Attendance today is rather weak, owing to the fact that Paul (Marik) is off in bloody Kain-tuck-kee with his family, Mike (Kellin) is enjoying a family day, and Ernest is off celebrating in the Happiest Place on Earth - Tijuana, MEXICO! Chris (Gruul), Chuck (Galen), Tim (Antok Six-Hearted) and Bruce are all here to carry on.
The session starts on the 41st day of the 3090th Voyage. Gruul, Galen and Antok are all in their tower in Nircharstal, discussing their strategy in the upcoming Thrux War, when Tyrant Jelgen enters with some news. He tells the characters, "I just made some coffee, you want some? It's real Lin Vu Quo blend. By the way, we've been seeing some refugees from the Augurn Plain. Perhaps you'd like to chat with them?" Gruul enthusiastically leaps to his feet and exclaims, "Sign me up! I'll provide the shaking!" Antok has no patience for this sort of thing. He rather petulantly asks the others, "Did you people really save me a sorcerer's heart to eat? I want to buy Entombment!" His gloom is transformed into delight when Galen hands over the heart of Jeggrey Zetto for him to enjoy. He promptly sprouts 10 points of additional spells, including the all-important Entombment trick.
Once Antok has finished his rather messy repast, the characters head over to the edge of Nircharstal where the Tyrant has allowed the refugees to stay. They are living in a small cluster of tents around a dilapidated shed. Their leader is Gau Guln, one of the Chochans (elders) of the town of Chabil Sen. Chochan Gau is more than happy to tell the characters about the terrible things that happened to his community. He tells them that hundreds of Gua Far raiders attacked their town some twenty or twenty-five days ago. The townsfolk had known that raiders were possible, and were warned by outlying sentries, but there were too many attackers for them to hope to resist: the entire population of Chabil Sen was only about 450 folk, with another 2000 living in the nearby countryside. The Chochans ordered the townsfolk to flee for safety. He doesn't know how many of his people were killed in the attack, but he suspects that most of them managed to escape the raiders. He was part of a group that headed starboard, up towards Juchu Sen. Unfortunately, Juchu Sen was not able to provide them with more than a temporary resting place, so they continued on. From there his group made their way across the Augurn Plain until they reached Nircharstal and were granted sanctuary. The characters get the definite impression that he attempted to obtain sanctuary from several rushufarr tribes in between Juchu Sen and Nircharstal, and was turned down by all of them. His current opinion of the rushufarr is none too high.
Chochan Gau thanks the characters for their help. He explains that though the Tyrant Jelgen has indicated that they can stay in Nircharstal for a time, they will need to move on. The Chochan and his people expect to head on to Doorway City for more permanent refuge, at least until the current time of troubles is over and they can return to rebuild their homes. The characters ask the Chochan what sort of skills his people posses. He explains that they are mostly farmers, but do include some craftsmen. He also mentions that all of the young men in the group are members of the militia, and have trained with spear and shield. Gruul tells the Chochan that he and his people can stay at Nircharstal as long as they want if they're willing to work and fight. The Chochan is more than happy to accept.
The characters head back to their tower to decide their next course of action. Upon their arrival, they find a courier with a report from one of Marik's spies in the thrux lands. He reports that the Virator Kurk has taken the twelve Demon Stones from the Seven-Walled Fortress of Tears and is traveling up through the Avo Am pass towards an unknown destination. Some time passes before the characters realize that the Avo Am pass points right at Chabil Sen like a shotgun...
The characters debate their next step. Galen wonders why the Gua Far would send many hundreds of riders to destroy a town of 450 people. The characters speculat that there may be some important military aspect to the location, and ask the Chochan Gau to describe Chabil Sen and the region. The Chochan explains that his people are primarily Yaggo humans, with a few Faians and mongrels on the side. They live in five towns and many smaller hamlets and farmsteads around the periphery of the Heaven's Despair flute forest. They have no central government, though each of the towns pays regular tribute to one or another of the local rushufarr tribes for protection and freedom from molestation. Most people are farmers, with small herds of pandith to provide meat and a few graau to do heavy work. All of the towns maintain a significant militia, but the members are normally dispersed all across the territory. It can take a day or two to assemble them all to repel a significant threat. If danger arrives faster than that (as happened to Chabil Sen), they aren't much use.
