E-Dawn Volume 22: November-December 2005 Edition
“If I must sacrifice Barsaive to save the rest of the
world, so be it. ” –Thandrel Drek.
PC RECAP
Spoiler
Warning: There are some spoilers for the Legend of Earthdawn Volume 1
quest: The Heart of Heroes, Wanderer’s Rest: Chronicles of Barsaive adventure
Stone Citadel, and the Crystal Raider’s of Barsaive adventure
hook the Lost Monastery below.
Pugsli’s Spy Report 9. One Wish.
Riag 1 Spiral Towers- Riag 8 Tana Lunnar’s Lair
Boss,
As
we left to go to the Bone Circle, a winged t’skrang glided down from one of the
Spiral Towers. His name was Terak, a Taildancer, who we convinced to join us.
We headed for the Servos Jungle.
At
the Bone Circle, Ninheim said something to the Bone Spirit, and then we were
gated to a large throne room. The room featured a Bone Circle in the middle,
and large stairways lead up to a dais with a throne made of bones. Nine elf
heads on pikes circled the dais. On the throne of bones sat Tana Lunnar with
the Chain of Skulls on her neck. We asked her what the elves had done to
displease her. She told us they were too “curious”. We told her that we had
decided on our one wish for the return of the Chain of Skulls, that we would
like to know the secret of how to revive dead Liferocks. She told us it would
take a week to teach Ninheim the spell. Her acolytes took us to well-furnished
rooms, and we each enjoyed her hospitality in the form of food and drink. I
continued to train Demetrius further in the ways of the Swordmaster
Discipline.
-P
Riag 9 Tana Lunnar’s lair to the Skyseeker moot
Boss,
After
Ninheim had learned the spell, we were gated to the Skyseeker moot. Since none
of us knew where her lair was in relation to the Delaris Mountains due to the
use of the Gateway spell, she considered us to be of no consequence to the
Fellowship of the Night from this point on.
Since we had gaffed the last time we were here, we allowed our newest
members to make contact with the Skyseeker moot, Coga, Noratu, and Terak. Coga and Noratu managed to gain access to the
Skyseeker chief, Cho’arras Brightstone Skyseeker, and his library. Noratu
decided to research the Obsidiman Key there, as well as seek information on the
Curse on the Skyseeker moot.
-P
Riag 10-23 Skyseeker moot
Boss,
A
strange Earthquake hit on the second day, knocking many of us down. It seemed
to it just as Noratu entered the library, which is odd. They had to spend some
time just reorganizing the library. Noratu didn’t manage to find any
information on the Curse on the Skyseeker moot, but he did manage to find a
lead on the Obsidiman Key, a stone citadel called Teran Drak. I taught
Demetrius the way of the Swordmaster, advancing him to a Journeyman. As it
stands now there is nothing left for me to teach him.
-P
Riag 24-30 Delaris Mountains
Boss,
Four
gargoyles attacked us on the way to the stone citadel, but Noratu made them
sleep and we easily defeated them. But the crazy t’skrang went berserk and
started stabbing at whoever was closest with his tail. Ninheim knocked him out with a spell. We woke
him up and Noratu figured out a way to calm his anger if necessary.
-P
On Shaky Ground.
Teayu 1-2 Teran Drak
Boss,
We
approached the stone citadel. From the base of the citadel on down the mountain
was covered by what appeared to be a giant mudslide as far as the eye could
see. We saw no visible way to enter the
place, and Coga looked around for a secret way in. Finally Granite seemed to
figure out the solution after playing around with a boulder on the left. He
found a secret passageway in after saying something in his own racial tongue.
We
entered a main hall and continued finding a spiral staircase going down, and
followed it to the basement. We found a library room and considered staying to
research, but decided to explore the entire level before doing this. We found
an outcropping that looked like an ancient Liferock, as well as some Blood
Circle Sky Raiders who were trying to steal some loot from the fortress. Their
leader started barking out orders to kill us and steal our Keys of Heroes as
soon as they saw us. Ninheim and Noratu incapacitated trolls with Sleep and
Pain spells, while Coga single-handedly defeated their leader. Their leader
managed to blurt out that his master, Thandrel Drek had the Mountain Key, and
that he had already left the stone citadel. Terak went berserk again, and
Granite killed him after taking two nearly lethal blows from the t’skrang.
