Session Number: 152
Date: Sunday 4 November 2012
Venue: Densial's
PCs & Players:
| Arrian | Rog2/Clr10 | (Fergus) | (kills: none) |
| Calico | Drd12 | (Yeran) | (kills: none) |
| Lionel | Rgr6/Wiz1/ArcA5 | (Ash) | (kills: none) |
| Rowaine | Pal12 | (Craig) | (kills: none) |
| Troll | Wiz12 | (Densial) | (kills: none) |
XP Awarded: TBA
all four sides decorated with 6 symbols, and a seventh symbol on an altar in the centre. the one on the altar determines where you return.
arr and tr notice that cal the dog is closely watching a figure not far away.
tr are we restricted to where we are allowed to go? sam you are not allowed to enter the large building in the centre. tr wanders off in a different direction. ro tr? tr I'm just going to go look at the architecture! :-) ro looks at him. and believes him. she and the others wait. ro if your people did come across one of these other devices that can send people home, I'm guessing that you'd want to control that. would that be right? sam seeing as we haven't, we're not sure what we will do. at first we would, if it was well hidden it probably wouldn't need to be protected.
cal notices that tr is heading towards the guy he is watching.
ro are you at liberty to discuss the process by which people are examined before being sent home? sam multiple truth spells and questions. the main two are: how did you know about this place? if you were to leave, would you be willing to keep this place a secret? a few others in between.
tr goes to big building, bluffwalking nonchalantly. building is undamaged 2 storey, 40x40. doors on south and west walls. windows on all four walls. not obviously guarded. not many people here.
most of the outlying buildings are ruined, the only complete building is the large one in the middle that sam and the woman exited. the walls around the city are in reasonable state of repair.
tr goes around building. windows on ground level are quite high, too high to look through. tr looks around, sees no one near, casts Invisibility followed by Spider Climb. climbs up and looks in a window on the northern side. large room with long table and lots of chairs. two windows on top storey and three on lower storey. two different rooms on top floor, looking in through north windows: storage room, room with desk/chair/drawers. tr rounds corner to west wall and looks through windows on lower level (none on upper level). sees hallway, stairwell leading down into a basement. other side: very large room in southeast corner with large square table and many chairs. all chairs have symbols on them, one of them looks like the royal seal of Ashhope. top floor southern end is one large empty room. no windows on lower level. south wall: top floor looks onto long empty room. tr goes to north wall and dimension jaunts into the room with desk and chair. looks at desk and opens drawer. see lots of brass rings with inset emeralds. tr takes them all, 15 in total. one more drawer, empty. looks out window, see two people outside adjacent building. they don't seem interested in the large building. tr waits until they move on. takes a couple of minutes. when the coast is clear, tr jaunts to the ground. nonchalantly walks around and back towards the party. no one seems to care. ro notices his return and inwardly breathes a sigh of relief. arr sam how long do you expect us to be waiting? sam an hour? arr is there somewhere more comfortable we can wait? sam not really. ro where do you all sleep? sam there are a couple of buildings with roofs, but even those are caved in. ro so what do you do when ir rains? sam we create a magic barrier over ourselves. tr cool. (to ro) hey, hold these. I gound them in the grass. tr hands the rings to ro. tr don't let anybody see them.
arr goes for a wander talking to people, gathering information. not many people are willing to talk about the city. they are more forthright about the travellers that have passed through. a few people talk about alo the elven scholar who came recently. they say that he left, walking out the gate.
cal still keeps an eye on the guy he recognises. he is still obliquely watching the party.
tr wanders towards the figure that cal is watching. he moves around a corner, out of sight. tr follows. cal follows and meets up with tr. see small gap in the wall, he may have gone through. follow. can't see him. tr seeh him going around another corner, about 30' away. he jaunts after him.
cal sees tr go and blinks after him. tr looks around corner. the person is not paying attention behind him, and is closely watching a building in front. tr is 20' behind him. he jaunts right beside him, nudges him. guy is surprised. why did you sneak up on me? tr I didn't, I just wanted to know what you were looking at. guy I'm looking at the new people. tr oooh, are there new people? shall we sneak over there and have a look? guy I think I'm good with this distance… tr fair enough. guy is very twitchy. tr go to Lormu much? guy I don't leave this island. tr we should go talk to the newbies come on! tr grabs his arm but he pulls away. guy I don't want to get any closer. tr I'm tr, who are you? cal sees no magic on him, no magical footprints. guy I'm not comfortable giving my name. tr I'm gonna go that way. tr goes back to the party, so does cal. guy not in sight. arr returns. tr describes who he met. tr sam, do you know him? sam That would be Damien. tr what does he do? sam training by himself, swords and archery. he normally does it just outside the wall. ro what sort of relationship do you have with the other two tribes? sam not so much of a good one. sometimes they come to attack us so we have started defending ourselves. cal sees no magic on sam.
