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Ches 11 1373

Still at the wine shop, drinking their "products". We're pretty sure we have to go into the Black Jungles. And we don't have a map. I'll have another drink.
We talk with Omar and Pasha about our mission. Omar finds a map and orients it to the land. We determine that the sword and boots are in the direction of the edge of the mountain pass. Pasha suggests we check the local library to try to find out about the last known owner of the suit of armor, Alicia Pantr.

The head librarian tells us the services the library offers. We will need to hire a special researcher, at 50 gp per day, to check the ancient archives. Goolar, the researcher, asks questions about what we're looking for. While we wait, they serve us wine and cheese. It's the least they can do at 50 gp per day.

While we wait, we go to the map section to make some copies of maps we think we'll need. Goolar gives us an occasional update. This is taking hours. This Goolar is no google. Brandon changes the search parameters to include religious leaders. Eventually we tell Goolar the full story behind the armor and other known owners.

Jasmine, a wizardess, may be able to provide us with a map.

Goolar comes back in the evening to give another update. Orc Gate wars were 2300 years ago. Most of the texts from that time were lost. Goolar will continue looking.

We get a room for the night at the local inn. The inn keeper is trying to rip us off. He charges us one gold each - five gp for the night. (There are only four of us.)

Omar joins us at the inn after dinner. More wine. He tells us that Jasmine is the one who made the dagger that belonged to his father - and we lost.

The Black Jungles are dangerous. Omar suggest we talk to a supply shop. There are mines in the jungles and some people go into the jungles searching for diamonds. Also the slavers are rumored to turn people into snake people for slaves.

Ches 12

In the morning we return to the library. Googlar worked all night.

Tas Brema was a colonel in the Tashlutar army during the Orc Gate wars in -1073. No mention of boot or sword. Be went into the jungle searching for "The Gateway - no mention of what that was. The entry implied he had a key. Neither he nor his men returned. Donegal donates an extra 10 gp to the library.

We're off to see the wizard(ess) - Jasmine. We find her tower. We knock and are invited in by an old man sitting, reading a tome. He asks Brandon what he can do for him today while holding out his hand. Brandon keeps repeating that we'd like to talk to Jasmine. But without "greasing the wheels", he just keeps asking. Finally, I offer 2 gp and the conversation continues. He has an opening in five years. We tell him we're the ones who found the dagger she made. That gets us in to see her sometime this year. He thinks we're pretty uppity to want to see Jasmine today. We talk about the armor and are willing to show Jasmine some of the items. After thinking it over for a moment, he agrees and crosses out someone's name and writes ours.

A few minutes later, we head up the stairs and are greeted by Alamine who directs us up another flight of stairs. She's the potion maker. Information is on the third floor. We are greeted by someone who looks like Claudia Black from our world. This is Jasmine.

We tell her our quest to find the armor and show her the grives. We finally reveal ourselves as outlanders. Jasmine tries on the armor. She tells us the "The Gate". The Gate connects to all the portals which in turn are used to without the help of wizards. Maybe even between worlds. Hmmm, interesting. The Gate is a myth. Portals are known.
She advises us to bring something to neutralize poison when we travel into the Black Jungle. She then provides us with four vials of neutralize poison, each vial has three uses. But is we're dying, then consume the full vial. She also gives us a wand of cure disease with ten charges.

We tell her some of our tales. She invites us back to tell her of our success in the jungle. (We couldn't tell her of our failure because we'd be dead - again.)

She wishes us luck and we leave.

Omar meets us for dinner and tells us to meet him at the warehouse in the morning.

Ches 13

We meet Omar. He gives us a letter of introduction to use when we arrive at his family's estate. We ride in the caravan. There are only three carts.

Ches 14

Nothing

Ches 15

Nothing

Ches 16

We arrive about 4pm. We give Alasandra the letter of introduction from Omar. We talk a while. We'l stay the night and leave in the morning for the jungle. The armor indicates southeast.

There are worse things in the Black Jungle then the yaun-ti. There are least three tribes of yaun-ti.

Ches 17

As we skirt the mountains, we take reading every day to try to get a good estimate of the location of the sword and boots. Still southeast.

