Notes
from the GM
In
the long narrative below, real dates are shown in blue
and game-world dates are in red.
This allows you to scan through the text for a particular
year, either for the players
or for the characters. Only
the first entry for each Lian year is highlighted. An
"R" next to a real date means the adventure
was played "retroactively" to a previous time
period of the characters'.
Much
of this
is still a work in progress, so there may be incomplete
sections or parts that are in the wrong place chronologically.
This has been distilled from my own 2-inch-thick stack
of notes, as well as dozens of pages from Devo, but it's
not perfect. If you have notes of your own, or clearer
recollections than I, please send them to me
so I can make this history as complete & accurate
as possible.
The
Cosmic Reset . . .
At
this point in actual history, the RoachKings
campaign had been ongoing for about 16 years. The characters
had outgrown the DragonQuest™ RPG gaming
system about 12 years prior, around the days of the Starbridge
adventures in 1987. I had borrowed rules & charts
from many other RPGs over the years in order to provide
adventures to challenge the RKs, but this was always a
lot of extra work. Some time between 1999 - 2000,
Shag brought to my attention the GURPS™
system by Steve Jackson Games. Its universal, cross-genre
nature made it the perfect choice for the kind of campaign
this had become, with planet-hopping fantasy characters
who had been to post-holocaust worlds & distant galaxies
with starships, as well as to alternate dimensions &
the outer planes. So I decided to switch to GURPS,
and it has made my job a lot easier.
This
page of the history documents the adventures that lead
up to the switch to the GURPS system, up to &
including the switch itself. Although the "Point
of Know Return" scenario was not originally
created for the purpose of switching the campaign over
to GURPS, I have to admit that it facilitated
the change quite nicely. Pereg's "Cosmic Reset"
at the conclusion of this scenario represents the actual
changeover of the World of Lia from a DragonQuest™
RPG setting to a GURPS™ setting.
I
am still transcribing a stack of notes on all the various
gaming sessions that went into this scenario. More
to be added soon.
---
Charlie |
A
Legend & a Legendary Party
Although
most demi-human races did not concern themselves with such matters,
there were a few fringe elements among human societies who believed
that the World of Lia was a sphere. A few travelers of
the Starbridge had given anecdotal credence to this theory,
but there was no conclusive evidence because no one on Lia had
ever sailed all the way around the world. As any seafarer
worth his salt could tell you, legend told of a place thousands
of miles out to sea where a permanent fogbank concealed the
edge of the world. It was called the "Point of No
Return" because none of the hearty few crews who had sailed
beyond that point had ever come back to tell the tale.
When
By-Tor & Shady finally returned to Lia from the Federation,
they spent many months training & catching up
on business. Having traveled to other planets, other galaxies,
and even to other dimensions, nearly all the RoachKings found
themselves together at home on Lia for the first time in many
years. Although Draken was still off-world scouting worlds
as a herald of Galactus, there was still ample cause to celebrate
. . .
[5/1/1999
("May Day '99")] In the spring of 11369,
the RoachKings threw a massive week-long party & festival
on Pasadena Island to celebrate their 30th year as an adventuring
fellowship [16 years as players.]
They called it "RK30" and they played an all-day
"concert on the green" on the festival grounds of
the island
as it hovered among the clouds above Castle Kendril.
The celebration was open to anyone who could get there and it
brought plenty of newcomers as well as some old friends of the
RKs to Pasadena Island.
One
group had come to Pasadena Island on business, but they stayed
for the festivities. They approached By-Tor & Shady
and introduced themselves as Onslaught, Dragon Slayer, Cinder
& Aratheas - the 
Omega
Shadow Force ("OSF") from the port town of Terapin
in the Gusseaux Province of the Kingdom of Llofall. The
one called Dragon Slayer produced a parchment and handed it
to By-Tor. It was a letter of recommendation written months
ago by By-Tor's father, Redbeard the Pirate. It explained
that this Dragon Slayer was the son of a fellow pirate, "Silver-Tongued
Jack," an honorable man of the sea Redbeard had met in
recent years during his travels in the south seas. Redbeard
recommended giving the lad & his fellowship a fair shake,
but made no further endorsements. The OSF had a proposition
for the RK fabrication shop to produce a knife they had designed.
