This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup is what happens), but it covers our ongoing games.
The Subterranean Preserve
30/05/2026
FOMALHAUT
News from Fomalhaut! Seeking further answers below the city of Diomira, the company descended to the underground tunnels, and sought out the pit where they discovered two hoverpods, one operational. Entering the vessel, Pausanias, the man of Mung, worked the controls, and sent the metallic sphere sinking. Deep they went even below the underground city, into the darkness, but then it was light again, and bright daylight streaming through the orb’s single porthole. They descended from the ceiling of a massive cavern some 8 miles across, green forests, rivers, and a clear lake a mile and a half below them. In the centre stood a massive white crystal prism, some 3000’ high, radiating bright light all around. The hoverpod descended to an overgrown landing field on the western edge of the woods, disturbing a flock of large flightless birds.
They disembarked, and the forward team went off to explore. In two nearby buildings, they found only parts of old mosaics depicting elegantly attired men and women hunting various beasts – birds, great lizards, large piglike grey things with a horn on the forehead – with strange spears and bows. Climbing on higher ground to the south, they made a survey of the daylit cavern: some massive reptilian beast in the lake, and two cave entrances, one close to the tarmac. This they visited, and met a group of hunters here: five in simpler clothing, and a fighting-man in clean white plate mail, carrying a magical sword. Miru Vyltt, as he called himself, was amazed by the visitors from the sky, for he has heard of cavern worlds above this, but thought them long depopulated. Him and the others were exiles from a place called Grandiose Shield, and now living in a smaller, poor village named Redoubt. He spoke of northern caverns called Nightside, in perpetual gloom, and a land of waters where lived the Thundering Mountain, he who is called Godzylly. They parted amicably, and the expedition continued.
They travelled to the other cavern, an elegant marble entrance leading to a great hall. Oddly symbolic alabaster statues stood by the walls, and steps rose to a pool of silver-light, which spoke to Lilith: “BY WHOSE COMMAND SHALL I CARRY THOSE WHO STEP WITHIN MY CIRCUMFERENCE?” Questioning it suggested the transportation it offered was one-way, so they chose not to experiment. They headed to the southern side of the clear lake, where stood odd, abandoned buildings in conical, spherical, and hemispherical shapes, long emptied of all of interest. Following the river to the south, they met a hunting party coming from Redoubt, and joining them, followed to a tiny, poor village on a plateau, among older megalithic structures. The leader, Lycan Darl, and his companions treated them graciously but warily, particularly as Lilith and her amazons reminded them of Lady Yvin Lar of Grandiose Shield and her fighting-woman followers – the citadel was amazon-ruled, and the exile wore heavily on Redoubt’s mostly male inhabitants. They were hard pressed by the beasts and the monsters of Nightside, raiding by night: the non-men and even worse things, although the great purple worms did not come over at last. There lived also Ysfaud the Sorcerer, in a flying citadel, who worked various tricks and sought to enlist Redoubt in his schemes. Lycan Darl suggested a venture which would be of much help in hunting and scouting: Grandiose Shield held an operational hoverpod on top of one of its towers, easily stolen from before the amazons’ eyes.
Giving a noncommittal answer, they slept, and the next day, continued their expeditions. They inspected a mysterious monolith with saurian bones trapped in its translucence, and unreadable magical glyphs on its surface. Then, through a windy gap, they travelled east to a cavern even greater. Opposite, on plateaus sticking to cliffs, was a small marble temple, identified as belonging to a goddess abandoned by the people of these lands. They visited the site in an overgrown garden grazed on by seven enormous dinosaurs. It was clean but stripped of all valuables, including the cavity of the altar, and many small gems removed from the gown of its beautiful goddess. A crystal surrounded by a starburst was the only symbol, and clearly, this was not Ishtar: but they could not identify her.
From here, they journeyed across forests rich in game and fowl, to a small arena where stood two large statues of stern fighting-women. And beyond rose Grandiose Shield: white stone towers and cupolas, reinforced with connecting walls. The plateau was cultivated land, and the amazon sentries, seeing the approach of Lilith and her entourage, let them inside, through streets and plazas opening to workshops and gathering-places (all the inhabitants armed, although the men more lightly), to an assembly hall. Here stood two women from the citadel’s leadership: the Lady Yvin Lar, troubled but gracious; and one of her helpers, Dyastis Vyltt, tough and severe. As the company spoke of their origins and presented their mission – finding the masked Uttermost Masters – the amazons did not recognise them, but noted that two groups were known to be masked here: the non-men, living on Nightside, and raiding in the dark to kidnap and kill; and the agents and spies of Ysfaud the Sorcerer, whose schemes seemed to concern everything, including this citadel. They were, in turn, most curious to hear of Ishtar, a fighting goddess: they had once worshipped one whose main concern was beauty, but mostly abandoned her as she could offer no good help in fighting the encroaching dangers of this cavern world (although they still sought her for gifts of beauty, which she was known to grant).
Of the exiles,
she noted that they abandoned the common good and joint decision-making of
Grandiose Shield, striving to follow their own caprices – justly punished by
their exile to the harsh wilderness and their village of hovels. (Dyastis Viltt
suggested harsher means might have been in order, but deferred to Lady Yvin’s
judgement.) After the audience, they were escorted to clean and comfortable
quarters. The next morning, there was a knock on the door, and they were sought
by two young men, Uljen Dyst and Amynax Ast. These two, and some
others, were seeking a way out of the stifling rules of their society, and
asked to be permitted to leave with the company when it came to that. Lilith
slyly mentioned the flying sphere as the means of transfer, and they all saw
Amynax Ast’s gaze stray to the top of the nearby tower: the spherical metallic
cupola was no cupola at all, but another hoverpod – and seemingly unguarded in
its tethers. Considering the possibilities, they made a noncommittal answer,
and prepared for the day’s expedition – towards the monster-haunted, unlit
caverns of Nightside!
A Bad Night for Chuck
News from Fomalhaut! Two adventurers, Brad’Och, a Fighter-Cleric of Dornak, and The Hound, a Fighter-Thief; as well as their six hired men descended into the Vaults of the Stone Men, a repository of strange, wondrous and dangerous things beneath the city of Pentastadion. On moonless nights, living statues walk the deserted streets of Hightown, and behind one’s place, a secret entrance is revealed. Following the advice of the magic-user Ctesiphon to retrieve a magical orb, they descended rubble-strewn stairs (the remnants of broken statues), and opened a heavy stone door to a gallery surrounding a bottomless pit. They were swarmed by flying eyes shooting magical rays, a battle which went quite badly for the group, who were weakened in the fight – and also discovered they had only brought 4 hours’ worth of lamp oil and nothing else. Looting the mouldering bodies of earlier adventures of some coin, they studied the inscriptions above further doors, when one opened and out came 4 crude living statues, killing Orastes the hoplite (Fighter 3). The most fruitful way to defeat the guardians was to lasso them and drag them into the bottomless pit, losing their rope.
