Game 22: Into the Light

10:1
Early in the morning, Owen meets the ki-rin, Destiny. After asking him a few ominous questions, Destiny takes him on a strange journey through some sort of netherworld. He drops Owen off at a remote farm somewhere in the southern forests and asks him to wait while he fetches some other people.

Meanwhile, on Deathwatch Island, Souriin receives a visitation from Egreera. She asks him to protect Owen during his journey into the "Amber Wastes" as a favour to her. Shortly before the visitation, Souriin's raven leaves his cabin with a loud shriek.

After Souriin agrees to protect Owen, Egreera gives him twenty acorns to make into a juice. About a half hour later, Destiny arrives on the island to transport Souriin to the farm where Owen is waiting.

Juli Mayberry approaches Euvgeni to ask him a favour on behalf of her mistress. She needs him to protect Souriin and Owen in the Amber Wastes. She tells him that Egreera will not be ungrateful.

Euvgeni is not impressed, but agrees to go because Souriin is his friend. Juli tells him that Egreera will ensure that Dagaronzie will not hurt his children again.

Euvgeni mounts Destiny and leaves his affairs in Outreach in the capable hands of Kyra Jess'a. During his journey to the farm he has a solemn discussion with Destiny. The horse-like creature seems impressed with Euvgeni's sense of strategy and honesty.

The friends gather at the farm and meet Lorim Trueleaf, a young elven druid; Urun and Illiya, the owners of the farm; and Ika, a foundling child with totally black eyes. Ika seems to have a very bad reaction to magic. She and Lorim are going to travel with the others to the Shimmering. Lorim believes that Ika's eye-sight will be important.

10:2
Hawthorn begins her formal tutorship with Tess Sulinavallea, one of the Deans at the University of Craft and Thought.

10:3
A rumour begins to circulate amongst the halfling communities in Rotan. According to the rumour, Joranth Bumblefoot's spirit will not be able to rest until the war drums which he found in the Ruined City are used in battle.

10:4
In return for a tip-off about a corrupt field agent in Simipia, the RMA donates a substantial quantity of grain to the Halfling Produce Consortium. The grain is moved into storage.

10:5
Following the disappearance of the Vacuous Grimoire, a thorough check of the University library is performed. During this check, one of the library staff members notices that where there were previous ten volumes of Joranth's Books of Cha-im, there are now 11. However, the volumes are numbered 1-10 and 12. Book 12 has only a few used pages, and appears to have been written a couple of months before Joranth's death, but after his initial visit to the Ruined City.

10:7
King Anwell becomes aware of Lurik Mien's efforts to have Souriin and Damus evicted from the Rotan Palace to make space for a shrine to Artafor. The two leaders are rumoured to have a very heated discussion in the Palace. After this encounter, Lurik does not mention the subject again.

10:8
The halflings in Rotan launch a project called "adopt-a-dwarf". The idea is for established halfling families to support some of the refugee dwarves from Urgari, lessening the burden on Nedgari.

10:10
Tekuna and Kyra Jess'a meet to discuss business between Rotan and Outreach. Tekuna discovers that although Kyra is a little inexperienced in business matters, she has a natural flair for them. A deal is struck on the handling of the gem industry and Tekuna also promises Kyra a seat on the Standards Board.

10:11
Tekuna gives Damalanthas the news that a splinter group of halflings calling themselves "The Eyes of Joranth" are setting up their base of operation in hidden chambers under the food silos in New Ivrea. The two rogues agree to keep a cautious eye on the organisation.

10:11
Owen leads a pair of ferocious owlbears away from the rest of the party, but is caught off-guard and badly injured by one of the pair. He is able to escape and the party moves swiftly away from the area.

10:14
After Fengar the Grey lodges a formal complaint, the halflings agree to abandon the "adopt-a-dwarf" campaign (most dwarves found the idea offensive, rather than helpful).

10:15
Tekuna has Wanwier's former necklace identified while visiting the University. Curiously, it isn't one of the university staff who identifies the necklace, but a visiting expert on religious symbols from the Church of Artafor in Lerantu. She claims that the necklace is a powerful Widapan Necklace of Possession. It is known to possess the soul of its wearer and drive him or her to commit atrocious acts.

