This is a page for planning the action of Session #33, scheduled for 2/26/11.
This session happens after the actions of Session 32: The Anubis Caper. Please add your thoughts here by editing the page or in comments below.
flyingace prods us all into thought thus:
It would seem that a war is about to break out, that the forces of the Gynarch are marching on Bald Mountain for the night of their life. How will this affect us, a small party who might also like to do our part (and reap the rewards therefrom)?
I think that we might do well to learn from Tavis what else is going on in the world of warring with the giants, and know also what our options might be if we should want to make some kind of move ourselves. For example, it might be hard to run into the mountain when all entrances are blocked by warring factions ("scuse me, pardon me, scuse me, pardon me"). But perhaps there is a separate entrance known only to one or two others… or perhaps we might be best used making a move on another giant stronghold, one that is supplying the giants in the mountain with valuable supplies (or some other sort of storyline).
Anywho, what do y'all think?
Oban replies:
We have a direct link into the Hill Giant fortress in limbo. Maybe while they are occupied with events on the mountain we could strike there. I also like the idea that we could find a back door into the mountain and assault the inner dungeon while everyone else is fighting on the slopes.
Tavis clarifies:
While the Gray Company was gorging on gold, the combined forces of Mareth and the Gynarch led a body of troops against the fire giants in Scather's volcano. We will play out these separate events using Book of War at foner's celebration. Depending on how that shakes out, the next session (2/26) may or may not want to be dedicated to having the party go deal with the situation there. If that, or any other, plan involves gathering tens or hundreds of dwarves or other warriors, we'll use Book of War to resolve actions at that scale combined with good old OD&D to resolve PC actions.
Arnold will be up and about for session 33; E.N. Lightenment will not be active again until session 35 unless one of the intervening sessions allows more time to pass than the usual week between adventures.
What's known about the afterlife is detailed at this link; E.N. Lightenment reports having visions of this place, and seeing Maldoor and Into, the Mystic there, before he was raised. Maldoor is unrecoverable through raise dead and the like. Zekon seemed to believe this was a planar location that could be visited bodily through one of the Ninth Menegril's gates, among other possibilities.
Important Information Gained from Carousing
Arnold wakes from a dream in which he went to the ancient, stalactite-shrouded temple in the Lost City, called out Cahaya's name, and beheld the spelljamer yacht waiting for him beyond one of the doors there. He feels that this dream was a sending, but it leaves him with no way to contact its originator, verify their identity, renegotiate the location of contact, ask for more details, or establish any of the things that would make him feel entirely safe about this prospect.
Ookla visits the twisting organic shapes of the Lotuskeeper's town Mitha, where the Great One consults with his shamans and announces: "A fortunate fate directed you here! Myfanwy, the Dreaming God, can help your fallen comrade. You must only pass into sleep while listening to her name being chanted, and she will appear to tell you what must be done. The juice of the black lotus will hasten the contact, if you wish to stop in the marketplace as you depart…" Ookla's extra-sensory perception and insight into the nature of consciousness verifies that it is so; the Great One firmly believes that Myfanwy will lead the astral projections of those who follow this procedure, and in the minds of the shamans Ookla finds memories of journeying far from this world, silver cord trailing behind, and reaching destinations on other planes with the Dreaming God's guidance.
Obscura consults with the Ninth Menegril as to the nature of the plane in which Maldoor is trapped. He says that demi-planes and pocket universes litter the fabric of creation; it is his guess that such a place is where Maldoor now resides. His own magic allows him to establish gates between known planes of existence, but the description of the place which the dead report having seen means nothing to him. the Ninth Menegril feels that the best way to find this place is via astral travel, since a similar soul-journey brought Maldoor there, and it seems plausible to him that the Dreaming God might be able to detect and follow the traces of his passage.
"It would please me to repay my debt to the Grey Company for rescuing me by in turn rescuing your most potent magic-user - please understand that I consider you in another category and thus incomparable, dear Obscura. To this end, I can contribute the following: a ring of astral metal; a chime with which it can be struck; a rod tuned to this ring; and a scroll of planar gate. My advice to you would be as follows: Place the rod in an existing gate that is convenient to you. Bring the ring through the Astral Plane. When you reach your destination, strike the ring with the chime, which will cause it to materialize in the sub-world you have discovered. Pass through the ring to materialize your own bodies at that location. You may then read the scroll to open a gate back to your chosen location, so that you may pass back and forth without having to suffer the hazards of astral travel more than once."