Ches 18

A little more east.

Ches 19

Now is almost due east. Somewhere around the capital 'B' (for the black jungle) on the map. About twenty miles in. We'd be lucky to make six miles a day in the jungle.

We camp at the base of the mountains. At night we hear some noise coming from the jungle. Screaming, sounds like a fight.

Ches 20

We head into the jungle after breakfast - the last of our eggs, some bread. Donegal complains about the heat and the humidity. The forest canopy covers the sky. Donegal has a flashback to when he was an extra in that Vietnam movie. We go fireless at night.

Ches 21

We think we're still heading east. Not very stealthy.

Third watch. A snake descends from a tree. I use my stall the throw the snake out, away from the camp. The snake looks annoyed but slithers on.

Ches 22

We think we're still heading east. A slight course correction from the armor.

We come to a clearing with ruins. Walls are about knee high. The paths look like there haven't been anyone using them recently. Brandon casts Detect Magic and turns to scan the entire area. Nothing. Listen, only normal jungle sounds.

We take more readings with the armor. Still due east. As we walk around the age of the clearing, the direction changes to southeast. We're close.

Someone lived in the hut for a while, there are food containers, but it was long ago abandoned.

There are a few places in the ruins where someone dug, probably an archeologist.

As we walk in the direction indicated by the armor, I notice there is an area of quicksand. As we walk around the edge of the quicksand, we think we know the spot. It's fifteen feet out and fifteen to twenty feet down. Of course.


Quicksand

We come up with a plan. Nick casts airy water on Brandon. We tie two ropes to Brandon with about thirty feet of slack. Brandon casts Detect magic and jumps into the quicksand. After Brandon settles, we take up the slack. Nick holds the second rope in case Brandon tugs on the rope. If he does, Dongels and I pull him up.

Brandon finds a magic aura and finds bones with the boots. Eventually he comes to the sword and keeps digging at the bottom of the quicksand. There is also a scroll and a cylinder. He then tugs on the rope and we haul his ass out.


The Sword


The Scroll


Recovered from the depths of the quicksand

Back on solid ground, we examine what he found. The bones were probably Tas Brema. We don't understand the scroll. Maybe when we get back Jasmine can help figure it out.

We investigate a Mound few yards away. Nick digs through the sand and finds a pyramid, or rather the side of one. We dig out enough to see the top of it. The pyramid looks like a shape on the scroll we found in the quicksand.

There are more items that radiate magic. Nicks finds an block of stone and a set of rings, both of which match images on the scroll.

Nick casts Comprehend Languages. The cylinder has the word "key" written on it. The rings had three letters - A, B, and C.


The scroll opened

An we experiment, we determine that touching the letters causes the rings to turn. We line them up, pointing away from the pyramid. The rings raise up, seam opens in the center of the rings, and an obelisk raises up through the center. Brandon reaches into a recess in the obelisk to activate a control (like bringing a prism into focus) and a ray shoots out of the top of the obelisk to the pyramid. A smilier control on the pyramid adjusts the focus of the ray going back to the obelisk.

We adjust the a third control from the return ray and another ray shoots out of the obelisk through the cylinder and a gate opens nearby.


The Gate of Gates

We remove the cylinder and the full mechanism deactivates but the gate remains.
We take a reading of the next item of armor - northwest.

Of course we step through the gate. How could we not?!

Once through, the gate closes behind us. But if we touch the key to the solid wall, the gate opens back to the Black Jungle.

Marble steps down, dusty - no ones been here in a long time.

Twenty feet hallway which opens in a room worth six doors. Each door had a pedestal next to it with a "keyhole". Brandon picks door four (as we number them), and puts the cylinder into the pedestal. It becomes translucent and we see four more doors.

We go to each door and confirm that each door becomes translucent and has a number of door beyond. Two doors do not operate.

Each secondary room has a number of doors but only the door leading back to the "gate of gates" room has a pedestal next to it. The other doors each have a symbol on the door frame. When we touch a symbol, the door opens. These doors do not require the cylinder (the key) to operate.