An
obsidiman spirit then came out from one of the two stone chests and told us
that if we could eliminate all the Blood Circle defilers, we could have the
contents of the two stone chests. He
also told us that the Blood Circle had stolen an ancient stoneship called Teran
Draksha. Thandrel Drek would almost certainly be going to Ustrect to
eliminate their enemies at Arrakal, Cellesis, and the Twilight Peaks. We
continued exploring the basement. We defeated a couple of shadowmants in a
meeting room or dining hall who had killed several ork Sky Raiders. Returning
to the library, an ork Sky Raider was lighting a torch and was going to set the
library on fire. With the library ablaze, we would not be able to use the
stairs to escape and would die by suffocation from the smoke from the flame!
Demetrius attacked the ork Sky Raider’s torch and managed to extinguish it
before this could happen. A terrible popping sound was heard from above and
another ork fell to the ground to his death. A t’skrang Nethermancer called
Ronzo, sent by Tana Lunnar, had come to help us, and had defeated the other
orks on the first basement level and staircase. We returned to the obsidiman
spirit, who allowed Granite to open the stone chests and get a Stone Broadsword
and Stone Dagger. The obsidiman spirit beseeched us to stop the Blood Circle
from using Teran Draksha for further evil.
Noratu
decided to research the library for information about Teran Draksha, but
found many texts to be removed already by the Blood Circle. He did amazingly
find a map to an ancient monastery in the Delaris Mountains. Could it be the
Lost Monastery? We decided that we could either follow the stoneship by the
mudslide left in its wake, or find the Lost Monastery and break the curse of
the Skyseekers in exchange for a ride to Ustrect. We decided to find the Lost
Monastery of Elinar Messias.
-P
Teayu 5 Delaris Mountains
Boss,
Manticores attacked us as we traveled through
the Delaris Mountains. The four seemed to be magicians who each had spells of
the four major Disciplines. Still despite their spells and attacks, we managed
to defeat them.
-P
Teayu 6 The Lost Monastery
Boss,
We managed to reach the place near dusk. While
on watch, we heard an ominous voice, which asked us why we had come to this
place, especially with a troll who had destroyed the monastery so long ago. We
awakened the rest of the party and cautiously proceeded to the blasted
monastery. An elf spirit in tattered robes appeared in a swirling flash of blue
light. He began to dance after accusing Noratu’s people of a great atrocity. He
beckoned to Noratu to dance with him. Coga demanded instead that he dance in
Noratu’s place, as he had been the one to promise to the Skyseekers that he
would remove their curse. The elf spirit seemed to agree and allowed Coga to
begin the spirit dance with him. Coga managed to calm the elf spirit down,
winning the spirit dance. He had witnessed the final battle at the monastery
through the spirit’s eyes, and seemed saddened by the terrible crime he had
witnessed. Unlike the spectral dancer who I had danced with, this one did not
pass beyond this world and become at peace. He was tied to this place by his
curse on the Skyseekers. He could not leave until the Skyseekers atoned for
their crimes by rebuilding the Lost Monastery. His rage and sadness seemed
somewhat diminished by the spirit dance and the transferring of his pain in
part to Coga. He expressed a wish for the curse to be ended and for himself to
finally rejoin his colleagues in the next world. We promised that we would help
him.
-P
Teayu 10 Skyseeker moot
Boss,
We returned to the Skyseeker moot and met with
Cho’arras Brightstone Skyseeker and told him that we could lead him to the
location of the Lost Monastery in exchange for a ride to Ustrect. He led us to
a secret stone vedette, and we flew to the Lost Monastery.
-P
Teayu 11 The Lost Monastery
Boss,
At
the Lost Monastery, Cho’arras Brightstone Skyseeker and his personal bodyguards
went to the Lost Monastery to rebuild it. The remaining troll Sky Raiders and
us left for Ustrect.
-P
Teayu 12 Arrakal
Boss,
We
landed near Arrakal. It was the site of a major battle between the Ironmongers
and the Blood Circle. The crystal structures, and new houses had been shattered
and burned, and trolls lay all across the land. The most telling sign was a
swath cut through the earth right through the middle of Arrakal, moving on
towards Cellesis. We can only hope Cellesis still stands.
