|
TheTome /
MiniCampaignsYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. Tim's Mini CampaignsContact - (Home) 021 686 3514; (Cell) 072 262 1147 Day & Time - Every Thursday 6:30 pm to 10 pm. Venue - Variable, normally my place (20 Culemborg Court, 25 Ednam Road, Newlands) Mini-campaigns
Asalon 4All information on Asalon 4 is now on the separate AsalonFour page. Timefreeze IncThis campaign is complete. Full spoiler (debriefing) and campaign diary to appear shortly. BlurbTimefreeze Inc. presents the opportunity of a lifetime... With our patented cryogenic freeze process we can guarantee you a perfect recuperation in 500 years time. For such a unique adventure, $100 million is a small price to pay. PLUS, after thawing you'll receive $4 million each year (adjusted for inflation) so no need to find a job in the new world. DetailsD20 Modern mini-campaign on Thursdays (18h30-22h00) started 29 April. Ending in study week. Characters
DiaryDay 1 (December 24, 2503 AD) The group awoke to discover the Timefreeze complex abandoned and lightless. They emerged to find that they were in Mega-London, an almost deserted, ruined city. They followed a highway to an inhabited area by the Thames, consisting of tenements, a market, warehouses and factories. Information about their plight was gathered from the labourers there. On their return to Timefreeze that night, they witnessed a group of 3 labourers shot down by soldiers in a helicopter. Day 2 Heading in the opposite direction, the party found another settlement, mostly a collection of tents. Everyone seemed to be in the church, from which carols were being sung. A helicopter landed near the church and, after rounding up the three party members, pulled out 18 eldery men and women from the church. The entire group had all possessions removed (except for clothes and 'money'), were packed into a military truck, and driven to a military compound. Day 3 to Day 16 For two weeks the group of 21 were given training in the use of a simple firearm, the needlepistol, as well as light endurance training. They were given decent food but otherwise ignored by the soldiers in the compound. Day 17 to Day 20 The group of 21 were sent out of the compound and told to return to their home. Ammunition for their needlepistols was provided. They knew the trip would be quite long, and headed off immediately along the road through the woods. However, it soon became clear they were being 'hunted', both by helicopters in the air and soldiers on the ground. Ten members of the group had been killed or had fled before they turned off the road and followed a nearby stream. By the time they reached the Thames, the group had been reduced to four, Billy-Joel, Lolere, Miguel and a 40-something labourer called Nevin. All had been badly wounded. Day 21 The group of four returned to the settlement, now known to be Dockslabour with the intention of finding some way to connect with the elites, while also earning some tabs and happies. Following a lead to Joe's Soapy Roadhouse, they found an upper-class eating establishment and met a wealthy contact who called himself Barney. Day 22 to Day 23 While Billy-Joel made a living selling vegetables (after a misadventure as a bookbinder, his salesmanship made vegetable-selling very successful) and Lolere and Nevin scouted around for more information, Miguel tailed another vegetable seller to the recruitment square. Miguel was then recruited for Lord Archibald's special assignment (with an undiclosed payment amount). He was transported with a group of nine other labourers to Shipslabour where he received his first view of the ship, a 200m long, four storey high spaceship under construction. A concorde-like plane (with VTOL) on the top of the spaceship was used for simulated zero-g flights. Despite the initial nausea, Miguel revelled in the conditions. It seemed to be some kind of test that Miguel had clearly passed, while most others had struggled. The night's sleep was interrupted by a wailing siren. Lolere and Billy-Joel learnt from Nevin that it indicated a raid - from the Slimers. Something that had last ocurred 150 years before. Miguel learnt the same thing from his fellow labourers as they were escorted by soldiers down into a factory basement. The siren's wail ceased three hours later. Day 24 to Day 28 (Miguel) Everything abbreviated for the moment (my own notes for fleshing out) Miguel does more testing... Miguel blabs about Timefreeze... Miguel is accused of being a rogue elite... Archibald hires him for Ship Ops... Orientation and basic training aboard the ships... Sees it finally completed before launch. Day 24 to Day 28 (Lolere and Billy-Joel) Billy-Joel acquires elite pass. Lolere sells chapters. Lolere talks to Barney and arranges meet next day. At meet, Billy-Joel ambushes soldier and takes gun+infra-red. Lolere sweet-talked into going with Barney to Elites Quarters. Doesn't return. Billy-Joel finds out via (sex twins) that Barney is actually an elite - tracks him