Votes for Courses of Action for W33
Please add your character's name accordingly if s/he will be present for W33
| Retrieve Maldoor from the Underworld | Fight the Giants | Conquer the World | Best Plan Ever |
| John Fighter | Jarri | ||
| Ookla | |||
| Darwin of Drumthwacket | |||
| Arnold (1/2 vote) | Arnold (1/2 vote) | ||
| Obscura | |||
| Chrystos | |||
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Hitting the giants in a less defended position is a great idea. We may indeed cut off supplies to the giants at the mountain or find info which will help in fighting them there.
I like the back door idea as well. Here's a variation; Jarri has spent virtually every carouse trying to increase his stroke with Barragin's dwarves and their tribes. He ultimately hopes to amass a bunch of them against the giants but wants to negate the size differential by trying to find underground tunnels and caverns which may lead to the mountain. He hopes to accomplish this by finding a completely underground route or find an entry somewhat near the mountain, enter there, and lead a force which will bypass any entrenched positions to hit more vulnerable and hopefully more valuable positions. If the party and the dwarves can fight the giants in tunnels/caves/caverns with a 10' or so roof, the size advantage of the giants should be neutralized and it should keep them bottled up fairly well, too. Also, I've considered employing sappers and miners to try to crumble some of the giants' fortifications as well.
I plan on spending all my future carouses on mustering a dwarven army and focusing on finding a way to fight the giants in favorable (i.e. underground) terrain. Also, I'll need to ask Chrystos this, but he has a purple worm which can tunnel as well, right?
Allow me to point out that you guys have access to an omniscient sphinx whose information is, at this point, practically free. I think this would make the conduct of warfare considerably easier. Unless, like, the Giants have a sphinx of their own, which would require, like, meta-omniscience to overcome. I guess they could send an Assassin to take out Ontussa, but she seems awfully tough and difficult to surprise.
Seeing what warfare looks like in the gonzo world of the White Sandbox would be pretty crazy. Invisible knights on dragon flies? Robotic ligers created by a Limbo Lich? Warriors sacrificed to the delectation of Lilianth of the Night Below?
O mighty Tavis:
in the interest of clearly understanding our potential resources for next session, which must guide our planning
a) is Arnold sufficiently recovered from ummmm death to play, if James is available to play him
b) is EN Lightenment suffiently recovered from ummm death to play, if foner is available to play him?
c) do i understand correctly that the great maldoor is unrecoverable without a session devoted to his rescue?
d) is the Book of War proposal a possible next session or i that independent?
Everyone:
if a is yes, and c is yes, and d is yes, I say we GET MOTHERFUCKING MALDOOR, OUR MOST POWERFUL MAGICIAN, OUT OF MOTHERFUCKING PTERODACTYL LAND !!!!!!
That's all fine and good, but do we even have the slightest clue as to how to go about beginning?
Replies above!
OK, looks like Arnold is in, EN is out for now, Maldoor requires rescue via Limbo, and the Book of War session will do what it does no matter what the Grey Company chooses to pursue in the next session. Therefore, I say recover one of our most valuable resources, Maldoor. We have to understand that we've entered a level of play where we're toast without substantial magical support. Plus, them pterodactyl girls look pretty good.
We got this far by playing smart, rather than serving npc whims. Therefore, let us not be drawn into this anti-volcano war until we are so inclined and READY.
If we can get a quorum, let's direct our carousing towards this goal.
…I am seeing it going like this:
I'm game for that.
If we wanted to do a secret attack on the volcano or the Hill Giant fortress, that's also fine. EN Lightenment will be busy recuperating and trying to grow a new arm for the next couple weeks. But Darwin of Drumthwacket is ready to venture onwards.
Perhaps I am remiss, but if we are going to go after Maldoor we need to have two things:
1) Consensus
2) A way of getting to Maldoor
I am starting a list (top of page) of those who seem to have voted for going after Maldoor and a list of those who would rather go and fight the giants immediately (please add another path to the voting list if you so choose).
However, we still seem to have no way of getting to the poor boy. Or do we? Is it possible to get to Maldoor via the Ninth Menegril?
If not, John & Ookla have both made it clear that their carousals will be dedicated to finding a way to get to Maldoor. Perhaps others who have not already specified what their carousal will entail might like to throw their hat(s) into this ring?
But of course, then we need to know whether or not our carousals have resulted in our learning of paths to the underworld, or paths to paths, etc. To that end, Tavis, I prod thee.
Lastly, I seem to recollect that those items which were part of our haul were seven MU scrolls with seven spells on them each. Is it possible that one of those spells was wish or limited wish?