Investigating this room, they found broken glassware and a floating, rotating six-sided pyramid over a pedestal, which almost hypnotised Brad’Och, after which they chose to retreat. Westwards, they entered into a larger chamber with a pulsing sphere of light which pulled light and matter towards it, and they skirted the room’s edges. To the south was a chamber with many more of the crude stone statues, for now motionless. To its west, they found a throne room with frescoes of beast-headed men burning down a city and bringing bowls of weaponry towards the throne. They could make little sense of the place, so they turned their attention north of the light chamber.
Here was another vault filled with statues, and a secret nook with broken law tablets. The next room was a steep stairway. Frescoes depicted blue-robed skeletal pilgrims climbing towards an icy summit. On a landing was a great bowl of electrum coins and a golden helmet, and at the end of the stairs, an enthroned stone colossus looking down on them, with a stone rooster by its side. They quickly noted a portcullis trap midway up the stairs too. Through a western door, they found a chamber with two exits. One broke the Hound’s lockpicks, and proved henceforth unopenable (to their great misfortune, as this was where Ctesiphon’s magic orb was to be found), and the other led to another bottomless pit gallery with mounds of earth and glowing mushrooms – not to their liking.
Returning to the stairway, two of them held up their shields, and the Hound and Raon the hoplite tried to steal the bowl of coins. The stone rooster screeched and attacked, blowing a gust of flame and striking with a petrifying beak (but to no luck). They dashed the bowl’s coins through the portcullis, where it was quickly collected, while the two at the front clambered through a gap over it, fending off the rooster’s attacks. They fled back to the light sphere chamber. Investigating the southern chamber of stone statues, they ran into two which were animated. Brad’Och (Fighter 3/Cleric 2) tried a trick to help his companions retreat, but was cornered by the statues and crushed like a rag doll. The survivors fled west, into a northwards corridor. In niches stood bloated brazen idols with terrible insect heads and mantis claws.
One claw was triggered as a trap, but it struck badly, and was bent out of alignment. Climbing behind the idol, a backplate was found, but the treasure was gone – as it was for the others. But there was a secret door to the west. Opening it up, they came to the edge of another bottomless pit, with cobwebs on the ceiling, and two bloated, sea-green spiders lit by an inner amber phosphorescence quietly stalking towards them on the ceiling. They fought bravely, but this fight with the weavers in the vault proved most unfortunate. Alcaios the hoplite (Fighter 3), Thorog Shul the barbarian (Fighter 2), Raon the bowman (Fighter 2) and the Hound (Fighter/Thief 2/3) himself all succumbed to deadly poison. The two victors stood bloody and weakened: Dio the hoplite (Fighter 3) and Tier the peltast (Fighter 2), both their masters dead or dying. But they found a cocoon on the ceiling, and splitting it open, found a corpse with more coins, as well as a filigreed opium pipe. And there were only two of them for all the treasure. Seizing all the coins they could carry with difficulty, by the last light of their diminishing lantern, they made for the exit and the lower streets of Pentastadion, richer in both coin and experience. Neither would return to the Vault of the Stone Men, which kept its secrets and treasures as it had over the centuries.
(“Even Chuck
Norris had bad luck – once.”)
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| The Cultists of the Seal |
06/07/2026 FOMALHAUT
News from Fomalhaut! Glory and death in the wastes of the Batrakasz, in the accursed city of Vermath, destroyed for its ancient blasphemies! Recovering from the previous adventure, the company once again sailed up the Xemartes, spying riders watching them from the wastelands, and deciding to take an alternate approach into the ruins under the cover of the night. This they did, but by the ancient city walls, Gendarme, Purple Rien’s elite bodyguard, fell under the sway of a malign influence, and he stumbled as if sleepwalking, repeating ”I am a servant of the Seal... I am a servant of the Seal...”
Snatching his weapons, they decided to follow where he went. Gendarme headed for the centre of the accursed place, where rose a strange flat-topped pyramid, older even than ruined Vermath. Up spiralling stairs he proceeded, until they were on the top under a canopy of stars. A large broken dais bore the sign of the Seal with the crescent moon superimposed on a hand. Gendarme suddenly lunged for a companion’s weapons, and had to be subdued to prevent him from offering himself in sacrifice. They felt a Presence here, and Ozmund, Cleric of Yol decided to step on the dais to read the stars. He was almost seized himself by another will, but he persevered, and he heard a voice speaking in his head! It was Pnakosek, the ancient high priest of the city, impressed by his strength. He invited them to his burial chamber underneath, promising the great powers of the stars. They descended to the ground, but found no entrance here – could the pyramid reach deeper, and could its foundations have been buried by time? Now that it was dawn, they headed for the city’s agora, and a building there whose stone gates bore the Seal, and which was magically locked the last time. With a knockspell, they gained entrance, and descended by spiral stairs to the underground passages.
They were in a large hall dominated by a badly defaced statue of a priest, and many more in bas-relief. As they were investigating, crossbow bolts came from hidden arrow slits, to which Purple Rien responded with a fireball that killed the nomad guards positioned in a secret chamber. They despoiled a smaller shrine nearby, then explored to the east through a network of catacombs. Using their mapping skills, they pinpointed the location of a secret entrance, leading into a small tomb. Frescoes of war and burning cities were still vivid on the walls, showing a fearsome warrior with a whip and mace in the slaughter. A slab in the ground bore the man’s image also, and cracking the resin around it, his apparition rose in varicoloured smoke. Diogenes the Thief quickly lifted an amulet of the Seal they had taken on their previous expedition, and commanded him to obey. Seeing them as fellow Servants, the spectre was friendlier; and agreed to let the visitors take his weapons, including a magical mace, into „new battles of conquest”.
They proceeded through the catacombs, emerging in the great, dry cistern. Agreeing that they were still fresh and in large numbers, they decided it was time to descend deeper and bring the battle to the Servants of the Seal. Retracing their way to a set of wide descending stairs, they triggered a tripwire trap that ran a great gong below – but they pressed on, meeting the screaming fanatics, their lieutenants, and their war dogs in battle. Only one was spared, a warrior named Bernax. Him, they interrogated about the whereabouts of the high priestess Velasca. The fellow agreed to lead them, although he was much afraid of her fiery eyes, which could burn a man to ashes with a glance. Of the pyramid, he knew little: Velasca and the high priest, Kushamesh had visited it, but alone. The man led them west, along a passage lined with the frescoes of penitents, and the statues of robed magi, their faces destroyed and their hands broken off. They walked by a decaying balustrade over a yawning great cavern, spanned by a stone bridge. But they continued, and through a tomb and a room with a tepid pool, they arrived at a chamber, bronze doors guarded by two well-armed guards.
