trickery and magic...
Plot Developments
- The Saviors became trapped in a mesmerizing cloud sent by the Adaj'iil Varlasun, and only Nalua managed to escape it. Arinew attempted to play his way out with a bardic counter, but the mist became supercharged with the fey glamour and things got psychedelic. The party suffered some very bad trips, especially Auro (who burned through the parrot drake Bakoba, killing her) and Arinew (who grew into the likeness of an Unseelie Oberon of old, terrifying and exciting Dewdrop). The high priestess of Eglantine was forced to expend all three stars on her magical circlet to save them.
- After another dangerous encounter with gravity, the Saviors narrowly avoided a wing of dragons sent to investigate the disturbance so close to the Thirteenth Gate. Some had their doubts the dragons were even real, but none were quite brave enough to risk finding out.
- Auro befriended the parrot drake Simra after saving her life with an unexpected mind-link focused through one of her head crystals. She allowed the genasi to ride her.
- The Saviors decided to continue the journey on foot, forcing them to pay the mage Varlasun a visit, as he lorded the Thirteenth Gate, the only means to the summit. Rogar wanted to visit his brother in any case, to pay him back for his trickery.
- The rest of the day was spend navigating a shaded, cool and mysterious understory of giant trees, leaves as tall as men, and ropey boughs. Shadows passed overhead often, and all the various wildlife were scared into silence.
- Nalua continued her tutelage of eager Kriznob on the ways of properly caring for animals, specifically Deshkyr. He might just be getting the hang of it.
- Reaching the base of the gate by nightfall, the party found a number of staircases leading to just as many castle gates, part of a frustrating, time-consuming and trapped illusion. The Saviors managed to negotiate it without injury or detection.
- Arinew deduced the entire castle was draped in illusions, too many to count, and so began an arcanological debate on how best to handle these many figments and phantoms. The easiest would have been to destroy them, but they might have avoided detection by moving them, or turning them against Varlasun. It was ultimately decided to destroy them, as the notion of detecting every enchantment and then somehow altering them seemed too daunting a task, even for such accomplished arcanists.
- In a combined effort, the Saviors pooled their collective magics. The Archwardens and Auro unleashed raw Primordial and Elemental power, while Arinew evoked the Primal and Arcane magics of Annwn itself, Narra using her Psionic will to focus it all through the Orium staff. The result was the total dismantling of every last illusion Varlasun had woven over the last twenty odd years, betraying Reedthagn's glaring weakness: that his armies had been whittled to nothing in the war against Chernobog, and all had been shadows, ghost sounds and floating lights. The mighty green was hiding in his hypercube, pitting the last of his brood as barriers against enemies.
- As Varlasun knelt broken upon an empty plateau, the party could only wonder at the ramifications of their great dispelling, both on the brood of the wyrm whose eyes were now opened, and the opportunistic Chernobogians, no doubt sensing their time to strike.
Experience: 2800 xp (119,000 total; LEVEL UP 19)
Personal Resources
Varlasun's troops and dragons may have been an illusion, but his treasure cache and various arcane focuses are not. He kneels broken atop them in a sad and dismal reflection of a true dragon upon his hoard.
treasure: Gloaming Shroud [level 23], Thought-Eater Leather Armor [level 23], Coronet of the Urbane [Circlet of the Urbane, level 23], Cube of Mental Dominion [Orb of Mental Dominion, level 21], Counterstrike Leather Armor [level 20], Spurned Deidre [Dancing Scimitar, level 20], Master's Wand of Illusory Ambush [level 19], Master's Wand of Phantom Bolt [level 19]
Gloaming Shroud: This billowing cloak seems to be woven of the same wispy shadowstuff the circling dragons were made of, like ink floating in dark water, midnight blue near the collar and more of a black-gray mist at its fringes. It saps other lights around it of brightness and heat, and effectively obscures the wearer's movements.
Thought-Eater Leather Armor: This rather nondescript suit is overly supple and weathered thin at the joints, not fit for the lowliest squire's under-armor, but like many of the Thirteenth Gate's holdings possesses a power unbecoming its exterior. The very faintest of patterns carries throughout the gray leathers, wormy tubes like brain matter.
Coronal of the Urbane: Orium is not the only psionic metal in the worlds, and Varlasun's Ouroboros headband is crafted from a pearly steel known as Delibrium. While Orium translates thought into force, Delibrium translates thought into aptitude and skill. When its power is drawn upon, the metal glows white.
