The Emira of Yan was walking through her palace when a gigantic arm, with an equally gigantic hand at the end of it, reached from a doorway, snatched her favourite necklace, and disappeared. When she ran after it neither arm, hand nor necklace were anywhere to be seen.

The court sorcerer divined that the necklace was now located a short journey from Yan, somewhere in the thick forest that covers most of the world. Alas, the site in question is believed to be the location of a city of the Great Race, an extinct but still feared civilisation of ancient times. Her soldiers, in superstitious terror of the place, refused to venture forth.

The Emira thus posted a reward of 800 gold pieces for anyone who would return her necklace. The only three to answer her call were the warriors Zeph and Sarkozy (the latter a dwarf), and Marion, an elvish wizard.

The three set forth, only to be confronted by four bandits. Marion offered them a gold piece each to let them pass, which offer they accepted. However Zeph would not accept this insult to the party, and stealthily followed the villains, killing two. The survivors, named Log and Bog, bought their lives by handing over their ill-gotten gains: 78 gold pieces, plus the four recently taken. Zeph demanded that the two accompany them on their expedition, promising some reward should they do so. Log and Bog saw no option but to comply.

Our heroes found that there was no city, nor even a building, but only a single stone wall, with stairs leading down into darkness. Commanding Log and Bog to head the expedition as torch-bearers they followed the stairs down to a long tunnel, which they followed until they found a side-chamber wherein they surprised a group of evil cultists, in the process of sacrificing an aristocratic young man. Marion quickly sent most of the cultists into a magical slumber, but the apparent priest of the group ran out of the room, Zeph and Sarkozy's weapons merely scratching him.

Zeph was again unminded to let an enemy escape. He bounded up the stairs, reluctantly accompanied by the two bandits. The priest, seeing no prospect of outrunning the warrior, nor of peaceful surrender, raised the two-handed sword with which he had hoped to perform sacrifice. Zeph charged - but the cultist's blade found his flesh, and Zeph fell dead.

It seems that Log and Bog convinced the priest that they were no enemies of his. When Sarkozy and Marion investigated they found only Zeph's corpse.

The dwarf and the elf interrogated the victim of the cultists, one Borg. He turned out to be an aristocrat of the city of Yan, kidnapped by these cultists as he was out riding. Since all four cultists had left horses tied up in the forest clearing, Borg expected to find three horses left with which to pursue the priest. Pausing only for Borg to slay the sleeping cultists, the three headed to the surface.

To their surprise they found no horses - nor even any evidence that horses had ever been there, not so much as a hoofprint. Marion decided to risk drawing too deeply upon her magic: she cast Abelard's Insightful Eye, a spell which reveals all hidden things. The spell was cast, and revealed no tracks - but behold! Borg appeared to her eyes as a shrivelled and ancient mummy, not the young man he appeared to be, even to himself.

Most disturbed, our heroes again descended into the depths (Borg having pledged to help them on their quest, out of gratitude for his rescue). They arrived again at the chamber, finding the door closed, though none remembered doing so. They opened the door, and saw the same scene as before - an identical priest about to sacrifice an identical Borg, and identical cultists in attendance.

Sarkozy quickly challenged the priest, asking him why he was about to perform such a foul deed. The priest claimed innocence, in no way convincing our heroes. Sarkozy then spun a tale of a great army coming to kill them. The cultists urged our heroes to enter the room and close the door, which they did.

Marion's spell was still in effect. And the cultists, priest, and Borg's apparent double all appeared to her as ancient mummies, just as did Borg himself.

Thus the first chapter ends, with the cultists, or mummies, backed against the chamber walls in apparent terror of our heroes.

Quote from: Age of Fable;448340The Emira thus posted a reward of 800 gold pieces for anyone who would return her necklace. The only three to answer her call were the warriors Zeph and Sarkozy (the latter a dwarf), and Marion, an elvish wizard.

Bwahahahahahahahaha! :rotfl:

Thanks, I will be following this.

Quote from: Age of Fable;448340Zeph demanded that the two accompany them on their expedition, promising some reward should they do so. Log and Bog saw no option but to comply.

Bold, but risky!

Sarkozy the Dwarf.

