Beyond the Door (10th - 12th of Hunts, Rose: 47)

Many cycles, many moons, and many things have happened to our adventurers since Ma'yah was summoned from the Book of Names and returned to the party.

While at Pax Arcana, Ma'yah returned to her studies to obtain 7th Level. During the downtime, the party explored pieces of the university and trading town that surrounds it.

• The party learned that skilled magic doesn't come cheap and had to pay thousands of Crowns to Master Dharlyne for assisting the party in retrieving Ma'yah. Ma'yah, on the other hand, was now able to read the spells within the Book of Names, and went about preparing her spellbooks. 

• Gorbash and Tamroohk reclaimed the pleasures of home at The Bearded Lady, a tavern ran and patronized by dwarven kin traveling from the Kingdoms. They met Red Thunderfist, a dwarf with a profound sense of humor.

• The party spent time in Pax Arcana's Common Halls and Libraries to conduct various investigations and studies. There they met Celeste of House Gregoria, 17th-Year Pedagogue of Pax Arcana and Master of Necromancy, and had many discussions with her.

• Siegride returned to her familial home near the Port of Floreth and rejoined her family briefly, only to learn the tragic truth: the dream that she had experienced on the voyage to Shyn-Balyn where her sister drowned in a dark, unforgiving sea, at the will of her adversary, Agoolik, did indeed happen; just as the gibbering monster in the Mines of York & Barrelborn had threatened.

• The true background of Vongur was revealed. His real name was really Devyn Cammy Dinsmore, friends called him Jitters; born in the Erenlands in a village named Warm Springs, north Gaelwyn; trapped in the amulet for hundreds of years - he lost count - he stole it from a very sickly dwarf (who was nearly dead!) and who was in a pitched fever and told all kinds of dwarfly stories. Soon, he himself became sick then realized that his own consciousness was trapped within the amulet. He pretended to be a dwarf because that's what he found so many people expected, and over the centuries, he picked up a lot of dwarf-like experience. Devyn gets so hungry, he explained, but found the youthful vitality of Gorbash both sustaining and enjoyable. Devyn pleaded for it's "life" but Gorbash surrendered the amulet to Celeste - Master of Necromancy - who suggested that that the amulet would be an interesting case study for her students.

• Gorbash won a pie eating contest and a magic pie box that creates warm, delicious fruit pies. It was called Llynard's Wonderous Piebox, and he had beaten several challengers to acquire it.

• Most of the party stocked up on interesting items of magika. They visited shops and stores like Craft & Candle, Belvo's Bewitched Armor, Weapons, and Ammunition, the Crooked Cobbler, Rib Bones & Crossbows, Plainswalk Scrolls & Skullery, Babbling Books and Midnight Readings, and Skeeter's Draughts and Potions.

• They visited the Commercium and Croupier to conduct their financial businesses.

• Tamroohk and Siegride helped the clerics of Plainswalk Abbey rebuild their stone masonry after it was struck by lightning only days before the party's arrival. Sister Connye Mae of Gaia was forever thankful.  

• Llewellyn encountered Marcy Patterton the Bard, a Freeman of Floreth. "Orations, Poems, Fine Artistry, and Eclectic Dancing." Llew was even able to stop Marcy from inadvertently summoning a demon in a live performance of a mage whose power overtakes him (a final performance that required a bit more flair, Marcy told Llew, who felt something was really suspicious).

• Tamroohk traveled to The Steppes to learn more of her dwarven goddess, Beronnar Truesilver, and to be connected to members of her order. 

• And the party never even learned of the Doppleganger mirror ... but ahh, that's a story for another day.

On the 10th of Hunts, the party brought The Door (a magical door recovered from the deck of a black ship of the Pirate Horde) to Master Dharlyne of House Thorne in the Common Hall of Acquisitions, Investigations, and Categorizations in Pax Arcana. Master Dharlyne had pledged - should the party wish to open the door - she would offer her services pro-bono as a student demonstration of enchanted dimensional gates. The party agreed and brought the Door to the wizard. There were a crowd of students on the observation deck of the round turret room with an earthen-dirt floor where the magi had drawn her various runes of protection.

Master Dharlyne raised her hands and voice and shouted, "Magia non est confisa!"

And the students from above shouted back, "Magia non est confisa!"

