Feeling Blue
Jorthan's narrative
The Lizardmen arrive in their newly reconquered fortress and their Shamen patch us up as best they can. Our new little blue friend from another world explains his situation. His kind (he calls himself a Silume) are drawn through the dimensions to meet their destined mate and he had arrived in the Young Kingdoms, the nearest plane to his ultimate destination - apparently when the urge strikes, the male develops a kind of homing sense. Anyway, he was about to jump into the next and final plane when he was captured by a minor Pan Tang priest and sorcerer. Oremergrinroul (that's our new friend's name) reckoned the blackbeards would probably experiment upon him to try to discover the secret of his ability to travel between the planes. No doubt there would be extra spice added to this endeavour because the Silume are sacred to Lady Eequor of Chaos, sworn enemy of Pan Tang. He managed to escape by stealing a boat and heading off in this direction, and was then captured by the Sahuagin.
"It's only a matter of time before a great big Pan Tang warship arrives here. You probably don't want them to find your new Lizardmen friends, so it's probably best if we head out to sea as a diversion. I'll then deal with the Pan Tangians - I need to get to the next plane anyway." It sounds as though he is planning something big.
It turns out that only one of our Pikarayd crew was badly hurt in the battle with the Sahuagin, and he will recover. So we set sail as the little Silume suggests. We sight the Pan Tang galley after a couple of days, and the chase is on. We lead it a merry dance, but it closes inexorably. Oremergrinroul waits until the right moment and then orders our bireme to turn to face the oncoming enemy. He then grabs Bomilcar's arm (with his permission, I hasten to add) and bites into his flesh with surprisingly pointed teeth. The sky turns dark and the Pan Tang ship is caught from behind by a gigantic ocean portal leading to another world. We back water as much as we can while the great galley lurches sickeningly and is then sucked into the vortex side-on, with its crew screaming all the while. Several of them fall from the rigging to their deaths, and our little Silume friend does a happy little jig. We wait until the Pan Tang vessel is completely swallowed up and then, as the portal comes towards us, we shoot straight through into it.
Oremergrinroul says that there is always a time dilation with these sorts of events, and so we should arrive quite a while after the Pan Tangians. Also, because our vessel is under direct control, we should be relatively unscathed. We glide easily into a small cove on an island that has appeared directly ahead of us. It glows blue, especially towards our left, where on a rise there seem to be the remains of a town and temple. The centre of the island is covered by what looks like a very strange forest of sorts from what we can gather at a distance, and to our right there is a beach and then some really treacherous looking rocks. There is a great deal of flotsam over there, along with what looks like wriggling figures - presumably the Pan Tang shipwreck. It must have arrived a couple of hours before us, in relation to the timescale here.
As we start to get our bearings, Marion realises that the island looks exactly like the rocks that make up Pan Tang itself, and there would seem to be some exceptionally sheer cliffs on the far side. Apparently there is a story of a hidden cult of Eequor that was destroyed by a previous Theocrat of Pan Tang; it looks as though something was salvaged from that situation. The place is barely illuminated by a dark blue sky with pinpricks of silvery blue; presumably those are what pass for stars in this little dimension. There seems to be very little life on the island apart from the blue glow coming from the town.
The four of us land on a little beach along with Oremergrinroul. We leave Bomilcar behind, because he is still suffering after-effects from the shocking maces used by the Sahuagin priestesses. Straight ahead of us is a waterfall, turned to ice by some sort of flash freezing process. Little motes of blue dance in the ice. The Silume says that this can happen to water when it is suddenly wrenched through the dimensions. Sir Blanque goes for a closer look, and says that there is space to squeeze behind the icefall; he can see a cave entrance part way up the cliffside behind it.
We use our grapples and ropes to climb up to the cave, which turns out to have a tunnel that leads into the depths of the island. Fortunately there is enough blue light to see by; the walls are coated in ice and water containing the little blue sparkles. Destiny says this is definitely a plane controlled by Eequor - she likes blue, apparently.