-P
The Battle for Cellesis
Teayu 13 Cellesis
Boss,
We
landed about a mile out from Cellesis and thanked the Skyseekers for taking us
even that close to a war zone. Coga arranged for the Skyseekers to take Laura
back with them. We ran to the battle, following the wake of the huge stone
ship, hoping we were not too late. The stone ship, Teran Draksha, had
ran over the town’s inn the Traveller’s Lodge, as well as Rast’s Aerial
Arms. In the air, the two drakkars the Botany Bay and Enterprise
dueled, while other drakkars fled with the townspeople of Cellesis. The last
group of fleeing townspeople ran from the inn including Nybik, and his bar
maiden and dancer employees heading to the last waiting drakkar. Nybik’s Guard
Veterans held steadfast trying to stop the troll Sky Raiders from getting to
their employer or to the drakkar. Slate Greystone and Ni’Bawn Carcini had
joined Rastalos Deftwing and were prepared to defend the last standing building
of Cellesis, the Steam Paradise. Meanwhile we rushed up from behind the
stone ship. The rearguard leapt off the ship to engage us. The ship kept moving forward trying to crawl
towards the mountains. When it stopped, it unleashed a great wave of power
shaking the very earth around it, buildings crumbled, and even the Steam
Paradise fell into ruin, just as the remaining people got into the last
airship and took off for Kaer Cellesis. Cellesis was gone, but if the ship were
not stopped here it would get to Kaer Cellesis, and destroy yet another town.
As much as I wanted to help Rast, and the others, I had no choice but to go
after the pilot of the stone ship. The waves of power were disrupting my
earthbound companions, and Demetrius had been knocked down near the ship as it
started moving west towards him. I went
after the Obsidiman at the helm, Dekar. Coga had attached a grappling hook to
the ship and climbed aboard. He had the same idea as I. So did Gron, a powerful
troll Warrior of Kaer Cellesis who had come up and engaged two trolls and an
obsidiman in combat single-handedly. Coga and I rushed Dekar and managed to
kill him quickly, stopping the ship dead in its tracks, right on top of the
ruins of the Traveller’s Lodge. Coga challenged Thandrel Drek to single
combat, which he accepted after telling him about why they were after the Keys
to the Heart of Heroes. He wished to stop us from succeeding in wishing back
the Passions, believing this would unseal Verjigorm. He would rather see
Barsaive in ruins rather than that Horror freed again on the world. Meanwhile,
a weakened Gron continued to engage the two troll Sky Raiders. Although I tried
to help him, he was knocked out by the furious assault from them on two sides.
I was left to face two Sky Raiders on my own, when suddenly a green ball struck
the larger one, killing him instantly. Coga and I dueled our respective
opponents, as the others tried to defeat the remaining troll Warriors and Sky
Raiders on the ground. The cost was heavy, as Slate, Ni’Bawn, and Rast had been
killed with the survivors rushing at Granite, Demetrius, and Noratu. The troll
Sky Raider was no match for me; I showed him the power of the Swordmaster,
defeating him with my tanto and knife. Coga had managed to defeat Thandrel
Drek, and we rushed to help our fellows still on the ground. When both the Botany
Bay and Enterprise exploded, and crashed into the Twilight Peaks,
the remaining Blood Circle soldiers surrendered. We managed to save Slate and
Ni’Bawn from death, but there was nothing we could do for Rast. We took our
dead and injured and ran to the Twilight Peaks to check for survivors and get
to Kaer Cellesis to rest.
-P
Interlude: Kaer Cellesis Aftermath
Teayu 14 Twilight Peaks
Boss,
We
checked the mountain for survivors. I was quite surprised that anyone could
survive such a fall, but we managed to find a still alive Sather and Kirk Sr.
in the wreckage of the Enterprise. There was no sign of Khan, Toke, Kirk Jr.,
or Spock.
Coga
requested to become a Slayer. I told him that he had the heroism for the job,
but he had to become a First Circle Swordmaster to do so. He will train to
become a Slayer at Kaer Cellesis. At this rate, this party will all be Slayers
too someday. Yeah right…
-P
Teayu 15-Borrum 1 Kaer Cellesis
Boss,
I
was training Coga to be a First Circle Swordmaster and initiated him as a
Slayer. Unfortunately, I found out that Ninheim had broken into Merkens’ place
and stolen materials to use on magical items and used his lab to make the
items. He was very upset, as him and Demetrius had been healing the injured
when this happened. Ronzo made some restitution for Ninheim’s actions, and I
stole some of the money back to give to Demetrius who had paid Merkens the
money he had lost in magical components. It seems I was wrong about Noratu; he
is definitely a lot like Para was rather than a real good guy. Like Para, I see
him going down a dark road. I was right about Demetrius, he has what it takes
to be a true Slayer, he reminds me a lot of Th. Noratu, Ronzo, and Ninheim
researched at the Library, finding out a little bit about the Dragon Key and
finally unlocking the mystery of the Sword of Seeking. The Sword of Seeking
seems able to find information or at least who possesses it. It is a weapon of
the curious explorer. I guess that is why Yind and Thunder Jones had searched
so long for it, despite their chosen weapon of whips. Coga, Ninheim, Ronzo, and
Noratu returned to the Skyseeker’s moot on Bonehead’s Revenge and picked
up Laura and returned. We paid Bonehead
for a one-way trip to the Spiral Towers aboard the Bonehead’s Revenge.