10:16
Damus is reading a book of ancient poetry when he finds something written by the gnomish explorer Lemonaris. It is dated 2022, later than any of Lemonaris known works, and some ten years after his last voyage. The poem speaks of “a great island nation to the north” and tells of the death of the Emperor – beloved of his people – and of a group of people known as the "Overmind" who seized power after his death.

10:16
The group travelling through the southern forests reaches the beginning of an area which has a strange amber tinge to it. The plants in the area seem somehow solid but brittle.

Souriin decides to cast a spell to test Ika's reaction. As he is about to do so, Ika says "it is getting thicker – thick light". Then the force of Souriin's spell blinds her completely and she becomes hysterical.

Shortly afterwards a wave of bright amber light hits the group. Some of the party seem to find themselves stiffened and sore after the light has passed. Souriin gives Owen a sip of the acorn juice and finds that it reverses the effect of the amber light.

The group travels deep into the light, with Euvgeni carrying the striken Ika. After only a few minutes, they find a towering white wall stretching right through the forest. The wall is about 90' high and seems to curve inwards, away from the adventurers. Investigating the strange wall, Owen detects what seems to be a faint heartbeat from inside.

After exploring slightly to the side, the group finds a 100' wide gap in the wall. The broken edges are jagged and the same white but slightly translucent colour as the outside. The wall appears to be about two feet thick.

Owen detects some dried blood in the centre of the gap and some more splattered in a fairly wide area around the middle.

Euvgeni detects something jumping through the forest nearby. A massive beast with amber-tinged dark black fur, a jaw filled with spiked eight-inch long teeth and shovel-like hands with immense claws leaps froms the trees. The creature's eyes glow bright amber.

Euvgeni and Lorim are frozen by the horrific appearance of the creature. It leaps onto Souriin and rips shreds of flesh from his body. Souriin, very badly wounded, manages to dimension door himself out of the creature's grip.

Euvgeni recovers and makes a frantic attack on the creature. He inflicts large amounts of damage but is shocked to see the monster regenerating its wounds.

Euvgeni and Souriin attack the creature will spells and blows, but it continues to wear Euvgeni down. One manic attack brings Euvgeni to death's door, but he continues to fight.

From the amber forest inside the wall, a group of large floating balls of light emerge. They also attack the ferocious creature blasting it with a volley of magic missiles.

Gradually the creature is worn down. It goes berserk in its attempts to kill Euvgeni, but it is eventually forced to flee. As it retreats from the battle, its opponents press on and it is knocked to the ground.

As the strange, illuminated creatures dart back inside the wall, Souriin uses his magic to seal the still-regenerating body of the monster deep underground.

As the noise of the battle dies down, Lorim informs his companions that he has to stay behind to seal the wall. He solemnly says good-bye to the others and then stands in the middle of the gap.

From inside the wall, the remaining adventurers watch the missing portion of the wall gradually form around Lorim's outstretched form. Now trapped inside the 90' high wall, the heroes see that the inside of the mysterious wall is as reflective as any mirror.

With little pause to rest, the small group presses on into the Amber Wastes...

Game 23: The Amber Wastes

10:16
After their gruelling fight with the render, the small groups continues on, towards the source of the strange amber light. That night, Souriin uses his magic to dig a shelter for the party while Owen uses his healing gifts to begin to repair some of Souriin and Euvgeni's wounds.

As the group decides on the order of the watches for the night, Owen -- usually the quietest member of the group -- starts a lengthy philosophical debate with Souriin and Euvgeni on the nature of the gods. He shares some of his unusual beliefs with his friends.

10:17
News arrives in Rotan of armed Sunhaven troops leaving the city and marching northwards. Some rumours claim that they are defending their northern border against bands of elven raiders.

