off point for many other destinations. * Will be entering immigration from the portal, and get papers. Weapons allowed, but must be kept secure until leaving Rezneea. * Kasimir wants to visit a temple for adventurers or wanderers, if they can find one. * If more than the two books are to be taken home, group may need to register with the local government for permission. * City they are exploring: Redaura * Was a very advanced city for its time, then something happened with the magic and everyone left. * Magic use is rumored to act 'wonky' in spots, suggesting something wrong with the thauma. Will want to bring equipment or supplies to work around this issue. * Maps not available of the city, meaning the group will need to locate the library on their own. * The planet and regions have their own languages, meaning not everyone in the group will be able to easily understand everything. Kachi will have a book about the more modern languages for basic lookup, but Joule may need to take the lead and provide some translation. * The quest: They are to find and retrieve two ancient books from the library. The quest sponsor has already gotten permits approved by the local government to remove these books. Just need to show paper during immigration. * Book of Perbrellum Plants, 1st edition. Contains long lost info about plants in the region, how to hybridize them, ways of processing them for maximum magic effectiveness, etc. * Book of Frethyrym. Information about the Freths, long gone mountain dwellers who knew exotic magic. * How to get to Redaura: From the portal city, head towards the ocean for about ~150 miles. Will encounter hilly terrain, then it goes flat. City is right next to the ocean. Next session: Brief practice with combat as a group, so they can be prepared to fight together in case there are problems. Pick out what supplies to bring. ---- 03/26/2018 Session: * The group laid out their strengths and roles when fighting: * Treya hmms. "My specialty is flankshanking in melee, or ranged from hiding. I mean, so long as magic is possible at all, I can teleport until any stored mana I have is expended.. * Kachi says, "I can climb anything, am pretty quick, but only have a little experience from class in sword fighting. I'm better with my bow and arrow." Also whatever magic they have ready. <--- Primarily, should focus on magic. * Mappy hmmms, "Fighitng wise, moths are not great up close. We're more delicate and light, but I am good with a pistol anyhow and agile enough to stay out of harm. I can fly, of course, and almost silently, but I think that Kachi asked me out here for most is that I am a cartographer as well as a librarian, and I have developed the ability to keep mapping even in adverse conditions. * Joule says, "I'm not really rigged for offensive capabilities, but I have excellent senses, I can fix things in a pinch, and I can make some pretty strong wards now should we need them. Some portals as well so long as they are not too distant or massive." * Joule says, "I can do that! If we need high speed, I can use my flight suit but it is not at all stealthy. I can hover on my own but much slower and keep an eye on things!" * Kasimir nodnods and thinks a few moments. "If we get jumped I guess my job is going to be to get front and center and draw as much attention to myself as possible, heh. I kind of anticipated that, I admit." * Treya hehs. "the rivjet's good at drawing attention too. It gets cranky when people attack me and mine, and a rivjet can take quite a beating.. * It was suggested by Kas that Kachi should use 'pressure': Kasimir chrrs, "Yeah, Kachi. A mixture of that and providing what I will call 'pressure'. You can use ranged spells, illusions, or even just tricks to ensure that they can't move freely, which will keep Treya and I from being overwhelmed." * The group then did some sparring together so they'd work well while on their adventure. * Tried some basic attacks against Kasimir to learn how to work together, then Kas and Treya teamed up against the rest. * Kachi cast a tiny wind spell, which Joule then amplified and created a hurricane to push back Kas. Treya bamfed out of harm's way, and up into the air to lob a 'grenade' at Mappy. Then, Joule created a field around himself and Kachi to protect the pair. Kas's ward disrupter (spark bomb) failed to pierce it, but Kachi's arrows could go out and keep Kas from doing much! Treya was able to sneak up around the back and get a dagger in through Joule's ward, managing to get Kachi's backside just a little. Next session: The group will pack up their gear and supplies, charge up spells, etc, and then head through the portal! ---- 04/02/2018 Session: * The group finished packing up gear, spells, some food, and such. * Cloaks that can warm or cool were popular additions. * Treya's Rivjet is coming with. * After packing, the group set off through the portal and arrived in Rezneea. * Found city had numerous portals to get to lots of other places. * Went through immigration, stated purpose of visit, had special sheet stamped to authorize removal of the two books. * No other items are currently authorized for removal unless in poor condition. * The group then started looking into what sort of vehicle