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Dawn of Magic
We had our first full house of 2009 last game session, with Bonnie ("Leif"), Marc ("Mushamee"), Martin ("Kaeso"), Mike ("Rufus"), and Stéphane ("Vinz") all in attendance.
Time: Pre-dawn, Odin 20, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Toshtanag, Kotan.
Last Event: Finding a mysterious and deadly alchemical seal in the crypts beneath Hathig's castle.
Mushamee bids Kaeso and Kromm accompany him to explain the situation to King Hathig. After a short time, they find the tired-looking king in his chambers, giving orders to officers and functionaries. Eventually, Hathig grants Kaeso, Kromm, and Mushamee a moment of his time. Mushamee is direct: He asks Hathig to fund the costly procedure that the alchemists claim is needed to neutralize the deadly seal in the crypts, has Kaeso and Kromm describe the dangers of leaving the thing intact, and concludes by revealing that he sensed a wealth of gems hidden beyond it.
Hathig listens and then makes a proposal. He'll front the necessary silver for the alchemical ingredients, but with a condition: If there are indeed jewels beyond the seal, then he'll claim these, waive the cost of the expedition, and pay everyone involved a more-than-generous finder's fee. If there's no treasure, though, or if there's booty that comes with yet more troubles, he'll treat the funds as a loan and demand that Mushamee and party repay it with interest.
Mushamee pauses briefly and then accepts the king's offer. Hathig's chancellor makes the necessary arrangements. When Toshtanag's markets open shortly after dawn, Kaeso and Kromm head out into the city to acquire the necessary ingredients. Mushamee serves as their guide; Rufus, as their bookkeeper; and both men, as their guards. By mid-morning, the alchemists have what they need in hand, and return to the seal to start work.
It's early afternoon when Kaeso declares the seal neutralized and safe to break. Everybody straps on armor and weapons once again. Then Vinz casts magic to render himself immune to poison, grabs a pick, tells his associates to step back, and whacks the seal. The ornate masonry crumbles, but that is all – no cloud of poison, no sinister curse. Vinz soon exposes a heavy stone slab set in the wall. Leif easily levers this out using a metal bar.
Mushamee then moves forward to peer into the chamber beyond. In the light of the Sun Sword of Ré, he sees a closet-sized space with a waist-level shelf around its perimeter. The entire ledge is piled with glittering gems! In the center of the room is a small stone pillar with a huge, glowing jewel atop it. On seeing this treasure, Mushamee feels a momentary wave of intense greed but manages to resist the urge.
Rufus looks in next. His unique vision reveals to him that the radiant gem contains a supernatural force that he identifies as "the devastation of Kotan." He, too, feels a distinct lust for the wealth in the little chamber, and manages to resist it. He concludes that the gem is somehow able to drive men mad with avarice, and asks his comrades to tie him up and then step away so that he can analyze it in more detail without being a danger to himself or to them.
Leif steps up and binds Rufus like a mummy in close to 500 feet of rope. Then everybody backs away from the opening to the vault. Rufus focuses his superhuman senses on the gleaming jewel. He learns that endless victims have cheated, betrayed, fought, and died for this treasure – certainly, it deserves the title "devastation of Kotan." Turning his gaze to the pillar, and then to the other gems, he learns that nothing else in the room has a supernatural aura. Rufus shouts for his allies, and Leif frees him.
Kaeso, too, volunteers to take a closer look. He informs the others that he must touch the gem to discover its properties, so Vinz strengthens the alchemist's willpower with magic. As extra insurance, Leif takes up position behind Kaeso, ready to knock him on the head if he succumbs to the jewel's curse. Kaeso then grasps the thing in both hands. His attunement to artifacts reveals that the stone induces an all-consuming, contagious greed that cannot be cured, and that touching it will afflict all but the most strong-willed folk, that gazing upon it will eventually have the same effect, and that even knowing about it might be enough. Kaeso promptly tosses a sack over the gem and backs away from it.
The adventurers ask Kromm to consult his books on Kotanese mythology for tales of cursed jewels or outbreaks of vicious greed. Rufus accompanies Kromm to the library . . . and perhaps ominously, he falls from a ladder while fetching a heavy tome for Kromm. Rufus cannot help but sense that the text was written by cursed folk. On perusing this unpleasant volume, Kromm learns of something called the Gem of Despair, which ruins empires by causing them to descend into avaricious backstabbing, but finds no clues on how to deal with it other than a cryptic moral lesson that greed can only be defeated by selflessness.
