AAR: [9M] The Brass Ring 2020-09-06@18:30 GMT

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Aegharan
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Re: LFG: [9M] The Brass Ring 2020-09-06@18:30 GMT

Post by Aegharan » Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:11 pm

Karl, Jael, Dvarim, Dubhan, and William will take an easy stroll through the mountains.

ottdmk
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Re: LFG: [9M] The Brass Ring 2020-09-06@18:30 GMT

Post by ottdmk » Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:45 am

From the Journal of Dubhan Goronich:

Well, that was an adventure. Maybe even an adventure and a half.

Some researcher or another (I forget the name) approached my friend Karl with theories of how the divining pool and brass ring at Tamerlan's hidden laboratory worked. Karl invited me along for my expertise, and my previous experience with the lab (I acquired a working alchemy lab the last time I was there.) We also took along Dvarim, William and Jael.

It seems that Tamerlan was once part of a group Named "The Brass Ring". In the leadup to the Scourge this group of Spellcasters wished to make sure that communications across the wide spread of Barsaive could be restarted in the aftermath, bringing civilization together once again. The mechanism was apparently a modified version of the Ride the Lightning spell (an Elementalist spell.)

Jael was the first amongst us to figure out how to fully activate the artifact. He vanished from our sight. Fortunately, we were able to follow him almost immediately. We appeared at an almost identical facility as Tamerlan's... but in an entirely different mountain range. We then had to deal with a fever of Shadowmants. Which we did, without much difficulty. After determining that this site (which Dvarim and William determined was in the Thunder Mountains) we theorized that the setup could take us to other sites associated with The Brass Ring. So, we tried. I activated the device in the way Jael discovered (a small amount of blood, reach into the pool, picture your destination and a brass ring, and picture pulling the ring out of the water.) We vanished, reappearing at another location...

In the Blood Wood. There, we met Jirleath, former apprentice to one of the Brass Ring, and inheritor of their legacy. It was lucky for us that she was the only Elf we met; the Tower on this portal site was part of the Elf Queen's palace grounds!

She filled us in on the group, and their facilities. Tamerlan's Hidden Lab we knew. The Cliffside Fortress was where we'd just left; it was the domain of Mogren, a Troll Nethermancer. Danethor, Jirleath's former master, was an Elf Elementalist and Warder of Wyrm Wood. Hurk, an Ork Shaman, had his domain in the Mist Swamp. Finally, the Group had an Illusionist... but their name, oddly, was lost to history, as was the location of their domain.

Having had quite a day so far, we elected to move on, and successfully traveled to Hurk's Mist Swamp tower. There, we faced a claw of Twilight Panthers. After exploring, we moved onwards again, trying to reach the site of the unknown Illusionist. We did... to our regret.

We were transported to a city that looked like it had been a warzone for a thousand years, and was located in some pocket of Astral Space as far as we could tell. We were immediately set upon by foul creatures... Kaer Crawlers, Deathless Reavers, a Horror called a Bloodshaper. We fought them off, trying to gain breathing room to get back through the portal. I even killed one of them outright with a single, very effective, Hypervelocity spell. We returned through the portal to Tamerlan's Lab, and then tried to close it.

We could not. One of the others came up with the idea to split up and perform the closing ritual separately at each site. (Alas, I can't remember which one of us suggested it. It was a fairly stressful moment.) With our experience, my knowledge of Patterncraft suggested that the proposed course of action would probably work. So we did.

Karl & I went through to the Cliffside Fortress. Karl left Reuben the Honeybear with Dvarim at Tamerlan's Lab. Jael and his griffon went to the Blood Wood. William went to the Mist Swamp.

I later found out that Jirleath volunteered to close the portal in Astral Space. Brave woman; I hope she survived. The closing ritual was successful. However, that left Karl and I stranded, as it did with William and Jael.

It took us quite a while, but Karl and I eventually made it back to Throal thanks to his skills and my magics. (I really should document that trip better some day.) To our shock, upon our return, we discovered that Dvarim had given us up for lost, had our deaths proclaimed across Throal, and arranged a suitable memorial! What a shocking lack of faith!

It's taken me ages to sort this out. I had to explain to my cousin, Vinnidamous, that no, I was not dead, and that no, he was not the new owner of my alchemy lab. I think he was both happy and sad about my unexpected survival.

I have decided to set up shop at Tamerlan's Hidden Lab. The portals no longer seem to work... for now. I think we need to keep an eye on them. With my Flight spell it's not an insurmountable journey from Throal. I am leaving the lab where it is though. The market for its services is in Throal, and although I'm not ready to give it to Vinny, he has managed to set himself up reasonably well. I don't wish to deprive him of his livelihood.

Montaugh
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Re: LFG: [9M] The Brass Ring 2020-09-06@18:30 GMT

Post by Montaugh » Tue Sep 08, 2020 7:28 pm

My name is William Carver and I am an eighth circle scout, fifth circle Thief, Fifth Circle Cavalryman and second rank on the path of the Journeyman.