to rent for the trip. They were settling on a larger truck-like vehicle. Next session: The group will rent their chosen vehicle, get last minute supplies around the city and run any errands, then set off towards Redaura. ---- 04/09/2018 Session: * The group exited the portal facility and ended up on the street, seeing the bustling city Rezneea for the first time. * Joule bought books about the local language, Perbrellick. * This is not the same as the language in Redaura, but might be similar enough. * The android scanned the books rapidly and was able to hold a conversation with a lizard kid and translate for Treya. * The lizard thought Joule was a familiar of sorts, since that's what he would be here. He also warned about being careful when off the main roads outside the city. * A map of the city was bought to help navigate the many roads and find places of interest. * The map also pointed out the location of a adventurer's temple, the best route out of town, and the location of the vehicle rental place (with Mappy's help). * Kasimir bought a picture book about the native plants of the region, in the hopes it might be helpful (or at least educational) on the trip. * Kachi wanted to get books on local magic and fairy tales, but will get them on the way home. * After a bit of a walk, the group arrived at the rental place. * After looking at the various vehicles, a large extended cab truck with a decent towing and offworld capability was chosen. A trailer was also selected to help transport the Rivjet. * While the truck is expensive, they are only expended to need it for a few days, so the total won't be too bad. * The truck takes 'power crystals' for fuel, and based on distance they'll need 10 crystals. It loads two crystals at a time. * The scene ended with Joule reading and signing the contracts, and getting the keyplug for the truck. Next session: The group loads up in the truck, hits the adventurer's temple on the way out, then hits the open road! ---- 04/16/18 Session: * A truck is selected, with a trailer, and after loading everything up (plus the Rivjet), the group sets off! * A stop is made at an adventurer's temple, with Throol the diety being worshiped there. * Mappy stayed outside to watch over everything and have a smoke of anti-biotic and anti-rad smoke. The rest went inside. * Everyone made an offering, and in return each got a boon from Throol. When things are getting rough and they need a little help, they can use the boon and get some sort of assistance. They also felt invigorated and very excited about the upcoming adventure! * A map is grabbed that shows roads and such of the surrounding area, to help them get to Redaura. * A quick stop is made for food to eat along the way * Spicy seafood, 'seabeans', wraps of meat and fish in seaweed, some surprisingly tasty plants and flowers (some cooked, fried, etc), chicken-esque meat, select few red meat-like stuff, and oversized stuff that resembles brown rice. * The usual soups, broths, and finger-sized foods (dumplings, etc) are also found. * The actual road trip then begins, and the city of Rezneea is left behind. * Trip itself on the commonly traveled roads was uneventful. * Session ended with truck turning off onto a side road, the easy driving over. Next session: Four wheel drive, navigating bumpy roads, and hopefully arriving at Redaura by nightfall without getting into trouble. ---- 04/23/18 Session: * As they turn off onto side road, they discover it has small logs and such making travel very difficult. Luckily the truck and trailer are more than up to the task. * The road clears up 1/4 mile later, suggesting this was purposely set up to discourage people from using the road. * The truck travels a while, until the tall hills are visible in the distance. Joule scouts ahead and finds armed guards in a couple of little shacks hidden on the hills. * The guards try and shoot at Joule using magitech weapons, but he escapes and makes it look like he's retreating far away. * Kasimir decides the group will take a rough, narrow side road (a logging road or something) to avoid that part of the hill. * Along part of the logging road, the group decides to stop for the night and sleep. Next session: Camping (briefly), avoiding the guards, finally reaching Redaura. ---- 04/30/18 Session: * The group camps out, then finishes their travels to the city mid-morning * Along the way, intercepted by a trio of males, which caused a bit of a standoff. They could be guards, militia, bandits, or something else. * Joule explained (in the native tongue) what the group was visiting the city for, and the guards said to go ahead. The three guards then walked away after telling Joule to stay away from either end of the city, the parts that were still inhabited. * As the group entered Redaura, the truck started having problems (the power quality indicator was going crazy), so Kas parked and hid it behind some buildings. * The scene ended with the group looking around what appeared to be an oddly thauma-neutral area. ---- 05/14/18 Session: * The truck is hidden somewhere safe, easy to access when they are ready to leave. * The immediate area they arrived in looks like: There's rubble all over the streets, making this best