In portal "A", doors:
1 (under water)
2 (cave)
3 (cave),
4 (cave)
5 (cave)

In portal "B", doors:
6 (pitch black)
8 (cave)
11 (cave)
13 (cave)
16 (people guarding who become aware that something is happening).

In portal "C", doors:
12 (cave)
15 (cave)
18 (cave)
17 (cave)

In portal "D",
doors 7, 9, 10, 14, each leading to a cave with some light.

We throw a torch through door 6. A room with stairs going up with crates.

We plan to step through door 2.

Alturak 15
We're in Pyarados, on our way to Tashalar - which seems like half a world away. We get a boat ride down river to the Sea of Fallen Stars. Fishing. I hate fishing.

Skip a bit brother.

We get to the little fishing town Bizzem on Alturak 17 and book passage on a fishing boat to Bezantur for free in exchange for protecting the fisherman's cargo. We get to Bezantur on the 19th. We're looking for a ship going to Arabar in the Vilhon Reach, figuring to take the road south from there. Best we can do is Safra, but we should be able to catch another boat from there. The captain's name is Adele Duran and the second is Jonah Clay. We have dinner at the Rums Inn before shipping out. The journey will take a week.

Alturak 23. We hear an alarm bell during the night and go above deck to see what is going on, only to witness a sea hag pulling a crew member overboard. I guess the watch wasn't very good.

Alturak 24. It's baaaacckk! At least this time we chase it off without it getting a crew member.

Alturak 26. A pirate ship. They manage to get near enough that several of their men board, but after we kill 6 they break and run. We lost 3 of our crew in the process, though. We bury Larry, Moe, and Curly at sea.

Alturak 27 we arrive in Safra. On the Ches 1 we arrive Arabar and find a caravan we can join as guards. Ches 3 we reach Innarlith and start looking for passage across the Lake of Steam to Suldophor. We reach Suldophor on Ches 6. We find passage across the Shining Sea to Tasluta in Tashlahar, arriving on Ches 11. We return to the winery and Pasha and Omar greet us and are interested to hear our story once we convince them we are who we say we are. Eleint 28 was a long time ago. After catching them up, we check the next location (for the boots and sword) and find that we will have to go into the Black Jungle - the home of the Yuan Ti (snakemen) who are slavers and some of whom work with the local crime syndicate.

10th of Alturiak (continued)

We dive to near the bottom and begin to see the ruins of a temple or other structure. Suddenly we're surrounded by several sea creatures. Dolphins from what we can tell. They're making lots of noise and shaking their heads like they don't want us to continue here.

Unfortunately we have no way to understand them. After a bit of time we see some mermen that come up to us and touch Jason and he can hear and understand them. They tell us we must come with them and lead us away.

They drag us through the ocean at high speed for about 30 minutes to a natural cave.
After entering the cave we find out that it opens up to a natural cavern filled with air.

As they leave the water their fins turn to legs and they speak common. They inform us
that the location we were approaching is overrun by Sahuagin. Apparently there are some 20 Sahuagin who took over the mermen's home and now the mermen have to live here in the cave until the usurpers leave. They're hopeful that they would eventually leave since the breed is typically nomadic.

They mostly hunt at night, and may attack the ship we came on after nightfall. Hunting parties are typically about 10 Sahuagin.

We talk to the queen of the mermen, but they don't have any suggestions for how to defeat the Sahuagin. But they suggest that maybe if we contacted the Elves they might help, since the Elves hate the Sahuagin with a fierce passion. We ask them to take us to the Elves, and they agree. Its a four hour swim and then we approach another uderwater ruin. The merman talk to the Elves and eventually they take us to a cave where there is yet another open cavern with air. There are Elves gathered there. We attempt to enlist their aid. Talking to the Elven King, he is intrigued by our request, but requires time to take counsel. Which we try to explain cannot work for us since our ability to breathe water will end before then.

Unable to convince them to help, we give up and return to the boat. Merris raises his anchor and sets his sail to return us to the port town.

Dejected and forlorn, we muse our options in the pub over some ales. One of the locals mentions that maybe the dragon turtle would help if we could bait it with something. He suggests crates of the fish that they conveniently sell there.