By the way, if anyone is in Melbourne, Australia, I have another session tentatively planned. Details and signup here:

http://www.meetup.com/The-Melbourne-Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Meetup-Group/events/17051989/

Soon after the Emira of Yan sent a group of bold mercenaries to fetch back her magically-stolen necklace (the details of which are above), another strange event disturbed the tranquility of the city.

Overnight, in a vacant lot in the merchant district, a tower appeared. Higher than any other building in Yan, it was roofless, green, and in general disquieting and unnatural, though no visible threat issued from it. The Emira's city guard were reluctant to storm the place, and thus it was necessary for her to look for more mercenaries. She chose the bold orc Beast Morac, and the puissant wizard Huw ap Arddur.

These two made their way to the tower without delay. They interrogated a crowd that had gathered to gawp, but found little more than tavern rumour and gossip. It was said that people had gone in and never come out, and that animals were drawn to the place by a mysterious force. Yet in the manner of such talk, no one would say that they directly observed these phenomena, only that they had heard from someone else who heard it from another.

Thus they turned their attentions to the tower itself. Huw bravely cast Abelard's Insightful Eye - bravely, for this was not a spell he was entirely familiar with. The spell worked, however, a circuit of the place revealed no hidden doors, magical illusions, or other occult attributes. It did, however, become apparent that the place was not (as they at first thought) stone over which vines had grown thickly; rather, the entire structure was made of vines (or, at least, some substance which appeared identical to vines).

The tower, unusually, had a large, open doorway, through which the adventurers travelled. There Huw looked through a tiny door, which appeared to lead to a miniature version of the very room in which they stood - including a miniature Huw, looking through a similar door, perchance to an even smaller room - and so on to infinity? Opposite this doorway was another doorway - this time huge, and apparently leading to a huge copy of the room with gigantic Huw.

These mysteries, while diverting, were declared distractions from the main quest. Thus the party traveled upwards - a spiral staircase leading in that direction. After some time, they heard voices below. They shouted down, and after some mutual distrust found that a group of elves had come to the tower, seeking the same reward as our heroes. Huw pointed out that the two groups could either fight each other, to the potential ruin of both; split up, with each running the risk of being beaten to the punch by the other and gaining nothing; or work together. This argument was declared sound by the elves. Thus it was that five adventurers ascended the stairs. The newcomers were named Earwen and Finwion, two wizards - and Enelwe, a warrior. After some discreet study it was clear that Finwion was male and the other two female.

Arriving on a higher level of the tower, the group explored. They first found a strange creature: a four-armed man, with the head of an elephant. Beast in particular was astonished, since the legends of his people spoke of such a creature, named Yag-Kosha, imprisoned in a tower by an evil wizard named Yara. And this creature declared himself to be none other than Yag-Kosha, and his jailer to be Yara! The creature declared that Yag-Kosha had imprisoned him in order to use his heart as the power source for the tower (a strange concept on many levels). In accordance with orcish legend, the creature offered his heart which, when presented to Yara with a short incantation, would surely destroy the sorcerer. The heart turned out to be a huge jewel, which Yag-Kosha regurgitated, then swallowed again when the party offered to admit him to the company.

The party then found another prisoner. A blindfolded creature with the appearance of a huge snake, save for some fungal-like growths sprouting from his head. These growths turned out to look like tiny, naked humans.

"Tis a Reverse Medusa," declared Beast, after some discussion of the nature of the snake-creature.

"Of course I am," it replied.

It transpired that the creature, one Bluebird Eye, had been captured by Yara - although he believed Yara to be one of his species, whereas Yag-Kosha declared Yara a human.

At that moment the party were interrupted yet more glory-seekers. They hid from them (the cell of Bluebird Eye having several large piles of meat within), but revealed themselves in order to parlay with the newcomers (two grizzled, elderly men, one a human warrior and the other an elvish wizard). The newcomers were most suspicious of our heroes, and declined even to tell what they had found for one gold piece (though they hinted that a higher price would have loosened their tongues).

Bluebird Eye had no confidence in his ability to find his way home alone. Especially when, as the party's interrogation seemed to indicate, that home was a different planet entirely. Thus he too joined the group, with the avowed aim of forcing the sorcerer to return him (and Yag-Kosha) to their respective homes.