suited for walking or Rivjet - or both. It's eerily quiet, not even any wind. The broken glass-like windows are dark in the organic-feeling buildings, no one having been home for years. In the distance, the five broken towers can be seen, though it's a bit harder to get a good view because the buildings are in the way. Some odd, translucent (complete with putrid water) strips are seen along the sides of many roads; they have occasional openings and safety rails to get in and out. It's like a pathway for those who live in water. * Various vehicles are strewn about roadways, abandoned in place. Combined with crumbled buildings and debris, and it would be difficult to navigate the city without hitting a lot of dead ends.... unless you have a map! * Joule and Mappy take flight and Mappy does what he does best: Make maps! Joule assists in adding map regions indicating thauma levels (positive, negative, or neutral). * When getting close to the towers, Joule feels a little weird due to the magic, but Mappy is unaffected since he is not magical. * Mappy and Joule notice strange, delicate purple flowers in areas with negative thauma, the only flowers that seem to grow here (basically every other plant is dead). * Meanwhile, the rest of the group was exploring the area around them while waiting for the maps. They found buildings with strange icon signs on them, perhaps representing different species, and not all buildings had all icons. * Residental buildings still had furniture and some smaller items in them (seen through windows), suggesting a hasty evacuation. * Other than residential buildings, some businesses were spotted, offering all manners of (very old, rotted) goods. Treya broke into a place that looks like a magewright's shop, and looked over a variety of intact metal objects. * The magewright shop's door lock was magical in nature, and was completely dead. She had to bypass it by breaking the window. * Once inside, all the items that should be able to light the place up were totally dead, as if all magic were gone. * The forge in the back was completely lifeless and dead, magically, and was cold. * None of the items were sale had any magic left in them, so Treya left some coins and took a simple, sharp knife instead. * Once everyone was together as a group again, they entered another shop that looked like a general store. There, they found a map for sale that was too old to move (or else it might crumble apart). They were able to match up one of the large buildings on Mappy's map as being city hall. * Mappy was then able to show us with a holoprojector what he's mapped out: * Mappy turns on his holoprojector to show a 3D top down of their mapping so far. He has towers marked! "Four towers, this is the one we flew by. At the center of the square in the center of the city is the big eye tower you could call it. This map here fits into this section of our current map" * There is a pattern for the towers. They form the points of a square, covering a large chunk of the center of the city, with the eye-tower in the center of it all (basically the center of the city). It wouldn't be hard to avoid the towers if we're careful. * Noted there are giant spiders and mutated insects in some spots, Next session: Likely, heading towards the first group of large buildings (using Mappy's map) to see if any are the library. ---- 05/21/18 Session: * Decided to head towards the first group of large buildings (one of which is city hall). * Everyone got on the Rivjet since it could go over vehicles and small debris easily, and provided a small bit of protection. * Heading down a side road, the group encountered the skeletal remains of someone. It did not look like a violent death, and all flesh was picked clean. Relatively recent death, though the cause is unknown. * Skeleton had a small bag of strange rocks. The rocks appear to be capable of storing and distributing thauma evenly throughout the area around the rocks. * The rocks were taken, though due to laws are unable to be brought back to St Marin's at this time. * City becomes more maze-like, but Mappy's maps make navigation a breeze. * First fight (which took up about half the session): Cockroaches (or similar), but are person-sized. The insects surrounded the Rivjet, forcing the group to fight. * Discovered the insects will feed on anything, even other injured cockroaches. * This gave the group a plan of attack: A combination of toppling nearby buildings (Joule amplifying a push from Kachi), Mappy drawing insects away by cutting an arm and flying near them, stomping attacks by the Rivjet, and attacks by Treya and Kasimir left a lot of squished bugs! Next session: Continue heading towards the first group of buildings. ---- 06/04/18 Session: * Travel towards the first cluster of large buildings (which includes city hall) continues. * Group entered the first area of negative thauma. * "After a few more steps, we're inside, but you don't have to be told. You can -feel- it. The world around us basically feels lifeless... the free energy in the environment we're all used to is simply gone. The damage and appearances of everything is no different, but it still seems to have a sort of dark tinge you can't quite identify. There's