AAR: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

The current version of the Earthdawn West Marches Discord campaign, effective Jan 1, 2020

Moderator:etherial

User avatar
etherial
Posts:964
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
Contact:
Re: LFG: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by etherial » Tue Jul 14, 2020 7:11 pm

Name: Daldorer
Last Game Played:2020-07-16
Effective Circle: 8
Discipline: Nethermancer
Quote/Unique: Daddy can make you feel better
Notable Abilities: Last Chance, Death's Head, Dust to Dust
Downtime:
Alchemy Step 8. Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz
Research Step 20.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: LFG: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by Dougansf » Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:04 pm

Come along Zil, Daldorer, Vlolkir, and Xevious. All aboard for ADVENTURE!!!

Waijhou
Posts:245
Joined:Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:27 am

Re: LFG: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by Waijhou » Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:15 am

July 17, 2020 LFG: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)


Rumor: Journey to Caves of Koilos (47.10) to secure living crystal mine, and get grounding crystals for airship.
From the journal of Xeviouz, Human Warrior of the 8th Circle.
Zil,Norg, Daldorer and Myself join Sandrin on an epic adventure. We are after some Elemental crystals to protect an air ship from lightning attacks. Sandrin knows where a possible cash of crystals are located. We are headed to the caves of Koilos. The mine there is currently closed because an Obsidiman Illusionist called The Hidden is trapping some kind of horror in a mind maze.
We reach the cave uneventfully. As we are entering the cave Zil calls out in a strange language . An earth Elemental comes out of the wall. Zil says her name is Siff. Zil tells us that she is loosing the battle, but it is slowly. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. Sandrin asks Zil to translate his message that we are hear to assist in the destruction of the invader. Siff says the entity is too alien for us to destroy it out right. She says it wants to enhabit stone, so she has crafted a trap to imprison it. We ask her about it and she says wait here and goes to get it by sinking into the floor. She is gone for a long time and then returns with an Obsidian elongated egg. It is big and heavy, but it is mobile. Norg is elected to carry the trap.
The cave is humid, the walls are covered with all color of crystals. I can hear water moving someplace. We have to climb down to the lower level of the mines. It is treacherous because of the crystal. Once we are down on the tunnel floor, we now need to get to the far east side of the tunnel complex.
We prepare for battle and then we begin to move forward. Zil has a talent that lets him see ahead and see life signs. He says there are 5 creatures up ahead in the path between us and our destination. Zil, Norg and Sandrin are having a discussion about spell buffs when we are ambushed by 4 large crystalline crocodiles. The crocs are vicious but fall to our attacks. But not before Sandrin is knocked out with a vicious wound. We find what Zil describes as a holy site down here that has a carved statue of Astunder. We carry Sandrin over to the statue to administer healing. We are able to rest for a couple hours in this alcove dedicated to Astunder. I look up and notice a chandelier that has been carved out of the crystal. It is beautiful.
After we are all rested Zil adjusts his spells and we begin to move forward. We move to the south as the plan we had come up with, then I realize that Zil and Norg have gone to the north. Arghh… Daldorer says there is a crystal wolf creature with 2 tentacles up ahead in the darkness. Also across a large pool of water are a couple of gnashers. THen a large worm like creature comes out from a side passage that has some kind of magical affect that harries all of us. As we are fighting another of the crystal wolf things shrouded in darkness comes out and attacks Norg. We make quick work of the creatures and run towards our goal. Norg is able to get the egg in the room next to the crystal entity that is fighting with the horror. As the horror breaks free of the mind maze it had been trapped in it goes towards the egg and is trapped.
Once the horror is trapped Siff emerges from the floor. Zil tells us she is pleased. It is done, the world will not end today. We are contemplating hanging a sign on the thing so people dont mess with it. We Ask Siff to bury the egg, very deep. We will think about what to do with it for the long run. We are able to collect some very choice living crystal.

bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm

AAR: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Sat Jul 18, 2020 3:52 pm

