Session 30: Scanelorn

With acknowledgement and apologies to Michael Moorcock... 

The PCs begin still in the Bone Man's tower. They can see, in the distance, what Debi believes to be the fabled extradimensional city of Scanelorn.

They return to the wall, and to the Troll's Tooth, telling Captain Klang what they have seen and done.  Klang and his goblin crew begin to paddle the ship into the passage through the wall. 

They manage to get through without incident. Anchoring in the middle of the river, just beyond the wall, they get some sleep. 

The next day they proceed to the city. As they near it, they see that then entire city is apparently surrounded by a wide and deep moat, into which they can see other rivers as well as the one they are on, connecting. Rivers from other planes of existence. 

They find a place to dock and pay 10gp for a week. 

From the boat, they see eople clearly not from their own reality. They hear the common tongue spoken with strange accents. Humans and demi-humans are recognizable but...not quite the same.

The Goblins take shore leave. Debi inquires with the harbormaster, on behalf of the group, to find a good tavern where they might eat and seek information. He suggests the Lucky Traveller and gives her directions. 

At the Lucky Traveller, the PCs sit down. Debi chats up the bartender, who invites her to take the stage and entertain the crowd. Simon "blesses" her (rolling again to make contact with the god Ahki while on this plane), and Debi rolls a very high performance roll.  She introduces herself and sings a song about the founding of Langwon.

After her set, two strangers approach them at the table. A man going by Samhir the Blue Archer and an albino woman in a black cloak known as Shalla Hess. The PCs all make perception rolls, and notice that the two have familiar accents. The archer and the albino tell them they are also from the Langwonian plane and have been trapped here. They need help to return home, but until now have found no other Langwonians. They explain a rumor that the head of the Thieves Guild has a magic ring that can activate a planar gate located somewhere in the Black Marsh to the north of the city. They tell the PCs where the Thieve's Guild HQ is.

The PCs say they might be interested. They agree to meet again later.

Being a rogue, Mick goes to check out the HQ. Debi and Simon go to the Archives of Scanelorn.

Mick finds a large stone building with no windows - just small slits for light and air. One door on front with two guards. Alleys on either side. In the middle of the Thieves Quarters, an area of confusing, crowded, narrow streets and alleys. 

Behind the Guild HQ he finds a tavern. He goes in check it out.

Debi and Simon go to the Archives, where Debi researches lore about both the city, the Planar Gate, and the Bone Man. She rolls a natural 20 on investigation and gets lots of info. It requires the right river, on a magic ship, to sail into Scanelorn. They had neither. That and the "wall" lead her to believe they were sent here for some ill-intent by unusual methods.

In the tavern, Mick encounters two thieves who mess with him a bit. One of them says he should "meet the boss." The other rolls a 20 and picks Mick's pocket, stealing his magic dagger. He then flaunts the dagger to taunt Mick with his skill, then gives it back to him. Mick leaves, after using an invisible Mage hand to pull the hood down in the face of his pickpocket.

That night they return to the Lucky Traveller, where Debi performs for tips. The meet up with Shalla Hess and Samhir the Blue Archer to scheme. After a long discussion they decide to go to the scummy tavern behind the Thieve's Guild and try to kidnap a thief to question. They agree to try to knock one out, take him back to the Troll's Tooth, and Debi will use her Detect Thought's spell to get info about the interior of the Thieve's Guild and the Master Thief. All they know about him is that he rarely leaves the building, and is a portly but nimble fellow.

They go to the tavern. Samhir and Shalla Hess get on a nearby rooftop to act as snipers if needed. Simon casts pass without track to enhance everyone's stealth who is near him. 

Mick goes in, using Alter Self to change his appearance. 

He sees a thief walk out to relieve himself in the alley. Mick sneaks after him, and knocks him out. The PCs her Shalla Hess and Samhir chuckling from the rooftop.

They blindfold the man, put him in the portable hole, and make quickly for the Troll's Tooth, needing to reach the ship before the man runs out of air in the hole.

End of Session.

Session 29: the Bone Man

 The Odd Three begin where they left off, at their rowboat, at the old dock on Castle Island. Debi has the whisker from Bubastis, the blue feline, and they row back out to the Troll's Tooth, where Captain Klang has kept his work and waited for them.

Klang barks some orders to his goblin crew and they hoist the rowboat back aboard. It is about 3am, and they decide to set sail immediately for Langwon.

The next day they find themselves sailing through a thick fog. When they get through it the see a 50' wall rising out out of the sea, and extending to either horizon. Debi (making her Arcana roll) remembers a story about sailors encountering just such a phenomenon on a different plane of existence, and tells her companions that they seem to have left their home plane, though no on knows how.