By-Tor looked over their schematics and commented that the knife
reminded him of a Klingon Dak 'Tagh with its small side blades
that popped out. Still, the OSF was offering a handsome
contract payment, so the RoachKings agreed to produce a quantity
of the knives. The OSF stayed on for the RK30 celebration.
Another
newcomer to Pasadena Island that week was a female monk named
Amber. She was unobtrusive & subtle, but she seemed
to make a connection with the RKs. They were impressed
with her and invited her to dinners at the castle.
The
ever-curious illusionist Salád DaJaro had decided to
experience for himself one of the infamous RoachKing festivals
he had heard so much about over the years, so he came for the
entire week. He was even there when the OSF brought in
their proposal. 
Lady
Tamara Von Küpál was also among the RoachKings'
returning friends, although her renowned husband - the White
Knight of Gönham, Amblinon Von Küpál - didn't
attend (apparently, he was on secret assignment for the King
of Gönham or some such thing.) They both stayed as
honored guests at the main castle, and they later met Amber
during one of the extravagant dinners. In addition to
the day-long concert, they were treated to a retelling of the
tale of Shady, Ozone & Raal battling Tiamat to free Galactus.
Everyone
in attendance at the RK30 festival had a monumentally good time
and the RoachKings put an appropriate exclamation point on 30
years of killing monsters , rescuing damsels, and just plain
rocking the World of Lia.
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
To
the Edge of the World
It
was during the RK30 festival that the RKs decided to undertake
an adventure to the Point of No Return. The
impetus for this decision came from By-Tor & Shady, both
of whom had experienced some unusual star readings of late.
Shady had seen a growing imbalance in the stars, but he didn't
think much of it; he had no problem with allowing Chaos to gain
strength. Nevertheless, when he compared readings with
By-Tor, he could not deny the implications. By-Tor was
puzzled by readings that gave obscure clues like, "It's
not the point of not returning; the point is the return of knowing,"
or "Not no, but know." Then, By-Tor received
a new letter from Redbeard, telling him of
extremely strange activity in the deepest seas. He said
that word was spreading among the pirate brotherhood that the
Point of No Return was "closing in" and that it would
eventually swallow the entire World of Lia. Redbeard also
warned of the "Red Skimmers,"
his name for a
new variety of über-pirates and the strange,
yet advanced ships they sailed. They had been seen only
in the very farthest reaches of the oceans, near the Point of
No Return. Putting all this together with his recent star
readings, By-Tor took it as a sign that Celestian was directing
him to travel to the edge of the world to solve one of the greatest
mysteries of Lia, and Shadowstorm had to agree.
When
the RK30 festival was over and the RoachKings had recuperated
from a week of hard partying, they boarded Ozone's airship and
set sail from Pasadena Island. Along with Ozone, Kendril,
By-Tor & Shady were Salád DaJaro, Lady Tamara Von
Küpál & Amber, not to mention the crew of hawkmen
and a few elven associates.
Salád was amused & somewhat
perplexed by the nonchalant way in which the RKs seemed to make
such a momentous decision, but he knew a great opportunity for
adventure when it arose. Pasadena Island
would remain where it was, but the RKs told Chiles that if they
weren't back in a month, he was to take the island out over
the
Bromar Sea (west of the city-state of Bromalas)
and await their return there.
Ozone
sailed his airship southwest, flying over the Dirbain Mountains
near his homeland of KarTola, then south around the Lordion
Forest and west again past Bromalas and out across the Bromar
Sea. Salád performed a Ritual of Fog, enshrouding
the airship with fog from below. After sailing westward
over the Great West Ocean for over 2 days on the airship, the
RKs encountered one of the "Red Skimmers" Redbeard
had described. It was a long, shallow vessel with a slender
outrigger & 2 long, sweeping rudders. Tethered to
the graceful mast were 2 large kite-like sails that caught
impressive volumes of air. The contoured shape & apparent
lightness of the hull, combined with the high efficiency of
the sails, allowed the vessel to skim just above the surface
of the sea, the hull itself barely clipping the tops of the
waves while its dual rudders sliced through them. In the
end, the ship was too fast and By-Tor could not catch up to
it, so the RKs sailed on.
