This portion of the Journal chronicles our adventurers quest for the sword of Nth. What is the sword of Nth? Who is 'Nth'? Why would anyone want some rusty old sword? Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 21 May 2005
Game-world date: 14 Janus - 03 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session:
Shalfey is rescued, Piyarz is dead, Sion is thwarted, and a new set of prophetic books have been secured. The visions have all come to fruition. Shalfey has been freed from his tower prison, Piyarz's treachery was revealed and dealt with, and Sion's plans thwarted. The party has collected the promised reward, and they've completed another adventure. Arriving back in Whillip, it won't be long until everyone has leveled up and the party is itching to start another adventure.The party is back in Willip now. They've collected their reward, healed their wounds, split up the treasure, taken on some new party members, gotten some paper work out of the way, and signed up for a new dangerous adventure.
14 Janus 1002
Forens
I went to Bron Arvo’s Armory today and had him attach my new chainmail sack to the back of the neck of my chainmail like a hood. Then I went back to the massage parlor and had a nice, long massage while I relaxed in a hot bath. It sure felt good.
I got to thinking about Dokren today for some reason, so I wrote him a quick letter. I wonder how he’s doing down there in the Winterwood?
I also got to wondering if Abramo’s got any better, so I asked Thalidimar to see if he could find anything out.
15 Janus 1002
Freeday
Rezigrene had another date with Bidvar tonight. She got herself banned from some bar for fighting and busting the place up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy before.
16 Janus 1002
Hafn’mor
It’s pretty obvious that I can’t count on being able to always stay far enough away from the guys we fight to be able to use my bow. I need to learn how to use melee weapons better, so today I signed up for more training at the Blood Moon School of Fighting.
20 Janus 1002
Godsday
Going back to that fighting school turned out to be a really good idea. They’re teaching me a new technique that I can use with light weapons where I pay more attention to timing my hits and aiming them a lot more instead of just trying to force a weapon through an enemy’s defenses. The technique doesn’t work with bigger, heavier weapons because they just aren’t responsive enough. Besides, heavier weapons can force through an enemy’s defenses easier anyway.
Thalidimar says that Abramo was moved somewhere else because nobody in his church was able to help him. He doesn’t know where they move Abramo to, though, or how he’s doing.
25 Febulus 1002
Freeday
I’ve finished my class at the fighting school. I think I’ll take the rest of the week off before I start training with Arach Nid. I could use the time to try and find out if any of Hoar’s priests have wandered into Willip lately. If so, I think I’ll make a donation to the church. If I’m going to get their help when I go back to Riatavin, I’m going to have to make a name for myself in the church.
03 Marcav 1002
Onward
I was finally able to meet with Hectar again today. He’s been pretty busy since the first time I ran into him last week, but people always seem to manage to come around eventually when they’ve been told there’s a bunch of gold coming their way.
05 Marcav 1002
Freeday
My 1,000gp must have impressed Hectar at least a little bit. He taught me a special trick to use on combination locks that sometimes gets them to just pop right open. Basically, you just roll a piece of paper into a tube that’s just the right size to slip into the crack between the dial and the case. If you do it right, you can hear when a tumbler falls into place because it has to punch through the paper. Even if you don’t get the combination right the first time, you can usually reset the lock and pull out the paper and figure out the combination from the pattern the holes got punched in.
15 Marcav 1002
Freeday
I forgot how much training with Arach Nid sucks! Is he really training me, or does he just want a life-like statue for his courtyard? What am I supposed to learn from standing perfectly still for hours on end day after day? I don’t know which hurts worse, my back or my feet. A massage didn’t even help.
05 Apros 1002
Freeday
I must be getting better. I can usually manage to jump out of the way when Arach Nid tries to hit me or throw a rock at me when he thinks I’m not looking. It’s still really annoying, but the bruises are going away.
20 Mavis 1002
Godsday
Arach Nid finally decided he was done with me for this go-round yesterday. Everybody else has been done for at least a couple of weeks, and I think cabin fever has set in pretty good.
21 Mavis 1002
Newday
A couple of people showed up at the mansion today asking to join our group. They said they saw a notice posted in town that said we were looking for people to join us. X must have posted it.
There was this really tall guy that said his name was Tanar. He was wearing armor, but he also had all these spell component pouches like Emrikol and those two elves had. I asked him if he used magic and what kind of spells he cast. He used all this technical talk, but I think he casts the same kind of spells that Alcarenque, Emrikol, etc. did and not the kind that Thalidimar casts. I don’t understand how he does it and wear armor, too, but I don’t really understand any of that magic stuff anyway. Maybe it means he’ll be more useful to the group than any of our previous magic users.
The other person was this Raptoran girl. She seemed pretty shy, but she did tell us that her name’s Kethri and she’s a druid. Zeddishous seemed pretty excited about that. Tree huggers. She said that she’s out on some kind of right-of-passage everybody in her race has to go through.
It didn’t take much discussion for us to decide to let Tanar and Kethri join our group. We need a magic user, and Kethri can help out Thalidimar with healing us. We got Nathis to set them up with a couple of rooms.
30 Mavis 1002
Godsday
I think Kethri might have a thing for Zeddishous. He asked her earlier this week to help him get his animal companion. He wants some kind of wolf. She told him that the best way to find one would be near the edge of a forest on a night with a full moon. How convenient that the next full moon turned out to be during the night during the very next weekend. Two tree huggers in a moonlit meadow near a forest on a starry night? Yeah, something’s going on there.
03 Junta 1002
Onward
Thalidimar told us at dinner that Ellis had delivered a message from X today. The other three jobs that we didn’t take last time are still available. Nobody seemed to want to try to go find that kidnapped dude. That trail has had months to grow cold. And getting involved in some kind of mysterious messy political situation just gives me the willies.
Me and Thalidimar wanted to go to find that expedition that vanished in Maztica. The rumors of demons and resurrected gods made him curious. I just wanted to see what kind of “artifacts” we might find. I’ll bet we could have made the most money on that job.
Everybody else wanted to go find the Sword of Nth, though. 10,000gp each plus the cost of training afterward was the most money offered up front for any of the jobs. Besides, how cool would it be to go back to Riatavin and tell Barnabus that I had actually seen the Sword of Nth? That it wasn’t just some made-up story after all? That I was right all along? Now we just have to find out from X how to get back in touch with Kraetia so we can get started.
Excerpt from an earlier journal entry - Where the party members were entertaining potential clients for their adventuring skills:
The woman that walked in next was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. But what would you expect from an Aasimar? She said her name was Kraetia, and she makes magic weapons in Waterdeep. After decades of research, she thinks she has figured out where the legendary "Sword of Nth" is located, and she wants us to go fetch it for her. She would pay each party member that helped complete the mission 10,000gp plus our training costs after the job was done. She explained that Nth was a legendary celestial mage that had traveled to other planes, and had found the secret of immortality. After she told us about that, I remembered hearing something about this sword before. Back when Illakay was trying to take over the world during the War of Shadows, he had finally pissed Nth off enough that Nth made a sword that Illakay's enemies could use against his forces. A famous ranger named Segrid eventually killed Illakay with Nth's sword. Later on, some bad people got their hands on the sword, so Nth went and got it and then shoved both it and himself into the ground, making a huge rift in the earth where he did it. Nobody has seen either him or his sword since.
DM's note:
The party has returned to Willip, split up their loot and rearranged their membership. Gone are: Alcarenque, Khoronach, and Eilownwy . Joining the group are Tanar and Kethri . The party is well balanced, trained, and resupplied, and they've already selected a new adventure. They're planning to go in search of another legendary weapon. This time their looking for a sword. The quest for the sword of Nth. Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 4 June 2005
Game-world date: 04 - 08 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session:
The party has returned to Willip, split up their loot and rearranged their membership. Gone are: Alcarenque, Khoronach, and Eilownwy . Joining the group are Tanar and Kethri . The party is well balanced, trained, and resupplied, and they've already selected a new adventure. They're planning to go in search of another legendary weapon. This time their looking for a sword. The quest for the sword of Nth. Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!
We can’t get started just quite yet, though. Rezigrene is still waiting for a display case to be delivered for her Rukanyr armor since she won’t be using it after Shalfey gave her the other magic armor. She also wants to get some kind of tattoo.
04 Junta 1002
Forens
Rezigrene got her display case this morning, and then she went into town to get her tattoo. When she got back, she was unusually silent. She eventually let us know that she got the tattoo on her tongue! Just like an Orc - big, tough, and stupid. So now she has to write down everything she wants to say. The guy at the tattoo shop told her that her tongue won’t be back to its normal size for like four whole days. Kethri and Thalidimar are going to cast some healing spells on her tomorrow to try and speed that up so we can get started looking for Nth’s sword as soon as possible.
Kethri met some guy in a park in Willip today named Yorgel. He says he protects Willip’s parks and stuff. Kethri says he asked her to help him find out who’s been dumping a bunch of garbage from a smithy into the river that runs through Willip. Since we have to wait for Rezigrene for a couple more days anyway, me and Thalidimar and Tanar are going to go into town and help Ketrhi out tomorrow.
I asked Nathis to ask X or Ellis a question for us. I wanted to know how we get back in touch with Kraetia to let her know we’re going to find Nth’s sword for her and to see if she had any more information to get us started. When Nathis returned, he said that Kraetia has an agent here in Willip’s weapon museum. His name is Trelles.
Since Alcarenque left, we needed to elect a new group treasurer. I got the job. So now I’m taking care of basically all of the group’s records.
05 Junta 1002
Freeday
If I had anything else to do, today would have been a complete waste of time. But since there wasn’t anything else to do anyway, I guess it wasn’t. We wandered all along the banks of the river in town today, and found a couple of places where people were dumping some kinds of metals into the river. Kethri went back and told Yorgel where they were, and I took a trip down to city hall to find out what the rules are for what you can and can’t dump in the river. Turns out that most of the places either had a permit to dump stuff into the river, or else were government buildings that don’t even have to have a permit. Once again, if you’re the one that makes the rules, then you don’t have to follow them yourself.
Rezigrene “says” that the guy at the tattoo shop was impressed with how much her tongue is already healing. He says it won’t take as long as he first thought.
While I was at city hall, Tanar went back to X’s and poked around his library. He says he found some stuff out about Nth’s sword. It was pretty much all stuff I already knew, but he thought that the rift where the sword and Nth disappeared is actually way up north and might be all covered in ice now. Zeddishous thinks that’s wrong, though. His uncle is a historian, and he spent the day over at his uncle’s place today asking about Nth. His uncle says that everybody thinks that the Great Rift down in the middle of the Shaar is where the sword disappeared, but it was really in a smaller canyon called Rift Canyon a short ways away from the Great Rift. Before they got into too much of an argument, I suggested that maybe we should invite Trelles here for dinner tomorrow and find out what he knows.
06 Junta 1002
Hafn’mor
I went down to the weapons museum today and found Trelles. He seemed pretty excited about the idea of having dinner at X’s manor. Then I spent the rest of the day wandering around the museum. It still amazes me all the weird weapons they’ve got there.