The band ascended another spiral stairway (it appeared that the tower, though wonderous in its existence and its contents, was yet somewhat lacking in architectural variety, in the sense that all rooms and staircases seemed basically identical). Yag-Kosha and Bluebird Eye engaged in learned conversation which, from what Huw could gather, was concerned with various methods of natural philosophy by which they could divine the relative locations of their respective homes. This discourse ended as the party came upon a door in the wall, leading to what appeared to be a storeroom. The barrels within were inscribed in an alien language. Huw again risked all manner of magical comeuppance, casting Abelard's Insightful Eye to read the script. Perchance this was a wise decision, since it read 'Lightweight Exploding Oil: Danger!'

The stairway ending, the group found a trapdoor above them. They forced it open, and found that this room had been lined with dirt, and planted with trees to create a pleasant grove. In this grove there slept a dozen creatures, who (after Huw yet again risked the arcane dangers of Abelard's Insightful Eye), turned out to be a species of living sugar cube.

The party woke one of the creatures, and it confirmed that they, too, had met Yara. Although their interaction with him seemed to have been more pleasant than that of Yag-Kosha or Bluebird Eye, one of the cubes, named Deer Running Downhill, conveyed the unpleasant information that Yara "looked like you, but he had extra stuff growing out the bottom of his body. He was, oh, 20 or 30 times your height I'd say."

At this point the chapter ends, with our heroes parlaying with Deer Running Downhill.

As detailed last time, a tower appeared overnight in a vacant lot in the merchant district of the city of Yan. Taller than any other building in Yan, it was roofless, green, and in general disquieting and unnatural, though no visible threat issued from it. The Emira's city guard were reluctant to storm the place, and thus it was necessary for her to look for mercenaries.

Alas, the orc and wizard that she chose for the job did not return. Thus she hired a new band: the barbarian Paxa Black, and the elvish wizards Earwen and Marion. The three quickly engaged the services of the down-on-her-luck Buddhist nun Xanthippe (Yan is nothing if not varied, and the religions of a dozen worlds may easily be found there).

The four made their way to the vacant lot where the tower sat. They interrogated a crowd of onlookers, whose information was ample, if not necessarily informed. Seeing no door, the barbarian boldly decided to climb the vines which covered the tower. Alas, he fell, necessitating a prayer for intervention from the nun. The wizards, meanwhile, investigated the outside of the tower, finding an open doorway, and learning by way of Abelard's Insightful Eye that the tower was not covered in vines, but made of them.

The barbarian being somewhat revived, the adventurers made their way within. A mysterious property of the entrance hall, wherein the room seemed to be neighboured by a smaller and a larger version of itself, provoked some interest, but was declared superfluous to the main mission. Thus the adventurers made their way upwards.

The reverse medusa detailed last time appeared to have been recaptured, for he was again bound and blindfolded when our heroes found him (if indeed the creature was male). After some interrogation they released him, and he decided to make his way out of the tower and attempt to find his way home. He gave his thanks, and the information that he had been captured by the owner of the tower, a wicked creature named Yara.

A storeroom full of barrels, marked in an alien tongue as containing 'Lightweight Flaming Oil', did not tempt the adventurers, for they felt the danger of carrying the objects outweighed their likely benefit. Thus they continued upwards, encountering a sleeping group of sugar cubes, whose opinion of Yara was entirely positive.

The opinion of the next group they encountered, two blue men who appeared to suffer no damage from the weapons that skewered their bodies, is not known, since they shared no language in common with our heroes.

The band made their way to a room wherein a group of (apparently) human skeletons were displayed, as if they were drinking and gambling. A plaque informed any who read it that they would spring to life once anyone set foot near them. There being no way to progress other than going past the skeletons, it was decided that Paxa would advance, and that once the creatures sprang to 'life' the party would trust in the accumulated chi of the nun to disperse them. This worked perfectly: the sound of Xanthippe's mantra was like a tidal wave, before which the skeletons fled in panic. The adventurers quickly took another route, stopping only to pile up some tables before the staircase to act as a barrier and an alarm when the undead creatures returned (as Xanthippe averred they would).

Tragedy now enters our story. For the next creature encountered was a savage thing of stone, which eschewed all discourse and attacked, fatally wounding Marion with one blow of its oversized fists. A mighty blow of the barbarian's sword, which would have cleaved flesh in twain, seemed to barely hurt the thing, and the warrior too was struck, thankfully not fatally. The two adventurers left standing decided to leave, dragging the unconscious barbarian with them. Mercifully the creature was too slow to catch them, and too small to fit through the door.