An
hour or so later, they reached a strange glowing fogbank that
extended up to the clouds and as far as the eye could see in
either direction - the Point of No Return! By-Tor recognized
it from the stories his father always told him as a child.
The airship held its position about a mile away as By-Tor flew
out in his battlesuit to examine the fogbank. He flew
right up to the fog & touched it, with confusing results.
To the others, he appeared to just turn around and fly back
to the airship; By-Tor himself felt as if he had passed out
and woke up back on the airship.
Kendril then produced a rag & string golem [from
his Bag of Holding, or did he take the time to ritualize?]
and Ozone cast a "Windwalk" spell on it, flying it
into the fogbank. However, when it failed to return, they
were none the wiser about the nature of the fog.
At
that point, the
RKs decided to seek out another of the Red Skimmers [or
they caught a glimpse of another one and had to chase it down
& find it] to try and get more info. Once they
caught up with the ship, Kendril & Salád used Shadow
Wings potions to join By-Tor & Ozone in flying over to the
Red Skimmer. Once on deck, Ozone danced & told a joke,
but the captain was not amused. Meanwhile, Kendril expertly
read the captain's aura, determining that he was not evil, nor
was he plotting against the RKs, but that he was linked to the
fog in some key way. By-Tor started up a cordial conversation
with the ship captain & some of the crew. As he BS'd
the red sailors, he noticed a strange level of technology about
the ship, which used machined parts as magical items.
What interested him most was the fact that this was something
completely different from the norm on Lia and from any of the
technologies he had seen on other worlds as well. Apparently,
the captain didn't like By-Tor checking out his ship's systems.
Ozone
was first to see the situation turning sour, and he immediately
created a "Barrier of Wind around himself for added protection.
Kendril followed Ozone's lead & cast a "Quickness"
spell on himself. Salád created the illusion of
an armed & armored hill giant with Shadow Wings alongside
him [or may have changed his mind at the
last minute and made it a giant pixie.] Just when
the RKs expected melee to break out, the Red Skimmer & its
crew simply disappeared with no trace. The RKs were left
hanging, literally in the air, and each of them had
to quickly catch himself with his wings or jet pack to avoid
falling into the sea.
With no further info on the fogbank, the RKs went back
to the airship and decided to sail back to the Point of No Return.
Back
on the airship, Kendril headed for the lower decks and By-Tor
started chatting up the hawkman crew, but Salád soon
got their attention with a prime bud of happy weed in his pipe.
As they passed the time, Ozone was calculating the stresses
his airship could take and considering the risks versus the
benefits of sailing directly into the fog. A short time
later, having made his decision, he let everyone know they were
headed through the Point of No Return. The others made
their preparations and Ozone brought the airship to an altitude
not far above the surface of the sea, then they sailed in.
Some unknown amount of time later (although it felt like only
a moment,) they all woke up , still on the deck of the airship.
They weren't sure they were still in the same location as before,
but most of the RKs trusted their perceptions that they were
still on the World of Lia. Salád had a strange
feeling that he had seen a mirror image of himself & he
wondered about this "other" Salád. Still,
no one appeared to be harmed, so they tried it again.
This time, in spite of their lower expectations (or perhaps
because of them,) the airship finally sailed into the
fog & stayed.
The
RoachKings were not seen again on the World of Lia for nearly
5 years, but of course, their adventures continued . . .
For
the RoachKings, sailing into the fog bank at the Point of No
Return was merely the beginning of the adventure. Visibility
was near zero inside the fog, so Ozone had no warning before
the edge was upon them. Just a few minutes into the fogbank,
the ocean fell away, spilling over a sudden drop-off into an
apparently bottomless void. Beyond the edge lay a vortex
of swirling plasma with a dark core at its bottom. There
was no time to change course, so Ozone called out, "Strap
yourselves down!" The crew & the other RKs battened
down the hatches and Kendril cast a hasty "Binding"
spell on the ship's frame.