At dinner, Trelles confirmed that Nth’s sword actually disappeared in Rift Canyon, near the Great Rift. He says that it’s only recently that you can get to the sword, though. With all the talk about traveling to other planes in the legend, it sounds like that’s where we’re going to have to go. Trelles says that Nth’s sword is a broadsword made from some kind of extradimensional material, and that it sometimes looks like a regular metal sword, and sometimes it looks like it’s made from “a piece of the sky,” whatever that means, and sometimes it makes itself invisible. It can cast spells at people, but it can’t swing itself at them. If something living touches it, though, the sword can force it to do what the sword wants. The sword has a true name, and if you know what the true name is (Trelles doesn’t), you have some power over the sword.
07 Junta 1002
Aprochen
I went down to the harbor master today to find out if any of the flying ships like the Corona were heading in our direction, but none were. There weren’t even any regular ships heading south in the next week. He pointed out that perhaps the company that runs the flying ships might have a private ship we could charter or something since they don’t get registered with him. I went to their offices, and they had one called the Eclipse that they could take us to the Shaar in for 2,000gp. For another 1,000gp, they’d wait for us down there for up to two months, and then bring us back.
We asked X how much it would cost to transport down there and back. He said it would be 500gp for each person, and 200gp for each horse. Since the Eclipse would be cheaper, we decided to rent the ship. We did get a way to get a message to X and back, though, just in case we need it.
When Rezigrene came back from the tattoo shop today, she could talk again (sort of), but she was drooling like some kind of rabid dog into a bucket. She asked Tanar to take her to the Mages’ Guild. When she came back to the manor in the evening, she had a new chainmail veil attached across the front of her helmet! Why in the world would she go through all that trouble to get a tattoo on her tongue just to hide it? I asked Tanar what she wanted at the Mages’ Guild, and he told me that the tattoo was actually part of the process of making this spell she wanted. Evidently, now if she shows anyone the tattoo on her tongue, they’ll run away scared, kind of like the skull on Zhabovekh’s breastplate. Now things make a whole lot more sense.
08 Junta 1002
Longday
I went down and chartered the Eclipse today. They said that they have to move some walls around and stuff inside it to carry our horses, and that usually takes a whole day. Since the day-after-tomorrow is Godsday, and the days before and after it are only half days, they won’t be ready to set out until Nexsta’. So we’ve got one more weekend to relax before we set out.
Real-world date: 18 June 2005
Game-world date: 12 - 22 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session:
The party has embarked on a new adventure. The 'Quest for the Sword of Nth.' They departed Willip aboard the Skyship 'Eclipse', and have set out in search of an ancient artifact. Crafted centuries ago by a Celestial Magic user - Who knows what dangers await them on the path ahead?
12 Junta 1002
Nexsta’
We finally left Willip today. We’re under way!
13 Junta 1002
Onward
I was out walking on the deck early this morning, when all of a sudden the entire crew starts yelling and scrambling below decks as fast as they can. I looked over where they’re all running away from, and there’s a Dragon flying beside the ship! I didn’t feel like facing it by myself, so I ran back to our cabins and banged on doors and yelled for everyone to wake up. When I came back out, it was on the deck, but it looked really different. After a bit, it turned into a woman. While it was changing, Tanar told me that it’s a Song Dragon. I asked him what a Song Dragon is, but he didn’t really know. Thalidimar did, though. He told me that Song Dragons like to hang out with people more than with other dragons. When it was done changing, it asked where the captain was, and if we had a compass. I went and got a compass from Captain N’drs, but he didn’t want to come out of his cabin and talk to the Dragon. When I gave the compass to the Dragon, she jumped over the side of the ship and turned back into a Dragon and flew off.
After the whole Dragon incident, we decided that it might be a good idea to start having watches even while we’re on the ship. We hung out in Willip too long and got a little lazy, I guess. Time to go back to work.
14 Junta 1002
Forens
Kethri woke us all up this morning. I guess some kind of spear chucking giant dragonflies had checked out the ship, but they were gone by the time I got out on deck.
The wind died, and the ship couldn’t move all day.
16 Junta 1002
Hafn’mor
Still no wind today. Sitting around in one spot is getting boring.
17 Junta 1002
Aprochen
When the wind lets loose around here, it really lets loose! I think it had been saving itself up the last three days so I could just blow all at once. The riggers didn’t even put out all of the sails, and the ship was zipping along faster than I’ve ever seen a ship go. We should get to Deppershire in no time at this rate.
18 Junta 1002
Longday
We spent all day today in our cabins ‘cause it rained hard all day long.
20 Junta 1002
Godsday
We arrived at Deppershire today, sort of. Captain N’drs stopped the ship above this ridge, and we all got lowered to the ground. Then the crew brought down these wenches and pulled the ship down to the ground. By the time they had set up a base camp, it was getting dark, so we decided to wait until tomorrow to actually go into town.
21 Junta 1002
Newday
We mounted up and rode into town this morning. Some “town.” The biggest building only has three stories. It’s an inn called the Shire of the Blue Knight. It’s owned by the town’s lawman, Constable Billet. He has a deputy named Nesbit.
We were hoping to set out for Rift Canyon, so we asked Constable Billet if there was anybody in the town that could guide us there. He pointed us across the street to a building that had a sign that said “Hank’s Tours.” Unfortunately, there was a smaller sign hung on the door that says that Hank’s out on a tour and won’t be back until tomorrow. So we had to hang out all day.
At dinner, Thalidimar actually took Rezigrene up on her offer for some grzuk. He took one swig and passed right out. Kethri had us put him in a cold bath while she cast some kind of healing magic on him. Then we had to get Thalidimar to drink a bunch of water. Just goes to show how nasty that grzuk crap really is.
22 Junta 1002
Nexsta’
We wanted to set out for Rift Canyon as soon as possible, and Tanar still needed to buy a horse, so we got up early this morning. Constable Billet told us that old man Geete, the guy that runs the barbershop, had a horse for sale.
As we were leaving the Shire of the Blue Knight, we saw something really weird. It looked like a hawk flying up into the sky, but it was glowing a really bright blue. It was still early enough that we could see the stars, and Tanar pointed out that the hawk was flying straight toward the constellation Menelmacar, the swordsman of the sky. Tanar told us that Menelmacar’s sword points toward the ground once a year, and again once every century. It’s pointing to the earth right now.
We had to wake old man Geete up. It seems that nobody in this little pimple on the plains gets up before noon. Tanar worked out a deal with old man Geete to rent his horse instead of buying it outright. He’ll get some of his money back when he brings the horse back.
Hank was a lot harder to wake up. We ended up just waiting until after lunch to talk to him. He agreed to take us to Rift Canyon, but we didn’t get going until the middle of the afternoon, so it’ll be around lunchtime tomorrow before we actually get there. He made us smear this stuff on that he says is giant scorpion repellant. He did tell us some more about Rift Canyon while we rode this afternoon, though. It’s got waterfalls and rivers that are fed from somewhere underground, so instead of the grass and stuff that covers the plains all around it, it’s full of trees and stuff. There used to be a tribe of Svirfneblin that was led by some Flinds, but a Druid named Pleedir cleared them all out and lives there now. He’s supposed to be a little bit “addled in the head,” as Hank puts it. Pleedir thinks that the Rift Canyon is a holy place.
Hank said that some people think that Menelmacar created Rift Canyon when he got pissed off because some other god stole his lover. Hank has also heard the story about Nth and his sword making the canyon. There’s supposed to be an extra-dimensional gateway somewhere in the canyon. And of course there’s supposed to be treasure of some kind somewhere in the canyon. Sounds like we’re going to the right place.
DM's note:
The party is finally on it's way to adventure. After leaving Willip. They endured a relatively 'Calm' voyage aboard the skyship Eclipse. After making anchor in Deppershire. They arranged for a guide to take them to Rift Canyon. The canyon is rumored to contain an extra-dimensional gateway, and it's inhabited by a mad Druid. Will either of these lead our group to the Sword of Nth? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 02 July 2005
Game-world date: 23 - 24 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session:
The party is finally on it's way to adventure. After leaving Willip. They endured a relatively 'Calm' voyage aboard the skyship Eclipse. After making anchor in Deppershire. They arranged for a guide to take them to Rift Canyon. The canyon is rumored to contain an extra-dimensional gateway, and it's inhabited by a mad Druid. Will either of these lead our group to the Sword of Nth? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
23 Junta 1002
Onward
Kethri woke us all up in the middle of the night last night. Some Feldrakes had wandered into camp looking for food. Thalidimar cast a new spell of his that makes food, and they ate it and then left. They remind me of stray dogs or something.
We made it to the canyon shortly after lunch. It’s a crack in the earth that drops straight down into the plain. The strongest of archers using the stoutest longbow might be able to get an arrow to fly all the way across the width of the canyon if the wind was to his back, but he’d have to shoot at least three times to cover its entire length, each time from where the last arrow fell. Hank had brought us to the only place the canyon walls didn’t just drop straight down to the canyon floor. It was still a steep slope, though. And the floor of the canyon was about 200 yards below us. The canyon runs east to west the long way, and we had come to its north edge near the east end.
Looking over the canyon, we could see that it was nearly covered by its own little forest. Three rivers flowed into the canyon near where we were from their own little ravines before joining together and then flowing into a lake against the middle of the south wall of the canyon. Where the water goes after that is anybody’s guess. In fact, we could see the waterfall where one of the rivers entered its ravine, but we couldn’t tell where the other two rivers came from, except maybe someplace underground.
On the north side of the lake was a little clearing with a small hut in it. On the east side of the lake was a cleared area where someone (Pleedir, of course) was growing some crops. There was a bridge across the river just a little bit upstream from the lake. We could also see a couple of other little sections of paths in the forest here and there, and running over a small hill with no trees on it near the far end of the canyon.
Something was reflecting the sun at us from a little bit south of the hill. I couldn’t see it myself, but Kethri looked at it through her spyglass, and she said that it was a stone obelisk. She said that the top looked like it was made of silver or something. Hank told us that there are a bunch of stone pillars down in the canyon, and that Pleedir worships them and calls them gods.
Speaking of Hank, he agreed to take our horses back to Deppershire since they’d most likely break a leg trying to get down into the canyon. He said that old man Geete could watch them for us, for a fee of course.
We secured a rope at the top of the slope and used it to climb down into the canyon. It should make it a lot easier to climb back up out when we’re done, too. We decided to just head west through the forest until we came to either some kind of path or the river. After all, it’s not like we can get lost for very long down here. Then we’d head for the hut and check in with Pleedir and see if he could give us any more information about Nth or his sword, etc. When we came to the river, we followed it downstream until we came to another bridge and a path. The we followed the path to the hut. Pleedir wasn’t in at the time, so we set up camp in the clearing and waited for him to show up. Tanar thought it would be polite to chop up some dead wood near the hut into firewood, but Rezigrene pushed him out of the way and did what she does best - chop things up.
