- This is the third and final part of the Session 35 narrative. In this session writeup, Ethan gets a powerful item which will shortly put him firmly at the maximum limit of Bad Stuff, mainly because we wanted to explore how bad things can get. It is possible for an item to have its own Bad Stuff (a case in point would be The One Ring, from the Lord of the Rings). More on that after the write-up below. We’ll also be touching on what happens when a PC gets a 20-30 point item - i.e.: something really really powerful. Nothing that powerful should land in the PC’s lap without strings/limits/drawbacks. Again, more on that at the very bottom.
Realm 38 - The Dragons' Graveyard (Black Door)
- (GM’s note - okay, this place is a deathtrap. It is strong in Umbra, and dampens the physical senses to ‘ease one’s passing’ - to make it less painful to die. This is not a place for a Lord of Gossamer to linger.)
- Ethan opens the Door and finds a tunnel only a foot deep on the other side. The Door hardly opens, as if blocked. Ethan has never seen anything like this before, and he steps through. He finds a coin buried in the wall and Isabelle recognises it as Aurum (High Gold). Ethan feels a tingling sensation but isn’t sure what it is. He feels the tunnel wall and theorises that someone or something has blocked the tunnel to prevent Lords of Gossamer from accessing whatever lies beyond. Ethan tries to cast a spell - he finds it difficult, but with enough focus he is able to trigger a telekinesis spell and begin moving the earth aside. It is mentally straining but he can do it. Another coin drops from the ceiling as he does.
- Ethan excavates a horizontal tunnel more than thirty metres long before he reaches the hillside. Beyond is a blackened land filled with bones. It gives them both the creeps. Isabelle takes out her compass, and it is spins and spins. Isabelle says that she doesn’t want to stay here. Ethan can feel the fabric of this place pulling at him, but he’s not sure what it is doing. Ethan tells Isabelle that it’ll be a short trip - and they wander away from the cave mouth.
* Image sourced from Google Images.
- Above it is night time, and yet there are no stars in the sky (GM's note - despite the picture). It seems possible to see in this place, but it is a realm of shadows and darkness. There is firm ground beneath them, and Ethan begins looking for things of interest. He finds an iron ball, bigger than his fist, partially embedded in the ground. He can see markings on the shell, and he pockets it. Isabelle picks up some coins as she goes but she’s constantly looking back over her shoulder to where they came from.
- They find a huge set of bleached white bones which dwarf them. Then they see the dragon’s skull. Isabelle consults her compass and finds it still spinning. She insists that something is wrong as Ethan starts digging a red shield out of the dirt. She looks through her things and finds that the foodstuffs she has been carrying have rotted away to nothing. Ethan is not surprised. He pulls the shield out of the ground - the leather straps have decayed to nothing, but the shield itself is intact. Ethan says that he can feel that the Umbra is powerful here, and it is seeking to unmake things. But, he says with a smile, this means that whatever has survived is powerful and worth acquiring. Isabelle thinks that staying is a bad idea - that this place will unmake more than just the food given time. Ethan carries on, acquiring a jewelled ring with a tiny red dragon emblazoned on it.
- Then they hear it. At first the ground trembles, then they hear a sound like thunder. Then the ground trembles again, and then thunder once more. Something is coming. Neither one of them wants to linger - they run. But when they see it, they realise that they will never get back to the Door in time. The source is a living mountain, more than a quarter-mile high, striding over the landscape on two colossal stumps and flattening everything in its path.
* Image sourced from Google Images.