Our heroes talked their way past a giant and living cup, apparently containing black coffee, who told them the way to the office of Yara. Following its advice, they met the sorcerer at last. He explained that he was the proprieter of a zoo, and travelled around gathering interesting creatures to appear as exhibits. The heroes declined his suggestion that they should appear in the zoo, despite his promise of more gold than was offered by the Emira of Yan.

After lengthy negotiation, the adventurers gained a promise from Yara to depart, with his tower, at sunset. He also declared that he had taken no creatures from Yan save cats and rats. Upon leaving the office, the adventurers wondered if they had been tricked - not least because Yara seemingly began to relax back into his true form as the door was closed. They decided to cast a spell to divine evil intentions, should Yara have any. Knocking on the door and offering the excuse that they were seeking the toilets, it became obvious that Yara (now apparently human again) was as full of evil thoughts as an anthill is full of ants.

What could be done? Another whispered conference in the corridor settled upon a spell to put Yara in a slumber. They opened the door again. The wizard was waiting for them, but the spell was successful, and he fell to the floor in unwilling repose - a repose which did not end the illusion of his human form, if illusion it was.

Tying up the sorcerer, the heroes took left the tower with him in tow, intending to present him to Yasmina. On the way out they passed an elephant-headed, four-armed man, Yag-Kosha by name (who, like the reverse medusa, was freed by the initial party to enter the tower, but apparently was recaptured in whatever disaster ended their expedition). Yara insisted that Yag-Kosha was a dangerous and cunning creature, not to be freed. Yag-Kosha himself insisted that he was harmless, and indeed the victim of Yara. The heroes freed him, but kept a wary eye on him as they made their way to the palace.

Here the session ends, with our heroes victorious and expectant of reward, yet still wary of the two creatures taken from the tower, and ignorant as to the fate of the reverse medusa.

Last time our heroes returned from the mysterious tower, with its owner Yara in custody, as well as the alien prisoner Yag-Kosha. At the palace they learned that, while they were in the tower, a gigantic snake had exited the tower and, at the same time, many nearby houses had turned into giant piles of meat. They surmised that this snake was the reverse medusa they met. Alas, the snake-creature had disappeared.

The Emira rewarded the surviving three, and told them of her missing necklace (see previous sessions), in search of which several expeditions had set forth, never to return. Of the three, only Xanthippe accepted the mission. She was joined by Oona, a wizard. The Emira introduced them to two bearers, the only ones to return thus far. They told a strange tale of a room wherein were evil cultists, who their employers fought and killed, only to find them resurrected when next they passed the room. They also said that one of their employers was a wizard, who claimed to have seen the cultists' true form with her magic, and that that form was of a withered and ancient mummy.

The two decided to hire a stout warrior to aid them, just as Xanthippe herself had been hired. Thus they engaged Finn, a dwarf.

The three set forth into the forest. After a time they noticed that the trees were filled with red objects, which turned out to be corn dollies, of the kind used in agricultural festivals. These, however, were dyed red. Suspecting witchcraft, they proceeded with caution. They came to a clearing wherein there stood a rude hut. Investigation revealed that the occupant of the hut was one Agnes Tibbletibtub, and a nameless cat, black and unnaturally large. Agnes seemed friendly enough, and after being given a gift of rations offered to make a healing poultice for our heroes, should they return and be in need of one. She had little to say of the ruins they sought, other than dire warnings.

The three found the place they sought: another clearing and no ruin to be seen but for a single wall, and a square hole with steps leading into the darkness. Finn boldly scouted ahead, and reported that the steps went down as far as he could see (dwarves, in this edition, do not have the ability to see in the dark). The three followed the steps, and passed a door, which they assumed to be the room of cultists alluded to by the terrified menials.

After some discussion Finn attempted to kick the door down. Alas, this produced nothing but a booming noise - and, woe upon woe, the noise seemed to cause a group of tiny ninjas hiding in the roof to attack! The ninjas landed on our heroes' heads and, although the latter brushed some off, their swords found vital nerves and veins with great skill: our heroes fainted from loss of blood, never to wake again.

The Emira became most vexed by the continued non-return of her necklace. She engaged yet another group of swords-for-hire: the elf Luthien and the wizard Eadwig. These two bolstered their company with Ippi, a priest of the sun-god Anu, and Ariston, a Deep One. Both Ariston and Luthien were currently in that part of their lunar cycles which rendered them warriors.