-P
Rumors
Kaer Cellesis
Lily and Calhoun are going to get married
soon.
Poor Rast. Merkens is really hurt by his
star apprentice’s death, but he died bravely. That’s saying a lot since he’s a
windling.
Nybik’s Guard Veterans fought valiantly to
save all the villagers of Cellesis, even fighting to the death to stand their
ground. Gotta respect that kind of dedication from a non-adept.
Kirk Jr. and Spock are still missing. Their
families are paying search parties to look for them or their bodies for a
proper funeral. I hear Spock’s father, Sarek, and Kirk Sr. are especially heartbroken
about it. It is never right when the fathers outlive their sons.
NEW CHARACTER BIOS 11
TERAK (ERIC)
Race: T’skrang
Discipline: Taildancer
Circle: Sixth
Homeland: House of the Spirit
Winds
Organization: None
Organization: None
Passion: Thystonius
Character Background: A
mysterious Taildancer who joined the party at Daiche. He carried a dark secret;
he was a berserker. The promise of a
great battle to come enticed him to join the party.
Long-term Goals: Defeat many enemies in the name of Thystonius with a combination of
flair and rage.
RONZO (ERIC)
Race: T’skrang
Discipline: Nethermancer
Circle: Sixth
Homeland: House Syrtis
Organization: Fellowship of the Night
Organization: Fellowship of the Night
Passion: None
Character Background: A t’skrang
Nethermancer sent by Tana Lunnar to spy on the party, specifically Ninheim. He
also knows the secret spell to reviving a dead Liferock. Ninheim has confused him with a House
Iskaratan vassal and continues to call him servant, slave, and serf constantly,
angering him to no end. However, Ronzo determined it best to go along with it,
as it allowed him to keep an eye on Ninheim easier.
Long-term Goals: Learn about Ninheim’s true nature. Remove the Theran Behemoth from
Ayodhya and revive the Liferock if Ninheim refuses or cannot. Improve his
standing in the Fellowship of Night organization. Investigate the swirling
rumors about the strange events at Cliff City.
CHARACTER GRAVEYARD 8
Terak (Eric) was cut in half by Granite’s
down strike after his second berserk fit.
Rastalos Deftwing (NPC) was killed by a
flurry of attacks from troll Warriors.
On the Switch to Earthdawn Classic
Hopefully,
the Earthdawn Player’s Compendium and Gamemaster’s Compendium
will be available by January 2006. After its release, we will be switching over
to this system. In general, we are going to use the Earthdawn Player’s
Compendium as the main source of information on rules, talents, and spell
interpretations. Step number bonuses will be removed from all talents. New
characters will use the Disciplines from the Discipline Design variant PDF
or non-core Disciplines from the 7 Sands until the Name-giver Compendium
comes out and replaces some of them. Old characters may continue to use the 7
Sands Disciplines using the new talent interpretations of Earthdawn Classic
or may switch over to the Discipline Design variants.
One
talent that will be slightly changed is Unshakable Earth, which considering its
1 Strain Point cost and severe restrictions, is a bit underpowered at Rank +
Strength. Therefore, Unshakable Earth will only require a Poor result to
succeed in the character not becoming Knocked Down IMB.
Enchantment Change
The
spell Gaia Blade can no longer be obtained through True earth kernal
enchantment except on stone weapons. Instead, two True earth kernals and two
True water kernals will allow the spell Acid Rend to be enchanted on the
weapon, and can be activated for 1 Strain Point for 1 round. This balances out
the four core weapon enchantments better.
Roleplaying Downtime
Some might think its odd that I don’t just
use James’ Earthdawn Downtime System for downtime periods, and instead prefer
to have game sessions roleplaying it out.
Well, I of course tried that method, but it
seemed everyone in the game group at the time detested it. Not the Earthdawn
Downtime System, but they missed the roleplaying with the NPCs that the
Downtime System by its very nature cuts down on. In many ways, downtime
sessions represent a chance for my players to catch their breath from the
normal hectic pace of many of my sessions, spend some of their hard-earned and
fast-accumulating Legend Points, and interact with the locals. Some players
apparently would rather haggle for goods with NPCs rather than buy them at
rulebook prices apparently. I guess that the Earthdawn Downtime System just
clashed with the way my players prefer to play.
Of course, Downtime sessions typically only
have two Legend Awards, a Session Award and a Roleplaying Award, so there are
some disadvantages for the players using this method in terms of Legend Points.
Using the Barsaive Setting in other Games
Barsaive
is a wonderful setting linked to Earthdawn. But, it still makes a great setting
that can be easily used in other game systems.