- Even running as fast as they can, Ethan is sure that they will never make it in time so he tells Isabelle to run on while he distracts it. He feels the spell energies of his telekinesis spell flickering, and yet takes to the air in an attempt to lead it away. He ignites his lightsaber, but the blade is not coherent. He attempts to sink Eidolon power into the device to shore it up but feels that it is like trying to fill a bottomless pit. The lightsaber dies. (GM’s note - bye bye 1 point item)
- Much to Ethan’s astonishment, the stone colossus ignores him completely and keeps marching after Isabelle. Ethan panics and channels Eidolon into his telekinesis spell, smashing down upon the back of the monster - but the creature doesn’t even notice. (GM’s note - yes, that’s right. First Rank Psyche powering a magical attack, and the monster doesn’t even notice. If Ethan was using Umbra he might have a chance, but he has no chance with Sorcery. It’s like bringing a toothpick to a gunfight) He tries again and again without success, and the monster reaches the hillside and begins raining fists upon it, collapsing the tunnel and trapping Isabelle inside. Ethan has no idea if Isabelle is alive or dead. It’s all turned to ‘poo’ so quickly that he’s quite shocked by it all.
- Ethan feels his flight spell unravelling and he uses Eidolon to shore it up before he lands on the ground. The monster pays him no mind and continues pounding the hillside with gigantic fists. Ethan knows that if the monster can destroy the gate, he’ll have no way out.
- Ethan thinks hard, and uses Wayfinding to find him the most powerful item nearby, capable of defeating the monster. With a direction in mind, he uses telekinesis to take to the air again (using Eidolon to keep the spell running is very draining) and powers towards it. After ten minutes of flight time, he arrives at a bare patch of earth and smashes into the ground, disturbing the skeleton of a massive dragon and what appears to be a dead Dwimmerlaik, clad in ornate silvery armour. He digs furiously until he finds it, buried in the partially exploded skull of a dead dragon. The weapon is Gorgorin the Shatterer (GM’s note - see spoilers at the end for details). It is a blade as dark as the void, but occasionally pinpoints of light like stars can be seen along its surface. This is it. Ethan can feel the power in it, and he takes it and flies off with it.
* Image sourced from Google Images.
- Gorgorin wakes slowly but Ethan can feel the malice in the blade. It doesn’t like him. Ethan can sense that the Door is still intact but the colossus has given up pounding the hill side and is now standing nearby like a statue. Ethan’s flight spell fails within a mile of the monster. He smashes into the ground and his clothes are badly torn (they were already badly weakened by the prolonged exposure to Umbral decay). Bleeding from grazes, he cannot seem to use Eidolon to heal his minor scrapes. However he feels a distinct lack of pain in his light wounds. He recovers the red shield that he abandoned and hears Isabelle’s voice in his head. It is not an Icon contact, but something else. She is trapped and scared, but she is alive. He has no way of responding.
- With clothes literally falling off him as they succumb to Umbral decay, Ethan faces the monster in rags. It does not seem to react to his presence, but it does react when he attempts to move the earth in an attempt to reach the Door. Again the great colossus raises its fist and seeks to crush him. He dives away as the monster punches into the ground, and then runs back in before the fist can be withdrawn. A single slice with Gorgorin causes explosive destruction, blowing apart the monster’s fist and showering Ethan with shrapnel. Ethan has little time to be astonished or realise that he’s bleeding - he runs for one of the stone lord’s legs and blasts it into oblivion, sending it careening into the ground with an earth-shattering clash which knocks Ethan to the ground.
- Before the dust has cleared, Ethan is back on his feet. He has dug deeply into his reserves and activated the remaining spell that he has racked on his ring (acquired in the Agora - it is still working!). He begins to tunnel into the mountain and back to the Door. He finds Isabelle slumped against it - she is unconscious. He opens the Door and drags her onto the Stair.
Grand Stairway Section 16 - The Black Stairs
- Back on the Stair, Ethan uses Eidolon to help her to breathe. Using Eidolon is hard though - something is interfering. (GM’s note - yes, carrying Gorgorin makes it very hard to use Eidolon…. bad bad bad stuff) Then he picks her up and heads for the nearest safe Door.