Grounding the Airship 2020-07-17 @2330 GMT
GM: Dvarim
Circle: 7
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Zil, 13,000 LP / 325 sp. 500 sp of Living Crystal, 4 Absorb Blow charms
Sandrin: 13,000 LP / 387.5 Silver / 3 TIP / Horror Fend Charm, Absorb Blow Charm, Common Bone Charm
Xeviouz 13,000LP 775sp 3Tips
Norg: 13000lp, 775sp, 3TIP
Daldorer: 13,000 LP / 775 SP / 3 TIPs

Alt Rewards: 50% off Blood Charms and Enchanting Supplies (Living Crystal)

GM Reward:
Juniper: 200 LP, 150 SP, 3 TIPs

Downtime Actions Available:
Zil: Research rank 4, step 12 (step 15 if pay 20 sp for library access). Item History Rank 4 (step 16).
Daldorer: Alchemy Step 7. Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz; Research 20
Sandrin: Craft Weapon at Step 7 (Rank 1) (Weapons up to Damage 2, 1 Day per Size), Item History at Step 17 (Rank 3), Research at Step 13 (Step 16 with Library)

Further Information: The Caves of Koilos are now safe. The Greater (greatest?) Crystal Entity that sought to enter the world has been trapped in an obsidian egg fashioned by Sif. It remains to be seen what should be done with the trap. Also, Sif indicates that the Borodai Mining Company is not welcome in these mines, and also wishes her amulet back. The Adepts have enough Living Crystal to fashion a lightning shield for a Drakkar.

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: AAR: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:42 pm

From the journal of Zil, the once flattened. Elementalist of the 7th circle and Adherent of Garlen. 

Sandrin, an Air Sailor (as well as Troubadour, demonstrating a shocking  lack of focus), is a prime mover of the Aeronautical club, and tells us that their ship, the Arngeir desperately needs living crystal to provide protection against lightning attacks (no wonder their airship program is proceeding so slowly, they keep changing their design to add more bells, whistles, and geegaws). Nevertheless, I agreed to help, as did Daldore (Nethermancer), Norg (Gauntliet), and Xevious (Warrior on the path of the Horror Stalker).

The journey to the Mines was uneventful. We spoke with the powerful Earth Elemental Sif, who said the battle against the very, very powerful Crystal Entity was going slowly, but badly. Both sides were spending their might proflageratly, but the Entity, though near the limit of its strength, was sensing victory and was near to breakthrough. We volunteered to help and Sif explained a plan. The invading entity was trying to inhabit the stone and crystal of the mine. Sif has formed a prison trap in the form of a large (30 pound or so) obsidian egg. If this trap can be delivered to the largest growth of crystal on the lowest level of the mine, it will look like a weak spot though which the entity can manifest, but after breaking through into the egg, the entity will find itself trapped inside the egg, and unable to escape.Sif warned us that the entity had servitores. And that if any other crysilan being held the egg for too long, the trap would spring prematurely, trapping only the servitor, and not the master. 

We got down to the lower level, and using Lifesight, I could sense 5 creatures in the distance. While we were discussing the best approach 4 large crystalline crocodiles burrowed out of the walls and attacked us. Most attacked Norg, who was carrying the Egg, but after one managed to snatch the Egg from Norg, the other ones attacked others, including one who bit Sadrin almost in half. It was a quick fight, but brutal, before the last of them were slain. I have since looked these things up in the library, and think they are called Kotiili. 

The minors had carved many beautiful decoration into the walls and ceilings, including a huge and lovely crystal chandelier. We found a statue of Astander that it looks like the horror spawn avoid, and we dragged Sandrin there and rested for a meal and some healing. After 2 hours we cast all our buff spells (including a Grove Renewal on Norg and Sandrin) and we headed directly towards the area of the mine we were told held the huge crystal deposit. I tracked the 5 things I had detected before. They were 2 Gnashers, 2 Slitherhorn Gnashers (who projected an arua of darkness which no light could penetrate) Once they were slain we could see that they resembled oversized wolves, with no mouth on their heads, but had 2 tentacles, each with a mouth on the end. They were hideous.   There was also a deep crawler Gnasher, which was a 30 foot long snake that made a most disconcerting moan. We slew them and placed the Egg upon the crystal outgrowth, and the entity was trapped. 

