Tim's Outlanders: Mansion of Illusions, Session 6 - April 13 to 16, 18 IC

[This session took place January 2001.  We were playing Champions 4th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Max Lucas - human male ranger from the Bayern District
Arturo of the Brambles - male human monk of the Order of the Brambles
Tarquin the Mad - male human fighter, traveling companion to Rory

NPCs

Monteflurio the Sage - male human sage from Freegate
Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin
Pira the Seer - female human seer from Fordsway, accompanied by her apprentice

Session Begins, April 13, 18 IC

After widening the cave-in mouth [see end of previous session], Monteflurio, Dangar, Max, Arturo, Rory, and Tarquin entered the revealed stairwell and traveled downwards into the ruins.  Every flat surface was covered with nearly two inches of dust, suggesting the long abandonment of the ruins.  The group spent several hours investigating what Monteflurio identified as a guest house before finding the tunnel system that lead to the manor house.  

During the investigation, Max opened the front doors of the guest house and nearly flooded the house with anti-magic dust.  Quick action by Tarquin closed the door before that happened, but a layer averaging a foot in depth now covered the entry area, knocking out any magic that contacted it.

It was also while exploring the guest house that Arturo damaged or destroyed three stasis boxes found in a store room in the attic by using anti-magic dust to break the magic locks.  In side the boxes were some ancient faux-alabaster tea cups (with saucers) and some linens.  The expedition returned to camp after running out of torches to provide light.  It was nearly dawn when they reached their campsite.

April 14

Dusk

After taking a "short" nap and restocking their supply of torches, the expedition returned to the tunnels as the sun set behind the mountains.  They made their way down through the guest house to an access tunnel that was below the original floor of the valley.  The tunnel was covered with extensive murals, all having a flame/fire motif.

After walking a while, the expedition found the main passage, which had scenes of war and glory decorating its walls.  They spent several hours exploring the main passage, locating other branching passages, one with an earth motif, one with an animal motif (which lead to an area whose doors they did not open), one with a water motif, and one with an air motif.  Monteflurio’s research indicated that the tunnels with elemental motifs led to other guesthouses and the animal motif to an arena of some sort, so the expedition did not go down those side passages.  

They eventually worked out that they were moving away from the main house and, after some backtracking, the expedition found a set of very ornate stairs leading up, probably into the Mansion itself.  Rather than pushing on, the expedition returned back to camp for food and sleep, having been on the move for close to fifteen hours.  They returned to their campsite and  rested until near dusk the next day.

April 15

Dusk

The same group hiked out to the center of the valley and descended into the Fire House.  It then took them nearly and hour of walking to reach the grand stair up to the main house.

Ascending the stairs, Monteflurio used his notes to lead them through the mansion to the throne room.  There they found the Throne of the Sorcerer-Kings.  It was made of gold with intricate inlays of precious metals and gems.  The arm rests ended in lion heads that appeared to be roaring.  Monteflurio performed a quick search of the room and determined that what he was specifically looking for was not there.  He and Dangar took a different set of stairs up to another level of the mansion, looking for the library.  Rory, Max, Arturo, and Tarquin stayed in the throne room and investigated the throne further.  

Rory sat down on the throne and fiddled with the gemstones on the armrests.  He discovered that some of them activated powers of the chair.  He caused the right lion head to breathe flame (nearly scorching Max) and the left lion head to emit lightning from its eyes.  He also discovered some targeting properties and vision enhancements, but could not get any responses from the rest of the buttons.

Upstairs, Monteflurio and Dangar located the door to  the Sorcerer-King’s private chambers.  The door was made out of an unusual metal and had no obvious means of opening it.  Dangar resorted to brute force, hacking at it with his battleaxe, nearly destroying the axe in the process.

Once inside the Sorcerer-King’s private chambers, Dangar and Monteflurio quickly investigated chambers until they located the personal library.  The room was floor to ceiling books and scrolls, all of them written in a high form of Mage Tongue.  Monteflurio discovered another stasis case, four feet long with a one-foot square cross-section.  Monteflurio was excited as the stasis case might contain the item he was looking for.

Wanting to open the case, but not having the key, Monteflurio had Dangar haul it back downstairs to the throne room, where the other adventurers were waiting.  A discussion about the best way to open the case without damaging anything inside ensued.   The group consensus was that the best way to open it was by using the anti-magic dust to disable the magical portion of the lock.

Arturo headed back to the Fire House to get some of the anti-magic dust they had accidentally let in.  Tarquin, Rory, and Dangar waited in the entrance hall of the mansion with the case for Arturo to get back while Monteflurio searched the library further and Max searched the rest of the Sorcerer-King’s private chambers.