"Magic ... is not to be trusted!", he exclaimed, "And particularly magika that opens extra-dimensional portals. Class, the Weave has been intentionally disrupted and grafted onto the back of this common wood door frame. Should the door open, I expect the fabric of space and time will be distorted, and the door can be used as a common portal - a threshold - to cross to its other side. These hearty adventurers believe it to be the sweltering deserts and barbaric Sagean Coast, more than three thousand miles from here. Truly amazing, is it not? But we should be cautious: a simple door containing so much energy is so abhorrent to the natural order of things that the Weave will undoubtedly attempt to repair itself should the door itself be destroyed. Therefore, I will assist these adventurers as they cross its threshold to the lands beyond!"

There was a cheer. Some of the students cheered with a mouth full of fruit pies, as Gorbash had decided to pass some free magically-created pies from his pie box around. The students were both grateful and bemused.

An apprentice approached Master Dharlyne with worn leather gloves sewn with intricate gold stitching and decorative patterns. She started putting on the gloves. "I shall maintain my concentration on the portal using dimensional gate theories in an attempt to maintain its connection to the other side should the Door there become unstable or destroyed." A second apprentice came forward with an intricate gold and leather scabbard with a beautiful short sword, and she hung that at her hip. The Master magi slapped her hands together to get the attention of everyone and the students.

"Now," she yelled, "These brave adventurers... shall enter this Door! The key!"

Taking the key in hand, Ma'yah inserted the key into the lock and a set of three or four tumblers cranked until the latching mechanism clicked, and she pulled the door open.

There was a collective gasp.

On the other side, heat wafted in; it was dark, night time, but still perhaps eighty-five degrees, warmer air than most anyone had ever felt in their lives (as Floreth is located in arctic climbs). There were light transparent drapes that drifted about the other side of the door and fluttered as the air on both sides of the Door commingled. Light from the party's side of the door spilled into the darkness.

Gorbash was first to cross the threshold. He stood on a sandstone dias where the Door was fixed to the ground, and to his right and left were 25' sandstone walls. It was a still night, a warm heat permeated him, and he could see the stars and Mother and Daughter (the moons of Shae Tahrane) but at odd positions in the night sky. He heard the pleasant chirping of insects and small toads. With his vision, he could make out shallow rectangular pools of water before him filled with flourishing fauna of types he was completely unfamiliar with, while the pools will still as they could be, appearing almost like glass, reflecting the night sky.

The rest of the party crossed into the garden. They produced light sources so that they could see. They investigated these gardens and found that the opposite side of the garden had two very large wooden doors - cut in a Persian motif - with brass handles. Those doors were closed, and sitting calmly before those doors on the ground, was a copper-scaled man, a Dragonborn. The party - never have ever met nor heard of a Dragonborn before - was somewhat taken aback by his appearance. The Dragonborn had no armor, no weapons, and was dressed in cool loose fabric. It patiently meditated until the party approached.

After some polite conversation, the party learned that it called itself The Watcher. His purpose was to watch, to wait, and to prevent trespassers from entering the doors behind him. Some of the dialog he said to the party:

• “It is called Hadiqat Saghira (the little garden). I consider it to be one of the more beautiful gardens in all of the Emirates. What do you think of it?”
  
• “We are far, far away from the light and greatness of Bahmaut. You are in Aljahim Alssahra (a blazing hot desert leading to hell)”
  
• “You do me honor by speaking in my tongue.” … “You do me honor by asking questions first, attacking last. Let us talk.” …”You show me honor. I will respectfully offer the same.”
  
• “Among my people, I, too, am a slave, given just one simple purpose.”
  
• “Talking is better than fighting. If I can encourage you to go, that is good enough.”
  
• “Leave from whence you came. When you safely depart and have arrived at where you started,  I will destroy the door, and no ill will come of it. Should you not leave, you place yourselves in grave peril, for I must fulfill my purpose. Should you trespass on this citadel, a wretched doom awaits you.”
  
• “My purpose is to dissuade those who might trespass on these grounds. My brothers and sisters who guard this place leave me to my methods. My methods are my own. Is it not wiser and kinder to convince you to leave rather fight you?”
  
• “I am the Watcher. My purpose is to prevent trespass into this citadel. I will do what I must to dissuade your egress.”
  
