Castle Amber II: The Central Octagon
Continuing another strange interplanar adventure with:
Destiny: Melnibonean (actually Menastrai) sorceror
Marion: Shazaarian (actually Nihrain) "rogue" who carries the newly restored Runestaff
Sir Blanque: Filkharian half-merperson noble warrior
Lady Alexia: Eshmirian, servant of the Balance, formerly a warrior-priest of Chaos
The characters are about to enter the central section of what they now know to the the manor house of the Amber family. A group of six of the cat people they met previously is waiting for them at the entrance to the central octagonal forest. They say they want to come with them to see the demise of the hated dog-breaths, so the players acquiesce. The internal garden is vast, easily 180' per side. A yellow brick road wanders through the place, and the party decides to stick to it as much as possible. The first area they come across is thickly wooded, and out of the corner of his eye Sir Blanque sees the cat people move surreptitiously into an attack pattern; they are obviously intending to ambush the party. He strikes first, though, taking the ambushers by surprise, and killing two of them in quick succession. The other characters join in, realising what is happening; only one of the cat people survives, and as it turns tail and runs back to the wing they all came from, its shape can be seen twisting and writhing. The players have seen these shape-shifting assassins before.
After this, a bear comes crashing through the trees towards them, with hostile intent; presumably it has been alerted by the noise of fighting. Fortunately for the players, though, they don't have to worry about the supposed cat people at the same time, as elements of the forest join in the bear's attack; presumably this is what the assassins had been hoping for, until Sir Blanque got the drop on them. Some of the trees are monstrous, with great maws and tentacles for branches, but a combination of sword play followed by a fire elemental blast leads to them cowering back in on themselves. This could have been really nasty if Sir Blanque had not pre-empted the assassins. The fire blast also scares off the bear.
Continuing along the path, the party comes across the incongruous sight of an amber-skinned maiden wearing a yellow dress sleeping with her pet unicorn, and holding an ornate chest. Destiny theorises that this forest contains elements of the myths and folk tales of the original plane of the family Amber, so the group coughs politely. The maiden awakes and stretches; "I've been expecting you", she says in mellifluous tones. The unicorn opens one eye, regards them warily with a look of great intelligence, and then settles back down to sleep, obviously unconcerned. "You are the bearers of the Runestaff," continues the maiden, "and I am something of a seeress. His relatives did indeed try to murder Prince Stephen Amber, but he had magical defences. You must go to Averoigne and find the elements to complete a ritual that will summon his mausoleum from beyond time and space. If you awake him, he will give you the final part of the Runestaff. There is a gateway to Averoigne in the dungeon of this mansion, underneath the chapel. You will need to turn three large silver keys simultaneously. You will find the silver gate in the crypts beneath the family chapel, which is at the top end of the central octagon." Sir Blanque is pleased by the Lawful symbolism of three, as well as by the fact that they already have one of the keys, courtesy of the cat people. The strange yellow prophet woman also gives them a parchment bearing instructions for a ritual that will bring back Stephen Amber's mausoleum, together with some added suggestions in her own handwriting. "I have some foreknowledge, even of Averoigne" she says, "although my abilities are relatively clouded at this planar distance."
The group takes their leave and continues along the winding path. One branch leads off from the pathway to a great central exit to the outside, but they leave that alone. At this point they study the scroll they have just acquired:
Moving on, they come to a wooden bridge spanning a stream, and see a billy goat toot up to it. He calls down to whatever is lurking beneath, saying "Please don't eat me, Mr Troll - my brothers are coming, and they are much larger and easier than I am." "Oh, all right then, off you go" comes the gruff answer. "Surely there isn't a troll under there?" asks Destiny. They take no chances and use a combination of speed and strength to run and jump across the bridge rather than face the thing. At the same time, they notice that the river that runs through the forest seems to be rather infested with crocodiles. Best not fall into that, then.
The trail winds right into the centre of the place to a circular pool of water fed by a central fountain shaped like three interlinked gargoyle statues from which the water issues. The statues are sitting on a large plinth that seems to have a padlocked opening. Destiny says "I've got this" and uses her magical ring of water walking to move towards the fountain. She is immediately ambushed by a gigantic translucent amoeba which grabs her and tries to drag her into the water. The whole group hits a lot until it dissipates, with Destiny holding her breath until they do so. The compartment in the fountain contains coinage and another of the large silver keys. This means they only need one more.
The path meanders roughly toward the rear of the mansion, veering leftwards. At one point the group sees several squirrels harvesting acorns that seem to turn to gold when touched. They leave the squirrels alone, commenting upon the beauty of nature or something. Eventually they reach the top left 'corner' of the centre of the building, which turns out to be a landscaped hill with the outlines of a doorway. They go up and knock politely, and out rides the family Amber version of the Wild Hunt:
"Normally, I'd attack immediately" says the leader. who is obviously another of the slightly deranged family, "But you lot actually knocked. What are you doing in my forest?"
"Oh, we're just wandering around" says Sir Blanque. "However, since this is your domain, we thought we should let you know that it is being infiltrated by shape-shifters. We killed some of them, but you can never be too careful..."
The Amber guy's eyes light up. "A hunt!" he shouts joyfully, and leads his pack on a merry chase. Sir Blanque hurries everyone back to the main path while the local loonies are distracted, and they come to a doorway at the top centre of the octagon, with the remainder of the yellow brick road looping off towards their right, presumably leading to the East Wing of the mansion. They decide to investigate the doorway in front of them, because they already know that it leads towards the chapel and the silver gate that waits beneath it.