also a lot more weathered skeletons here, suggesting sudden death back when the calamity occurred. Those little delicate flowers have bloomed on some of the skeletons, in cracks, where other plants used to grow, even on sides of the buildings, and such. They don't seem to need dirt to survive. You find anything that requires free thauma to work no longer does, and anything with stored thauma will work but be less effective. Most will feel a slight fatigue." * Strange ethereal creatures started appearing and surrounding the group, blocking off exits * "Those shapes out of the corner of our eye don't stay in the corner for long. Some are visible even when you look at them, for a moment. ANd all of them are looking right at us. Their shapes vary. All are basically a very dark color, have multiple sets of eyes, a variety of limbs, wings, and tentacles, and don't look at all friendly. They're starting to gather around us, though there's still distance and time before that happens." * Joule tried using his running lights to ward them off, with only a little success * Treya, as an experiment, threw some of the rock collected earlier to one side, and a stone infused with thauma on the other side. * The rock found earlier was ignored by the entities * The thauma stone became a feeding frenzy. Nearly all of the entities flocked to it an drained the stone quickly. The whole area feels 'icky' when they feed. * Joule found the entities tended to avoid large clusters of the small purple flowers * The group then raced out on the Rivjet to the safety of a positive thauma area. * Kasimir looked up the purple flowers in his book, and found: It is called Dipner's Warning. Apparently it only grows in negative thauma areas, and when brought to areas with actual thauma, it will die. only the seed pods can survive positive thauma areas intact. No one knows how it appears, or if it's even entirely on this plane, but it is considered a flower. * City hall was found, and these other buildings: Hall of Justice, a center of Trade, a 'building of magic', and embassies and the like. No library. * Since it will soon be nightfall, Kasimir decided the group will detour into the magic building to look around, then find a safe place to sleep. Next session: Exploring the 'building of magic', and sleep. ---- 06/11/18 Session: * Mappy and Joule found the magic building had a collapsed roof near the center. * This allowed Kachi and Treya to enter and get the main sliding door unlocked, letting everyone else in. * The building is still partially warded, meaning it's safe inside and a good place to sleep. * The lobby is big enough to hold the Rivjet and everyone else, so they will camp there. * The building appears to be some sort of administration building for magic affairs. * Explored a little and learned about the towers. * Essentially, the towers were connected deep underground to a leyline, though one that does NOT run directly under the city, but close. The four towers spread the thauma about the whole city, allowing many magitech and other devices to run without requiring everyone be a mage. That's why almost everything seems to be magic powered here. The center tower, called the 'eye', would monitor the thauma distribution and other related stuff, to help make adjustments. It could also serve as an early warning against attacks. Some places (such as this building) have thick cryswire connections to the leyline, so they could have a large amount of thuama piped right in, more powerful than what the towers could provide 'over the air'. * The leyline must have gotten messed up somehow and surged into the towers, causing the disaster. * Treya was able to break into a mini library in the building * Library description: Inside is a mini library, only a little musty. Nicely appointed, the books are 100% magic related, some extremely rare and valuable. They're not just from this planet either - Kas can read a few of the titles without help. Kachi of course comes in soon after, "I've heard rumors about some of these books... not even St M has 'em..." Her eyes widen. If only we had the permits..... * Joule looks around, "Hmmm...well if anything we could take a bunch of them back and offer them to the officials for historical preservations." Next session: The mini-library, sleeping, and reaching the main library. ---- 06/18/18 Session: * Discovered library has a variety of books not just from the city, but from other libraries on other worlds, including St Marin! The books are primarily of an in-depth, magic nature primarily of interest to very experienced mages. No one in the group can fully grasp the topics given their current level of education (maybe in a few years!). Joule may be able to use some of the concepts as inspiration. * Joule scans a bunch of books into his memory for later. Kachi and Mappy select some books that belong to St Marin to return them after a few centuries of being checked out. The wards have held up to keep the books in good condition. * Many of the books deal with efficient magical power transmission, however there are also many on manipulating materials - something Pira would find of interest. Other sections deal with magic motors, force fields, heavy duty industrial