26th Rhaan, 999 YK
- They're all stood around the underwater portal, and have no ideas to traverse it.
- There is some discussion of sending Zaphkiel, but Zaphy needs to be breathe and can't go too far from Naze.
- Naze does have a spell to make Zaphkiel amphibious.
- We work out that Bhaltair managed to get about 180 feet down before needing to resurface. Naze would need to swim 80 feet to get Zaphy further than that.
- Runmae has a Potion of Emergency Escape, but she's slow
- Warren is quite fast, he could get further than Bhaltair did if he's able to swim.
- We don't think Warren can swim
- It's not worth it
- They decide if they can't proceed, the tribes probably can't either
- Unless it's the Enshrouded, they could swim through it
- Hmm
- They could verify if the "vile fish people" are the Enshrouded, they know where their settlement is
- They decide to do that on their way to the other portal that Bhaltair can sense
- They go back the way they came, sticking to the mangrove forest as Runmae "has never trusted a lagoon in her life"
- They're trying to be stealthy
- Runmae is Scouting, whilst the others Avoid Notice under Warren's watchful rat eyes
- Hours later, as the day is getting late, they can see a settlement in the distance from their position in the mangrove forest.
- They puzzle who to send to check it out. Warren it is.
- Warren creeps up, flawlessly, to the edge of the settlement and gets a good look. It's a village of the "vile fish people", which Steph has dubbed the VFP's. They don't seem that vile? Beyond their kinda upsetting appearance.
- Warren decides to try and speak to one.
- Warren's appearance causes a village wide panic, as the fish people flee and hide in their basket-homes. A small group gather spears and, from a good 30 feet away, speak to Warren in a language he doesn't understand.
- Warren points behind him, and they flinch. They're so afraid of him.
- He turns and runs. He tried diplomacy but he can't do it
- He's sprinting through the water, splashing in all directions and making so much noise
- Runmae draws her weapon and asks Warren what's going on!?
- Warren says he forgot he doesn't speak their language, but they're absolutely terrified of him. So he left.
- Hmm
- Runmae says this is interesting, and seems to call Sir Frutherspume's story into question.
- Naze asks if Warren could identify the language?
- He says "like if wet could speak"
- Probably not Empyrean (Celestial) then
- Naze has a scroll of Translate, so they're gonna try again
- Runmae is worried about approaching as a group though, in case it frightens them more. It'll look like they sent a scout and now they're going to take the village
- They decide to send Naze and Runmae on their own, to appear less threatening.
- They approach out in the open, rather than sneaking up and spooking em like Warren did
- The little militia are still out when they arrive, and shout at them in their language
- Naze casts the spell, and the language begins to make sense
- The fishpeople are groveling, saying they don't want any trouble just please don't hurt anyone
- Runmae introduces them
- They converse with the terrified fish people. They learn a few things
- They are called the Quor-Toa, the Dreaming People. This particular group call themselves the Kuo-Sho. The Dukedom of Reeds and Water Lilies tried to eradicate them, but they summoned a god to save them: Vosh. The boggards summoned their own god, and the two deities destroyed each other
- They just want to live.
- The village is called Sloodilpolp. The one speaking to them is Plelp.
- Runmae asks if they've seen any other people. Only the frogs
- Runmae says if any others come, the quor-toa should hide. Plelp nods, "all people bring violence, but if it comes, Vosh will save us again"
- Runmae says that if she sees that fucking frog again, they'll be having words
- Plelp expresses concern. They saw a boggard?
- "Yeah, he's kinda stuck up and an asshole"
- Runmae observes that the quor-toa are unusually jumpy. Considering they're out in the open and talking, the fishfolk seem to be reacting to things that Runmae can't see
- Runmae questions them on it. "You can't see them? The demons? All around us?"
- huh
- Runmae looks around, but she doesn't see anything unusual. Certainly no demons.
- Runmae crouches a little bit to get eye to eye with Plelp. They're clearly perceiving things that she (and Naze) aren't.
- She lies, and asks what the creatures are. Plelp tries to explain, and we have a brief GM scene exploring this peoples history. (See below)
- Runmae is floored. These poor people. They live in a constant state of living nightmare, with one step in Dal Quor and the other on Eberron.
- Plelp asks where they came from? And where will the bad people come from?
- "A land far away"
- Anywhere we'd know?
- Know the Labyrinth?
- No
- Runmae asks where they came from? Apprently, they arrived here about a year ago. They come from the Barren Sea originally.
- Gosh, they've traveled far
- Runmae tells them to seek out Maruk Dar if they're ever unfortunate enough to find themselves in the Labyrinth
- While chatting, one of the quor-toa has a seizure and collapses. The others don't seem too bothered though
- Runmae asks if they're okay?
- Plelp looks them in the eyes, looking just so very haunted. "Oh, they got him"
- What?
- The nightmares.
- "They can do that?"