• “The door that is behind me has no lock. It has no key. It opens freely into the citadel. But you should be warned. A thousand of my brothers and sisters lay behind that door and they are a cruel and merciless lot. Should I fail at my purpose, my brothers and sisters will slaughter you all.” (Nods to sentries on the wall)
  
• “You are a smart, considerate folk. I know not from where you come but I respect the consideration you have shown me. Please, depart now.”

The party did a few things to confirm that they were, in fact, in a small garden of a much larger citadel, and there may, in fact, be a thousand or more of his Dragonkind-kin held up here, and there were, in fact, a gathering of sentries along the wall. The party attempted to learn more of Aljahim Alssahra, this construct around Tahkisis called The Theocracy, the mythology of Tiamat's ultimate desire to turn the Prime Material Plane into an Aljahim Alssahra (as a place like this), the master/slave relationship between what the Watcher called The Chromatics and The Metallics, and to persuade the Watcher to throw up his chains in rebellion against his oppressors. The Watcher would have nothing of it. He was a proud creature who understood his purpose clearly, who saw his existence and the lives of "his clutch" as part of a much larger order of things, and he had come to accept that. He accepted his role in life. Should he fail at his role, his purpose would be undone, and he would be undone. It was clear that The Watcher had no intention on abandoning his purpose, or, letting the party through the double doors behind him.

Then.... the party (impressed with the dialog with The Watcher), returned from whence they came. They exited the garden and returned through the magic Door to Pax Arcana. As they were prepared to leave, The Watcher - nearly drifting in his walk and gait - approached the magic Door, and once the party was safely on the other side and the Door was shut, he destroyed it with his fists.

[DM's Note: Wow. I didn't exactly plan on that. I thought the party would, in some way, try to engage the Dragonborn Monk in combat but, meh, look at that. They turned back. They totally didn't stick around. Hmm What to do now? Insert ... total improvisation.]

The party asked Master Dharlyne to destroy the Door and she said she'd take care of it. Meanwhile, the party went to the Common Hall of Chartered Explorations and Recoveries to learn of potential expeditions they could take on to recover lost or ancient magic needed or requested by various patrons and benefactors of Pax Arcana. In the Hall of Chartered Explorations and Recoveries, they learned of:

• A mad wizard far to the south, in the Tarkesh Wilds, that had been transforming himself into a chimera and terrorizing the locals and common trade routes between Floreth and Gheoli; the mad wizard had created a fortress from a tree and grew using magic to some unbelievable size; an influential matron of a House would like to have that wizard problem disappear and along with it his tree fortress brought down to the earth.

• A consortium of dwarven merchants would like an old dwarf crypt investigated and items belonging to their families retrieved from it.

• A general expedition to Dhark Keep, to the south along Evelyn Pass, was needed to dispel rumors of bad magic held up there.

• Three old human males who were also in the Common Hall discussed a map that had come into their possession (apparently in a manner that somehow involved the assassin's guild Shadow, Mind, and Dagger) to a shrine in the far norther reaches, in the Frozen Wastes. The map showed the way to a shrine that had believed to have been long-lost, as well as fragments of a map of the shrine, where a Chalice was believed to be. The three old men were so confident that a Chalice was there that they offered the party an unbelievable sum (500,000 Crowns) to mount the expedition and return with it, and, on several conditions.

Even though the bounty was more than impressive, the party didn't trust the wicked old men who apparently had their own agenda in these matters, and eventually the party decided that they would take on the mad chimera wizard. They retrieved a Diary of Correspondence from the Library of Correspondence, checked out that book, and started a dialog to begin their expedition to the south ... to the Tarkesh Wilds.

Meanwhile, on their way to leaving Pax Arcana for the night, they were rushed by an apprentice student who insisted that they come straight away to the Hall of Acquisitions and Investigations. Master Dharlyne had important news. And when the party arrived there, they found the Dharlyne still had the Door within her magic circles, and she demonstrated that she had magically preserved the conduit to the other side; a shimmering veil of energy showed the gardens behind the Door, and it could be seen that The Watcher was no longer present.