wards, even really big alchemical reference books. * The group sleeps overnight in a secure waiting room in the magic building, with no issues. * The next morning, Joule and Mappy fly out to do some recon. * Joule says, "Well, good news and bad news. Good news is there are places I bet I can tap into water and replenish our stores. Also there are broader roads we can use now. If we avoid getting too close to the eye or other towers, I might not wanna puke." * Mappy takes over, a bit more objective than Joule, "We have broad roads that should make for fast transit. The narrow alleys are dangerous now both for the predators that might be hiding in the buildings and because anything nearer the eye becomes less stable in many ways. We'll have some spots of negative thauma to take on as well based on Joule's measures, but if we really get pinned, he might be able to make a portal around some things. * The group heads out. * Finds the buildings and vehicles are in worse shape compared to the outskirts. * Unsurprisingly, the group is forced to enter a narrow sliver of negative thauma. * The horrible creatures from before fade in, and go right after the group on the Rivjet. * Joule emits some thauma and acts as a distraction, leaving just one creature closing in on the group. Treya has the Rivjet run as fast as he can, straight ahead, to get free of the place, but the creature was close enough to intersect... Next session: What happened when the creature touches the group, continue traveling to where the library hopefully is. ---- 06/25/18 Session: * Everyone on the Rivjet was touched by the entity/creature, and it caused them to feel fatigued and unable to use magic for about an hour. * Joule let loose excess thauma to cause the entities to chase him in the negative thauma area. A few couldn't stop in time at the edge, and seemed to be destroyed/disintegrated. * Came across a fresh water spring in a park that was otherwise dead, and filled up on water. Joule caught a squid-jellyfish hybrid and it made a nice meal for the Rivjet. * Someone was seen watching them from across the springs, using strange binoculars. It was elected to avoid them and take an alternate route, which adds about an hour of time. * The group continued on along their new route, and encountered a flat critter in the middle of the road that acted sort of like a blanket or tile - it would flip over onto its prey. Joule triggered it on purpose and used repulsors to force it back. * The blanket critter rolled up and ended up near a wall. * Kasimir considers pinning the blanket critter with a rock. ---- 07/02/18 Session: * 'Pancake monster' was pinned under rubble tossed on it from above by Kachi, Mappy, and Treya. * Group regained ability to use magic again. * The group continued on, only to be followed by a large (Lasamar-sized) snake with multiple sets of eyes! * The snake had some magic to it, and its hood likely could do something very bad when opened (possibly control people for easy eating). The group did not want to find out what that would be, so Kas sent a fireball at it, amplified by Joule. The snake was then a semi crispy-critter and slithered off, badly injured. * Joule was then 'burnt out' and couldn't use magic for a while. * Group continued on after, and then encountered their next challenge, a funnel-web in a narrow allyway that they must pass through. The spiderweb is impossible to avoid, and rather large. The spider itself is nowhere to be seen, but is probably big enough to be trouble. * The plan is to light an arrow on fire and launch it into the web, then use a wind spell to make sure the web catches on fire. Treya will be ready to snipe the spider should it come out. ---- 07/09/18 Session: * With a plan in place, the spiderweb (and spider) was attacked! The flaming arrow lit the web on fire, which caused the car-sized mutant spider to emerge. The web had some thauma in it, causing it to have a halo and burn brighter and longer. * Joule distracted the spider with divebombs to keep it crouched, while Mappy, Treya and Kachi sniped at it with bullets and arrows. * The spider scratched its backside, flinging thousands of sharp hairs at everyone on and include the Rivjet (Kachi and Kasimir). * Kasimir's attack was then ready, and he unleashed hail-sized objects at the spider, some of them smashing in past the exoskeleton! * Combined with Joule ramming the spiders eyes from above, the spider became blind and ran right through the fireweb, since that was the only direction on one was attacking from. * By the time it emerged, the spider was one crispy critter, and was quite dead. * Kachi and Kasimir were carefully cleaned off, partially using Joule's ability to make the hairs stick less, and then the Rivjet was de-haired as well. * Joule opened a portal so everyone could bypass what was left of the flaming web and spider carcass, and set out towards the library. * One more challenge awaits between there and here: Another negative thauma zone. ---- 08/13/18 Session: * Most of the session was spent trying to figure out a way across a large, flat area of negative thauma. * The group recalled how the negative thauma creatures seemed to avoid the little purple flowers (called Dipner's Warning), and