They decided to try and lure out the priestess with a trick, and the guards entered in seeming agreement, losing them their element of surprise. Clamour rose beyond, and it was clear the cultists inside were readying themselves for battle. They decided to rush in and fight, Bloody Tusk leading the assault. They entered a makeshift dormitory in some abandoned hall; robed men drawing scimitars from below their robes, and more noises coming from doorways leading to a torchlit columned hall. The battle was furious, and the characters were trapped in a vise from both sides by armed fanatics, magi, and the lieutenants of the Seal. They could stand this onslaught, and a fireball and a wand of lightning did good work, but as they pressed inwards, they were confronted by the furious Velasca, stepping from behind a row of columns. Wearing very little beyond a very revealing outfit and a necklace of fiery rubies around her ample bosoms, the temptress’s eyes burned with terrible fire, and Ozmund fell on the ground, almost dead, while her personal guards rushed in to slay the others. Here, Mirnex the bowman (Fighter 2) was beheaded by a cultist; Claudius (Fighter 3) was slain by an elite guard, and Yusuf (Thief 5) was almost burned to ashes by Velasca’s gaze. But it was Purple Rien’s other bodyguard, Ronald, who proved his doom, slaying the unconscious thief under Velasca’s hypnotic gaze, and who was then himself slain by Bloody Tusk!
Still, the tide
was turned, and Velasca fled through a secret passage under the effects of
poison (at 1 Hp no less!), leaving her men to die. But Diogenes and
Bloody Tusk’s Amazon companion, Iphigenia followed her relentlessly
through dark corridors, and before she could turn back and destroy them,
Diogenes sent a lightning arc from his electrum sceptre and ended her evil
life. The Servants of the Seal slain to the last or fleeing where they could,
they took Velasca’s head and jewellery, and ransacked her sumptuous quarters,
freeing Zarrono the thief (a replacement PC), who had enjoyed her „hospitality”
in her gem-encrusted bed. They found much gold, and documents detailing the
gathering of the Servants, her pilgrimage to the city, ecstatic rites on top of
the pyramid, meeting the ancient high-priest Pnakosek, and odd references to
the „Benevolent Teachers”, reposing in the darkness beneath! They used speak
with dead to make Velasca’s head speak, and gained the secrets of a magical
command word used to open certain portals in the undercity, but not the secrets
to enter the pyramid. But this was good enough. Reducing Velasca’s bed by magic
(I rolled for its value, and got an absurd sum), they transported it, and their
other findings, back through the dark corridors, and into the ruined city. Down
the wide Xemartes, they returned by barge to the city-state of Glourm to spend
their wealth (the bed bought by none other than the wizard-tyrant Tyraxus
Tharg, Purple Rien’s player’s old character from the original campaign!),
recuperate, and plan their new expedition against the Servants of the Seal!
The Anabasis
19/07/2026 ARDEN
VUL
Death and miraculous escape in the depths of Arden Vul! Our company, descending to the crypt level, was teleported by a magical pyramid to another level, and unfortunately to a familiar area, which was ruled by dangerous and aggressive giant baboons. As low-level adventurers, we would have had little chance against them. The staircase that would lead to the exit was close, and yet so far away. However, lost in the labyrinth, we found a secret door and arrived at the Oracle of Thoth, where Johann, a follower of Thoth, risked his sanity to receive divine guidance. Even wise Thoth himself did not know of a way out that we could safely follow, only a side route that promised escape through secret passages, other levels, and great dangers. But at least there was hope, so we set off.
Almost running into the baboons, we opened the secret door revealed by the deity, through which we entered dusty connecting passages. Here came caves, then a grotto where we fought flying manta rays beside a sarcophagus. We reached the uppermost tract of the Great Chasm, which connects several levels of Arden Vul and plunges into the depths above an underground river (we had previously found other hidden passages and gone deeper, but even there we had not reached the roaring waters). A narrow bridge arched over the rift, and we reached another grotto, a crypt of the priesthood of Thoth. Here, death overtook my follower, Thaumas the halberdier, who fell to the venom of giant centipedes. But we found valuable treasures and magic items, and, more importantly, a holy symbol that would later be key to our escape.
Another secret
exit led into cavernous passages, then into ornate halls, in which frescoes
depicted Thoth’s heroes defeating the enemies of the faith – wizards, warriors,
and giant frogs. Another secret door led to the god’s sanctuary, where two
golems with gemstone eyes and ibis heads blocked our path, but they bowed to
Thoth’s sign and let us go. Here was the spiral staircase the god had
mentioned, leading down, where we found valuables next to the body of an
adventurer, including a magical purse, which would later gain us a fortune. As
the god had said, the stairs led to his “administrative chambers”, that is, to
the level of the crypts from which our expedition had started! But we were
still in uncharted territory, and we knew that the middle of the level was
controlled by hobbit bandits who were collecting a heavy toll from the
explorers of Arden Vul, with whom we were already on bad terms.
Hobbits, demons, elementals... and a band of plucky heroes!
In the passages
we plundered the tomb of a champion of Set, obtaining magical weapons and armour,
as well as the champion’s loot, the bones of a saint. We returned to the Great
Chasm, with hobbits camped on the other side, a statue of Thoth, and a
narrow bridge. We tricked the little freaks into believing that we were slinking
back into the passages, but we returned to the scene by a side passage,
covering our lights. We knew about the statues of Thoth, and that by moving their
jointed limbs, secret passages would be revealed. Perhaps a way out could be
reached this way? There was indeed a secret door, but from the other side a
terrible Ibis demon emerged, stunning the party and hobbits alike with
its screech. We made a desperate escape, dashing across the bridge, menaced by
the demon. Fortunately, the hobbit slingers also fell under its influence, and
could not fire upon our ranks. We ended up in a dusty and undisturbed room...
but it soon became clear why hobbits don’t come here. An air elemental (?)
emerged from the dust, attacking the company. We ran on, because the fight
proved hopeless, but the bold and reckless Devara (I think) snatched a
magical halberd from the wall, which became our valuable treasure.
Escaping from here, there was a one-way secret door, but beyond that, a real ray of hope: familiar rooms near a spiral staircase leading upwards! Returning to one of the entrance levels, we crossed over to the surface (again avoiding the giant snake lurking there), and entering the ruined city, we could make our way towards the Inn of the Broken Head – losing only one follower where we could all have easily perished! And we didn’t do badly: the magic purse alone brought us 30,000 gp in the town of Gosterwick, and we also gained other treasures and good magic tools.
I’m now starting
to get a deeper appreciation for the Anabasis.