We make our way through a series of caverns and tunnels, trying to make sure that we tend towards the location of the blue temple town as much as we can. Destiny leads the way, and there is some right relief when she stands on a squid in a shallow pool of water. It tries to lash out at her with its tentacles and misses, and then shoots off into hiding in a pool under a rock ledge. Near here we find the freshly killed body of a Pan Tang warrior; it looks as though he has been hit by several nasty sword slashes, and tried to crawl off, eventually dying from blood loss. We hear a little girl's laugh when we find his body, although that particular area leads to a dead end.
We partially retrace our steps and then head off in the direction of the town (we hope). The caverns give way to properly dressed stone passageways, and we find a throne room lit by braziers containing brightly glowing blue stones. Sitting in the throne is the body of a mummified priestess in all her finery, holding a staff of office. She is flanked by a total of four skeletal guards in old half plate armour. They bear scimitars covered in partly congealed blood and lying in front of them, hand outstretched towards the priestess, is the body of another Pan Tang crewman. His wounds match the scimitars.
We leave this grisly scene behind us without interfering, and head off through another passageway towards our destination. We find a series of catacombs, the final resting place of Eequor's servants, presumably, many of whose bones are glowing blue. Eventually we reach a sacred fountain, a well full of bones that blasts blue light out into the night sky through an opening above us. I shudder with the cold; best not to get too close to that. On the other side of the room is a circular stairwell leading upwards.
However, a captured priestess with her hands bound behind her back is about to be thrown into her own sacrificial well by two Pan Tang men: a priest and the captain of the ship we destroyed, by the look of them. Our little Silume friend growls, but the two are so intent on taunting their captive that we easily take them both out from behind, saving the priestess. The Pan Tan sorcerer isn't quite killed outright, but Oremergrinroul jumps on him and finishes him off by strangling the guy - "I like it up close and personal" he says, delightedly. Both of the Pan Tang dignitaries are carrying quite a lot of valuables, so we relieve them of their purses. It's not as if they'll be needing them any more. The priestess leads us up the stairs to the town and there is a happy reunion of all concerned. Explanations follow, as does more of the disembodied laughter. The Silume says it sounds exactly like Eequor herself.
Marion's memory of the story of Eequor's Pan Tang turns out to be correct. We are introduced to the surviving high priestess and her small group of compatriots, all that is left of Eequor's liberty temple for Pan Tang women. They were attacked several decades ago (in Young Kingdoms time) by the forces of the Theocrat, and at the climactic moment their town and temple was sheared off from their hidden location on a small isthmus of Pan Tang itself, and thrown through the dimensions to end up here. It would seems that time here passes less swiftly than on our home plane, because the priestesses say that by their reckoning around ten years have passed since then - it's 35 on the Young Kingdoms. Even so, they are now struggling to survive because food is so difficult to come by. They still have the remnants of their once luscious gardens, but plants don't do so well under the permanent inky sky outside.
The High Priestess is named Dima'dra'esh and is now over sixty years old; there is also a senior priestess and four others, the youngest being 29. One of them is even originally from Dharijor. There is a touching moment as Oremergrinroul gets to meet his bride, who is called Limarayn, and we become guests of honour at the strangest wedding I have ever seen. I act as groomsman for Oremergrinroul, while Destiny is matron of honour for Limarayn. Dima'dra'esh officiates, and as the two Silume are joined together in holy matrimony by the High Priestess of Eequor, they each hold out their right arm for the other to bite into at exactly same moment.
There is moment of shuddering and dislocation, and then we suddenly find ourselves back in the Young Kingdoms as this corner of the multiverse rights itself. Our astonished Pikarayd crewmen are able to work out our location, and it turns out that we are in the waters to the southeast of Pikarayd itself, which delights them no end. We now have a powerful alliance with Eequor's servants in an area that will enable us to hurt the Pan Tang-Pikarayd alliance; the island is shrouded by a blue mist generated by the newly married couple, so it looks as though we will be the only ones to know of its existence. This could be immensely useful in the future.
We stay for a few days while Bomilcar returns to normal. Destiny consults with the High Priestess over some of the items we have been gathering during our adventures, and between them they work out what most of them are. We then say our goodbyes and set sail for Filkhar, home of Sir Blanque.
