Session One

The party travelled to the mountains; it passed through Duvik’s pass, with its silver mining and plague; they went to Inn of the Ark where an  
elven girl was killed by band of kobolds. Kyga (Ted) killed the kobold  leader.

The party continued to Icewall where it was to have caught a boat to Moff Tet; the boat, however, lost its crew to a nearby construction project and was frozen in for the season. Male elf (brother of the slain elf girl) offers to lead party through the mountains to Moff Tet instead.

The journey the children and Herus have begun is what is known among Pioneers as a vacation mission. Pioneers typically use time off to visit relatives or run important errands, such as achieving goals related to their character classes other than Cleric, Paladin, Fighter, and Ranger.

    Often, groups if Pioneers will use their time to perform good deeds, like repairing an orphanage or bringing supplies to the drought-stricken. Another common theme of these vacation missions is making sometimes arduous journeys to learn skills and obtain experiences that are impossible to obtain otherwise.

    The parents or guardians of the children on the mission were approached by their local Pioneer Corps or Order of the Rose officials and an offer was made for their child to participate in a very special example of such a mission. They are to take an unusually extended journey for the sake of learning skills in what the Order calls “Observational Intelligence”, or what an unbiased inside observer (if one can imagine such a thing) might call spycraft. It is possible that some of the parents are a bit hazy on the actual meaning of the reasons given regarding the journey’s purpose.

    Although the attitudes of the parents toward the Pioneers and the Order may have varied, the value of such an opportunity was unmistakeable. Despite some ambivalence, the parents agreed to the journey and its unmistakeable risks.

    The cover for the journey is that the group of children are itinerant musicians and entertainers, putting on a variety show where it was convenient to do so, with Herus posing variably as an elderly chaperone or the troupe’s manager. Aided by Abrizio Parthos, the bard-in-the-making, the troupe is developing skills and may each add one bonus skill level in Perform as well as one level in Disguise.

    Now that the journey is well on its way, the current destination of the seems clear to the more knowledgeable Pioneers: the far-off, exotic port city of Moff Tet.

EXP:  100 Each

Session Two

The party sold the animals in Port Icewall and, on the advice of the Elf Boy, made the very equipment-oriented ascent to the terminus of the Secret Path. They brought an ally,  the half-elf druid/ranger Cermathus, to aid them in safely ascending the large-eagle-infested mountain peaks separating them from the Secret Path. 

Finding a warm, safe, rich ecosystem, they traversed a tremendous distance (it took them over two months total travel to reach Moff Tet) at a very quick pace. 

They encountered a stone structure, the Oracle of Calafractus; members of the party, after asking for wisdom and being paralyzed and lectured to at length about the importance of self-imposed morality, were given wisdom by the oracle, either: 

“In three years’ time, look to the fiery wasteland for your destiny.”

or

“Neither across the ocean, nor beyond the mountain, nor beyond the ice, nor below the fire; neither in the air nor underground, but very nearby, exist those that would influence your destiny.”


They traveled hundreds of miles farther before encountering a tiny man, with dun grey skin and long,wild white hair and a bushy white beard. He wore a tidy and fine-looking brown suit and bright blue boots and carried a freshly-killed goose; he tried to entice the party to visit his master’s camp for dinner but Dana the paladin detected evil in the creature and the party demurred. 

Continuing on, the party happened upon a scene taking place in the Arena (an ancient abandoned site with a magic-dampening field):

As the party watched, the Black Elf Warrior and the Aged Elf greeted and spoke to one another, embraced, kissed deeply, and speak to one another for some time while grasping each other’s hands facing one another.  They then dropped their hands to their sides and stepped back from one another. The Aged Elf suddenly sang out a strange word: “Cardecfrus!” 

At that moment, the party’s attention was diverted as the Aged Elf’s young accomplice, a hundred yards away, was sneak-attacked by the Tiny Old Man with a gleaming dagger. After stabbing her gleefully to death, the wicked little man danced around, giggling, and licking flecks of blood off of his blade. At the same time, just after the Aged Elf cried out, the Black Elf Warrior drew his weapon and cut the Aged Elf down. He then broke the weapon over his knee, threw the pieces to the side with a barely audible vocalization, and strode off. The Tiny Old Man scurried after him. 

After emerging from the Secret Path along the coast northeast of Moff Tet after another long walk, the party walked the rest of the way on a path cut into the cliffs by the sea.