As
Ozone sailed his airship past the Point of No Return, the universe
itself seemed to collapse, folding in on itself & then springing
back open once again, at a different angle. Everyone on
the airship made a gut check; Amber & one of the crewmen
were sickened by the perceived upheaval of reality. The
Airship was now sailing straight downward into the vortex, just
"above" the falling seawater, traveling faster &
faster by the second. By-Tor saw huge chunks of ice falling
into he vortex from each side and he lent his strength &
navigational skills to the wheel to help Ozone navigate around
them. A moment later, Ozone noticed a bright sparkling
nexus above them & he commented about how cool it looked.
When his taste was called into question, he replied, "Just
because it causes great big disturbances in reality doesn't
mean it isn't cool." Going one step further, Ozone
made a logical deduction and deduced that they needed to get
to the nexus to escape being pulled into the vortex. Salád
was not optimistic about the ship's chances and he flew off
the deck on wings of shadow, calling out, "Abandon ship,
abandon ship!" Kendril rallied Salád back
to the airship just in time as Ozone skillfully sailed it into
the event horizon of the nexus, successfully avoiding the fate
that awaited them at the dark core at the bottom of the vortex.
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
The
Silt Sea & Delta City
When
the RKs emerged from the nexus & regained their wits, they
found themselves sailing over what appeared to be an endless
desert of very fine reddish sand - except that it was moving.
Directly overhead, a large, bright red sun burned hot in a blazing
red & orange sky. Upon closer inspection of the desert
below them, the RKs saw that it was actually silt, so fine that
it ebbed & flowed like a sea, with waves & swells and
a very dry spindrift - a Silt Sea. In the distance, all
they could see was a thick reddish haze, apparently created
by the silt being blown into the air. Nevertheless, there
was no wind in their immediate vicinity, so Kendril used a "Density
Alteration" spell on the air to create a breeze to move
the airship. Salád suggested to Ozone & By-Tor
that they turn the ship around & sail back in the direction
from which they had come and the RKs agreed. Still, Ozone
performed some healing on Amber & his crewman while By-Tor
navigated the ship.
[
10/15/1999 ]
A short while later, Shady emerged from below decks, where he
had been meditating. After several hours of travel, the
RKs realized that the large red sun did not move across the
sky as their own sun did on Lia; it remained directly overhead,
baking this entire forsaken place in its unending heat.
After sailing over the Silt Sea for several days (and avoiding
some apparently nasty monsters beneath the dust-dry waves,)
the RoachKings saw an island in the distance up ahead.
From a slightly closer distance, they could see an incredibly
tall white wall that extended from one side of the island to
the other. It looked as if it was right at the shoreline
and possibly surrounded the entire island. There also
appeared to be a tower at each end of the wall, but the airship
approached at the midpoint between them.
When they finally reached the island, the crew was ordered to
gather up 5 barrels of silt from the sea for further study later
on, and 3 of the mages went into rituals. Kendril performed
a "Visitation" ritual in an attempt to remotely investigate
one of the towers they had seen at either end of the wall.
However, he was unsuccessful and the ritual failed. Ozone
performed a "Speak to Wind" ritual and gathered some
general information about the area. Salád performed
a purification ritual to improve his chances with other spells.
Meanwhile, By-Tor was getting his rest below decks and Shady
was glad to finally get off the ship and do some recon.
There was a narrow strip of rocky ground between the edge of
the Silt Sea and the wall, so Shady went a short distance in
each direction to scout things out. They had seen already
that the wall was made up of large white bricks and that it
apparently disappeared into the red fog above. However,
while traveling along the base of the wall, Shady noticed that
it actually became gradually invisible as it rose up into the
sky. He flew up to take a look through the wall and saw
a vast landscape of interlocking hexagonal platforms at different
heights stretching out into the distance to what looked like
a city on the horizon, obscured by the red haze.
The
RoachKings also discovered another ship that had apparently
run aground on some craggy rocks to the left of their landing
point. Kendril & Shady investigated the ship and found
the ghost of the ship's captain still on board. Kendril
read his aura, but didn't really need to question the ghost's
inner feelings much. He seemed to lament bringing his
crew to this place, blaming himself for their deaths.
