Scene I Duesday 15th Frost. Proscenia customs
house, and streets, early afternoon.
Enter All the Party, disguised as Artistic Enforcers and Prisoners with Mammoth,
and Columbina
rolled in a carpet.
A squad of five Artistic Enforcers in shadow forms and wings (one of
whom is bearing a rolled carpet), two halfling prisoners, and a woolly
mammoth
appear in a warehouse and immediately begin to step off the enormous
set
of scales on which they have arrived. An official tells them to
wait
as the weighing is not complete, but when he looks up at what he is
weighing
he utters an expletive and pales. The five Artistic Enforcers
begin
to move off with their halfling prisoners and mammoth, when, in a
carefully
rehearsed action, the mammoth encircles with its trunk the smallest of
the
enforcers-- the one holding its halter -- and flings him across the
warehouse,
where, with a great wail he rockets out of a window. At this, the
halfling
prisoners begin yelling "It's loose!" and a general panic ensues.
The
Enforcers leave the mammoth on the scale and (with their prisoners)
make
their way in good order towards a wall. The largest of them turns
to
the local guards and indicating the mammoth commands them to "arrest
that!".
The mammoth stamps and trumpets (quite damaging the delicate
scales)
and in the confusion the carpet is dropped amongst a pile of other
luggage.
The Enforcers open a wide hole in a wall (allowing many to
escape),
and walking into the street beyond, spread their wings and, grabbing
their
prisoners, take to the skies and leave.
[Exit The Party]
The mammoth casually walks through the now deserted customs warehouse
and ambles towards the river a couple of blocks away. Once there
is jumps into the water and begins to swim down-stream. A few
minutes later
it transforms into a huge pile of snow that melts in the river as it is
washed downstream.
[Exeunt]
[An Aerial Interlude]
The party flees Proscenia city on wings, but over the next few minutes
change to flying by winds in order to loose the thirty foot black
position markers. They are pursued by unknown parties on wings,
some distance behind.
To slow, or hopefully prevent pursuit Mortimer calls a storm which due
to an ill thought out spell write-up, or a numerically literate GM, but
most probably theatrical conventions, causes the storm front to cross
the party's flight path at supersonic speeds. Most of the party,
flying with their own winds, are largely insulated from effects.
Braegon is thrown several miles off course. Mortimer is
apparently disintegrated... but gets better. Dawn exults.
Pursuers decide they have better things to do. Regrouping takes
some time -- hampered by party members being unseen.
Party flies hours to the north-east until dusk. After tea, rituals and
moon-rise the party flies on, and upon sighting mountains angles east
to the end of the chain, landing as the flying magics expire. Braegon
builds a fortified cave and in rebuttal to some comment about his
appearance quoth: "I'm smarter than most Earth Elementals". We
decide to camp for 8 hours but as Braegon's complex watch schedule
cannot handle this we try something even more complicated. Dawn
pretends to be Dawn for half a watch.
[An Investigative Interlude]
W'nsday 16th Frost. It is cold and bleak. Dawn speaks to a rather
provincial "gulley" wind. Braegon has a pointless conversation with an
Ash tree. The party trys to contact mimes using ear, and while some
contact is made there is no useful communication.
Continuing their travels the party sights a wall that stretches many
miles from a large town in the north, nestled in the tail of the
mountains and a smaller town in the south by the coast. Flying to
halfway the party examines the wall. The stone appears to be
facade over crackling disintegration energies held in check at top and
bottom. The area below the wall cannot be tunnelled through, the
area above the wall is something like solid wall of air. Released
energies make insects and other creepy-crawlies grow to immense
size. We observe giant worms and spiders. The whole appears
a seam, stitching a planar rift together. Dawn speaks to birds who
state that the wall cannot be flown over.
[A Conversational Interlude]
The party fly to the north city and observe a wagon train entering the
keep -- presumably bound for Calenture. Party discuss options for
getting through. Consider speaking with a carter. Decide to
check out smaller southern city. Discuss more options. Discuss
going over mountains. Party observes the northern town and
engages in discussion of many cunning plans involving hiding in
barrels, tunnelling, mammoths and skin change.
