Chain of Worlds

I have always questioned the usefulness of the familiars that other scholars of the arcane arts seem so fond of. They expose their owners to greater risk while offering little in the way of advantage. It is true that a simian companion dexterous hands would be helpful on occasion, but I have never considered the slight advantage to outweigh the downside.

Until now.

With the meta-mystical recordination that have recent shifted the organizational stasis of the magical fields on a sub-form level, I have lost access to much of the abilities I was able to wield but a short time ago. I have been able to reestablish or adapt several spellforms to give me some limited abilities, but my powers remain woefully under strength.

It is my belief that a familiar might aid in this problem. Serving as a secondary node for the stabilization of etheric constructs, I should be able to amplify my evocative potential by more then fifty percent. If the familiar was a construct (rather then an animal as is common) formed of a conjurally stable material (such as adamantine) this could reach an eighty percent or greater increase.
Unfortunately, I have not studied the rituals for creating and / or binding a familiar. Even if I was, the new mystical landscape would require significant meta-geometric alterations to the rituals before they could be used. This bears further study...

Posted by Savin at 8:22 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin, Theory

We have come into possession of a powerful orb and what appears to be a containment box for another artifact. Some of my companions seem to be of the opinion that this box is designed to contain the orb.

I do not share this stance for two reasons:
1. The ectoplasmic emanations that we encountered referenced two different objects, one of which was the Grotius Cube.
2. This is clearly an orb NOT a cube. Unless... No, even accounting for third order etheric convergent geometries this could not be considered a cube.

I would like to get the orb away from Voss so that I can examine the effects that magical shifts have had upon an item of artifact level power. So far Voss has not been forthcoming with the object, however. Typically one would expect a greater level of obedience and respect from a student.

As we continued through Steirhold, I noticed meta-lothic fractures in the stone. I assume these fractures are a side effect of the event that caused the Trench. The fractures appear to be of a Furloughian Divine nature though without my instruments I am reluctant to make a definitive call.

We reached the Trench that divided Sterihold. Fortunately there has a rope bridge that had been erected to allow the current Goblinoid residents to cross the gap. After dispatching the guards I noted that the bridge did not have a proper parabolic hang.

There appeared to be at least a 2.3% deviation from the expected gravitational effect. I can think of several causes for this effect:
1. A side effect of the magical field shift has lessened the effect of gravitational effects
2. A constant etheric updraft caused by residual energy from the formation of the rift.
3. Magically charged components inadvertently used in the bridge's construction.
4. Measurement inaccuracies. As I mentioned before, I am currently without my instruments. As a result, my observations are within the margin of error of the crude devices I am currently using.

Reluctantly, I accompanied my party away from this fascinating edifice and, after dispatching another group of Goblinoid guards, we came to an entrance into the second half of Steirhold.

I find my reduced evocative abilities a constant irritant. Not only are my measurements woefully incomplete, I am thwarted by obstacles that would have been but minor distractions before everything changed.

Posted by Savin at 9:22 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin, Summary

Here is the DM's summary of the last game session. This is just a place holder until someone chooses to replace it with their own, on a first come, first served basis.


At the end of the previous session, the players were successful in opening the doors to free the flood waters, and (somehow) managed to avoid having any of the party swept away like the zombies you were fighting.

After the battle, Savin looks at some of the zombie corpses that were not swept away, to find that they belong to a barony allied with Ascension. The corpses are severly waterlogged and their clothing dates back to the time of the God War.

Also while the waters subside, the players again look at the charts found on Gregore's skeleton. Their best guess is that the flooded areas you crossed were likely flooded by the waters of a cystern located above, which was likely ruptured by the blast during the God War which destroyed Treffenholm and created the Trench.

The players proceeded down the stairs, the water still flowing past their ankles. They got to a landing, where one more staircase led up, and another down. The staircase leading up was scattered with the old bones of fallen warriors of all races, though predominantly dragonborn, kobold, dwarf and halfling.

At the top of the stairs were a pair of large copper plated doors, similar to those you openned to let out the flood waters. Engraved on the left door where the father, mother and daughter, the other the son. Voss remembered the doors to the great cathedral in Ascension being very similar, but with all 4 Gods on both doors.

Past the doors was a cathedral, but one which had been the site of a battle in years long past. Bones were piled in heaps where battle lines had clashed and warriors fallen. As the characters walked past the detrious of an ancient war, two ghostly voices could be made out, apparently arguing with each other. The also noticed a strong source of magic coming from the far end.

At the end of the room was a dias, with an altar on it. Dwarfing the alter however was a giant bolder, which had pinned the remains of some dwarven noble of long past. The bolder was unlikely what killed him, however, as an axe (in surprisingly good condition) was solidly lodged in his skull. Here the voices were particularly loud. Although Baern and Olen had been giving the fallen the Rights of the Fallen as they progressed, Baern decided to halt at this point to attempt to quell the angry spirits.