The adventure started out like many other such quest. Karl, Jael, Dvarim, Dubhan and myself were tasked with discovering what some exotic technology found at the hidden lab of Tamerlane the wise did. We found out all right...

There was a pool that acted as a gate to various locations. One of the gates opened up into a place we later found out was the name of cliffside, it was a beautiful old ruined castle that overlooked the ocean, at least I imagined it was an ocean, it was endless water for as far as the eye could see.
We encountered a group of shadowmants there, the numbers were high but we were able to make fairly quick work of them.

The next travel through the pools brought us into the depths of the depths of what was once called Wyrmwood but now they call the The Blood Wood. It seems to connect directly to the palace of the queen. We met a blood elf named Jirleath that was the apprentice to one of the mages that created the pools, a group calling themselves The Brass Ring. We learned the name of the various location from here, but one location was lost to the passage of time.

The next trip within the pool brought us into the depths of the Mist Swamps. We encountered twilight panthers here, a whole claw complete with mother and cubs if you could call them that. It was a hard battle, but we once more succeeded.

The last place I took us to, and I wish I had not. We ended up within the astral in a city that was destroyed and flooded with horrors. Endless horrors that were swarming to us. We fought hard and bought time for our escape.

We returned to the portal outside of Throal, and tried to close the gates, they wouldn't close. We in our foolishness left each gate opened as we traveled around, and the gates had to be closed. Karl and Dubhan closed the gate in cliffside, Dvarim dealt with the one near Throal, he also watched Charlie for me who was grievously wounded while we were fighting the horrors. Jael traveled to the bloodwood, and I took the pool in the mist swamps. We hoped that would be enough to close the gate within the astral city.

Jirleath had taken it upon herself to shut off the astral portal. She is trapped there as far as we know. I found this out after my return to Throal.

As for my return to the city, it took time. Dvarim had declared us all dead, and we died heroes deaths. I heard their was a funeral. I wasn't able to attend, thankfully. Charlie was happy to see me, and Dvarim kept good care of my friend. Holly and Trym were cared for by the family that had sold me Charlie as they often took care of them when I was called to adventure.

As for what happened within the mists... Safe Path is quite useful. The travel through the swamps was mostly uneventful, but filled with very odd spirits that kept taking me to very interesting places. There was one wood elemental that took me to a tree that had this fruit that was as light as air, it kept laughing when I tried to eat the fruit and the fruit just burst into mist. At least I think it was laughing, I still need to learn to talk to them. I have decided to name it them Mist Apples.

William Carver

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etherial
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Re: AAR: [9M] The Brass Ring 2020-09-06@18:30 GMT

Post by etherial » Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:19 pm

The Brass Ring
Time: 2020-09-06@18:30 GMT
GM: etherial
Circle: 9
Difficulty: M

Player Rewards:
Dubhan: 3 TIPs, 39,000 Legend, 1,000 Silver
Dvarim: 3 TIPs, 39,000 Legend, 1,000 Silver
Jael: 3 TIPs, 39,000 Legend, 1,000 Silver
Karl: 3 TIPs, 39,000 Legend, 1,000 Silver
William: 3 TIPs, 39,000 Legend, 1,000 Silver
Half Price Training on Wilderness Survival and associated Attributes and Skills

Journal Rewards:
1950 Legend, 250 Silver

GM Reward:
Daldorer: 3 TIPs, 39,000 Legend, 1,000 Silver

Downtime Actions Available:
Dubhan: Research 26 (Rank ???)
Dubhan: Alchemy 12 (Rank ???) (Booster Potions, Small Light Crystals, Kelix' Poultice) (1 Day Downtime)
Dubhan: Creation of Spell Matrix Objects: 1,000 sp, 3 days for Standard. 2,000 sp, 4 days for Enhanced. 4,000 sp, 5 days for Armored
Dubhan: Design Enchanting Pattern: Minimum 4 TIPs, 2 weeks Downtime, contact for details
Dubhan: Craft True Pattern (i.e. create Thread Item): Requires a Pattern. 3 TIPs minimum, 2 weeks Downtime, Silver cost varies, contact for details
Dvarim: Forge Weapon 23 (Rank 10)
Dvarim: Forge Armor 23 (Rank 10)
Dvarim: Craftsman (anything) 26 (Rank 9)
Dvarim: Design Enchanting Pattern 22 (Rank 9)
Dvarim: Enchant True Pattern 26 (Rank 9)
Dvarim: Item History 17 (Rank 4)
Jael: Animal Training 19 (Rank 9)

Researchers may spend 20 Silver for +3 Steps (the Haggle discount may lower this cost)

Further Information:[/b
There is a magical construction called the Farcaster. Using it is...dangerous. There is a mysterious city lost in Astral Space -- the last inheritrix of the Brass Ring is now trapped there.

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