I asked Sif about "the Hidden", and whether he could now emerge and if we could carry him to his liferock. It said that he needed time to rest and recover for a while before making the journey. When it said that the Hidden would emerge "soon", I was unsure if she meant months or decades. 

Sif says that the obsidian egg will hold the entity trapped for a "long time", which considering the way Earth Elementals think is probably a very long time indeed. I  however want to stretch this time into the greatest amount imaginable. right now the egg is buried in earth, which is adequate, however the great crystal entity is a being of Earth itself, and the egg is also of Earth. I feel that keeping the prison surrounded by Earth is risky. It might prove adequate, but there are better elements to surround it with. Obviously Air is unsuitable. True wood would make a very fine prison for a Horror of Earth, but it might also degrade the Obsidian Egg.  Both Fire and Water are neutral towards Earth (and thus superior to construct a long lasting prison for than Earth would be). I double-checked some references, and found that Obsidian has a melting point much too low to survive being stored in the Death's Sea, so feel that Water is the best thing to surround the Egg with. I read that high up in the tallest mountains there are rivers made of ice that, over a period thousands of years flow exquisitely slowly down. I feel that hiding the Egg inside of the largest and slowest of these (far from the other elements) will be the best place to hide the egg. There is no hurry, and a year or two will make no difference, but sooner or later we ought to move the egg to one of these. 

Sif tells us that It would welcome miners back into the mine, but not anybody associated with The Borodai Mining Company, whom it dislikes strongly. In fact it is dismayed that the amulet that is bonded to it is in their possession. It very much wants the amulet back. I believe that getting the amulet back from their offices and returning it to Sif would count as a very large favor owed by a very powerful Elemental. If I ever need such a favor, I might need to look into whom among my acquaintances might want to participate in an outright heist. (Note: This paragraph is omitted from the copy of the journal submitted to the library)

User avatar
etherial
Posts:964
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: AAR: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by etherial » Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:15 am

There was once a Living Crystal mine that kept the Kingdom of Throal supplied before the Scourge. Since then, it has been invaded by a powerful Crystal Entity held at bay only by an Earth Elemental Named Sif and an Obsidiperson known only as "The Hidden". The Aeronauts Club has interest in fashioning some sort of Lightning-attracting artifact from the Living Crystal for purposes of making it safe to fly the Arngeirr through a particularly nasty localized storm effect, and so we have come to bargain with Sif to aid her.

Sif has crafted an Astral Trap out of the Living Crystal, that will ensorcel and contain the Crystal Entity in a neverending spiral of twisty nethers, however we must carry the egg from her to "The Hidden". After some consultation among our group, it was determined that Norg should carry it, as his hands are not required for his style of combat.

Into the caves we traveled, ever watchful for Crystalline Constructs manufactured by our foe. The first of these burst out of the walls at us. My Research later indicated they were simulacra of Kotiili, a ferocious variety of subterranean crocodilian. Their snouts were much smaller that one normally expects, but was made up for by much longer legs and proper terrestrial locomotion. At first they focused their attacks primarily on Norg, attempting to secure and make off with the egg, but turning their backs to us left them vulnerable to our own attacks. At one point, it did seem as though one would make off with the egg while their ally blocked the path, but Xeviouz was able to run around the stalagmatism and outflank their rearguard maneuver, allowing us to achieve victory. Poor Sandrin was cut down quickly, but we were able to get him on his feet again.

When the floors, walls, and ceiling of a place are as beautiful and as malleable as living crystal, waypoints in the structure often become opportunities for artistic endeavor. A small shrine to Astendar provided us with a place of respite.

Traveling deeper into the cave, we got separated just as a troop of exotic Horror Constructs attacked. They matched the descriptions of several different types of Gnashers, curiously acting in concert in this subterranean environment. Two of them had knowledge of Nethermancy and emitted shrouds of etherial darkness, rendering my allies blind to the attacks coming from the mouthing tentacular protuberances emanating from the sides of their heads. These Slitherhorn Gnashers were enhanced by the Ultrasonic Moan coming from the Pharyngeal Resonator within a Deepcrawler Gnashers of some 30 feet accompanying them. At first it turned all our bowels to water, but we were not overcome of the effects and eventually vanquished even these terrifying foes.