Retreating from the vault and shooing Hathig's guards from the area, the group discusses what to do about the Gem of Despair. They conclude that as the ones who've unearthed it, they must resist its temptation by destroying it willingly instead of keeping it and attempting to harness the wealth and power it doubtless represents. They ultimately come up with a scheme calculated to destroy it:
Without further ado, the group puts the plan into action. Kaeso sets up the Forge of Su for making – and hopefully unmaking – fine jewellery. Meanwhile, Vinz meditates in preparation for the ritual, Kromm fetches the Cornbread of Strength, and Leif fetches a great hammer, which he engraves with runes intended to fortify his willpower for the upcoming task. Leif then eats the Cornbread in one bite (and finds it very fortifying), takes up his hammer, and stands over the forge, focusing his chi.
As Kromm counts off time with the aid of his water clock, Vinz works magic. First, he strengthens Leif's willpower. Then he lends the barbarian his own masterful knowledge of chi manipulation. Next, he boosts Leif's physical strength. Finally, he puts a charm on the Forge of Su to make it even hotter. After each spell, he quaffs some of the energizing Elixir of Healing brewed by Kaeso the previous day, to keep his magical energies as strong as possible.
When Rufus senses that Leif's might has built up to near its maximum, he signals to Mushamee and the two of them act simultaneously. Mushamee plunges the Sun Sword of Ré into the glowing Forge of Su, prays to Ré, and adds the blade's cleansing divine flame to the alchemical and magical fires already heating the forge, causing it to flare white-hot. Rufus snatches up the Gem of Despair in both hands and thrusts it into the forge fire, relying on the Salamander Amulet to preserve him. Even so, Rufus' hands are badly burned, for the forge is now so hot that his amulet cannot fully shield him from its power.
Finally, Leif strikes. Focusing his physical, mental, and spiritual energies – and the alchemical and magical assistance provided by Kromm and Vinz – through his runic hammer, he delivers the mightiest blow of his career. The force of the blow and the heat of the forge prove to be enough! The Gem of Despair is shattered, and its fragments burn up in a cloud of glittering sparks.
As the cursed artifact is unmade, the cosmic forces within are unleashed to wash over the gem's destroyers. Fortunately, they're all able to resist the curse. Vinz's superhuman inner strength makes this easy for him, and his magical assistance to Leif along with the power of the barbarian's runes make this fairly effortless for Leif, too. Kromm and Mushamee likewise aren't really challenged, the strength of their respective personal convictions blocking the malediction. Kaeso and Rufus feel more taxed, and while they're still themselves afterward, they know that some small part of their soul was burned away with the jewel.
In the aftermath, Leif heals Rufus' badly scorched hands. Meanwhile, Rufus notices that Leif's hammer has been somehow changed by the ordeal – it has a shiny coating of partly vaporized gemstone on it, is etched with flaming runes, and radiates a strange force unlike anything he has ever seen. Kaeso is fascinated by this, and takes the time to examine the mallet. He concludes that the ritual somehow imbued the thing with the ability to better smash inanimate objects to bits!
With the Gem of Despair destroyed, the mundane jewels in the chamber are free for the taking. Each hero selects a beautiful stone as a memento of the day's events, and then the group loads the rest into a wheelbarrow and carts the booty out of the crypts to show King Hathig. Hathig is quite pleased with the haul, and keeps his side of the bargain he made with Mushamee. Reaching into the mound of treasure, the king gives all six of those who unearthed the find a generous reward: a king-sized double-handful of gems! He then declares that the remainder – the largest, royal share – will be exchanged for coin with the world's merchants, facilitated by the magical portals through Tenosia, and used to fund the forces that Kotan will hurl against Black Adolph and, ultimately, the Starfish-Men.
Time: Pre-dawn, Odin 20, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Toshtanag, Kotan.
Last Event: Finding a mysterious and deadly alchemical seal in the crypts beneath Hathig's castle.
Mushamee bids Kaeso and Kromm accompany him to explain the situation to King Hathig. After a short time, they find the tired-looking king in his chambers, giving orders to officers and functionaries. Eventually, Hathig grants Kaeso, Kromm, and Mushamee a moment of his time. Mushamee is direct: He asks Hathig to fund the costly procedure that the alchemists claim is needed to neutralize the deadly seal in the crypts, has Kaeso and Kromm describe the dangers of leaving the thing intact, and concludes by revealing that he sensed a wealth of gems hidden beyond it.