down. Bluffs way in - rescues Lolere, kills Barney and Lord Archibald - fires house - escapes but stopped by guards at gates who insist on an escort until id checks out. Away from the EQ, the two try to take on escort, fail - and re-inforcements do them in. Both lose consciousness. Day 29 to Day 31 (Miguel) Take off - work in engines in 12 hr shifts - meet people at the rec room - engine faulty - attack of the Slimers! - power out - off to bridge (deserted) - camera shows attached slimer ship - meet computer expert, learns about space plane on top deck - heads there and shoots at slimers before running - leave on plane ... which lands back at shipslabour. Group splits, with Miguel, Lady Margaret and Thor heading off to EQ. See explosions and ships. Get into EQ and going to palace bunker, take refuge from explosions in hospitals. One light only - investigate to find BJ & L cuffed to hospital beds, just before roof collapses in on them from the explosions. THE END DiscoveriesWhat the party believes (Players, feel free to add stuff that you can remember) Currency is in the form of 'tabs' and 'happies'. A tab is a pill that provides all the nutrients a body needs but doesn't satiate hunger. A happy is a vial of liquid injected by syringe to stimulate feelings of joy and generally zone you out. There is some division into labourers (possibly including merchants, etc.), soldiers, scientists, professionals, elites. They are possibly genetically engineered The labourers live in abject poverty similair to an early industrial age lifestyle. They have no technological luxuries. On the other hand, the soldiers have access to some advanced items, including powerful weapons, HUD-sunglasses and fast vehicles. The party is often referred to as freeborn. It is not quite clear what this really means. Megalondon is enclosed by a 6-storey high wall patrolled by soldiers. It consists of ruined buildings and rebuilt areas as well as large areas of vegetation. Approximately 150 years ago, there was a conflict with the 'Slimers'. People are taught that history begins from that year. It has been impossible to find out things from before then. Religion seems to be basically Christianity. Well, at least the same carols are sung. The king of England, is King William VI. Adam's Bits: Freeborn possibly refers to use being born the natural manner, unlike most of the people in this era, who seem to be born via some kind of artificial process. Christianity may apparently be the religion, but the peeps in this era sure as hell ain't got no idea about it that much. Referring to the Good Lord, Holy Spirit, etc, just provokes confusion. Being crushed under falling hospitals is not conducive to a good life expectancy... Sam's Bits: It is suspected that the people here are born via some kind of genetical engineering, and are bred for specific purposes... For example, the soldiers are very focused on what they do only... They all live together, both males and females. There is absolutely no sexual interaction between them. They seem to frown upon the notion of being freeborn, and seem to think that we are inefficient. Perhaps we are?? Things happen at night... The shooting of the three people who were following us seemed to be by the army. Perhaps there is some kind of underworld that they are fighting? It seems as though the slimers destroyed most of the world; the general consensus is that the most places in the world lives in the same way that they do here. Princes' WarSettingThe Kingdom of Lightfall Player Characters
RadianceFollowing the death of the Duke of Chreton, Lucien received a message informing him that the Church of Hextor had been given the Duchy by the King of Lightfall, Jules III. The party headed off to the capital, Radiance, seeking an audience with the King to resolve the matter. Arriving in Radiance, they discovered that much had changed. One of the more disturbing things was the control a group of soldiers, the Flaming Swords, had over the city since the King's own army had been dispatched to the west. The King was ill and had audiences only rarely, and the unknown General Gregor seemed to be effectively in control. Loroth-Sar joined the Flaming Swords in order to spy on them, and was required to kill a current member of the Swords in order to join them. He learnt that the Flaming Swords were working for the Church of Hextor, and was required to fight a fiend of the Church as another part of his initiation. Loroth-Sar, called Anis by the Swords, was put in a Swords patrol that was sent to eliminate some "targets". It was not long before he realized that Lucien and Haelis-Kar were the targets. When the confrontation came, he joined his compatriots in defeating the Flaming Swords patrol. In order to keep up appearances, Loroth-Sar returned to the Flaming Swords barracks, but it only then did it become apparent that he had failed some kind of test that the Flaming Swords had set him. With the assistance of Lucien and Haelis-Kar, he fled from the