Umpire's Notes
The players were pleased with the opportunity to destroy more Pan Tangians, and the blundering through the caverns was a bit of a hoot. Destiny fumbled her see roll and disturbed the squid, which promptly fumbled its attack. The only real bit of combat came when the group found the two Pan Tang leaders, but even that was over with very quickly. Most of the time was spent either exploring or roleplaying.
The Lizardmen arrive in their newly reconquered fortress and their Shamen patch us up as best they can. Our new little blue friend from another world explains his situation. His kind (he calls himself a Silume) are drawn through the dimensions to meet their destined mate and he had arrived in the Young Kingdoms, the nearest plane to his ultimate destination - apparently when the urge strikes, the male develops a kind of homing sense. Anyway, he was about to jump into the next and final plane when he was captured by a minor Pan Tang priest and sorcerer. Oremergrinroul (that's our new friend's name) reckoned the blackbeards would probably experiment upon him to try to discover the secret of his ability to travel between the planes. No doubt there would be extra spice added to this endeavour because the Silume are sacred to Lady Eequor of Chaos, sworn enemy of Pan Tang. He managed to escape by stealing a boat and heading off in this direction, and was then captured by the Sahuagin.
"It's only a matter of time before a great big Pan Tang warship arrives here. You probably don't want them to find your new Lizardmen friends, so it's probably best if we head out to sea as a diversion. I'll then deal with the Pan Tangians - I need to get to the next plane anyway." It sounds as though he is planning something big.
Our scenario was based on this one by Jason Durall et al. I think it was the only one ever published for the D20 version of the Young Kingdoms.
Oremergrinroul says that there is always a time dilation with these sorts of events, and so we should arrive quite a while after the Pan Tangians. Also, because our vessel is under direct control, we should be relatively unscathed. We glide easily into a small cove on an island that has appeared directly ahead of us. It glows blue, especially towards our left, where on a rise there seem to be the remains of a town and temple. The centre of the island is covered by what looks like a very strange forest of sorts from what we can gather at a distance, and to our right there is a beach and then some really treacherous looking rocks. There is a great deal of flotsam over there, along with what looks like wriggling figures - presumably the Pan Tang shipwreck. It must have arrived a couple of hours before us, in relation to the timescale here.
As we start to get our bearings, Marion realises that the island looks exactly like the rocks that make up Pan Tang itself, and there would seem to be some exceptionally sheer cliffs on the far side. Apparently there is a story of a hidden cult of Eequor that was destroyed by a previous Theocrat of Pan Tang; it looks as though something was salvaged from that situation. The place is barely illuminated by a dark blue sky with pinpricks of silvery blue; presumably those are what pass for stars in this little dimension. There seems to be very little life on the island apart from the blue glow coming from the town.
The four of us land on a little beach along with Oremergrinroul. We leave Bomilcar behind, because he is still suffering after-effects from the shocking maces used by the Sahuagin priestesses. Straight ahead of us is a waterfall, turned to ice by some sort of flash freezing process. Little motes of blue dance in the ice. The Silume says that this can happen to water when it is suddenly wrenched through the dimensions. Sir Blanque goes for a closer look, and says that there is space to squeeze behind the icefall; he can see a cave entrance part way up the cliffside behind it.
We use our grapples and ropes to climb up to the cave, which turns out to have a tunnel that leads into the depths of the island. Fortunately there is enough blue light to see by; the walls are coated in ice and water containing the little blue sparkles. Destiny says this is definitely a plane controlled by Eequor - she likes blue, apparently.
We make our way through a series of caverns and tunnels, trying to make sure that we tend towards the location of the blue temple town as much as we can. Destiny leads the way, and there is some right relief when she stands on a squid in a shallow pool of water. It tries to lash out at her with its tentacles and misses, and then shoots off into hiding in a pool under a rock ledge. Near here we find the freshly killed body of a Pan Tang warrior; it looks as though he has been hit by several nasty sword slashes, and tried to crawl off, eventually dying from blood loss. We hear a little girl's laugh when we find his body, although that particular area leads to a dead end.
