The Toplanders

From Trinity Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

This campaign started the second week of September, 2007, and is currently being played.

In terms of Trinity, this group began adventuring in early 432 CY on Arcturas.

This page will house all the information for this campaign in Trinity.

Game Time

The game takes place on Saturday nights, roughly at 11 pm local time, and goes until anywhere from 4 to 6 in the morning.

Waiting List

Given that there is the possibility of losing some players over the course of time, I will be maintaining a waiting list for this game. If you are interested in joining us, please leave a note in the Discussion page attached to this page.

The waiting list is as follows.

  • (There is currently no waiting list.)

Game Information

Players may choose their method of character creation: 32 point buy, or standard Trinity rolling method (4d6, reroll 1's, drop 1 die, roll eight - keep seven, arrange in any order). Once the rolling method is chosen, the player will use those stats each time the player decides to switch to rolling method (by which I mean that you cannot roll stats, switch to point buy, then switch back to rolling method to reroll your stats); a player may redistribute ability scores or switch to the other creation method at any point before the game begins.

Rolled stats must be rolled in front of the DM at any time that is convenient. Just make sure that you don't lose the stats!

Ability Scores

Standard Trinity ability scores - standard d20 stats with the addition of Perception - will be used.

Race Selection

Unlike previous Trinity games, this game will have a racial restriction. Race selection is limited to the following races...

Class Selection

Class selection is unrestricted. Any Trinity-accepted classes are allowed.

Level

Characters will be created at 2nd level. That means that you can choose an LA +1 race, and begin at 1st level.

Backstory

Some amount of backstory is appreciated. As this game will not be starting for a good few months, you have plenty of time to figure one out.

Keep your age and race in mind. If you are older than 37 or so, then you are originally from Adnez or Ganymede, and came on the ship to Arcturas; this means that you remember the way things were, and you remember the tyranids. If you are younger than 37, then you were born on Arcturas, and have only heard of the other planets through stories; you have also probably heard of the tyranids, though you may not believe that they're necessarily real.

Regardless of where you were born, you'll need to figure out how you came by your profession. If you're from Andez or Ganymede, then chances are good you had gained some knowledge before leaving the planet, and have essentially taught yourself or gained training from someone else in the community. If you were born on Arcturas, then you probably were taught your skills by one of the gnome akashics (who can tap the world memory and teach you by proxy).

Due note that travel to Arcturas was by spacecraft, which is technological in nature. As such, if you are a member of a magic- or psionic-based class, that you will require an explanation of how you came by those skills. Most of the people on Ganymede (where Arcturas left from) were not versed in the ways of magic or psionics, and as such you'll need to explain why you are. Some classes will require more explanation than others - a sorcerer makes a lot more sense than a wizard (your ability to wield magic was dormant for a good while, for instance). I have no intentions of limiting your class selection, but just make sure that it makes sense.

Character Knowledge

Each character knows something about the world: this information is encountered during training, found while gossiping, or simply inherently known.

About the Game

I will attempt to keep the players as in-the-dark as possible until the game begins; however, this game will add quite a bit of information to the Trinity universe, some of which will need to be up prior to the game to ensure that the players all at least have some idea of what is going on. As such, small updates will be added throughout the wiki on a semi-regular basis over the course of the summer. For my convenience, I shall keep a list here of what has been and is going to be added; this list is by no means comprehensive, and may change over the course of the summer, as additional information may be required or found to be useful.

Campaign-Specific Mechanics

There are a few strange things about this game that aren't covered by normal mechanics. Given the heavily-modified nature of Trinity, the need for custom rules even for a particular campaign shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.

This section will detail campaign-specific mechanics as they come up.

Crafting using Raw Metal

Crafting using scavenged metal works pretty much like normal crafting. However, given the scarcity of such materials, a wise crafter will be cautious in expending such materials frivolously. In addition, normal crafting rules don't cover what "38 pounds of iron" can be used for, so the rules for crafting will be expanded here.

All normally metal objects have a listed weight (ie, a longsword weighs four lbs). A skilled crafter can use as little iron as possible to construct such an item, and use other materials - wood, for instance - for the remaining weight. Even something as seemingly shoddy as making the entire base of the weapon out of wood, then lining the "edges" of the weapon with iron, can result in a weapon just as destructive (if not as sturdy) as a standard full-iron longsword.

In terms of weapons, armor, shields, and miscellaneous goods, a skilled crafter can make an item that relies on iron to function using an amount of iron weighing half of the item's weight. To make a longsword, then, a crafter must use two pounds of iron. Note that the weight of an item is dependent upon the size of the intended wielder - a longsword for a halfling, for instance, weighs less than a longsword for a human.

If the crafter fails at making an item, normally half of the materials are lost or waste; however, with resources being scarce, this is usually an unacceptable end. A crafter can recover the materials "lost" in failing to craft an item by spending one hour for every two spent crafting the failed item.

For crafting Force items, different metals have different values in terms of raw materials. 

Material	Value/Unit
Iron		50 gp/lb

Crafting using Bug Carapaces

Almost everything from the corpse of a bug is usable, in terms of crafting items. Internal organs aside, a skilled crafter can work the bits and pieces in a manner similar to how iron, chitin, or leather would be worked.