Max discovered what he thought was the body of one of the servants in a small bedroom.  He returned to the entrance hall to report this.  Later investigation determined that it was the bodies of two children whose throats had been sliced.  On one hand, the expedition was comforted somewhat by finding the first remains they had seen so far.  On the other hand, whoever or whatever killed the children might still be down here and they immediately started speculating as to who/what killed them and where it might be.

Several hours later, Arturo returned and they opened the case (destroying its stasis properties).  Inside was a giant scroll.  Taking the scroll back to the library to consult with Monteflurio, they discovered he was nowhere to be found.  Concerned that something might have happened to Monteflurio, they immediately searched the private quarters.  They found a partially concealed small spiral staircase down to the first floor, possibly servant stairs.  the stairs led to another study where Monteflurio had found, not what he was looking for, but a stasis box containing a fully stocked wet-bar and food items.  The expedition, suddenly realizing they were extremely hungry, took a break from exploring and raided the food.

After spending some time sating their hunger and thirst on quality food and some excellent and priceless vintages, the group unrolled the giant scroll.  The giant scroll contained several things.  First, it contained an actual map of the gardens, including notes as to where the "current" illusions were.  Next was a schematic of the tunnel system that indicated where a secret lab was located.  Finally there was a section of text that no one could translate, but looked like an ancient variant of Mage Tongue.  The expedition members discussed it and decided to try the Lab as the next most likely place that the Sorcerer-King’s symbol of authority could be.  

It was just after midnight April 16th when they made this decision, although the expedition was unaware of the exact time.

End of Session.

Happening Off-Stage

[No notes listed here, which suggests nothing of significance happed during the nearly 4 days covered by this session.  That or I hadn't written the next bits of the ongoing war yet.  I'm no longer certain which.]

DM Discussion

[So this is where my identified notes end on this adventure.  I know there was at least another session, possibly two, during this adventure because my notes for Session 1 of The Road to Thuringia starts with the Outlanders having been back at Freegate for a while.  I need to locate the rest of the notes for this adventure in my pile of unidentified files, which will take a little time as I still have 140 .docx files and 260 .doc files to look through.]

[In the meantime, I will be switching back to posting session notes for the Sudden Sea campaign, which is currently running and set 36 years later in the same world.  The links here will continue to point to the Tim's Outlanders adventures for later continuity of reading.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Mansion Of Illusions

Session 5

Session 7 [Still looking for the notes/summary]

Tim's Outlanders: Mansion of Illusions, Session 5 - April 6 to 13, 18 IC

[This session took place September 16, 2000.  We were playing Champions 4th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Max Lucas - human male ranger from the Bayern District
Arturo of the Brambles - male human monk of the Order of the Brambles
Tarquin the Mad - male human fighter, traveling companion to Rory

NPCs

Monteflurio the Sage - male human sage from Freegate
Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin

Pira the Seer - female human seer from Fordsway, accompanied by her apprentice

Session Begins, April 7, 18 IC

After killing the griffins, the expedition decided to investigate their nest and look for eggs.  They marched to the base of the rock formation and made camp.  Then Tarquin, Rory, and Dangar started climbing the rock formation, taking a half-day's worth of food with them.

By the end of the day they were only part way up the formation having seriously underestimating its height and the difficulty in climbing it.  Rather than return and possibly lose access to baby griffins or griffin eggs, they huddled on a small ledge for the night.

April 8

Tarquin, Rory, and Dangar achieved the summit near the end of the day.  They found live griffin chicks and rescued one of them.  [My notes don't say what happened to the others, but they likely died of starvation.]  They camped in the nest for the night, cold and hungry.

April 9

It took them nearly the full day to climb back down with the griffin hungry chick.  By the time they returned, they and the griffin chick were starving and they spent time eating and feeding the chick.  Max spent time hunting additional food for the griffin chick and then training it not to bite him.

April 12

After three more days of travel through the mountains, the party arrived in the vicinity of the Scooped Mountain.  Rory had them delay entering the valley until the next morning so they could "see an interesting sight."

April 13

The following morning, before dawn, the expedition crossed the ridge into Flat Valley.  The mountain on the far side of the valley had a large void in its side where it appeared part of the mountain had been scooped out.   When the sun came up, the Scooped Mountain acted as a parabolic mirror and created the illusion of the sun hovering inside the scooped area.  This gave things in the valley odd double shadows pointing in opposite directions.  Down on the very flat valley floor, near the center, they saw a small hillock, the only raised part of the valley floor.