As they approach the wall, Mick climbs to the top of the crows nest and uses Captain Klang's spyglass to try to look over the top of the wall. From this position, he sees that he wall not only extends to the horizon but seems to extend far into the distance. He can't see the edge.

A goblin rows them to the base of the wall, where Mick uses his rogue skills to climb to the top. 

When he gets to the top, he can see that in the distance the wall apparently does have an edge.  Looking to the left, he sees that there is actually an opening big enough for a ship to sail into, but the color and cut of the huge stones of the wall create an optical illusion. You could sail past it and not see it. He can then see that the opening leads to a passage through the impossible wall, likely to the other side. 

Returning to the ship, the PCs inform Captain Klang. They decide that the PCs will return to the top of the wall and walk to the other side to scout things out. Klang will keep the ship there, or he may take it carefully into the passage, but he won't leave them.

Climbing back up the wall, the PCs reach the other side easily. Below the edge of the wall, extending several miles into the distance, is a plane of black sand. To their left they see a river exiting the wall (likely the exit point for the passage they found) that goes across that sandy plane and into the hilly, wooded land beyond.

About halfway across the plane, near the river (on their side of the river), they see thin white spire rising from the sand. 

The climb down and begin toward that tower.

As they get closer, they can see that there is "bulb" at the top that appears to have windows. The tower itself is made of smooth, white columns that twist like a vine 100 feet into the sky. When they are 1/8" of a  mile from the tower, they can see more detail. The structure appears to have massive white roots that protrude into the black sand supporting it. The outer structure twists and turns line a vine, leaving a hollow area inside, in which they can see stairs that climb up the inside toward the bulb at the top.

As they stand there studying it, Debi hears something behind them. She alerts Mick and Simon, and they see from all sides hundreds, if not thousands, of weird-looking skeletal rats emerging from the sand and staring to swarm them! The only path open to them is to the tower!

They take off running for the tower. They take a few bites from the skeletal rats before reaching the tower. They run up the stairs a bit. They can see between the outer structural "bones" of the tower that the rats have stopped and surrounded the tower, but are not entering it.

Mick begins up the tower, going about 20 feet in front of the other two, looking for traps. They ascend. 

Coming to the top, Mick finds that the stairs enter a large chamber. The interior of the chamber is made of the same organic-like material that seems like polished white bone. He casts Dancing Lights to light the place up. H sees the windows. He sees glass-domed display cases around the room. At the far side he sees a massive white chair that seems to have grown from the white floor. Sitting on the chair is a very tall humanoid shape, made completely of the white bone material, it's eyes simply glowing points on the face. it speaks....

"Ah...the servants of Raxilliah...here to pay me a visit. Come and and visit with me and perhaps I'll send you home."

Simon and Debi the booming voice as they enter then room.

They approach the figure, seeing some interesting artifacts in the displays. The creature stands, focussing on Debi, and says "Give me that whisker your retrieved for Raxilliah and I may send you home." Debi replies, trying to negotiate some other arrangement. The Bone Man starts becoming enraged...raising voice. Debi feels his anger in her mind, experiencing his anger and feeling paralyzed. He attacks her with two huge, clawed hands, missing both times.

Simon attempts to cast a spell, and finds that his connection to Ahki seems weaker on this plane, which must be far removed from the planes on which Ahki is strong. He is required to roll his Wisdom or less on a d20 to cast a spell. He makes the roll. 

The PCs fight the enraged Bone Man. Debi rolls all attack rolls at disadvantage until she can make a Wisdom save to overcome the rage she is feeling from the Bone Man.

Using a combination of spells (Thunderwave, Spiritual Weapon, Magic Missile, and Dissonant Whispers) they PCs damage the Bone Man badly while, incredibly, he misses every attack roll. They notices that the cracks they are making in his body are healing fast. They manage to "kill him" but can see his part regenerating. They smash the bones to bits, taking the skull and some of the bones and flinging them out different windows. 

Looking over the stuff in the room, a lot of it looks like the kind of things one would find in Rax's shop. Simon casts Detect Magic and Identify on some of the items. They find that the orb in front of the chair is an Orb of Planar Vision. They also find a carved white art piece that looks like a mouse skeleton, a scroll, and a vial of the black sand, that all radiate magic.

Debi, no longer under the effects of the Bone Man's rage, realizes that carrying the whisker of the telepathic/empathic Bubastis was amplifying the rage and causing the effect. The whisker is sensitive to emotion. They put the whisker, in its vial, in the portable hole, which is a pocket dimension and should shield the carrier from the effect.

Looking out the window, they see the rat skeleton monsters are gone. In the distance, they see a city, which Debi has recalled is likely called Scanelorn. 

End of Session.