Exiled to Fomalhaut
27/07/2026 EMERALD
SEAS
News from the Seas of Fomalhaut! Feted in the city of Thisium, and exiled to another world by the jealous gods for the crime of saving it, a group of adventurers found themselves on an island coast, under a foreign sun. Nearby, another group was clambering out of the broken wreckage of a large glass sphere, transported here from distant lands. Banding together, these survivors sought shelter and an indication of their whereabouts. They were on the bottom of a wide flowering valley, and up there were the ruins of a megalithic settlement, apparently uninhabited. To the north and south lay mountains, and they headed N to climb the tallest peak they saw. Through an oak forest, they climbed to a ridge, where a paved stone path led to the wind-caressed summit. Flowers grew around an old altar, and a dazzling panorama opened around them: wine-dark seas below, a distant shore to the NE, and a mountainous isle around them. Two landmarks stood out: a crater on a nearby mountaintop, and a distant tower to the SW. The altar bore the symbol of a disk with swirling protrusion, identified as a possible symbol of Derceto, and left well alone.
They descended to the abandoned village, where they made camp and shared sparse rations. The next day, they got to exploring. Up the valley was an old, walled orchard, where they picked abundant fruit; and a ruined little shrine with no symbol to identify it. Eriberto Barrella heard something skittering inside, and by the webs, suspected spiders. As the interior was empty save for a defaced altar and a looted treasure-pit, and Ser Narvi’s magic sword indicated no treasure, they did not search further. They travelled west through a pass, overlooking another valley. Forests of oak covered its terrain; they could make out the tower across, a vineyard with a tiny hut, a star-shaped mound in the middle of the woods, a grassy northern mountain valley with small mounds northwards, and to the south, an inhabited little settlement with a port!
They decided the
small hut in the vineyard was less risky than the settlement, and headed across
the woods to reach it. The grapes were badly tended and overgrown; a decrepit
old man snored in drunken stupor by the entrance, cradling an empty jug. They
roused him, and he introduced himself as Proxenos, who has been tending
these vines for most of his life. They were on The Isle of the Intangibility,
just southwest of the town of fair Thellas, and far northeast of Arthedon. The little
settlement was new, and Proxenos did not much like its rich inhabitants, who chased
him off and did not buy his wine. As for the tower, it was now inhabited by a
hydra (the drunk vintner’s account was not completely reliable about its number
of heads). He also told of graves in the northern valley, and this became the
company’s target. The burial mounds bore memorial columns and the names of
heroes; wild sheep grazed on the slopes. They made their way to a set of double
stone doors in the mountainside, bearing letters: “ADRASTUS OF ARTHEDON: BY HIS
HAND, EVIL WAS UNDONE”. The doors were heavy, but Giacomo and Clotilde,
who had both won 18 STR in their adventures around Thisium, threw it open. They
found the tomb of a hero; Brunello seized a magic sword that unsuccessfully
tried to control him, and the rest carried off electrum, gold, and gemstones
from brass cauldrons.
The Tower of the Labrys
(artwork by Dreadlord)
Fighting off
three mountain lions trying to attack from an ambush, they headed for the tower
they had spied from the pass. It was a round megalithic structure, bearing the
sign of the labrys above its open gate. Large tracks and scattered bones
indicated the presence of the hydra mentioned by Proxenos. The beast was devouring
its prey inside, and a stratagem was hatched. The thieves carefully climbed up
on the sides, and occupied firing positions on the top, while the rest
approached carefully. Out came the lumbering hydra, its nine heads sitting on long,
slender necks. It charged through a web spell, and would have mauled
Giacomo if not for rolling 1+1+1 on a damage roll of 3d6! But surrounded from
all sides, it was defeated, although Rembault the hoplite was only saved
by his shield, and others by magical shields also. The tower held no apparent
treasure, but Ser Narvi’s sword indicated a hoard down below. Clearing away
bones and rubble, they discovered a stone plug, and pivoting it outwards, a
hole leading to the top of a domed chamber in the tower’s foundations. Dhazmadar
the Dastard slid down boldly on a rope, and lit a torch. Behind a locked
portcullis was a short passage, then a small chamber where glittered sizeable
brass amphoras, a large gold plate, and piles of silver ingots. He called to
his companions and set to work on the lock. Something clicked in that cursed
mechanism, and counterweights creaked in the wall. A massive stone piston
slammed down, inflicting a possibly mortal wound on the thief, and sealing the
treasure-chamber with its tremendous mass. The victors of the battle considered
their next move in the ruined Tower of the Labrys...
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| Another Place of Exile |
28/07/2026 EMERALD SEAS
News from the Seas of Fomalhaut! Banished by the vengeful gods into a strange world, Aufidia Corvina and her bodyguard Dorvo found themselves on a wooded island shore. A minute later, they saw another group appear out of thin air: a group of adventurers caught while trying to plunder the villa of Flandor the Glyphic, and banished here as a form of punishment. With united forces, the adventurers explored the nearby shores, and discovered a wrecked fishing boat, seagulls feasting on its rotting catch. There were no people here, but they found a pair of sandaled tracks climbing to the wooded plateau on the northern end of the island. They followed them. To the south rose mountains too hard to climb, and nearby were cliffs with several birds’ nests. Egeria used her speak with animals spell to seek information from a songbird, who reported that beyond the mountains was a valley where lived many „big eats”, no friends to the birds. A nearby building was inhabited by a man who was no bird-friend either, and the same man also lived inside the valley, but there, he was friendlier (these, they took for twins or clones). With this knowledge, they headed for a thin plume of smoke in the centre of the plateau. They discovered a conical hut inhabited by a wretched castaway, Crabmeat, complaining of getting stranded from a ship. There were bad signs around this man: a symbol on the cottage lintel was suspiciously similar to that of Shakkur, God of Beggars, and something about his demeanour was quite off-putting. Nevertheless, they learned of a village to the south, and after resting the night, set out to learn more of this island.
On the western shores, they fought off two mountain lions, but found no path up to the mountaintops – although they spotted strange geometric structures on a tall peak. By noon, they reached a wooded plateau at the island’s southern tip. In a large clearing, they came across a pack of wild dogs around four circular pits. Half the animals were slept and half fled from their presence. The pits were deep, constructed from a dull, grey seamless stone, partially filled with rainwater, and overgrown with vegetation. „Fishing” with two coils of rope and a stone with a light revealed two pits to have carnivorous vines of some sort, and tossing in sleeping dogs confirmed the suspicion. For now, they left the place well alone. To the north, in a saddle among the mountains, they spotted what they sought: a village of crude stone huts. They marched up, and were greeted by a group of frightened villagers, who suspected pirates or slavers. These simpletons no longer went to hunt and gather food in their valley, as a year before, its patron deity, the God of Red Effigies disappeared, and strange things started appearing down there: weird red trees, and things that took those going down there. The company offered to investigate in exchange for food and shelter, and the yokels almost kissed their feet in gratitude.