so Treya, Joule, and Kasimir took turns darting in, collecting flowers, and coming back out. * Joule tested the theory by wearing someone's ribcage full of the flowers, and was unharmed. * Kasimir and Kachi mushed some flowers into a little container and created a spell that would mist the air around them with the juices, and keep it circulating. * Treya festooned her Rivjet with the flowers as a backup. * The group then slowly crossed the negative thauma zone without being directly attacked, though were watched very carefully by the creatures. * Finally they emerged on the other side, in front of the library! They have a few hours before it gets dark. ---- 08/20/18 Session: * The group finally got to the library exterior. * The library stands not too far away, the massive building looking like it will stand the test of time, and has! Other than some rather large cracks in the gruond nearby that you could lower yourself into, the library itself looks intact. Joule can confirm the words above the large, closed entrance read 'Library', the square-ish building with columns and some short stairs up to the entrance suggesting a place of calm and permanence. It looks hand built from a distance, but up close the workmanship is clearly a combination of that and the magic/organic materials seen elsewher in the city. Motifs are carved into the side of the building, though they are harder to see after all these years. * The main entryway looks locked or blocked. The glass is all grimy and there's no handles on the outside. Seems another way will have to be found inside. * The building seems to be warded, primarily with preservation wards. * There is also a teleportation ward too: Treya tried to teleport in but was bounced back out harmlessly. * Kachi and Mappy explore along the side of the building, and come to an employee entrance type door with a keypad above the handle. There is also a wide and deep crack leading right up to the building, which Kasimir found (via flashlight) that someone might be able to crawl inside the building that way. * The keypad has (translated) numbers 1-9, colored red green blue purple, and the first three letters of the alphabet. * After some experiments, it was determined Spark would flow from an energy source to a capacitor under certain buttons when pressed, then move to another button when it was pressed, if the two were linked together. Buttons must be pushed one at a time for this to work. In short, if a combination of buttons can be found to move the spark from the source to the destination, it should unlock. Since the wiring is hidden from the outside, this is not a trivial task. * Each button can only be used once * 7 is clearly one of the initial digits, and purple is a potential second digit. * 3 and 1 both charge when pressed ---- 09/03/18 Session: * Mini session since Treya was out. * Joule and Kasimir used their experiences in technomagic to probe carefully at the lock. * With some experimentation and careful observation with tools, they discovered the password was 1 9 blue 'B'. * The back door to the library then opened. ---- 09/10/18 Session: * Massive library! Three floors with tons of books, a big study/reading area, and it appears to have subfloors as well! * Everyone got inside the library and slept there overnight, safely. * Stayed in a workroom with no windows. * The aerial entrance was locked by Mappy, as were the other doors. * Discovered library had a sampling of books from many worlds, including some our group members are from. * Very extensive inter-library loan program, or a trade system. * The group really wants to liberate the inter-library and inter-world books, and will talk to the government on the way out to see if this is possible. * Treya discovered an electrical/spark control room, along with housekeeping supplies. * Discovered seemingly blank signs near each shelf. Kasimir and Joule determined by applying a little bit of spark, they would light up! * Treya is looking for anything she can try and activate with her equipment, either to search for or look at articles and books. * Next session, Mappy and Kachi will try and figure out how to use the signs to find books. Hopefully the others can activate what looks like consoles that might allow you to search for books. ---- 09/17/18 Session: * Figured out how to use the card catalog consoles. Were able to search for the books they needed: * Format is: A AA####/#:#:#-# * Type, Main topic, subtopic, floor, row, and shelf (1-3), section (1-4) * Types: A-Magically active, F-Fiction, N-Nonfiction (documenting events, history), T-Textbook, D-document (how to, wildlife guides, etc) * Book entries: * D FL7492/C:133:2-4 - Book of Perbrellum Plants, 1st edition * N LH2182/B:238:1-2 - Book of Frethyrym * Headed down to get the first book on the 2nd subfloor. * ( Down we go! It's spooky-dark, and spooky-quiet, but on this floor the wards have held intact - the crack is not on this level. There's nothing but rows upon rows of books that Kachi and Mappy want to take somewhere and read from cover to cover! We can sense the wards are still intact, and indeed the books appear to be in excellent shape. Down here, at least, the ordering is much more consistent, and there are