wait for woman. ro (quietly) arr, are you good at sleight of hand and picking pockets? arr no. ro ok…
boron and leader woman (late 20s) walk towards party. woman does not look interested in party, heads towards sam. takes sam and starts walking towards large building. arr excuse me, I believe we have been waiting for you. wom you have? arr are you one of the leaders here? wom I am. arr could we have a word? wom I suppose so. arr introduces everyone. wom my name is Aubel.
arr we are new to the island and we understand that you act as gatekeepers for those wishing to exit. aub we do. arr is it your people that created this system? aub it is. arr i understand that this island was designed for some diplomatic purpose. aub it was. arr and yet now it functions as an unwitting prison. aub this island is still a diplomatic haven. arr so you still have royalty that visits? aub no we have not had any for a while but this place was created as a meeting place for many different lands and so it must remain open. ro when did the last diplomatic mission take place? aub a little over 40 years ago. tr do the elves visit? aub no they did not want to be part of this for some reason. ro is it possible at all that the reason for this place has been forgotten? aub this was originally our island and we chose to let the kings use it. ro and yet its purpose as a meeting place for kings could well have finished without you knowing. aub it is possible but if they ever did need to use it again, it would have to remain open. tr why do you trap people here? aub we don't trap people here, they trap themselves here. tr so they can all just leave if they want? aub if they find one of the many locations around the island that would let them leave, then yes. tr you are not going to stop them then? aub we only stop them from using the exit at this location. tr so you do trap them then! Here's a perfectly good exit but you won't let them out. aub there is more than one exit. arr but in the history of the island no one has ever found it. tr so you have got the only known key and you won't let anybody else use it. aub many of the other locations have been found and have been used. I gather you have already heard of one of the elves that came here recently that found one of the locations. arr there are a large group of people here that are unaware of these ways off and are effectively trapped here. that doesn't seem like a just way of treating people. aub if they come here peacefully then we would be willing to explain the situation to them but most of the time all they do is attack. arr although i understand that when people come here you still don't let them off unless they are willing to keep this island a secret? aub that is a request from the kings, that no one know the existence of this island. ro if one of these other hidden exits were to be found and the knowledge of it made public, would you be happy for everyone to use it to leave? aub we would rather they didn't but we are only going to control this location. the other locations are under the sway of the monarchs that came here; we have no authority over them. arr what would you need in the way of evidence or command from these kings to shut down this island as a diplomatic rendezvous? aub I would need written instructions from the majority of the kings. tr how many kings are there? aub six. tr so four then. is ashhope one of them? aub yes. tr no elves? aub no. ro is Minehome one of them? aub I believe so. ro are you able to tell us the other four?
Ash?
arr I do suspect that knowledge of this place may have been lost in at least some of the kingdoms and I wonder whether this place is obsolete and that you are putting a lot of work, inconveniencing a lot of people keeping something secret that doesn't need to be. ro in which case you should just shut down the portals so people cannot come here. aub we would need proof of that. ro you have the ability to travel to these kingdoms? aub yes. ro would you consider making some inquiries of your own? aub we do not believe that this place is obsolete. we believe that it will be used again. arr if it hasn't been used for over 40 years, what reason do you have to believe that? aub forty years ago the kings were more aggressive and this place was used to help create peace. If that peace was ever to fall apart, this place would be needed again. arr why can't you just shut down the portals until that time? aub then we would never know. tr what if I can find a way of letting you know that there is no peace any more? I can set up a communication system between here and three of the kingdoms. no one would ever come here without your permission. aub that would be very helpful. if you can get proof form those three kingdoms that this place is no longer required then I will accept.
cal it seems like anyone can just walk into a portal area and use the item to get here. Why don't you go out to each end and send the transportation items to the kings? arr what we know is that the portal we came through to get here was completely unmarked and wide open for anyone to use without any information about what it does, which means as far as I can tell / must lead to the conclusion that the king or queen that was supposed to use that as an egress is currently unaware of it even existing. the fact that people have come from other kingdoms suggests the same thing about the others. really all this island is doing is functioning as a trap.