A Couple Hours Later

When the expedition reached the valley floor they discovered a small surprise – it radiated an anti-magic field of noticeable strength.  Investigating further, they also discovered that all the animal tracks they could find veered away from the valley floor.  Finally, the wide flat valley floor had no trees – it was covered only by three foot tall grass.

The expedition decided to leave the wagon and the majority of their supplies on the mountain slope outside the anti-magic zone and proceed on foot.  Pira and her apprentice stayed with the wagon and the griffin chick.  Tarquin, Dangar, Max, Arturo, Rory, and Monteflurio hiked the thirty minutes to the hillock out on the valley floor.

Once at the hillock, they discovered a small cave-in on the back side of the hill that provided access to the interior.  Sticking a torch into the hole, they discovered that the cave-in lead to a stairwell.  They spent some time widening the hole with their shovels before entering.

End of Session

Happening Off-Stage

The Northern Horde fended off several attacks from the Imperial 1st Legion cavalry and the Perothian Militia while it marched northeast.

DM Discussion

[I'm really pleased with the unusual nature of this valley.  I know exactly why it looks like this, but the players will not learn why until next session.  I'll go into more detail in the next post.]

[The delay for this post was I needed time to read the notes better.  I thought there was a gap in the notes due to a hard drive crash that happened in 2014.  When I finally had time to sit down and read the notes, I realized there was no gap in the notes, but my time-keeping was flawed.  I've had to adjust the dates to match the time that passes in the notes.  I was off by a day at the end of this session and I'm not certain why.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Mansion Of Illusions

Session 4

Session 6 [Not yet typed up]

Tim's Outlanders: Mansion of Illusions, Session 4 - April 3 to 6, 18 IC

[This session took place August 26, 2000.  We were playing Champions 4th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Max Lucas - human male ranger from the Bayern District
Arturo of the Brambles - male human monk of the Order of the Brambles
Tarquin the Mad - male human fighter, traveling companion to Rory

NPCs

Monteflurio the Sage - male human sage from Freegate
Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin

Session Begins, April 4, 18 IC

The expedition traveled west along the road remnant for three days.  

April 6, 18 IC

When the expedition reached the rock formation known as Ahmotep’s Fist, Rory and Tarquin advised circling the mountain itself as some griffins had taken nest there.  The Outlanders agreed and started moving around the mountain.

While circling around the mountain, the expedition was attacked by the griffins, who had expanded their hunting area due to the hatching of their young.  After a heavy fight, the adventurers killed the griffins and secured trophies and meat.  

End of Session.

Happening Off-Stage

The Sting-Tails continue raiding camped caravans for horses.  Besides the horses, they only take targets of opportunity when it comes to valuables.  They are more concerned with getting the horses than any treasure or trade goods.  As a side-effect, this means that the merchants are not calling for the Legions or Militia yet, but are hiring caravan guards and buying extra horses.

The Northern Horde has moved through Lundania and is moving into the Grand Duchy of Perothia. The Horde is making for the old 7th Legion Citadel.  The Lundanian Militia took an entirely defensive position and only fought for the towns.  The Grand Duke of Perothia has had more time to raise his Militia and they are ready for a more aggressive stance.  Units of the Perothian Militia have been performing hit and run attacks against the Horde.  They have also taken to setting wild fires to deflect the attack path of the Horde and reduce what the Horde can scavenge.  The hit and run attacks have not been as successful due to the bat-rider scouts while the wild fires have worked much better.  The Horde has started setting fires themselves, burning areas they will not be moving into.

DM Discussion

[This session produced very few notes as the fight with the griffins took up most of the session.  Also, Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate!]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Mansion Of Illusions

Session 3

Session 5

Tim's Outlanders: Mansion of Illusions, Session 3 - April 2 to 3, 18 IC

[This session took place July 22, 2000.  We were playing Champions 4th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]

Player Characters

Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Max Lucas - human male ranger from the Bayern District
Arturo of the Brambles - male human monk of the Order of the Brambles
Tarquin the Mad - male human fighter, traveling companion to Rory

NPCs

Monteflurio the Sage - male human sage from Freegate
Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin

Session Begins, April 2, 18 IC

The members of the adventuring party tried to track the remaining owlbears before the sun rose.  During the long winding hunt, they realized that the owlbears were healing somehow, if not actually regenerating.  When the trail lead into the swiftly flowing river in the center of the valley, the hunters decided to call off the hunt and return to camp.  The slim remainder of the night slowly passed without any additional incidences.