vengeful mercenaries of the Flaming Sword and acolytes of the Church of Hextor. The three took refuge in the Church of Olidamarra, god of rogues. In an attempt to find out what was happening, they used a sewer entrance from the church that led to the Church of Hextor. There they discovered the lair of the fiend that Loroth-Sar had fought and finally killed it. Although they learnt that the fiends' throne was magical, they did not have the ability to discover its magical purpose. Upon emerging from the sewers, they heard the announcement that the King of Lightfall was dead, and that the General Gregor had assumed the throne. With the assistance of the Church of Olidamarra, the party fled the city by boat. After resting in the woods to the south of the city, they started off for Sunsea, the prince's city, to tell him of the usurper, Gregor. CrionateThe Prince, eager to avenge his father's death and retake the capital, went about organizing an army loyal to him. During this time it became clear that all of the northern duchies and many of those near the capital were loyal to General (now King) Gregor. With the Prince's armies assembled, and reinforcements available soon, they marched against rebel armies in the northern duchies. The Duke's party, scouting out the north discovered some disturbing facts. Not even token defence was left behind in the keeps of the northern duchies, and the barbarians from the north were allied with the rebels in the so-called 'Army of the Flame'. The party concocted a plan to abduct the rebelling dukes' families from their undefended keeps in order to coerce them into stepping down from their rebellion. That task was left to several squads of mounted soldiers, as the Prince had another task for the party. With the numbers looking to be in the favour of the rebels, the Prince asked the party to seek out the help of and possibly an alliance with the dwarves from the mountains in the south, near the duchy of Chreton. Dwarves and humans had been out of contact for at least a generation so this was unlikely to be easy. With the first major battle of the rebellion just a day away, the party set off for the mountains. Two weeks later they discovered a battle site in the mountain forests. A dozen dwarven corpses remained. Following tracks, the party found a mercenary company camped adjacent to a cliff face. After a tense but peaceful meeting, the Lucien, Loroth-Sar and their tracker were invited to share the mercenary's camp. Information was hard to come by, but it became clear that this group was part of a larger army. It was also noticed that they group was guarding an entrance into the cliff face. The next morning, another group emerged from the entrance and both left together, giving a curt farewell to the party. Well, no better time to investigate the entrance into the cliff face. What seemed to be just an ordinary cavern, led via a steep chute and wide stairs to a massively long hallway, paved in gold and silver. Passages leading off the side of the hallway led to caverns with abandoned dwarven villages. Signs of battles were frequent, with both dwarven and human corpses lining the hall and villages. No humans remained except for one small squad led by Captain Dokin, the hero of ??? bridge (or so he claimed). The squad was another group of mercenaries from the warring nations far to the south. They had been part of the 'Army of Darkness' that had attempted to conquer the dwarven fortress of Crionate, at the end of the hall one day's march away. The battle had been suicidal as the army had been forced to cross a 10 foot wide bridge. Dokin's squad had fled the battle rather than charge to certain death. They were now, quite obviously, trying to avoid the rest of the 'Army of Darkness'. Before the two groups parted ways, Dokin gave Duke Lucien his amulet, saying that Shaning, his beautiful companion, had appeared to him in a dream and bid him do so. He urged Lucien to put it on, which he did grudgingly. The party eventually reached the fortress of Crionate, to find widespread devestation. The invading army had breached the walls but the fortress's defences had held in the end. But, the party learnt, the dwarven king and his two sons had died in the attack - and the acting leader of the dwarves was not willing to lend any of his few remaining troops when they were needed at home. They were told the tale of the battle: how the enemy had used magic to blast down the walls, but how Shaning had used her magic to defend them. The party, ever curious, asked if they could meet Shaning, which they were allowed to do. She was an old, leather-skinned crone 'residing' in the Crionate dungeons. She seemed happy to meet them and wanted to read their fortunes in a pool of water accumulated on the dungeon floor. She spoke of the defeat of Lightfall, but also that this was not Lightfall's war. They would find answers at Talis-Tan. As she concluded her prophecy, the mist from the pool embraced her and she