To Anakheera and Beyond

Bomilcar, Destiny, Sir Blanque and Marion travel northwards to the capital of Anakhazan, leaving the rest of the expedition behind at the great library of Maidahk. The characters are beginning to see quite a bit of the formerly unknown eastern realms now; Anakhazan is the most northerly of the major central power bloc, the Valederian Directorates. They are coming in this direction because Destiny wants to find out more about the so-called 'Gardens of Ynn', the entrance to which is supposedly in the capital city. Bomilcar wants to go even further north than this, to the volcano named Khakun after an avatar of Grome, the Elemental Lord of the Earth. One thing they have realised is that every time Marion has gathered a piece of the Runestaff, her olive skin has darkened. It's just a little each time, but it has been so imperceptible to begin with that they have only now just consciously noticed it. Marion hadn't really spotted it herself - it just seems so natural to her.

A couple of days out, they hear some screaming and howling from off to their left. They ride hard and arrive at a tributary stream with a bridge; in the centre is a middle-aged woman holding another part of the Runestaff. She is accompanied by a very large, shaggy yellow-haired dog - the same one that befriended Marion on a previous occasion. In between the pair on the bridge and the characters is a couple of the wolf-headed spider demons they also encountered earlier, with another two advancing menacingly onto the far end of the bridge. The woman and her dog are cut off on both sides.

However, the spidery things are intent on their victims, so the characters have the advantage of surprise on the two nearest them. Sir Blanque spurs his steed forward, controlling it with his knees, and taking the demons on this side of the bridge entirely unawares. He kills the one on his right with a single vicious swing of his Virtuous broadsword, and completely stuns the other with his ring of force, an item he picked up at the Blue Tower. He then jumps his horse over the demons' intended victims, landing neatly and racing towards the two spider demons at the far end of the bridge. The combination of his attack plus Destiny's elementals puts them to flight, and they teleport off. [Every character succeeded in their Ambush roll, except Sir Blanque, who made a Critical Success - and then a Critical hit on the main body section of one of the demons with his sword. Bits of demon went flying in all directions.]

The woman they have just rescued introduces herself as Eudora and hands over her section of the Runestaff to Marion, whose skin visibly darkens once more. Eudora explains a little; "I have a talent for seeing pieces of the future. I sent my pet hound to help you out in the city a few weeks ago; I've been travelling to meet with you to pass this on to Marion here. I can now retire. Before I go, though, I offer you the chance of an insight into your path." With that, she assumes the lotus position, and then floats a few feet into the air, meditating. Destiny finds this funny, so she does the same, only in her case she is supported by an air elemental. Marion asks why her skin is changing colour, and why it seems so natural to her. Eudora answers that, "You are the daughter of Sepiriz of the Nihrain." This is a real surprise; Sepiriz was the name of the man who used the Runestaff to banish the Dead Gods at the cost of the staff shattering, and that supposedly happened at least 10,000 years ago - that's what he called himself in the vision they all saw back in southern Argimiliar.

The only remaining piece of business is what to do with the wolf-spider demon thing that Sir Blanque stunned. It is beginning to show signs of coming round, and the characters debate how to restrain it. They know these things can teleport, and they want some information about the entity that sent it after the Runestaff. Destiny consults her Demon of Knowledge, who suggests that they use the magic net Bomilcar acquired from the Sahuagin leader to tie down the demon; hopefully the net's power will negate the demon's ability. This succeeds, and after a lot of cursing the demon thing tells them that its mistress, Lolth, will slowly torture it for centuries for its failure. It would rather have a quick death, and there is a way for it to tell the party what they want to know, resulting in a swift end: "When the Dharzi leader Lolth merged with the Beast Lady of the spiders, she acquired various powers. One of them is a type of venom secreted from sacs on her hybrid form that she injects into the bloodstream of any spider things she creates or summons, like us. This controls us, because if we do something against her, it leads to immediate death. I'd rather this happened to me than return to her knowing what she will do. So, what do you want to know?"