- Apparently they'll be fine, they'll wake up later. Another day in paradise.
- Runmae has been solidly turned against the frogs. Holy fuck.
- Runmae is rattled, and wants to leave. Naze wants to help the fish that collapsed, but doesn't know anything about fish demons.
- He also isn't sure they won't get spooked if he tries to approach.
- They leave, haunted, and return to the rest of the group
- Warren asks if they're alright?
- Runmae isn't sure she that she is. "Those guys have it rough..."
- "I know we already didn't trust Frutherspume but I trust him even less now. Those people are suffering. Constantly harassed by living nightmares. They don't seem like demons?"
- Warren hates that. If they can't see the horrors, they can't stab them!
- Runmae says they're interesting though. They summoned a creature called Vosh to save them from the boggards. They can manifest gods! They prayed for something to save them and it did
- Warren is like "that's how it works!?"
- Bhaltair comments that yes, they were told about this! Faith is real here!
- Warren didn't think it was like that though! He just thought it made divine magic weird
- Runmae doesn't think the quor-toa are a threat. They definitely aren't what Frutherspume made them out to be.
- She's actually more worried that the quor-toa are in danger
- We'll see if Valaari has any thoughts on this later, as their player isn't here today
- Runmae also comments that if the Quor-Toa arrived from the Barren Sea, the underwater portal probably leads there...
- They continue their journey to the other portal for the rest of the day
- They have to rest before getting there. Bhaltair summons their liminal space again.
- Runmae gets out a cup before going in, and tries to believe that it is full of her favourite beverage. It doesn't work.
- She goes to bed, disappointed.
- Runmae and Naze have bad dreams about the quor-toa. Those poor guys.
27th Rhaan, 999 YK
- Runmae prepares Blind-Fight today, fearing the living nightmares that haunt the Quor-Toa
- They continue on to the south-eastern portal.
- They find the portal in a mound of wet earth, covered by detritus. They dig it out, and head into the tunnel.
- Runmae lights her lantern so that everyone else can see. Naze is still too afraid of casting to cast Light.
- "Pussy"
- Naze looks at Bhaltair, who is having to uproot themselves to walk and is covered in rusted metal leaves.
- Fine. He casts Light.
- Nothing untoward happens. The spell functions as he expects it to.
- They descend into a tunnel network that almost immediately splits off. Gods.
- Most of them notice that there are symbols carved into the caverns, but not all of them. Arrows, and then text in a language nobody understands.
- Runmae has seen this script before though, in museums, and identifies it as Giant. She can't actually read it, though
- "It's Giant"
- "The letters look pretty normal sized to me" - Warren
- Two of the tunnels have such markings, though there are many other tunnels that do not
- Runmae asks if anyone has paper? Warren does! They've been mapping
- They dig into Warren's spelling. "As long as I get the vibes right, who gives a fuck!?"
- He drew a little fish for Sloodilpolp
- And a frog with a mustache for Murkwater
- They debate a little bit about whether its worth getting a rubbing of the markings, in case someone can read it back home, but they don't want to waste paper.
- Warren grumbles to himself as he puts the mapping tools away
- They decide to take the left-most marked tunnel
- They follow it for a while, and it's a winding and treacherous path. Sometimes they have to climb. Every time there's a junction or other tunnels split off, one of them has the markings. They follow the markings.
- They come to a cavern where there are many more markings, some in Giant, and others in Dwarven. Runmae can read them.
- "Ravener's Maw"
- -o> Mountain with a low hanging sun -o> Vralkast (written in Dwarven runes, but not a dwarven word).
- There's also a note pinned to the wall, beneath the markings, written by Carro Canowyn d'Sivis. It deeply frightens them.
- Warren says they aren't going there. Fuck that.
- Runmae comments that they can't let the Carrion Tribes find it, though
- Bhaltair and Valaari would probably have comments here, too
- Much to his displeasure, they send Warren in to check it out.
- He looks around at all of them, sighs dramatically, and then walks down the tunnel.
- The stone transitions to wood, and Warren climbs up and out of the hollow of a redwood tree into a forest.
- He doesn't feel so good. His heart is pounding in his ears, and he feels an ancient prey drive awaken deep in him. He wants to hunt.
- He walks straight forwards from the mouth of the portal, so that he can just turn and run back in if anything happens.
- He sees several instances of large predators hunting each other, and smaller predators using pack tactics to hunt larger ones. He feels an impulse to join in, but he presses it down, and keeps walking.
- As he walks, a noise spooks him and he ducks into cover as a prehistoric terror walks passed him. It's a large theropod, with two chunky hindlimbs and two small forelimbs, with 2 fingers each. It has a disproportionately large and powerful jaw.
- It's a tyrannosaurus, though Warren doesn't know this. He just hides, and it seems to ignore if it even noticed him.
- He remains in cover for a while, spooked.
- Under the fear, there's still a pulse of "you can take it". Driving him to try and attack it.