For
one thing, a Call of Cthulhu Barsaive is definitely something interesting. The
game system is already geared for horror/fantasy roleplaying. Having the
insanity rules added to the Earthdawn Horrors definitely adds another
dimension to the Horrors. This would probably be a great way to enhance the
Horrors. Or you could just add the insanity rules to the Earthdawn game
system and add that dimension to the game.
Or how about a Mage LARP featuring all of
the players as Denairastas magicians in Iopos. The focus of the campaign would
be the political backstabbing and attempting to rise in favor with the Uhl
Denairastas and in the hierarchy there. Or for that matter a LARP involving any
of the city-states of Barsaive would be pretty good. How about a LARP with
Travar politics and the Founding as the focus? Or a LARP featuring the various
political factions of Throal (a great way to play the Civil War possibilities
in Throal)? A LARP about the turf wars of Kratas? The possibilities are really
endless for roleplaying opportunities due to the many layers of politics within
most of the city-states of Barsaive.
Finally, there is a Hack and Slash Barsaive.
Obviously the D20 systems such as DnD fully support this. Kaer-diving and the
Second Theran War could be the featured campaigns of such Hack and Slash play.
Either the players are Kaer-diving for treasure and fame of destroying the evil
Horrors, or they are a covert scout/spy/mercenary team for Barsaive or Thera in
the Second Theran War.
There have been a few attempts already at
converting Earthdawn to D20.
Of
course, all of this shows the endless versatility of Barsaive as a campaign
setting, showing how many different directions a campaign centered in this
setting could go, even if using a different game system.
Moving other settings to Earthdawn
Earthdawn’s
game mechanics are probably the best of any game system I’ve played IMO. Still,
sometimes Barsaive may get a little boring as a setting for some. The epic feel
of many of the Dungeons and Dragons campaign sets such as Forgotten Realms and
Dragonlance certainly could easily be converted into an Earthdawn
setting. Dragonlance with its campaign already focused on dragons, dragon wars,
and the influence of the gods makes a particularly good setting for conversion.
The political machinations of the Dragons of Earthdawn applied to those of
Dragonlance, and the influence of the Passions being much stronger could make
for an interesting campaign. The Dragonlance gods made into Passions would
certainly be interesting.
Or
just see what’s already been done. The Al-Qadim campaign set has already been
converted to Earthdawn. Adventures from Zakhara can easily be run with
all of the information on the Al Qadim for Earthdawn website.
http://hastur.net/abbe/al-qadim/earthdawn/ed-frame.html
http://hastur.net/abbe/al-qadim/earthdawn/ed-frame.html
Legend Points And Loot 2
Session 4: One Wish
Gargoyle Award: 710 Legend Points
Heroics Award: 450 Legend Points
Roleplaying Award: 900 Legend Points
Session Award: 900 Legend Points
(Finishing Tana Lunnar’s sidequest)
Total Maximum Possible: 2,960 Legend
Points
Missed Session Award: 500 Legend
Points.
Loot: None
Session 5: On Shaky Ground
Blood Circle Troll Sky Raiders Award: 550
Legend Points
Shadowmants Award: 50 Legend Points
Blood Circle Ork Sky Raiders Award: 270 Legend Points
Manticores Award: 500 Legend Points
Spectral Dancer Award: 1,805 Legend Points
Heroics Award: 500 Legend Points
Blood Circle Ork Sky Raiders Award: 270 Legend Points
Manticores Award: 500 Legend Points
Spectral Dancer Award: 1,805 Legend Points
Heroics Award: 500 Legend Points
Roleplaying Award: 1,000 Legend
Points (Helping the Skyseeker moot break their Curse)
Session Award: 1,000 Legend Points
Total Maximum Possible: 5,675 Legend
Points
Missed Session Award: 500 Legend
Points.
Loot: 160 silver pieces
Session 6: The Battle for Cellesis
Battle Award: 2,900 Legend Points
Heroics Award: 550 Legend Points
Heroics Award: 550 Legend Points
Roleplaying Award: 1,100 Legend
Points
Adventure Award: 2,200 Legend Points
(Saving Kaer Cellesis, Getting the Obsidiman Key)
Total Maximum Possible: 6,700 Legend
Points
Missed Session Award: 1,100 Legend
Points.
Loot: None
Interlude: Kaer Cellesis Aftermath
Roleplaying Award: 1,100 Legend
Points
Session Award: 1,100 Legend Points
Total Maximum Possible: 2,200 Legend
Points
Missed Session Award: 550 Legend
Points.
Loot: None
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