We partially retrace our steps and then head off in the direction of the town (we hope). The caverns give way to properly dressed stone passageways, and we find a throne room lit by braziers containing brightly glowing blue stones. Sitting in the throne is the body of a mummified priestess in all her finery, holding a staff of office. She is flanked by a total of four skeletal guards in old half plate armour. They bear scimitars covered in partly congealed blood and lying in front of them, hand outstretched towards the priestess, is the body of another Pan Tang crewman. His wounds match the scimitars.
We leave this grisly scene behind us without interfering, and head off through another passageway towards our destination. We find a series of catacombs, the final resting place of Eequor's servants, presumably, many of whose bones are glowing blue. Eventually we reach a sacred fountain, a well full of bones that blasts blue light out into the night sky through an opening above us. I shudder with the cold; best not to get too close to that. On the other side of the room is a circular stairwell leading upwards.
However, a captured priestess with her hands bound behind her back is about to be thrown into her own sacrificial well by two Pan Tang men: a priest and the captain of the ship we destroyed, by the look of them. Our little Silume friend growls, but the two are so intent on taunting their captive that we easily take them both out from behind, saving the priestess. The Pan Tan sorcerer isn't quite killed outright, but Oremergrinroul jumps on him and finishes him off by strangling the guy - "I like it up close and personal" he says, delightedly. Both of the Pan Tang dignitaries are carrying quite a lot of valuables, so we relieve them of their purses. It's not as if they'll be needing them any more. The priestess leads us up the stairs to the town and there is a happy reunion of all concerned. Explanations follow, as does more of the disembodied laughter. The Silume says it sounds exactly like Eequor herself.
Marion's memory of the story of Eequor's Pan Tang turns out to be correct. We are introduced to the surviving high priestess and her small group of compatriots, all that is left of Eequor's liberty temple for Pan Tang women. They were attacked several decades ago (in Young Kingdoms time) by the forces of the Theocrat, and at the climactic moment their town and temple was sheared off from their hidden location on a small isthmus of Pan Tang itself, and thrown through the dimensions to end up here. It would seems that time here passes less swiftly than on our home plane, because the priestesses say that by their reckoning around ten years have passed since then - it's 35 on the Young Kingdoms. Even so, they are now struggling to survive because food is so difficult to come by. They still have the remnants of their once luscious gardens, but plants don't do so well under the permanent inky sky outside.
The High Priestess is named Dima'dra'esh and is now over sixty years old; there is also a senior priestess and four others, the youngest being 29. One of them is even originally from Dharijor. There is a touching moment as Oremergrinroul gets to meet his bride, who is called Limarayn, and we become guests of honour at the strangest wedding I have ever seen. I act as groomsman for Oremergrinroul, while Destiny is matron of honour for Limarayn. Dima'dra'esh officiates, and as the two Silume are joined together in holy matrimony by the High Priestess of Eequor, they each hold out their right arm for the other to bite into at exactly same moment.
There is moment of shuddering and dislocation, and then we suddenly find ourselves back in the Young Kingdoms as this corner of the multiverse rights itself. Our astonished Pikarayd crewmen are able to work out our location, and it turns out that we are in the waters to the southeast of Pikarayd itself, which delights them no end. We now have a powerful alliance with Eequor's servants in an area that will enable us to hurt the Pan Tang-Pikarayd alliance; the island is shrouded by a blue mist generated by the newly married couple, so it looks as though we will be the only ones to know of its existence. This could be immensely useful in the future.
We stay for a few days while Bomilcar returns to normal. Destiny consults with the High Priestess over some of the items we have been gathering during our adventures, and between them they work out what most of them are. We then say our goodbyes and set sail for Filkhar, home of Sir Blanque.
Umpire's Notes
The players were pleased with the opportunity to destroy more Pan Tangians, and the blundering through the caverns was a bit of a hoot. Destiny fumbled her see roll and disturbed the squid, which promptly fumbled its attack. The only real bit of combat came when the group found the two Pan Tang leaders, but even that was over with very quickly. Most of the time was spent either exploring or roleplaying.
Comments
Post a Comment