There was time for a short foray that day, and they descended towards a group of red trees. They were red-leafed and spongy-trunked, with twisting roots: clearly alien in their looks. Among the trees were wailing and moaning sounds, and they saw light phenomena – fractures of space, and some great lumbering beast prowling at some distance. They crossed the area to a graven monolith. A kaleidoscopic stampede of alien animals rushed towards them out of thin air, and they stood their ground to what they believed an illusion. Alas, the things were real, or nearly so, and Skiluros the hoplite and Hara Kusunhr, Champion of Jeng were trod underfoot, never to rise again. The stone bore an inscription commemorating a beast-slaying hero, Pintias. Investigating the nearby ground, they found a patch of loose ground, and digging, a large, carved stone leg of red stone buried in the ground! On the way back to the village, Aufidia peered into the weird fractures of light, and seemed to glimpse elsewhere, a savannah of strange lights and unknown vegetation.
Among the
villagers, they feasted and slept, and the next day, summoned their foreman to
ask of the stone leg. The man seemed guilty as hell, dissembling and repeating
only that the god disappeared from his shrine a year ago, before the strange
events started. Now they grew suspicious. Examining the stone limb, it seemed
relatively recently buried, and its colour was similar in colour to the patches
of red trees in the valley. They descended anew, avoiding the woods, and
heading for a white limestone pyramid. Peering inside through a portico
entrance, they spotted a group of 8 hovering, fungus-like creatures prodding
around with weird metal objects in their appendages – as they were not noticed,
they withdrew quietly. They continued to a large metal gate standing near
another patch of red forest. Through it, they saw a barren landscape of shar
light and shadow pockmarked with craters and boulders. Shaggy grey vegetation
grew on top of the horizontal beam, which Dorvo prodded with his fiery
sword; it in turn moved, unfurling into a massive, flapping fungal creature
with long masses of filaments. In this battle, Kron the Hard was grabbed
and drained of his bodily fluids, which healed the terrible fungal thing. At
last, it was defeated with concerted effort; and the survivors carried the body
of their fallen comrade back to the primitive village. In two days, the valley
has claimed three victims. The adventurers considered their next course of
action...
An Expedition to Nightside
02/08/2026
FOMALHAUT
News from Fomalhaut! Far beneath Diomira, in the giant cavern system lit by pillars of artificial light, the company enjoyed the hospitality of the amazons of Grandiose Shield. They were summoned by one of the citadel’s military commanders, Orlane Damas, who would speak to them at a private audience. She shared that Lady Yvin Lar’s younger sister, Auwyn Lar, had led a force of amazons into the lightless caverns of Nightside, and never returned. Orlane told them Lady Yvin was privately very worried, but had to forbid a followup expedition to preserve Grandiose Shield’s strength, and out of her sense of duty – but they could be of help in finding her, alive or dead.
Thus they set out from the citadel, travelling across plains and woods to the massive gap that led to Nightside’s barren expanses. Fungus forests grew in this realm, and nameless, formless creatures skittered about. They headed westwards, eventually coming to a place with hundreds upon hundreds of statues, depicting humans but odd in their appearance. All were of white, crystal-veined marble, looking NE. Some looked intriguing, and Murat the Etunian approached one with a conical body and tapering head. As he did so, 12 more of the same statue appeared all around the company, as unmoving as before. Creeped out, they departed quickly, and followed the way the silent sentinels were looking. After more travel, they came to one of the grand pillars of light seen in these caverns, but the crystal and metal structure was dead and lightless. They went west and rested (although there was neither day nor night), avoiding eating the nearby mushrooms.
The next day, they continued, and found a marble pavilion, the nearby fungi patches hiding decaying corpses – some of weird, pale, sickly-looking men, one of a dark-clad fellow in a fancy hat, and others with flabby, doughlike bodies and weird stumpy legs. In the pavilion stood a golden statue with two faces on its head, set with four red ruby eyes. Upon approach, it let loose arrows at an incredible rate; they rushed in and destroyed it, only protected somewhat by their good armour. They took magical arrows, and some equipment from the dark-clad man’s corpse. West of this site, they came across a river which disappeared into yet deeper Underworlds. North they continued. The earth shook; there were tremors, and a massive purple worm emerged from the ground as they ran towards a patch of fungus forest, disregarded by the tremendous creature. Now they followed upstream, steering clear of the worm’s suspected domain. Beyond a fork in the river rose a crude ring of 50’ monoliths engraved with whorl-patterns of astounding, fractal-like complexity. Approaching, they spotted a stone altar too, and observed a group of the weird, flabby creatures coming from another side, bearing baskets of roots and stoneware jars of paste. Unnoticed, they watched them conduct some sort of ritual and depart, but finding nothing to do here, left on their way as well. To the west, they saw the illumination of Lightside, and headed that way, camping by night on the boundary of the two domains. From the shore of a clear lake, they heard roaring sounds, splashing, and saw flashes of light – but they were unbothered. The next day, they ventured a bit inwards, encountering a hunting party of amazons from Grandiose Shield, who had lost half their number to the flabby creatures whose corpses they saw. After exchanging news, they returned to Nightside. They trekked east now, across a land of rivers and fungus forests, lucky with the random encounters.
The fungi grew sparse, and they were on barren open plains. Far away, they spotted something: a citadel floating 600’ above the surface, its bold towers lit here and there by lights above its complicated parapets. Underneath, a garden of unknown leafy plants covered the land. The garden was a place of winding paths, short stairways, fountains, and sundials standing in this place without light. Enigmatic statues with the bodies of birds and the faces of men watched them without speech or movement – Bocephus detected them as magical. As they found no way of reaching the flying citadel, they decided to circumnavigate the general area. As they did so, winged beings descended from the parapets, circling above them at distance, and returning to their roosts. Something else approached – a hoverpod, this one of transparent crystal, bearing two figures! One was an elegantly dressed man, the other a white-armoured amazon – Ysfaud the Sorcerer and Auwyn Lar!
Ysfaud spoke to them in a sonorous, amplified voice from above, and welcomed them to his lightless lands – he knew they were from beyond the sky, and even Diomira, and he knew their names and of their coming through his channels, but not their purpose. Now they spoke of the conflict outside, and the plans of the Uttermost Masters to subjugate the surface cities. Ysfaud was visibly surprised by their mention. He had met them previously, not on entirely friendly terms, and had knowledge of them and where they resided – potentially very valuable information to the company! It turned out Ysfaud also had something he was seeking. He explained how, although he was the master of Nightside, he was trying to figure out a way to turn back on the pillars of light in his domain. While his knowledge seemed incomplete, he explained the pillars were connected by some sort of waves, unlike those of the sea, or that other sea beyond the skies of the surface world, but the unseen forces of the Underearth. There could be some way of linking back the dead pillars to the lit ones through tripod-like amplification devices. However, these were kept by the obstinate amazons of Grandiose Shield, who did not treat with one whom they deeply distrusted.