disappeared. Talis-TanThe three party members returned to their prince to report the bad news. No aid was forthcoming from the dwarves; another army was entering the kingdom from the south; and they needed to head to Talis-Tan to follow up a lead. Talis-Tan is the rumoured dead city at the heart of a total wasteland. Four nights of travel (since the day was unbearably hot) with only trail rations and a decanter of endless water to feed them, and the party (along with 10 other soldiers) arrived at the ruins of Talis-Tan. Most buildings had been reduced to crumbled masonry, but some were still more or less intact. First to be investigated was a walled compound housing three ruined towers. Although two were empty, one still had a dividing wall in it. Carved into the wall was the likeness of a snake, with an altar in front of it and a hole through the mouth area to the second half of the tower. The headstrong northern barbarian, Haelis-Kar, charged through the gaping mouth only for the mouth to close and a poisonous gas to be vented into the chamber in which Haelis-Kar was now trapped. With the gas slowly building up, Loroth-Sar and Lucien searched the altar and found a recession, which, when pressed, re-opened the snake-mouth. Haelis-Kar emerged, none the worse for wear, with a piece of a greenstone tablet. Writing on the tablet was translated but too fragmentary to make much sense. The party moved on to the massive palatial building adjacent to the compound. Besides many smal rooms, two halls linked by a grand staircase dominated the building. In the upper hall on the balconies was a frieze made of stone statues depicting a battle between an army and a green dragon. Some searching revealed a curious panel of buttons. When one of the buttons was pressed, adjacent crystals would light up and one of the statues would magically animate and attack the party. Each time the animated statue would be a more powerful foe. Eventually they had to confront the army's king and sorcerer simultaneously. Although victorious, the party dared not risk fighting the dragon without some rest. So with the sun setting and a vicious storm outside, the group rested in the shelter of the lower hall. Next morning, the party investigated a staircase leading down from one of the rooms into what appeared to be the dungeons. Wandering among the tunnels, they found a still-working fountain with an ancient map tablet in its centre. However, when the map was removed, a mechanism sealed off their route back while simultaneously opening up another tunnel in which a chest containing a piece of silver tablet was to be found. The piece of tablet matched up exactly to the previously found greenstone piece, but there was still a piece missing. The first problem was to escape from their trap. Fortunately, Lucien could use the spell stone-shape to make a narrow hole through the offending wall. Lucien and Loroth-Sar squeezed through the hole, but Haelis-Kar was too large and still trapped on the far side. Some more investigation of the tunnels revealed a lever underneath a grill in old fireplace, which, when pulled, reset the walls and freed Haelis-Kar. It was hypothesized that the final piece of the tablet was somehow connected to the green dragon, and the party were determined to fight it. With everyone assembled in position, Lucien on the dragon's back, stone-shape was cast on the dragon statue's neck in an attempt to decapitate it immediately. At that point the dragon became animated in order to defend itself. The stone-shape took large chunks of stone out of the dragon's neck, but it fought on. Launching into the air, flying around the hall and breathing acid on the party, the dragon put up a good fight, but was eventually brought down to some persistent fighting and magical attacks. Amongst the debri was a silver tablet piece. As the three pieces were put together, they magically merged into one single tablet. And the bearer, Lucien de Chreton, had a vision of the city as it was when the elves still occupied. He saw a small elven party being sent on its way by the elven king. The vision, together with the writings on the tablet, gave a more complete description: -- 1436 Age of Elfkind Our histories tell of the cataclysm that befell the world, signalling the end of an earlier age. Yet little is known of the war that heralded it. All that is recorded is that two great princes of evil, not of any mortal world, led the black and red armies against each other. This tablet is etched in the event that history repeats itself. Even now the City of Water (Kwaia) has fallen from our arms and marches upon the Three Towers (Taniun) under the red banner of old. And the wind carries word of the black banner unfurled in the north. In this hour of our greatest danger, the Snake (Shana) speaks of hope for a future generation. Four have set out to craft the 'snake serum' (Zeol) that the snake directs - two doses, one each for the two great evils. We pray to the Snake that they return safely