In an attempt to relieve his guilt, Salád created an
illusion of the ship's crew safely rowing away on lifeboats.
Whether or not the Captain's ghost knew it was an illusion,
he seemed to appreciate Salád's gesture & he pointed
out the location of his ship's log & map. These contained
some valuable information about where around the island the
ship had been and what they had encountered. The RKs then
turned their attention to getting past the wall.
First,
Kendril tried to tunnel through the wall with a "Shape
Earth" spell, but it had no effect and they had to formulate
a different plan. After flying up to see for himself what
was on the other side of the wall, Ozone eventually decided
to plant a teleport runestick near the airship, then teleport
to a designated location on the other side and plant the other
teleport runestick. This worked just fine and once Ozone
was on the other side of the wall, By-Tor, Salád &
most of the others simply used his teleport runestick to join
him there. On the other hand, Shady decided to Shadow-Walk
to Ozone and Kendril used a "Density Alteration" spell
to become ethereal and pass through the wall.
Once
inside the wall, the RKs immediately headed inland, toward the
center of the island & the city Shadowstorm had seen.
The hexagonal platforms that made up the landscape got smaller
& smaller as the RKs traveled inland. Eventually,
they were hardly noticeable and the ground had an almost normal
topography. Of course, the RoachKings & those with
them didn't have to deal with the inconvenience because they
were all in flight, either under their own power or using a
Shadow Wings potion from Kendril or Shady.
[
A short distance inland, they encountered a man wandering the
landscape, claiming to be a biologist hunting for fauna samples.
They let him go on his way and continued inland. ? Or
they ran into a guy who seemed to be in a hurry and he said,
"The Blue Oyster Cult is having a Pearl Jam tonight, so
I'm in a bit of a rush." ???]
After
flying inland for quite some time without seeming to get any
closer to the distant city, the RKs began to think there must
be a faster way to get to the heart of things here. After
some discussion, they decided to see if there were any chambers
or passages underneath the strange hex-patterned surface.
Kendril tried his "Shape Earth" spell again and this
time it worked, creating a tunnel deep into the ground.
Just as they had hoped &/or suspected, the tunnel revealed
a stone chamber well below the surface. Flying down through
the tunnel, they discovered a hexagonal chamber with an exit
doorway. The chamber was empty and the walls were crumbling;
it seemed as if nothing had been here for a thousand years.
The doorway led to a 5'-wide passageway that continued in the
same general direction the RKs had been traveling, so they decided
to go underground for now. The passageway seemed as old
& forgotten as the chamber.
The
RKs continued to follow the passage as it made several 60-degree
turns. The first turn was to the right, the next to the
left, and they alternated each time, so the passage remained
headed in the right general direction for their purposes.
Eventually, another passage joined with this one, coming in
at a 60 degree angle from behind them and apparently adding
its size to this passage as well; from this point forward,
the passageway was wider. Shady (& Ozone/Kendril?)
did some recon and backtracked up the other passage until it
ended in another empty, crumbling hexagonal chamber, then they
returned to the rest of the party. As the RKs moved forward,
more passages joined with theirs and each time, they backtracked
and found other forgotten chambers. However, this took
longer & longer as they progressed because each new intersection
meant there were twice as many forks in the path back and each
passageway was that much longer. They eventually gave
up exploring each & every new passage, assuming that they
all led to crumbling hexagonal chambers. By this time,
the passage was about 20' wide and before long, they started
to notice that the walls were slightly less crumbled & they
seemed to be more recently maintained (meaning some time in
the last couple of centuries or so.) And although they
had not seen another soul in the passageways so far, this was
about to change.
As
the party rounded yet another 60-degree turn with yet another
smaller passage joining theirs, By-Tor saw a man sitting against
the wall mumbling to himself a short distance back up the other
passageway. When the RKs approached him, he seemed despondent
and he was babbling things like, ". . . dust in the wind
. . . we're all just dust in the wind . . ." and ".
. . the way out is the way in . . ." He referred
to this place as "Delta City" and said "The one
thing you don't want to do is . . . you don't wanna' get caught
up in any o' that funky shit goin' down in the City."