Hathig listens and then makes a proposal. He'll front the necessary silver for the alchemical ingredients, but with a condition: If there are indeed jewels beyond the seal, then he'll claim these, waive the cost of the expedition, and pay everyone involved a more-than-generous finder's fee. If there's no treasure, though, or if there's booty that comes with yet more troubles, he'll treat the funds as a loan and demand that Mushamee and party repay it with interest.
Mushamee pauses briefly and then accepts the king's offer. Hathig's chancellor makes the necessary arrangements. When Toshtanag's markets open shortly after dawn, Kaeso and Kromm head out into the city to acquire the necessary ingredients. Mushamee serves as their guide; Rufus, as their bookkeeper; and both men, as their guards. By mid-morning, the alchemists have what they need in hand, and return to the seal to start work.
It's early afternoon when Kaeso declares the seal neutralized and safe to break. Everybody straps on armor and weapons once again. Then Vinz casts magic to render himself immune to poison, grabs a pick, tells his associates to step back, and whacks the seal. The ornate masonry crumbles, but that is all – no cloud of poison, no sinister curse. Vinz soon exposes a heavy stone slab set in the wall. Leif easily levers this out using a metal bar.
Mushamee then moves forward to peer into the chamber beyond. In the light of the Sun Sword of Ré, he sees a closet-sized space with a waist-level shelf around its perimeter. The entire ledge is piled with glittering gems! In the center of the room is a small stone pillar with a huge, glowing jewel atop it. On seeing this treasure, Mushamee feels a momentary wave of intense greed but manages to resist the urge.
Rufus looks in next. His unique vision reveals to him that the radiant gem contains a supernatural force that he identifies as "the devastation of Kotan." He, too, feels a distinct lust for the wealth in the little chamber, and manages to resist it. He concludes that the gem is somehow able to drive men mad with avarice, and asks his comrades to tie him up and then step away so that he can analyze it in more detail without being a danger to himself or to them.
Leif steps up and binds Rufus like a mummy in close to 500 feet of rope. Then everybody backs away from the opening to the vault. Rufus focuses his superhuman senses on the gleaming jewel. He learns that endless victims have cheated, betrayed, fought, and died for this treasure – certainly, it deserves the title "devastation of Kotan." Turning his gaze to the pillar, and then to the other gems, he learns that nothing else in the room has a supernatural aura. Rufus shouts for his allies, and Leif frees him.
Kaeso, too, volunteers to take a closer look. He informs the others that he must touch the gem to discover its properties, so Vinz strengthens the alchemist's willpower with magic. As extra insurance, Leif takes up position behind Kaeso, ready to knock him on the head if he succumbs to the jewel's curse. Kaeso then grasps the thing in both hands. His attunement to artifacts reveals that the stone induces an all-consuming, contagious greed that cannot be cured, and that touching it will afflict all but the most strong-willed folk, that gazing upon it will eventually have the same effect, and that even knowing about it might be enough. Kaeso promptly tosses a sack over the gem and backs away from it.
The adventurers ask Kromm to consult his books on Kotanese mythology for tales of cursed jewels or outbreaks of vicious greed. Rufus accompanies Kromm to the library . . . and perhaps ominously, he falls from a ladder while fetching a heavy tome for Kromm. Rufus cannot help but sense that the text was written by cursed folk. On perusing this unpleasant volume, Kromm learns of something called the Gem of Despair, which ruins empires by causing them to descend into avaricious backstabbing, but finds no clues on how to deal with it other than a cryptic moral lesson that greed can only be defeated by selflessness.
Retreating from the vault and shooing Hathig's guards from the area, the group discusses what to do about the Gem of Despair. They conclude that as the ones who've unearthed it, they must resist its temptation by destroying it willingly instead of keeping it and attempting to harness the wealth and power it doubtless represents. They ultimately come up with a scheme calculated to destroy it:
† Kaeso will prepare the Forge of Su and get it burning as hot as possible.Before starting, Kaeso quaffs an Elixir of Foresight, hoping to determine what the odds of success might be. He doesn't learn that, but he does receive an insight: Any failure on the part of anybody involved guarantees that everybody will succumb to the curse of the Gem of Despair and likely slaughter each other in a greed-fueled melee. He warns the others, and tells them that if they have any means of ensuring their success, they should call upon it.
† Leif will fetch the strongest hammer he can find and etch it with Northern Runes of strengthening.
