AAR: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

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Serespar
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AAR: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by Serespar » Wed Nov 24, 2021 2:58 am

All the World's A Stage
ECR 3 Hard [ Questor of Astendar Unlock for Caesar ]
Saturday, Nov 27, 2021
19:00 GMT / 2:00 PM Eastern / 1:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM Pacific
GM: Drew

...

Image

You've heard through the grapevine that Caesar wants to go salvage some old Pre-Scourge music, plays, manuscripts or something from "abandoned" Kaer Bamor, down in the Throal Mountains east of Kampung Gajah. He evidentially wants to start some new chapter of his life as a dedicate of Astendar, the Passion of Art, Beauty and Love. Word on the street is that he seems to think restoring some ancient artwork would be a good way to catch the Lady's Eye as his very first Act of Devotion.

You've also heard that he's been trying to find a patron, piece together some funding, or cajole adepts he knows into protecting his butt as he goes to the old Kear. That place had a nasty reputation, tho it's supposed to have been pretty quiet since the Cult of the Scourge got its head handed to it at the Battle of Kampung Gajah, and that high circle group of adepts took out the Horror of Bamor in its remote lair in the Badlands - one creepy tale set to music and told 'round Throal that made ya very glad you are still a Novice adept and no one expects that sort of thing of you, yet, at least.

Anyway, you heard Caesar is talking about his little project down at the Ghost Pepper in the Dahnat in Throal. Might be worth a look see, just to check it out and see if it's something you might wanna go along for...

...

Public Service Announcement: This is a HARD adventure and while an Astendar unlock tends to have more of a step up your game role-playing focus, combats on Hard adventures can be brutal and deadly when they occur. While entertaining role playing and clever play can minimize the risk, character death on a Hard adventure is not that uncommon.


Standard ECR Rewards for 3H. Alternative Reward: Questor of Astendar unlock for Caesar if successful. Other alternative rewards possible depending on encounters in the "abandoned" kear.

...

Caesar's Notes on Planning the Expedition:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sb6 ... sp=sharing

Summary of Research on Travel to Kaer Bamor:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ttr ... sp=sharing

Original Rumor Post:
http://fasagames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=2438

Caesar Character Post:
http://fasagames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2420
Last edited by Serespar on Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:58 am, edited 3 times in total.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by Sharkforce » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:03 am

Name: Garak
Date of Last Game Played: November 13
Circle: 3
Discipline: Archer 3
Unique: Failure is not an option - it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.
Downtime: Nope.

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etherial
Posts:964
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
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Re: LFG: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by etherial » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:06 am

Name: Qwillem
Last Game Played: 09-25-2021
Effective Circle: 4
Discipline: Weaponsmith
Quote/Unique: Fancy sword you got there.
Notable Abilities: Forge Weapon, Forgery
Downtime:
Craftsman 19 (Rank 4)
Forge Weapon 16 (Rank 5)
Item History 16 (Rank 5)

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

Re: LFG: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:06 am

Name: Teyo
Last played on: 2021-11-13
ECR: 3 (3110lp)
Discipline: Swordmaster 3
Quote/Unique: The truth is out there
Notable Abilities: Being aggravating
Downtime: None

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

Re: LFG: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by ChrisDDickey » Wed Nov 24, 2021 7:16 am

Name: Caesar Bonaparte
Date Player last played: My Quest
ECR: 3
Discipline: Illusionist 3rd Circle - Human.
Quote/Unique: now notice that at no time do any of my fingers leave my hand.
Notable Abilities: Illusion
Downtime: None.