So the plan is to drop crates of fish into the lake and hope that the Sahuagin and the Dragon Turtle at the same time and hope that the dragon turtle defeats the Sahuagin. Or at least chases them away.

So we buy 100 gp of fish from the locals and 20 gp of netting to tie up large bundles of fish to drag behind the boat to lure the turtle.

The next morning, we head out to near where we were before. When we reach where the breastplate indicates the greaves are we drop the fish bundles in the water and begin dragging them back and forth for about an hour. We notice some sharks have started following us nibbling at the load. After another hour enough sharks gather to mess up the fish bundles. So we start shooting the sharks. Another hour, some more sharks to shoot. Another hour, more sharks, more shooting. No dragon turtle. Another hour and the mate calls "Dragon Turtle Ho". The dragon turtle comes up right behind the boat, of course. It grabs a bag of fish and Brand is able to cut the bag free before the turtle is able to drag the boat. The turtle surfaces again as we rush back to the spot where the greaves are and snatches a bag of fish, snapping the rope. We continue toward our target and the turtle surfaces and grabs another bag. Then we get to where we want to be and drop the last two bags as bait.

Continuing on we circle the area and wait. After a half hour we still see no indication of Sahuagin or the Dragon Turtle. We do see a few of the bait fish floating, but have no clue what that means.

Nick is able to cast water breathing to give us 2.5 hours each of water breathing ability. We head down to see what we find. At 175' we see shadows on the bottom. Large shadow and smaller shadows that look like they're engaged in a melee. We stop and cover our lights and watch the battle trying to determine its direction. As Brand watches, he notices the number of Sahuagin seems to be growing as the battle progresses. Which can't be good news for the dragon turtle.

We proceed down the anchor line, as the greaves appear to be almost exactly where the anchor fell. As we get close we notice that its not all Sahuagin in the battle, but also Sea Elves are in the fray as well. A right major battle ensues. Which we attempt to avoid...



The battle rages for some time. The dragon turtle breathes clouds of steam killing dozens at a time. Finally the Sahuagin are decimated except for five that escape into the murky waters. We gather the elf bodies and Nick casts two rounds of mass healing bringing eighteen of them back from the brink of death.

Brand and Jason try to locate the greaves but although they find the spot indicated they are unable to locate the greaves. Misa notices them searching and asks what they are doing. Brand explains and she says that her tribe has protected the greaves for generations. She says they will have to call counsel to discuss giving us the greaves.

Brand makes a case to the council, but they are unswayed - not believing that the air breathers pose any particular threat to them here. She defers to Roc, the leader of the Sea Elves and after some thought he decides that we should have the Greaves. We head back to the boat and sail towards port. Unfortunately Buff rolled and we're attacked again by the dragon turtle. Luckily we avoid it and make it back to port.

Donning the greaves, they point us southwest. Remembering what Michael told us, that meets with his recollection that the boots and sword are in Tashalar. Half way across the known world. With only 380gp left to our names.

Another fine mess you've gotten us into.

We start heading south, meeting up with a coastal road. We continue along the road south to where the ferry crosses the river. We continue on the road south. But the road is larger and more well traveled.

That night we're attacked by wolves. They attack on Jason's watch, and the rest get up to help fend them off. Then another group of wolves, then ANOTHER group of wolves. Finally we get to Pyarados and relax in our room at the inn.

30th of Hammer

Sitting around the file and dusk is starting to come along and the moon comes up. Qilue asks if we want to go hunting. Jason goes with Qilue, while the rest of us sit around the fire.
Jason comes back a bit later carrying two blacks that they killed. Jason seems a bit squeamish (as if he did not contribute and ran in fear instead). But since I wasn’t there, I don’t know and he won’t talk about it.

We eat and dance again until the moon sets. A crowd gathers as a portal opens and we leave back to the farm house. Hugs and goodbyes are said as we head to the coast. When we exit, a man is standing outside the house. He claims to be Michael, and says that we need to verify that we need to head to Thay.

1st of Alturiak

Checking the gauntlets, they point down toward the breastplate. The breastplate points east. Michael offers to take us to Thay. According to Qilue, slavery is rampant in Thay, and at all costs we need to avoid the Red Wizards.