10:20
The Standards Board holds its first formal sitting. Although the process of establishing a Board of Standards has been driven by Tekuna Chand, those present at the first sitting are a veritable who's-who of the region's trading houses. Sitting on the board are:

• Ghazal Nikrig (Draco Trading)
• Kyra Jess'a (Timber Inc. and Outreach Gem Supply)
• Nevril Leach (Agari Trading)
• Nirvon Drever (Pirsian Merchants' Fold)
• Roschilda of the Halflings (Halfling Produce Consortium)
• Tekuna Chand (Rotan Merchant Alliance)

10:21
At Owen's urging, the group makes a half-day detour to investigate the home of one of Owen's treant friends -- Ragged-Leaf. When they reach the grove, the ancient creature still shows some feeble signs of life. A short while later, another vicious burst of amber light washes across the group. Once again warned by Ika, the group takes cover behind Ragged-Leaf's broad trunk. They are spared the effects of the light, but the burst seems to have finished off Ragged-Leaf. When the light passes, he is still.

10:22
Despite a complete lack of progress so far, Damalanthas continues to meditate daily with the Disk of the Far-Sight. One evening, he is surprised when the eye opens and he is able to somehow see a remote location. The eye remains open for just over a minute, and although Damalanthas does not get a clear sense of where he is looking, he glimpses Li'kik'r sitting across a table from The Hood. They appear to be near the ocean -- Damus can see blue behind them in the distance.

10:25
A delegation of wizards from the University leaves for Outreach. They have been given the task of establishing a third centre for magical study in the southern city.

10:25
The group in the south begins to worry about their supplies of food. Owen is able to forage some roots and tubers from beneath the amber wastes, but as they move inwards, food becomes harder and harder to find. Owen begins flying ahead every second day to scout the terrain ahead. A third burst of light reaches the party late that afternoon.

10:27
Tales of terrifying mutated creatures roaming the forests of Miris begin to reach Rotan.

10:28
In a meeting with his closest advisors, King Anwell admits that he has been secretly supplying troops to Fengar. The Nedgari dwarves discovered a valuable new source of metal ores several months ago, but have been fighting skirmishes with dark elves for control of the area. Five days earlier, the dwarves were ousted from their underground base and they have been retreating ever since.

The King is concerned that the elves could decide to move on Nedgari or Rotan if they are not driven back. Fengar favours an all-out push to drive the elves back -- he believes that the metal ores are critical for the long-term survival of the region. He has asked King Anwell to place all available human troops under his command. The King is reluctant to commit more of his forces, but agrees to lend Fengar some troops to stop the elves from advancing any further.

10:28
Breaking their monotonous travels through the crystal wastelands, the strange glowing creatures of light visit the group. The travellers attempt to communicate with them, and although they do not have much success, Souriin begins to suspect that the light-creatures have a sense of humour.

During this encounter, Euvgeni realises that Ika has grown almost two inches in the last couple of weeks. Ika herself isn't quite sure why this is happening, but thinks it has something to do with how far they travel each day.

Based on the gaps between the earlier bursts, Souriin predicts that the next burst of light will occur during the night. Sure enough, during Euvgeni's watch that night, the sky above their dug-out shelter is filled with bright amber light.

10:29
During one of his scouting missions, Owen reaches the edge of a seemingly endless clearing. He spies the amber body of a giant and finds several different sets of tracks on the ground.

10:30
Food is beginning to run out very rapidly. The group is travelling on minimal rations, and will soon have no food left at all.

11:1
The wandering cloud giant settlement visits New Ivrea.

11:1
Owen communes with the land and learns a little more about the shimmering. The signs seem to indicate that the adventurers do not have anything with them which is capable of stopping the shimmering. Owen also discovers that the cause of the problem may come from another world...

11:2
The travellers reach the edge of the clearing Owen saw three days earlier. All of the trees and other material seems to have been cleared from the area. Examining the tracks, Euvgeni concludes that they probably belong to the creatures which cleared the area.

To speed their progress across the open wasteland, Owen changes into the form of an elephant and the others ride on his back. After an hour of travelling through the desolate area, the group narrowly avoids being ambushed by a small group of githyanki. Fortunately Kaa' warns them and Euvgeni springs into battle. One of the githyanki fires a cross-bow at him, but Euvgeni charges it.

While the burly warrior slays two of the humanoids, Owen holds others off with an impressive wall of fire. Souriin is surprised by one of the creatures and it attacks him with its two-handed sword. He attempts to divert it with illusions, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Euvgeni is stabbed by his opponent, and he feels a cold liquid moving through his bloodstream.

