Session started at 2:11 pm on 10/1/05
Attending players: Mike, Nate, Eva, John Presiding GM: Curtis
Major NPC's: Dancing Cat, Growling Bear, Thirsty Sapling, Fjell, the Red Police squad and captain, Morijin, the dragon council, Glaurung
We are face to face with the spear carrying woman. The doctor greets her and she responds in an unknown language. (The doctor understands her response in his mind but not out loud.) The doctor says "Earth" to her. I guess he must be able to understand her.
The woman says something. The doctor: "Where are we now?" The woman says something. The doctor: "Where is this Fjell?" She gestures at the mountains around us. The doctor: "Um..." The woman asks him something. The doctor: "Um... I am called Vadril." He introduces the rest of us, including Joseph.
The doctor asks her if she can make the rest of us understand her. She says something and cuts her arm open with a knife. She starts advancing on us and approaches Matt. She cuts his arm and presses her wound to his.
Then she turns and comes over to me. I am sure I do not like this, but between being exposed and having no idea what is going on, I would rather know what is going on. I let her take my arm by I close my eyes so I do not have to see the shock and confusion on her face. None of my "friends" seem so surprised as to cry out, but I expect questions later. She cuts my arm as she did Matt's and I feel her wrist against the wound.
When she approaches Joseph he is a bit unsure of the whole, letting her make us "touched" plan. In some ways I agree, but at this point he might as well join us or we will outnumber him. He lets my logic persuade him.
Max apparently does not always bleed when cut. It seems like he has startled her, but she performs the ritual anyway.
(She tells the doctor that her name is "Dancing Cat". The rest of us still can not hear her.)
We follow the woman along the mountain path up to a village. She identifies the village as "Nephilim". The houses are made of stone and straw. The people seem to be hunter gatherers but not migratory, I guess.
The people of the village come to see us as we approach. They seem excited by the appearance of strangers in their village.
(She introduces the doctor to some of them. They are all asking the doctor many questions, so fast he can not really respond.)
Eventually most of the people wander off, but some children hang around to watch us. The doctor is talking to the woman about speaking with Fjell.
(She seems to think we will be able to hear her in about half an hour.)
Thinking about the idea that this world might be alive in some way, it really should not be all that surprising to me. After they have been talking for a while I begin to hear her voice faintly in my mind. I guess the whiteness in her blood must have linked or attuned us to some sort of mental collective they have with the world. This is all wild guessing but at least it sort of makes sense. Her voice gets louder and more distinct as time passes.
The woman is saying that the parts of the world have moved through "the space between the worlds before". She says it takes many years for Fjell to get the strength to move each time. I think she means longer than one of their lifetimes. She names some of the other parts of the world: Jungel (the jungle we passed through), Himmel (the sky, or possibly the air?), Myr (the swamp land), Fjell (the mountains), and Hav (the sea/ocean, or perhaps all the water).
Apparently the mountain has told her people that their original world was devoured and that is why they had to leave it. She says that their ancestors sacrificed themselves to let the world parts escape with some of them. She also says that other groups of people tried to escape to different worlds as well, but no one knows if they made it. I wonder if they might really have been the people of Earth who escaped? They do look very similar...
"The Peacemaker" is what she the call the devourer of worlds.
It seems that it followed them the first time they fled and they fled again. She sends a vague vision of the pieces of the world flying in a bubble through space. I gather the journey was very long, perhaps years. I ask about why the devourer came for them. She says that "the Peacemaker comes to cleanse the taint." And she says that the world was tainted. She sends a vision of all the plants and animals oozing and bleeding. She says that this world is not tainted yet...
I think it might be magic that she means. I will have to go out of my way not to use any while I am here.
She seems to think that after many years the world will come to be tainted again and they will have to flee the devourer once more. I had never thought about how a world came to have magic in the first place. Perhaps it is simply the existence of life here that causes magic to collect and come into being. Perhaps that is why it hounds the Glaurung but barely tails these people.
The parts of the world seem to be able to terraform worlds to some degree when they move to them. The vision she gives us of this world when they first came here; the air, the warmth, the ground, it was all wrong for life. There was not even water there before the sea came.
She does not seem to think there is any way off this world except traveling with the land when it moves. I guess we are going to be living here for a while.
She says that the villagers need to go hunting soon. We offer to help them hunt for food.
("I need to eat more now." ~ Nate "Why?" ~ Mike "Because I gained a level." ~ Nate "That was a bad call on your part." ~ Mike)
The hunt is successful, but there are too many of us in the way. I am not able to help much. We kill one of the large cats and bring it back to the village. We are sit around the fire, roasting the cat. What a waste. A young man called Thirsty Sapling is showing us constellations but he is surprised to see a star in the sky that he has never seen before. Its bright, perhaps a comet or planet. I wonder if it is Glaurung. It seems unlikely, but coincidence has been wearing a bit thin already.
