AAR: [ECR 3] The Masque of Life and Death

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Reyntrannin
Posts:270
Joined:Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:59 pm
AAR: [ECR 3] The Masque of Life and Death

Post by Reyntrannin » Mon May 11, 2020 3:16 pm

LFG: The Masque of Life and Death
Time: 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT
GM: ReynTrannin
Circle: ECR 3
Difficulty: Hard

Rumor: Rose has received an anonymous invitation to attend the Masque of Life and Death, described as an ancient tradition to revel and revere those who have come before and those who will follow after. She is also invited to bring those friends she feels will benefit from being present at this most auspicious occasion

This adventure can qualify participating characters as a Questor of Floranuus. If interested in taking this reward, please contact Reyn at least a couple days in advance.

----------------------------------------------------

AAR:

Player Rewards
Rose: 2,000 LP, 413 Silver, 5 TIP's, an ornate leather mask of white leather with black and gilt enamel depicting a face which is half smiling and half frowning ( the frowning half looks as if the leather has been expertly retooled to change the frown into a smirk. Rose has unlocked the ability to become a Questor of Floranuus.
Daldorer: 2,000 LP, 413 Silver, 5 TIP's, an elongated and slightly creepy mask meant to depict the vace of a restless spirit, made of pale tanned leather and trimmed with silk..
Reyis Poriv: 2,000 LP, 413 Silver, 5 TIP's, a mask of hardened leather leather covered in russet velvet and trimmed with fur, shaped to resemble a fox's face.
Nev: 2,000 LP, 413 Silver, 5 TIP's, a leather and fur mask depicting a snarling bear, with teeth carved from polished horn of some unknown beast.
Moe-uhane: 2,000 LP, 413 Silver, 5 TIP's, a leather bird mask covered tightly with blue-black silk and adorned with dark mathching feathers, it has an elongated beak like a storm crow and yellow costume gems surrounding the eye sockets.

GM Reward: Langren Vogel: 1,400 LP, 275 SP, 3 TIP's

Downtime Actions:
Daldorer: Alchemy Step 7. Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz
Nez: Animal Training - Step 12 - Rank 2
Moe-uhane: Research - step 9

The Adepts attended the Masque of Life and Death and managed to survive the onslaught of dark emotions that beset them. The day after, Rose had a euphoric experience in which Floranuus took her under their wing to help her rise to greater heights of ecstasy and bring greater joy to those she touches.
Last edited by Reyntrannin on Thu May 21, 2020 1:02 pm, edited 4 times in total.

iceface9
Posts:98
Joined:Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:38 pm

Re: LFG: [ECR 3] The Masque of Life and Death 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT

Post by iceface9 » Mon May 11, 2020 3:20 pm

Name: Rose
Date of Last Game Played: 5-18-20
Circle: 2
Discipline: Nethermancer
Unique: Offensive magic, AoE, and a mystic armor buff
Downtime: skill Alchemy step 9 (Rank 3)
Last edited by iceface9 on Tue May 19, 2020 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Icarus-Wolfswift
Posts:82
Joined:Fri May 08, 2020 6:15 pm

Re: LFG: [ECR 2/3] The Masque of Life and Death 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT

Post by Icarus-Wolfswift » Mon May 11, 2020 3:52 pm

Name: Icarus Wolf-Swift
Date of Last Game Played: 5/9/20
Circle: 2
Discipline: Air Sailor
Unique: Navigation, Communication, Close combat, haggle,
Downtime:

Brian L
Posts:93
Joined:Tue Apr 28, 2020 11:53 pm

Re: LFG: [ECR 2/3] The Masque of Life and Death 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT

Post by Brian L » Mon May 11, 2020 8:58 pm

Name: Reyis Poriv
Date of Last Game Played: May 09
Circle: 2
Discipline: Shaman
Unique: Spells-Buffs to Stealth and Combat.
Downtime: Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime: None yet. I have hopes. Animal training is coming.

Hopefully you will not hold my ill considered comments on your passion's name against me. While I do not follow a passion myself, I support those who do.

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etherial
Posts:964
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
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Re: LFG: [ECR 2/3] The Masque of Life and Death 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT

Post by etherial » Sun May 17, 2020 10:26 pm

Name: Daldorer
Last Game Played:2020-04-30
Circle: 4
Discipline: Nethermancer
Quote/Unique: Daddy can make you feel better
Notable Abilities: Physician, Death's Head, Last Chance
Downtime: Alchemy Step 7. Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz

Jexel
Posts:166
Joined:Fri Dec 02, 2016 2:18 am

Re: LFG: [ECR 2/3] The Masque of Life and Death 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT

Post by Jexel » Mon May 18, 2020 3:36 pm

Name: Nez
Date of Last Game Played: 5/10
ECR: 3 Circle 3
Discipline: Beastmaster
Unique: Claw Shape to the buttocks
Downtime: Animal Training - Step 12 - Rank 2
Last edited by Jexel on Tue May 19, 2020 4:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: LFG: [ECR 2/3] The Masque of Life and Death 2020-05-20 @ 22:00 GMT

Post by Xzandrate » Tue May 19, 2020 4:26 am

Name: Moe-uhane
Date of Last Game Played: 2020-05-17
ECR: 4
Discipline: Illusionist(4)
Unique: buffs, some socials, arrow attracting tail
Downtime: Research - step 9

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: AAR: [ECR 3] The Masque of Life and Death

Post by Xzandrate » Thu May 21, 2020 5:10 am

From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 4th Circle

After a number of harrowing adventures, I had a unique opportunity fall into my lap. A fellow T'skrang was looking for escorts to attend a party of a passion. Rose had a fancy invite to the Masque of Life and Death, a revelry of Floranuus. The goal was to prove devotion to Floranuus and curry favor with the questors.