After a fairly short skirmish, most of the creatures simply vanish. Only one remains, but it is translucent and seemingly invulnerable to Euvgeni's attacks. It retrieves the blades of its fallen companions and then also dissappears.

In the aftermath of the brief fight, Owen tends to Euvgeni's dagger wound with a hold poison. Investigating the bodies of the slain githyanki, the group discovers a few gold coins. The mint of the coins in unlike any the adventurers have seen before.

Game 24: The Astral Rift

11:2
Realising that another burst of light is imminent, Souriin creates a rope trick for the group to shelter in. Moments later, a fifth burst occurs. Before the adventurers can resume their journey, a group of githyanki return and briefly search the battlefield. Finding nothing, they disappear.

The group leaves the rope trick and continues their journey inwards. Ika's appearance has become more regal and her skin has turned a pale green colour. She says that she can sense that her tree is alive (barely) and that if she can reach it, she will be able to ask her mother for help.

About an hour after the earlier attack, the group sees two groups of slaves in the distance, each guarded by a pair of githyanki. They are pulling roughly hewn sleds piled high with amber crystal. The slaves are in various states of amberisation, and consist of goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, wood elves, Sunfolk, halflings and Outreachers.

The light creatures return, and frantically try to communicate some sort of message to the travellers. A new light, much smaller than the rest, is with the group this time. Eventually, the lights distract the slavers, allowing the adventurers to sneak past them.

The group continues travelling for another half day, and the light creatures travel with them. During this time, Souriin tries to develop a signalling system with the creatures. The group begins to pass increasing numbers of dead, amberised bodies in the wastelands. Realising that they are getting very close to the source of the amber light, the group prepares some spells and magic (including flight). As the group approaches a line of hills, the light creatures signal that the creature following them has caught up. As the adventurers see the render appear in the distances, the light creatures rush towards it. The smallest of the lights urges the party to continue onwards, leaving them to slow down the monster.

After cresting the final line of hills, the party see the final bowl of the amber wastes. Boulders and many amber bodies lie strewn around the clearing. The rift itself seems to be about six metres wide and the edges move and wobble like the skin of a soap bubble. A rope reaches through the gap and is tethered to a partially hewn tree below. Through the gap, the rope disappears into an amber haze. At least five githyanki guard the rift. Nearby, three more slave groups toil. Amongst these slaves are a hill giant, wood elves, Outreachers, Sunfolk, lizardmen and halflings. Each group is guarded by more githyanki.

Souriin, Owen, Euvgeni and Ika begin to move down the slope towards the rift and the githyanki. Behind them, the render has dispatched the light creatures and as it begins to catch up, it roars loudly. Owen creates an area of stone spikes to slow the monster down.

A dozen githyanki appear from nowhere. Euvgeni leaps into the air and confronts the leader while flying. Both Ika and Owen are badly wounded by the githyanki assault -- Owen sinks into the rocky ground to escape from the attack. Seeing Ika's plight, Souriin casts an improved slow on the githyanki, Euvgeni uses his sceptre to install fear in the remainder and is able to rescue Ika. The githyanki who have not fallen victim to the slow spell vanish.

Euvgeni (carrying Ika) and Souriin race towards the rift. Behind them, the voracious render reaches the slowed githyanki and begins to rip them apart. The githyanki standing by the rift activate it, and Souriin and Euvgeni are bathed in several blasts of amber light. They drink Egreera's acorn juice but behind them Kaa' is amberised. Just moments later, Owen emerges from the ground, but also succumbs to the amber light.

Floating in the air, Souriin is confronted by one of githyanki. The Raven Mage is shocked to find himself in some sort of magic-suppressing field and resorts to hitting his opponent with his staff. Euvgeni, still carrying Ika, battles through the remaining githyanki. One attempts to use a mental force weapon and although the githyanki initially fails, it manages to strike Euvgeni and Ika with two deadly blows. Nearby, the grinning githyanki manages to touch Souriin and ages him by six years.

Euvgeni finally manages to get Ika's body to the damaged tree. The warrior shakes her conscious while fending off three remaining githyanki. Ika touches the tree and speaks to Euvgeni: "destroy the rift machine". Then she collapses, lifeless, to one side of the tree stump.