Realm 39 - Hubbert (White Door)
- Ethan and Isabelle look like hell as they step on to the streets of the little rural town of Hubbert. They are dressed in little more than rags and Ethan is bleeding from a number of shallow wounds. Looking up and down the street from the doorway that they have stepped out of, Ethan spies a number of men and women on horseback, along with the odd bicycle. There are no cars. It is very quiet. In desperation, Ethan calls for help, and the locals respond with speed and kindness. They are taken to a gentle doctor named Phess, who binds Ethan’s wounds and offers to take them home with him and look after them until they are well enough to travel.
- Most of their belongings have been ruined. Their clothes are in rags. Isabelle’s Everpurse is still operating but Ethan’s is broken - the spells have been unravelled. Even the precious compass that Isabelle carries has been damaged - the spells that were used to conceal its power have been partially unravelled but are slowly re-weaving themselves. Isabelle is initially in shock, but Ethan gently calms her with Eidolon and she sleeps for a long time. When she wakes, she eats only a little. Ethan is also shocked - he has never encountered anything so powerful before. He eats a little soup, accepts a change of clothes and offers some money to repay Phess. Phess refuses, and continues to share generously. He has been lonely since his wife died and he welcomes the company.
- Hubbert is a world almost without machines. Most of the world used to run on an oil-like fuel but the reserves have largely run out so people have gone back to hand-weaving clothes, riding horses and bicycles, and a much simpler life. Even the shirt that Ethan accepts is hand-woven rather than machine-woven.
- Isabelle and Ethan say little to each other, so Phess spends time with Isabelle, helping her to heal. She spends time with the family pet (a small dog-like creature) and a horse who used to belong to Phess’ daughter before she moved away. The connection with the animals helps with the healing process. Ethan sits out on the porch in the sun and listens to the silence. He reads books from Phess’ library. He goes for a walk around the area and climbs up a nearby hill to get a better view. Ethan’s physical wounds heal quickly, but dinner times are awkward.
- After the second evening, Ethan apologises to Isabelle and admits that she was right - he shouldn’t have gone there. Isabelle chooses not to scold him, and instead thanks him for saving her life. She asks what happened and Ethan tells her about the battle with the colossus. She expresses surprise that Ethan destroyed the monster, and Ethan later shows her the blade that made it possible. Isabelle inspects the weapon and quickly deduces its name, Gorgorin the Shatterer. Ethan tests the blade’s sharpness on a piece of fruit and the fruit crumbles into dust. Isabelle has never seen anything like it, but even she can feel that this is a powerful artefact.
- Ethan and Isabelle agree to carry on together, and Isabelle once more consults her compass. However, this time the compass points in a different direction, away from the Door that they arrived through. Surprised and heartened by this discovery, they decide to leave the next day. Phess is sad to see them go, but he offers them food and spare clothing for their trip.
- Bidding Phess farewell, they take a horse-drawn coach to the nearby town of Oxburgh. There they find another Door which leads back onto the Stair.
Grand Stairway Section 17 - Precise Staircase
- This section of the Stair is made from hewn stone blocks, but each has been carefully and precisely carved out of the rock and then laid perfectly. Lit torches provide illumination from sconces that have been bolted into the wall, and the flames flicker slightly even though there is no breeze. Isabelle consults her compass once more to check the direction - she advises that they need to start climbing. Ethan feels that Lucien is closer than he was, but he is still very far away. Ethan feels that he is following a trail of breadcrumbs. He wonders if all travel on the Stair for a specific item or person is so difficult and whether it is possible to find shorter paths. He is reliant upon his Wayfinding which is little better than ‘following his nose’ but he has no real idea how good his ‘nose’ really is.
Ethan and Isabelle - A Conversation on the Way Up
- Climbing for hours on end is hard work. After many hours, they stop to rest and drink from their canteens. Isabelle remains optimistic and she jokes about how far they may still need to climb before reaching their next destination. Ethan says that he’d like their next destination to be some sort of tropical paradise with a beach and sky-blue water. Isabelle agrees with the idea if he can find a five star hotel in the same location with an available room. She tells him about a place called Elysium that she visited long ago which was a beautiful island paradise with nothing to do but relax and be pampered. They agree that Elysium sounds like a good place to visit.