Arriving in Moff Tet, Herus sought out an elf to inform of the events in the arena; he found an elf named Imarel and told him the party’s tale. He also made contact with the small Order of the Rose outpost here in Moff Tet.

Additional bonus skill ranks from this week:

+1 rope use, +2 mountaineering, +1 survival, +1 entertain, +1 disguise

Your characters are now 1st level. Due to your long journey and many travails, you may be considered to be stronger and wiser tan your years and may eliminate the penalties imposed for your youth as well as those specific to your former 0-level status.

 

Session Three

The party in Moff Tet: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. 

The party, after receiving the message regarding the map leading to a path through the mountains, set off to retrieve it. Traveling through the warren of tunnels and chambers in the depths of the city, the party finally arrived at Caratook Bazaar. After entering the Bazaar, the party explored Skuhrums Delicatessen, freed the half-orc boy Welby, slew the butcher and the cook, and disguised the remains as stew and compost. Welby fled as soon as the party exited the deli.

After leaving the deli, they went to Scurturgness the Barrister’s office to purchase the map. After negotiating with the orc to sell the map for 1500 gp, the party took the “map” (a weird object shaped like a giant, chitinous “leaf” of a pinecone about one foot long and decorated with runes, hashmarks, colors and textures) and left for their villa on the surface to try to decode it.



EXP:  160 per player

 

Session 4:

The party returned from the Bazaar. They had comprehend languages cast on the map, called a guiderune, and read the following:

“Skywalk Journey”

A series of groups of number and letter sets without obvious meaning

The words “moon” and “sun” several times each

Colorful metaphors for various animals and plants

They are informed that a man who can probably further decode the guiderune is a scholarly type working on an archeological dig a ways away. 

The formerly extremely evil greatsword was repaired:

The Greatsword of Krowanarcus is a legendary evil blade. Writ with eldritch symbols and embossed with depraved imagery glorifying evil deeds, the the masterworked greatsword is of an unknown lightweight and strong material and is marvelously balanced. As such, it deals damage like a greatsword (1d10) but can be wielded as a longsword or as a greatsword. It is also Keen.

The decoration of the weapon indicates that its origin is an ancient Faceless God culture.

The party resisted an invitation to take a ride on an elevator to, presumedly, learn all of the secrets behind all of the curtains; instead they left Moff Tet to travel to the monastery. 

After being greeted near the valley containing the monastery and being escorted, blindfolded, to the monastery itself, the party spent some time conversing with the monk Master. The spoke for a while in what in other contexts one would describe as a throne room, although here it seemed more mighty but somehow less formal. It was a large, dark, columned hall, with ceilings far, far above. Groups of simply garbed monks here and there sat and meditated. The Master and several other people dressed in simple clothes sat in the brilliant-by-comparison shaft of sunlight from an oculus far above. The Master and his court sat and reclined on cushions, speaking softly to one another as the party approached.

First, the Master spoke with Herus. After a while he directed questions to several of the children. He heard the party’s story and asked many penetrating questions. The Master led the party out onto a nearby balcony; the balcony overlooked a wide, shallow valley filled with grassy fields and copses of trees. He pointed at a sharp peak in the mountains framing the background and said,

“My disciple, Roland, journeys to his final test to become a monk. Walk, as best you can, in the direction of that sharp peak. Roland goes there, but will stop and meditate frequently along the way, so perhaps you can catch him. I suspect that it would be best that you do; I think that perhaps he can help you learn the meaning of your encounter with the dark elf and the elf woman in the Arena.

“There are, among you, some who may wish to accompany him for his test; the wardens will know who may enter, should some of you decide to.”

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the Ominous Cavern, a fierce attack against the Sentinel monks who guard it occurred. The dark elfin attacker is driven off and his dread allies are destroyed. 

Session Five

Leaving the monastery, the party hastened to meet Roland the disciple. They caught up to him and discussed their travels and experiences. Roland recognized the word the Aged Elf cried out, “Cardecfrus!” as being very similar to the name of a kata or form the children at the monastery learned when they were little. This is a form that would typically be a part of the series of forms performed by the disciple when they underwent their test. 

Arriving at the Ominous Cavern amid the aftermath of the Dark Elf attack, the party is admitted to the cavern.