Crafting armor out of the bug carapaces is similar to how armor is crafted from dragonhide. In addition to the normal armors craftable, a bug's carapace can be used to make leather armor or a leather trenchcoat for a creature of the same size as the bug; also, bug carapaces can be used to make chitin armor, with the same restrictions as making banded mail. Multiple bug carapaces can be combined to produce more choice material for crafting - two Medium corpses can be combined to be treated as a Large corpse, while two Large corpses (or their equivalent) can be combined to be used as a Huge corpse.

In addition, due to the extreme hardness of the bugs' skeletal structures (both endo- and exo-), a clever crafter can craft weapons out of the corpses, as well. A weapon of one-handed size or smaller can be made in place of a shield, if the rest of the carapace is used to craft armor; if an entire carapace is used to produce weapons, it can produce: two two-handed weapons of a size equal to the size of the corpse; or, four one-handed weapons; or, eight light weapons. Ranged weapons require more choice bits of the creature (finding an appropriate sinew for a bow, for example, is rather difficult, as is finding bones that would function for a crossbow) - as such, halve the number of weapons of that size that can be made for the corpse being used.

In addition, such weapons benefit from the extreme sharpness of the various parts of a bug's body, resulting in a natural +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls. Armor and shields crafted from a bug's body are almost supernaturally hard and resilient to blows, resulting in a +1 enhancement bonus to their AC bonus.

In terms of crafting Force items, bug carapaces do not function especially well as raw components. However, enough bits and pieces can be pieced together to make something vaguely resembling the end goal, if rather organic in appearance. Materials from a bug carapace equivalent to what is required to make a one-handed weapon (see above) are worth 100 gp in terms of raw materials for constructing Force items.

In terms of crafting other kinds of items, the internal organs of the bugs can be used to construct technological devices from the Chemistry field (and the Chemistry field only); such devices have a rather bitter and disgusting smell and a worse taste, but they function well enough. Since these materials aren't useful for anything else, a Medium-size bug's corpse can be raided for parts that can be used to construct two Chemistry devices; for each category above Medium, this number doubles (a Small bug, then, would provide sufficient parts for one Chemistry device, while smaller bugs are simply too small to be of any use).

The corpses of bugs can also be used for the purposes of structures, including buildings and vehicles. To construct a vehicle of a given size, the crafter must have corpses sufficient to be one size category larger than the vehicle; for instance, to craft a Large vehicle, bug corpses whose combined size is Huge are required. However, such vehicles greatly resemble the corpses from which they were assembled, making them difficult and unusual to pilot, resulting in a PCP to the vehicle of -4. For every additional size category larger the assembled bug corpses are, this penalty is reduced by -2 (so in order to build a Large vehicle without a PCP, you would require bug caparaces whose combined size would be Colossal). A vehicle crafted out of bug carapaces uses the following stats for its material. 

CHITIN (LA +0)
	Hardness: 2.	STR +0
	Armor: +1.	DEX -2
	PCP: (varies)	CON +2
	Cold Vulnerability, Acid Immunity.

Campaign

What follows is a summary of each game session.

Cast

PCs

NPCs

  • Tabby (human bard) [followed Uriah around (02 - )]


Others

  • Iz (???) [followed the group around (10 - 15)]
  • Murasaki Kaze (moogle greasemonkey) [piloted the Kamikaze (14 - ??)]

Session 01 - Explore? Explore... what?

Perhaps a month after contact with the Arcostes was lost in SY 34, a call was sent out from Arcturas. The people of the fallen craft had lived on this world for 34 years, and knew nothing beyond the small chunk of world they had found themselves on - and Angmar Steeltoe, the old captain of the Arcturas herself, felt that it was time for the Adnezians and Ganymedians to know more about the world they had found themselves on. The call he sent out was a simple one: if you are willing to explore the world beyond what we know, come to the remains of the Arcturas.

Eight people answered the call, from all walks of life. A thinking machine who saw the future; a young girl who seemed terribly out of place. The apprentice blacksmith from the capital city; the twin moogles who had constructed their own mechs. The lone ancelari, who had explored the continent some thirty years before; a young selkie, who assisted in keeping the peace of the land; the legendary musician, whose music inspired the rebellious youth.

Thus did their tale begin.

...

Angmar greeted the group, and told them to go out and explore. He mentioned that the robots in Edge might know something, and that the kids out in Germonik might, as well. The group decided to rest for the evening and head out the next day. Volos waits for the group outside of town.

They travel to Edge. Volos goes to the lumbermill, to see if they know anything; everyone else heads to the administrative building in Edge. The apparent political leader in Edge is an artilect called Bucket, who William knows from being on the Arcturas. They converse; Bucket doesn't seem to know anything useful.

Josef

Shiro and Kuro take their mechs and begin investigating the bottomside of the continent, but don't find anything useful.

The group decides that there is nothing useful here, and heads to Germonik.

They stop at the bridge that crosses the Gouge, as Volos seems to notice something strange about the mountains. The rest of the group gets frustrated, and they continue on.

They arrive in Germonik, and find that someone has constructed a facsimile of the radio tower in Edge, but out of wood. They investigate, and find that its attached to a barn; the whole shindig is apparently under the ownership of a young human called Josef. As they arrive, he goes out and beats someone with his bat.