- Isabelle asks what Ethan will do once he finds Lucien. Ethan says that he’ll ask Lucien to return to the Arcadian Queen. Isabelle is curious what will happen if Lucien doesn’t want to come. Ethan says that he’s hoping that it’s not that he doesn’t want to come, but that he can’t come. He intends to help Lucien if there is something stopping him from returning, but if he really doesn’t want to come, then he’ll return to Arcadia to tell the Queen. Ethan finds Isabelle watching him carefully, and she asks him if he would really go to all this trouble only to be told ‘go home’. Ethan admits that it would be hard to tell the Arcadian Queen that the man she loves does not wish to return. He’s glimpsed the depth of her affection for Lucien and would find it very difficult to tell her. Isabelle asks if the Queen is beautiful and Ethan has to think before answering. He decides that she is and says so. Isabelle takes another drink from her canteen and asks whether she can ask Ethan a personal question. Ethan frowns a moment, wondering what she could possibly ask then he decides to make a joke of it and tells her to ‘fire away’. Isabelle smiles, and asks whether Ethan wishes himself in Lucien’s place. She asks if that’s the reason why he’s so quickly agreed to find Lucien.
- The question gives Ethan pause. He refrains from giving an immediate negative and asks if he can think it over. She agrees and they carry on walking. After about half an hour of ascent, Ethan says that he appreciates the question, but it’s not like that. He can’t see himself returning to Arcadia and trying to woo the Queen even if Lucien refuses to return. He admits to being quite fascinated by the depth of her feelings for Lucien and perhaps a little envious - the letter he received was ‘from the heart’. He’s quite curious about Lucien and what sort of man could have that impact on an immortal Elf-Queen.
- Isabelle stops the climb and thanks him for his honest answer. (GM’s note - she gives Ethan the impression that she has somehow used Invocation to sense the truth in his words) Isabelle draws close to him and asks him, “You haven’t been a Lord of Gossamer long, have you? Ten years? Five?” She is deep inside his personal space which makes it difficult to evade. He answers truthfully that it has been less than two years. She gives a thin smile, and tells him gently that it explains a lot. Ethan asks if she means what happened in the last realm - he offers to apologise again but she shakes her head. The difference, she says, is in the way he talks about people. He speaks with affection about Grant. He cares about someone he has barely met. She says this is a trait of someone who has not been a Lord of Gossamer for long. Lucien, she says, has lived for thousands of years - why would he choose to return to Arcadia even if the Elf-Queen is immortal? It is a rare thing for a Lord of Gossamer to stand still for very long - a few decades at most - before one tires of the same and craves new experiences. She says there is no happily ever after for a Lord of Gossamer. There may be friends, lovers - but nothing lasts forever.
- There is an awkward silence, and Ethan finally tells her that the same is true for mortals - that nothing lasts forever, and only the moments are forever. Isabelle steps back, suddenly a little shaken, and Ethan tells her gently that that they should keep moving. He leads the way onwards. (GM’s note - Ethan has realised something important during the exchange with Isabelle. Isabelle discovered something important about him - i.e.: his short time as a Lord of Gossamer; but in doing so she has revealed a great deal about herself. Isabelle needs him as a Lord of Gossamer to help her to find Lucien - she can’t open Doors without him. She is not afraid to put on the charm to get what she wants, but in coming into his personal space, she’s effectively opened herself up as well. She’s realised that Ethan is acting altruistically and she’s realised that she actually admires this, even though it’s come close to getting them both killed. She realises that she doesn’t need to manipulate/seduce Ethan to get him to do what she wants, and this also is unsettling for her. She’s normally a guarded person who is used to ‘dog eat dog’ - she’s survived 3 years in Nexopolis which is a tough environment to survive in without money - and yet she likes Ethan. He’s actually gotten under her skin.)