The egg was delivered to our ally "The Hidden", and we placed it atop the Crystalline outcropping, allowing it to slowly siphon the essence of the invading entity. Now we just need a safe place to entomb this prison.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: AAR: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by Dougansf » Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:20 pm

The Adventures of Sandrin
Chapter 13 - Grounding the Airship


The discovery of the floating citadel weighed heavily upon my mind. Facing the Stormwraiths will take preparation and defenses. While adepts may be able to defend the crew from physical attack, their lightning strikes could go right around us. In addition to the Thunderbird issue, and the potential for Air Elementals or Nodes, it seems prudent to defend the entire ship from lightning. Spending some time in the Great Library, and speaking to some of the members of the Enchanters Guild, we determine that enough living crystal could provide such defense. At this point, I recall the Caves of Koilos and the Earth Elemental Sif. Their expertise with living crystal could prove invaluable to our efforts.

I put the word out for adepts to assist me. Xeviouz, Daldorer, and Norg all respond. Zil also arrives, I finally get to adventure with an elementalist, perfect timing. Apparently Zil had been to the caves before, and knows of an amulet that binds and controls Sif, we’re certain she’d like it to be destroyed. Last known in the possession of the Borodai Mining Company.

We follow the river and climb up the mountains without issue.

The Caves appear much as they did before. I encourage Zil to call out in the Earth Elemental tongue to Sif. She emerges slowly. We make our offer, and Sif says that the Hidden is nearly defeated, soon his mind will break. His long fight and our help was used to weaken the entity. It is too difficult and alien to destroy. However, it seeks to inhabit stone, so she’s been able to form a trap for it. If the prison is delivered to the correct location at the right time, it will compel the entity to pursue it, and trap it for a very long time. She presents an obsidian egg with a crown of crystal spikes, about 3 feet long.

The correct place is a large crystal formation in the caves. The time is soon.
When we enter the lower levels with the trap, it will attract the entity and his minions.
If a minion holds the item for too long, the trap will spring and expend its magic.
There is one safe place in the caves, you’ll know it when you see it.

We find some ladders to bring us down to the location. The crystals provide decent lighting. The area is humid, water is moving through the caves, and pools spread throughout.

Zil uses Lifesight to scan the area between us and the target location. He finds 5 other healthy life forms moving around. We are surprised by 4 burrowing crystal crocodiles that emerge with a watery slurry.

Xevious calls out the Ambush, and charges Kotilli 1.
Kotili 4 attacks Norg, wounding him and knocking him down and hitting him while he’s down. It also grabs the egg.
I run over and stab Kotili 2 as it emerges, knocking it down and wounding it twice.
Kotili 3 ambushes me and throwing me against a wall, knocking me out.
Kotili 1 burrows around Xevious and attacks Norg, missing.
Kotili 2 gets up and surrounds Norg.

Xeviouz rushes Kotili 4 to get the egg back. He knocks it down, then hits it again, knocking the egg free, and killing it.
Zil casts Lightning Bolt at all three of the remaining Kotili, wounding them all killing one.
Kotili 3 grabs the egg and moves past Xeviouz.
Korili 1 continues to grapple Norg, wounding him, and knocking him down, then moves to block the other one from us.
Daldorer casts Astral Spear at Korili 3 (holding the egg), wounding it.

Xeviouz Great Leaps over one lizard to attack the one with the egg, killing the lizard.
Zil casts Lightning Bolt at the last lizard, killing it.
Norg uses Fireblood to heal.

Xevious grabs the egg and brings it over to Norg.
Zil treats Sandrin’s injuries. He discovers there is an area Blessed by Astendar. There’s a statue of Astendar carved into the wall. There’s a natural crystal chandelier hanging overhead.

Zil protects us from Earth and casts Fire Marauder on Norg, sending him towards the enemies he sees with Lifesight.

We spot a dark corner. Daldorer sees through the darkness and sees a large wolfish creature hanging out in Ethereal Darkness.