Anoush
Posts:160
Joined:Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: LFG: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by Anoush » Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:13 am

Name: Keel
Image
ECR: 4
Last Played: November 13, 2021
Discipline: Elf Sky Raider 4
Quote/Unique: De’abor abora!! (While we live, let us live!)
Notable Abilities: I bash things with my sword.
Downtime: n/a

Serespar
Posts:215
Joined:Fri May 18, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: AAR: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by Serespar » Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:00 am

Hope you guys had fun today. Reward log for
  • Caesar
  • Keel
  • Garak
  • Qwillem
  • Teyo


All the World’s A Stage (3H)
LP: 2,000
SP: 413
TIPs: 5
Downtime per usual WM rules.
Journal: +5% LP and +25% SP
Special Award: Questor of Astendar Unlock for Caesar
Alt Reward: The close brush with the passion of Art provides the equivalent of half price training in any artistic skills. On the way back out of Kaer Bamor, the PCs may find “Astendar’s Blessings” in the ruins of the old theater (Half price Upandal’s Blessings tools called “Astendar’s Blessings” for role playing purposes).
Downtime, Qwillam can craft routine craft goods for half price.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: AAR: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by Sharkforce » Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:23 am

The Journal of Garak of Irondelve, Part 6: All the World's A Stage

I blame myself, really. What kind of fool would actually believe a former stronghold of horrors had actually been cleared and was going to be easy pickings? I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Kaer Bamor has been the subject of a few expeditions to cleanse it of horror taint even in my lifetime, and was even a base of operations for those scourge loons for a time. Caesar had found some indication that there was a treasure trove of scripts written by a lost playwright who had lived in Kaer Bamor before it was breached (or so I assume... I'm slightly less sure of that, after what I've experienced).

He put together a team including myself, Keel, Teyo and a new acquaintance: Qwillem, a Dwarf Weaponsmith. I was looking forward to having a good solid front line, but as luck would have it Qwillem took up the rear guard position and I was deemed more sturdy than Teyo. I suppose they must think I'm some sort of newfangled melee Archer. I'm glad I've spent as much money reinforcing my armour as I have. Pity Qwillem hasn't learned that technique yet.

Caesar had planned out a route using all the information he could get about our destination, but most of it was old. To fill in some blanks we spent some time in a tavern in Kampung Gajah. I met a nice lass that I spent the night with. The others found a T'skrang who lives in the mountains, which is new to me, who warned them that while the main "road" (if you can call it such) is mostly clear, the sides of the roads are littered with traps. Some of them will undoubtedly have tripped or broken simply due to the time involved, and the cultists are not known for their precise craftsmanship in the first place, but it still seemed wise to stay on the main path.

This main path went through an old fortified area at the entrance to the pass, dedicated to Raggok. Unsurprisingly, it had been warped to provide strength to nearby undead, but at least we didn't encounter any right at the gate. Still, it seems of note that the place is there, and caution is advised. I would expect any nearby undead who welcome the extra strength to congregate there, if they are not regularly cleaned out by armed patrols.
As a second area to be cautious of, there is a tunnel where the scorched remains of undead are encrusted on the ceiling. most of them are all dead again, but some of them seemed to drip down and attack us when we weren't expecting it. We had been warned about the tunnel, but there was no indication that there were 'living' undead within capable of attacking.

They oozed all about, including trying to get into our mouths. One of them attempted to deceive me by taking the face of my brother. I couldn't very well put a stone through my brother's face, so I waited for a moment when his attention was on Teyo and put one through the back of his skull instead. For the most part, they seemed poorly prepared to withstand my barrage, though the others seemed to struggle a little.

We hurried out of the tunnel and found a stream to clean ourselves by. Teyo was badly injured, so we spent a full day recovering before continuing, and we found Kaer Bamor to be not as uninhabited as it was supposed to be. First off, there was evidence of the docks being repaired, which was strange since the river upstream was blocked by waterfalls and downstream was known to be corrupted by horror taint spewed out from Bamor (a problem we had not come equipped to solve). Further inspection revealed the tracks of cadaverous thundra beasts such as might be used to pull a barge. It seems that someone has made peace with the denizens of the corrupted river.

Also, the entrance showed signs of work being done on it. When Teyo flew above, he also spotted signs of a pattern of odd bumps that nauseated him. On closer inspection, these were bulging bulbs of human skin stretching outwards from some internal pressure. We cut one open to let some of the foul air out, and set up camp to descend the next day. The interior showed further evidence of something living there, though I use the word 'living' very loosely. I can't prove anything, but I have my suspicions.