Matt looks at it with binoculars but he can not tell any better what it is.
Matt and Thirsty Sapling start talking about binoculars, how glass is made, and how one would make a kiln. As they are talking another man runs up upset with news that the sleeping man we brought with us is going crazy.
When I rush over to see him. He seems to be having some sort of seizure. Dancing Cat and Matt try to hold him down so he does not hurt himself. I try to think calming thoughts to him but find myself drawn into a dark vision.
I am cornered and surrounded by shadowy figures wielding scalpels and other medical devices as weapons. The doctor and Matt are there as wel. The doctor collapses. I know this is not truly real, but it is real to the man who's dream this is. I tell him that this is a terrible place, but he is not here alone any longer. He seems startled, but willing to accept us as allies. He says that he will fight. He roars and begins to transform. He grows and morphs into a golden dragon. Matt shoots one or two of the figures and as I am preparing to attack when the man breaths fire. The shadowy figures fall. Only ashes and cinders drift to the ground.
I awake back in the hut, but the roof bursts into flame almost immediately. The man wakes as well. Everyone manages to get out, dragging the doctor, who is still unconscious, and the man.
The villagers seem to be both angry and afraid of the man. Dancing Cat says that the man carries the taint. He does not seem willing to trust us or the villagers now that he is awake. Fjell tells us that the man's powers are forbidden, that his energies are tainted. Fjell is planning to have the villagers kill the man. The man has curled up in a ball in some form of upset. The villagers are advancing on him with spears.
Max does not seem to be willing to let them kill him. Killing him seems a bit rash to me but I do not see how we can fight the entire village and the world itself besides. I do not like this, but not much can be done...
The villagers are moving forward to stab the man. Max lights on fire spontaneously and demands that the villagers stand back. They all stop and look at Max. I hear Fjell says, "do not interfere, man, " in my mind.
(Fjell is trying to make the doctor kill the man as well, but the doctor resists. The doctor tries to bluff Fjell into thinking that we need the man alive in order to get rid of the taint for good but Fjell is already wary of us.)
I call the cold to slow this fight. Fjell starts yelling that I also carry the taint. That is just lovely...
Three of the villagers are torn between their impulses, but Growling Bear steels himself and stabs at the man with his spear. Matt shoots Growling Bear but does not stop him from hitting the man in his side.
(Max opens up his mind to suck Fjell into his nightmares.)
There is an anguished roar from the land itself. All villagers but Dancing Cat stiffen and hold still with their eyes glazed over. Even the plants feel as if they are writhing in pain. I feel a mental force pulling at me.
I am standing in a laboratory. The doctor and Max are here as well, but Max looks vastly different than he does normally. I know that the man standing in front of me is going to demonstrate some new matter cloning technique. I am not sure how I know. The man holds his hands out and glyphs of some sort glow on his hands and forehead. Something goes horribly wrong the gray substance that started to coat the object expands rapidly. Before I can blink it has engulfed me and everything else. We are floating in a sea of gray listening to the tortured screams of all the souls of this world that the substance has consumed. The vision fades and I drop into darkness.
(Dancing Cat and Matt are the only ones unaffected by the vision. Max screams and falls to his knees as the vision comes to its end, but he shakes it off and stands again. He speaks with Matt and helps to heal Growling Bear's wound.)
("Well, you're the only two people left on the planet." ~ Nate, to Matt and Dancing Bear)
(Matt and Dancing Bear talk. Suddenly I vanish.)
I wake surrounded by Red police. I drop my illusion. Shael Tayrzon is there as well, not in irons. The double crossing bastard. Apparently the police "forced" him to bring me back. He says that Glaurung knew that I was there and that it insisted that I had to be brought back. I say that the other humans need to be brought here as well. The police do not want to bother, but Shael does it anyway. I think he just likes any excuse to use the machine. The others appear but only Matt and Max are awake. Matt seems to be seriously shocked by the museum and all the dragons standing around.
Shael is such an overconfident moron. He seemed to think that he will be let off just because he helped them. How ridiculously stupid can you be...
I try to explain to the humans what is going on. The police are irritable but they seem to be willing to take the humans with rather than hurting them. It is possible that Golren Briarnas will take them in, if I am allowed to contact him.
(Curtis and Mike talk about setting up the first internet on Glaurung.)
The guards escort us and we fly for several hours heading towards Bitternail, the city where the council resides. Glaurung must have moved very recently to catch me. The thaw is still going on.
Max tells us that the vision we saw was the planet Mercury in Earth's system. They are saying something about "grey goo", but I am not sure what that is. I remember Bryant saying something about "the disaster on Mercury" when he was talking about the company that he worked for. I guess it was not common knowledge what happened to it. I wonder why Max survived.