Ion suggested a stable future alliance might eventually emerge if Nightside was lit up. Here, Auwyn Lar could play a key role by convincing her sister and the war council that they could gain security as well. Lady Auwyn, previously quiet, agreed to write a letter and send her gem helmet as further proof of her identity, but warned that some around Yvin Lar were sure to reject any offer, while her sister was duty-bound to Grandiose Shield and consumed by pride. She herself only came to trust Ysfaud after her war party was massacred by the flabby creatures, and the sorcerer eventually rescued her with his hoverpod. This was not going to be easy. Still, they accepted this basic plan. Ysfaud and Lady Auwyn boarded their hoverpod, which rose towards the flying citadel, settling on the top of its tallest tower.
Embarking on the
journey back towards Lightside and Grandiose Shield, the company discussed the
implications. Ysfaud knew much, but it seemed his control of Nightside was far
not as firm as it might be thought. The amazons would probably believe
something was off – and was it? Was Lady Auwyn charmed? There were no obvious
signs, but it could not be ruled out. Or did the sorcerer plan the ambush on
her amazons, and mount a rescue precisely to gain her hand as his queen? Would
the amazons really reject an opportunity to bring light to Nightside? However,
one thing was clear: Ysfaud’s information seemed well worth it, and their
primary loyalties were to the city-state of Pentastadion, and the security of
the coastal cities!
The Pleasure Resort
03/08/2026 EMERALD
SEAS
News from Emerald Seas! In the Tower of the Labrys, the slayers of the hydra looked glumly upon the badly wounded Dhazmadar the Dastard, and the massive stone block that had sealed off the treasure chamber. The thief needed healing. They took him down to Proxenos’s cottage, where he hung between life and death during the night. The next day, seeing no other way, they chose to head for the small settlement they saw from higher ground. On the way through the woods, they visited a star-shaped mound they also saw from afar. It was overgrown with vivid flowers, and topped by an eroded stone patterned with several small interlocking circles. They continued east, emerging on the boundaries of a neat little colony where liveried servants were busying themselves around recently built houses.
Hoplites stopped them to inquire of their purpose, but they were convinced of good intentions, and as they sought a healer, they were escorted to Uzalton, a severe, tall man skilled in such arts. Dhazmadar survived the surgery he had to undergo, and did not even require anything more than a few hours of rest. Now, with wine from Terlank and fine food, they were introduced to the colony’s other masters, potentates enjoying the reclusive pleasures of their own retirement community. Here was Androtion of Akrasia, a gruff magnate who had just sold his shipping business (and gave them startup advice to invest in a penteconter and get hustling – they could retire like him in 10-15 years!); Lorkhan Varx, a suave fellow temporarily retired from business „but still in the business”; and Hethak of Propyla, the inheritor of a grain fortune, a regular Adonis playing a begemmed harp in the company of four tanned beauties. As for Uzalthon, he suggested that if Dhazmadar wanted to thank him, he could do so in the town of Thellas by retrieving an enchanted mask once owned by Ouvoreon the Sensualist, whose walled-up palace stood there still.
To begin their business career as Androtion suggested, they advanced a proposal to hire some of the servants and borrow tools (abundant from when the colony was constructed) to dig up the star-shaped mound. Lorkhan Varx, driving an expert bargain, agreed on terms of 2 gp per worker per day, and 15% of treasure if any were found. The work crew set out at once through the woods, excited about the possibilities. At the mound, Ser Narvi produced his sword and to the others’ astonishment, surveyed the mound for treasure, detecting none in range. Nevertheless, the crew started digging, while half the party snuck off „for some wine”, but secretly stealing mattocks and picks to head for the Tower of the Labrys. The rest of the crew worked into the evening, and finally hit a wall – there was something under the flowering earth mound! The other crew climbed up to the tower, shooing off some pterodactyls feasting on the hydra’s corpse. All but Eriberto descended, getting to work on the stone slab. Eriberto, trying to keep the pterodactyls at bay, hurled them some meat, but the evil things saw him a better morsel, and chased the old nobleman, who, wounded, had to flee to safety with his boots of speed. They worked late into the night, and broke the stone. Now able to access the tower’s treasure chamber, they found amphoras overflowing with gold; amphoras, jewels, 100 silver ingots (very heavy), and a magic ring. Content, they went to sleep among their hard-won treasures.
At the mound, after the night, the other crew broke through the wall, and Maglor cast light through the opening. There was something horrible in that well-buried chamber, a dark, tentacled monstrosity with a great maw that came charging, battering down the wall with its sheer bulk. The workers fled in panic. The partial company met the horror in battle, and slew it with some difficulty. The way in was now open. There was no treasure in there, only a dais bearing the tentacled disk seen on the altar on the mountaintop, and ancient glyphs: „THE GREAT MOTHER BURIED HER CHILDREN. IN HER GREAT VAULT THEY HAUNT STILL”. This came with interesting implications. Was another such horror buried beneath the weird red tree they saw on the mountain slopes? A dungeon beneath the place? They found nothing more here.
However, they
had the workers’ discarded tools, and now they took wheelbarrows and burlap
sacks to plunder the tower treasury at leisure. They brought brass amphoras
with much gold down the mountainside, and buried it at the edge of the forest where
the tomb treasure was hidden previously. The silver ingots, a more modest find,
they took back to the hedonists’ colony in triumph, earning much fame and
praise (indeed, the impressed beauties around Hethak immediately swarmed the newly
arrived fighting-men), and netting the magnates a small bonus and a tale worth
telling. Conferring with Uzalthon, they came to the conclusion the site was
sacred to Derceto, the Dark Mother, dweller of deep underearths. This
caused some disquiet among the rich residents, and except from Hethak, they got
cold feet about further exploration, fearing something worse might be
disturbed. But the adventurers were thinking of something else. In a few days,
a supply ship would come to the colony, and they would sail with it and some of
their loose funds, to buy their penteconter in the town of Thellas!
The Mysterious Valley
03/08/2026 EMERALD
SEAS
News from Emerald Seas! Heading back from the valley to the primitive ridge village, reality fractured before the adventurers, and disoriented people appeared – new companions who joineds them at once. „They have changed in the valley”, the superstitious villagers muttered as they saw them return with these unknown people, and without those slain. From the village, they climbed to a nearby peak, where they investigated a dolmen graven with constellations, and saw a panorama of the nearby islands. Large pteranodons were also spotted on a roost on the valley’s eastern cliffs, safely distant. Now they descended to the valley, and headed to the lunar gate where they fought the weird fungal creature. They entered the nearby patch of red forest. Reality was crisscrossed by fault lines, and space divided into pools of intense light and deep shadow. They found a large, gnarled red tree, and seeking among its roots, dug up a red stone leg, buried in disturbed ground. This they took with them. Back in the normal oak forest, they encountered 5 weird plant creatures, peering at them with several googly eyes from clusters of tendrils. They were not hostile, and they withdrew without issue. Returning to the village and hiding the leg from the locals, they spent the afternoon building rafts for their eventual visit to the lake.
The next day, they embarked on another foray. They were barely back in the valley when they met four weird creatures, tall humanoid moths clad in leather harness and brandishing exotic halberds. Communicating with gestures, the adventurers indicated peaceful intent, and so did the mothmen. The sides parleyed as the mothmen inched closer, then sprung to attack, shaking their winds of choking dust to immobilise much of the company. A sleep spell took care of two, and two more were killed in melee. They took their weird halberds and other odd items – bags of yellow-green crumbles and tiny brass tubes.
They made a return visit to the white pyramid in the valley centre. The floating fungus creatures exploring it were gone, leaving no trace of their visitation. The place was an auditorium, and checking the flagstones, Aufidia found loose ones, beneath which was buried treasure with gold plates, a gold-headed mace, and a block of meteorite iron, known to be useful in manufacturing magic armour and weapons. Beyond the pyramid, the old road led to an area paved with limestone blocks, demarcated by broken columns, which Aufidia believed to be a forum. There were slight tricks of light in the air, but hardly visible in intense sunlight – perhaps better for a night outing. They proceeded along the road, passing a bronze statue, then halting on the precipice of a deep chasm. The gloomy pit dropped 180’; 120’ down, a solid stone bridge crossed it between two large tunnel entrances. Ezor the Eel rappelled down, and saw that the SE one had collapsed, while the other was blocked by a pair of massive metal portals that looked immovable. He returned to his companions. Investigating a cave to the NW, they found a looted tomb with animal bones, but not more. From here, they proceeded to the northern parts of the valley. One section to the west was heavily overgrown with a mixture of the red trees and some sort of purple, clublike growths, which also clustered in a group of their own. Leaving them well alone, they headed for the eastern patch of red trees, where they had seen ruins.
In these woods, the red trees followed their movements with peering, sinister eyes, and as Dorvo waved, he heard an ominous voice in his head: „Do not interfere. You saw nothing.” Here was also one of the giant trees, but they checked the ruins first. The walls were overgrown and dilapidated, but this seemed a shrine indeed. A central chamber had an altar, an empty dais where a large statue might have sat, and walls marred by ugly graffiti depicting a rag-wrapped hand – the sign of Shakkur! The theories started to develop. Perhaps the statue would need to be reconstructed on the dais, and perhaps it was broken apart by the villagers, who were given evil advice by the hermit they had met. For now, they returned to the forest with watching trees, and dug up the roots of the largest, finding a torso and a crude, ugly head. These they hid in the ruins.
It was dusk, and they followed the road back towards the forum where there had only been figments of light before. Now there were 22 apparitions there, men and women clad in elegant if old-fashioned garb, engaged in silent debate they could not understand. The warrior Delo Phazerus stepped forward, introducing himself, and the apparitions looked back at him. Finally, one of the women stepped forward, and spoke in a sonorous voice they could hear clearly: “The God of Red Effigies, the God that shall be after us, rules the island still in your time, though he is not one, nor does he sit in his shrine, as he will after us.” Then the transparent shapes from beyond time were gone, and there was only the silence of the moonlit agora and the whispering trees. The adventurers headed back along the path, and through woods into the primitive village.
The Riders of Doom
09/08/2026
FOMALHAUT
News from Fomalhaut! Glory and death in the wastes of the Batrakasz, in the accursed city of Vermath, destroyed for its ancient blasphemies! After previous victories, 4 adventurers and 8 followers boarded Bargemaster Mulk’s vessel to sail up the Xemartes. Three days they travelled, and at night, they sailed by the ruins to lay anchor near a ford. Sneaking into the city under cover of darkness, they were beset by shadows, which left some in the company drained. Nevertheless, they descended underground, and chose to descend to the lowest level to seek the sword of Prince Philosir, lost in a lightless lake. They followed known stairs, dispatching random encounters, and on the middle level, they crossed a stone bridge above a yawning dark cavern. Shadowy priests and a spectral figure appeared to demand a token of their faith; producing an amulet of the Seal pacified them, and they passed. Beyond a sequence of meditation chambers, stairs led up to abandoned passages; some connected back to know parts, and some led to a maze of rooms, and the lair of a hermit who sought holy inspiration in this place of evil. Taking some advice, they decided not to investigate these areas further, but return to a known stairway down to the lowest level. The way led to the bottom of the cavern, and before something surprising: a smaller replica of the pyramid in the middle of the ruined city, but built of white alabaster, stairs spiralling up to its flat top. Climbing it, an invisible force attacked, hurling some off the sides, but producing an amulet and speaking the word of command learned from the high priestess’s shade let them pass. On the top, an altar was found before a bas-relief of the Seal. Ozmund sacrificed some incense, and a Presence tried to possess him, but he fought it off. Now the darkness and roof of the cavern parted before his mind, letting him view a myriad stars as if in divination: and he asked for a sign leading to Philosir’s sword. The insight pointed southeast, and there they proceeded.
The eastern end of the cavern was carved into a massive columned entrance, bas-reliefs of warriors shown sacking cities under a comet on its friezes. They entered into a great, empty hall, where stairs led up to a throne room, the desiccated husk of a cultist enthroned in the seat. Carelessly, they did not notice the fuliginous black thing lurking above them, which stunned some with a resonant moan, and tried to paralyse and dissolve others with its cilia. Putting it down, they examined the throne more closely, finding a catch to lower it to an under-chamber. This was a looted treasury. Everything was gone, except pieces of scrap armour, two stone warriors, and an empty pedestal. Yet detect magic found a snake-haired woman’s stone head, and this they carefully bagged.
From the throne room, they now went south, entering a natural cavern filled with fungi. A dark, placid lake had a small isle with a pyramidion rising in its middle, and a 15’ bronze hoplite standing before as its guardian. This was the place indicated by their treasure map! In a side-cavern, they had to fight a giant slug, which almost dissolved Ozmund with acidic spittle, and nearly crushed Bloody Tusk’s companions. The coast clear, they used detect magic to seek for the blade. There was magic down the pool, but not even a light spell could let them see anything. Iphigenia the Amazon agreed to swim down. She felt around on the bottom, seizing STRIKER, Philosir’s previously invisible sword, which burned with magical light and possessed her. She swam up, but by then, the bronze hoplite animated, wading ashore while blasting its opponents with magic rays. Fortunately, its attacks were poor rolls, and it was destroyed. Iphigenia emerged with the sword, commanding the company to obey her. A hold person held her fast, and they removed the chaotic sword from her hand, for now wrapping it in cloth. They turned to the pyramidion; a knockspell opened its secret door. The interior was the grave of an armoured warrior and a storehouse of treasure. Removing the warrior’s plate, the shade of Prince Philosir rose, pronouncing a terrible curse on Diogenes the Thief to be pursued by enemies.
They pressed on westwards from the caves, through stairs and passages, to a water channel from a waterfall. Diogenes was almost swept off, but he was saved with rope. Further on, they entered a large columned hall. Enormous, muscular marble torsos stood in deep water. Diogenes dived with the help of Purple Rien’s levitate spell. He saw the dark shape of a 8-headed hydra swimming up towards him, which surprised the unlucky thief and tore him limb from limb. Low on resources, they retreated to the throne room’s treasury to rest. Renewed, they returned to the hydra, which they lured to shore with a light spell, and then killed in combat. Diogenes’s henchman, Diomedes, who had decided to carry STRIKER, sought to impress by diving into the water after the sinking corpse, and hurling the blade into the beast’s heart, as the blade had spoken to him. The sword turned into a lightning bolt, which caught the submerged thief in a deadly electric discharge, then turned back into a sword and sunk to the very bottom, temporarily depleted of magic. The survivors retrieved what treasures there were in the pool – STRIKER, Diogenes’s kit, a magical horn, a medallion, a suit of plate, and a massive golden sun mask of incredible value. These treasures were good enough to return to town with. On the way back, they fought a weird mist monster, fireballed fanatics, but returned to the ruins without much trouble. They travelled to the ford to rendezvous with Bargemaster Mulk’s crew. They found the ship on shore, its men massacred, the bottom hacked with axes.
They began the
arduous trip back home through the wastelands, but the boatmens’ slayers were
there waiting. The RIDERS OF DOOM galloped across the plain with 80
nomad riders, led by the great warrior Almorik Tharg in dark plate and a
horned helmet, and the Evil High Priest Kushamesh behind him. A lightning
bolt fried some warriors, while their crossbow bolts did miraculously
little damage. Even so, the company would have been surrounded and massacred.
In a desperate bid, Bloody Tusk raised the unknown magic horn and blew.
Waves blasted the front ranks of the charging horsemen, throwing mounts under
each other, and blew Kushames’s head right off! A terrible melee ensued where
no quarter was asked and none given. Almorik Tharg was caught by Ozmund’s
hold person, fell from his horse, and was trampled underfoot. Abdul
the Faceless was ridden down in the charge, while the horn blasted another
column. Octavio and Horatio, veteran bowmen, were hacked down by the
fury of the nomad warriors. And fair Iphigenia, Bloody Tusk’s fighting
companion on so many adventures from mighty Velkos Vel to the City of the
Ape-Men, was beheaded, and the barbarian took terrible revenge on her slayer.
To the last, the 82 men were slain, but of the group that once numbered 12,
only five now lived. They buried their own dead, building a pyre for fair Iphigenia.
They took the 16 surviving horses, and rode back towards Glourm. In the wastes,
they were attacked by a terrible chimera, whose breath killed Lightning the
war dog, who had survived so many delves. The four survivors rode on. At
night, they camped, but Bloody Tusk heard flapping wings and clucking noises at
night – a group of 6 cockatrices! Leaving the horses to their fate, they
quietly escaped with four mounts. Bloodied, dusty, and much decimated, they
rode the whole day, until in triumph, they rode through the gates of the city
of Glourm to sell their loot and be wreathed in immortal glory!
 |
| Thellas |
10/08/2026 EMERALD SEAS
News from Emerald Seas! From the Isle of Intangibility, a group of adventures sailed to the city-state of Thellas on board a merchant ship. They disembarked along the long waterfront of an antique, elegant town of ancient beauty but crumbling appearance. They headed to Mighty Ellag’s Tavern, a port eatery, where they bought a round for all, and inquired about where they might buy a ship. The closest they heard was Macarias, a local shipping magnate; and they also heard some rumours – of precious musical instruments kept in Thellas’s Symposion, and the Palace of the Eternal Autocrat, found in the archipelago, from where adventurers have brough back a rich bounty. Meanwhile, the party’s thieves decided to follow a rich foreigner and his two elegantly dressed daughters through the streets, and to the agora, where a blind poet was reciting The Lay of the Nikareids, a classical epic. They made a large circle in the evening streets, observing a wealthy palace, but also buildings that looked ramshackle, and had their windows and doorways walled up. They also found a large building with no windows at all, immured portico entrances, and glass domes high up on its flat rooftop. Porters passing by indicated this was no place to bother, and they returned to their companions to have a night’s sleep.
The next day, they noticed a commotion in the harbour. One of the elegant pleasure barges, belonging to Phartasmos a venerable old man from Pentastadion, was stolen in the night, and his secretary was raising hell with the guards. After talking with the irate secretary, they visited Macarias in his warehouse. He was a jovial fellow, happy to have heard of his old business partner Androthion of Akrasia, and would help arrange the purchase of a penteconter from Eranthos the Archaist, one of the local notabilties. He was incensed by the ship theft – not local work by his estimate – and offered to waive his intermediary fee for finding the stolen vessel. They visited the port’s harbourmaster (while Giacomo was called from a high window by two beautiful women calling themselves the captives of one Meles the Mummifier). Harbourmaster Chilon proved a friendly and sharp old man. Apparently, the ship had sailed out in the darkest night, without lanterns. It was not a very fast craft, and might still be found if it was hidden on the island. He indicated three possible hiding places along the shores, and the company set out at once to the eastern one.
Beyond cart
roads and a small village, they entered rough terrain, and came to windy cliffs
with narrow bays. Stairs led down to a boulder with old writing, deciphered as
commemorating “the Lost God Neusthyas”, and something about his funeral.
A cave entrance led inside, and they descended to a grotto with large,
suffering stone faces. The faces turned to be meat-hungry giant brutes embedded
in the walls, emerging as flesh and blood creatures. They were fought in the
tunnel, and as one was slain, they got all cowardly, babbling that they were
innocent, and didn’t eat the dead god, or if they did, only a bite. They gave
up a cauldron of gold, and were chased back to their rest. This was not the
ship, though, and they quickly retraced their route to the island’s southwestern
shores. In an oak forest, they discovered a campsite where a ship had been
dragged ashore and then put back on water; but the ashes were cold, and there
were no other signs. It was already dusk as they returned to Thellas to hire a
ship for the third locale. They found the Cuttlefish, a swift, shifty
merchant ship which Hormouz the Thief recognised as colleagues of a
sort. The captain, Darak Shul, quickly understood what they were
seeking, and offered to join the hunt for a cut or (on a failure) a modest
excursion fee. But this excursion was in vain too, and they found no trace of
the missing ship in the night. The trail was cold – but new plans were emerging
for their next foray…