[Cunning Plans]
Eventually Braegon summons an earth elemental and, from half a mile out
the party tunnels under the town emerging in the cellar of a warehouse.
Sneaking out into the street we follow Roke's locate to the
"Chicken and Yolk", a carter's pub. There we purchase beer and
stew and, in order to relieve the frosty atmosphere, several rounds for
the pub. Braegon, Mortimer and others engage the carter's in talk
about Calenture getting horror stories about colleagues eaten and oxen
sucked into the ground, and beleaguered farmers in kraals. In the
meantime Dawn talks to the barmaid and finds that Calenture may be
visited as a day trip without papers, at the cost of 1 penny per
person. Abandoning our cunning plans we decide to be tourists.
Locating a deserted house in the town we break and enter and spend the
night. Scrounging the house we manage to put together a couple of
picnic baskets.
Scene II Th'rsday 17th. Calenture Portal and
Calenture, morning.
Enter All the Party, disguised
as
Nobles on a Picnic with Guards.
Dressed as a party of nobles and bodyguards out for a day trip, the
party proceeds at 9am to the gate house and pay over our 7 pennies.
We pass through the fortifications (containing the usual array of
portcullises and murder holes) into a courtyard and thence through a
tunnel into the mountain. It becomes dark (even for magical
sight), the ground slopes down and we pass through a tingly area that
DAs as being under the effects of disintegration magic.
Continuing through the dark tunnel we reach closed doors and
opening these see bright sun, grass, and a stone road. There are
also guards in fortified posts watching the sky, arrows nocked.
This end of the portal emerges just below the brow of a hill,
surrounded by forest and covered by blue sky. The area around the
portal appears mown and edged by a stone wall through which the road
passes. There are more guards. Looking further afield we
notice an odd visual effect. Some 10 miles off we can see farm cottages
and people working -- one has a blue hat. In a different
direction some 12 miles away is a lake, with four ducks... and two
drakes. Checking these unusual optical effects with a spyglass
reveals only
blurriness.
Dawn attempts to speak to a bird. The magic does not appear to
work properly leading to suspicion that it is not a real bird.
Braegon takes root. The earth feels nearly dead. The
dirt has a magical aura, nature being "creation". We head down the road
and the archers offer dire warnings to "be back by nightfall".
Dawn and Mortimer take to the air and scout. We quickly discover that
the plane has a ceiling at about 200 feet -- some form of wind barrier,
much like the top of the inter-dimensional wall. The party flies
to the lake and Dawn
and Mortimer swing closer to the cottages, which on nearer inspection
alters
in appearance until it is a fortified kraal, and then rejoin the party
at
the lake edge. The lake appears huge, the far side cannot be
seen. Braegon
roots, the earth is barren and bleak. Lake edged by 200 feet of
swamp.
Pent constructs an ice bridge to the water's edge. Dawn flies in and
tries to land
on end of ice, misjudges, attempts to pull up and inadvertently flies
out
over lake. Suddenly she disappears and all of her gear falls to
the
ground as though the water's edge were a solid wall. Amelia (with
enhanced
vision and an item) views the lake and sees formless spirits in the
"lake"
and "air" above. To normal sight it appears to be a lake with sky
above,
but under Amelia's sight it appears to be a wall with spirits beyond.
Dawn reappears from the lake edge some distance away, unclothed but
apparently unharmed, and recovers her gear. She says that she
appeared to be under water in greyness and headed for a blue edge.
All spell magics (save a Lesser Enchantment) appear to have been
removed, but ritual magic was not affected.