The “cavern” turned out to be a series of vast interior spaces in the mountain characterized by incredibly high ceilings, floors that slowly curve into the cavern walls and a profound “deadness” to sound; the characters voices and footfalls fall flat without the slightest echo. The walls and floor are slightly luminous, providing a dim, dusk-like lighting. The last couple of hundred feet of passage leading to the cave appear to be in an original, naturally formed state. 

The cave itself seems to be dark to non-residents when they first arrive. After a few rounds, their eyes begin to adjust and they begin to see swirling, waxing and waning tonal patterns of every color, moving and growing slowly at times, and a other times spurting across the arc of the player’s vision in a flash. After a few more rounds, they begin to perceive a ground surface and horizon line of sorts. Some of the color patterns resolve themselves into creatures that flit about, changing rapidly in color and shape, texture and size.

Roland performed his Cardecfrus. As he finished it, a tall, gangly, green-skinned figure looking somewhat like a gigantic, stretched-out frog approached him and asked, “To whom shall I deliver the message?”

Roland replied, “To us.”

The messenger delivered a long narrative whose purpose was to deliver the message in a form that will be imprinted on the recipient’s mind so that the message will be more likely to be remembered.

The message itself, once studied by scholars working for the monk Master, turned out to be a complex series of lyrical allusions to obscure and rare texts written by a sect of neutral worshippers of the Faceless God:

“and so, just as the lion eats the hare, so too may the lion dream of what it means to be a hare.”

This is an allusion to a tale, detailed in an ancient tome referring to a far older story, relating a conversation between two philosophers that leads into a discussion between them about recent portents of great changes that were afoot.

“Listen not to the words of angels or devils, but seek the steady thoughtful wisdom."

This passage alludes to a phrase said to be carved on a plinth in a high gallery located in an edifice near the peak of Old Carsomonia. Part of an installation that had some sort of communication or related purpose, the particular direction indicated by that particular plinth focused in some way directly upon another point quite near the present location of Duvik’s pass. Scholars and poets still study the phrases today, since they are parts of a far longer set of verses remembered from a distant epoch.

“To nurture the mind and the spirit is essential to prosperity
“Meat, bread and a clean draught; a roof over one’s head; all aid a quest for vigor
“But happiness? Playthings and baubles for this!”

This verse is part of a comical version of an archaic theatrical form professing the importance of material things over learning and spiritual pursuits. The meaning is thought to be that it is an object that is to be obtained, as opposed to (or in addition to) knowledge.

Needing the advice of a scholar named Yoric to interpret the guiderune, the party travelled for a few days to reach an archeological dig where the scholar was working. Yoric agreed to interpret the guiderune for the party in exchange for the party running an errand to obtain an artifact from the tomb of a king from a tomb complex to the south of the dig several days travel away; the party agreed.

While camping one night as they approached the tomb complex, the party encountered a fierce, wild bipedal creature of great strength. They killed it.

Entering the tomb complex, the party was assailed by a sense of dread. The performance of the bard soothed their fears enough for them to proceed.

Wide, arched stone doorway leading to buried ramp stuffed with large boulders, rubble and gypsum-sand. There is evidence of broken stone hinges, and broken stone doors lie upon the ground. There is also a side entrance, originally hidden but now smashed open and laid bare. It consists of a 10’ wide hallway leading into the large earthen mound.

EXP: 250 each

 

Session 6:


The session begins at the entrance of a king’s tomb said to contain the objective of their journey here, the Disc of Romnus. Going down a 100'+  long hallway to a round room with an ocular above and a spiral staircase going down, they found the scattered and broken skeletons of two large humanoids, perhaps hill giants. 

Going down the stairs, the small room below had a hall leading to a large oval room in the shape of an “O”; the remains of six wains once full, no doubt, with grave goods in large quantities were in the room. All now is mouldering ruin and decay, and little but dust and clumps of matter of an indeterminate plant or animal origin. There was a doorway, with great stone doors thrown down in pieces. Some of the rubble that fills the cavity beyond the doorway extends into the room a few feet. Bones of many creatures lay strewn around, including one over two feet long that has been dubbed a dragon by the party.

Four antechambers off the main room hold the same ruined materials scattered about but are otherwise empty except for the skeleton of a humanoid child lying intact upon the floor of one.