Pleedir showed up at dinner time. Kethri started off first babbling something incomprehensible at him, but he seemed to understand her and babbled something back. Or maybe he was just humoring her. At any rate, they both started talking normal after that. It was pretty obvious right away that he’s blind. He had Rezigrene fetch his jug of whiskey and joined us for dinner. Zeddishous was doing fine small talking with Pleedir and gently working the conversation around to Nth’s sword, but Rezigrene got impatient and just started asking directly about what Pleedir knew about Nth (“Never heard of him”) and where the portal to another dimension was (“I don’t know what you’re talking about”). She tries to act civilized, but moments like this just go to show that you can never really domesticate an Orc. What we did manage to find out - when she wasn’t bludgeoning him with questions - was that there are 30 smaller obelisks that he calls “gods,” and the big one we saw before we climbed down he calls the “lord.” Supposedly they all talk to him, and every day he goes around and polishes them. He also leaves them stuff from his garden as offerings. He got us to agree to help him polish them tomorrow, so we’ll get a good chance to examine them and maybe start figuring out what’s really going on around here.
24 Junta 1002
Forens
Pleedir may not be nearly as crazy as everybody thinks he is. But that comes later.
We started out first thing this morning following Pleedir around the the various “gods.” We each took one and started polising it with one of the rags he lent us. Each of the “gods” was a stone pillar about waist tall with a pointy top. I’m no Dwarf, but I think that the stone the pillars are made of has a lot of some kind of mineral in it. At least it looked like it ‘cause it had all these sparklies. There were burn marks at the top of them that looked like they had been hit with lightning. Other than the rotten vegetables and Svirfneblin skeletons piled around their bases, there wasn’t anything else remarkable about them. Pleedir kept the job of polishing the “lord” for himself, and worshiping it would be putting it mildly. We started trying to figure out where they were all laid out in relation to each other to see if there was some kind of pattern, but then Pleedir just told us that if you drew lines between them, they’d make a picture of a sword. The “lord” would be in the center of the pommel.
We finished polishing all the “gods” in time for lunch. We asked Pleedir some more questions while we were eating. At one point, we started up a conversation with the voices Pleedir hears with Pleedir delivering messages between for us. It turns out that the voice of the “lord” claims to be the Sword of Nth! Or rather, all the voices are the sword. Things weren’t completely clear. Zeddishous started asking where it was and how we get to it, etc., and finally it just told us to go to sleep tonight and “all will be revealed.” That pretty much ended the conversation.
Afterward, Pleedir started laying out a croquet course on a section of the clearing he had mowed last night just before we all went to bed. The only time I’ve seen croquet before, it was being played by some rich sissy boys, so I wasn’t interested. I decided that it would be a good time to go check out the “lord” without Pleedir getting in the way. Anyway - It’s similar to the smaller pillars, but it’s about 20 ft. tall. I climbed up it, and the top stone seems to be a solid piece of nickel. I couldn’t find any panels or levers or anything, or any discernable markings of any kind. So that was a dead end.
Some of the paths in this canyon are paved with stones. Some of them are broken and loose and stuff, so we spent the afternoon helping Pleedir fix some of them. Now it’s time to go to sleep and see what our dreams will reveal.
Additional -
It seemed like I had barely fell asleep when Tanar came and woke me back up. I knew it was time to go, though. The “lord” was calling, so I grabbed my stuff and started walking down the path to it. Everybody else followed me. There was a bright blue light shining in a beam from the top of the lord and going round and round like a lighthouse, but instead of just shining straight out, it shined down at an angle toward the ground. The first time the light shined at me, there was this terrible pain all through my body until it moved on again. I started running so I could get close to the obelisk where I’d be under the beam and it couldn’t shine on me again. It hit me a couple more times before I got close enough, though.
Shortly after we all got there, lightning shot down out of the cloudless sky and hit the obelisk. Then it shot from the top of the obelisk out toward all of the other pillars. And then the obelisk was gone! All that was left was the foundation stones! Where it had been standing were now a couple of swords floating in the air, kind of pointing at an angle up toward each other and spinning around in this blue light.
Rezigrene stepped into the light under the swords and disappeared. I followed right behind her. It didn’t take very long for everybody else to follow us. We found ourselves in a really weird room. It was a square box, and every side is it’s own floor. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it’s true. Kethri flew up to the ceiling and grabbed a sword off it, and when she let it go, it fell back up to where it had come from. Weird.
There was a Flind sitting at a table most of the way up one of the walls counting money. We tried asking it some questions, but it wasn’t very helpful. Then Rezigrene tried to bait it into a fight, but it just put its head down on the table and covered its head with its arms.
There were four columns spanning above our heads from one wall to the wall on the opposite side. One of the sides where the columns had their base was covered in coins, and Kethri flew up and grabbed one. As soon as she did, one of the columns detached itself from the opposite wall, bent around, and tried to smash Kethri. Did a pretty good job of it, too. She didn’t look too happy when she glided back down to us.
We looked around the side of the room we were on, but there wasn’t much to see. Each of the sides of the room has a door in the center of the corner where it meets another side, and a fifth door in its center. I opened the center door on our side, and when I looked through, there was another room like the one we were in. It didn’t look like there was anything dangerous in the other room, so I went through the door. Rezigrene followed right behind me. Zeddishous just poked his head through, and we noticed for the first time that the door on our side was closed. It looked like Zeddishous was just sticking out of it. He went back into the first room, and we opened the door on our side. Except when we looked through, we were looking into a third room. We closed the door, and since we couldn’t find our way back to them, me and Rezigrene decided to wait for everyone else to catch up with us before we go anywhere else.
DM's note:
The party reached Rift Canyon and met Pleedir the Druid. After helping him with his chores, the party was entranced by a beacon from one of the obelisks that littered the floor of the Canyon. Within minutes the entire party was assembled in awe as an extra-dimensional gateway opened. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 16 July 2005
Game-world date: 24 - 25 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session:
The party reached Rift Canyon and met Pleedir the Druid. After helping him with his chores, the party was entranced by a beacon from one of the obelisks that littered the floor of the Canyon. Within minutes the entire party was assembled in awe as an extra-dimensional gateway opened. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. Just as we left the party last session, they had separated the group. It was unintentional mind you, but it's a cardinal rule all the same – When adventuring in dangerous or unknown places. Always stay together. Just how big is this place? Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? Will the party be safely reunited? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
24 Junta 1002
Forens
It took them a little bit to catch up to us. They said that they had to kill some kind of toad that was spitting fire at them. Almost as soon as they got here, a couple of trap doors opened up underneath a couple of us. Since Kethri has wings and can keep herself from falling down a trapdoor, we all stood still while she walked around the floor and found all of them. Whenever she found one, we marked it so we could avoid falling down any of them. Each one opened over a pit that had a tunnel leading off somewhere from the bottom of it.
There was a really large creature sticking out from one of the walls where it was standing. It had several arms and it looked pretty mean and nasty. It was just standing there holding a silver box and staring at nothing like it was in a trance or something. Tanar said that it’s called a Tanar'ri, and that it’s even nastier than it looks, so we all decided to leave it alone.
There was a pond on the ceiling. There was a duck floating in the middle of the pond. It was a rather strange duck. It was all white, and it was using a bath brush to wash its back. It was definitely singing, and you would swear that it was almost saying words you could understand. Zeddishous said that it’s a legendary duck named Donald. He said that Donald is supposed to be pretty much immortal and indestructible. He said that the duck is easy to piss off and throws temper tantrums a lot. Evidently it even wears the funny looking clothes that were near the edge of the pond.
My body reminded me that I spent all day polishing obelisks and lugging stones around for Pleedir to fix his paths in the forest. I suggested that we finish getting our night’s sleep, and then Tanar told me to take the first watch! Can you believe it? I reminded him that I’ve already done my watch for the night. It might be hard to sleep with Donald making all that noise, though.
25 Junta 1002
Freeday
First thing this morning, we opened up the doors in the floor to see what room they led to. The went back to the room we started in! Do the doors change where they lead to from time to time? I really hope not.
We also checked where all of the doors we could get to in the walls went to. More rooms. After talking it over for a while, we decided that the only way we would ever start to figure out how to find our way around this weird place would be to just start wandering around and try to get some sense of the place. So that’s what we did.
At one point we found ourselves wandering around this one surface of a room that had invisible walls all over the place that shocked you when you accidentally bumped into one. What was weird, though, was that whenever a person walked behind one, the person disappeared. When we first walked into the room, Rezigrene saw a Kobold and decided to try and follow it. We never did find it, though.
We were kind of all wandering around the room on our own, when all of a sudden Zeddishous started yelling that Rezigrene was in another room and was in trouble. I hurried over to where Zeddishous was near the trap door in the middle of the room, and went through it. I was back in the room we had started out in, except now I was on one of the surfaces where the columns ended. I didn’t see Rezigrene anywhere, so I paused for a second for everybody else to catch up. One of the columns tried to smash me like it had Kethri, but I avoided it pretty easily. It was hollow on the inside, and it’s filled with spinning blades. I wouldn’t want to end up inside one. When Thalidimar came into the room, he told us that if you stand right next to where the column is attached to the floor, it can’t bend over far enough to hit you.
I saw a strange looking black sword over by one of the walls, so I walked over to where I could reach it and still stand right next to one of the columns. It didn’t look like it was made from “a piece of the sky,” unless it was a piece of the night sky, but I figured we should check it out anyway. I didn’t want to touch it, though, after hearing about how the Sword of Nth could make you do things against your will if you touched it, so I got out my grappling hook and used it to fish the sword over to me. About then, one of the columns bent over and spit out a bunch of chewed up armor and Rezigrene’s axe. Her wrist and hand were still attached to the manacle on the other end of the chain. It was time to either spew my breakfast all over the floor or get out of the room. Luckily, I was able to choose the second one. I drug the strange sword with me. Everybody else followed me back to the invisible maze, too.
It’s a good thing I didn’t touch the sword. Zeddishous told us that him and Rezigrene had gone into the other room. Rezigrene saw the sword and picked it up. Then she sort of stumbled, and then held the sword up over her head and said (in a really strange voice that didn’t even sound like her) “Kill me now!” She just stood there while the columns killed her! He came back to get our help, and they beat a couple more of us up pretty bad by the time we got away. We’re going to have to be more careful.
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. Twice now they've allowed the party to be split up, and the second occurrence brought tragic consequences. Rezigrene lays dead, devoured, and partially digested at the base of a Killer Column. Is the sword she sought the Sword of Nth? Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 30 July 2005
Game-world date: 25 Junta 1002
Written by: Kethri
Where we left off last session:
In search of Nth's sword, the party has traveled to a desolate area in the plains of southern Faerun. After entering Rift Canyon, they passed through a dimensional gateway and now find themselves within a very strange room, and extra-dimensional room. The room contains occupants and items on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Twice now they've allowed the party to be split up, and the second occurrence brought tragic consequences. Rezigrene lays dead, devoured, and partially digested at the base of a Killer Column. Is the sword she sought the Sword of Nth? Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
This journal entry is somewhat different. This time around we're treated to a different point of view. Written by Stacy, playing Kethri the Raptoran Druid.