Destiny: Melnibonean (actually Menastrai) sorceror
Marion: Shazaarian (actually Nihrain) "rogue" who carries the newly restored Runestaff
Sir Blanque: Filkharian half-merperson noble warrior
Lady Alexia: Eshmirian, servant of the Balance, formerly a warrior-priest of Chaos
The characters are about to enter the central section of what they now know to the the manor house of the Amber family. A group of six of the cat people they met previously is waiting for them at the entrance to the central octagonal forest. They say they want to come with them to see the demise of the hated dog-breaths, so the players acquiesce. The internal garden is vast, easily 180' per side. A yellow brick road wanders through the place, and the party decides to stick to it as much as possible. The first area they come across is thickly wooded, and out of the corner of his eye Sir Blanque sees the cat people move surreptitiously into an attack pattern; they are obviously intending to ambush the party. He strikes first, though, taking the ambushers by surprise, and killing two of them in quick succession. The other characters join in, realising what is happening; only one of the cat people survives, and as it turns tail and runs back to the wing they all came from, its shape can be seen twisting and writhing. The players have seen these shape-shifting assassins before.
After this, a bear comes crashing through the trees towards them, with hostile intent; presumably it has been alerted by the noise of fighting. Fortunately for the players, though, they don't have to worry about the supposed cat people at the same time, as elements of the forest join in the bear's attack; presumably this is what the assassins had been hoping for, until Sir Blanque got the drop on them. Some of the trees are monstrous, with great maws and tentacles for branches, but a combination of sword play followed by a fire elemental blast leads to them cowering back in on themselves. This could have been really nasty if Sir Blanque had not pre-empted the assassins. The fire blast also scares off the bear.
Continuing along the path, the party comes across the incongruous sight of an amber-skinned maiden wearing a yellow dress sleeping with her pet unicorn, and holding an ornate chest. Destiny theorises that this forest contains elements of the myths and folk tales of the original plane of the family Amber, so the group coughs politely. The maiden awakes and stretches; "I've been expecting you", she says in mellifluous tones. The unicorn opens one eye, regards them warily with a look of great intelligence, and then settles back down to sleep, obviously unconcerned. "You are the bearers of the Runestaff," continues the maiden, "and I am something of a seeress. His relatives did indeed try to murder Prince Stephen Amber, but he had magical defences. You must go to Averoigne and find the elements to complete a ritual that will summon his mausoleum from beyond time and space. If you awake him, he will give you the final part of the Runestaff. There is a gateway to Averoigne in the dungeon of this mansion, underneath the chapel. You will need to turn three large silver keys simultaneously. You will find the silver gate in the crypts beneath the family chapel, which is at the top end of the central octagon." Sir Blanque is pleased by the Lawful symbolism of three, as well as by the fact that they already have one of the keys, courtesy of the cat people. The strange yellow prophet woman also gives them a parchment bearing instructions for a ritual that will bring back Stephen Amber's mausoleum, together with some added suggestions in her own handwriting. "I have some foreknowledge, even of Averoigne" she says, "although my abilities are relatively clouded at this planar distance."
Adventurers trying to understand a clue - note the compulsory chain bikini. Must be an RPG then.
The group takes their leave and continues along the winding path. One branch leads off from the pathway to a great central exit to the outside, but they leave that alone. At this point they study the scroll they have just acquired:
Presumably the handwritten clues are the names of places and/or people in Averoigne.
Moving on, they come to a wooden bridge spanning a stream, and see a billy goat toot up to it. He calls down to whatever is lurking beneath, saying "Please don't eat me, Mr Troll - my brothers are coming, and they are much larger and easier than I am." "Oh, all right then, off you go" comes the gruff answer. "Surely there isn't a troll under there?" asks Destiny. They take no chances and use a combination of speed and strength to run and jump across the bridge rather than face the thing. At the same time, they notice that the river that runs through the forest seems to be rather infested with crocodiles. Best not fall into that, then.
The trail winds right into the centre of the place to a circular pool of water fed by a central fountain shaped like three interlinked gargoyle statues from which the water issues. The statues are sitting on a large plinth that seems to have a padlocked opening. Destiny says "I've got this" and uses her magical ring of water walking to move towards the fountain. She is immediately ambushed by a gigantic translucent amoeba which grabs her and tries to drag her into the water. The whole group hits a lot until it dissipates, with Destiny holding her breath until they do so. The compartment in the fountain contains coinage and another of the large silver keys. This means they only need one more.
The path meanders roughly toward the rear of the mansion, veering leftwards. At one point the group sees several squirrels harvesting acorns that seem to turn to gold when touched. They leave the squirrels alone, commenting upon the beauty of nature or something. Eventually they reach the top left 'corner' of the centre of the building, which turns out to be a landscaped hill with the outlines of a doorway. They go up and knock politely, and out rides the family Amber version of the Wild Hunt:
"Normally, I'd attack immediately" says the leader. who is obviously another of the slightly deranged family, "But you lot actually knocked. What are you doing in my forest?"
"Oh, we're just wandering around" says Sir Blanque. "However, since this is your domain, we thought we should let you know that it is being infiltrated by shape-shifters. We killed some of them, but you can never be too careful..."
The Amber guy's eyes light up. "A hunt!" he shouts joyfully, and leads his pack on a merry chase. Sir Blanque hurries everyone back to the main path while the local loonies are distracted, and they come to a doorway at the top centre of the octagon, with the remainder of the yellow brick road looping off towards their right, presumably leading to the East Wing of the mansion. They decide to investigate the doorway in front of them, because they already know that it leads towards the chapel and the silver gate that waits beneath it.
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