The Heaven's Despair flute forest is centered upon three mighty flutes and a host of smaller flutes. Legend has it that it was once the site of a magnificent city that ruled over the entire area, but that was so long ago that nobody in the five towns even remembers the city's name. The forest is ruled over by the Three Old Women: Old Mother Ghulkraw, Old Mother Serpent and Old Mother Weaver. The children of the Three Old Women represent the major threat from the forest, though for the most part they stay in the forest. Chochan Gau explains that sometimes one or two of the forest denizens will attack a compound, but that the consequences of such an attack are rarely worse than the loss of a couple of pandith or a graau. His people build their homes in clustered compounds with walls for protection against these raids, and will sometimes deliberately leave pandith out to appease the monsters. Of course, he also notes that all of these preparations are not worth much if the forest monsters mount a concerted attack. Once every thirty or fifty Voyages an organized gang of ghulkraws or horde-serpents will attack a hamlet and devastate the place.
Chochan Gau offers the final glum conclusion that the Gua Far probably burned the town to the ground. Galen asks, "Why torch the place? Perhaps there is something there that they want. Maybe they are interested in the legend of the old capital overwhelmed by the flutes? Or perhaps there is something about flute forests that they can draw power from." Galen glances at a map and verifies that there are several other flute forests in easy reach of the thrux lands. Antok suggests taking a side trip to Doorway City to talk to a Loremaster, or to go visit the libraries of the Ecularium. The characters finally decide to talk to the spirit Otanan at the Temple to Yaggo. Antok is eager to ask him about his memories of the days when there was a mighty city at Heaven's Despair. He is somewhat abashed when Otanan reminds him that he is not actually thousands of Voyages old, he's just a former priest who only died twenty Voyages ago.
The characters finally decide that whatever the thrux find interesting at Chabil Sen is probably going to be interesting to them as well. And even if it isn't, a quick raid might give them an opportunity to steal some graau from the Gua Far.
Part of the initial plan involves traveling while disguised as Gua Far. This is a problem because the Gua Far raiders normally ride upon graau, a skill that none of the characters possess in any measure. They decide to spend a few days (and a character point) practicing Riding (graau) at Nircharstal. Once they feel confident with their skills, they will bring along captured Gua Far equipment on their trip to Chabil Sen. When they encounter some Gua Far, they will simply kill them and steal their graau.
Gruul tries to hire some of the Chabil Sen refugees as riding coaches. He is partially stymied by the discovery that the townsfolk generally never actually ride the creatures, preferring to use them for carrying burdens and plowing. He finally finds two refugees who do know how to ride. He gives each of them a White clavar and tells them to teach the characters how to ride. Galen chastises him, "You realize that those guys will just sell it for food, or booze." Gruul ignores him.
A two-day Training Sequence follows. By the end of it, each of the characters (except Antok) has spent a half-point on Riding (graau). Antok briefly complains because he's already spent all of his spare points on spells. But even when given the chance to rescind his earlier decision, he decides that he'd rather operate with default skills and keep Entombment. Galen and Gruul exchange meaningful glances and hope that Antok doesn't get anywhere near a stressful situation while mounted.
Before departing, Galen heads to the Library at Nircharstal to look for any information on the old city that the Heaven's Despair flutes overran. He finds nothing of particular value. Then he turns to the clockwork schoolmaster Inverse-Fitted Gimbal. The old clockwork turns out to be much more helpful. He says that the city was inhabited by tens of thousands of Yaggo humans. When they saw the devastation that the mortal races were inflicting upon the Garden they resolved to do something about it. They prayed to Yaggo to raise up mighty flutes in the center of their city, and to surround it with verdant jungle. When the flutes started to appear, the citizens went into a deep hibernation. Inverse-Fitted Gimbal claims that they are still down there, waiting for the day when the Garden is reborn.