The others pressed on, noticing a large hole about 15 feet up the wall at the end of the cathedral, the mysterious source of magic radiating from that hole. Climbing up the wall, they notice a vault on the far side. In the vault were statues of the 4 Gods, as well as a dias with a powerfully magic orb on it. In investigating the room, the three find that the floor was inscribed with intricate magical symbols, designed to focus mystical energy inwards towards the orb and then into the astral (aka Divine) realm.

Upon trying to remove the orb, however, the 4 God statues sprung to life to attack the heroes, as well as two heavy crossbow traps. Though Olen had some trouble bringing himself to attack these representations of the Divine (and Voss quite some enthusiasm in doing so), the party was successful in vanquishing them. They then rested in the vault to refresh themselves for the nex day of adventuring. Baern joined them in their rest, but left before the others to make one more attempt to settle the spirits in the cathedral.

In the morn, the parties climbed back out of the vault, and began to leave. However, as they walked past the boulder pinning the deceased dwarven lord, two spirits rose up. One was that of a noble darwen warrior, the other of a Dragonborn warlord. Death had obviously not made them any fonder of each other, as they continued to yell at each other and exchange blows.

At this point, Baern was still attempting one last attempt to assuage the spirits and with their sudden stirring he became lost in their visions of the past.

Meanwhile, while Baern was stuck insensiate, the two spirits began calling reinforcement to themselves, reinforcements that arose from the dead. While they did so, the dwarven lord made clear that he would let no one take the Cube, while the Dragonborn war leader made equally clear that he would free "Adropov" (whoever that might be) if it was the last thing he did.

Unfortunately for the players, the two sides did not recognise the heroes as non-combatants, and fought them as well as their long dead foes. Eventually, however, they managed to hew down the two arch-enemies, which in turn caused their armies to return to the dusty piles of bones they had been previously.

Posted by Anonymous at 8:43 PM 0 comments  

Labels: DM, Summary

Often mistaken for the Azure Northern Dragon. Known for trickery and petty collusion with the evil races.

I certainly hope not since, if true, that might indicate that we are walking into a trap set with the dragon and the goblins.

Posted by Savin at 4:04 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin

At times, I am inclined to believe in a thing that lesser intellects call luck.

At times.

We had made our way to the Trench in order to look for possible routes across. In order to maintain the agreement with the North Haven Azure dragon that we had struck earlier, we needed to attempt to retrieve her cache of eggs from the hobgoblins who had stolen them and taken them into their Dwarven stronghold.

While performing this search, a child from the nearby town fell through the covered top of an old granary of the destroyed and abandoned Dwarven hold of Steirholm. After rescuing the child, we uncovered a large store or grain, much of it still well preserved (See Gothak Sortan's Treatise on Botanical decay for the intricacies of long term grain storage).

This granary offered us a backdoor into Steirhold and possibly a way to get closer to the bridges that cross the Trench. An interesting bit of trivia only except for Gregoir's Diary. Found amongst the treasure hunter's belongings, Gregoir's Diary seems to offer us a guide through the complexities of the hold. At the very least it was promising enough for us to take the chance that some degree of geographic correlation could be found.

Because the diary mentioned being stuck by a large body of water, we returned to town in order to seek a solution. I was forced to speak again to that Thaumological half-wit Marcus.

While Marcus remains trapped in a pre-Thamaic thought pattern, he has spent longer immersed in the new arcane realities of our world. This has allowed him to adapt some spellforms that I haven't had the opportunity to yet study. If only his notations weren't so Hetnian. The inefficiencies of his structures are astounding. A simple water walking form which would previously have taken mere seconds to cast, required orders of magnitude more time! Additionally, his overwrought forms required the consumption of an inordinate amount of highly prepared components. I am convinced that this does not reflect the change in the magical world but is, rather, simply Marcus' own inadequacies coming through. I am certain that, given adequate time, I will be able to adjust Marcus' forms to regain the lost alacrity and efficiency of material.

In any event, we made our way back to the entrance and entered the hold. This led us to the large underground lake that Gregoir's Diary had mentioned. While we were approaching from another direction, we could begin to see similarities to the Diary's descriptions. I set about casting the ritual to allow us to traverse the aquatic body (see above for the issues I had with Marcus' poorly wrought spellform)

Partway through the cavern, we came to a side set of doors the Gregoir's Diary indicate may lead to the Grotius Cube. While not our primary mission, the Cube seems to great of a prize not to investigate. The timeline with our Dragon ally is lax enough to allow for this.

While investigating the door, we encountered a large number of undead (I believe that would be classified as Zombies though their exact behaviour and physiological makeup differed from those I have studied). It appears that these zombies (the term will serve until a more accurate classification can be done) are mostly human. Strange that in a Dwarven hold.

We were able to open the doors to the deeper hold and drain the water (and the majority of the undead).

While we have no indication as to the Cube's true abilities, it is (or was) a greater artefact. I am curious to see what effect (if any) the rearrangement of the spellforms has had upon an artefact. In theory, it should be unaffected if the shift has been constrained to spellforms alone. If however, there has been a greater rearrangement, it is hard to predict what the effect will be. I am eager to have an opportunity to further my studies into our new magical landscape. Hopefully, the Cube will restore some of my woefully diminished magical abilities.

