RB 2-10: Icewatch

Mission Report

Friday, Dec 8, 2017 ((Jan 27, 2019))
Team: Jane Irwin (Cael), Edward Chase (Aunne), Cyrus Riggs (Sielic)
On other assignments: Lyndi Fletcher (Aslene), Ryu (ShadowRyuu), Zoraida Gurrande (quorgi)

Other Downtime

• Hit on Gelganag was Saturday, Dec 2
• Ed, Cyrus, and Zora obtained the book Wed, Dec 6
• It's now Fri, Dec 8
• While in contact with Talarin, the Raptors got Gelganag's loot back, scrubbed and ID'd
• [] Heavy revolver, *Dealbreaker* (translated from Russian), crafted by an armorer in the Soviet Army of the USSR (+2 attack & damage). Requires attunement. The holster is not magical.
• [] Short sword, *Faster than Fear* (translated from Korean), crafted from meteorite metal in South Korea by a technomancer (+1 attack & damage, once/day the wielder can cast Haste on themselves or gain an Opportunity Attack against an opponent who is using the Disengage action). Requires attunement. The sheath is not magical. (When recovered, the sword was heavily coated in reaver toxin. The toxin has been removed.)
• The metal box is matte black, with a large tinted glass window on the front. There's a small panel that slides open, revealing a button and what might be a fingerprint reader. (Contains page of Tundinzarn: Towers of Greed)
• Towers of Greed: This is a thick page of parchment, approximately 19x13 inches. The left edge is torn, as if it's been ripped from a book. It depicts Chicago, circa 1980, in a meticulously-detailed drawing. The media seem to be colored pencils and watercolors. The title of the picture is inscribed in flowing text under the drawing. The reverse side is blank. It holds a very strong aura of conjuration.
• Cyrus takes Dealbreaker

Talarin Crystal Tower

• Travel by car or Bron? Bron
• Draco instantiates in Jane, to come with
• Bron has changed some inside (e.g., R3M logos, custom gear storage for each Raptor)
• Vi'essa Keestrix is a black-skinned female elf fighter (eldritch knight). Her black curly hair is cut short. She's wearing a matte white bodysuit with light military armor, with a slung hi-tech assault rifle and sheathed katanas. She wears a small silver badge identifying her as a commander in the House Talarin guard (rather than an employee of the Talarin Corporation).
  • Tells the Raptors that Bron can transform
  • Bron will work on transforming himself
• Wyn Arivur's office
  • According to sign, expertise includes Transphysics, Xenobiology, Xenobotany
  • Contemporary furniture, shoved aside
  • A frozen storm of papers, curios, and books, books, books

Briefing by Wyn Arivur

• Wyn has a cold
• The gold book is called Codex of the Final Pyramid. It appears to be a technical manual for building a large pyramid, with details about materials, measurement, sequence of construction, etc.
• Jane asks about black stone being used, which Wyn confirms
• Many of details are currently inscrutable, even with Comprehend Languages. Early magical analysis suggests that the reader must possess a particular faith or some kind of divine connection to a particular god.
• You have pages of Tundinzarn, and we all want to better understand what our adversaries are doing
• Need a team of Unbound to investigate a memory painting
• Picture: cliffside, rocks, rough seas, smashed ships, lighthouse
• The village of Icewatch, one of our dukes visited, found the sight spectacular
• Diviner had a vision of illithids, seems to be related to your problems
• We have a portal to Tessera, but we're going to realign it to send you into the past
• The portal will only stay open for a time, only you can see it
• It will pulse with colors when it's going to close
• The magic relies on a Chain, and only Unbound can make the journey
• Going to November 14, 2006
• Bloodstone War has been going for 13 years

Tessera

• Raptors gear up for the cold
  • Stygi gets an all-weather onsie, two pockets
• Raptors go to the portal room
• Hexagon portal
• Icewatch
• Cold, windy, damp
• Sense of vitality, but also Strain
• Strain as a constant, as a headache
• Some discussion of Strain and the false memory effect (that Strain has always been true) (but it's actually
• Bloodstone lighthouse
• Crowd mourning the crash of the ship, in the shipwrecks off the cliffs
• Crowd dressed very fancy
• Dwarf cleric gives speech
  • About the Traveler
  • Challenges and learning
  • Changing times
  • Need to accept leadership of the Empire
• Crowd throws coins into the ocean
• Crowd includes some people dressed more humbly, looking weary and not part of the group
• The Stubborn Tinker, crashed in the night, got the some of the crew and passenger off, many died from drowning, then some from exposure
• Villagers seems discontent and melancholy, bloodstone fails unpredictably
• The funeral is the Rite of the Coin (pennies thrown to help the dead pay their passage with the Traveler's vassals)
• Ed sees the ship carrying the duke (of the memory painting) south
• Tharbath Bitterborn (dwarf cleric) approaches Ed
• Tharbath tells Ed about the Traveler
  • Shows him the Statue of the Traveler
  • The Traveler is cleverness, improvisation, and adaptation. It is the funny trickster, the cunning magician, and the itinerant sage.
  • Tessera's one moon is called the Traveler and it has an erratic orbit (28-49 days).
• Into the nameless inn
• Dogs tell Jane-the-dog about the bloodstone is bad, and the two-legs are stubborn as a butcher
• DM: > Cy reassures the shipwreck survivors with an inspiring conversation
• A male half-elf wizard. He is tall and lean, with long, wavy brown hair. He wears simple gray robes, a large leather shoulder bag, and a guitar. His age is difficult to judge, perhaps fortysomething.
• Ordin Zarn, musician, plays guitar
  • Working on the line, writing in a small notebook
  • And I’ve come to roam the forest past the village
  • ...With an old loaf of bread in my bag
  • ...With a handful of rusty coppers in my bag
  • ...With a dozen lazy horses in my cart
• Ordin explains that "lazy horses" are ignorant, useless government people
• Tundin Zarn is my father, married Bree Ambersheaf, traveled in The Dawn Chaser (a spelljammer ship)
• Been missing for three years, Ordin came back to Icewatch just in case
• Ordin Zarn: "No, there's no sign of illithid activity here, and I've been looking for it. I think there's illithid tech behind bloodstones, and that doesn't make sense, that they'd give it to other races. Illithids don't *give*. They're takers. They always take."

Attack

• Alarm ringing in the distance
• Cy helps the villagers fortify the inn
• Ed warns Ordin about magic being weird
• Attack on the village by orcs, Burning Masks, in thrall to something dark (Vesperchoke Thorntail)
• Coming for the bloodstone in the lighthouse
• Cyrus shots an orc with Dealbreaker
• Ordin casts Lightning Bolt
• Jane brings forth the Bear totem and summons a pack of wolves
• Graven hulk of the Shangon Empire, Whisper of Autumn
• Hulk devastates orcs: stomps on orcs, smashes orcs, swings its fist on a chain
• Hulk accompanied by commandos, plus elf on skiis and dwarves with sleds and sled dogs
• Tharbath says, There are much bigger ones in the east, on the frontlines
• Lead by Colonel Lyat Redwall