Souriin's magic suddenly reactivates. Swiftly, he directs a lightning bolt at the no-longer grinning githyanki. The creature's body is blown apart by the force of the blast. With renewed energy, Euvgeni dispatches the remaining githyanki. Moments later there is an eerie silence on the battlefield. Souriin and Euvgeni look at each other and then at the rift. Then the two heroes shoot into the air as the render arrives, roaring.

Souriin enters the rift. From the other side, the portal is surrounded by a massive floating circular structure, with three huge "teeth" around the rim. Inside the machine, the gap crackles and changes shape continuously, like a tortured soap-bubble. Souriin hears a creaking sound and moves away from the rift to investigate the sound. He sees an enormous fortress floating in the strange void. There are hundreds of ships anchored to the fortress, all made of amber rock.

On the other side of the rift, Euvgeni sees the render make a huge leap through the air into the gap. Thinking quickly, Euvgenu binds a rope to Ika's tree and then follows the other two inside. Souriin returns to the rift machine in time to meet Euvgeni. Using some sort of swooping attack, the render narrowly misses the pair. While Souriin begins to send lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the stone device, Euvgeni desperately fends the creature off. Cracks begin to appear in the structure, and second before the rift collapses, Souriin grabs the rope and pulls himself and Euvgeni back through the hole.

With the rift now closed, the amber colour begins to fade from the devestated wastes. Souriin decides to pour the remaining acorn juice into the ground and the amber colour begins to dissipate more rapidly, colour spreading in an ever-widening circle outwards.

The amberised slaves, as well as Owen and Kaa', are unfrozen. The slaves have very hazy memories of their time under the control of the githyanki, but are happy to be free. One of the halflings is apparently a priest, and is able to conjure up some food for the starving adventurers. As the sun sets, the group celebrates their victory over the githyanki with a feast. The smallest and only surviving light creature feeds on the camp fire.

11:2
Fengar tells the King that the dark elves have stopped advancing and seem to even have fallen back. He has given his troops orders to advance slowly and cautiously.

Pondering a recent boom in trade with Simipia, Tekuna discovers that there has been a steady supply of jewelery into the rest of Ivrea. As far as she can determine, the jewelery has been manufactured using gems from the collapsed market in mind crystals.

11:3
At sun-rise the next morning, the ki-rin Destiny arrives in the camp. He tells the group that the githyanki are fighting a war in another place. After a brief discussion, Destiny thanks Souriin, Owen and Euvgeni for their help and departs.

The group is relaxing for the first time in over a month. Suddenly they are distracted by a persistant voice from their message tubes. Damalanthas speaks...

Game 25: One Day in Rotan

11:3
The elven Lord Flash returns from lengthy seclusion with a dire warning from the Head of the Druids’ Conclave to Ivrea. Flash commands some of the Rotan city guards to ring the Clock Tower bell as a warning. Flash himself proceeds on to the palace, to alert King Anwell.

He finds the King busy handling a formal complaint from Jillay Promethias –- the dour, softly spoken elven ambassador to Rotan. She claims that nurim leaves destined for Miris (where they are outlawed) are being stored in warehouses in Rotan city.

Damalanthas is having breakfast with Tekuna and Annaline and they are discussing, not unusually, politics. In the distance, the Clock Tower bell begins to chime. Within seconds, the breakfast table is empty. A stray napkin flutters to the ground.

King Anwell calls a meeting of the City Council. As nobles and ambassadors arrive, Flash shares the warning. Damus uses the message tubes to tell Souriin, Euvgeni and Owen about the new developments.

Flash, Tekuna and Damus meet the new ruler of Lerantu for the first time. Governor Orik seems energetic and cheerful. He has a bristling mustache and guffaws a lot. He is apparently visiting Rotan to build stronger diplomatic ties with Rotan. When Damalanthas first sees Orik, he recognises him instantly as the figure in the portal in the Waterloaf graveyard (2705:3:18).

Meanwhile, Owen, Souriin and Euvgeni are resting in the middle of the Amber Wasteland in the Deep Forest. They have just heard Damalanthas' voice over the message tubes. After a quick discussion, they make a short visit to Outreach to warn the city, and then they return to Rotan. They arrive in the middle of the council meeting.