On the side of the "O" shaped room opposite the large broken doors, there are two mostly empty rooms and a magically-locked door; upon chiming the door open, the party defeated two zombies made of preserved bodies that were perfect-looking young females. Finding the disc behind the body of the king, the party left.

The party also looted the tomb across the way, getting some magical saddle and tack, and a bunch of metal chits and small objects of a myriad of forms and shapes, along with hundreds of clear glass or crystal discs, embedded in a pile of mouldering organic matter.

Leaving the second tomb, they noticed that the gorillas that had been watching them from the entrance of the tomb complex were gone.



EXP: 450 each


Session 7:


Leaving the tomb complex, the party was attacked by two more gorillas that targeted Herus specifically.

Returning to the dig site, they were given their guiderune translation and told that their other find was an important coin collection:



The Coin Collection is a numismatic collection of an archeologically significant nature. The Collection was found in the tomb of a Prince Orinalcus from a  thousand-plus years ago. As such, is is an extremely comprehensive coin collection from a period long ago.

The collection is large and heavy and in mouldering ruins. Once well organized and compartmentalized, only the coins have survived the millenia of decay. They are loosely impacted in a matrix of fibrous and brittle/punky matter, with pieces of glass or crystal (previously windows protecting some of the more valuable specimens) mixed in with the coins.

The collection has coins of perhaps hundreds of different peoples and/or times from areas ranging far and wide, indicated by the sometimes difficult-to-identify landscapes depicted on some of the coins. The metals and other materials, languages, visual styles, coin types and shapes, and quality of craftsmanship vary widely. 

500 GP worth of gold coins

400 SP worth of silver coins

350 CP worth of copper coins

35 coins of patinated steel

60 coins of about a dozen unidentifiable metals

26 coins of unidentifiable non-metal materials including gemstone-like materials and a few coins made of somewhat pliable ivory-like substances.

Upon leaving the encampment at the dig site, the group noticed the absence of the Efl Boy, brother to the slain-at-the-inn Elf Girl. Traveling back to the monastery, the party observed a group of six kobolds stealthily following the obvious path of the party.

Stowing their loot in the monastery’s massive vault, the party traveled to the starting point of the Skywalk Journey of the guiderune.

The party set out on a series of easy fifteen or so mile long legs of a journey through the mountains. Along the way they encountered a school of giant air-fish guarding a needle-like stone spire jutting 200 feet into the air, glowing at the tip with blueish light in the morning and purpleish-red light at dusk.

Mountaineering around the spire to avoid the air-fish, the party traveled until it saw meadows, fields and copses of trees below them, and eventually a little boy and a little girl tending sheep.

EXP: 300 each

 

Session 8:


The party began the session in the vale they found as they descended from the Skywalk Journey, conversing with two shepherd children. The discussion was interrupted when a hill giant toddler popped out, snatched a lamb and ran off with it, chased by the children’s dog and the boy shepherd. Chasing the giant, the sheep, the dog and the boy, the party followed them into a subterranean complex of corridors of ancient, heavily worn by age but well finished stone. The party at last emerged on the other side of a mountain bordering the vale, discovering a family group of hill giants living there. 

Escaping the giants through the corridors, the party encountered and slew two really big centipedes before returning to the surface. Proceeding to the village with the boy and girl, the party is welcomed warmly. It is apparent that there has been little news from the outside lately.

The next day, the party set off for the lodge following the villager’s directions into the mountains to the south. Finding a stone arch leading to a massive (2000 +/- feet wide) spherical void cut cleanly from the mountainside as if by an ice cream scoop. Passing through the arch, the party found themselves at the Doon Aben lodge on the plane of air; essentially the “scoop of ice cream” with the lodge building and surrounding areas, falling endlessly through space on the plane of air.

Peculiar-looking leather-skinned porters and the Host emerged to take their bags and welcome them to the lodge. At a sumptuous dinner, the Host explained some of the perils of the plane of air and discussed the nearby (on the plane of air) village of Fooose Ahhhh.

As the guests sipped their aperitifs, another party arrived to the lodge through the arch. It consisted of two adult-sized females, two adult-sized males, and two children. Some of the party found the four adults familiar, and Kyga thought that he had seen them earlier in the journey, between Carsomonia and Duvik’s Pass. As the newly arrived group walked up the stairs into the lodge, one of the cloaked and hooded children looked over at the window through which the party watched them. It was clearly the face of the Elf Boy.