† Kromm will strengthen Leif by providing him with his trademark Cornbread of Strength (like an Elixir of Strength, but tastier).
† Kromm will then start counting off drips of his water clock to coordinate the remaining steps.
† Leif will start preparing to strike a powerful blow backed by every ounce of inner strength he has.
† While Leif concentrates, Vinz will work magic aimed at strengthening Leif both mentally and physically.
† Vinz will then use his magic to make the Forge of Su even hotter by imbuing it with the magical essence of fire.
† Just before Leif strikes, Mushamee will thrust the Sun Sword of Ré into the forge fire and channel all of his power through it to purify and further heat the Forge of Su.
† Likewise, just before the hammer falls, Rufus – wearing the Salamander Amulet for protection – will grasp the Gem of Despair and thrust it into the fire with his hands, as a symbolic sacrifice.
† Leif will then strike the Gem of Despair as mighty a blow as he can, hopefully unmaking it.
Without further ado, the group puts the plan into action. Kaeso sets up the Forge of Su for making – and hopefully unmaking – fine jewellery. Meanwhile, Vinz meditates in preparation for the ritual, Kromm fetches the Cornbread of Strength, and Leif fetches a great hammer, which he engraves with runes intended to fortify his willpower for the upcoming task. Leif then eats the Cornbread in one bite (and finds it very fortifying), takes up his hammer, and stands over the forge, focusing his chi.
As Kromm counts off time with the aid of his water clock, Vinz works magic. First, he strengthens Leif's willpower. Then he lends the barbarian his own masterful knowledge of chi manipulation. Next, he boosts Leif's physical strength. Finally, he puts a charm on the Forge of Su to make it even hotter. After each spell, he quaffs some of the energizing Elixir of Healing brewed by Kaeso the previous day, to keep his magical energies as strong as possible.
When Rufus senses that Leif's might has built up to near its maximum, he signals to Mushamee and the two of them act simultaneously. Mushamee plunges the Sun Sword of Ré into the glowing Forge of Su, prays to Ré, and adds the blade's cleansing divine flame to the alchemical and magical fires already heating the forge, causing it to flare white-hot. Rufus snatches up the Gem of Despair in both hands and thrusts it into the forge fire, relying on the Salamander Amulet to preserve him. Even so, Rufus' hands are badly burned, for the forge is now so hot that his amulet cannot fully shield him from its power.
Finally, Leif strikes. Focusing his physical, mental, and spiritual energies – and the alchemical and magical assistance provided by Kromm and Vinz – through his runic hammer, he delivers the mightiest blow of his career. The force of the blow and the heat of the forge prove to be enough! The Gem of Despair is shattered, and its fragments burn up in a cloud of glittering sparks.
As the cursed artifact is unmade, the cosmic forces within are unleashed to wash over the gem's destroyers. Fortunately, they're all able to resist the curse. Vinz's superhuman inner strength makes this easy for him, and his magical assistance to Leif along with the power of the barbarian's runes make this fairly effortless for Leif, too. Kromm and Mushamee likewise aren't really challenged, the strength of their respective personal convictions blocking the malediction. Kaeso and Rufus feel more taxed, and while they're still themselves afterward, they know that some small part of their soul was burned away with the jewel.
In the aftermath, Leif heals Rufus' badly scorched hands. Meanwhile, Rufus notices that Leif's hammer has been somehow changed by the ordeal – it has a shiny coating of partly vaporized gemstone on it, is etched with flaming runes, and radiates a strange force unlike anything he has ever seen. Kaeso is fascinated by this, and takes the time to examine the mallet. He concludes that the ritual somehow imbued the thing with the ability to better smash inanimate objects to bits!
With the Gem of Despair destroyed, the mundane jewels in the chamber are free for the taking. Each hero selects a beautiful stone as a memento of the day's events, and then the group loads the rest into a wheelbarrow and carts the booty out of the crypts to show King Hathig. Hathig is quite pleased with the haul, and keeps his side of the bargain he made with Mushamee. Reaching into the mound of treasure, the king gives all six of those who unearthed the find a generous reward: a king-sized double-handful of gems! He then declares that the remainder – the largest, royal share – will be exchanged for coin with the world's merchants, facilitated by the magical portals through Tenosia, and used to fund the forces that Kotan will hurl against Black Adolph and, ultimately, the Starfish-Men.
no subject
Are the Starfish-Men really manlike in some way, or just man-sized and walk about on their tentacles?
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no subject
no subject