Inside the barn, they find that he is constructing a flying thing of some sort, which he refers to as "da riggable" (that is, something that can be rigged). Interested in the possibility of flight, the party enquires as to how they could assist; he answers that he needs hemp, fuel, and time. The party decides to go look for some hemp, which Josef can use to finish his craft - in exchange, they tell him, they're interested in using it.

They investigate, and find that the current big shot in town is a kid by the name of Bill. They arrange a deal with Bill, in which they'll trade him a crossbow from sufficient hemp for Josef to finish his craft. Bill agrees to the deal, and the party heads back to the barn to rest.

Session 02 - Teenage Wasteland

XP: 500 (story)

Shortly after the party sets down to rest (with William and Volos keeping watch outside), a mob of Nevhonim appear, some of whose clubs are on fire. Their apparent leader is holding a body; they find out that it's Igor, one of Bill's cronies, who seemed to be the only one who could count. Last time they saw Igor, however, he had a lower jaw.

The leader yells at William, who then goes inside to rouse his companions - the leader then informs his cronies to set the building on fire.

Tabby

Combat ensues. Of the eight members of the group, only three are standing when the last of the Nevhonim is felled.

After the combat, the group finds that one of the Nevhonim had a youngish Gaeli girl attached to him by a rope. Uriah enquires further, and finds that she is unable to speak - instead, she communicates with her flute. 

Tabby (NPC) joined the group.

The party rests for a couple days, to recuperate from the battle. After, they venture to Bill, irritated with what happened - however, they find that Bill successfully procured the hemp, "from the Nevhonim." Irritated, they take their payment, then pay him a few bundles of crossbow bolts (which they had left out of the earlier deal) for alcohol, which the group has determined is suitable fuel.

Once da riggable is set up, the group begins to discuss where to go. There are two thoughts - either to head west, across the desert, or head north, to the mountains.

Loot

Wooden Maul, Masterwork (*1)
Wooden Maul, Masterwork (*2)
Quarterstaff, Masterwork (*3)
Thin sheet of wood, covered in writing on both sides [language unknown; Divine item] (*5)

Session 03 - Decisions, Decisions

XP: 719 (469 combat, 250 story)

Volos decided that he was irritated with the group, and headed off on his own. 

Volos (PC) left the group.

After he left, there was some debate regarding which way to go. The party decided to head north to the mountains, then - if that proved uneventful - to head to the waterfall near Edge.

Using "da riggable," they headed for the mountains. Along the way, they noticed a gremlin heading towards Germonik. Setting down, they found out that he was looking for the group - he had apparently planned on being part of the original expedition, but was late. After some debate, the group decided to allow the gremlin - who told them his name was Miggs - to join them. 

Miggs (PC) joined the group.

The group arrived at the mountains some time later, and decided that there was little worth doing there. They decided to head to Arcturas to refuel, then carry on to the waterfall.

They arrived in Arcturas and refuelled. While the group was resting, Miggs planted flashpowder on Kuro and Shiro; when they woke up, Kuro fell prey to the trick, and angrily pulled his pistol on Miggs, who was clearly the culprit. After a warning shot was fired, the group carried on.

Arriving at the waterfall, there was some discussion as to the best course of action. They decided to go over the edge and follow the waterfall down to wherever it went.

They followed the waterfall down for a little less than two miles, and saw ground and a lake below. Kicking on their engines, they made a cautious landing.

They searched the lake, and found a river heading west-southwest. They decided to follow it. Some time later, they came across the edge of a forest, perpindicular to the river; they decide to continue following the river. Two days later, they came across a fork in the river: the river they were following joined another, and continued to flow south. The adjoining river was flowing from the north. The group decided to follow the flow, and headed south.

Two and a half days later, they encountered a strange humanoid-looking creature, up in a massive bulge in a tree. After several attempts at communication, the creature gestured for them to follow it, which they did. Four hours later, they arrived in a "city" of these tree-bulges. They were brought to one of the humanoids dressed in blue in the top of a tree.

An adu'ja

They found out that the creature they were brought to was an akashic, who rapidly learned their language. The group found out that these people were the Adu'ja, a race of - essentially - sentient mobile trees. The akashic's name was Aes'iel, and they learned later that he was a Simic - a druid/akashic. Aes'iel was also somewhat suspicious of Addison, though he did not mention why, save in a rather cryptic manner.

They asked several questions. The group learned that the adu'ja had been present for six-hundred years, and that the myconids - a race of fungus people - had been around for at least eight-hundred. They learned that the adu'jan akashics could only see up to around eight hundred years in the past: beyond that, there was a great gap in the world memory. They learned that there are other floating landmasses, though the adu'ja do not know how many there are; they also learned that there are sometimes visitors from elsewhere on this landmass (which they found was called Tai'lyan), but that they were primarily left alone.

They also found out that there was a cavern complex that connected Tai'lyan and Turas, in the mountains, "beyond the mushroom forest." They also learned that there were ancient ruins north of the forest, along the river, the nature of which the adu'ja were uncertain: it had always been ruins, in decay, for at least eight-hundred years or so.

The party decided to go explore the ruins. Before they set out, Aes'iel gave each member of the group (along with Tabby, who had been tagging along since they left Germonik, and would apparently not leave Uriah's side) an akashic stone, which allowed them to instantly learn the Adu'jan language, called Phytic. Aes'iel informed the group that, with that, they could speak with the adu'ja and the myconids. The party then set out.

