Journal Entry 08.00 - Journey to the other Canton

Returning to Canton, the party finds the Neffer Key. The party attempts to return to Chrailis. The world gate transports them to an alternate world, alternate Canton. The escape from this new world likely lies in the nearby volcano.

General Summary

Determining to go back through the world gate, the team’s goal is to return to Canton and hopefully find the Neffer Key. With Dame Imokan securing safe passage for the party through the gate, they are ready to set off.
After taking a few final moments to load up some last minute gear (mostly by feeding it to Graykar’s backpack), the party heads back to the warehouse where the gate is currently stored. Unlike the first time, the warehouse is both busier yet less chaotic. Actual offices have been created, filing cabinets put in place. Whereas before everyone was moving around hurriedly without much apparent purpose, more people are present yet moving at a slower deliberate pace. Not including the guards, there are at least fifty people present looking to be performing various research tasks with the gate being the main focus. There are some artificers casting spells on the gate, some cataloguers boxing up sample vegetation from beyond the gate, and at least one alchemist performing some process on a pile of dirt stacked on her table.
Initially, when the party came through, the only Coterie presence was that of Kas Dais. Now the blue and purple flag of Tar Isroval can be seen flying. It is now obviously a joint operation.
After arriving and forced to wait just a few minutes, a short stocky woman with buzzed white hair approaches and introduces herself as Candice. She is to the point and no-nonsense. She obviously regards the party as a waste of her valuable time. She greets the party and lets them know that she has been ordered to accommodate all reasonable requests and to allow the party through the gate. She stresses that the party will also be allowed to return through the gate once their purpose is completed from the other side. To the party’s knowledge, this is all being done completely as a courtesy to Dame Imokan, as only the party knows why they wish to use the gate to return to the jungle.
Once back on the Canton side of the gate, the party is greeted once again by Vegdas. He seems terse and repeats the same orders – to help the party as is reasonable. This time, the party notes that the man in the brown robes with the cowl is observing them intently from the time they arrive. He never moves, just watches from about 50 yards away.
As the party is making its way through the camp preparing to leave, they do find out from Vegdas that the girl had been found in Kerlostra and had already been returned through the gate. It seems that the Kerlostran Shaman had received a vision along with a local oracle that they needed to bring the girl north for safety. The Kas Dais men had encountered the elves transporting the girl just this side of the river.
The party makes good time in heading toward Canton. While Canton actually consisted of over 42 home trees, during Morvion’s time only 7 trees were in active use. The tree they are after is the tree which most recently belonged to the healer/midwife of the village and her son. The tree’s proper name is Velkalotoreclipsulay. Morvion says that decades ago, the tree used to belong to the village’s shamans, the last of which to live in the tree was a powerful shaman known as Nerisht’ O Ta. When the villages next shaman (Morvion’s predecessor) moved to a newer tree, the tree was unused for about 30 years before the healer moved in.
When asked, Morvion replies that he actually knows little of Nerisht’. He was the shaman for the village up until about 150 years ago. Something bad happened and Nerisht’ disappeared. That something bad was bad for the entire village. No one alive at that time ever mentioned it – treating the topic as taboo. Morvion – a product of his culture, was not about to disrespect his elders by trying to pry out information they seem to think best forgotten. There were plenty of other shamans before Nerisht’ which were more noteworthy and Morvion’s knowledge of Canton’s history deals with them.
Arriving at the tree, they do their best discern the possible location of the Neffer Key. Aja speaks with the tree directly getting little more from the tree than something was placed inside of it for safekeeping. Going to the top level, what would have been the private quarters of Nerisht’, the party uses their scroll of pass wall to create a tunnel through the heart of the tree. In the middle of the tree and the tunnel, they see what that believe can only be the Neffer Key. It is a grey stone about 6 inches to a side weighing as heavy as it looks. Each side has one semi-circle indention in the middle, about 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch across. Each of the sides has a slightly different shade of red or purple. Further experimentation shows that by placing a finger in any of the pips, it can be slid around to anywhere on that side of the cube – the pip sliding smoothly as if it were a floating cup and the stone side were made of water.
Graykar puts the key into his pack and the party makes their way back to the gate so they can return to Chrailis.
With little ado, they make their way through the camp and approach the gate. As they approach to within a few feet, the scene of what appears on the other end of the gate shifts from the warehouse scene in Chrialis and becomes an opaque purple mist.
While the party would have probably not entered the purple mist anyway, the party is suddenly immobilized in their tracks, unable to move, as a booming voice penetrates their minds. “STOP – You must not enter. You carry an item of power that must not cross the gate.” With no doubt, everyone knows the source of the voice is the strange individual in the brown monk’s robe. All that can be seen of his face from underneath his cowl are two amber glowing eyes.
Standing only a few feet from the gate, Morvion hears a different powerfully soothing voice in his head at the same time saying, “Young Elf – I led you to this gate once and taught you it’s secrets. I offer salvation. If you wish to fully be rid of the yoke of this dragonkin and the dragon suppressors, I will release you to come through the gate if you but say yes.”
Morvion, always distrustful of anything Chrailis, immediately makes the decision to go through the gate and as he does, the hooded figure’s control of his limbs ceases. Morvion is first through the gate. Each of the party members then feels the control slip and also step through the gate in order. Only Urik seems to have serious second thoughts before he too jumps through the gate.
As they step through, the last thing all of them hear from the hood figure is, “Nooooo!.” Then followed with a command to all the others present around the gate, “Do not follow them, for that way leads to death.” As they step through, the clarity of the voice which had been some dominate in their thoughts fades to little more than a memory.