Braegon builds an earthen jetty to the water and we spend a long while
examining the edge of the lake. Thrown objects hit the invisible wall
and bounce off in random directions (similar to the ceiling). The only
things that do not bounce off are people, and cream pies from Pent's
gonne -- and these only pass through if intact. DAs show the pies
to have mummery magic. Taking a bite from a caught pie results in the
remaining pie bouncing. Ducks waddle out of lake and Dawn again
tries unsuccessfully to converse with them. Under another
magic a duck says "Quack!". We use Skin Change to transform a duck into
a
rat. Serendipity tries to talk to it (as a creature of Night and
Shadow).
It is confused, but give odd reactions that are not like an
animals.
We throw transformed rat into lake, Amelia sees it revert to a
spirit
duck shape and then a duck waddles out of the lake. We tie a
stick
and a pie to a duck and then use Damnum Magnatum to transform it into a
frog.
Into the lake it goes. The curse comes off the frog reverts
and
the possessions are ejected.
Mortimer fails to divinate the lake (there is nothing to divinate) so
while he divinates Dawn, she in turn speaks to winds. Dawn
contacts a Proscenian wind that came through the portal. It tells her
that while there are seasons here there is no moisture at all.
Also that the ducks exist and that the local creatures are either
small or huge. The wind says that it cannot get over the lake and
that the area that appears to be lake is the edge of the world.
Pent fails to freeze lake water. We use magic to purify it -- it
still cannot be frozen. We use a magic removal effect on the
magical water -- no effect. Braegon digs huge spiral pits and
drains off water. Serendipity suggests that perhaps there is no
air here and then collapses, not breathing. Braegon helps her
recover.
More time is spent fooling with lake edge. A magically created
net bounces off. A darksword dagger bounces off. An iron
dagger at close range rebounds and injures Amelia. Dawn and Pent
go into lake. It is a grey area, with a blue entry area.
They cannot see each other, cannot hear, spells seem to be cast but
have no apparent
effect. They are pulled by current. The blue begins to fade
and both head towards the "shore".
Eventually both come out. Roke kills a duck. Pent
attempts
to take dead duck in, the duck bounces. More discussions.
The party sees an approaching family. As they get closer their
appearance changes, becoming a cavalry patrol, then a platoon, a
company, and finally of troops of battalion strength, heading
cross-country at speed towards the lake. The party takes to the
air unseen and circles around. Getting closer the numbers dwindle
until it appears to be one couple, holding hands and skipping towards
the lake (at some 15 mph).
[Enter Two Mimes dressed as Proscenian Nobles]
They stop and observe Braegon's pond. We wave, they bow.
Picnics are arranged and we talk, sort of, as they seem to be
mimes, dressed as Proscenian nobles. By signs they tell us that
they
know of the lake and can go in a small way, but too far and everything
falls
to the floor. When questioned about why some objects enter and others
do not
they show us a posy, as opposed to a bunch of flowers. Pent gives a
javelin
to the man who twirls it like a baton before returning it to Pent and
keeping
an exact copy. They offer to trade a picnic basket to Pent in return
for
his gonne, but he decides against it. They cannot copy people.
The mimes
indicate that they know Arlechinno. Serendipity signs Brighella's song
which they deny knowing
but do appear to recognize. They are keen to have some people released
from
Dom Daniel. They tell how a night here there are fierce
creatures.
Finally they tell us that they do not resist persecution by the
Proscenians
because they would become worse than their tormentors. They mount up
imaginary
horses and leave.
[Exit Mimes]
We briefly visit a kraal that on closer inspection resolves into a
stone barn. It appears to be a guard post. They point
crossbows at us
and say that they are paid to be here and that we should go away.
Returning to the lake Roke enters. His DA talent appears to
work but give very odd answers suggesting that his generic true name is
"Roke" and that the plane of origin of the cream pie he carries in is
"Cream Pie".
More discussion occurs. Finally we determine that those who so
desire will enter the lake and try to enter (and then jail-break) Dom
Daniel. Serendipity, Amelia, Dawn, Roke and Mortimer will enter the
lake. Braegon and Pent will return to Proscenia with all of the
party's gear and stay within locate range until the Carnival.
There will not be a rescue party.
Quoth Roke: "On with the face paint and into the lake."