- He pushes it down, and returns to the hollow of the redwood tree, and into the tunnel.
- Runmae sees him looking rattled and asks if he's okay?
- "Hunt"
- What?
- Warren describes just seeing large animals hunting each other. He needs to sit down, let his heartbeat calm down
- Over the next several seconds, the reawakened prey drive diminishes and he calms down
- He kinda wants to go back in
- He struggles for a while to try and articulate how he's feeling, with the others looking concerned.
- "I've never felt fear like that, and I was mauled by a bear. At the same time, it felt right. I wanna go back in...maybe?"
- He gets out some paper and quickly draws the tyrannosaurus to show them. It's not a good drawing, per se, but it does look like a tyrannosaurus.
- Bhaltair and Valaari would probably have something to say about this
- Runmae says he's made that up, that's not a real thing
- Bhaltair has seen it before! The Talentans call them "Swordtooth Titans". It's the most dangerous animal on the plains.
- Runmae still doesn't believe it
- Warren is inclined to believe Bhaltair, and besides, he saw it himself!
- There were loads of other things too, all hunting each other. The whole demiplane smelled of blood and death, and he could feel his heart thumping behind his eyes, urging him to hunt.
- The others are understandably concerned about this
- Runmae thinks its safe to say the Carrion Tribes probably aren't getting through that one either? Right? Right!?
- Warren thinks they could, if they could sneak. Also, the gnomes got through it.
- Yeah...they got there through the Pinnacles Sublime, which Runmae thinks is the "mountain with a low hanging sun" symbol.
- What is Vralkast?
- Runmae asks for Naze to give Warren a psych eval.
- "A what?"
- "Check if they're feeling alright"
- Naze examines Warren's physical symptoms, notes that his pupils are dilated and he's covered in sweat. He's clearly still flooded with adrenaline. He doesn't notice anything else though.
- Okay, they're back to plan making. They can try to sneak through, maybe, but Runmae is worried about what Warren's describing. They could also backtrack and try following the other markings to see where they lead.
- They decide to backtrack and see what's there
- They spend several hours going through the tunnels and following the other marks, until they arrive at another portal
- The markings for this one say "Taer Umbra" in Dwarvish, which are like, Anglicised Elvish words?
- There are multiple branching symbols from this one.
- -o> A circle drawn around a storm cloud with a lightning bolt
- A line to a circle, and then two lines going out the other side of that circle. One of those lines goes towards a stylised, lidless eye, and the other towards a stylised bestial mouth with large fangs, and several dwarven symbols around it that Runmae can translate as the equivalent of "zzz".
- The portal itself is a solid wall of roiling darkness. The tunnel just cuts off.
- Runmae is tempted to poke her head into the darkness and see if she can see anything.
- She walks forward, and the darkness seems to retreat from her lantern. She can't see anything beyond it, and it seems like the dark is physically pressing itself against the light. She stops after a few steps, and steps back.
- That's real fucking dark
- As much as she hates to admit it, maybe the other way is safer?
- Warren agrees, begrudgingly
- Also, there's no helpful gnote from the gnomes, so they didn't go that way! If gnomes couldn't do it, the tribes probably can't
- They've checked out both ways briefly, but they'll wait to make a decision until the missing players have had some input.
The City of Dreams
Picture a vast, wondrous city under the sea. It's got a dreamlike quality to it, as everything there is crafted from the very essence of dreams, for this city exists in a manifest zone to Dal Quor.
It's deep beneath the waves, where the light of the surface is only visible from the tallest towers, but luminescent bulbs produce light all the way to the depths. It's a utopia, perhaps the truest utopia that Eberron has ever known. Everybody has their needs met, they want for nothing. It's the kind of society you get when creation requires just a thought, as the quor-toa shape reality from the stuff of dreams.
They are ruled by gods of their own making, benevolent entities that have their peoples best interests at heart, truly. These gods are alien by the standards of the modern day, the kinds of creatures you could more easily create in your dreams than with your waking imagination.
And even they have no idea what's coming. Miles and miles away, on the land of Xen'drik, the Cul'sir Dominion are fighting a war against the Quori. They have a secret weapon, an artifact they call the Moonbreaker, which severs the moon Crya from Eberron, cutting Dal Quor off. The Giants don't even know what they've done.
The manifest zone collapses, and the city with it, in an instant. The Quor-Toa suffer immediate, immense psychic feedback as the shockwave of Dal Quor's severing rips through them, but doesn't sever them from the plane. The Quor-Toa's imagination runs wild, manifesting horrors that turn on their creators. Their gods are twisted from dreams into nightmares, and the culture and knowledge of the Quor-Toa collapses along with their dream towers.
What survives today is a twisted, hollow reflection of who they once were. The city of dreams has become a realm of nightmares, sustained by the collective trauma of a people who don't remember what they once were, but have only known horror.
And now some of them stand before you, with hope in their admittedly unsettling eyes.