According to Michael we’re looking for a Dragon Turtle. A beast so large it sunk the breastplate wearers ship!! Lake Thaylambar is large – hundreds of feet deep! We will need potions of water breathing. After some discussion we decide to go to Pyarados. There are adventurers there that are gathering and then heading up into the mountains. We can pose as similar adventurers, get the items we need (hopefully) and head north toward Lake Thaylambar. Before we leave Quilue gives us 2,800gp to help purchase potions.

We wish her goodbye until we meet again – she plans to head north to learn more about what is going on in the world – and teleport with Michael.

We arrive a short way into the mountain, say goodbye to Michael as he heads toward the capital. After a short walk we reach the river Pyara where a ferryman takes us across. The ferryman is quite talkative. We learn that most adventurers come out of the mountains empty handed. The ferryman recommends a place to stay called the Inn of the Lost Souls – just a bit outside of town to the north.

The Inn of the Lost Souls a two-story building. There is a large fireplace with meat on the spit and a stocky blonde pig-tailed dwarf named Helga behind the bar. Brand walks up and strikes up a conversation. Not only are we looking for a room or two, we are selling wine as well.

Asking Helga about magic, she says Ichibod’s Ointments & Trinkets is the place to check-out for potions and other similar magics. We head to Ichibod’s – he’s an gnome. We trade the two displacer skins for a potion of water breathing and purchase three others. Using my natural charm, I’m able to convince Ichibod throw in a potion of cure light as well!

Rumors of pale humanoids living in the hills that wield gold weapons that give off sparks when they strike. Story of orcs raiding farmhouses near the mountains.

3rd of Alturiak

In the morning we join a caravan leaving Pyarados for Eltabbar. The caravan will take six days to reach Eltabbar.

6th of Alturiak

The pull from the chest plate is leaning a bit north east. We decide to leave the caravan on the fourth day.

7th of Alturiak

We reach the mouth of the river into the lake where a small fishing resides. We take the ferry across the bay and then head north a bit. After checking the chest plate again, the reading still notes straight north. We spend the night and wake to continue checking as head north.

8th of Alturiak

The process continues. That night I break down and pray to Athena a heartfelt, “we need a boat, where is it.” I go to sleep and get an answer: “keep heading north.”

9th of Alturiak

By mid morning we come upon fishing village called Meadowbrook. While still a village it is a bit larger than the first and has a rather large boat that could be used on the open water. It appears to be about 30 feet long with a mast.

Checking with a small store owned by Tomas, he indicates that the boat is owned by Merris. Merris uses the boat to deliver fish to Eltabbar. Merris is out fishing and should be in around 6 unless the boats are attacked by a dragon turtle. One or two attacks a year is not unusual. They appear to be territorial and only seem to attack when someone gets too close to their territory.

We spend the afternoon resting on the beach when we see fishermen begin to head into town.

We meet Merris and ask if he’s willing to rent his boat. He agrees to take us tomorrow morning for a price of 75 gold and wait the day.

10th of Alturiak

Early morning we head out with Merris. Consulting the chest plate we have Merris drop the sail as close as we can to directly over the next piece of the armor. We each drink a potion of water breathing, grab a weight, and drop into the water. The decent is relatively slow. About midway we encounter an aggressive hammerhead. A few punches from Brand is enough to discourage it to swim away. Brand mentions that combat in the water might be difficult—he can’t get his full power into each blow with the water slowing him down.
As we near the bottom, some 150’ from the surface, we begin to see the top of some structures.



As we get closer the picture becomes clearer.

Night of the 18th of Hammer

We cannot leave here until the next full moon - about 12 more nights - so we played music and danced naked around the fire all night. (By "we" I don't mean just the four of us. That would be kinda gay. I mean everyone in this glade including Qilue and other women here.)
Hours later, when the moon sets, Qilue says good night and leaves us. Nick steps behind a tree for a few seconds.

We sleep outside.