King Anwell (ably assisted by Tekuna) attempts to get the Lords, ambassadors and functionaries to focus on the troll invasion. He is interrupted by distant shouts of "porridge". Palace functionaries report that a flood of warm oatmeal is covering the north east of the city. A few inches pours into the palace. The council meeting breaks into confusion. Minutes later, the palace chambers are plunged into a strange magical darkness. The Lords split up -- Damalanthas transfers himself to New Ivrea and the others try to track down the source of the darkness.

In the south part of the city, a warehouse belonging to Nirvon Drever somehow catches fire. Attempts to put out the fire are hampered by the darkness and the fumes issuing from nurim leaves stored in the warehouse. Two more warehouses catch fire. A beholder, apparently stored in one of the burning warehouses, breaks free in the confusion. The two elven traders using the warehouse are early victims of the creature's savage rampage.

Euvgeni and Governor Orik are following the calls of "fire" towards the warehouses. As Euvgeni tries to determine the source of the blaze, Orik helps set up a bucket-chain. As Euvgeni returns to the chain, he is horrified to see a beholder turn Governor Orik to dust. As he ducks behind a building, the beholder savages the rest of the bucket-chain.

At New Ivrea, Damalanthas calls an emergency meeting of the Lower Council to warn the nations about the failing of the Druids' Shield. The bard then returns to Rotan. A few hours later, following an extraordinary meeting of the faiths represented at New Ivrea, a stream of luminescent butterflies erupts into the air.

Tekuna, meanwhile, has been investigating the city sewers. She has learned that a delegation of leading priests of Artafor are visiting Rotan in secret to meet with Lurik Mien. The priests were supposed to be taking part in a gnomish tour of the the "Rotan dungeons", but may be in danger as a result of the darkness, the porridge and the secret underground skirmishes between the Nedgari dwarves and the dark elves. During her investigations, Tekuna is attacked by an unusual breed of giant spider.

While Tekuna is sheltering from the spiders using her cube of force, Souriin and Damalanthas have been trying to track the source of the darkness (and the porrige). As they reach the Gnomish Laboratories in the north east of the city they encounter several floating gnomes. They deduce that the main laboratory is the source of the morning's disruptions.

As the darkness finally lifts, Souriin and Damalathas find a malfunctioning gnomish printing device (later discovered to have been commissioned by the RMA), and destroy it using a barrage of magical energies. The floor of the laboratory collapses revealing hidden layers of passages beneath it. Spider creatures similar to those Tekuna found are seen scurrying away from the collapsed area.

Damalanthas feels a sudden tug from the eye on the Disk of the Far-Sight. He holds the Disk up and sees an earnest-faced man peering back at him from beyond the eye. The man claims to be a member of the "Penrith Resistance". He asks Damus who he is and tries to establish whether he is a ally or an enemy. He speaks Ivrean with a strong accent. Damalanthas agrees to speak with him again two days hence.

Damus makes another discovery after this encounter. Using the eye on the Disk of the Far-Sight, he sees a strange radiance coming from numerous items in the palace. All of the items have jewels or crystals in them.

Euvgeni has tracked the beholder to an inhabited area west of the warehouses. With the fire under control and the darkness gone, all of the Lords regroup to help hunt down the monster. The Lords manage to trap the beholder inside a house, and after a breathtaking game of cat-and-mouse, the creature is slain.

Later that day, the Lords decide to explore beneath the city. Cautious investigation reveals several large populations of the massive spiders, some with the ability to fly. Despite concerns for the welfare of the visiting priests of Artafor, they are discovered to have escaped from the sewers by walking right out into the street (carrying an unconscious gnome!). The Lords are concerned that the spider infestation could be related to the underground skirmishes between the dark elves and the Nedgari dwarves.

King Anwell dispatches a herald to Lerantu with the sad news of Orik's death and a formal apology. The Rotan sewer system is declared closed to the public and major entrances are guarded.

As the sun sets in the evening, the strange butterflies known as the "Messengers of the Gods" reach Simipia, Feroll, Pirs, Lerantu, Meldora and Béray. Sightings of the butterflies are reported as far afield as Outreach, Waterloaf, Miris and even the Bird Islands.

By nightfall, the druid's dire warning has echoed throughout the lands: