Campaign: Facets

[tshiggins]

We finished the latest session of Facets not long ago. It was largely a planning session, and it was one of our shorter ones.

Also, we welcomed Jeff T back as a player. He’d already passed his character, Steven Mack, on to Ragan S, so we had to come up with one for him. 😊

##

Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet. -- played by Samantha H. (not available, this session).

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Claudia Abigail Tavulari, member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly. – Played by Tisa T.

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Ragan S.

Frank Moses -- A former Marine who quit his job as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP). Moses formerly volunteered with 4CSAR and has an interest in Doc Bascher. Frank has spent the past several months living in the Dark Canyon base camp on the 1918 side of the portal. -played by Mike H. (not available this session)

Millicent “Millie” Brown – A member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, and descendant of the Unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown. Currently an apprentice of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, seconded out to the members of the Red Rocks Lodge. Owner of a large, well-trained Savannah Cat, named Apophis. – Played by Kaitlynn S.

Roger Vaughn – Another member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, son of a prominent family. Currently a member of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, sent along on the raid because he has knowledge of modern weapons and tactics. -Played by Benjamin H. (not available this session)

Fergus O’Neil – A pirate and rascal who had the misfortune to cross the Red Rocks Lodge, and the worse judgement to try to rob them when they took passage on his ship across the Irish Sea in the late winter of 1712. However, against all common sense, the party (well, A.J….) decided to adopt him as a flunky after they saved his life from his own crew. -Played by Jeff T (Welcome back to the party!)

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

##

The session picked up soon after the last one, as the group finished off the last of the ghûl. They proceeded to loot the place, and soon found the sacred spaces for the djinn and the si’lat, as well as the staff used by the sorceress.

The second staff had some individual differences from the one they’d captures earlier, but it was of the same time – ebony wood, beautifully inlaid with the scripts in ancient Aramaic. They also recovered all the FN P90s in usable condition, extra mags for each one, and several thousand rounds of ammunition.

Additonally, they found 15 ballistic vests in various states of disrepair, but with enough plate inserts to keep them in spares for quite some time. However, the sacred spaces held the best loot – about $60,000 worth (in 21st Century currency) of various faceted components for the decans of Eneuth (Fire), Ieropaêl (Earth); Isrö (Air), Iudal (Gate) and Phthenoth (Healing), with the bulk found for the three elemental decans.

The group dragged the bodies back into the secret areas and cleaned up as best they could, and then packed up the expensive loot, some spare ballistic plates; and a few hands-full of local currency. By then, dawn lay only about three hours away, and the group decided to vacate the Crypte de la Passion push for the exit.

They headed back the way they came, but about 90 minutes later, they began to smell smoke. Shortly thereafter, the air in the tunnels got bad enough to affect their breathing, and they realized the raid on the Hotel du Bohéme must have gone as violently as Master Cooper feared it might.

A.J. triggered a Wizard Eye spell and sent it up to take a look. He reported that he saw the hotel fully engulfed in flames.

With that, the pulled out the maps, backtracked a bit, and began to work their way through less well-worked quarry tunnels in various states of repair and wetness, toward what might someday become the cemetery of Père Lachaise.

After a long trek through black tunnels, they reached the exit and emerged into the pre-dawn light. The exit lay just outside the boundaries of Paris, but they saw some residential areas not far off, as well as some early-risers who had started their day.

A.J. triggered a call to Sir Isaac Newton, gave him their status and requested an extraction. Newton responded that one was on its way and, the group took cover as best they could in the hedgerows.

Within 30 minutes, a group of six hackney coaches appeared and, as distant onlookers stared curiously, the group (with modern gear carefully concealed) clambered aboard and exfiltrated with alacrity. The coaches took them straight out of Paris, cleared the northern boundaries of the city within a couple of hours, and just kept going.

The group stopped at a remote inn in the early evening, left before dawn, and made it to the Bhean Ní Mháille which had waited for them in Calais. Capt. Donal Vershoyle and his crew had them back in London by the following evening.

The Invisible College gave them an early 18th Century version of a thorough debrief (it included tea and biscuits), and told them they’d heard back from the Brotherhood of Imhotep. The lodge in Crete had taken steps to check for djinn infiltration, uncovered some, dealt with it, and had started to consider ways to take the fight to the deserts of Arabia.

Sir Isaac said he trusted the Brotherhood to take the lead on the reconnaissance. As erratic as the group could be, the members of the Brotherhood were no fools and recognized the djinn would cheerfully put all of them to the torch.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

With that, he said the group should take a few days to rest, as he and the rest of the Invisible College had some mop-up work to do (and some feathers to unruffle). However, he promised to get back in touch with them, before a week had passed.

The members of the Red Rocks lodge trudged off to get cleaned up and rest in their London townhome and, true to his word, Newton send word around five days later with an invitation to a luncheon.

The group donned their best Angevin fashions and took the much nicer coaches sent by Newton to dine with the Invisible College. Everyone received hearty handshakes (or bows of polite respect, for the ladies), the servants brought in a fine repast, and speeches were made.

Cooper also attended and the group learned the attack on the hotel had gone no worse than expected, until the very end when the whole place exploded in flame. Based on his description, A.J. figured the djinn that had escaped them had fled north up the tunnels, and emerged from beneath the hotel as Cooper and his men neared the end of the operation.

Cooper had lost more than half his team, and all of the remainder had received injuries – some of them quite severely burned. Fortunately, he said, the Invisible College provided pensions for its operatives and their families, so they’d be taken care of.

However, that did leave the London lodge with badly depleted manpower, which meant Newton had little choice but to let the Brotherhood of Imhotep take the lead on the search for the bridgehead established in this world by the djinn.

Right about then, Sir Isaac pinged for everyone’s attention with a silver spoon against the rim of his goblet, and everybody wandered back into the ballroom. Once there, Newton thanked everyone, again, and said it was time for the Invisible College of Thoth-Amon to demonstrate the integrity of its members.

He gave a nod toward the door, and a dozen servants emerged bearing long flat boxes, 24 inches wide, 54 inches tall and six inches deep, wrought of fine oak and inlaid with Greek letters and some Egyptian hieroglyphs.

As promised, Newton explained, the Invisible College provided the members of the Red Rocks lodge with stasis boxes. When activated with a drop of blood, each box would bond with the soul of its owner. After that, an additional drop of blood would permit the user to place anything inside, travel to any realm in the inner spheres, and then summon the box to them

The box would appear, promptly, with any of its contents, inside. Moreover, if the owner traveled to the Realm of Yetzirah and called for the box, an astral extension of it would appear, and any device placed inside it ancient or magical enough to have an astral extension of its would make that extension available to the traveler.

That was actually better than what they’d gleaned from the information about them gleaned from Oliver McShane’s journals, so the group was quite pleased. Newton also said they’d copied their grimoires for use by the Red Rocks Lodge, as agreed, and would deliver those promptly, as well.

Some of the members of the Invisible College seemed less than completely thrilled with the scale of the rewards given, but all of them seemed to accept it readily enough.

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly and the group made the acquaintance of several individuals whose counterparts they’d only ever read about in books. They also learned more about the Angevin world in which they found themselves, as well as current events.

As the afternoon moved into early evening and people began to take their leave, A.J. sought out Sir Isaac for a quiet chat. He said the group had made an agreement with some fairies (Newton’s face revealed some dismay) that required they travel to the Pearl Bright Ocean.

Moreover, A.J. said, the agreement stipulated that they reach that realm using a route that did not travel through Faerie.

Newton blinked in astonishment, and asked A.J. how he had known to ask the master of the Invisible College about that. A bit confused, A.J. responded that it just seemed like the best choice – and, besides, he didn’t really know who else to ask.

Sir Isaac relaxed a bit, at that response, and quietly informed the former NASA engineer that, among the gifts left to posterity by John Dee, the founder of the Invisible College of Thoth-Amon had created what he’d called, “Gates of Thoth.” Those permanent gateways allowed travel from the London of this world to various places in the Inner Realms.

One of those gates, Newton said, opened to the lush, mist-shrouded island of Hy-Brasil, in a part of the Pearl Bright Ocean where the waters ran cold and gray.

Surprised and pleased by this unexpected answer, A.J. asked if Sir Isaac had ever traveled, there. Newton responded that, as the master of the Invisible College, he’d traveled through all the gateways and spent a fair amount of time in each of the realms to which they opened.

He said the Pearl Bright Ocean, as one of the deepest of the inner realms, functioned very differently from what any they’d thus far visited – included the Orbital Realm of Jupiter. There, decanic energies ran much more coarsely, which made them easier to manipulate, Newton explained, but it also placed severe limits on technology.

In the Pearl Bright Ocean, the energies of life worked well enough, Newton explained, but complex alchemical reactions other than those required by living things worked quite poorly. As such, electricity worked no better, there, than in any of the other Inner Spheres; mechanical energy was restricted to nothing more powerful than that produced by steam engines; and black powder served as the only functional explosive and accelerant.

That meant their modern ammunition wouldn’t work, at all, and the fouling produced by black powder made it difficult for modern weapons, with the fine tolerances of their inner mechanisms, to function properly. As such, most people armed themselves with blades and muzzle-loaders, sailed on ships not terribly different from those available in his time (or even much more primitive), used riding animals of “various sorts,” and depended much more on animal energies for nearly everything.

However, those with the knowledge could and did use magics to accomplish a lot of things done in Assiah, the material world, by technology. Additionally, while decanic rituals still required a sacred space, the requirements for such spaces were far less stringent so deep in the Inner Spheres.

Rather than require a stable household with which they could establish a hearth and threshold, a sacred space merely required a private space in a physical structure or vessel recognized as tied to the mage. Anything that would meet such conditions – including a nice, individual cabin on a large ship, named (or renamed) by the mage(s), and bearing unique flags and other identifiers, would qualify to hold the altar and other accoutrements.

A.J. said he needed some time to digest all that, and asked if he might send some notes around in case he had any other questions. Newton agreed readily enough, and said that if the notes including anything he couldn’t answer, himself, he’d try to find someone in the Inner College who could.

The group met the next day, A.J. told them what he’d learned, and the group figured out, quite quickly, that they had a pretty big problem. It took many months to learn the skills necessary to serve as crew on a sailing vessel, and to command one required, quite literally, years of experience.

Under the circumstances, and given that they had before them a voyage of some unknown (but probably long…) duration, they had to arrange to hire a ship – and its crew, who might prove quite untrustworthy, but absolutely necessary.

On the other hand, they could try to buy a ship of their own, but then faced the problem of having no understanding about how to assess the quality of the vessel, nor did they know anything of the crewmen needed or what to look for.

That left them in the unenviable position of having to trust their lives to someone they didn’t know, on a long voyage – or, alternatively, stick with a devil they already knew, well.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

While the conversation was taking place in the private meeting room, Fergus O’Neil was out in the garden, chopping some wood for the fire. Although he looked back on the decision he made in the middle of the Irish Sea as one of the worst he’d ever made, he had to admit he’d landed in a situation much better than he’d had any right to expect.

Given the situation, he noted, Master Jamison and his companions had every right to have gutted him as soon as they docked in London. The fact that they’d hired him, instead, left him flabbergasted at his good fortune – and suspicious of their sanity (or, at least, their good sense).

Still, Fergus had to admit that, while he’d known little of the details of their recent activities, he’d known enough killers to recognize them after they’d been off a-murdering, and he could tell his current employers had done a fair bit of that, lately. As such, perhaps they just didn’t feel they had much to fear, from him?

It rather made him wonder if, perhaps, age had started to rob him of his wits, as he hadn’t seen them for what they were before he decided to line his own pockets at their expense.

Of course, it hadn’t helped that the quality of their dress and gear, and the way they threw silver around, had filled his mind with visions of a particularly lucrative windfall, at the cost of a few slit throats for outlaws he figured nobody would miss.

That hadn’t worked out, at all, and he’d only realized what sort of tail he’d grabbed after that black-striped, orange tabby came about and showed him its teeth.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye interrupted Fergus’ ruminations, and when he turned to look, he saw the two largest magpies he’d ever seen in any garden, or perched on any yardarm. The two scavenger corvids seemed uncommonly interested in his activities and, a bit unnerved by their odd behavior, O’Neil gathered up an armful of split logs and headed toward the kitchen.

Much to his annoyance, not one, but both, of the two large birds flew through the door as soon as he’d managed to get it open, and started to flutter about the kitchen.

With a curse, Fergus dropped the logs into the bin by the stove, grabbed a broom, and began to try to shoo the birds back outside. They fluttered and squawked and made sounds that for all the world sounded like laughter as they dodged every effort to drive to them toward the open door.

The frustrated former sea-captain even threw open the shutters to make it easier for them to fly outside, but the two feathered pranksters would have none of it. They continued to hop and flutter around the kitchen, staying just out or reach, and even caused Fergus to occasionally knock over a pot or a crock as he chased them around.

Drawn by the noise of falling dishes and rising tempers, Aurelia her way to the kitchen to investigate the racket. She immediately recognized that Hops About and Twirls Thrice had shown up, again, and decided to amuse themselves at O’Neil’s expense.

She called out sharply for them to knock it off, and suddenly Fergus froze motionless. A bit shocked at this casual display of fairy power, Aurelia glanced back in their direction and saw that the two nunnupi had transformed to their winged human selves.

Hops About cheerfully complained that she’d spoiled their fun, to which Aurelia responded they really did have more important things to do, just then. The nunnupi agreed to that, readily enough, and flew through the kitchen door into the house, searching for the rest of the group.

Not really sure what to do with the paralyzed captain/butler, Aurelia cleaned up the mess and re-stacked the pots and pans. Just as she had everything squared away, O’Neil recovered in mid-swing and, disoriented and confused, tried to figure out what had happened.

Aurelia distracted him with reassurances and said he must have hit his head or something, and then invited him to join the rest of the group. Still a bit weirded out, Fergus followed along until he reached the large study, upstairs, and found the entire group (sans magpies, who had perched on the top of a curtain-rod and gone invisible) waiting for him.

There, he looked even more uneasy as A.J. asked him to take a seat, because he had an offer to propose.

O’Neil listened with astonishment and increasing interest as the man he’d begun to consider the clan-chief of this odd collection of murderers and mercenaries described a long sea voyage they needed to make. They would spend the next month, or so, putting together a cargo, A.J. said, and after that they would need to have him either find a ship, or hire a crew for a ship they’d purchase.

If they decided to purchase a ship, A.J. continued, they’d also need O’Neil to command it, for them, toward a destination they’d only reveal once the journey got under way.

The thought of commanding a vessel, once again, filled O’Neil’s mind with visions of riches to such an extent that he didn’t notice (at first…) the odd way in which A.J. described the tasks at hand. He also agreed to the very odd requirement that he spend the next month with a tutor from the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, who would teach him to meditate.

That’s because O’Neil had started to calculate his side of the bargain and, once he’d accepted those conditions, he laid out some of his own.

He would agree to command the vessel on the stipulation that he would receive two-thirds of the proceeds from any normal trade, and could select the crew, himself. Moreover, should the voyage go bust, he would receive a salary of four pounds sterling, for each week he’d spent in command of the failed voyage, in lieu of his share of the profits.

The group talked amongst themselves for a few moments, and came back with a counter-offer. O’Neil would receive 55 percent of the proceeds (or the pension discussed), but would have to pay the crew, as well as any repairs and maintenance out of his share.

As the owners of the vessel, the existing members of the Red Rocks Lodge (the first time O’Neil had heard that name) would take their 45 percent off the top, as profits, before the calculation of any expense.

O’Neil successfully concealed his utter shock that they’d countered with such a generous offer, and agreed to sign any contract with such stipulations.

##

At that point, the session moved to OOC discussions about the sort of cargo that might be useful to take through the portal to Hy-Brasil, as well as new colleges to study during the month it would take O’Neil to earn the point for Meditation through study.

Additionally, since the group would have no sacred space waiting for they needed to plan the spells they would carry with them, before they left.

With that, the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

A.J.: We’re up against people who have access to fire and air spells. There was no way the hotel wouldn’t go up in flames, once the djinn started losing.

(The group loads up backpacks and carts with loads of loot, and begin hiking for miles through pitch-black tunnels with uneven floors.)
Tisa (OOC): Claudia is dying!

(The group successfully makes it back to England, and start to consider the next challenge.)
Steven: Do we sell off our house in London? We won’t need our sacred spaces here, again, right?
Aurelia: No! We should not do that!

Fergus: They’ve been gone, and I didn’t change the locks, already?
GM: I don’t know. Did you?
Fergus: I definitely changed the locks!
Aurelia: Oh, that’s so cute. He changed the locks!

Aurelia: Why is Steve talking to the fairies?! Why is Steve talking to the fairies?! Stop him!

(The group shares their early plans for Fergus, and seek additional advice.}
Sir Isaac Newton: What would keep him from cutting your throats, or having the crew he hires do it?
Claudia: Money.
A.J.: I also put a Poison spell on him, triggered if he betrays me. Not the rest of the group, just me.

##

[SionEwig]

Excellent write up as usual. The party is doing fairly well (for the moment). Can't wait to see what they decide on for cargo.

[tshiggins]

We had another session of Facets a bit ago, so I figured I’d better get this write-up done.

This session involved the first trip to yet another new world, so it included a fair bit of exposition and a bit of exploration, but not much in the way of action.

To be honest, I’m starting to see this is something of an issue, especially with such a large group of players.

Not everyone is interested in the level of detail I like to get into, as a world-builder. While some members of the group are highly interested, a significant fraction mentally “beam out” during the early sessions of a visit to the new world, in which I provide the exposition to help get them oriented.

It might work better with a smaller group, or with a group of players who have participated in other campaigns. Or, it might just be that I do too much of it, or it might just be that simpler settings work better with larger groups.

Anyway, something to think about. Onwards!

##

The session began with a trip to the astral realm of Yetzirah, to get Fergus O’Neil faceted. The projection into Yetzirah was a brief one, but it revealed a richly detailed projection of London that mostly reflected how it appeared in the early 1700s.

However, the London of Yetzirah featured significant bits and bobs of the more ancient versions of the city, here and there – especially between the old Fleet River (reduced to a sewage ditch, in 1712) and Ludgate Hill.

Upon return, A.J. talked to Sir Isaac Newton about the detail, and noted that even though the Denver of his world was a much younger city, it still compared reasonably well. Albeit much smaller, and with low-hanging gray “clouds” that engulfed the tops of some of the astral projections of the larger structures, the streets appeared brightly lit with “sunlight” and much of the city seemed to have enough “presence” to create projections.

Newton replied that he hadn’t made it any further west than the Hudson River during his few trips through the Paris Portal, as a younger man, but had read a few treatises on that very topic. A.J. surmised that Oliver McShane’s implementation of sacred architecture in the city center may have played a large part in the mystical “presence” of Denver, and Newton said the papers he’d read presented similar hypotheses.

However, Newton also noted that, during his time, Dr. Jon Dee had created a number of semi-permanent portals – which Newton termed “Gates of Thoth” to various inner realms. The direct connection between the London if this dimension in the material plane of Assiah occasionally created “issues” for the Invisible College, but it seemed to have added a great deal of Decanic energy that fueled the astral presence of the city.

It did come at a cost, though, Newton noted. Astral parasites, predatory spirits and other problematic beings clustered around the outskirts of the astral London, and sometimes made intrusions with which the Invisible College had to deal. A.J. took some notes for future use in Denver.

For his part, Fergus found the whole situation quite disorienting, and the nightmares even worse. However, after his first couple of nights of difficulty sleeping, he laid off the whiskey and focused more on meditation, and had it under control well enough.

His confusion, grew, however, as the group began to deliver their cargo not to the docks, as O’Neil expected, but to the cellar of the townhomes on Fleet Street used by the Royal Society.

Finally, the day came and Sir Issac led the group down to a sub-basement that had six doors, all with different designs and symbols. He walked to one that seemed built of driftwood planks of pale gray, inlaid with designs in coral and mother-of-pearl, and featuring various nautical themes.

Newton cast the spell to open the portal and then unlocked the door. A gust of fresh air wafted in the scent of hardwood and blossoms, and some of the members of the Hidden College helped the party push the carts through, as Hops About and Twirls Thrice flew around excitedly and offered helpful advice.

As the carts went through, the party took their leave of Sir Isaac as the two nunnupi darted through the door. As the last of the party went through the portal, Sir Isaac locked it behind them.

The group emerged into what appeared to be a large, wooden barnlike building with unfinished hardwood floors, and casement windows with wooden muntins, open to let in a cool breeze scented with flowers. Several workman in thick, sturdy garments directed those pushing the carts to line them up along a wall to one side of the large, heavy opening from which the group emerged.

The workman noted the presence of the nunnupi but, unlike most everyone they’d ever met, seemed to treat the two tiny fae with healthy respect but hadn’t freaked out about their presence.

As soon as everybody came through, a better-dressed middle-aged man with a salt-and-pepper beard closed what the party realized was a secret door, and then his workman rotated some heavy shelves to cover it, They placed bags and boxes on the shelves, and began scattering sawdust around on the floor to cover up any scrapes.

The man introduced himself as Master Athelstane Greer and, in language reminiscent of something they’d read in Shakespeare, explained he served as the Hidden College’s “factor,” or agent, in the “Elder Isles.”

Upon queries from the group, Greer explained that the Elder Isles consisted of a sizeable archipelago, surrounding the largest island, Hy-Brasil. The central island ran about 250 miles east-west, and more than 450 miles north-south, at its longest. In the seas around Hy-Brasil lay hundreds of islands, which rainged in size from fly-speck outcroppings to some sizeable masses, including the large islands of Skaghane, Dascinet, and Troicinet, as well as smaller islands such as Aclach, Scola, Maushelda, Noar and Hoar.

(Yes, any Jack Vance fans, out there, will recognize those names, immediately. The best steal from the best. 😊 ).

The lands held several different kingdoms and principalities, Greer continued, the rulers of all of which knelt to the ard rhi, or high king, of the Elder Isles, who also held the crown of Troicenet, outright.

Greer said he’d gotten a note from Sir Isaac that notified him of the date of the party’s arrival, and the fact that they might need to stay awhile until they could arrange for a long voyage across the Pearl Bright Ocean. However, he said Sir Isaac hadn’t gone into much more detail than that.

The group gave him a thumbnail sketch of the matter. They needed to either purchase a ship (preferably) and hire a crew, or charter one, for a long trip of unknown duration.

Greer noted that seemed quite vague, and asked for more information about the destination. A.J. said he wasn’t really sure, but he and Henrietta had done some research which indicated that they might need to travel as far as the “Sea of Fate,” whatever that might be.

At that point, Hops About piped up and confirmed that the Sea of Fate, which lay in the Pearl Bright Ocean off the shore of Faerie, as the final destination she and Twirls Thrice needed to reach

Obviously flabbergasted, but still working to remain polite, Athelstane asked why the nunnupi had chosen such a long and difficult voyage to travel to a place much more easily reached by using Straight Tracks through Faerie, itself?

The two nunnupi immediately clammed up, which A.J. explained as the usual response, but said Hops About and Twirls Thrice had previously disclosed that a long trip through Faerie had “complications,” they seemed unwilling to discuss.

Athelstane took a moment to digest that information, and said the voyage would probably require a voyage of many weeks’ duration, and require stops along the way to re-supply, at least, and quite possibly repair a ship multiple times.

The party listened with growing distress as Athelstane said Hy-Brasil lay roughly at the midpoint in the part of the Pearl Bright Ocean marked by the Decan of Cancer, as noted by the constellation seen in the sky when they fire-gate dimmed. They would likely have to travel past the Great Maelstrom, he explained, and cross the Lunar Sea, to reach the Sea of Fate which lay adjacent to the Lunar Sea but on the far side, and well into the sea below the decanic constellation of Gemini.

None of that made any sense, whatsoever, to the group, other than it seemed “really far,” and they said as much to their host. Greer took a seat on a nearby stool, and explained a bit about the Pearl Bright Ocean.

He said the waters across which they intended to travel were infinitely large, but the sections most familiar to (mostly) human travelers lay beneath the constellations of the 12 Decans, which dominated the skies above. Hy-Brasil and the seas and lands around it lay in the Decan of Cancer, he said, bounded by the Decan of Gemini, on one side, and the decan of Leo, on the other.

The Pearl Bright ocean had no sun, Greer said. Instead vast, white-hot portals to the Elemental Realm of Fire hung in the skies, high above the waters. Located (more or less) in the centers of each Decanic region, the portals brightened and dimmed on fairly regular 24-hour cycles.

The Portals to the Elemental Realm of Fire – called “Fire Gates,” by most people, grew quite dark for at least several hours, most “nights,” and the Decanic constellations could be seen.

While the distances across the Pearl Bright Ocean were, indeed, vast, Greer said they did have some boundaries. On one side, the Icewall mostly kept the Realm of Briah separate from the more mundane travelers on the Pearl Bright Ocean, except for a few channels and passages.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

On the other side, thousands of miles away, the Mistwaters marked the vague boundary between the astral realm of Yetzirah and the eternal sea, and connected it with the other realms. Between the Icewall and the Mistwaters, the Pearl Bright Ocean rolled on forever.

To reach the Sea of Fate, Athelstane said, the group would have to travel in the direction toward Gemini, far past the island realms of that stretched to the border of the Gemini, and somehow make it past the Great Maelstrom, which stretched most of the distance between the Icewall and the Mistwaters.

Once past that, they’d reach the Lunar Sea, so called because the silvery-pale sands at the bottom of those shallow waters formed a reflection of the face of the full moon, as seen in most of the dimensions of Assiah.

The Sea of Fate separated the Sea of the Moon from the lands of Faerie, which emerged like a vast, forested bay from the Mistwaters.

Nobody knew too much about the Sea of Fate, Athelstane said, as very few had ever been there, almost none had returned, and the fae folk (in keeping with their nature…) charged a costly price for any answers to any questions about anything.

At this point, the increasingly glum group had started to relax and look around a bit. Given the scale of the task they faced, they quickly ruled out chartering a ship (although stealing one remained on the table…) and asked Athelstane to take a look at what they’d brought with them.

Greer looked through the goods in the carts, and noted that the giant spider silk would sell quite well, indeed, and they’d get good prices for any refined metal objects of good quality. The silk had any number of uses for custom work, as well as spell-casting, Athelstane explained, and was quite difficult to come by.

At the mention of spell-casting, the group asked how that worked, in this realm. Athelstane replied that it was a lot easier than in Assiah, and even in most of the orbital realms. However, the ability to do so required soul-faceting, just as it did everywhere else.

However, aspiring practitioners found it a lot easier to get faceted, Greer said, and generally fell into three philosophies.

A significant fraction of practitioners treated Decanic energies as a resource – difficult to learn, but at least as useful as any other, and more so than many. Such practitioners tended to refer to themselves as “mages,” and people sometimes referred to the most knowledgeable and renowned as, “wizards.”

Athelstane said he fell under this category, but wouldn’t call himself a wizard, by any stretch.

A group of about equal size perceived Decanic energies as an aspect of the Divine (hardly surprising, since beings of godlike power and ability could be reached by sailing, although the voyages usually proved quite arduous and they didn’t suffer fools gladly....), and used it in keeping with their understanding of theological principles. Those practitioners had many titles within each religion, but most of the locals used the title, “magister.”

The left the remaining, a fairly small group who relied on interaction with spirits of all sorts. These “mystics” ranged from shamans with primitive tribes who bargained with and propitiated spirits, all the way to fairly modern folk who focused on binding spirits and other beings as tools and servants.

As a general rule, the three different philosophies quarreled amongst themselves, with disputes between mages and magisters frequently growing quite heated. By contrast, both tended to look down a bit on mystics, considered either primitives or little better than “techne” (people who built gadgets and widgets and even vehicles), although most acknowledged they proved quite useful, from time to time.

As for metals, Hy-Brasil and the other larger land-masses usually had plenty (although orichalcum was found only in Atlantis), but a lot of the smaller islands didn’t. Ingots and other items sold especially well, in those places, Athelstane said, but quality metal goods found ready buyers, anywhere.

At that, A.J. produced a full-metal jacketed round he’d carried from the 21st Century. He’d removed it from the brass shell-casing (since neither the smokeless powder nor the primer would work this deep in the Inner Spheres, anyway…), and presented it for Athelstane’s inspection.

The mage looked at it carefully, paused for a long moment, and then started to look around at the group. The party had relaxed enough to shuck their backpacks and other gear, and had set them on the floor or worktables around the area.

Athelstane spotted the optical site on one of Steve’s rifles, did a double-take, and then gave A.J.’s geared crossbow a long look. He also glanced around at the details of their other gear (including boots), and looked at the group for a long moment.

The mage then flatly stated they’d not come from the world of the Invisible College, on the other side of the door, asked from what world they’d actually come.

Taken aback, a bit, the group had a quick discussion, before they decided to reveal at least some of the truth. They acknowledged that they’d come from a more advanced world and had done a favor for the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, with which they had some affiliation, anyway. The trip to the Pearl Bright Ocean comprised part of their payment for services rendered.

Athelstane accepted that answer and didn’t press them for anything more. Instead, he turned his attention to more practical matters.

The building in which they found themselves was part of a large farm and orchard located nearly a day’s ride outside of the city of Avallon, on the Iceward (“north”) end of the Hy-Brasil, not far from the dexter (right-hand or “east”) coast (about where New York would be, they surmised). The largest port city on the Iceward end of the island, Avallon lay mostly on the “north” bank of the River Murmeil, just sinister (“west”) of its confluence with the River Scarp.

The River Scarp came straight in to the River Murmeil from the Iceward direction, but those who traveled along its banks made a (leftward) curve through a valley formed by some rugged hills above Avallon, before curving Iceward, again. The farm was located not far from a good road that roughly paralleled the course of the River Scarp where it flowed through the valley, and led straight in to Avallon.

The busy city had an active market and busy docks, and those in the market could usually find a various ships of different sizes and capabilities for sale, there. If not interested in a used vessel, Athelstane said, the town of Twissemy, in the nearby Principality of Blaloc, made the best on this end of Hy-Brasil, although those built in Avallon were quite good, too.

However, before they could do any of that, they had to get local currency. To do that, they needed to sell their goods, and to do that, they needed to have everything tax-stamped as legally imported into the Elder Isles.

That would normally prove problematic, Athelstane said, as a portal to Assiah would draw entirely too much notice of the sort nobody associated with the Invisible College wanted anything to do with – hence the need to hide the doorway.

The group expressed dismay that countries on the Pearl Bright Ocean had such things as taxes and authorities, to which Athelstane replied that people didn’t change much from one world to the next.

Fortunately, the mage added, he’d handled this sort of thing for visitors from Assiah, in the past. A known merchant had to declare he or she had imported the goods to the Elder Isles initially, and the parties in possession brought them to market as the representatives (or “factors”) of that merchant.

Goods could come into any port freely, Athelstane continued, but couldn’t be sold in the markets until they had gone through customs. The merchants paid any tariffs or fees (usually pretty nominal), and the goods had received a stamp to indicate they’d passed inspection and the importer had paid the dues.

To that end, he had an “existing relationship” with a merchant in the Goblin Market, who agreed to provide a letter of import for any good that needed to be sold, in exchange for a nominal fee. That worked particularly well for exotic goods, Athelstane said, because the Goblin Market frequently carried goods imported through Faerie, and one could (almost literally) find just about anything there.

At the mention of Faerie, the group grew quite concerned and the questions flew fast. Athelstane said the Goblin Market lay inside the Mistward (“southern”) boundary of the primeval forest of the Tantravalles, which stretched for several hundred miles through the center of the island.

Many beasts of all sorts lived in the deep forest, Athelstane said, but (mostly) didn’t bother those who traveled along the ancient roads. In addition to the animals, the Tantravalles was home to variable number of fae creatures who entered the Elder Isles through the forest’s sidhe gateways – some known but many not – to the realm of Faerie.

Some of the better known (and more stable) sidhe gates lay in the Mistward end of the forest, which held a fair number of “Halfling” communities, and the Goblin Market lay there.

The term “Halfling” immediately confused the group, (“You mean, hobbits?”) and Athelstane hastened to explain. In the Elder Isles (and most other places), the term “Halfling” referred to creatures (frequently intelligent, but not always) that bore at least some faerie blood. While many Halflings could pass for human, Athelstane said, and some were quite exotically lovely, in others the fae blood manifested in the form of odd physiologies.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(continued...)

Most people used the term “goblin” to refer to those whose faerie blood gave them strange features, and while it didn’t have a pejorative meaning in most places, many preferred to live amongst their own kind.

(Halflings of all sorts sometimes had minds that worked a bit differently, many had a talent for magic, nobody liked to be stared at, and most had living fae progenitors who might take offense if they perceived abuse or insult to their children.)

The Goblin Market lay in one such community, with a stable sidhe gateway nearby, through which creatures of all sorts traveled -- some of which brought goods for trade.

The merchant with whom Athelstane had his “arrangement” – one Yuliana Thorn – dealt in such exotic goods and, in exchange for an estimated five percent of the value, willingly provided letters of import that listed the goods and included any names desired as factors in her employ. Presentation of the letters at the customs offices would qualify them as legal imports through the Goblin Market, and allow them to receive inspections and tax stamps.

At this juncture, the group called a halt to the discussion. Given their past experiences with fae creatures, and their nigh-absolute ignorance of the laws and customs of this place, they weren’t willing to sign their goods over to anybody else as the rightful owner (which is exactly what the letter implied), nor did they want to make a deal with anybody they didn’t know – especially someone of “fae blood.”

Athelstane tried to give assurances that he’d done this a number of times in the past, with no difficulties whatsoever and, as long as the list was accurate and included nothing that would create problems for her, Yuliana didn’t even care to see the items or the people she claimed as “employees.”