25 Junta 1002
Freeday
The past day has been the most terrifying ever. Our fighter, Rezigrene, has been murdered by those columns, and all we could do was save our own lives and watch. I did not know her well, but life is precious and nobody deserves the end that she so abruptly met.
After we escaped the columns, Thalidimar thought that he would try to determine the strange sword’s alignment. Apparently, this is the sword that ‘convinced’ Rezigrene to give herself to the columns as sort of a sacrifice. I tell you this…..I do not need any of my spells to determine this swords alignment. After casting his spell, Thalidimar seemed to blank out, and with no warning he fell limp to the ground. As soon as he came to his senses, he appeared frightened and said that the sword was very evil and seemed to have it’s own soul.
The ranger, Zeddishous, also attempted to learn more about the sword by ’possessing’ it and thus allowing it to ’speak’ to him. He cast a spell on himself to allow him to hold the sword and feel no effects. After holding the sword for a few moments, Ashedyn knocked him out and it surprised all of us. Zeddishous’s wolf jumped to his defense and although I was surprised, I think I know the reasons for Ashedyn’s actions and I tried to call Fang off. I tried and failed. Fortunately, Tanar brought Zed back to consciousness, so that he could call off his wolf.
After things returned to normal and Zeddishous was fully aware again, he explained the sword as being an extremely old soul. Older than any of us in the group, our fathers, their fathers and so on. The sword is in search of a worthy possessor to wield it and destroy mankind. I really didn’t care for being in the presence of this spirit. Ashedyn then stowed the blade in his magical scabbard to both hide the blade and make it easier to carry. We did NOT want anybody finding this sword and the two of them getting along with each other. Ashedyn then placed the sword with Jeeves so no one had to worry about the task of carrying it.
We decided to continue making sense of this strange universe and explore doors. This time we documented this so that we could make some sense of it all and know how to traverse the cube. Maybe we can avoid another loss to the party this way, avoiding dangers where we can.
The next encounter was in a room with a maze. There was mist but I cast a spell so I could see through it and help guide the party. It was a good thing I did, because as we started towards the next door, the party was attacked by shadows. It was fortunate we had the jump on them as they can steal our energies. Thalidimar used his ability to turn them away from us and thank the heavens he did. I’m really not used to all of this, but must prove myself to my people. It’s my time to go forward and I don’t know what I’d do if I failed.
The next room we entered was a little more disturbing than the one with the shadows. This room contained the bodies of two priests……..Dead priests. From the smell, these priests have been dead for quite awhile. Even Naavain hadn’t the slightest interest in being in this room. We were attacked by, what appeared to be, invisible creatures. I cast a spell on Ashedyn that allowed him to ‘see’ with his other senses and picture the assailants. Between him and Zeddishous, they did away with these ‘ghosts’ in no time. After defeating the ghosts, or poltergeists as Zed pointed out, we went to study the rest of the room and found the bodies had disappeared.
We went on exploring and came upon the room with the weird box with the handle, and the scimitar. Ashedyn started spinning the handle, and got punched by a hand inside of the box. It was both scary and kind of funny at the same time. Just as he put the box away, trap doors opened in the room and we were attacked. These creatures didn’t seem to be that strong and we finished them quite easily. I think we should explore their tunnels. They might provide us with protection and rest possibly.
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. With one party member already dead, the Cube of Nth is proving to be a dangerous place. The party needs to discover a reliable way of navigating this extra-dimensional place, and safe spot to rest. Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 27 Aug 2005
Game-world date: 25 - 26 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session:
(August was a particularly busy month for our players. We skipped a meeting on the 13th of August, and the journal entry for the meeting on the 27th came a bit later than usual.)
In search of Nth's sword: The party has traveled to a desolate area in the plains of southern Faerun, where they're in search of a powerful artifact. After entering Rift Canyon, they passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. With one party member already dead, the Cube of Nth is proving to be a dangerous place. The party needs to discover a reliable way of navigating this extra-dimensional place, and safe spot to rest. At the end of the last session, the party was engaged in combat with some hooded creatures who ambushed the party through trap doors in the floor.
What was funny about them, though, was that as soon as they died, their bodies would immediately burn up. Their leader even exploded!
We went down in the tunnels they came out of to make sure there wouldn’t be any more trying to surprise us. We found where they had been living, and there weren’t any more.
Back in the room, we noticed that a rug on the floor hadn’t even been singed when their leader exploded. We flipped it over, and the other side of it was a hole. It wasn’t a hole in the rug like a hole in your sock, but a hole like the rug was a window into a building. There was actually a pretty big room in there. We set the rug down on the floor, hole side up, and lowered me down into it. There was a piece of paper with something written on it above a picture of a sword, but I couldn’t make out the words, so I brought it back up. Nobody else could read it either, so Tanar cast a spell that lets him understand any language for a short time. He said it was written in Overlord, and he rewrote it in Common so we could all see what it said. “DAER EHT EMAN” “Read the name” with all the words spelled backward? “Name the read” backwards? “The read name”?
The rug folded up really small, so we decided to take it along and keep all the stuff we find in it. Then we decided it would be a good time to rest now that we know nobody is going to be popping up out of tunnels in the floor in the middle of our sleep.
26 Junta 1002
Hafn’mor
During our wanderings today, we came to this one room where this Jester was standing in the middle of the floor juggling three candy canes. As soon as we walked in, he sang this song that went, “There is a way out, Uh huh, Uh huh - There is a way out, Uh huh, Uh huh - Just follow me, and you shall see . . .” Then he dropped the candy canes and ran out the door on the other side of the room. Since we haven’t found Nth’s sword, we decided not to follow him just yet.
In another room, these really huge rats came out of the walls and attacked us. After we killed them, Kethri turned herself into a giant rat and went into their tunnels. When she came back out, she had this tiny little cage that had a tiny statue of a person inside it. Tanar said that it’s magical.
We had spotted this pile of treasure on the ceiling of one room. There was a big pile of coins, and a shield, and a big leather bound book with a lock on it. Thalidimar said that the shield and the book and a pair of glasses I didn’t see right away were all magical. It took us a while, but we eventually found a door that let us get on that surface. A big, unprotected pile of loot? I was thinking trap, and I was right. As soon as Zeddishous walked into the room, this mechanical thing popped up out of the floor and shot him with three crossbow bolts. He came back and had Thalidimar heal him. I went in next to see if I could disarm it, but it shot me too, and then things went kind of fuzzy for a while, like when you get hit over the head too hard after drinking too much. Eventually I found myself right back where we were when we first got here. I decided to wait until everybody else caught up to me, which didn’t take very long. They had managed to grab the shield, book, and glasses, too. Zeddishous wanted to go back into the room and get the pile of coins, too. He showed me how he holds the rug in front of him with the hole pointed at the trap so it can’t shoot him. Then we went over to the pile and I shoveled it into the hole, and we went back and joined everybody else.
We wandered some more, and walked into one place that was like a small estate. It had a well kept lawn and stone paths and decoratively placed rocks, etc. There was a hut, and when we knocked, this guy walked out. He said his name is Too-Ate, and he comes from some place in the far east. I think Nibori was from the same place. Anyway, he decided to follow us around for a while. I think he’d like to get out of these cubes, and doesn’t know how either.
Later on we walked out on the surface where Donald Duck was still taking his bath. He acted all embarrassed until he could get his funny looking clothes on, as if we’d never seen a duck without clothes before when really he’s the first duck we’ve ever seen with clothes. Anyway, we started talking to him, and if you really listened close, you could actually make out what he said. It didn’t make any sense, though. He said he had a secret, and after Zeddishous gave him something to smoke, he told us that all of the cubes are connected, and you can get to any cube from any other cube.
OK. The doors in one surface all lead to doors in the same surface in another cube. With six sides in each cube, that means you can get to six other cubes from the cube you’re in. Counting the cube you’re in, that makes seven cubes. But we’ve been to at least eight cubes. So on top of being immortal and invulnerable, Donald Duck is either a liar or (more likely) nuts.
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. With one party member already dead, the Cube of Nth is proving to be a dangerous place. The party continued it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. They discovered an entirely new room, and a bunch of clues. The party discovered that the 'Detect Magic' spell can be highly useful in this place. By casting the spell, they've been able to locate a bunch of magic items and clues. I'm sure they'll be casting this spell more often. The party also encountered an NPC who may turn out to be an ally. Too-Ate is a Samurai who lives in a traditional Rokugan thatch hut and garden. Trapped here for who knows how long, Too-Ate has indicated that he would like to help the party, but he's not sure that they're intentions are good. For now he has agreed to accompany the party in it's quest.Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 10 Sep 2005
Game-world date: 26 - 27 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session
In search of Nth's sword: Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. They discovered an entirely new room, and a bunch of clues. The party also encountered an NPC who may turn out to be an ally. Too-Ate the Samurai has agreed to accompany the party in it's quest (for now). Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
We wandered a bit more, and came to a room where there was this old guy sitting under a pyramid-shaped frame. When we walked in, he lifted the pyramid thing off and greeted us. He said that his name is Bravic, and he was sent here by his god to heal us. We asked how his god knew we’d be here, and he explained that he was sent here to heal the brave, not just us specifically. We asked who his god is, and he said that it’s Belotar IV. None of us had ever heard of the god, so Bravic explained that Belotar IV was a Human that kept adventuring until he had become a god himself. Now he’s the god of Courage and fate. Then Bravic healed us and went back to meditating under his pyramid.
We wandered around a little bit more and then decided to go back and rest up where Bravic hangs out. After everybody went to sleep, I borrowed Rezigrene’s axe from Zeddishous (I still can’t believe she’s gone). I tied a rope to the middle of the handle. Then I laid the rug out with the hole up, laid the axe across a corner, and climbed down in. I wanted to check out some of the stuff we found today.
The shield we found has a design burned into it. It’s a circular pattern like a hedge maze if you could look down on it from above, or like the pattern on the pad of your finger. Burned around the pattern written in a circle are the words “CONJURE THAT WHICH YOU SEEK TO” Except there’s no telling just where you’re supposed to start, so it could be “THAT WHICH YOU SEEK TO CONJURE” or “TO CONJURE THAT WHICH YOU SEEK” or maybe even something else.
The big book’s title is The Mhagrhevieskhonn Tome. I wonder if it was written by one of X’s relatives or something? Isn’t his first name something like Magrhev? We’ll definitely have to show him the book when we get back to Whillip.
The glasses are a little odd. When you look through them backwards, they just reflect everything back at you like a mirror. When you put them on and look through them right, everything looks a lot darker. I’ll have to try them where the light is brighter.