Five days later, they arrived at the ruins. William noted, at first, that the architecture was similar to the Ronkan style; later on, he also noticed that they seemed similar to Elven architecture, as well. The group explored the ruins, which were the size of a city suitable for perhaps a thousand occupants; as they searched, they also salvaged as much usable metal as they could (as the remains of the buildings were metal in nature).

After awhile, Kuro, Cassian, William, Miggs, Shiro, and Uriah (though he was sleeping at the time) began sparking purple; Addison, meanwhile, began sparking white. They also began noticing ridges in the ground, as though something were traveling underground. Kuro flew up, and noticed that the ridges were appearing around the group in a vaguely circular pattern, and more were forming some distance from the group, no matter where they went. As those who were sparking neared the ridges, their sparking was more intense.

Miggs climbed up a delapidated building, and Shiro flew down to inform William of what he saw. As soon as he touched down, five creatures burst forth from the ground, forming a circle around the group.

Three of the creatures look like this...
...and the other two look like this.


Three of the creatures look like this... This creature is about the size of a large dog, with a short tail and tough carapace. Its back legs are long, while its front legs end in sickle-like claws. Beneath its head rest two equally sharp fangs, and it chitters and jumps about restlessly.



While the other two look like this... This creature slithers forward on a serpentine lower body. It is hunched forward, its two powerful arms curved like wicked scythes and its manibles dripping with acidic drool. The back of its head is elongated into a plate, covering most of its back save for a long spine on the top of its carapace.



Loot

9 akashic stones, all containing the Phytic language

Session 04 - Question!

XP: 500 (story)
The creature Aes'iel called the memento umbra.

The group fought the creatures, in a rather vicious fight. They found that the creatures were able to regenerate their wounds - those they thought were slain rose to fight again. When the last was felled, they proceeded to smash in all of their skulls, as that seemed effective in stopping their regeneration.

In the course of the fight, Shiro and Tiy succumbed to their wounds. After a bit of healing onsite, the group gathered the bodies (including the bugs' bodies, which Kassian believed were able to be worked like iron) and returned to the Adu'ja, who they believed would be able to return the dead.

The adu'ja were in fact able to do so, and agreed to reincarnate their friends (in a rather Simic manner, combining the power of Nature and the Blue to reincarnate the creature in the same body), in exchange for a favor. The adu'ja had explored the memories of the party's world and people, and discovered the existence of the mementos - they also found that some had been trapped there, and sought a way out. Unexperienced in the ways of the mementos, they accidentally freed a particularly vicious memento, which Aes'iel believed was known as memento umbra.

To assist in their search for the creature, Aes'iel implanted a rough map of the continent into the minds of the party.

Waiting for the morning, the party is able to recuperate from the experience of the fight, which had pushed them to their limits. 

XP: 675 (combat)

After resting and meeting up with their reincarnated members, the party discussed where to go. Kassian was adamant that the group go to the mountains; William questioned the human's insistence, and Kassian explained that the various things he had been picking up had a strange "aura" to them, and that he believed the things they fought at the ruins were the source. He believed that the myconids, whom the adu'ja had mentioned existed prior to the gap in the world memory (800 years prior to now), may know something about it.

William also made a query to the adu'ja regarding the possibility of ironwood, which he had encountered on Ganymede. Aes'iel told him that the adu'ja do indeed make ironwood, and keep stores of it, and that they may be willing to part with some of it.

In addition, while the party was waiting, Addison talked to Aes'iel about the nature of the momentos - hoping to turn her from her path, Aes'iel gladly told her all she wanted to know. The conversation eventually led to Addison gaining the skills of a trainer.

Loot

Map of Tai'lyan (memory now possessed by all current members of the party)

Session 05 - Mushroom Samba

XP: 250 (story)

After some discussion, the group decided to head north to the myconid village of Samtri.

When they arrived, they found a small copse of enormous mushrooms, and seemingly no one about. After some investigation, it appeared that there were some larger mushrooms, with door-like structures in them. Miggs went up to one of the doors and knocked loudly, while William yelled loudly.

Their actions were fruitful: a bipedal, humanoid-looking mushroom exited one of the house-like structures, and spoke with them. However, he didn't speak very long, as he continually insisted that it was "sleep time" - the party realized that they had arrived in early afternoon, and that - these being mushroom-people - they were probably nocturnal. They decided to wait until "nightfall," when they hoped to see more of the mushroom folk.

After a few hours, the village of Samtri did indeed awake, and a throng of myconids exited the several mushroom houses and began heading north, to the mountains. Following them, the group found that they were headed to a cave just north of the village; once all the myconids were inside (aside from two guards), a single, larger myconid came out to greet them.

The myconid (whose name they didn't bother to learn) seemed to be the leader of the village. He explained that the world had ended, that the bugs had come and gone, and that the moon had fallen. The party tried to explain that the bugs were back, but he was insistent that they were gone, along with "the faceless ones." The party was intensely curious about these so-called "faceless ones," and the myconid explained that they were to the southwest. They inquired as to what they would find in the myconid village to the west, and the leader explained that Mitrosis was much like Samtri, only bigger.

Their quest for knowledge satisfied, they went into the cave, to find what the myconids were up to, as they could clearly see that they were standing about in a circle. The leader myconid had told them they were forgetting; upon entering, they all became subjected to a massive hallucinogen. The group remained for the duration of the "meditation" (eight hours), after which the myconids returned to their mushroom houses.

The party then discussed what to do; they decided to head southwest, along the treeline of the adu'jan forest, to see if they could find the ruins the myconids mentioned. They walked for a little more than a month, and reached the edge of the continent, without finding anything.

They went east, to the adu'jan city of Sh'cala, seeking out more Simics. They found them, and discussed what they had learned from the myconids. The simics explained that the myconids were simple creatures, and that they would not lie - if they said the cities of the "faceless ones" were to the southwest, then they were, but there were no such places on this continent. The party then decided that they would head southwest off the edge, taking da riggable, to see if there was another continent elsewhere.

This is what the party explored for five months.

After some tree-hopping, courtesy of the simics, they recovered da riggable, and sailed off the southwestern edge of Tai'lyan.

Going somewhat down, they found another continent, full of sand. They set down, and began to explore; after two days, however, they began suffering from dehydration, and had yet to find water or even something other than sand. It was also unbearably hot, which they found odd, considering none of the higher continents had been so warm. Heading back to the simics, they asked for a source of water that would never run dry. The simics agreed to provide them with such a thing, but in exchange, they wanted the party to seek out the foreigners that sometimes appeared in the desert to the north (which Aes'iel had mentioned before). The party agreed to this favor, and set out.

Four of these creatures dive towards da riggable.

Returning to the new continent, they proceeded to explore to the east, following the ledge they found after two days' journey; they found that it made a circle, and they found themselves where they had originally landed. They then opted to follow the northernmost edge of the continent west. For three and a half months, the group walked through the desert, returning to Tai'lyan when their food sources ran out. In this time, they found three ruins, none of which were inhabited; all of them exhibited signs of having suffered through a great catastrophe, reminiscent of an earthquake (according to Miggs, on an earthquake-measuring scale of 1 to 10, these cities had suffered through a 13).

They then decided that the circular-shaped "hole" in the continent may have an answer; some of the group believed that the references the myconids made to the moon falling may have happened here. They set out, following the inner edge of the continent, and eventually found the edge - two days' from where the ledge began. They decided to go down as far as they could, and three miles down, they could see water below. After some discussion, they left the mechs behind, and explored two days' worth to the north, seeing nothing but water.

They returned to roughly where the hole in the continent was, and began to ascend. As they did, however, William spotted something flying in the air...

Loot

Decanter of Endless Water [Nature]

Session 06 - Aerials

XP: 500 (story)
The woman called "Shye"

The four creatures - who, the party discovered in short order, were being ridden by human-sized beings - dived at da riggable, and the battle was joined.

After a short skirmish in the air over a three-mile drop to a possibly endless ocean below, the beings riding the creatures - three of whom had incredibly long horns extruding from their foreheads, while the fourth was a human woman - called for parley. The party hesitantly agreed, and the woman - who one of the horned beings called "Shye" - explained that there was something of an error; they had not intended to attack the group, but were instead hunting a manifestation of the Void. Shye explained that they had detected a Void presence on the da riggable, and figured that it could only be the thing they hunted.

Addison was curious, and asked why they were looking for it; Shye responded by saying that she worked "for a higher power," that apparently did not want to see the creature in the wild. More discussion revealed that Shye was from Turas (the continent on which the Arcturas had crashed), but that she was one of the children that had fallen off the edge - she was apparently fortunate, however, and was saved during her fall (by what, was not mentioned). She and her companions were also notable due to the fact that they carried large quantities of metal (one of them was garbed in full-plate). Any questions regarding where they had gotten the metal or where they had come from was responded to with, "I don't want to ruin your sense of adventure."

Shye confirmed for the group that the Armand - what the people the Adu'ja had asked the party to find were called - did wander the desert on the continent, and that they were often to the west of the circular rift in the continent. With no further questions, Shye and her companions left the group, heading east.

The group decided to return to Turas, to refuel. The brothers Kaze also spoke of possibly fashioning new mechs or similar vehicles, and some of the group expressed an interest in reporting to Angmar. The group returned to Turas, specifically heading to the city of Arcturas, hiding da riggable outside of town.

They found and spoke with Angmar, explaining to him everything they had done so far. Angmar was a bit disturbed by all of the information he was dumping on them, but he appeared pleased with their progress. The group wanted materials - specifically, metal from the ship - which Angmar was willing to grant them, considering that the group informed him of their encounter with Shye, with emphasis on the fact that they were carrying metal.

The brothers Kaze spoke with their father, Murasaki, about the construction of a massive vehicle, an idea with which he was incredibly pleased. They informed him that metal would be delivered shortly, and the elder Kaze began work almost immediately on a massive flying ship.

The group then went to Germonik, to check on the status of Josef. They found that his "radio tower" had been disassembled, and the barn ripped asunder. Further investigation led to them learning that Josef had fled town, but Volos had not been so lucky - he had apparently been strung up on the north end of town. They also discovered that Bill had been overthrown, by a Nevhonim named Ted. After an almost-confrontation with the Nevhonim (during which Shiro collapsed one of the walls of the main tavern in Germonik), they backed off and told the group what they wanted to hear.

The group then headed to Edge, where - according to what they heard from Angmar - someone had set up shop and was working on a flying machine. Lo and behold it was Josef, who spun a tale of frustration with the absurdity of living in Germonik, and his subsequent flight (not literally) from there due to Ted's frustration towards him. He wound up in Edge, and began experimenting with electrum engines, possibly even on the brink of constructing a flying machine that didn't require a balloon at all. The group returned da riggable, and wished Josef luck.

Four months passed, during which the group performed various tasks and odd jobs. At the end of the four months, they regrouped in Arcturas, for the unveiling of the elder Kaze's flying machine. Towering over the moogles' mechs and constructed wholly out of steel, the new ship was a sight to behold. The elder Kaze dubbed it the Kamikaze, and the moogles graciously received the gift. Capable of housing the entire party and the mechs in its interior, and having a self-contained atmosphere that would allow for underwater exploration, the Kamikaze was a definite upgrade over da riggable.

Taking their new aircraft, the party gathered up enough food to last them quite some time, and headed back to the desert continent.

Having an aircraft capable of traveling around the clock (and a pilot that could do the same), the party began combing the desert, searching for signs of the Armand. They first searched the eastern end of the continent, and eventually came upon another ruined city. Upon further investigation, they found a relatively intact building; inside, they discovered two rooms of note: in one, there was a cache of weapons of unusual design - various swords and guns; in the other, they found an akashic stone, set on a pedestal, which Miggs almost immediately took.

After an altercation in which the party relieved Miggs of the stone, Uriah contacted the stone, and saw an image of an ancelari, projecting thoughts in an unknown language in his mind; after a minute or so of speaking, the image shot itself in the head, and the image played out all the gory details of that event. Slightly shaken, Uriah - knowing that the moogles were mildly telepathic - handed it to Shiro, who contacted the stone. Able to understand the language "spoken" by the ancelari, he relayed the information to the rest of the party... 

"If you have found this stone, and are capable of understanding my words, then perhaps they succeeded. Perhaps they who fled
reached those alien worlds, and taught those people the ways of the gun? Perhaps they have even managed to conquer the depths of
space?

"But we all know what is coming, don't we, stranger? The zerg are no threat, compared to the things that will come from beyond...
we're all damned, then... and no amount of running will save us!..."
An armand

Mildly disturbed, the party took some of the weapons from the cache, and began heading west. They investigated the eastern side of the gouge in the continent, heading north, then investigated the western side, beginning from the north.

Eventually, in the middle of the western side of the continent, the party spotted an encampment. Having come across it in the heat of day, they waited until nightfall, when they saw movement. They headed for the camp, and were met halfway by three armand.

Miggs was the first to greet the creatures, but they did not respond immediately, instead, they transmitted thoughts into the minds of the party, none of whom - save the moogles - understood. The lead armand seemed to sense their lack of understanding, and began communicating in Phytic.

The party had many questions, and the armand answered them as best he could. Apparently, they were able to go to Tai'lyan by riding on small islands that rode on strong wind currents; these islands apparently migrate in a relatively stable pattern, such that the armand could reliably take them between Tai'lyn and Reldyr'nym (the name of the continent they were currently on). The armand had no knowledge of the creatures the party had fought earlier (those accompanying Shye), nor did they know of the memento umbra, other than that they had seen traces of a great beast wandering the desert. In the course of conversation, the armand informed the party that there was one who may have some of the answers they sought.

The continent of Reldyr'nym, in its entirety (previously-explored sections are darkened).

They led the party to one of the tents of the encampment, and inside there was a strange creature, being tended by two other armand. The creature had the face of a wolf, but was definitely humanoid and bipedal; it also had bat-like wings, which were found on its body in a place similar to that of a bat (that is, from the forearm to the side). Its breathing was rather shallow. Miggs attempted to heal it with his tonics, to no avail - the armand were unable to cure whatever ailed the creature.

Addison realized that they could use the potion they had found from the fight in Germonik, which contained bear's endurance; Uriah complied, and used it on the creature. Its breathing became easier, and it looked around in a rather frightened fashion. Addison used comprehend languages to understand the creature, but it didn't say much - it said something to the extent that the world was attacked, by horned beings. It also said the word "veyar," which the armand leader immediately picked up on when Addison repeated it - it was an ancient word for the moon of Arcturas.

The various Force effects ended, and the creature resumed its near-death status. Addison used deathwatch, and saw that the creature was suffering from what amounted to suffocation - barely hanging onto life.


Loot

+1 Unholy Lance (Divine)
The Kamikaze [Gargantuan Ornithopter - Arm1/Eng5/Sys1] (Technology)
Akashic stone containing a message in Ancelari
Four (4) pistols, one (1) rifle, one (1) carbine, all corroded, from the southeast ruins of Reldyr'nym

Session 07 - Vapor Trail

XP: 1350 (600 combat, 750 story)

The group decided to take the strange creature with them, and go to the Simics, to see if the adu'ja could find out more about the creature. The creature was still alive, but barely hanging onto life.

They headed to Sh'cala, the southern-most adu'jan city, and spoke with the Simics there. The group had questions they wanted the creature to answer, and the Simics managed to get some answers out of the creature via the Blue. 

Creature's Race and Type: unknown race, humanoid
Most recent basic goal: escape

What is it? "We call ourselves the un'veyar."
Were you attacked, and by what? "Yes, horned creatures riding on acid-spitting winged things."
Where is metal? "Veyar."
What about the moonfall? "Legends say long time ago, moon fell into the world."
Does it know about the horned things? "Yes."
Does it know about the memento umbra? "The what?"
Does it want to be Migg's friend? "Who is miggs?"
Does he know "how to fix this world"? "Can't fix, world trapped by pull of big world."
Where did it come from? "Veyar."
When did it come from? How long ago? no response.
How old is it? "17 seasons."

The party was somewhat perplexed by these answers. They decided to head back to the armand, and see if they knew anything more.

Upon finding the armands, there were a good deal of questions. The leader of the armand explained that, long ago, the zerg descended upon the planet. The armands and the myconids hid from the threat, while the ancelari remained on the surface, attempting to fend the creatures off. The armands explained that it was the ancelari who created the mist over the planet, in an effort to slow the zerg advance; however, their efforts were mostly in vain.

In the end, the ancelari were forced underground, fighting the zerg in the many caves and tunnels beneath the planet's surface. Their leaders attempted to get their people off the planet by an unknown means; however, they were only partially successful, and many ancelari were left behind. In a last-ditch effort to destroy the zerg, they attempted to destroy the core of the planet - however, they apparently miscalculated, and only shattered the core, which shattered the entire surface of the planet and greatly weakened the planet's gravity. This resulted in the floating landmasses.

They further explained that the shattering of the planet's core modified the magnetic field of the planet, altering almost all of the metal ore on the surface into the substance the party knew as electrum.

The islands in the east.

The armands also explained that they did not always look like they did now; however, having been on "irradiated" ground for so long, their people had gradually but drastically changed from their original form.

The armands also told the group that there were strong currents in the atmosphere of the planet, much like water currents, and that the floating islands they rode on to reach Tai'lyan were caught in one such current.

The group decided to head east, heading off the eastern-most edge of Reldyr'nym, along the air current, "against the wind."

Two months later, the party encountered a new set of floating landmasses; somewhere along the way, the strange creature they had picked up finally passed away. Searching its belongings, they found a beaten metal badge, with some strange markings on it.

They explored the new islands, which were mostly uninhabited.

On the southern-most island, however, they encountered a walled city. All of the group save Shiro and Kuro attempted to find a way into the city, and found a heavy iron gate - complete with two horned beings garbed in plate and armed with halberds - on the southern edge. When they approached, one of the guards asked who they were in Lucavic; after the majority of the group seemed unable to communicate in this, the guard spoke to them in Eastern Common.

Miggs mentioned that they knew Shye, and wanted to see her; the guard recognized the name, and said they could all come in, save Addison. Addison complied, and William accompanied her back to the moogles.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group - Kassian, Uriah, Miggs, Tiy, and Tabby - entered the city. The guard led them to a rather large stone structure in the middle of the city (which was actually more like a walled camp). They were instructed to enter, and told to wait for Shye.

Inside, the group were left in an entryway, with a doorway leading into what looked like a temple. Inside there was an enormous stone statue of Ajora, the head angel of Kolaita, the goddess of healing; the angel was wielding a bastard sword, wearing full plate, and had wings that had the appearance of razor-sharp metal. Set around the statue were two altars, each with three candles, all lit.

After awhile, Shye finally entered, and greeted the group pleasantly. Miggs was interested in what was going on in the temple, so Shye invited them all in, and explained to Miggs that they followed Kolaita, but also paid special attention to Ajora, because the angel was the goddess' protector. Kassian and Tabby refused to enter the room, while Uriah attempted to, but was stunned upon crossing the threshold into the room. Uriah then pushed Kassian into the room, but nothing happened.

The discussion turned to the subject of metal, and Shye took them outside to meet with the city's blacksmith. As they walked, however, Miggs turned on his cloak generator, but attempted to make it look sneaky; Shye was apparently not amused by his antics, however, and was aware that he had actively done it, rather than "accidentally," as he claimed. They continued on to the blacksmith.

They attempted to haggle for some metal, but the blacksmith seemed uninterested.

There was another discussion here, regarding the residents of Fort Drakys (as Shye called it) - they all appeared to be horned, other than Shye. Shye was rather vague on why that was, insisting that many beings had horns, and that it wasn't that unusual.

Is it a moon? Or a space station?

The group then decided to leave. They were escorted out.

Regrouping, the party decided to continue heading east.

After a few days, they encountered a strange purple mist. Heading in all directions to determine which way it was, they headed up, where the purple haze seemed to strengthen. After a few hours, they experienced a change in gravity, and were now looking down (what was up, previously) at a strange new environment.

They decided to explore, and flew along the edge of the "continent." They found that there was a lower section (upper, in terms of normal gravity), that they opted to not explore at this time. They continued around, until they were back where they started, they then decided to search the plate in a zig-zag pattern.

Eventually, in the southern mountains, they saw a cave entrance; this was unusual, as they had not yet seen anything of the sort here. Guessing that the outside air was poisonous to mortals, William volunteered to go explore. The cave narrowed into a tunnel, then opened into a wider cavern, with three branches - as well as an electrum lamp in the ceiling.

Exploring further, William encountered more horned beings, who were mining what looked like iron ore. They noticed him, but - being a templar - he was much too fast for them, and he quickly returned to the Kamikaze. The creatures chased him out, but the group crushed two of the three with the ship; the remaining one returned to the depths of the cave.

Loot

Un'veyar metal badge

Session 08 - Dark Side of the Moon

XP: 806 (750 story, 56 combat)

Session synopsis coming soon. 

Session Highlights
Entered western wing of mine.
Encountered a bunch of traps.
Kuro scouted ahead, found a bunch of fake miners.
Fight in the corridor.

Loot

Loot coming soon.

Session 09 - Infernoplex

XP: 4th - 1975 (500 story, 1000 combat, 475 traps)
    3rd - 2160 (500 story, 1125 combat, 535 traps)

Session synopsis coming soon. 

Session Highlights
Party rested, returned to western wing.
Ambushed by three guys. Looted them.
Attacked by two groups, one of miners and blacksmiths from the west, and two guys from the south.
Kassian died.
Group captured a priest.
Priest fought them on the ship, they killed him, dumped him off at Fort Drakys.
William died.
Group returned to the adu'ja, who revived the pair. They now each owe the adu'ja a favor.
The simics used object loresight to determine what was up with the priest guy's holy symbol. It came from a place called
  Shar'nal, which isn't on Arcturas (the planet).
Group headed to Edge to deliver iron ore stolen from the mine and to check on Josef.
Group headed to Germonik to check on them. Encountered Ned Riddle, current "leader."
Riddle gave Uriah 20 wooden coins.
Group found out that Riddle is interested in establishing a currency so that they can trade with the artilects for wood.
Group went to Arcturas (the city) to talk to Angmar.
They told Angmar what was going on.
Angmar informed the group that there had been an explosion in Edge, at the electrum processing plant.
Apparently the iron ore the group brought was electrum. But it was definitely iron ore when they started.

Loot

Loot coming soon.

Session 10 - Iron Man

XP: 4th - 2100 (1000 story, 1000 combat, 100 social)
    3rd - 2200 (1000 story, 1088 combat, 112 social)

Session synopsis coming soon. 

Session Highlights
The group headed down to Sh'cala, to see if the adu'ja could identify some of their loot.
Upon arrival, William freaked out, and wrote something down.
Aes'iel agreed to identify their items, and identified most of what the party had.
The party then headed back to the mine.
On the way there, there was knocking on the hatch. William went out to investigate, and there was a guy on top of the ship.
They let him in.
Guy seemed to recognize each of them, and introduced himself as Iz. He spoke with a strange accent.
Iz explained that he had talked with Shye, and had been trapped in temporal stasis since the fall of the Ronkan empire.
Iz explained that Shye was apparently planning on war.
Iz accompanied them to the mine. The group investigated the western mineshaft, but upon attempting to get into the southern 
   and eastern mines, found that the doors had been melted, and the openings closed with smooth stone.
When they returned to the ship (parked a mile up), Iz was waiting for them.
The group decided to head north, and Iz decided to accompany them.
They found another continent, this one covered in snow.
Iz insisted on being let outside, so they took a short rest.
Addison followed Iz beyond the mist, and came back before he did - she apparently saw him turn into a dragon.

Loot

5 akashic stones (4 in Lucavic, 1 in Ronkan)

Session 11 - Acoustic Snowfall

XP: 1250 (story)

Session synopsis coming soon.

Session 12 - Creep

XP: 1250 (story)

Session Highlights
The ship was near a creep colony, and they were attacked by a group of zerglings.
After healing up, they went further inland, seeing several variations on the first huge building they saw.
Eventually, they came to a huge lake.
From there, they went north, and encountered a river.
Near the mouth of the river, the group found that there was a huge building - much larger than any other structure they'd seen thus
   far, which was surrounded by five structures, all of different construction.
They went to the northwestern one, which was a deep, dark cave.
Inside, they encountered enormous mammoth-like creatures, which chased them out of the cave.
They fought the creatures, which attempted to grapple the ship to keep it to the ground, but they managed to escape their grasp.
After that, four of the winged zerg showed up, and chased the ship to the river.
The moogles dove the ship into the water, and took it to the lake, where they hid out in the deeper parts.

Session 13 - Dr. Feelgood

XP: 5th - 3250 (3000 combat, 250 story)
    4th - 3450 (3200 combat, 250 story)

Session synopsis coming soon.

Session 14 - Exodus

XP: 6th - 5910 (4410 combat + 1500 story)
    5th - 6900 (5400 combat + 1500 story)
     Ed - 5550 (4050 combat + 1500 story)

Session synopsis coming soon. 

Kuro Kaze (PC) left the group.
Shiro Kaze (PC) left the group.
Miggs (PC) left the group.

Murasaki Kaze (NPC) joined the group.

Session 15 - Swamped

XP: 1750 (story)

Session synopsis coming soon.

Session 16 - Further

XP: 4150 (2400 combat, 1750 story)

Session synopsis coming soon.

Session 17 - Legion

XP: 2000 (story)

Session synopsis coming soon.

Session 18 - Witness

XP: 4301 (3301 combat, 1000 story)

This session will be taking place Janurary 26, 2008.

Session 19

XP: 4250

This session will be taking place February 2, 2008.

Session 20

XP: 1125 (story)

Session 21

XP: 1575 (combat)
Retrieved from "http://trinitywiki.org/?title=The_Toplanders&oldid=2041"