However, Aurelia (especially) wanted no business relationship – even one as temporary and tenuous as this – with someone she hadn’t met, and both Beatrice and Claudia expressed equal skepticism. So, Athelstane agreed to write a letter of introduction, so they could travel down to the Goblin Market.

The group had two options to make the journey, he continued. They could travel by coach (usually the safest) through the Tantravalles along the North-South Road, and reach the Halfing communities in about a week or so (barring “difficulties”). Alternatively, they could book passage on a coastal vessel that could get them to Lyonesse Town or Kercelot, in a day or so, and then travel another couple of days into the Tantravalles and reach the Goblin Market, that way.

The group quickly decided to go with the second option, and Athelstane agreed to write the letter of introduction. He invited them to stay as guests until the next day, when he would have a carriage take them to Avallon.

The group agreed, grabbed their personal gear, and walked along the path from the wooden outbuilding to the main house, a rambling two-storey structure with a slate roof and several chimneys. The building they’d come from, as well as a barn and a workshop, formed a large compound with the main house on the fourth side.

They walked along a cobblestone path, and saw an orchard around the outside of the compound on three sides, with a field of green grain beyond the fourth. The house had thick stone walls with heavy shutters thrown open, and inside they found it brightly lit by large, latticed windows.

It smelled of soap and cooking and flowers, and Athelstane showed them to four guest rooms. They had a nice, filling dinner and some excellent cider, and turned in for the night.

The next morning, the group piled into (and on top of) a large carriage pulled by four large, high-stepping draft horses, spent much of the day traveling along the road between the River Scarp and the hills, through rich farm country. By early afternoon, the road began to curve to the right to follow the river, and then bent all the way back the other way to stay in the “southern” edge of the hills and above the bright green marsh that lay “west” of the confluence of the Skarp and the estuary of the Murmeil, dotted with sails.

By mid afternoon, the marsh gave way to green fields, and orchards appeared on the southern slopes of the hills, to their right. They traveled another hour, or so, through rich country, crossed a somewhat busy bridge over a swift and rather wide stream, and then turned left to see Avallon stretched out before them.

The saw a mid-sized city able to hold several tens of thousands of people, largely consisting densely-packed stone buildings with slate roofs and glazed windows, at least four stories tall and many several stories taller. Additionally, a massive stone wall reinforced with square towers surrounded the landward side of the city, although several neighborhoods seemed to have grown up outside the wall.

From within the wall, the group saw several larger towers, including one not far inside the northern wall that soared 200 feet from a wide courtyard. None of the other towards rose nearly that high, but given that all seemed constructed of cut stone, they were impressive enough.

The road traveled between the stream they’d crossed (the Inundating River) and another a bit further “west” (the Balbu), and Athelstane said the two short but swift rivers drained the hilly country to the “north.”

Within the walls of the river, the group saw several large pools that served as harbors, studded with the masts of what appeared to be tall sailing ships. Beyond that, the estuary of the wide River Murmeil emptied “eastward” into the sea not far away, and beyond the waters of the wide estuary they could barely make out more fields.

As they watched, the unmistakable envelope of an airship – brightly painted with large eyes at the front – rose from beyond the forest upriver of the city. Then, Aurelia clapped with delight as she saw a “Hook ship,” a vessel with a wooden hull and side-sails arranged like wings, rise from the waters of the bay opposite them.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/97...6094071d1d.jpg

Athelstane grinned at Aurelia’s joy, and said the ship probably hailed out of Antillia, which controlled the lands that held the plantations of Antipodean Liftwood, and would allow no one but themselves to own such ships. Aurelia replied she’d see about that, and shortly thereafter, the carriage merged into the other traffic headed through the wide Teal Gate.

As the group looked around, they saw any number of carriages and wagons of all sizes drawn by horses that ranges in size from their own massive breeds, down to smaller equines pulling landau-style open carriages and farm wagons. However, they also saw several wagons pulled by two-headed oxen with massive shoulders, and some chugging and clattering horseless vehicle.

Some of the horseless carriages featured smokestacks that indicated steam engines, while others puttered along with what appeared to be caloric engines of some sort. Still others, some of them quite large and piled with goods, moved with no means that A.J. recognized, and the engineer watched them with professional interest.

The drivers appeared as widely varied as the vehicles, themselves. In addition to humans who appeared to resemble mostly northern and western European stock, the group saw what appeared to be dwarves, slender people with pointed ears, and even a few winged faeries soaring around.

Nobody even glanced twice at the two nunnupi, looking around in fascination and, once they passed through the gates, they found busy streets thronged with yet more people. Oddly shaped beings that vaguely resembled humans moved in the crowd, and the group spotted several scaled humanoids with heads encased in water-filled globes, looking around with interest at this city above the waves.

Brightly colored signs and placards extended out into the streets, and several narrow side streets had bright awnings stretched across from one building to another opposite. Clothing ranged from practical leather and thick cloth, to brightly-colored floating confections, to barely there at all (mostly on the faeries).

Athelstane raised his voice to be heard, and said they needed to move south out of the terribly expensive Sanctia District that held the royal palace, and into something a bit more reasonably priced. A.J. asked for recommendations.

Athelstane said the Dreodae District, which held the markets for and supply houses for techne and others who specialized in machines and devices of all sorts held some reasonable places, but the area tended to be noisy with the clattering of vehicles. However, the neighboring Gorro Hill district featured museums and theaters popular with visitors, but was a bit more pricey.

After a quick consultation, the group decided on Gorro Hill, since they figured they’d stand out less in an area full of tourists (not that they’d stand out much in this city, anyway…), and it offered easy access to the markets in the Dreodae neighborhood where they’d likely do a fair amount of business in a week or so.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

Athelstane replied that seemed reasonable enough, and turned left to cross another bridge across the Inundating River, and then turned right into the Copsic district. As they traveled through, the mage pointed to a large building in the middle of a sizeable square, festooned with flags and featuring a number of uniformed constables.

That building held the Royal Tariff House, Athelstane said, and would be their destination once they’d secured the letters of import. The bonding warehouses that lay to the “north” of the Tariff House, along the edge of one of the harbor pools, was safe enough, Athelstane added, fairly inexpensive, and a good place to store goods until they’d found buyers.

Eventually, the reached one of the streets that rose surprisingly steeply to the Gorro Hill district, and within about 10 minutes the carriage pulled to a stop in a narrow lane, in front of the amusingly-named Hotel Bygod. The group quickly booked rooms in the pleasant establishment, and then hit the streets to look around for a bit before heading to bed.

The next morning, they made inquiries at the front desk, and learned ships that carried passengers frequently put in at the Distinction Docks, on the far side of the Eshwyn Harbor Pool, almost straight due “west” of Gorro Hill. Henrietta, A.J., Fergus and Aurelia headed down that way and, after a bit of looking around, found a pier where a ship called the Dama Lucrezia advertised itself as a coastal schooner, and listed both Kercelot and Lyonesse Town as destinations.

Fergus eyed the vessel and allowed it looked ship-shape enough, although it had some rigging new to him. The captain and owner, and older gentleman named Aldo Serafini, came across as quite pleasant and professional.

Serafini said he planned to depart the following morning, and the ship should arrive at Kercolet within about 20 hours, where it would put in for a day to drop off passengers and unload some cargo, before continuing to Lyonesse town that same evening to deliver the bulk of its consignment.

The group booked passage on the Dama Lucrezia and agreed to show up an hour before dawn, the next day, so Serafini could depart at first light.

The group then spent the remainder of the day wandering through the busy streets of the Dreodae District, and soon found themselves in the vast Kabouter Market, clattering with machinery and smelling of oil, while dwarves and other folk moseyed around and talked shop and conducted intricate negotiations. The market featured widgets and gadgets and automata of all sorts, including Decanic engines and matrices designed to capture elementals or spirits as motive forces.

A.J. asked enough questions that the rest of the group started to wander off, and Steven soon found a nifty little shop that offered staves and walking sticks that featured all sorts of gadgets and hidden compartments. Henrietta and Beatrice soon joined him, and asked if the shopkeeper could do custom work on staves they already possessed.

The man said he certainly could and did so quite frequently. It might take a few days, depending on what they wanted, exactly, he said, but he guaranteed the quality of his craftsmanship.

The rest of the group poked around and picked up a few things, and generally got themselves acquainted with the local currency.

With that, the session ended.

Funny Quotes

A.J.: We’re going to Milly run to the town and come back with carts. What else is a teenager good for?
Milly: Okay!

(Fighting giant spiders.)
Aurelia: Just the stabby-stabby, punchy-punchy, pushy-pushy part. That kinda sucks., The crunchy-crunchy part, were we kill them, that’s pretty fun.

(A.J. asks Claudia for a feather from her glowing green bird.}
Claudia: Oh, it’s for Newton? What’s in it for us?

(Fergus comes wakes up from his trip to the astral realm of Yetzirah.)
Fergus: I’d like to go drinkin’!

(The group notices the orchards outside, and make inquiries about cider.)
A.J.: It’s “Athelstane Greer,” not “Apfel Sangria”!

[The group expresses appreciation for the clean air of Hy-Brasil, as compared to the reek of London in the summer.)
Beatrice: London Fog doesn’t really smell that bad, if you dry-clean it periodically.

(O’Neil travels to his first alternate reality.)
Fergus: What was in that whiskey?
A.J.: Good stuff, wasn’t it?

Fergus: You said we were going on a voyage. No one said we were taking the Silk Road!
Beatrice: We don’t need to take the Silk Road. We have lots of silk.

Aurelia: I don’t like working with cops.

Beatrice: She has no issues with piracy, just paying taxes.
Aurelia: Right!

Aurelia: I miss the days when we were just beating on bikers.

Athelstane: You won’t raise too many eyebrows in Avallon, dressed as you are.
Aurelia: We’re dressed as swashbucklers.
Athelstane: Quite.
Steven: That may be the most disturbing thing we’ve heard, so far.

##

[SionEwig]

This session involved the first trip to yet another new world, so it included a fair bit of exposition and a bit of exploration, but not much in the way of action.

To be honest, I’m starting to see this is something of an issue, especially with such a large group of players.

Not everyone is interested in the level of detail I like to get into, as a world-builder. While some members of the group are highly interested, a significant fraction mentally “beam out” during the early sessions of a visit to the new world, in which I provide the exposition to help get them oriented.

It might work better with a smaller group, or with a group of players who have participated in other campaigns. Or, it might just be that I do too much of it, or it might just be that simpler settings work better with larger groups.

Yeah, this can be a problem for certain players. Not that they are lesser or bad players, just that they are not necessarily interested in all the details. Much of it is a matter of knowing your group and what the various people like. However, with a larger group there is of course a better chance of having a number of folks who just are not interested in all the details you worked so long on (and are important to you). I happen to like them, especially here but then I am reading and experiencing this campaign from afar. Personally, I'd keep going to this level of detail, but maybe not have such an info dump for everyone.

Anyway, good and lengthy writeup, I enjoyed it.

Loved this one -

Athelstane: You won’t raise too many eyebrows in Avallon, dressed as you are.
Aurelia: We’re dressed as swashbucklers.
Athelstane: Quite.
Steven: That may be the most disturbing thing we’ve heard, so far.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

Yeah, this can be a problem for certain players. Not that they are lesser or bad players, just that they are not necessarily interested in all the details.

This is one reason I miss playing Randy. He was present and accounted for during all the details, he just had a knack for homing in on the ones that seem awesome to him personally.