Daldorer casts Deaths Head, and Frightens the Gnasher, but it is immune.
The Gnasher charges, placing Xevious and Sandrin into darkness.
Sandrin gets out of the darkness and throws Gale Cutter at another Gnasher.
Gnasher 1 leaps at Sandrin, missing.
Zil casts lightning bolt at all 3 Gnashers.
Gnasher 2 gets up and leaps over to Sandrin.
Deepcrawler arrives and screams at us, causing fear. It then moves into a corner to harvest energy.
Xevious Shield bashes the Slitherhorn, knocking it down. And again once it’s down.
Norg kills Gnasher 2.
Slitherhorn 1 charges Norg, bringing him and Sandrin into darkness.

Sandrin cuts into Gnasher 1.
Zil casts Lightning Bolt, killing Gnasher 1, and wounding the others.
Slitherhorn 2 leaps over Norg, hitting Norg and hitting Zil and grabbing him.
Deepcrawler attacks Norg, getting a mouthful of fire in return.
Xevious kills Slitherin 2, then leaps over the water to flank the Deepcrawler.
Daldorer casts Astral Spear on Deepcrawler, killing it.
Norg breaks out of his grapple.

Xevious closes on the last Slithering Gnasher, bumping his knee on the way, killing it.

A few smaller crystalline creatures and traps attempt to slow us down, but fails to do so. We reach the target location, and see a crystal structure rapidly building itself with odd geometries.

This thing seems as large as the cave network, then folds itself into the egg. The crystal vanishes. The crystals on the top of the egg slowly fold and unfold, throbbing.

Sif emerges from the ground. She inspects the egg and then turns to us.

Future Adventure Potential
We need to find a place to hide it away. Sif will keep it for now.

We gain the first choice for the best pieces of crystal to improve the airship.

Sif explains that The Hidden needs to recover, but should be able to emerge soon. Also, she would like her Amulet back.

sigfriedmcwild
Posts:335
Joined:Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:59 am

Re: AAR: [7M] Grounding the Airship (2020-07-17 23:30 GMT)

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:26 pm

From "The Skies of Barsaive", as penned by Norg, Brother of Earth and Sky, Corsair of Throal

Sandrin had the idea that we could build some shielding against lightning for the Arngeir, to make it safer to approach the floating island we spotted from the Howling Cliffs. The Caves of Koylos seemed the natural place to look for the large amount of living crystal needed so that is where we headed together with Xeviouz, Zil, and Daldorer.

The trip to the caves was entirely uneventful, the others talked about trying to ask Sif, the spirit guarding the caves from a Crystal Dominion trying to enter our world. Or maybe it was someone named "the Hidden" that was doing that? I was not entirely sure.

Sif, as it turns out, had been building a trap for the Crystal Dominion, and only needed some namegivers to take it to the breach so it could "absorb" the horror. An extremely simple task if you ignore that the trap, a thirty pound stone egg, acted as a beacon for every horror in the caves.

We made our way down and were quickly ambushed by a pack of what looked like kotili, except made of crystal. In the surprise one managed to grab the egg off me and started to run away with it, while another got a good grip on my thigh. Those things have a nasty bite if they can grab hold of you. Sandrin was swarmed by a couple and knocked out while the others manged to recover the egg and finish off the constructs.

As we started looking into some first aid, Zil found a statue of astendar carved in the cave walls, which seemed to still carry some of the passion's power. Zil treated our wounds like only a questor of Garlen can and we decided that we should just charge for the breach before too many horrors noticed us.

Zil infused me with the spirit of a fire marauder and we ran for it. We also ran straight in a bunch of horrors, including two that seemed to project darkness around themselves and a giant snake thing that kept making a weird noise that went straight to my bowels. Despite all this we managed to destroy the foul things without too much difficulty and the snake learn that biting a troll that is on fire is not a good idea.

Horrors cleared I continued to run for the breach and managed to punt the egg into it without another interruption. What followed was one of the most eerily beautiful and disturbing sights of my life, as the crystals extruded by the Crystal Dominion through the breach eagerly folded themselves in impossible ways into the trap. The corruption in the rest of the cave seemed to follow suit and soon it was done. Sif emerged from the floor to thank us and was more than happy to provide us with a large amount of living crystal.

We also discussed the future of the caves, Sif really want some amulet of theirs back, and what to do with the trapped horror. We floated several options but opted for Sif burying the egg until we had a better idea.

Post Reply