I also looked at the little man inside the cage. He looked really well carved and painted for something so small. I opened the tiny door of the cage, and the little statue’s feet came unstuck from the floor and it started rattling around the cage. I dumped it out in my hand, but it started to grow right away, so I threw it on the floor. Next thing you know, there’s this panicked looking little Gnome wanting to know – Where he is, how he got here, What year it is, and Where's the Orge Mage? I didn’t ask him too many questions, but I get the impression he was trying to steal an Ogre mage’s treasure and he got caught. He says his name is Grenco. When he started eyeballing our pile of loot, I pointed him to the rope to climb out. After we climbed out, I told him he could tag along with us until we got out of here. Now he’s sitting off by himself looking all around. He seems pretty jittery, but we’ll see if he calms down a bit tomorrow after whatever he went through wears off. I wonder if the cage he’s in is still magical? I’ll have to ask Tanar when I wake him up for his watch.
27 Junta 1002
Aprochen
Zeddishous threw a hissy fit last night when he got woke up for his watch and found another person tagging along with us without someone clearing it with him first. He made me introduce Grenco to everybody, and then they started asking him who he was, etc. I had already heard all of it, so I went back to sleep.
In the morning, Zeddishous said he wanted to find out what’s in the silver boxes we’ve seen laying around here and there in these rooms. We decided to try and get the one that the zoned out Glabrezu is holding. I figured if someone held a door open for me, I could grab it and we’d be out of there before the Glabrezu even knew it was gone. We asked Too-Ate if he knew how to get to the Glabrezu from where we were, but he said that he wasn’t ready to help us yet, and that he’s still watching us. We found it on our own eventually, and the plan worked, but as soon as I grabbed the box, the Glabrezu disappeared. I remembered Tanar telling us that they can make themselves invisible, so I didn’t stick around long enough for it to blind-side me. All that was inside the box was a piece of paper with something written on it. After using his language spell again, Tanar rewrote the message “THE ANSWER? - THE KEY?” What a gip! I faced down a demon for that!?
Later on we wandered onto a surface almost covered in grass except one corner where there were just some boulders. About the same time that Duracell yelped ‘cause she almost got bit by a snake, I heard a hissing voice down on the ground next to me. There was a talking snake, and it was telling me that it was a good snake, and that if it bit me, it would cure any poisons that were already in me. It let me pick it up so nobody else would step on it. A talking snake that can cure poison would make a really cool and useful pet, so I asked it if it wanted to come with us. It said it just wanted to stay here and cure poison for other people that got bit by the other snakes here. We killed all of the other snakes that were trying to bite us, but it said that there were babies so there’d be more eventually. There was a really big metal snake that came out of the boulders. Zeddishous wanted me to try and find where its poison was kept and see if I could get the poison out so we could save it and maybe use it ourselves later, so I handed him the friendly snake and started looking at the metal snake. My foot slipped on a loose rock when I was lifting the big heavy head, though, and I dropped it. One of the fangs sank right into my foot. I stuck out my arm and told the friendly snake to bite me, and when it did, I couldn’t feel the poison from the metal snake anymore. I told Zeddishous to try and convince the friendly snake to come with us, but he just set it down in the grass and let it go! I told him I had wanted to try and convince it to be my pet, but he said that it wanted to stay here so we had to let it go. Sure, easy to say when he’s already got his own pet. Who’s he to decide what the rest of us can and can’t have for a pet, anyway? I think he’s just still pissed at me for letting Grenco out last night.
Too-Ate said that he’d decided we weren’t evil (gee, I feel so much better now that I have his approval), so he was ready to help us if he could. He gave us another piece of paper with something written on it. Zeddishous said that it was written in Celestial, and it said “OPEN THE OPEN DOOR, MY FRIEND, OPEN THE OPEN DOOR.” Too-Ate said he got it from another silver box that was on one of those floors where the nasty columns can smash you. Great, just what we need. Another piece of meaningless horse shit.
We’re never going to find Nth’s sword. The only thing even a little bit like it we’ve found so far just wants to kill us all. We’ve found a lot of money, but what good will it be if we never get out of here to spend it anyway? According to Too-Ate, he’s been here longer than he can remember. So if getting out is just a simple matter of following the singing jester, how come Too-Ate hasn’t left?
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. Over the last couple of days, they've discovered a lot of clues, encountered a few of the Cube's denizens,but they don't seem to be any closer to achieving their goals. Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 24 Sep 2005
Game-world date: 27 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. Over the last couple of days, they've discovered a lot of clues, encountered a few of the Cube's denizens,but they don't seem to be any closer to achieving their goals. Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Too-Ate left and went back to his hut. We went back to wandering. I think I’m just starting to get a sense of this place. There are eight cubes, each cube has six surfaces (of course), and there are five portals (they only look like doors) in each surface that transport you between the cubes. All forty eight surfaces are totally different from each other, and each one could be the floor depending on which of the thirty portals you come into the cube from. When the lightning hit the “lord”, it created the portal into these cubes. So where’s the portal out? And don’t give me any of that “OPEN THE OPEN DOOR” crap, ‘cause whoever made this place sure as hell aint my friend. And there’s still no sign at all of Nth’s sword.
We came to a surface that had a sandy floor. Near one corner was a small pond of water. Near another corner was a fancy looking chest with a yellow musk creeper growing all around it. I borrowed Rezigrene’s axe from Zeddishous, put my hood over my head so I wouldn’t have to worry about smelling the damned plant, and tried to kill it with the axe. I couldn’t get a solid hit on it anywhere, though, and our spell users ended up burning it up with fire spells instead.
The chest that the plant was gaurding had a pretty fancy double-key lock on it. It wasn’t two independent locks, but a single lock that required two keys to get open. Each of the keyholes had pins on either side of it, but they shared the pins that were between the holes. Both keys had to move those pins into position at the same time, as well as the pins on the outsides of either keyhole, or you couldn’t get the lock open. I’ll bet some Gnome thinks he’s pretty clever coming up with this one. He’d be pretty disappointed if he knew how easy I got it open. Of course, I had to use the good lockpicks to do it, but still . . .
When I looked inside, I saw yet another piece of paper with something written on it that I couldn’t read. When I grabbed it out, though, and took it over to Tanar so he could use his spell to read it, everybody backed away from me like I had a handful of ox-pie and I was trying to smear it on them. Next thing I know, the paper is gone, and there’s a gray ooze wrapped around me and hanging from my arm! Everybody else managed to kill it pretty quick, but it still ate my helmet, crowbar, and climbing gear before they killed it. Luckily, the coin from the helmet survived, so I can just head back to Bron Arvo’s when we get back to Willip and have another helmet made.
We started experimenting with the chest. It was wooden, but the inside was lined with stone. Whenever someone looked into it, they saw whatever they thought would be in the chest. I remembered what was written on the shield we found earlier, so I imagined a bastard sword with a sky blue blade. When I tried to pull it out, though, it wasn’t really there, just like everything else we saw inside the chest. We finally gave up and put the chest inside the rug to take with us in case it has anything to do with whatever puzzle this place is supposed to be.
The very next place we went to had three coffins on saw horses. Thalidimar opened the first one up, and there was this thing that looked like a mummy. He backed away and said that it wasn’t a mummy, though. He called it an adherer. He said that if anything touched it, it might get stuck to it like with glue. Fire is especially good at hurting them, though, and a couple more fire spells took care of it. One of the other coffins had another adherer (the fire spells were still going, so no problem). The third coffin, though, was completely filled with silver coins! We dumped them all into the rug. More money for us, IF we ever get out of here. I suppose we’ll have to give some to Grenco, too, if for no other reason than to keep from making another enemy by sending him away empty handed when he’s seen us collect all this loot and knows we could spare it. Besides, he’s actually helping us out a little as he’s following us around, so he deserves some anyway.
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. Over the last couple of days, they've discovered a lot of clues, encountered a few of the Cube's denizens,but they don't seem to be any closer to achieving their goals. Will the party find the Sword of Nth in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 08 Oct 2005
Game-world date: 27 - 28 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. Over the last couple of days, the party has been getting closer to their goal. They've nearly finished their wandering explorations. With most of the Cube mapped, the party can now concentrate on the search for clues which will move them forward in their quest.
After defeating the Adherer's, we wandered around a bit more, and eventually found our way to a surface we had seen earlier where this man wearing black robes was sitting. Last time we saw him, he asked us if we had found a sword, and when we said we hadn’t, he wouldn’t talk to us anymore. We thought that he might be looking for Nth’s sword too, or maybe the black sword we found. When we walked through the door onto his surface this time, he stood up and greeted us. His name is Gavarize. He was wearing the same amulet with Belotar IV’s holy symbol on it that Bravic wears. We asked if he knew Bravic, and he said he did. He says that they were part of another adventuring party that came here looking for the sword of Nth. We told him that Bravic believes he was sent here by Belotar IV to heal the brave. Gavarize kind of smirked and told us that Bravic believes everything that happens to him is the will of Belotar IV. Evidently, he and Bravic don’t get along anymore.
We told Gavarize that we’d seen a sword that had a blade that looked like it was made of darkness. He got all excited and said that was the sword he’s looking for. 'where had we seen it?' We asked him what he wanted it for. He said that it’s a really powerful magic sword that he wanted to use to help get himself out of here. We told him that it had forced one of our party to kill herself, and he just kind of shrugged. He seemed willing to take his chances with the sword. We told him we had seen it on one of the surfaces where the Killer columns are, and he left to go look for it. I don’t think we want him to find it, though.
We went back to Bravic and told him we’d met Gavarize and what we’d learned. He confirmed that they had once been part of an adventuring group, along with a Gnome we’ve seen in one of the cubes. They are the only three still alive from the group that first arrived here. He also told us that Gavarize is a pretty powerful warlock. He says that Gavarize has changed since he’s spent so much time in these cubes. We also told him about the black sword, and he got very concerned and told us to stay away from it.
Since Too-Ate had had one of the clues, we decided that maybe some of the other people or creatures around here might have other clues, so we’d have to stop avoiding the ones that might be dangerous. With that in mind, we wandered some more, and eventually found a door that leads onto the surface covered with a fog where Kethri saw a man carrying a bhuj. She cast a spell on almost all of us that would let us see through the fog, and we went into the room. Zeddishous and I went first, and drew our weapons in case he decided to just attack us. Tanar, though, just walked right up to the guy and started swinging his mace without saying a word! So of course the guy started fighting back. He started by lifting up his eye patch and shooting a jet of really cold air at us. Grenco rushed in the dropped the guy pretty quick. He told us that the guy was from a race called Frost-men. What if the guy had known something about this place? We could have interrogated him or something. Now he’s dead, so we’ll never know.
Zeddishous started looking through the bag the guy was carrying, but right then some weird stuff started happening. Duracell was one of the people Kethri couldn’t cast the seeing spell on, so she had used her belt to fly up above the fog and out of reach until things were done. Now she fell down to the floor. Also, the air kind of flashed back and forth between being cold, like you’d expect in a fog, and being comfortable. I decided to leave before whatever was happening decided to get dangerous. I went back through the door we had come in through, but I forgot that when we came here, we went through a door in the floor near the edge of the room, so when I came back through, I was now on what was a wall before. There were fire beetles here, and they acted pretty hungry. We had to kill them. Zeddishous said that their fire glands could be pretty useful and collected all of them. Then he showed us another silver box that he’d gotten out of the Frostman’s sack. When he opened it, there was a gem inside. Tanar picked up the gem, but then he dropped it right back in the box with an unpleasant expression on his face. He says that the gem makes it so that magic can’t work at all anywhere near it. Zeddishous thought that would be pretty useful and stuck it in his backpack instead of in the rug like all of the other group treasure.