By-Tor befriended the apparently crazy man and encouraged him
to join them, but he just wanted to get out of there.
By-Tor actually carried him for a while, until he got loose
and made a dash for the exit, so By-Tor just let him go.
By then, the walls of the 30'-wide passage appeared to be in
fairly good shape, well-maintained for stone walls.
[
10/16/1999 ]
Because Shady was out in front of the party on point, he was
the first to round a corner a little further inland and come
face to face with a large group of white insectoids, all marching
in perfect step & headed in the opposite direction from
the RKs. The creatures looked a little like praying mantises
with sharp, serrated edges on their massive upper appendages.
Kendril greeted them, saying "Hail & well met,"
and one of them broke off from the group and approached him.
Shady & Kendril both read the creature's aura and found
it to be a simple organism with a single purpose - to protect
this place against invading threats from outside. It
also seemed to share a collective consciousness with all the
other insectoids. It appeared to be checking Kendril out,
trying to determine if he was a threat. At first, it didn't
make any overtly aggressive moves, but then the rest of the
group stopped and came back to join it. The RKs realized
that the white insectoids probably saw them as a threat and
that there would be no negotiating with them.
[Who
is "T'Faal? Was he the Mad Man, or an NPC-turned-PC
played by someone who happened to be there for the session?
I have absolutely no recollection.]
Ozone,
Amber & T'Faal prepared spells as Shady drew his Star Sabre,
Tamara pulled out a Wand of "Molecular Disruption,"
and Kendril drew greater runeblade, Varinor, from his sheath.
Shady moved up beside Kendril just as Ozone's "Ice Projectiles"
spell went off, piercing many of the insectoids and causing
them significant damage. T'Faal loosed his "Bolt
of Energy" spell, which packed double-effect damage, just
as Kendril struck a blow with Varinor on the first insectoid
that had approached him. Tamara cast a "Molecular
Disruption" spell from her wand, causing triple-effect
damage, and Amber entangled a number of the insectoids in a
"Web of Entanglement." The remaining white creatures
fought dutifully, but didn't manage to inflict much damage.
Shady
sliced into one of the insectoids with his Star Sabre, inflicting
triple-effect damage, while Ozone drew out a "Bolt of Lightning"
wand. T'Faal drew his tulwar & started moving up to
swinging range. Kendril cast a "Crimson Bands"
spell that snagged 4 of the insectoids. Meanwhile, Tamara
& Amber both prepared new spells. Again, the insectoids
fought valiantly, but to no avail.
Shady
then executed a flying kick and was struck by one of the white
creatures in mid-flight. However, it did not prevent him
from landing the kick and causing serious [EN]
damage. Ozone loosed his Bolt of Lightning, damaging several
insectoids in a line. T'Faal moved up again and sliced
into another white creature with his tulwar. Kendril cast
an "Enhance Enchantment" spell (on T'Faal's sword?)
while Tamara loosed a "Bolt of Fire" spell and Amber
entangled a few more insectoids with another web. Though
obviously outclassed, the white creatures would not - could
not - give up. They flailed at the RKs with all they had,
but weren't very successful.
As
Shady & Ozone flew forward into the fray, Kendril's next
spell failed. T'Faal sliced into an insectoid with his
tulwar, but was cut by one of the creature's sharp appendages
for his trouble. Shady charged one of the insectoids &
grappled with it as Ozone set off a "Shadow Form"
spell. T'Faal, reeling from the insectoid's slice, backed
up a few yards to regroup with Tamara & Amber. Kendril
cast a "Cause Wounds" spell, which did some damage
on one of the white creatures, but also served to drive home
the fact that the RKs weren't making much of a dent in the very
large group of insectoids. For every one they cut down,
2 or 3 more would replace it.
Shady
grabbed T'Faal & carried him back to safety. Ozone
fell back as well, whacking an insectoid as he flew by.
T'Faal started to prepare a spell, but decided against it because
he was injured & didn't really have the energy. Kendril
tried a "Compelling Obedience" spell, but it was ineffective.
