Swirling Currents

General Summary

Hunt for the Assassins.

Farren, Breaker, and Mo double checked the knots on the assassin’s bonds and then made camp for the night. In the morning, Mo scouted ahead while Breaker and Farren stayed behind. Farren gathered a bunch of wood which Breaker used to create a large bonfire. They then dragged the two dead assassins to the pile and set it ablaze. Having disposed of the corpses, Farren and Breaker rousted the injured assassin to his feet and marched him onward to the town of Thriest.

Once in Thriest, Breaker and Farren sought ought the local law enforcement. They found a Constable John in charge. The constable expressed his surprise over the capture of another assassin; he knew from experience how difficult they were to subdue. Constable John took the injured assassin off the party’s hands and paid them the reward of 100 shins.

Breaker had many questions which the constable answered as best he could. Constable John revealed much about the group of the assassins. They were a band of mercenaries or hunters who specialized in murder. Anyone looking to hire them needed to use a numenera called a data flood device to send a message to the Datasphere. Sometime after sending the message, a hologram would appear to the sender and reveal further instructions. All attempts to trace the group beyond this point had failed.

Constable John also told Breaker that the assassin refused to talk (and was now short of several fingers because of it!). The constable declined Breaker’s offer to take the assassin back to Northam ; the assassin would be executed in Thriest for his crimes in a few weeks. Breaker’s final request was for the constable to spread the word that Breaker could be found in Beyonder’s Blades. The constable agreed to spread the word.

Farren then activated the trans-local-fixer and sure enough, a portal opened. The adventures stepped through the portal and into Gwydeon's workshop. Gwydeon was happy to see them because they had been able to prove him correct about creating stable portals. However, Gwydeon revealed that such portals took an enormous amount of power to maintain and he could only keep one portal open at a time. Gwydeon mentioned that a cave at the nearby World Ship Cliffs might contain power nodules which would enable him to open additional portals.

A scroll from a ghoul.

Meanwhile, back in Beyonder's Blades, Tidran and Cassandra awoke in their cottage and began discussing breakfast plans. Sirkel, ever hungry, heard them through an open window and came over to investigate. Tidran generously invited the hungry delve in for a meal. After breakfast, the trio visited the inn to check out the Inn Message Board and see if anyone needed assistance.

At the inn, Nilsa was sitting and reading a book. Cassandra greeted Nilsa and exclaimed how much she enjoyed reading about Nilsa’s adventures. Nilsa commented that she was currently out of things to do since she had finished sharpening every utensil in sight to a razor edge. The veteran jack suggested that perhaps Cassandra might write down some of her own adventures.

Nilsa also mentioned a scroll had been delivered to the inn addressed to Tidran and Cassandra. Cassandra’s eyes lit up and she quickly took the scroll and opened it. The scroll was pale almost translucent leather with a very dark red or black ink written by a steady hand. It was an invitation from Aminshu’ahmizziem, the Syzygy Ghoul they had met earlier, to visit the Yudterim for research.

Cassandra was very excited to get the chance for some genealogical research in the extensive archives of the syzygy ghouls. She and Tidran invited Sirkel to accompany them to the underground library. The delve’s ears perked up at the mention of a cave and he was doubly won over when Tidran mentioned the possibility of more food. Sirkel agreed to join Tidran and Cassandra to the yudterim.

The adventures meet and part shortly thereafter.

The trio left the inn and encountered Breaker and Farren coming from Gwydeon’s workshop. Dante, who woke up late, also happened to come walking up about the same time. The groups greeted each other and haltingly shared some of their past experiences. Since no one really knew each other that well the conversation was stilted and short. Everyone soon agreed to go their separate ways; Cassandra, Tidran, and Sirkel would go to the Yudterim while Dante joined Breaker and Farren to find power nodules for Gwydeon.

Yudterim Excursion.

Cassandra’s group went to the mine and greeted Star Browder, one of the mine’s owners. Star was grateful for the party’s help in stabilizing the mine and told them they were welcome to poke around to their hearts content. The adventures entered the mine and traced their way to where they had first encountered Aminshu’ahmizziem. Sure enough, the pale white ghoul was waiting and greeted the group pleasantly. He then took the group through a very twisting and confusing path towards the yudterim. Along the way, Aminshu’ahmizziem explained some of the history and methods of the syzygy ghouls. The ghouls consumed the dead and gained all their memories. Then, they made a fine leather from the skin of the deceased and mixed the blood into an ink. The ghouls would then record the dead’s memories on the scroll and store these scrolls in their yudterim.

The group finally arrived at the yudterim and their guide informed them they were welcome to read anything they wished but would only be permitted to copy three scrolls. Cassandra and Tidran eagerly asked for any genealogical scrolls the ghouls might possess. Here, the group encountered some difficulty as the ghouls did not write the scrolls by topic, but by memories; each scroll contained the life’s memories of a single person. Tidran applied all of his mental effort and, aided by Cassandra, was able to communicate to the ghouls what they were looking for: anything mentioning their parentage.