The four journeyed through the forest without incident. They elected to leave the mysterious door (having also been appraised of its nature by the surviving bearers), and venture further into the tunnels (their late predecessors' remains had been removed by the time our new heroes arrived).

Our heroes found their progress blocked by a door, which had no ordinary handle, but a carved arm and hand. It also had a slot, like those used to deliver letters, in the shape of a mouth. A plaque announced that it opened "only to the generous or mighty." The wizard 'fed' the mouth a gold coin, but this was apparently not generous enough, for the door refused to open. However, it opened to the application of brute force, in the form of an arm wrestling match with the carved handle.

A robotic spider seemed to pose no threat to our heroes, and the cavern wherein it dwelled had no apparent exits, so they moved on. An identical door provided opportunity for experiment: it seemed that twenty gold pieces in the mouth was the price for it to open - and that the gold pieces would be nowhere to be found when the door opened.

The expedition then took a turn from whimsy to horror, as the adventurers were attacked by a group of living skeletons! The bold Deep One nearly split one in two with his battle axe - but, despite its skull being reduced to splinters, it fought on. The elf's arrow hit home - but this skeleton too continued to fight, giving the elf a fatal blow with its spear. Ippi, told to repel the abominations with the power of his god, instead wrestled the door open, allowing the others to join him.

The three beat a retreat to the other door. There the wizard attempted to wrestle it as the priest had done. But he was less strong, or perhaps less galvanised by terror, for the door was stronger. The wizard cried out in pain, and was answered by booming, mocking laughter from the other side of the door!

The heroes attempted parlay, using as their spokesperson Ariston who, they now noticed, was an accomplished public speaker. But neither their mockery nor their questions produced any response from the voice. Then they heard a new sound of marching feet.

Their fears of a new group of skeletons proved unfounded. It turned out that another group of adventurers had come to the same place. This new group consisted of Agathon (an elvish sorcerer), Herakleitos (a priest of Apollo), and Rathnat (a warrior of the Deep Ones). The newcomers appeared most agreeable to the prospect of joining our heroes and exploring the place together.

No sooner had this bargain been made, than another sound of marching feet echoed through the tunnels. Or rather not feet, but merely the bones thereof, for a new group of skeletons attacked! Although, of course, for all our heroes knew it was the same group. In either case, this new battle went very differently. Eadwig cast Abelard's Puissant Protection, and this spell lived up to its name, causing the skeletons' skulls to explode.

The new adventurers were most impressed by Eadwig's wizardry, and were happy to take his suggestion that they should return to the previous door, and engage the previous group of skeletons in this new manner. Wary of further wrestling with the door (Eadwig had sprained his wrist doing so), Ariston wedged it open with wooden spikes, and the newly-enlarged party made its way to the site of the elvish archer's demise. The elf's body was nowhere to be seen, but another(?) group of skeletons appeared and, like their bretheren, perished under the arcane might of the spell.

Our heroes now passed a secret door, which proved no secret to the keen elvish eyes of Agathon. Inside was a chamber, and in the chamber a large pool of foul and opaque water, from which bubbles arose to disappear into the darkness. The water proved to be occupied by some tentacled thing, but Agathon cast a spell of unwilling slumber on the beast, whose appendages disappeared beneath the murk.

It turned out that the bubbles had a strange solidity to them: so much so, in fact, that Ariston was able to ride one to the roof, where he found a small chamber, with a ledge whereon was a dead halfling. The halfling's small-sized armour was of little use, but his weapons were, and our heroes went on their way better equipped.

The next room they found differed from all others seen so far. Indeed it seemed more fit for a noble mansion than a dank and subterranean complex of tunnels; richly carpeted, and decorated on the walls with pleasant agricultural scenes. The attention of the heroes was, however, more taken with the gigantic hand that reached, at the end of an equally gigantic arm, from the door opposite them! Speaking to the creature proved fruitless. Ariston gave a blubbery battle-cry and ran forward with axe held high. But the hand proved to have the reflexes of a snake, grabbing him. It also seemed to have the nature of a snake, restricting his breathing until he passed out. The arm then withdrew behind the door, which snapped shut.

Quote from: Age of Fable;463606The Emira became most vexed by the continued non-return of her necklace.

This is gold.

Thanks!