Posted by Savin at 5:00 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin, Summary

Just so that all of you know the dating convention -

4 seasons, each of three months:

Paksee (spring)
Kurn (summer)
Ellaselle (fall)
Fenor (winter)

Of those three months, they are labelled 1-3 as:
1. aspiring
2. ascendent
3. waning

Each month has 30 days

Posted by Anonymous at 11:33 PM 0 comments  

Labels: World

After negotiating with the blue dragon Vermafex, she gave you the corpse of Gregore Stonehew, dwarven (ex)-explorer. On said corpse, in addition to some magical items which have been divied up, there was a map of the ruins of Treffenholm, and a diary.

Here are some of the more pertinent entries from that diary.

Kurn ascendent, day 13, 1036 AC
It is an auspicious day, but not one I expected. While taking a break from my months of unsuccessful studies at the grand library of Bareira, I met in a cafe a most curious man, who regailed me with tales regarding Kirwin's journeys during the Godwar. It took me a while to believe this eccentric elf, but as I listened, more and more of what he said matched what my studies had told me. To make a long story short, while not knowing the ulimate fate of Kirwin Swordsinger, he had deducted where Kirwin's treasure was - the fabled Grotius Cube. As I had suspected, it lies in the ruins of Treffenholm, and had not entered the Settled Lands as had previously been posited.

Paksee waning, day 2, 1037 AC
It took me much longer to get here to Steirholm than I expected - my uncle most unreasonably refused to extend to me the funds needed to complete the journey. However, having borrowed heavily from his till, I now finally have the money I need. I know he will be angry when he finds out - and thus I leave at dawn - but his tune will change when I return iwith riches and glory - and the Cube!

Ellaselle ascendent, day 20, 1037 AC
I have installed myself at the court in Steirhold and have begun to (carefully) search for more information regarding the ruins of the old hold

Fenor aspiring, day 17, 1037 AC
What great luck - the fool Cervenish has let slip the very information I need to continue my quest - that old plans for Treffenholm can be found located in the vaults of the Steirholm library. Now, just to figure out how I can get my hands on them to make myself a copy...

Fenor aspiring, day 30, 1037 AC
Sweet fortune shines on me! In now have the maps in these very hands! The real maps, alas, which will mean I have to act quickly to avoid discovery - there was no time for me to be able to copy them. Also alas, I had to abuse Lady Elamir's trust horribly, which is a shame for this will surely mean that our most palitable relationship must end. Nut no matter - once I have the Cube, riches and women will be mine as easily as plucking a peach from a tree. Still, I will miss those sweet lips.

Fenor ascendent, day 6, 1037 AC
I'm finding the maps less helpful than I had hoped - at least this close to the Scar, everythings a terrible jumble. Hopefully, as I manage to penetrate this shamble of stone I will be able to place myself on my charts.

Fenor ascendent, day 23, 1037 AC
At last! I have finally found my way past the wreckage and into the ruins themselves! Alas, not where I had hoped, but hopefully enough remains intact that I might still make my way.

Paksee aspiring, day 2, 1038 AC
I had hoped that the passing of the old year would see me with my prize in hand, but no such luck, as I find my path blocked by a section of flooded passages and corridors. I have started to look for a way around, but no luck so far.

Paksee aspiring, day 12, 1038 AC
I'm beginning to think there is no way around, which means I will have to risk a trip back to Steirholm to acquire some potions - a couple waterwalking and perhaps a waterbreathing incase the passage will become completely flooded. As always, the thoughts of the prize to be had carries me through my setbacks. I am so close I can feel it...

Paksee waning, day 3, 1038 AC
I must have offended Her Lady Paksee somehow, for somehow, in this her season, she has turned her eyes away from me and let the Lord Fenor rule my house. Alas, the Young Lady is fickle, but it seems I have regained her affection. 2 months ago, after procuring the potions, I was caught and arrested on suspicion of stealing those old maps. Fortunately, I had the foresight of hiding them before entering the hold, otherwise I would be having trouble writing, what with my soul and body having been made strangers. Instead, I am now free - it seems that Lady Paksee is not the only lady in whom's heart there is still affection. Now, however, I must reclaim the maps and reclaim my prize, so that I might her sweet lips once more.

Paksee waning, day 5, 1038
Alas, it seems I have regained the affection of the one Lady more than the other, for Paksee once again shuns me. In recovering the maps, I was spotted. Due to my quick wits, I made my way free, but unfortunately the known paths into the ruins are now guarded. It seems I will have to find another path. MY greatest regret is that my camp is still set up in the ruins, and I will have to do without it until I can make my way to the Cube and back to it. A pity - until I make it back to it, there will be no luxury in my life.

Pakesee waning, day 10, 1038
She smiles again - I believe I've found a way in! I've found a shaft down into the mountain, and after a short climb will let me know if this is one more disappointment, or if my prize is again within reach.

And that is the final entry.

Posted by Anonymous at 10:00 PM 1 comments  

Labels: History, Plot