when did people first start arriving here? the oldest resident we know about that isn't from the central ruin is boron: 15 years.
aub it is entirely possible that they do know about this place as well. cal can you check? do you have the means? aub we do have the means but it is not something that we are allowed to do by agreement. we are to remain as neutral as we can; communicating with one of the kingdoms could be seen as favouritism or a hostile act. ro might we be able to act as your agent? aub yes. for us to send you anywhere, I would need you to pass our tests. ro you must realise that we would only leave this island with the explicit purpose of shutting it down, so that may inform our answers to the questions you are asking. aub we test to ensure you will not give out the knowledge of this place to the general public. arr are you aware of anyone from this island beside yourselves that has been going to and from any of the kingdoms? aub no. arr the reason I ask is that the elven scholar was killed after he left this place. before I had the chance to raise him back to life, someone took steps that prevent that. cal I also saw a man fleeing the scene, and have seen the same man here, the man you call Damien. arr what??? tr you didn't think to tell us this earlier? arr aub, are you aware that there is someone who is currently here who may have done this? aub I was not aware of this. arr is this according to your rules? aub most people living here know the importance of keeping this place a secret. we allow them through the different exits if they want. arr can you think any reason why this Damien might have taken these actions? aub I can't imagine him doing anything like that. tr let's put him in one of your truth thingies and see what he says! arr I think that's a very good idea. cal but it's up to you as the ruler of this place. tr no it's not. you should do it! it's up to the law, not to you. aub it is something I will have to discuss with the other leaders. arr you wouldn't arrest someone on report of their illegal activities? aub I cannot do anything by myself. ro can I strongly urge you to do that and if you wish our witness statements and our testimony, we will certainly provide it. aub very well. cal when do you think you will be ready to communicate with us again? aub in the morning. ro is it a policy or even a possibility for your people to keep tabs on those that you have set free? aub we do not follow up on people as a rule; if they have promised not to tell people about this island then we have nothing to fear. ro and if somebody has found another means off this island and so you do not have that promise from them, would that be considered a security threat that you might want to follow up on? aub it would, but we have no authority over those other locations. tr well it doesn't sound like Damien thinks that. we are here as a direct result of his actions. ro we do have testimony that he has been off the island in a situation that is suspicious… but as we have already said, I leave it to you. may we stay here the night? aub you may but please do not enter the building in the centre of the ruins. ro you have my word. tr what is the building in the middle? aub it is a magical place where the monarchs would meet. tr do you go in there? aub we do, but not very often. We try to leave it in peace. it is not for us to be interfering with. cal you agreed to having these kings use your island as a meeting venue. Why did you agree to this? What's in it for you? aub it brings peace to many countries. why wouldn't we? cal kingdoms that you are not associated with? aub not before, but we are now. It also opens up trade options for us, if we ever wanted it. access to different areas, if we needed it. the portals are very beneficial to us. cal how did you survive prior to this? aub a basic existence involving a lot of farming. Our mages started developing teleportation routes for trade, which paved the way for the system we have now.
party arrange to meet at same place tomorrow morning. ro hands aub a bag. ro these were found within the bounds of your city, they certainly do not belong to us. I give them to you to return to their rightful owner. tr suppresses shaking his head. aub opens the bag and appears surprised. thank you for bringing these to me. I will see you in the morning. she, samon and boron walk towards the central building.
stay inside the city walls, or leave? ro wants to stay inside to keep an eye on Damien. she is convinced not to; the authorities have been informed, it is up to them now. arr thinks it a very interesting test of what sort of community they are, how they deal with Damien. he thinks there are other things the party can do of higher priority.
pope tor etc stay inside while party leaves town. heading towards the gate, cal notices that Damien is watching. he tells the others. party leave through gate. Damien watches but does not follow.
go to trapdoor. no magic. open trapdoor, all enter. ro/arr in front, tr/cal middle, lio rear. go to chamber. magic works again. 7 symbols on one wall: offsquare, crescent, oval, triangle, star, hollowed circle, cone. ro asks tr's opinion. he has no idea why they are here. search, esp for mechanical apparatus - do things move? don't find anything. decide to keep going. listen: nobody hears anything.