April 3, 18 IC

This day the expedition traveled through the valley as quickly as possible to avoid the owlbears.  When they reached the far end of the valley, they reconnoitered to get their orientation and then headed towards the ancient road remnant Rory and Tarquin had located on their scouting mission the previous year.  After a half-day of travel they found two things: the road remnant and two humans waiting for them on it.  

The woman waiting for them was named Pira and she was from Fordsway [a trade city-state to the south that competes with Freegate].   She and her apprentice escaped Fordsway just before an orc horde over-ran the city.  She used her ability to command spirits to determine if the city was still occupied.  As of that morning it still was.  

The short conversation that followed lead the expedition to the realization that there was another orc horde, one separate from the one that attacked Freegate, and it was undefeated by the Imperial Legions.  This was important news but there seemed to be little they could do about it.  Deciding that there was in fact nothing they could do about it at this point (Dangar requiring some heavy persuading), they continued on their mission.  

End of Session.

Happening Off-Stage

Raiding by the Sting-Tails resumes on the road to the HNTR Terminus.  The Sting-Tails, after the incident with the Outlanders, have changed tactics.  They are now raiding camped wagons and stealing any horses they can get away with.  They find that this is allowing them to increase the size of their herd faster.

The Goblins of “Kerr Keep”, after fending off Dangar the first time, have decided to avoid him this time.  They are watching the expedition move through their territory, but will not interfere with them.

The Lizardman Horde is preparing for their attack on the Empire.  Their shamans have been shielding the gathering point in the Great Moors from scrying.  They will attack on the longest day of the year (June 21), symbolizing that their enemies have reached their zenith and now are in decline.  They consider the orcs to be lesser beings but allies.  They will not work with the Black Dwarves.

DM Discussion

[What goblins you ask?  The ones Go-Tok mentioned were dumping their trash and sewage into the river, polluting it.  They are alchemists and magical bioengineers, so that pollution has a bite.  What lizardmen you ask?  The horde all the way across the continent from where the campaign is taking place.  They are one of three hordes attacking the Empire this year and are actually the dangerous ones.  More about them later.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Mansion Of Illusions

Session 2

Session 4

Tim's Outlanders: Mansion of Illusions, Session 2 - March 27 to April 2, 18 IC

[This session took place June 24, 2000.]

Player Characters

Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Max Lucas - human male ranger from the Bayern District
Arturo of the Brambles - male human monk of the Order of the Brambles

Tarquin the Mad - male human fighter, traveling companion to Rory

NPCs

Monteflurio the Sage - male human sage from Freegate
Rory the Red - Wizard and graduate of Outlands University, traveling companion to Tarquin

Session Begins, March 27, 18 IC

On March 27th of 18 IC, the group headed west from Freegate once again.  On the route, they met and talked with a merchant caravan heading east from the High North Trade Route.  The merchant had run across the site of the fight with the orc raiders and found that it had been scavenged fairly thoroughly.  His men had moved the tree so it no longer blocked the road.  He also told the adventurers that he had heard rumors that the 8th Legion now guarded the entire High North Trade Route and the 4th Legion’s Citadel was almost completely empty.  The players told him about their fight with the orcs and that Freegate was currently very short on quality beer.  This was good news for the merchant who was shipping a modest stock of Orpheon Gold.  [A high end beer from Port Orpheon, on the other side of the Worldspine Mountains.]  He now knew to raise his prices when he got to Freegate.  He offered to sell the adventurers some Orpheon Gold on the cheap for the information and Dangar bought a small keg of it.

March 29, 18 IC

Two days later, the adventurers returned to the site of their fight with the orcs.  After warily checking out the site, they found it to be as the merchant described it.  From there they headed south, into the mountains of the Spur.  The air in the mountains was colder than on the plains and the adventurers were very glad for the winter gear they had packed.

March 31, 18 IC

Late in the day the adventurers spotted a low-flying bat patrol as it crested a mountain ridge.  They decided, due to their experiences with the Sting-Tails, to set up a false camp as well as a cold regular camp.

Third Watch

During the final watch that night, Dangar observed what appeared to be orcs setting up a tent in a meadow across the valley.  Rather than wake his comrades, he decided to go “take care of” these orcs, believing he could get there and back before his friends awoke.

Sneaking across the valley, Dangar was able to use the tall grasses in the meadow to sneak right up to the tent and attack.  Catching the guards by surprise, Dangar was able to kill two of the four guards before the orcs were aware he was there.  The orc shaman there subsequently subdued Dangar with magic.  The noise from this conflict woke the rest of the adventurers across the valley.