We wandered a bit more, and found our way back onto the surface where the Jester is. He sang his song and took off again. We decide that this might be a good time to rest, and we could see if he came back and if we could actually talk to him.
28 Junta 1002
Longday
The Jester didn’t come back last night. We looked inside the bag he left behind, and there were some brass door knockers. Zeddishous took a couple over to one of the doors, and when he placed it on the door, it stuck there. He tried knocking with it, but nothing happened. He was able to take the doorknocker back off, and he started trying various combinations of putting the door knockers. on doors and knocking and stuff.
While Zeddishous was playing with the knockers (a man’s favorite pass-the-time, no?), I decided to see if there was anything inside The Mhagrhevieskhonn Tome that might offer a clue. It was locked, but there was no lock on the clasp. It looked like a solid chunk of metal. I figured it must be some kind of magic lock. Most of the time there’s a command word that opens a magic lock. I remembered the one clue that might mean you’re supposed to read a name backwards, and started reading the title, backwards, forwards, and with every pronunciation I could think of. Eventually, the lock popped open when I read the title forwards with the right pronunciation (for future reference, it’s Ma-grev-ee-ess-kohn)
. When I opened the book, two things happened. First, the page I opened to (they all appear to be completely blank) just kind of turned to ash. Then, I suddenly felt like someone had worked me over in a back alley. After the pain subsided, though, it felt like there was something else inside my head. You know how you feel when you know the answer to a question, but you just can’t quite think of it, or how you feel when you’re trying to figure out something and you’re right on the edge of understanding it? That’s how I felt. I tried to concentrate on where the Sword of Nth might be, but then I lost it. All that happened was that I felt sure that the sword is here somewhere, but we’re just not looking in the right place or in the right way. I described what I had felt, and Thalidimar said that it sounded like a more powerful version of a spell he can cast, except for the getting beat up part. Tanar wanted to book. He said the title, and got covered in bruises like I had, and then he said that he knows the true name of the black sword we found. He wouldn’t tell any of the rest of us what it is, though. I should have known then that he wanted such a powerful magic item all for himself.
Kethri tried to heal my bruises, but her spell didn’t work for some reason. We went back to Bravic, and he couldn’t do anything either. I guess me and Tanar will just have to wait for them to go away on their own.
We found our way to a door that leads onto the surface with the Gorgon. Since it wasn’t moving just like the Glabrezu, we figured that maybe it was just there to try and scare you away from the silver box, like a scarecrow in a corn field. We decided to use the same plan that we used for the Glabrezu, except this time I wasn’t going to just run out the door as fast as I could. After all, courage is supposed to be the key, right? When we got in the room, though, Zeddishous opened the box with the gem inside it that keep magic from working. So when I grabbed the silver box that was sitting on the floor, the Gorgon charged me! I’ll bet that there was supposed to be a spell that transported it away or something, and Zeddishous kept it from working. I managed to jump out of the way when the Gorgon tried to run over me, but it still managed to hit me in the shoulder with one of its horns on the way by. Then Zeddishous closed the box and ran out of the room saying he was going to go get help. So what’s the point of having him come with me to cover my back if he’s just going to run away from the first sign of danger anyway?. Now I know how abandoned Rezigrene must have felt just before she died. From now on, I’m counting on someone else to cover my back.
Right after he left, the Gorgon changed into another kind of creature! It looked a lot like an eight-foot-tall ghoul or zombie, but there was something inside its ribcage that looked like someone had been imprisoned there and was screaming in pain. Duracell came into the room right after that to help me.
And then Tanar stepped through the door, shouted “Khazrehg!”, and the black sword appeared in his hand! He just couldn’t pass up the first chance he got to try and use the damned thing!
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. With Ashedyn and other members of the party in mortal danger, we concluded the session with an explosive event. Tanar has summoned the 'Black Sword' to his hand! The last time a party member held the sword it spelled the doom of that character. With some strange poweful creature menacing the party, and Tanar armed with the 'Black Sword', what will happen next? Will the party survive this latest series of events in order to continue their quest in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 05 Nov 2005
Game-world date: 28-29 Junta 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With Ashedyn and other members of the party in mortal danger, we concluded the session with an explosive event. Tanar has summoned the 'Black Sword' to his hand! The last time a party member held the sword it spelled the doom of that character. With some strange powerful creature menacing the party, and Tanar armed with the 'Black Sword', what will happen next? Will the party survive this latest series of events in order to continue their quest in this four dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
28 Junta 1002
Longday
The creature said that it wanted the sword, and Tanar stepped towards it and took a swing at it. Maybe he had control of the sword for now, or maybe the sword just hated the creature more than us and wanted to kill it before us. Either way, I wasn’t taking any chances. I activated my darkness belt so the creature couldn’t see me anymore, and stepped away from it. The creature changed into this huge stone worm-thing with big tentacles at each end, and Tanar started screaming that he couldn’t see. I guess I forgot to tell him about the belt, but I realized this was a good chance that I couldn’t pass up. I pulled out one of my blunted arrows and shot it at that spot where Tanar’s neck meets the back of his skull. He went down like a sack of potatoes.
By this time, everybody else had come into the room and they were all helping fight the creature, which had changed into some kind of weird ape with two really long tongues, and then something that looked almost human. Thalidimar said it was some kind of undead called a vampire spawn. It reached for the black sword that Tanar had dropped, but Zeddishous and Thalidimar beat it down before it had the chance to touch the sword.
I grabbed Tanar and tied and gagged him in case he decided he was going to shout that word again and try and use the sword against us or something. We still don’t know if the sword is forced to stop possessing you just because you stop touching it. We put the sword back in the magic scabbard, wrapped it back up in the blanket, and stuck it back in the bottom of the portable hole.
Tanar was pretty pissed off when he woke up, of course. He wanted to know who had attacked him and started calling me all kinds of bad names that basically mean traitor and stuff. I explained to him that we couldn’t risk someone being possessed by the sword and apologized and stuff. I also pointed out that I could have just as easily killed him outright, but I didn’t. He seemed to calm down a bit, but he’s probably just figuring out a way to get me back, which he is completely entitled to. At least that’s what Hoar teaches. I just hope he remembers to keep the pay-back reasonable, and doesn’t just hurt me as much as he possibly can. And I hope that the sword isn’t still controlling him. I’ll have to watch my back.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the clue that we went to get that started this whole thing. There was this transparent piece of paper with something written on it in the silver box. The writing translated as “For within your grasp it may truly be.” The most useless clue yet.
29 Junta 1002
Endsnear
Gavarize had told us that a big, floating eye we’ve seen has another clue, so we decided to go check out what it is. When we first walked onto it’s surface, nothing happened. But then Zeddishous tried to talk to it, and a voice said, “Blind men are we, for the sword we cannot see.” Then it started shooting beams at us. When a beam hit you, it made you blind, except you could see this vague light without any shape in the center of your vision. After a while, the blindness went away, but you could still see the shapeless light if you closed your eyes. Some clue.
After that, we decided to experiment with the black sword for a little bit. Zeddishous cast his spell that protects against being possessed on me, and I got the black sword out of the rug. I tried holding it and saying its name forwards, backwards, and pronouncing both in as many different ways as I could think of, but all I managed to do was piss it off really good. I went to put it back in the rug, and someone noticed Gavarize sitting on a wall watching us. So now he knows we have it.
The next surface we went to had some jackals on it. They attacked us when they saw us. Kethri asked us not to kill them, so I pulled out my sap instead of my rapier. When we had beat them all, she healed the two that were still alive and cast a spell on herself that lets her talk to animals. They didn’t really know anything useful, though. We gave them some food, and now they just avoid us.
We decided to go back over the clues and see if we have enough of them to piece something together. Zeddishous used The Mhagrhevieskhonn Tome to find out what the true name of Nth’s sword is. He says that it’s "Egaruoc". Then Grenco used the book to ask what the symbol on the shield means. The answer he said he got was to “Read the shield and a clue will be revealed.” I took another look at the swirly pattern, and I figured out that it’s made of writing of some kind. I couldn’t figure out what it says, though. Zeddishous and Duracell eventually figured out that it says “Go to omphalos.” So the whole thing is “To conjure that which you seek, go to omphalos.” Tanar says that omphalos is a big fancy word for belly-button. He thinks it’s supposed to signify going to the center or back to the beginning. So that’s where we’re going to go next.
But first we’re going to rest up for the rest of the day and all day tomorrow. Too many of us have damage from that book that only heals slowly on its own. Besides, tomorrow is Godsday, which isn’t a work day anyway, and today is supposed to be just a half-day anyway.
DM's note:
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. With items and occupants on the walls, floor, and ceiling, the party has definitely entered a multi-dimensional realm. The party continues it's exploration of the Cube of Nth. The party defeated a powerful monster that changed shape every round, they managed to overcome Tanar's possession by the evil sword, they recovered a couple more clues, and they deciphered one very important clue. It seems that they're getting close to their goal. Will they be able to unravel all the mysteries of the Cube of Nth, recover the sword and escape from this four-dimensional room? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
Real-world date: 19 Nov 2005
Game-world date: 30 Junta - 02 Jularva 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session
Our group of intrepid adventurers passed through an extra-dimensional gateway in search of Nth's sword. Passing beneath the rune inscribed sword portal, the party has entered a very strange room. The party is planning to rest up after a very dangerous battle. They've deciphered some of the clues they've found, and they're preparing to attempt an escape from this four dimensional room. Will they be able to leave here with the sword? There's only one way to know for sure - Stay tuned for adventure!
30 Junta 1002
Godsday
We had a talk today about the other people in these cubes. When we’re sure we’ve found the way out, we’re going to let them all know so they can follow us out. There was a bit of a discussion about whether we should bring Gavarize along too, but I think the group vote was to go ahead and bring him along.
01 Jularva 1002
Newday
I never realized before today just how stupid everybody I’m hanging out with is. They keep insisting on doing everything ass-backwards.
Today started out OK enough. We went back to the surface we were on when we first showed up in these cubes. On the way, we saw the surface Gavarize used to hang out on. He wasn’t there, but he had written “I will have the sword, one way or another!” in blood on the floor. Since Gavarize is a Warlock, we told Zeddishous to have the magic canceling gem ready, just in case.
When we got back to the starting surface, Grenco was the first to go through the door. As soon as he did, a bunch of skeletons just kind of appeared around him and started attacking him. Zeddishous yelled for us to go into the room and he would follow and bring out the gem. Then he held the door for the rest of us. I pulled out my crowbar to do some skeleton smashing and ran into the room.