Destiny has a good think. She reasons that since Fate has led them here, there is a very good chance that the group will eventually discover how to find Lolth. This accords with Marion's insight into the ways the Balance works its strategies in the long term. Even though it might seem that this is the logical thing to ask, therefore, she tries something different: "How do we kill Lolth?" The spider demon answers: "She lives in a bubble plane of her own creation. Even if her physical form is killed, she will be reconstituted there. She has three forms: her original Dharzi self; her huge spider form, which only retains her head; and a hybrid form, with her body and head grafted onto the abdomen of an enormous spider. You will need to kill her three times, once for each avatar, while she is on her home plane. The only other possibility is for her plane to be destroyed while she is not there, stranding her elsewhere in whatever form she inhabits at that time. You then need only kill her the once. Either way will be extremely difficult." The demon then expires noisily, albeit quickly.

The characters gather themselves together and wave good bye to Eudora and her giant doggy. It licks Marion's hand before bounding off with its mistress. The group continues its northwards journey.

The southern part of this Anakhazan is very fertile, but the further north one goes the more barren it becomes as it rises towards the great mountain barrier known as the Withered Peaks. The group is travelling along the main river system on the eastern bank. This half of the country belongs to the rather Lawful Ducal Freyr family; the characters know from prior reading that the western half is ruled by the more Chaotic Gruye Duchess. Both show the best of their respective loyalties, and the combination makes Anakhazan a perfectly balanced state. The capital city straddles the River Meer, and the central palace sits on a series of bridges that support an artificial hill. Much of the city dates back centuries, even further - the central citadel was supposedly built by the fabled Menastrai.

The group decides to approach the city by crossing the river to the somewhat freer side, just in case their varied appearance worries the more Lawful natives. They are welcomed at the gates with great pomp and ceremony by a deputation from the city, led by the heads of the two Families, who have been expecting them. [This was Eudora's doing, although the characters didn't know it at the time.] A great banquet is held in their honour in the central palace, and they are invited to accompany the Freyr Duke and Gruye Duchess to the top of the central tower the next day; that is where the entrance to the Gardens of Ynn is located. The Duke is very reserved but commanding, while the much younger Duchess is vivacious and charismatic; she takes a shine to Sir Blanque.

Next morning, they approach the central staircase, led by the Duke and Duchess. The characters will be the first outsiders ever to reach the top of this citadel; its secrets have been handed down across the generations to the leaders of the two ducal houses. After a bit of a climb, the group emerges into a single large circular room. In the centre floats a large hollow pyramid, spinning slowly in a clockwise direction. Inside it is a smaller octagonal frame, which spins slowly counter-clockwise. Having already seen one of the fabled eight-sided Golden Wheel coins (that of the Emperor Matik, who defeated the Dharzi), they realise that this frame is exactly the right size to take one of them. Destiny tells this to the Duke and Duchess; the latter nods in agreement. "The legends say that if the correct coin is placed in the frame, the entrance to the Gardens of Ynn will appear. The Menastrai supposedly wait there."


Umpire's notes
I don't always have everything planned in advance; sometimes, I'm just riffing off my own half-formed ideas, together with elements of published materials. For example, the great secret at the heart of the citadel is something completely different in Lawrence Whitaker's gazetteer of the Eastern Kingdoms, but I replaced it with the Gardens of Ynn because I want to use them. I will of course then change bits of that to fit my campaign. You can find the supplement at Drivethru here.

Sometimes, I just add in bits that occur to me on the spot, especially from conversations that arise during play. Ideas often come when one of the characters says something I wasn't expecting, like Destiny's question to the spider-demon, or Marion's changing skin tone. The combination means that I almost never run anything 'as is'; I don't feel the need to use every single element of a published module, for example. I've been doing this long enough that the stew of ideas for the long term campaign plus some improvisation keeps things fresh for me as well as the players. This matters because I don't want to lose interest myself; GM burnout is something I've seen many times before. I find that this approach - 'Old School' if you like (maybe!) - enables me to run very long, consistent campaigns for a stable core of players. If one of my campaigns ends, it's either because it has actually run its course, or because of major life changes that break up the group. I do have an end point in mind for this one, but it is very long term and epic. And this is only part one of three...

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