The insectoids kept coming, relentless in their desire to vanquish
the invaders.
Shady
executed a long flying kick, killing another of the insectoids,
but once again, more of the white creatures stepped up to take
its place. Ozone began preparing a spell and Kendril tried
to offer magical support by casting an Enchantment on him, but
once again the elven Namer's spell came up short. T'Faal
retreated further and the white insectoids advanced.
Realizing
that they would never kill enough of the insectoids fast enough,
Kendril cast a "Wall of Stone" spell, which went off
with triple effect, creating a stone tube 300' long & 10'
wide on the ceiling. The RKs then flew through the tube
and past the white insectoids, avoiding any further melee with
them - for now.
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
Making
Sense of it All
[
9/23/2000 ("R2K") ]
Out in deep space in the Sön system, the Draken was
just heading back home to Lia for a well-deserved break from
scouting worlds for Galactus and he noticed a strange disturbance
on his homeworld. Flying in at superluminal speed on his
Golden Dragon, he was caught in the vortex at the Point of No
Return. Coming out the other side, he found himself over
the Silt Sea and used a "Location" spell to follow
the other RKs back in the opposite direction. When he
arrived at the island, he noticed the wrecked ship & approached
the airship, where the crew directied him to Ozone's teleport
runestick. He used the runestick to teleport past the
wall and headed inland, still following the magic arrow of his
"Location" spell. When he reached the location
where the other RKs had tunneled below the surface, he focused
his cosmic powers and easily chiseled his way into the hexagonal
underground chamber. He sensed a flow in the passages
and his magic arrow was pointing him in the same direction,
so he continued inland, eventually finding Kendril's tube of
stone on the ceiling of one of the large passageways.
Soon afterward, he received a telepathic message from Shady
directing him to their location. When
Draken finally caught up with them, the other RKs greeted him
happily and introduced him to Amber & T'Faal.
When
the greetings & introductions were done, Shady, By-Tor &
Draken went on a little recon mission to try & figure out
just what this place was all about. They searched for
quite some time, once again backtracking up some of the passages
that connected with the one they were following. Like
before, they found many empty hexagonal chambers but, like the
passageways, the walls of these chambers were in better shape.
After following uncounted passages, they eventually found
a chamber of interest; this one was different & it wasn't
empty. Lying on a dais on the far side of the chamber
was a one-eyed sphinx-like creature with the body of a large
cat & the head of a cyclops. As the 3 RoachKings neared
the doorway, the creature was already staring at them and they
could feel it looking right through them, beyond their appearance
& into their minds; the RK mind circlets seemed to provide
very little protection against this being's perceptions.
It was difficult to take their eyes off the creature, but the
RKs looked around briefly and saw that there were 6 other doorways
in this chamber. Each appeared to be a dimensional portal
of some kind, filled with a foggy plasma that sparked &
swirled like the vortex at the Point of No Return. The
walls were covered with uncounted runes of a million different
types. Apparently the symbols repeated the same phrase
in a million different languages because each of the RKs found
a version of the phrase in his own native tongue - "Answer
One, One Answer."
By-Tor
was first to step into the chamber and when he did, the "Cyclinx"
asked him "What sense do you make?" By-Tor replied,
"I make sense because I'm here." The Cyclinx
reached out and placed 2 small items in By-Tor's hand and said,
"Roll the bones." The items looked like the
large knuckle bones of some unknown monster, but they had symbols
carved into their multiple facets, like dice. By-Tor tossed
the bones onto the floor, letting them tumble like rubies at
Party Central in the old days. When they landed, the Cyclinx
read them & then pointed to the second door on its left.
Assuming they had been given a clue, the 3 RKs went through
the portal indicated by the Cyclinx.
[MORE
TO COME - STILL TRANSCRIBING NOTES]
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
Healing
the Wound, the Disease & the Madness
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
Delta
City Shadow Realm
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
Pereg
& the "Cosmic Reset"
[This
part of the adventure is not in the conscious memories of the
characters. They recall only as far as By-Tor smashing
the black globe and freeing Pereg.
The RKs' next memory is that of being back on Ozone's airship,
traveling westward over the oceans of Lia.]