Gruul listens to this story and asks the clockwork, "How did they avoid being used as chew-toys by the monsters?" Inverse-Fitted Gimbal admits that he doesn't exactly know, but that the legends say that they build deep vaults, practically down in the Bilges.
A spark of inspiration goes off in Antok's head. He tells the others, "I've got it! I know what the thrux want! They must be planning on extracting all the sleeping ones, just like they did at Dith Lun! Who knows how many tens of thousands of Yaggo humans might be sleeping down there!" The other two characters get very concerned looks upon their faces.
The characters select two of the refugees to take along as guides. They make a point of picking capable-looking fellows who were in the militia and who know how to fight. Galen explains, "Plus, that way if one of them gets killed we have a witness to say we didn't do it. And if we wake up some of the ancient ones we'll at least have a Yaggo human along."
The characters take a boat down the coast and then up the Zhen Trau river. Two days after they depart, they draw close to Chabil Sen. They have a brief conversation on the virtues of Entombing the boat against simply camouflaging it. The discussion ends when Antok realizes that the boat would cost 10 energy per hex to Entomb. Gruul simply conceals the boat underneath some cut rushes.
The characters move in away from the shore. A small distance inland they get under cover and hide, waiting for nightfall to approach. Even ten kilometers from the town the characters can hear chanting. Galen estimates that at least fifty people are chanting, and based upon the cadence it sounds like a binding of some sort. A Gua Far boat patrol goes by just after dusk, without comment.
The characters approach under cover of darkness. From five kilometers out, the characters are able to get a view of the town. At one time, Chabil Sen was probably a nice place to live and raise your children, if a touch boring. Now the place is little but a burned out shell. A burned-out shell standing right across the thrux military advance. Galen comments, "Oh, sort of like Belgium."
A short distance from the ruins of Chabil Sen the characters are able to see that the thrux have set up a fortified camp. Even if the chanting hadn't given it away, the fact that the camp already has real fortifications with fused-looking stone battlements indicates that the thrux have a lot of magicians available. The walls are about four meters tall. There are two big pavilions in the center of the camp, surrounded by an array of smaller tents for the common troops
The characters can see five razor kites flying patrol around the camp. Two are in close orbits and three are flying wide elliptical paths - one over the Chabil Sen ruins, one approximately over where the characters are, and one off along the edge of the jungle. Everyone but Antok realizes that none of the patrol routes go over the jungle proper.
From a closer vantage point, the chanting is a lot clearer. Galen listens and tells the others that he thinks they are trying to bind Old Mother Ghulkraw, Old Mother Serpent, and Old Mother Weaver. Nobody thinks this sounds like a good thing.
The characters take refuge in some nearby shattered buildings. Some pieces of the roofs are still intact and provide cover from the prying eyes of the razor kites. They settle down to plot strategy. Galen's plan is simple: to stop the ritual, all you need to do is whack the primary magician. Antok offers up that the problem with this plan is that the primary guy is probably Virator Kurk. He is probably way tougher than the Librarian, plus he's surrounded by troops. The second proposal is more restrained: sneak into the jungle and try to talk to the Old Women. The characters explain this plan to the two guides. The guides are united in their dislike of this plan. One of them tells the characters, "Only idiots who want to die go into the forest! It's really, really dangerous!"
Galen is unimpressed: "These are our guides? Now you know why I wanted to try the 'last man standing' plan." While the characters are scoffing, the other guide mentions that he knows of an old monk who has actually seen the Old Women. He tells the characters that the monk is at the Juchu Sen monastery, and offers to lead them there
The group heads to Juchu Sen. They take a path that skirts the edge of the forest. If the characters hear chainsaws or see a delightful light, they follow it into the forest and die.