Cube of Mental Dominion: Like a miniaturized Tesseract, this jade-like cube of uncertain mineral is perfectly cut and occasionally shimmers with deep, perplexing lights and patterns. It is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, but is surprisingly heavy, and holds within it the knowledge of Adaj'iil Varlasun, including his small insights into alien technology that comprises the fallen ships and yes, even the Hearts.
- Reedthagn forbade Varlasun from researching too deeply into the Tesseract or any other alien device, but the curiosity of the mage became so great that he disobeyed his great sovereign. He'd only the intentions of furthering Reedthagn's cause, but it could be that he was punished for his insolence by sustaining more and more illusions, until he broke entirely. Luckily, his original research was copied into the cube...
- There are five known alien ships scattered across Creation, but Varlasun suspects there are nine. Nine is an important number in the universe, it seems, and most things come in nines. Nine planes, nine alien ships, nine helms, nine gems, designed and purposed for things far beyond the scope of any terrestrial being.
- Near as the dregoi ritualist can figure, there is a relationship between the ships, the helms- or ancient rings which he believes operate the ships- and the planar gems, which his theories characterize as limitless batteries, like infinity engines to power the ships' time-and-reality-bending powers.
- The five known ships are as follows: The jade Tesseract, upon the summit of Reh'na'thagnatar, keyed to the Wyld, under the control of Reedthagn the Green. Varlasun marks that the gem and helm are missing, which is true, as Nalua possesses Parlothon's Key (the Wyld Helm, as it were);
- The onyx Octahedron, in the black depths of the Stygian Chasm, keyed to the Void, protected by Delzounian derro and under the control of a nameless force. Varlasun cannot account for its gem or helm, though Arinew would know Diana possesses the Strangeheart and therefore the ship is not fully operational;
- The crystal Hendecachoron, operational and roving Creation, keyed to the Astral Sea, under the control of Emperor Endymion Norson and his Nors torturer-scientists. He suspects the gem and helm are accounted for, but the Saviors can already prove that theory false for Nalua's possession of Iluvistria's Key (the Astral Helm, as it were). Endymion must have found another way to operate it...
- The amber Pentagonal, in the city of Noran, once the city of Glorian, keyed to the First World, under the control of Emperor Endymion Norson and his Nors torturer-scientists. He knows the prism ship is somewhere in the city, but he isn't exactly sure where, or whether or not the gem or helm has been accounted for.
Counterstrike Leather Armor: This suit is made from the oiled hides of feymire crocodiles, ranging from yellow-brown to black-green in hue, edged along the back with the monsters' own scaly frills. The crocs' crushing bite is imbued as a powerful, wounding ward set against any who would harm the wearer.
Spurned Deidre: Dancing weapons are rare things, and each of them has their own personality of sorts. Spurned Deidre is likened to a jaded lover, shrugged aside when her wielder found a more powerful blade amidst a dragon's hoard. Relegated to a sheath, then eventually forgotten in a chest, the scimitar spontaneously animated, hurt and wild to prove herself. Why the wielder need not wield her at all, simply let her dance alongside him.
Spurned Deidre appears as a slim, black-bladed scimitar with a golden handle, set with garnets and rubies, and whose pommel trails an black silken sash.
Master's Wand of Illusory Ambush: This Orium wand is shaped like a narrow dagger.
Master's Wand of Phantom Bolt: This Orium wand is shaped like an elongated teardrop.
coin: [52,500 gp total]: 371 pp, 392 gp, 74 sp, 60 cp + 3 perfect diamonds (5000 gp each)
loot: alchemical reagents x 10, rare herbs x 10, Varlasun's ritual book (Hallucinatory Item, Banish Illusions, Hallucinatory Creature, Voicecatcher Veil, Hallucinatory Regiment [Book of Rituals])
New NPCs
Adaj'iil Varlasun Thagnbrood: The hermit dregoi proved a master illusionist, terrifying the local jungles and greater mountain alike with suggestive shadows, floating torch light and ghost sounds to make it seem as if Reedthagn's forces were plenty. The reality, as revealed by the undaunted Saviors, was that the green ancient's forces were nearly spent after such prolonged and costly war with Chernobog. Varlasun had become nothing more than a starved, drained and sleepless beggar of a mage after having sustained so many enchantments for so long, all to maintain the facade of grandeur his father once truly possessed.
Returning NPCs
Gliadim, Fonnig, Dewdrop, Bakoba (dead), Kriznob, Yat, Deshkyr, Simra, Ashenthe
Lore
See above.
Next Session
112a: Rogar confronts his ruined brother, while down in the valley Arinew confronts his suspicious coz. The path to the highest reaches of Reh'na'thagnatar is clear, but the party must still contend with Anoximoia before proceeding to the hypercube at last.
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