We found the theatre Caesar was looking for, which was in rather poor condition. We went in and I am told by Keel that she saw the rest of us collapse before she joined us. We 'woke up' as puppets in a strange theatre, where some sort of thing went on and on about Astendar. I guess Caesar wished to become one of her Questors, which was news to me. The weird thing had planned some sort of strange test where some of us were forced to be the most despicable breed of - and again, I use this term loosely - 'people' and Caesar was supposed to learn something from it. Personally, the whole experience left a foul taste in my mouth. Literally. The drugs that knocked us out tasted foul, and my disgust with the wretched vile mockery of all that is decent caused my stomach to revolt and expel its contents.

Well, Caesar got his manuscripts, and we got paid, so that's something. On the downside, I'm pretty sure there's something more than some creepy puppet thing with a weird fixation on Astendar using that kaer as a base of operations, and someone should probably do something about it... and by "someone" I mean "someone more qualified than me". I'll be glad to tag along and shoot the dead things until they're deader, but I have a feeling there are problems there that shooting alone won't solve.
Personally, I'm going to go take about a dozen baths.

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

Re: AAR: All the World's A Stage (ECR 3H), 2:00 PM Eastern Sat Nov 27

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:01 pm

From the Journal of Caesar Boneparte, Human Illusionist. 

I organized a gleaning expedition to Kaer Bamor. It was a horror infested broken kaer that has been cleaned out a few times, and now that the more powerful horrors have all been reported to be slain, lower circle parties are exploring it to pick up the gleanings that the higher circle parties never bothered with. In speaking to a member of one of these gleaning parties I learned that they came upon a stack of manuscripts by a playwright who lived in Bamor during the Scourge. These manuscripts exist in no other place in the world. The gleaner brought one manuscript back with him, but the rest were left because of their perceived low value and their fragile condition. Caesar read this one manuscript and believes it is a work of genius. Caesar believes that rescuing these lost works of literature and delivering them to the Cultural Preservation Institute of Travar will gain Astendars favor.

The entrance to Bamor is said to involve traveling through a flooded corridor, so I purchased 2 oiled leather bags cunningly crafted such that they will keep their contents dry even when immersed. I also obtained some (disassembled) crates and rented 4 pack goats and tack for them (The deposit was enough to buy the goats, but upon our return I was able to get the deposit back). I also made sure that everybody in the expedition had both cold weather gear and climbing gear. 

Joining me on my little expedition were Keel the Eff Sky Raider, Teyo the Windling Swordmaster, Quillem the Dwarf Weaponsmith, and Garak the Ork Archer. 

Our journey as far as kampung gajah was uneventful. At the T'Skrang town we stayed at the Cracked Barrel, run by its proprietress "Big Mama". They served excellent fish and chips, and apple cider. They had a band named "Deadfish Stinkin" that was marvelous. I tried to speak with a shaman named Cowaddle, but he was very high, and very probably crazy as well, so we did not get any good information from him. 

Fortunately I was able to speak with a Highlander T'Skrang (I did not even know that T'Skrang who love the high and cold places of the world even existed). This dude, Briukuthi by name, was able to tell us much of the route that we needed to take. He was able to describe the location of several traps, and warn us that there were many traps bordering the road route, but that the center of the main road was (relatively) clear. He was a fount of useful information. He warned us of a place called the Fire Tunnel, of which I shall write more presently, but also told us that the tunnel could not be safely avoided. He also repeated the warnings not to go downstream past the kaer due to a landslide that had not only messed up the river physically (rocks and rapids) but also dumped a lot of astral corruption into it, causing it to become a lair of corrupted spirits. 

Due to Briukuthi's descriptions of the trap locations, we had no problems getting to or through the Uzhok Pass. The old fort was still there. Some parts of it were still in good shape after all these centuries. There was an old shrine of Rashomon there, that now seems to be active to Raggok, and when I viewed it in astral space, I saw it seems to be actively pumping astral energy to something buried underground. Somebody probably ought to try to disenchant it, however none of us even knew how one would start the process. 