This day, aside from the nethermancer Rose, I travelled again with Daldorer the Obsidiman nethermancer and Nez the Windling beastmaster. Our party was completed by another Windling, a shaman named Reyis Poriv. An odd assortment, but for a revelry of Floranuus it would suffice. Shortly after we gathered, Rose indicated the invitation directed us to immediately make our way to the gates of Throal, our ride awaited.

We arrived at the gates to a Namegiver of large stature for a non-Troll. He wore a flamboyant outfit with a large hat and half skull mask. His attitude matched his outfit as he welcomed us and encourged the ritual of greeting. He passed around drinks and lead us in a rousing song. We each in turn performed greeting and were hastened into the rather baroque looking antique carriage that was waiting near by. The four white steeds began pulling us off to our destination. More adventures need to start like this, it wasn't quite a river boat, but I was relaxed none the less. It seemed the perfect time to take a small nap and prepare for the night of festivities. What seemed like a short time later I was awoken by the halting of the carriage. I'm told that I was not the only one who took a nap, and it appeared to be near midday the next day. We appeared to be in a clearing somewhere on the plains outside of Throal we assumed. Our Host, as that is what he indicated he be called, greeted our exit and tried to stifle or deflect any questions and hurry us along to the party. Never one to intrude on another's illusion, and since the stakes were so high for Rose, I followed along with the con. Rose received a comedy and tragedy split faced mask, and the Host opened his coat to reveal four more and asked us to choose one to wear to the festivities. Reyis took a fox mask, I opted for the bird mask, Nez took the bear mask, and Daldorer took a mask that appeared to be frozen in the visage of of melting; fitting for a nethermancer I suppose. As we donned the masks, we were transported to a ballroom surrounded by people. A band played, and people partied. The Host gave a grand announcement that the Masque of life and Death may begin and we may revel in our lives and reflect upon the shadows of our past. This set Rose one edge, and tried to gather us quickly to indicate past problems that may cause issues tonight. The Host was ever the foil and broke into the makeshift huddle asking what the meeting was about. At that same time, Daldorer and I were accosted from behind by a buxom dwarven woman in a sheep mask. Not wanting to raise more suspicions or leave both of us in the clutches of the unknown, I pushed Daldorer clear of her grasp and scolded him that 'I just said I claimed dibs on her.' The party continued with much dancing and revelry and we were each asked to espouse our adventures and stories. I took the opportunity to bond with the crowd and led them in a discussion of how my life mirrored their own.

A short time later The Host once drew everyone's attention and began a grandiose speech. The crowed slowly started to disappate, not from lethargy, but more the magic began to fade. At this point Daldorer drew my attention, it seems he managed to perceive the truth of the ball. It was all an illusion. I told him I had suspected so earlier but I felt it would be bad manners to attempt to pierce the illusion. After all we were invited in good faith, and our host had gone to a great number of lengths to set this all up. Based on the scale of the illusion, he either had a far larger number of adepts at his disposal than us, or was of a sufficiently high enough circle that offending him would be the true danger. The Host wrapped up his speech with grand warnings and everything around us fell away, except a small number of guests, the large fire in the middle of the clearing, and a number of shadow creatures. I gave a standing ovation, excellently executed. I would have loved to further examine the space and take in all the minutia of the event, but the time for the trial portion of the evening was at hand.

At first there were 5 shadow creatures and as we all turned to face them Rose was engulfed by a white fire and remained motionless. The shadows descended upon Rose, catching us out of position, but not flat footed thankfully. Like most of the group, I began to weave, while Nez attempted to pounce upon the nearest shadow from behind. Rose remained stationary while the shadows continued to descent, and more rose from the ground. Spells began to fly and Nez used the newly granted senses of the pack to sniff out the best target. I wrapped Nez in the visage of a bird of prey, and prepared to loose magic upon the fiends when the fire jumped to me. I was taken back to the party, mingling with the guests, I felt the desire to socialize with them more and gave them my most impressive wink and then snapped back to the battle. Rose had taken the opportunity provided by the flame jumping to me to drop a chilling circle and escape. The battle raged on, with the flame jumping amongst us, a number of times I was whisked back to the festivities, only to snap back to the fight to let loose another True Ephemeral Bolt. I could not gauge if these shadows were another illusion, and before I could re-double my efforts a scream pierced the field. Reyis fell from the sky with a sickening thud. Daldorer turned his attention to our downed comrade, pouring a booster potion down Reyis's throat and beginning the process of re-attuning. The rest of us fought on, more shadows would rise from the ground and we'd work to drop one for each that came. A moment later I saw the fire start to engulf Daldorer, just as the magics of his spell went off. Reyis jerked back to life, coughing and sputtering. Then he was back in the fight. Slowly we whittled down their numbers, and just as I wrapped Rose in the visage of a bear I was taken away again. When I returned from the masque again, Rose had fallen, and Daldorer began the ritual again of preparing to revive our fallen friend. A few more claws from both beastmaster and spirit, as well as a couple lucky bolts of energy and the day was won, just as Rose sputtered back to life like a drowning hatchling.