Realm 40 - Orlano (Brown Door)
- They only have to go for another two hours before they reach a wooden Door with rough iron bars which the compass points to. The Door opens up in an alleyway. There are two storey stucco-clad buildings on either side. The sky is bright with fireworks and at the end of the street there is a crowd watching some sort of festival procession.
- They two of them venture forth and watch the floats gliding past. Everyone seems to be having fun. There is bouncy music, gaudy costumes, fireworks flashing. Isabelle looks really happy - the happiest that Ethan has seen since the Sky Lounge (Session 33 Part 3) when she was gambling for money. “I know this place,” she says delightedly. The place is Orlano and she has friends here. There are people dancing on the street in front of one of the floats and Isabelle’s foot is tapping to the beat of the music. Ethan offers to take her bag and she accepts, weaving through the crowd to join the dancers. With an extra bag slung over his shoulder on top of the red dragon-shield, Ethan looks like any other festival goer. He follows the march of the procession, keeping an eye out as Isabelle joins in the festivities.
And that’s where we left Session 35…..
GM Observations (2 of 2)
- The inspirations for this session come from the following sources:
- The inspiration for Realm 38 (The Dragons’ Graveyard) comes from this episode from the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon (I’m showing my age, aren’t I?).
- The inspiration for Elysium (which Isabelle refers to on Section 17 of the Grant Stairway) comes from Red Hood and the Outlaws Issue #28 - an island paradise for the super-rich.
- The inspiration for Gorgorin the Shatterer is taken from Dragon Magazine #79 (from November 1983!!!) - it was reprinted in Best of Dragon Volume IV. In that issue, there is a King of the Death Knights, Kargoth, an Anti-Saint. I’ll quote from that issue:
“Dragon Magazine #79” wrote:Kargoth wears +4 plate mail and wields a variety of magical swords of great power, though he lusts for even more powerful weaponry. The only sword in his long career that came close to satisfying him was Gorgorin the Shatterer which does 2-20 (plus strength bonus) hit points of damage, each victim it strikes must save vs. death magic or be disintegrated. Fortunately, the Shatterer was lost when Kargoth battled the legendary Hainard of the Whiteguard. Kargoth has never stopped looking for the sword since, and dark shall be the day that Kargoth and his beloved sword are at last one again.
- That paragraph stuck with me as a child and my first AD&D character ended up with that sword, and being hunted by Kargoth. It was a sword that could not be used because to use it was to attract evil to the wielder, and even to court Kargoth’s attention. Hence it was concealed and only used as a last resort.
- Translating this to the Lords of Gossamer setting, Gorgorin is a Greater Weapon, at least 8 points or possibly even 16 points of Destructive Damage, linked to Umbra, capable of Molding Gossamer Reality, it may have Alternate Forms (this is still being discussed with Lurker37) but it comes with its own Bad Stuff that manifests in three separate ways: Firstly, Gorgorin will be recognised by Lords of Gossamer, Dwimmerlaik, Mages of Power and anyone else with the Psyche to sense it as a highly potent weapon (possibly even of Typhonian origins) - it will provoke a reaction from those who see or sense it - a strongly negative reaction. Secondly, it has a previous master who wants it back - so it paints a target on Ethan to possess it. Thirdly, Gorgorin itself *hates* Ethan. Ethan is an Eidolon wielder and this weapon is the embodiment of Umbral destructive power. I’m not yet sure yet how Lurker37 will interpret this but he has said that it will be wearing, even draining to carry it. Gorgorin has an implacable will, and Ethan will feel it pushing him at all times. It’s unlikely to be able to overpower Ethan’s Psyche or wear him down (as he has High Ranked Endurance), but over time I’m guessing it will Mold Gossamer Reality to make things increasingly difficult for him, and easier for the previous master to find him.
- In short, Gorgorin the Shatterer is not a trophy. I doubt Ethan has what it takes to master Gorgorin - it’s more likely that someone else will prove his superior and take the blade from him, either by guile or brute strength. But we’ll see. Ethan is on his way to becoming a maxxed-out Bad Stuff character - let’s see how bad things can get…..
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