before the armies reach the Three Towers. But this recorded in case elfkind shall fall. -- AllinorThe map tablet that the party discovered indicated some other places that were possibly of interest. After returning to Lightfall, a search for the city of Talis-Cor in the Sea of the Sun revealed nothing. With the Prince's army digging in at the prince's city, the party headed for Chreton, and possibly the mysteriously labelled Allinor. While travelling, they found that the Army of the Flame was on the move, seemingly heading east towards the capital along the highway. The Army of Darkness had also penetrated the Kingdom, and a town in Chreton had already fallen. Defences were hastily prepared at Chreton Keep, but the party were keen to find out what was important about the site indicated on the map. A questioning of the most knowledgable halfling in the keep (the cook) led to the discovery that there was in fact some ruins in the forest to the south, along the river, that were revered as a halfling sacred site. A day's ride down the river led to the discover of a set of large stone blocks, all but covered by the surrounding mud, vegetation and river itself. Most were in a straight line with each other, suggesting perhaps a bridge or wall, and all had a single archaic name carved in each of them. Further scouting revealed nothing else, save that the Army of Darkness was approaching from the west. Shadowing the army, they watched it set up camp on the western bank of the river with the stone blocks roughly in the middle of the army. During the night, campfires were lit on the far side of the river as the Army of the Flame set up their camp. Eavesdropping on the soldiers revealed that they were expecting a great battle the next day. It seemed critical to find out what was happening around the ancient stones. A camp of important looking tents had been set up, one of which stood out. Inside was a group of seven young women, overseen by a shadowy figure in black robes. The party quickly surmised that the women were to be used in some kind of evil rite. As day broke and the armies prepared themselves, they tried to cause a distraction by burning down the important-looking tents around the stones. But even as the fires were being put out, the ritual was being prepared. Keeping to the shadows, the party waited for an opportune moment to do something. The women were brought out, each accompanied by a black-robed figure and a soldier. They had their clothes torn off them and were bound by chains covered in sharp spikes. The black priests removed their robes and began copulating with the women even as the soldiers drew their blades across the womens' throats. All the time, it was clear to those magically attuned, that a great build-up of magic was occuring at the central stone. Its magnitude was approaching god-like proportions. With the women almost dead and the magic almost complete, the party charged in, Lucien attempting to dispel the magic around the stone. Caught unprepared, the soldiers and black priests were initially overmatched by the party's charge. But as they recovered from the initial surprise, they tried to control Loroth-Sar and Haelis-Kar's minds, Haelis-Kar even felling his own giant lizard mount. But the tide of battle turned once again when, with the three party members standing adjacent to each other protecting access to the stone, a black priest cried out, "They've become immune to our control! Retreat!" By that time the young women were all dead, but with no priests to finish the rite, the magic dissipated. From the riverbanks cries went up as the two armies charged at each other, the river mysteriously dry. And coming through the ranks of the Army of the Flame, was their fiendish prince, a 12 foot tall, blood-red winged figure weilding a greatsword wreathed in flames, and each step he took left scars upon the earth. Loroth-Sar and Haelis-Kar fell back to safety, while Lucien drank potions of invisibility and flight, and launched himself over the ranks of the armies. Somehow, the flaming prince detected the Duke and after sending a fireball in Lucien's direction, he launched himself up into the air to attack him with his sword and claws. And even as Lucien charged into the fiend, emptying out the contents of Dokin's amulet on to the fiends flame-drenched skin, it managed to land one final blow on the Duke. Loroth-Sar and Haelis-Kar say the fiendish prince vanish into nothingness, and watched as the water came crashing down the river once more drowning hundreds of soldiers still caught between the two banks. The two companions anxious wait was finally rewarded when Duke Lucien's dead body re-appeared in midair where he had been slain. EpilogueAttempts to ressurect the dead Duke were unsuccessful and was laid to rest with his ancestors at Chreton. And even as the Kingdom of Lightfall was recovering from the chaos of the war, Loroth-Sar sent word back to his home Empire, Amut-Kel to order the invasion of Lightfall. |