Aminshu’ahmizziem consulted with several other ghouls and then provided a scroll. This scroll contained memories from a man who had a friend named Jayvin. Jayvin spent a lot of time searching for Cassandra and Tidran. The last memory of Jayvin showed he was living in the Salt Marshes to the south. Several other scrolls made passing mention of Jayvin as an older man with a face marked by regret.

Cassandra and Tidran were overjoyed at the revelations from the scroll. They finally had a lead to someone who might be able to tell them their history! The siblings knew they would have to venture out to the Salt Marshes and seek out Jayvin.

Sirkel meanwhile was interested in food recipes, and found a scroll telling how a man made excellent scones by adding in sap from a certain tree. The group also read a scroll telling of a man’s epic search for a mad xydrake which threatened his village. The man encountered great hardships and lost his left hand but in a final heroic battle was able to slay the beast and secure safety for his family. Finally, the group asked for a map of the cave system which the ghouls provided (although the ghouls admitted they altered a few locations to protect their own territory).

The trio then left the yudterim, and were guided back to the mine by Aminshu’ahmizziem. As they approached the mine, Cassandra was stricken by sudden pains from the crystal in her head and had to be carried back to the settlement. The adventures decided to rest at Beyonder’s Blades and pursue Jayvin when Cassandra was feeling better.

Gathering power nodes.

Meanwhile, Breaker, Farren, and Dante set off through the woods following Gwydeon’s directions to a cave in the World Ship Cliffs. They found the cave about where they expected it to be and ventured inside. Once inside, the adventurers took the left hand path which eventually led to a dead end. Having not seen anything resembling a power nodule (although parts of the cave looked man-made and not natural) the group traced their steps back and tried the passage to the right.

Soon, a faint glow could be seen up ahead. The explorers advanced cautiously and could soon make out a shifting mass with occasional beams of light coming from it. Breaker quietly crept closer and determined the mass was actually a swarm of chance moths! The moths were clustered over something which emitted light; perhaps this was the power node they were looking for!

Breaker tried to hand-signal to his companions what he was seeing but Farren and Dante didn’t quite understand. They did understand when Breaker pulled out his massive slug-thrower and fired, dropping a chance moth. The entire swarm of chance moths erupted at the shot and attacked the party!

The party gamely dug in and faced the swarm head on. While an individual moth was not particularly hard to kill, the entire swarm could be an issue. Dante dodged when several moths swooped at him, but one of them caught him in the chest with its stinger. Suddenly, Dante felt very knowledgeable about salvaging numenera! Breaker also was stung several times; he suddenly found himself able to fly a short distance and was quite certain he could turn invisible if he wanted to!

After several rounds of combat, the entire swarm of chance moths lay dead, and the group examined what they had been clustered on. Sure enough, it was a power node! Farren examined the nodule and then pulled it out removing five power nodes from the cluster. Happy with this find the party hiked (Breaker flew!) back to Gwydeon with their prize.

Contact from another dimension?

Gwydeon was happy with the power nodes and informed the group he had now won his bet with Vizeem. The old tinker once again opened a holographic communication with Vizeem. Gwydeon’s friend was a bit surprised but genuinely fascinated that Gwydeon had pulled off a stable portal. Vizeem then kept his side of the bet and revealed to Farren more information about his trans-dimensional message.

Vizeem said he was tinkering on a dimensional experiment and suddenly started receiving voice messages. The voices were very garbled, and he couldn’t seem to transmit back. Vizeem was able to discern two voices, one feminine and one masculine.

The feminine voice was worried about her child. This voice pleaded with whoever could hear to protect her child. She described her child who liked to aid in a workshop as well as climb trees and look through a telescope.

The masculine voice sounded as though the person was raving most of the time. Vizeem occasionally understood references to obscure numenera dealing with dimensional experiments. This voice mostly went on and on about adjusting some machine. Once in a while the masculine voice would complain that his helper was not around to bring him parts.

Farren was ecstatic at hearing Vizeem’s account. She was convinced the voices were those of her parents! If she was correct, her parents were not dead but somehow in a different dimension of existence! Farren spoke with Vizeem about working together to try and establish contact with the voices and maybe someday bring her parents back!

Rewards Granted

• Each party member received 4 experience points
• Breaker and Farren split 100 shins reward for the assassin's capture

Missions/Quests Completed

• Gwydeon proved he could open stable portals
• The assassin threat was ongoing but now directed towards Beyonder's Blades
• The party visited the Yudterim

Character(s) interacted with

• Gwydeon
• Vizeem
• Aminshu’ahmizziem
• Nilsa
• Star Browder
• Constable John

Report Date

29 Feb 2020

Primary Location

Beyond