Passing the Uzhok Pass, we followed the route of the old Fallo Via Caucavik. Much of the ancient stone-works was still in acceptable repair, but there were frequent rough patches and washed out sections. It had clearly undergon hasty repairs a few years ago, but those had almost universally fallen. Eventually we came to the place where the so called "Fire Tunnel" bored through a ridge. Something had seemingly destroyed part of the undead army there, and strangely the charred remains were mostly stuck to the roof, though bits of tar-like remains still after all these years continue to drip down the floor. 

Briukuthi had warned us that the dripping was dangerous, so we held wooden shields above us as we passed through. However these simple precautions were utterly ineffective, as several huge blobs of goo fell and reformed into humanoid forms that attacked us. They were utterly unlike any undead I have ever heard of. Those they attacked started to suffer hallucinations or visions. I was mostly ineffective in the fight since I kept getting knocked down. When we got out we hurried down the road until we found a stream and (careful of traps once off the road) washed the goo off of us. We then spent the remainder of the day and the next camped in the culvert under the road. When most of us were feeling well, we continued on towards Kaer Bamor. 

Arriving in the Bamor area, we could hardly recognize the place from the descriptions we had read. The journals all describe a hidden entrance, marked only by a single ruined town. What we found instead were high city walls. I marvel that they were built in such a few years, and struggle to imagine why anybody would do so, and then abandon the place again. In addition to the lofty city walls, somebody had also repaired several of the ancient docks and piers down by the river. We looked around and found tracks from multiple undead Thundra Beast that had apparently been pulling barges up the rapids below the city and unloading or loading stuff. They must have been laboring for years to build those huge walls, but when we arrived the place seemed abandoned again. 

Teyo flew up above the city, and found some coverings on the hill above. We climbed up around the backside of the hill and found that there were over 150 of what appeared to be air shafts, but covered in human skin. Despite this, the Astral was not very corrupt. In fact it was either Heavily Tainted, or Lightly Corrupt. This seems to indicate that whoever had done all this work and used so many human remains as building materials (something that tends to produce corruption) might have been more insane than horror corrupted (by which I mean, "naturally" insane without the touch of a horror). 

We cut one membrane away and descended into the kear, where we were quickly able to orient ourselves and make our way to the Theater. Backstage we came upon a small puppet stage and quickly all passed out. When we awoke we all appeared to be puppets, made of wood and painted clothing. Some of us had useless wooden swords and slings in our hands. 

There was an audience of skulls, and three creepy puppets. Two were painted as harlequins, and one as a creepy clown / master of ceremonies. The MC introduced himself as "Astenders Muse", which was more ridiculous impiety than I could barely stand. He required me to pick one aspect of Love, and I chose agape, the love of all mankind. He then required us to cast ourselves into 5 roles, and perform a short improvisation about agape. After much confusion, I choose Synthesis, the seeker of Truth, Quillium chose Thesis the guide to truth. Keen played Lord Mainsplain, Teyo Lord Kantbebothered, and Garak Lord Entitlement. We all stumbled though an improvised scene where all our characters ruminate upon the aspects of agape. 

The desecration and impiety of the situation made us want to retch. Finally Astender herself interviend and put a halt to the farce. She gave us a short speech about love that I shall always treasure, and cast us out of the nightmare realm that we had fallen into. We awoke back in the theater, and  quickly packed up all the manuscripts we could find and returned to Kampan Gauga. There I made a quick divition of the manuscripts, half I had shipped to the Travar Institute of Cultural Preservation, and half we carried to the Great Library of Throal. 

There is much to follow up regarding Kaer Bamor. The shrine to Raggok at Uzhok Pass needs to be deconsecrated. And who built the walls around the kaer entrance? How did they build them so tall, so quickly? And who reopened the docks? And why? and what are they loading and unloading? And then why did they leave again? Will they be back? There is much to follow up on. 

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