Rapidly discerning what had happened, Tarquin and Max headed across the valley to save Dangar from himself.  Arturo, Rory, and Monteflurio broke down camp and prepared for a hasty retreat if needed.  

After spending 30 minutes quickly working their way across the valley, Tarquin and Max arrived at the edge of the meadow.  Max stayed hidden in the brush with his bow at the ready while Tarquin openly approached the tent.  The tent flaps were down on all sides and the tent was ringed with orc spearmen, spears pointing out.  When Tarquin got within 30 feet, the leader of the spearmen hailed him and ordered him to stop.  The leader of the spearmen then leaned into the tent and informed Go-Tok of Tarquin’s arrival.

Tarquin (who knew some orcish) and Go-Tok, the leader of the Snake-Bites, negotiated the return of Dangar and unhindered passage around the lands of the Snake-Bites.  This cost the 30 gold Royals Dangar had on him and the half-cask of Orpheon Gold Dangar had not yet drunk.  As Dangar was unconscious, Tarquin felt Dangar could not complain about the use of his money and ale to pay his own ransom.  He readily agreed to the terms.

For being a good sport about the whole thing, Go-Tok drew a map in the dirt of the valley and warned Tarquin about the owlbears currently there.  Go-Tok also warned Tarquin not to drink the water of the river in the valley as goblins were using it as a dumping area upstream.  Tarquin thanked Go-Tok for the information, threw the unconscious Dangar over his shoulder, and headed back out of the meadow.  

When Tarquin got to the edge of the meadow, Max asked if he had gotten Dangar’s axe as well as Dangar.  Tarquin hadn’t, so he set Dangar down and went back for the axe.  Go-Tok had left the meadow but some of his spearmen were still there and formed up a defensive ring when they saw Tarquin was returning.  

After taking a few minutes to explain how upset Dangar would be to find his axe missing and describing what he would likely do to get it back, the orcs returned the axe, deciding it would cause too much trouble to have Dangar repeatedly trying to get his axe back.  When Tarquin returned with Dangar’s axe, Max asked about Dangar’s helmet.  “He can get along without it,” was Tarquin’s only response.  They tied Dangar wrists and ankles to a pole and carried him back to the camp.

Once back at the camp, Dangar was revived while still tied up.  When it became apparent he would not go running off after the orcs, Dangar was cut free.  When Dangar asked about his missing ale and money, Tarquin said that the orcs had stolen it.  Dangar did not entirely believe this and suspected that Tarquin drank his ale, not the orcs.  He was not certain what happened with his money.

April 1, 18 IC

The group traveled west until they entered the valley that lead around the Snake-Bites’ lands.  There, they traveled south a few hours until the early dusk of the mountains made it hazardous to travel any further.  They made a cold camp around a clearing in the woods near the river.  

That Night

Max and Rory heard the cries of what could have been owlbears during their watches, but it sounded like the owlbears were at the far end of the valley.  On the third watch, Tarquin heard the sounds of several “somethings” moving through the underbrush at high speed towards the camp.  He woke the rest of the group so that they would be ready for whatever happened.  At this point Dangar realized that he had also lost his nightvision goggles along with his helmet.

After a small eternity, during which the adventurers could hear the hunting cries of the owlbears getting closer and closer, a small group of deer ran through the clearing.  Max shot one of the deer, hoping to use its carcass as a distraction for the owlbears.  Seconds later, an owlbear crashed into the clearing, its huge shaggy body a mass of shadows in the darkness.  It moved to feast upon the deer, which was spasming slightly. While it was distracted, the group attacked it en mass.  

After a short and violent fight, the owlbear went down.  Dangar and Max moved in to remove its claws and beak as battle trophies.  When they were almost done doing this (and covered with owlbear blood), two more owlbears attacked.  This battle was less organized and more frantic as the party was unprepared for it.  Dangar and Max were heavily wounded in the fighting and the party was only able to drive off the owlbears, not kill them.

As the sun came up, it was early the morning of April 2nd.

End of Session.

Happening Off-Stage

The wounded owlbears are moving off to regenerate the damage they have taken.  Once that is done, they will return to hunt the adventurers.

This session ends the night of April 1st/2nd.  Dangar’s birthday is April 2nd and some birthday gifts have arrived for him at the University since the group left Freegate.  These will be waiting for him at the University Guards building until he returns.

DM Discussion

[Another player joined the group at this point.  Rather than try and introduce a new character mid-adventure, I gave him the option of playing either Rory or Tarquin.  He was new to the HERO System, so chose Tarquin as fighters are easier to learn than spellcasters, who need to know how the powers the magic spells are made of work.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Mansion Of Illusions

Session 1

Session 3