EXP: 500


Session 9:


The session begins at the entrance of a king’s tomb said to contain the objective of their journey here, the Disc of Romnus. Going down a 100'+  long hallway to a round room with an ocular above and a spiral staircase going down, they found the scattered and broken skeletons of two large humanoids, perhaps hill giants. 

Going down the stairs, the small room below had a hall leading to a large oval room in the shape of an “O”; the remains of six wains once full, no doubt, with grave goods in large quantities were in the room. All now is mouldering ruin and decay, and little but dust and clumps of matter of an indeterminate plant or animal origin. There was a doorway, with great stone doors thrown down in pieces. Some of the rubble that fills the cavity beyond the doorway extends into the room a few feet. Bones of many creatures lay strewn around, including one over two feet long that has been dubbed a dragon by the party.

Four antechambers off the main room hold the same ruined materials scattered about but are otherwise empty except for the skeleton of a humanoid child lying intact upon the floor of one.

On the side of the "O" shaped room opposite the large broken doors, there are two mostly empty rooms and a magically-locked door; upon chiming the door open, the party defeated two zombies made of preserved bodies that were perfect-looking young females. Finding the disc behind the body of the king, the party left.

The party also looted the tomb across the way, getting some magical saddle and tack, and a bunch of metal chits and small objects of a myriad of forms and shapes, along with hundreds of clear glass or crystal discs, embedded in a pile of mouldering organic matter.

Leaving the second tomb, they noticed that the gorillas that had been watching them from the entrance of the tomb complex were gone.



EXP: 450 each


Session 10:


The party receives a visit an early morning visit from an especially creepy Hellraiser club member named K’snee who is fascinated by the Greatsword of Krowanarkus.
They then go to Foose Ahhhhhh to seek someone to help them with their purpose. The mayor of the village, which turns out to be a group of enormous clumps of stone and earth, and massive stone cylinders, spheres and cones and even a few sailing ships, all fastened together by mighty chains and short hanging bridges holding everything together as it falls through space. 

Asking around to for the Mayor, they found him in his office. He said that they should go speak to Omid Krauza, who runs a gambling parlor and pawn shop. Omid Krauza takes the party to a ritual chamber where they were vetted for being descendants of Kelfarious the Fleet, ancient hero of the air cult on Terra.

Of the ten children still in the group, six proved to be descendants. Abrazio was not among them. He, and the three NPC children who were rejected (and Herus), were asked to leave the room so the ritual could continue.

The chosen children were each given a mark that will make creatures of the plane of air favor them. They were also each given a gift of ancient and somewhat queer style, and made with high degree of craftsmanship:

Albamenon:  A richly jeweled and decorated scroll consisting of a thin flexible sheet of gold that is engraved. 
Roland: Sash of the Divine Wind 
Dana: An ancient amulet of Calafractus
Kyga: Mightiest of all: the Divine Brassard (armband)

Leaving the complex with the ritual room, the party (except Abrazio) saw the Elf Boy’s group on the way in. The party (except Abrazio) returned to the lodge. Later on, Abrazio returned. He was getting some ink.

Session 11 - after a brief interregnum....


After being tasked with finding the missing boy hero, Milo Turrani, by his uncle Gallatio, the party meets at a pioneer camp in the mountains and sets off to look for Milo in the Smuggler’s Village. 

Meeting up with Meerwight the Ranger at the Standing Rock, the party learns a few things about the region befor setting off for the village.

In a woods near the village, the party is ineffectually ambushed by a troupe of bugbears; a survivor leads them to the cave where the bugbears had a lair and to four trussed and tormented hunter/gatherer humans from a few miles away.

The dwarf cleric cleaned the cave and consecrated it; the party spends the night before heading off in the morning.

Exp: 650 each


Session 12:


The party began by killing 2 dire wolves and wounding a third. The bard bought Shana. The party decided to escort Shana away before returning to inquire with the goblins. 

Sartoq the half-orc conversed with the party on the way out of town to bring Shana to Meerwight and safety. 

The party hunted successfully; they brought the meat to Sartoq and sold it to him. They mentioned Milo to Sartoq; Sartoq acknowledged knowing the name but said no more.

The party decide to meet up with the goblins, then return and see if Sartoq can help them find Milo.

360 xp each