[DM's Note: Improvise. The party had a big discussion of what to do next. Go through the Door, face hordes of Dragonborn, and confront the Theocracy; stay and handle the mad wizard chimera. There were votes. There were claims of madness. There were ... well, graciously, several players who thought that I'd already built all this stuff out and said they should at least see it ...]

Taking advantage of that opportunity, the party went back through the Door and into the Hadiqat Saghira. There were no more chirping insects. It was deathly silent and still. Tolman snuck about to the big double doors that had been guarded by the The Watcher and he creaked it open. It wasn't locked as The Watcher had claimed, but Tolman opened the door just in time to find another Dragonkind (a female with an ancestry of a silver dragon); Tolman cast Sleep on the woman but she resisted; instead of screaming or yelling for guards, she shooed Tolman back inside the garden. He cast Comprehend Languages.

"You can't be here, my brothers and sisters, they will destroy you," she looked about the garden. "The Door? The Watcher? Where is the Door? Hurry, before you are discovered, you must leave this place now." Apparently, this Dragonborn woman - whose name was Akra - did not share the same proud values of being a slave and not uprising against her Chromatic oppressors. She helped the party through a massive hall and to a grate that lead to the water disposal and sewage network that ran underneath the Citadel. Akra encouraged the party to run, hard, as fast as they could, for the hills to the south; to travel during the night; to find water and shelter in the desert during the day; and to find the Drow - to speak with K'hal'd'fae - to help you find food, shelter, water, and to survive.

[DM's Note: Akra was a PC that was drafted up by Melissa to play should Ma'yah be unrecoverable from the Book of Names. Melissa knew all this time that the party was supposed to meet Akra and that Akra would help them escape from the Citadel. Akra, of course, would have gone with the party, fleeing from her captors, but as an NPC I had Akra stay behind with a similar stubborn pride and sense of obligation towards her family to see her lot in life through. Meanwhile, the party had never heard of the concept of a Drow - the party has never seen nor met Elves let alone Dark Elves; the characters had no idea what the word meant.]

Towards the end of the game session, the party had wandered into the night; not her favored terrain, Elan was navigating the best she could to the southern hills. At night the sand was hot and the desert climate uncomfortable for those who had spent their whole lives in the arctic; during the day, the temperatures ran into the hundreds of degrees ... the party quickly realized that traveling in the afternoon was foolish; it was best to travel at sunset, night, and the early morning. They got briefly lost in a sandstorm as the winds seem to pick up during the daytime hours. They spent a day comfortably sheltered in a magic shelter created by Llewellyn the Bard, and Siegride created clean water to fill all of their water skins.

It was in the early morning hours of the 12th of Hunts when the sun was breaking over the desert sands, and the winds started to pick up again. The party found themselves in another sandstorm. Then, some 100' feet in front of them, a massive movement and displacement of sand was happening, and they saw an enormous exterior shell of a giant tortoise rise out of the sand, and it scrambling over the edge of a dune to escape its predators.

It seemed to grown in pain as the party realized that a large black spear was thrust into its hind quarters, and a thin figure dressed in a black turban and scarf mounted the high-ground of the dune and was firing arrows into its under belly. Meanwhile, two other black-turbaned figures ran through the desert sandstorm, trying to keep pace with the giant tortoise as it attempted to flee, loosing arrows at its tender meaty underside. All the while, another black-clad figure attempted to get close to the tortoise with a spear but was clawed mercilessly by the anguished animal, and his body crumpled to the ground. A final figure, dressed in more brightly decorated clothing ran up to his fallen comrade and began administering first aid.

The party rolled for initiative and Elan the Ranger drew back her crossbow and started firing upon the giant tortoise. Her bolt connected and it reared, giving out a painful howl.

Just then, the figure on the highground lowered his bow and looked into the swirling dessert sandstorm. He raised his arm and bore two fingers into the wind facing Elan, and ululated loudly in a fierce cry of warrior-like acknowledgement and friendship. Immediately the other two black-clad figures stopped in the sand and raised their own arms and turned two fingers to Elan in an ululated salute, and the brightly-colored figure on the top of the dune helping the fallen hunter held both hands up to Elan and ululated, apparently very elated that friends have been found in the harsh desert.

Meanwhile, the enormous giant tortoise started clamoring across the sand towards the party in a fit of pain and battle-rage ...

And that's where we'll pick up next time!
R