The party lunges from the gate into an entirely different environment. Unlike the jungle they just left, the weather is cool and muggy. A slight fog carries in the air, the sky overcast with a complete cloud cover. Despite the fog making it hard to see, they can make out in the distance a single mountain with a pillar of white smoke billowing out its top.
There is no gate present on this side.
Even the trees are different, with hard woody branches coming straight out of the trunks low to the ground. The leaves are smaller and more round in shape yet each branch seems to carry more leaves. The leaves themselves are grayish green, not looking the healthiest.
Urik immediately goes into a slight rage, hacking at trees. He is completely pissed. As he was passing through the gate, it was made known to him that he was cut off from his goddess, Josca. In the process, he was given a message, 'Leaving this world, you are going to a place I cannot reach. Inside of your breast, I have placed a small amount of my power. It will fuel your endeavors for 4 days before draining away completely. Use it wisely. This journey, while worrisome, may be necessary for your development. At least this is as foreseen by my sister, Kristor. I wish you the best and eagerly await your return unto my fold.' His rage doesn’t last long and in the next few hours, he realizes this was the first direct communication he has ever had with his goddess!
Not sure where to go, the party heads in the direction of the smoking mountain. Not long after setting out on the path, they notice that the ground has a slight vibration, a rumble when they stop and listen. It is probably the smoking mountain in the distance. (It should be noted, none of the party, except maybe Graykar, has ever even seen a mountain, much less a volcano.)
It doesn’t take long for the party to come upon a well-used trail. Picking right, the party slowly moves down the trail with Graykar in the lead scouting.
Graykar comes upon six elves, each of them looking slightly malnourished and with a grey complexion to their unhealthy skin, working at a large kiln. Around them are stacked several large clay pots in the shapes of barrels. Each barrel is about 3 ½ feet high about 2 feet in diameter. Four of the elves are currently working with clay to mold two barrels while the other two are heaving on heavy chains to pull a large rolling rack out of the kiln where 4 freshly fired pots are resting.
As Graykar and the party announce themselves, the elves look scared and run away. The kiln site consists of four buildings, all purposed for the support of creating the barrels. On the other side of the kiln, slightly over a hill the party witnesses a storage area for more finished barrels. Stacked on wooden pallets three high, each pallet, in turn, holds six barrels. In the valley beyond the kiln lies thousands of these pallets, covering several acres. A quick estimate would be in the 10’s possibly 100’s of thousands of barrels. Following the elves who ran away, the party doesn’t have to go very far down the trail until they see the elf village. The village consists of several huts with straw roofs, dirt roads in between the huts. Coming up the trail out of the village, the party sees a welcoming group of elves approaching. It is about 20 elves, carrying crude wooden weapons, all looking similarly malnourished as the original elves Graykar had seen at the kiln.
Leading the elves, a single elf steps forward and introduces himself. He is an older elf, looking to be late middle age. His hair is long and gray with portions of his scalp easily seen through his balding hair. (think Riff Raff from Rocky Horror.)
He introduces himself as Varkus, leader of this village. He then drops that the name of the village is Canton. Morvion is stunned and incredulous. As they question him he says that this village has been here for over 8000 years and that all the elves are the descendants of the original settlers which all came from Canton. 8000 years ago, the village shaman named Nerish’ O Ta of Canton brought their ancestors through the world gate to this world promising them power and enlightenment. He was to join them, however, he never showed up.
As they talk, more villagers start coming out and standing in the streets of Canton. None approach the two groups, they are merely watching.
According to Varkus, he says that the original settlers of this world came here to be conditioned for when they would return to the world of the birth. He says that their god, Majalacturis, watches over the village of Canton until the day it is ready to return to birth lands. When asked about the barrels, Varkus refers to them as batteries.
None of the villagers seem hostile. However, none ever smile or joke. With their wide-open eyes, they just stare at the party. (Aja does note that despite seeing a few hundred elves, she doesn’t see any children.) They readily confer that the current party is far from the first party to arrive. They say that every few years, a new group of adventurers arrive. They then point to the distant mountain, calling it White Plume Mountain. “According to our legends, any who want to leave this world can do so, they must just endure the challenges of yonder mountain. To do so will require you to gather three powerful items from the bowels of the mountain and with them, the way home can be found. Or you can stay and help us with the barrels.”
The party decides their fate lies in facing the challenges of the mountain. Some of the villagers guide the party to the entrance of the mountainous dungeon.
[What transpires in the mountain is as per the Wizards of the Coast module – White Plume Mountain. The party is given the same riddle at the beginning of the module. A few changes have occurred differently from the module.] 1. In an earlier encounter with a vampire, Urik is actually killed. However, he miraculously recovers enough from the draining effects of the vampire to become fully healed. 2. After finishing the first of the 3 passageways, as they return to the apex, the gynosphinx is still present and says, “Young party, you are free to leave if you want. Codista has already brought one of you back from the brink of eternal night. She will not be able to offer this service again and encourages you to sincerely think about her offer.” 3. After finishing the 2nd of the 3 branches in the dungeon, Graykar notices the rock of the walls and ceilings are looking more worn, starting to chip away. As they return once again to the apex, a much older more haggard looking gynosphinx once again entreats the party to leave. 4. Sir Bluto has been replaced with Sir Caladanis. He is a wanted man back in Chrailis and has been missing for several years.

Report Date

06 Apr 2018