19th of Hammer

Qilue wakes up after noon. We sit around the fire eating chili. A lengthy discussion of Sky Rim follows.
We ask her about the collapsed tower. It's been here for over a thousand years but she has never bothered to investigate so naturally we root through the rocks. Hey! Here's a trap door under just a couple of boulders. In a thousand years, no one has taken three minutes to investigate. Sheeesh, what's with these people?

I take the lead down the stairs underground. There are a few passages cut into the rock. To the right first. Nick casts light and Donegal takes the lead. Twenty yards or so, the passage ends. There are a few boxes. They are all packed with straw and bottles of wine - a thousand years old. Should be a fun time around the old camp fire tonight. We takes the wine above ground and continue exploring.

Another dead end passage. We are unable to find any hidden passages. One last passage to explore. As the rock changes from man-made to natural, we see light up ahead and hear cello music. Nick is not familiar with this piece. And I thought he was a professional musician.

In the room ahead, there is desk, candles, a glow globe but we don't see the source of the music yet. As we come further into the room, we see a lich playing the cello. He stops and invites us to talk. His name is Michael. He asks what brought us here but I tell him even he doesn't have enough time to hear our tale. I tell him we found the ruins of the towers above ground and found the door leading down here. We're only twenty or thirty yards from the surface. And here we are. Guess it didn't take as long to tell our story as I thought.

Michael lives here. It was his tower. He destroyed it in an experiment gone wrong. No one visits him because of lichs' reputation of torture, etc., but that's not his bag, baby.

He's several thousand years old. He knows of the armor of the gods. It was created by many gods to defeat the invading orcs. Alicia Pantr wore the armor. She was the only person to ever wear the full set of the armor. He asks why we're looking for the armor. Brandon informs him that, once again, the realms are in peril.

Michael's tower was destroyed in an attempt to link various planes. Funny story. We're from another plane. In fact, we were flying in a plane on another plane before … like I said, this will take a while to explain. We tell him our tale of woe. Our plane does not have magic. Michael thinks that's a pity but we do have something called the Internet.

Michael lets Nick play his cello. Nick is not nearly as good as Michael but he is impressed with Michael's instrument.
Michael tells us about the armor of the gods. The gauntlets, breast plate we have. The helm we had and lost. Thumar Gray wore the grieve. He was eaten by a giant turtle in Lake Thaylambar. Taz Brema, of Tashalar, had the boots and the sword. At least as far as Michael knows.

We say our goodbyes and leave Michael playing his music. We return above ground later afternoon. Brandon breaks out the wine are begins drinking with the young ladies. We talk about this place the others. They come and go throughout the year. Everyone enters through the same picture and cannot leave until the next full moon. The phase of the moon is the same here as in the outer world.

Dinner time, Qilue returns. Again, we eat, drink and be merry. We hook up with some of the ladies. When the moon sets at 4am, the party breaks up, Qilue departs.

20th of Hammer

Brandon wants to leave the glade to explore. We're warned not to be outside the glade after the moon rises today around 4pm. An hour walk and we come to a stone wall. A hundred foot stone wall. I climb just to see what I can see. At 75 feet up, I can see the stone wall circles the entire glade but the wall has become too smooth to continue to ascend. I successfully climb down, slipping only the last fifteen feet.

We return to the glade. Qilue appears, naked, when the moon rises and invites us to join her on the hunt. Only Brandon and I are man enough to join her. Of course the hunt requires our birthday armor. A half hour into the hunt, we hear growls ahead of us. There is a displacer beast a dozen yards in front of us. We all shoot but only Brandon hits. A second displacer beast attacks Brandon from the side. A long battle ensues. I fall once but Qilue heals me and I continue the fight. Brandon fights his own displacer beast. I defeat the one I fought. Qilue uses a bow for several hits but also heals us during the battle. Eventually both are dead. Qilue gives thanks to Eilstraee for the hunt before we drag the beasts back to camp.

Roast displacer beast for dinner (and displace beast chili tomorrow for lunch.) We keep the hides. Another night of eating, dancing naked, drinking around the fire until the moon sets. To the victors of the hunt...

Occasionally we see a ghostly figure moving through the woods at night. It is Michael.

30th of Hammer (Nine days later)

Tonight is the full moon and we can leave. Not sure I want to leave.