big empty spots where a shelf was probably moved to the surface or elsewhere. The ceiling is reasonably high, and there are places to relax and read, or study. The support columns have fancy carvings, and the shelves look like they would withstand the ages.... unfortunately, this is not our floor - down the stairs again we go! ) * ( Down again, the floors all look about the same, except of course, we see light way off to one side - the crack. It also doesn't smell as good, there are apparently some shelves knocked over, the wards feel much more unstable.... and more importantly, you think you just heard something... and maybe saw it move. Yup, not alone for sure! And this is the floor where a book is on. ) * The area is mostly dark, with toppled shelves, partially broken wards, and wet, eating noises from (presumably) insects further back. * The crack seen from outside has opened up on this floor, providing a little bit of light, but also a way for stuff to get in. * Lighting up the signs (using Spark) provided group with what direction to head for the book, and off they went! * Heard what sounded like one insect eating another in the far darkness. * Found giant book-eating moth in the way, blocking path. * Can either go around, or get rid of the moth and go through. * Next session, the group will act on their decision to distract the moth and continue through quietly. ---- 09/24/18 Session: * Went around moth. Mappy and Joule flew a very short distance over to the book's location, found it, and packaged the book up nice and safe. * Treya scared the moth away after by throwing some books near it, since it was getting curious about Mappy. * The group then went down to the next floor, to find the second book. * ( Checking a couple of shelf signs to get an idea of direction, we determine it should be directly down the main row (where we're at), past some of the study tables, and to the left. Those with magical senses can detect that as the wards break down here, the more magically active books stick out. You'll know as you pass them. Since this area is more about practical stuff rather than just history, there are likely to be more such active books. ) * Wards not so strong down here, and Joule is able to get hints of magical energy from certain magically active books, with life/natural-aspected thauma primarily. * Treya continued with the chemlight trail so we can easily get back. * The group headed deeper into the floor, now that they know approximately where the book should be. * The shelves are in varying degrees of decay, more wards having failed here than the floors above. Luckily the books themselves are meant to last a long time, but that doesn't totally stop decay. The main path is mostly clean, so there's not much to trip over here.... however that changes rather quickly when we get to the desired row. We have to turn left into what looks like a row that goes on forever, with parts totally toppled, crushed, or just affected by age. Only a few shelves are totally intact by this point, meaning when we do find the book, it's going to need a bit of care! Books have been thrown or fallen to the ground, some open, their bindings probably ruined due to that. Just have to step carefully, or try an alternate route. Nothing moves, but there's hints of movement further back in the room, but we can't see what it is. Something might know we're here, or is perhaps foraging. * Treya summed up the situation nicely: "Lemme put it this way: we're gonna have to dig around for the book, possibly in combat conditions, under all the other cruft.." The book is likely in bad shape, requiring special handling. * Mappy and Joule took to the air to try and map a path to the book, with Joule providing light. * In the course of doing this, Mappy noted one of the large spiders in the back of the room, the spider's eyes glinting from Joule's light. * Next time: Getting to the book, possibly encountering the spider. ---- 10/01/18 Session: (shorter because we were missing Treya): * Combining Kachi, Kasimir, and Joule's magic, the little android emitted a blinding light at the approaching spider, sending it deep into the darkness of the room again. * The spider was heard possibly moving around them in a wide circle. * With the most immediate threat gone, the group continued to where the second book was supposed to be, and found it. * The book was in pretty bad shape, so Mappy and Kachi did some TLC to get it off the shelf and into a cushioned envelope for safekeeping. * With the book safely stored away, the group started heading towards the stairs... * Next time: Getting back to the safety of the ground floor. ---- 10/08/18 Session: * With both books retrieved, it was time to head to the surface. * Treya scouted ahead, and discovered the giant spider had gone around and hidden in the stairwell; it meant to ambush everyone as they ascended. * Using a flashbang, Treya stunned the spider temporarily, allowing everyone to get a head start in climbing the stairs! * Soon, the spider regained its senses and started chasing after the group! * Using a ward, thaumatic grenade, and a frag grenade (but not all at once), the group was able to delay and eventually prevent the spider from getting