[Taocow PBEM] Chapter VII - Into the Land of Mists

[Aaron Clausen]

OOC: I guess a few of the players are still tied up, so I'll play them
to keep things going.

> > [Lady Frost]
> > Lady Frost thinks for a moment.  "If Bongo can check ahead with his
> > abilities, then we won't lose Griz after all.  None of us has had much
> > sleep.  I'll take first watch, and Kyle can do it with me.  Then we'll say
> > Osiris and Phaeton for the next, Rod and Alex for the one after that and
> > Talas and Arden after that.  At two hours each that should get us through
> > the night.  Bongo, if you'll do your magic, or whatever you call it, then
> > you can get some sleep."
> > [/Lady Frost]

> [Bongo]
> "For the record, ma'am, it's not magic -- it's a psychic ability," Bongo
> replies with a slight chuckle.  "My background wasn't exactly the most
> conducive for learning magical talents."
> [/Bongo]

> > [GM]
> > Lady Frost leads the way through the pillars, and despite some mutterings
> > from Lena that dark things must surely wait on the other side, nothing
> > stirs.
> >
> > Phaeton eyes the stone house and tower now coming into view again.  "I will
> > check out this house, if a couple of you will come with me.  The rest of you
> > should check the parameter.  Alex, Kyle and Bongo, I gather you all have
> > military experience.  Perhaps you should, as Masters Arden and Talas has
> > suggested, set up some sort of perimeter."
> >
> > Phaeton awaits the answers of the rest of the company.
> > [/GM]

> [Kyle]
> "Right I will get started on a perimeter."  Kyle will get as many noise makers
> as possible including non-explosive things then will set up some trip traps on
> the most likely approaches to our camp in the hope that if any one does come
> after us we will at least get a bit of a warning.
> [/Kyle]

> [Rod Black]
> Rod heads in with Phaeton.
> [/Rod Black]

> [Talas]
> Talas also follows Phaeton into the stone house.
> [/Talas]

> [Alex]
> Alex states, "I am pretty good at trap creation if you want to set up some.
> That is one of the items which we should also pick up if we find another town
> or city. We should try and pick up some motion sensors."
> [/Alex]

[GM]
While Alex, Kyle and Bongo work on a perimeter, the others enter the
stone house.  The floor is littered with stones where the roof caved
in.  Scorch marks can still be seen on the wall, and a few pieces of
half-burned furniture are seen piled in one corner.  The house was
rather small, possibly no more than some sort of gate house.  A
shattered wooden door leads to a stone stairway leading up into what
must be the tower.  Underneath the stairway is another broken door
that opens up on a small narrow room with empty shelves on one side
and racks that were probably used for weapons and armor.  Nothing at
all is left, save some smashed jars on the floor of this small room.

The stairs, without any kind of rails or hand holds, wind their way up
the wall of the tower.  Every few feet are arrow slits, this was
obviously a fortress of some kind, though there is little to tell who
built it, save that size of the steps indicates they were either human
or at least human-sized.

The top of the stairs, a rather dizzying sixty feet up end at a wooden
door that, strangely, is not burned.  There are a few slight dints and
one small scorch mark, though the stone beside the door is blackened
with soot.  There are some faint symbols on the door, which Rod
recognizes as some sort of wizard symbols.  There is no keyhole, nor
door ring or knob.

"I am uncomfortable about sleeping in or near a house with a door like
this." Phaeton murmurs.

Meanwhile, outside, the perimeter is completed with the efficiency of
good military men and women.  For a few minutes the wind picks up and
the fog dissipates, revealing a hard land of steep hills and hidden
bottoms.  This stone house is situated on one side of a rocky gulley. 
On the other side of the gully can be seen a road of white stones
wending its way down towards the murky bottom, hidden by a fog so
thick that it doesn't seem even the hottest sun could burn through.

There is no sign of anyone else, however, not even faeries.  This land
seems empty, and save for the distant road and the stone house, there
is no sign of the work of intelligent hands.  The wind soon abates and
the fog gathers in again, thicker than ever.
[/GM]

> [Bongo]
> Bongo astral projects and scouts the surrounding countryside and tries to
> get a lock on Griz' whereabouts
> [/Bongo]

[GM]
Bongo meditates and soon his ghostly form rises up and out of site. 
Even to Bongo's astral form this mist is to thick to see.  Soon he is
above it and looking on a world of white below and a sky of darkness
and stars above.  His astral senses become keener and he is able to
see the fog had shape, dipping where the gully is and rising on the
hillside.  Little else can be seen from this altitude however, and
Bongo heads down.

He follows the track that had lead them to the stone house.  It keeps
to the top of the gully for several miles before ending abruptly at
the edge of a cliff.  Far below can be heard the roar of a river. 
Across the gully is a jagged tooth of stone that must rise hundreds
feet in the air.  Beyond it is the other cliff wall.  This rock
actually juts right out of the middle of the gully, as if it had been
stabbed into the floor of the canyon.

There seems to be no way across for material beings save flying. 
Bongo rises up until the hills are below, hidden in mist.  Still the
jagged rock rises some three hundred feet, a narrow stone path hugging
to the stone walls of this peculiar rock.

Finally reaching the top Bongo sees a platform, not more than twenty
feet across, with a small crudely-shapen stone house that looks like
four large rocks put together for walls with a larger stone placed on
top as a roof.  The entrance is no more than three feet across by
about three feet high, dug under the rock wall.  The glow of a fire
can be seen.

Bongo passes through the stone tentatively, and there sees the lizard
man Griz bowing before the flames.  Griz is chanting "Kuzah kalah
mizal dezoth nimur" over and over as he throws flecks of some white
powder into the fire.  Soon a figure appears, shaky at first, but
becoming clearer.  It is the pale man, the demon that they had fought
on the ship, and his eyes are burning redder than the fire.

"It is I, Lord of the K'murd-faka." Griz says, lowering his head.  "I
have done as you instructed and I have brought the wanderers into the
Land of Mists as your message commanded."
[/GM]

--
Aaron Clausen   mightymartianca at gmail.com

Palladium Rifts PBEM:
http://test.alberni.net/taocow/rifts_pbem/