As it turns out, the characters don't head into the forest to die. They do find a deadfall trap (which Antok avoids with ease) and a couple of local sentries from the Juchu Sen militia. One of the sentries has heard of the old monk the characters are looking for and reassures them that they will be able to find him at the monastery. The monk's name is Gamgum.
With a quick introduction from their guide, the characters are able to gain entry into the monastery. One of the monks leads them to the garden where Gamgum is weeding some vegetables. He looks the characters over with the eye of a man who has long since lost enthusiasm for sitting around in a garden, weeding things. The characters explain, "The thrux have fifty magicians and clean underwear, and they want to bind the Three Old Women. We think they have a chance. We need to stop them."
Gamgum listens to this explanation with twitchy concern. He tells them several things that they already know about the Three Old Women. Then he tells them that the ghulkraws, the horde-serpents and the great weavers in the forest really are the children of the Old Women, and that the Old Women can exert a substantial amount of influence over their progeny. If the thrux can get control over the Old Women, then they might be able to get control over all of the monsters in the Heaven's Despair flute forest. Gamgum also tells them that he really has seen one of the Old Women, Old Mother Serpent. He was very young, and ventured into the forest with several of his friends. They had intended to show their bravery. Of all of them, only he returned. Gamgum is convinced that Old Mother Serpent let him go so he could tell everyone about her power and magnificence.
Antok prays to Joluth. Gruul notices and tells him, "Guy, if you're gonna have a god, can you at least have one that doesn't live in the basement?"
Gamgum offers to talk to Yaggo upon the characters' behalf, and obtain an introduction to Old Mother Serpent for them. The characters agree and wait in the monastery for a day while Gamgum goes off to meditate.
The characters head into the jungles to meet Old Mother Serpent. Gamgum had assured them that they would be expected, and would guided by signs. The first of these is a discarded snakeskin ten paces long. The second is a shining piece of quartz balanced on top of a stone. The third is a trio of guardian Gul Bekkep, standing in front of a huge horde-serpent. The horde-serpent leads the characters deeper into the jungle, and into the base of one of the smaller flutes. Old Mother Serpent is a maze of massive coils with two huge glowing eyes. She gazes down upon the characters and tells them, "Grandfather Yaggo whispered your names to me. I have expected you."
The characters explain the situation to her. She admits that she has heard the voices, and agrees to lead her children into battle against the thrux. However, there is one problem: to reach the thrux encampment her children must cross the territory of Old Mother Ghulkraw. She tells the characters that they must talk to Old Mother Ghulkraw. The characters reluctantly agree.
Old Mother Serpent leads the characters deeper down into the Heaven's Despair flutes. She leads them into a warm, round cavern. Old Mother Ghulkraw is sprawled out in the center of the chamber, nursing a half-dozen juvenile ghulkraws. Galen comments, "Awww, aren't they cute? They're already big enough to tear limbs off!" Gruul and Antok fail to see what Galen finds so charming.
Old Mother Ghulkraw growls at the characters, but listens to them. She has also heard the voices, and is eager to find a way to silence them. The characters notice through the whole conversation that Old Mother Serpent is eyeing one of the little ghulkraws hungrily. They hope that they will conclude their negotiations before she becomes too hungry and there is an "incident."
In the end, the characters persuade Old Mother Ghulkraw to join in the assault against the thrux.
The characters leave the forest and move to a rise between the riverbank and the encampment in time to watch the fireworks. A wave of horde-serpents, ghulkraws and Gul Bekkep swarm from the jungle and overwhelm the encampment. The characters are able to see that the thrux and their Gua Far clients are mighty in battle, but are not enough to stop the forest creatures.
The characters watch for escapees. There aren't many. The first group they see is a small group of Gua Far, mounted on graau. They let them go. The second group is a group of four thrux, two hoplites and two magicians. The characters move in on them, fortified with all manner of magical enhancements. They shatter the thrux with little trouble, taking two empty 15 ST powerstones from the magicians.
The session ends on the 54th day of the 3090th Voyage with the characters back in Nircharstal. Each character gains three experience points.