too close in a frantic running battle. The frag grenade in particular damaged the stairwell and sent the spider back down to the depths below. * Back on the surface, everyone turned to Mappy to determine the best way home, while there was still light out. * Mappy determined the best way out was a relatively short walk to the nearest outskirts of the city, and then walking the perimeter until the truck was found. * It was decided not to head towards the nearest occupied end of the city, as no one wanted to engage the locals any more than they had to. * Getting to the outskirts was much easier than when the group first started, because they had the experience and skills to deal with everything in the way. It was therefore not RPed out. * By the end of the day, the group was just about at the perimeter (where it was much safer, less issues from the messed up magic), and slept in a sturdy building (a second floor residence above a storefront) overnight. * Reminder for the next day: "For the next session, remember that most of us are magicked-out from the trip to the edge... so even if we're not in negative thauma, we may still find full magic use not so easy for a few days." * Next time: Getting to the truck, and hopefully back to the city! ---- 10/15/18 Session: * The group finally reached the truck without incident, and found evidence that there was a failed breakin attempt. * The truck was loaded up and set out for Rezneea. * Just after moving for a few hundred feet, a flare was fired from somewhere nearby, presumably as an alert to the bandits to capture the truck and everyone in it. * Treya responded quickly to the flare by teleporting right next to it (midair), shoots at the flare to break it up quickly, and t hen teleports back onto the truck bed. This causes the flare to become a bunch of smaller, brighter points that fade very quickly. * Meanwhile, Joule and Kasimir came up with a plan to get out of the situation without fighting: Using Joule's inverter, Kasimir and Kachi cast 'create light' spells that get changed into pure darkness instead. The darkness envelopes the area around truck in a bean-like shape, but everyone can still see out just fine (but no one can see in). Joule then added an extra illusion of the negative thauma entities 'chasing' the black blob. * As the truck emerged from the logging route, several bandits were waiting on the main road. The truck charges them, with the illusion intact. * Next time: Getting past the last few bandits, getting back to Rezneea, and hopefully getting home! ---- 10/22/18 Session: * The truck blew past the scared bandits; the illusion worked! * While everyone was escaping in the truck, Joule also used some negative thauma (similar to what was in the city) to kill plants along the road. The idea was anyone chasing them would see that and decide it's best not to continue. The idea worked; no bandits came after them. * The truck was dropped off, minus a little less deposit due to damage. * The group bought a book from a suspicious person off the street. It looked legit, but it was clearly a glamour. They will dispel the glamour once home to see what it really is. * At customs, the books that were not authorized for removal were confiscated. This includes everythign EXCEPT the two books they originally came for, plus any books that were very obviously property of St Marin. * Mappy and Kachi showed their credentials, and Mappy offered to provide the map made during the adventure (and mentioned the bandits) if we could work out a deal to get access to the confiscated books. * ( Mappy takes out one of his map tubes. "We have much of the city core mapped including locations of dangerous wildlife, hazardous magic fields, bandit camps, and we also have extensive records now of how we handled those and what would make for safer travel into the city center. I'd be very willing to surrender these for the public good if you'd be willing to at least offer to lend us the confiscated volumes." ) * ( Mappy follows up, "We can do this as an official interlibrary loan with documentation if necessary." ) * Customs took down our information and said they'd send someone to St Marin soon, considering how much we've done. * Next time: Final scene: Negotiations to get access to the books, and looking into the weird glamour book. ---- 10/29/18 FINAL Session: * Reth'mer, representing the research libraries on Perbrellum, met with the group in St. Marin library to discuss what to do with the confiscated books. * After much discussion, it was decided that in exchange for the map Mappy created of Redaura (including the thauma zones), that the confiscated books would be processed and restored by the Neopolis Central Library (where Mappy works) and then lent to St Marin and Neopolis on an interlibrary loan basis. The restoration would be paid for by the Perbrellum government. * While on loan, anyone can make copies of whatever they want in the books for further study. * Future expeditions may occur (likely not done as an RP) to get more of the books, or to assist with using the card catalog. * Everyone got paid by the original financier of the quest. * The scene then shifted to look at the book with the glamour on it. ---- CategoryRolePlaying