Exhausted, we were overtaken by a fog and fell into a deep slumber. We awoke in a small tavern in Throal, the proprietor advised us that our stay had been afforded by the two large gentlemen who brought us in and that a small pouch was left for each of us. It seems Floranuus was suitably impressed by the life of the pledge Rose, and the fight against Death from Daldorer gained him a magical favor from the Passion or our Host. I wish I could have had more time to compare notes with The Host, I was rather impressed and could many pointers on how well he masters the perception of truth. All in all it was a rousing adventure that was easy on the tail and makes for a wonderful story.

Jexel
Posts:166
Joined:Fri Dec 02, 2016 2:18 am

Re: AAR: [ECR 3] The Masque of Life and Death

Post by Jexel » Mon May 25, 2020 7:19 pm

The written histories of Nez and ….

My friend Rose has invited me to a celebration in honor of Floranus to become a questor. Rose also invited the Nethermancer Daldorer, a Shaman Reyis Poris, and the Illusionist Moe’uhane.

We met near the gates and met a very festival host with a large ornate carriage. He invited us to sing and drink and then I promptly fell asleep for a very long time. This did not make me feel great. I was then reminded that we were here for Rose and agreed to join the festivities. It seemed that many revelers suddenly appeared outside.

The Host liked to encourage everyone to enjoy themselves and was very grandiose. The host talked of the masque of life and death and finally yelled out to be baptised by fire and the majority of revelers disappeared into the fog. Rose was then engulfed in a colorful flames and shadows coalesced out of the ground attacking Rose. This is not the type of party I was hoping for. The flames jumped between people and shadows started to attack the group. At first the shadows kept appearing and it looked like we were going to be overwhelmed. I took two large cold hits from the shadows during the course of the battle. Reyis was gravely hit from a shadow bolt and dropped out of the sky. Daldorer then spent much of the battle keeping Reyis from slipping too far from life. Shortly after Reyis was stabalized Daldorer’s attentioned turned to Rose.

Finally the battle turned into our favor and we were whisked somehow back to throal with a note and some coin from “The Host”.

I am more confused than ever.

Brian L
Posts:93
Joined:Tue Apr 28, 2020 11:53 pm

Re: AAR: [ECR 3] The Masque of Life and Death

Post by Brian L » Fri May 29, 2020 2:11 pm

Journal Entry of Reyis Poriv (1421 05-20 TH) The Masque of Life and Death (05/20/2020)

It was supposed to be a nice evening. Rose asked me and a few others to join her at a ball, a fancy one with an invitation and everything. The purpose of the ceremony was to celebrate her beginning as a Questor of Floranuus. I like Rose, I have been on a few adventures with her. She is a good person, even if I find Nethermancers a little creepy.
We arrived at the appointed time and there was a very fancy carriage with a driver who would only identify himself as our Host. After going through the greeting ritual, we were offered a selection of masks to wear to the ball. I selected a Fox. Rose was given one that was a Comedy/Tragedy in one mask.
Travel in the carriage was odd. The passing of time seemed vague, we arrived at a clearing and it was announced that this was to be our ballroom for the evening. I am unsure if there still was a sun at that time, but later it was definitely no longer there. Not gone as in night, but gone as there was still light and no sun. This made some of my companions uneasy.
The party was excellent. There was music and dancing everything you might want at a fancy ball. Once again some of my companions were worried, it seems that there was illusion magic at play. Adepts are a paranoid lot. There were illusions. Why worry about party tricks at Rose’s party?
After what was an excellent party, most of the guests (Illusions) disappeared. It seems that Rose was the only potential Questor at this little shindig. With the loss of the other guests, we were set upon by some kind of shadow creature, and beset by a debilitating fire that did not burn bud was debilitating when attracted to you. It seems that we had gone from enjoying what life had to offer, to fighting for the ability to continue with any life at all.
With all of the uncertainty in the time/place/people around us I cannot say with any certainty what happened next. In the fight, Rose and I died. We were quickly brought back by Daldorer (another Nethermancer, and I might have to revise my thoughts on creepy). When the shadow creatures were driven off it seemed that we had completed the Masque.
Exhaustion(?) overtook us, and we woke in Thoral tavern where we were left with a letter of thanks, our mask of choice, and some silver. Rose is now a Questor so it would appear that the party was a success.

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