I ask Max how he survived. He says he is a pile of grey goo. Ok... That seems unpleasant. Max apparently worked on Mercury before the disaster. I think he must have been instrumental in the experiment, but he does not want to talk about it. I am gathering that Max threatened Fjell when he pulled him into his vision that he would let the gray goo consume Fjell's world as well. Ouch. Better not ever corner Max.
I am distracted by trying to remember all the things I will need to tell the council but the others keep questioning Max. They seem to think he is hiding even more than I had thought.
Eventually we reach Bitternail, the seat of the ruling council. It is a beautiful, old city but I do not suppose I will enjoy the visit much.
Morijin is here, the humans are going to have to stay with him. He is still angry with me, but refuses to admit it. They will be staying in his brother's house here, but there will be additional security on me. Apparently council has been ordered by Glaurung to come to a decision on me.
("I think your internet was somewhat overrated." ~ Rae "Oh... That hurts my soul." ~ Curtis)
The guard tells me that I have five minutes and then I will have to leave with them. I try to tell the humans roughly what is going on and that they can stay here. Fortunately Morijin has the presence of mind to use magic to speak to them in their language. I try to explain what I have learned about the Beast, but there is no time.
The guards take me to be imprisoned by a spell of some sort until the trial. I find myself in a dark small space with no windows and no door. Eventually some food is thrown in for me, some how. They did not have the curtsey to freeze it.
(Back in Morijin's brother's home, the guys want to go sight seeing in the city. All of them go out, except for James' character, who is passed out again.)
("Lithovoric is a word." ~ Nate)
(Max asks Morijin if there is any scrap metal that he could dispose of. Morijin seems to think it could be arranged, but would not be extremely easy. They discuss what sorts of metals Max can "eat". Morijin ends up creating some copper and some silver for Max. The rest of them have some meat on a stick they buy in the city. The doctor talks to the meat vendor for a while learning about dragon society.)
("I owned an ecosystem." ~ Nate "More than you know." ~ Curtis)
(That evening something weird happens when the doctor tries to heal himself. The white fluid seems to have turned his eyes milky white. Max tries to remove the substance from Matt, but it fuses with the nanites that he sent in and Max destroys them immediately when they return to him. Morijin seems to be wary of the fluid's magic absorbing capability and thinks it might be best to purge it. The doctor plays around with using mind control on Matt to see what will happen. Matt's eyes begin to go milky white, but the substance absorbs the mental command.)
I am fed again shortly before dawn. Then I am escorted to the trial. The council is far more impressive than I would have imagined. Seated on massive columns around us, they tower over the room.
"The Council of Wyrms is: Mushussu (male green), Fafnir (male blue), Smaug (male black), Tiamat (female red), Nidhung (male white), Jormunan (male brass), Jawzahr (male bronze), Ryu (male copper), Shen-Lung (male gold), and Tien-Lung (male silver). Glaurung leads the council, taking on the title of Io." ~ Curtis
There is a large rainbow column that is Glaurung's ceremonial seat. The each of council members is announced.
Shen-Lung speaks. He seems to be ceremonially superior to the others. The humans seem to understand him as well. He asks if we need healing before the ceremony. He is not too happy to notice what is going on with white fluid in the doctor when he tries to heal him. I tell him about the taint and the world we were on. Shen-Lung removes the taint from the doctor, myself, and Joseph but Matt elects to keep it.
Nidhung recites the charges against me. I am charged with leaving the world, which "no other has ever done". Ryu says that there was one before but one of the others squashes further discussion of this. They are not going to who it was but there appears to be some decent about whether it is relevant.
I go on to describe, with numerous questions, my experiences since I left Glaurung. I hope they can see past their dragon-centric view of the universe enough to realize that the Beast is a threat for more than just our people.
Jawzahr seems to be interested in Matt's implant and the human tech in general. The others chide him when he pushes for information not too related to the trial.
The doctor is still trying to push to talk to Glaurung directly, but getting nowhere.
Morijin testifies as well. Damn it... I still think learning more about the humans was the right thing to do. Damn it all...
Tiamat seems to think that I endangered all of Glaurung by unbalancing Glaurung's plan. Some of the others agree, some do not. It sounds like a load of crap to me, but my opinion does not count for much.
The council appears to be worried by the taint that Matt still carries and the powers that Max can wield. They specifically grill Max quite a bit but he is more than a bit evasive.
The council asks us to leave and they deliberate for several hours. When I am shown back in they deliver their verdict. They tell me that Glaurung has taken a personal interest in my case. I am to be exiled, and the humans are to be exiled as well. Glaurung will return to the Earth system so that we can be left there.
Tiamat councils me to spend my remaining days on Glaurung saying my goodbyes.
Jormunan and Jawzahr are going to study Matt's implant before we leave. In exchange they will not purge the white substance from him as he asked.
(experience will be on the web page)
End of Session