Then I saw Gavarize. There were two things about him that were just wrong. First, he was wearing gloves when we saw him before. Now he had the gloves off, and his hands looked weird. For one thing, they were too big. Also, they looked like they were supposed to be on a corpse that had been dead for a very long time. They were all withered and dried out. And they had these really sharp blades sticking out of the fingertips about as long as my forearms. As soon as I saw them, I knew they couldn’t be natural, and they had to be destroyed. The second thing that I noticed about Gavarize was that he actually looked me eye-to-eye for the first time, and there were little fires inside his eyeballs.
When Zeddishous ran into the room and opened the box with the gem, the skeletons just collapsed. Gavarize started screaming in pain. When I looked at him, his arms had fallen off and were laying beside him on the floor! He was literally spraying blood from his shoulders. He begged us not to kill him. Zeddishous had been talking earlier how he would just kill Gavarize if he found out he was evil, so I rushed over and knocked Gavarize out before Zeddishous had the chance. I told Thalidimar that Gavarize was bleeding pretty bad, but when Thalidimar came over and took a look at him, Gavarize was already dead. Oh well, I tried. Zeddishous kept the gem out for a little bit longer so we could smash the skeletons without much trouble. I also took Gavarize’s stuff off him. As soon as Zeddishous put the gem away, Gavarize’s body burnt up like those creatures we fought the other day.
I closed my eyes and said "Egaruoc". While I was saying the name, I could see a sword in front of an open door right in the middle of the room, between the killer columns. As soon as I stopped saying the name or opened my eyes, I couldn’t see them anymore. Zeddishous wanted to try and go up and get the sword right away. Dumb. What if we got sucked through that door or something the moment we grabbed the sword? How would we let everybody else know the way out like we talked about yesterday? I had to convince everybody that we should go and round everybody else up before we do anything.
We went and got Too-Ate first. Grenco told him that we’d found Nth’s sword and that we’re getting ready to leave. Too-Ate was pretty interested in hearing about the sword. Zeddishous got upset at Grenco for letting Too-Ate know about the sword. He’s got a point, but I think Zeddishous was more upset that he’s supposed to be the group spokesman and Grenco beat him to the punch. We went around and gathered up everybody we’ve seen in these cubes and told them to meet us on the starting surface. Then we headed back there ourselves.
When we got to the door that would lead us back to the starting surface, Zeddishous wanted to go through first with just him and Duracell. Hello? The plan has always been for me to go in right behind Zeddishous. Duh. When we went into the room, the Jester was there. As soon as he saw us, he flew straight up and disappeared where we had seen the door. Duracell activated her flying belt and pulled Zeddishous and me up to where we could see the sword was. Zeddishous reached out and grabbed the sword, and it appeared in his hand! He had cast his protection spell on himself so it couldn’t possess him. I threw a grapple hook through the door and dropped the rope to the floor so Duracell wouldn’t have to fly everybody up. Then Zeddishous and me climbed up and through the door.
We were in an eight-sided room. On four opposite sides were open doors at the tops of stairs leading down to the center of the room. We were at the top of one of the stairs. There was a closed door at floor level in the other four sides of the room. Zeddishous kind of concentrated at the sword for a little bit, and then it disappeared again and Zeddishous motioned like he put it in his belt. As usual, he’s keeping whatever he finds for himself instead of sharing it with the rest of the group like the rest of us do. The jester was standing in the middle of the room juggling again. Now that he’s out of the cubes, he can talk again, although all we really found out about him was that his name is Sabatoo.
While everybody else was climbing up, we went and looked through the other open doors. They all looked like they led back to the same door we had come out of in the starting cube. After everybody had climbed up into the room, Zeddishous asked us if he should try the door knockers on one of the doors. Sabatoo called Zeddishous a thief for stealing them and said he wanted them back. Sure, when someone else talks about stuff we’ve found, Zeddishous gets all mad, but can he follow his own advice? Of course not. He had to give back the door knockers and the bag they were in and a ring that makes him stronger. Tanar had actually found the rings and given them to Zeddishous and me, and I still had the one that makes you invisible when you put it on. I just kept my mouth shut, and Sabatoo didn’t seem to notice he didn’t get it back.
When we opened the closed doors and looked through them, all you could see was a bright white light. Everybody started wondering what we should do and where they might lead. As far as I was concerned, it didn’t really matter since they’re the only way out except that didn’t go back to the cubes, so I just picked one and went through. Turns out all four put you back in the clearing next to Pleedir’s hut.
As soon as we were back in the valley, the Hobgoblins that had followed us out of the cubes took off. Too-Ate, Bravic and Ellies (a Gnome we’d seen in the cube that was part of their original group) started setting up camp in the clearing. Thalidimar and Zeddishous wanted to stay and wait for Hank to bring our horses to us in three days. I thought that was just stupid. If we left right away, we’d be back in “town” before he even left and then we could head back to Whillip. Nobody else wanted to go, though. I managed to convince them to leave first thing in the morning, at least.
We’re doing double watches tonight. Bravic’s group still seem pretty interested in Nth’s sword, so we’re going to make sure it doesn’t “disappear” without us knowing about it. Of course, if we’d left like I suggested, we wouldn’t even have to worry about it since they’re staying here until tomorrow.
02 Jularva 1002
Nexsta’
We got up at dawn this morning and packed up camp. Then we rubbed on some of that giant scorpion repellant we got from Hank. Climbing out of the canyon was a little more difficult than it should have been. The rope we had left there when we climbed down was gone. I’ll bet the Hobgoblins took it, and I’ll bet that if we’d left yesterday like I wanted, we could have kept them from stealing it. But would anybody listen to me? No.
Zeddishous wouldn’t put Nth’s sword in the rug. He claims that the sword doesn’t “want” to go in the rug. He says that the sword wants to be returned to Menelmacar, but won’t say how we’re supposed to do that without possessing someone. Yeah, right. More like Zeddishous wants to keep it for himself.
Tanar has flames in his eyes now like Gavarize had. I wonder what that’s about? I’ll have to keep an eye on him even more, now.
We probably could have made a lot better time today, but every time I was just starting to hit my stride, Thalidimar kept stopping us for a water break, or a meal break, etc. So then I’d cool back down and have to warm back up after the break, and just when I was getting into a comfortable rhythm again, another break. Aargh!
We got attacked by some giant scorpions. Some repellant. They were pretty easy to kill anyway, so I’m not using any more of that smelly crap.
We stopped for camp way too early. We had at least another good hour of daylight left. But everybody else wanted to stop, so we did.
Zeddishous wanted to post double watches again tonight. Yet another stupid idea. We haven’t seen anybody else since we left Rift Canyon. What the hell do we need double watches for? At least Thalidimar finally convinced him to put the sword into the rug for the night when he pointed out that with everybody crammed into the big tent, it would be too easy for someone to accidentally touch the sword in their sleep and end up possessed.
As soon as everybody else fell asleep, I decided to see for myself what the big deal was with Nth’s sword. I got the rug off Thalidimar and took it a little ways out of camp. Then I opened it up and climbed down in. As soon as I grabbed Nth’s sword, it started talking to me inside my head like the black sword had, except a whole lot nicer. It thanked me for freeing it from its prison, and said that it wanted to be returned to Menelmacar. I asked it how that could be done, and it told me that all I had to do was stand out under the sky and say its name. Like I had a choice, anyway. I felt myself begin to move, but not by my choice. My body climbed back up the rope, stood up on the ground, held the sword over my head, and then my mouth opened and I heard myself say "Egaruoc!" But I didn’t do any of it.
As soon as I had said the word, there was this howling from all around the camp. It woke everybody up, and we saw these dogs come flying out of the sky and surround the camp. They told us not be afraid (Nth’s sword had already told me that), and that Menelmacar’s emissary was coming. A little bit later, a weird looking guy came flying down into the camp. His body was like a person’s, but it had four arms. It was holding two swords. He had a draconic looking head, and he had wings covered in black feathers. I think Kethri almost offered to have his baby. He said his name was Whenit, and he had come for the sword. My legs began to move, and my body walked over and handed him the sword. He thanked us and told us to go back home and we’d be rewarded.
Zeddishous got all pissed off, of course. Like everything we do is supposed to be cleared through him first of something. Someone needs to remind him that he’s just the group spokesman, not the leader. Besides, when he starts practicing what he preaches, then maybe I’ll start thinking about listening to him. Who do we need to avoid pissing off more, anyway; some woman we’ve met only once that lives in a city a continent away, or a god? I know who I’d pick.
Duracell’s snoring tonight sounds almost as bad as Kragus’s was. Starting tomorrow night, she can sleep in the big tent or something and stop freeloading off me.
DM's note:
That pretty much wraps it up. The party was on a quest to recover the Sword of Nth for a weapons mage. They traveled down to Rift Canyon where the entered the Cube of Nth. After some intense problem solving and a bit of monster fighting, they put their clues together and recovered the sword. Once they'd found the way out of the cube, the started for home and a well deserved reward. In the middle of the night, a Celestial Emissary appeared and took possession of the sword for Menelmacar - The swordsman of the stars. Now that the party has no sword to show for their efforts, how will they pay for their training? What will they tell Trelles? What adventure awaits them back in Whillip? There's only one way to know for sure. Check back here in a couple of weeks for the continued adventures of our heroes - The S.C.R.E.W.O.F.F.S.
Real-world date: 03 Dec 2005
Game-world date: 03 - 10 Jularva 1002
Written by: Grenco
Where we left off last session
The party was on a quest to recover the Sword of Nth for a weapons mage. They traveled down to Rift Canyon where they entered the Cube of Nth. After some intense problem solving and a bit of monster fighting, they put their clues together and recovered the sword. Once they'd found the way out of the cube, they started for home and a well deserved reward. In the middle of the night, a Celestial Emissary appeared and took possession of the sword for Menelmacar - The swordsman of the stars. Without the sword, the party continued on it's airborne journey towards Whillip.
03 Jularva 1002
Onward
I must say that these past few ‘days’ have been the strangest I have ever been witness to. I’m not sure how I got to where I am today but after being rescued by this interesting group of adventurers, we found our way out of that place with doors and floors everywhere. (Quite an intriguing invention if I do say so myself) I can’t help but wonder what fate has in store for me now that I’ve supposedly outlived any nephews and/or nieces I might have had. It’s quite depressing really, knowing that I wasn’t able to be there for my folks in their final years. From what everyone is saying, I was in some kind of deep magical sleep for 300 years and am now literally 355 years of age.
On our way to a town the others called Deppershire, I spotted a creature called a Rage Drake. Fortunately someone spotted him and warned the party before I became an entrée. I guess some creatures haven’t changed in 300 years. Kethri immediately flew up and spotted the creature. The Drake then jumped down to attack and we all sprung to action. It was quite strong, but we seemed to be faring well against it until everything went dark. It was distracted by the Ioun Stones and blind, (as was I all of a sudden), but it seemed to know where I was. I backed out of the battle and yelled to whomever caused the darkness, “I CAN’T FIGHT WHAT I CAN’T SEE!”. The light of day then appeared as suddenly as it had disappeared and we were able to defeat the beast. The night following was uneventful.
04 Jularva 1002
Forens
With the Rage Drake dead, Ashedyn and I were able to extract the hide and scales from the creature. This might come in handy for somebody in the party as we have just enough, I think, to fashion a full suit of armor. We started on our way again to Deppershire when we encountered the guide named Hank and he had a lot of horses in tow. Everybody was happy to see him, and I got the honor of riding Rezigrene’s war horse. An enormous beast I have to say, but it seemed to tolerate me enough to give me a ride. I will have to ask Kethri if she can help me become closer to it so it doesn’t accidentally kill me.…..Druids seem to be talented at befriending animals.
Hank mentioned to the group that a few of the Eclipse’s crew (a flying ship) had been galavanting about the small town, causing a ruckus and just plain being rude and beligerent. Constable Billet threw them in jail to settle them down a bit I guess. When we arrived in Deppershire, We were greeted by an older man named Geete I think. We then went to where some of the crew were held up, and paid to have them released. After all, we do need someone to fly the ship back to Whillip. We also tipped the constable very appreciatively for all the trouble the crew had caused. Zeddishous needed to return a horse he had borrowed from him and got a deposit back. While he did, a couple of the party had their hair cut and I had mine washed. Feeling refreshed, we all decided to go to the 'Blue Knight' to have a few drinks. At first, they weren’t too sure of us until we tipped them and reassured the bartender we weren’t there to cause problems. I hadn’t realized what I’ve missed out on until now. I enjoyed it so much, I asked to buy a couple of bottles of his finest drink and he sold me two bottles something called 'Formian Brandy'. He also just gave me two ‘Blue Knight’ shot glasses free of charge.
05 Jularva 1002
Freeday
We set sail today on a behemoth of a ship called, The Eclipse. I don’t recall them having vessels this large in my day, let alone flying in the air like a winged dragon. It truly is a sight to see. The temperature is the hottest I have ever experienced. Fortunately, we have a slight breeze and the wind to our backs so it is bearable. I cannot wait to see this Whillip and meet the friends of my newly aquired mates. They are an odd bunch, but seem to be pleasant and enjoyable to be around. The night was beautiful and full of stars.
06 Jularva 1002
Half'nmor
There was no wind today and the ship slowed to a crawl and at times seemed to stand still in the air. That, together with the hot temperatures, made for a miserable day. We were all glad to see nightfall.
07 Jularva 1002
Aprochen
The wind picked up and we were once again on our way. Ashedyn and Duracell seem to have a bond that I once shared with Lathari, my one true love that was killed when a Dragon attacked her town. It’s good to see that love like that hasn’t died in 300 years.
08 Jularva 1002
Longday
Winds are picking up and temperatures are cooling somewhat. Kethri has spent a lot of her time up on top of the rigging and Zed is training his wolf. A magnificant creature Fang is. I have always admired the way wolves interact and communicate with one another. Overall, Fang seems to have a good temperment.
09 Jularva 1002
Endsnear
The Gods must have been with us these past two days. The winds have been constant, and we seem to be making up that day when we had no wind. Not to mention, it’s been smooth sailing since we left Deppershire. I’m getting a little anxious to see this Whillip and quite frankly, getting tired of being alone with my thoughts. So many things I’ve obviously missed out on, and lots to catch up with. Anybody I ever knew must have passed away a long time ago.
10 Jularva 1002
Godsday
I spoke too soon. Today we encountered Harpies and nearly lost four of the group. I have never seen Harpies before, nor do I care to ever again. They are extremely ugly creatures that look like my great grandmother after she had been buried for five seasons (Forgive me grand ma ma for the disrespectful comment). I think it would’ve been a much tougher, more dangerous fight had Thalidimar not had the coin of silence to quiet their (Harpies) song .
Most of the crew up top had heard their songs however, and walked or jumped to their deaths. In fact, Zed and his wolf had succumbed to the Harpy's music and tried to walk overboard. Zeddishous’s god must have intended for him to live that day, and placed me in the path of Zed as he tried to walk to the Harpy (overboard and down 2000 feet would have been the path). Fang would’ve suffered the same fate had he not followed the same path. I spent more time keeping them from jumping than I did fighting.
The leader of the Harpies was an archer who had accuracy and skill with a bow I have never witnessed before now. She was able to fell Duracell, Kethri, and Tanar while under attack from Tanar and Ashedyn. Tanar was pounding her with magic missiles and Ashedyn was quite effective with his bow. Just as we thought we were going to lose a couple of friends, the Harpies flew away. I don’t know why, but maybe they had enough or wanted to avoid losing any more of their group. I’m just happy they fled when they did. We immediately regrouped and attended to the wounded. Whillip, here I come.
DM's note:
The party has ccompleted their latest quest, and they've been traveling back to Whillip. The journey back hasn't been as easy as they may have hoped, and a fierce battle with a group of Harpies nearly ended the lives of four party members. With that battle over, the party is on the verge of their return, but they've no sword to show for their efforts, how will they pay for their training? What will they tell Trelles? What adventure awaits them back in Whillip? What of the reward promised by the emissary of Menelmacar? There's only one way to find the answers to this many questions. Check back here in a couple of weeks for the continued adventures of our heroes - The S.C.R.E.W.O.F.F.S.
Real-world date: 17 Dec 2005
Game-world date: 10 - 11 Jularva 1002
Written by: Ashedyn
Where we left off last session
The party has completed their latest quest, and they've been traveling back to Whillip. The journey back hasn't been as easy as they may have hoped, and a fierce battle with a group of Harpies nearly ended the lives of four party members. With that battle over, the party is on the verge of their return, but they've no sword to show for their efforts, how will they pay for their training? What will they tell Trelles? What adventure awaits them back in Whillip? What of the reward promised by the emissary of Menelmacar? There's only one way to find the answers to this many questions.
10 Jularva 1002
Godsday
We made it back to Whillip, but we arrived after dark, so the ship couldn’t navigate into the harbor until morning. They anchored about 3 miles outside of town up the coast a little ways. Thalidimar was going to have us just stay on the ship one more night, which was just stupid. As long as we’re this close anyway, why not just finish getting to X’s manor and sleep in some real beds? It took the crew of the Eclipse an hour to get all our horses and stuff down, but it still wasn’t all that late when we got back to X’s. We pointed Grenco to the Mariner’s Fellowship House on the way through town.
While we were putting our horses away in the stable, I saw Lenginth’s anvil in his little shop. It gave me an idea. I suggested that since we have an unbreakable great axe, maybe we could destroy Khazrehg (the evil sword we found). Something so powerful and evil should not be left to keep destroying things. Everybody agreed, so I climbed down into the rug and got Khazrehg. It started talking to me inside my head even though I wasn’t touching it. It told me it could help me get my revenge on Grindell and his people and stuff, but I remembered how it talked to me the last time I held it, so I knew it was lying. It would never help me, it was just desperate to not get broke.
When I climbed back out of the rug, Lenginth had gotten out of bed and was wondering what we were doing. We told him about how we wanted to destroy this really powerful but VERY evil sword. He seemed skeptical, but decided he wanted to do it for us since it’s his shop and he didn’t want us messing around with his tools and stuff. We handed him the axe and helped him get the sword clamped into a holder he had. Then he hit the sword with the axe, and it exploded! Flying chunks of the sword even blew a couple of holes in the walls of his shop. We gathered up all the pieces, and Lenginth was looking at them kind of funny. He said that the sword had been made of darksteel. It’s a really rare metal, and it can keep its magic even after it’s broken. Thalidimar and Tanar cast a couple of spells, and said that the pieces still had magic on them, but they weren’t evil anymore. Since darksteel is really valuable, we decided to have Lenginth melt the pieces down into a single solid chunk, and we’d sell them. He said that it would take a couple of days.
11 Jularva 1002
Newday
Since today was my 19th birthday, I decided to sleep in. Everybody else had different ideas, though.
First, Duracell came barging back into the room at some god-awful early hour. She was all freaked out ‘cause she had seen a dead body out on the lawn in front of the manor. I figured that since X has his own staff and security people here at the manor, they could deal with it, so I tried to go back to sleep.
When I got up, I couldn’t even get to breakfast unharassed. Thalidimar was standing at my door waiting for me to come out. It seems that the guards had come across an intruder on the grounds last night. When they confronted him, he attacked them and they killed him. Thalidimar found a note on the guy’s body that said something about looking for something at X’s manor. Thalidimar is convinced that the note was referring to Khazrehg, because all of the darksteel is gone. Someone clubbed Lenginth over the head, and Zeddishous says he’s found tracks where several people hunted around Lengith’s shop and picked up a few pieces of the darksteel that we had missed in the dark last night. Then they went down to the dock and must have left in a boat. Thalidimar was asking what I thought we should do next, and I figured nothing. The constable has already been out to the manor and is investigating, and it’s not like Zeddishous can follow the boat’s path in the water, so what is there to do? Thalidimar wants to go down to the morgue tomorrow and try a spell like we used on Nibori’s body to try and see if he can get any more information from the dead guy. What a waste of time.
I wasn’t even done eating yet when Thalidimar wanted to go running straight down to the Mage’s Guild to get our magic stuff identified. I had to remind him that we still had some obligations to tie up before we could start thinking about our own bank accounts. He and Tanar and me went to the weapons museum to give Trelles the bad news. Of course, since we weren’t giving him Nth’s sword, we’re not going to get paid.
Thalidimar wanted to head to the Mage’s Guild after that, and I had to remind him that Rezigrene might have some kind of will or something in her room to tell us what she wanted done with her stuff if she died. If I hadn’t said anything, I’ll bet he would have just thrown all her stuff into the treasure pool so we’d get more money. I know she was just an orc, but she did save our butts a couple of times, so doesn’t her memory deserve at least a moment of respect? Evidently, I’m the only one that thinks so, and I got along with her the worst of any of us.
When we got back to X’s manor, Grenco had managed to follow us there. He’s like an annoying little brother that follows you around everywhere asking “Can I play to? Huh? Huh? Can I?” He says he talked to Bidvar at Where Now, and when he mentioned that Rezigrene died, Bidvar got pretty upset. He closed his shop for the day and left and everything.
I got Nathis to let us into Rezigrene’s old room, but the only thing we really found was a note on her Rukanyr armor that said she wanted Bidvar to have it. Thalidimar wanted to leave delivering it until tomorrow and just go to the Mage’s Guild, but I wasn’t feeling as lazy has him, so I decided not to procrastinate. I asked Nathis if he could arrange to have Rezigrene’s Rukanyr armor delivered to Bidvar, and he seemed pretty relieved to be getting it out of the manor. Then we went to the Mage’s Guild.
DM's note:
The party has completed their latest quest, and they're currently unwinding in Whillip. They'll split up the treasure, balance their check books, renew some old acquaintances, undergo training, and generally kick back and relax a bit. Or at least that's what they hope to do. Is Whillip just a stopping off point for the next adventure? Where is X? and what's gotten into Ashedyn lately? Check back here in a couple of weeks for the continued adventures of our heroes - The S.C.R.E.W.O.F.F.S.
Author: Robert L. Vaessen e-mail:
Last Updated:
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