Hallucinations: Session Seven

Karel: the human barbarian, played by David. He's got a map of the great northern mountain reaches, where more Ensivalen posts are mapped. His left arm has a nasty cut that's slowly starting to infect, and he has sustained multiple ghoul bites.

Zilya: the human assassin, played by Bryna. She's been taking care of a little girl they had been paid by the town of Yerwo to find. She started hearing a voice last session, but refused to take its advice. The voice promised she would hear from it again.

Natskin: a minotaur pit fighter, played by Will. He went down the well with Karel and Zilya because good money was involved, and now that they're staring at a bunch of supposedly mythical vinteralfen he can't help but wonder what he just got himself into. Natskin's ribs are broken and he's sustained a few ghoul bites.

Vinteralven: tall and thin humanoids, with blue skin and pointed ears. They're regarded as a myth.

The vinteralven stared at the four beaten and battered adventurers in bewilderment,  the teal light of the lichen lamps throwing them all into extreme shadow.  One vinteralf came forward and asked them how they got through that arch. Taking his last swig of mead, Natskin told them they were trying to rescue this little girl (shivering, she said "I feel down a well") and they were attacked by ghouls, and then a dragon came after them, and they got the dragon and the ghouls to attack each other. Karel drew a picture of the arch they went through and tried to describe the helter-skelter nature of turning it on. Zilya asked for help; the girl was freezing and had a broken arm, not to mention the rest of them were in bad shape. The girl winced from shivering in the icy room, as she had accidentally jarred her arm. The vinteralven showed a brief moment of pity, and then asked if the group had anything to offer the Winter King of Solonphang, their city. Looking at each other a moment, they nodded.

They were led out the small room into a vast cavern. Icy stalactites and stalagmites abounded. The soft teal glow of the lichen showed a variety of stone structures, made primarily from a died blue stone. Vinteralven stopped and stared at them, particularly Natskin. He winked at one of the viteralven women and told her his ex-wife was an elf. She screamed and ran. The vinteralfen who led them chuckled, but told Natskin not to do that again.

They got to the back of the cavern, to the largest structure in the place. Going up the steps, the doors were opened onto a huge room, filled with ice sculptures and a whispering court. On an enormous ice throne sat a vinteralf at least seven feet tall. He stood up to his full height and came walking down to Karel, Zilya, Natskin, and the little girl, who bowed. The Winter King asked them for their offering. Karel produced the last bit of shaved gold they ahd from the Ensivalen Meditation Cube. They knew it wasn't enough, but it was all they had. But the Winter King was staring intently at the gold: he knew it came from Novstrech! He mentioned the city by name!  They had been to the meditation cube beneath Novstrech, he declared. The Winter King immediately asked about The Map. It was in an armoire... a cabinet, that was the word! Yes! That was it! Did they have The Map? Karel nodded and the Winter King eagerly asked for it. The map had immense personal value to the king. Karel asked if he could make a copy first. The Winter King refused; "warmbloods" such as them had no need for that map.

Natskin puked on the floor, still sick from the ghoul bites.

Besides, the Winter King continued, he was willing to trade the map for whatever they needed, carte blanche! That included medical care for their young ward, not to mention a proper set of clothes for her. Ignoring Natskin's glare, Karel produced the map. The Winter King noticed Natskin's dislike for handing over the map.

The little girl was rushed away, to be given warm clothes and medical care for her arm. Zilya, Natskin, and Karel were shown to a stone longhouse. News of the "rapist minotaur" had spread, and no one went near them. That suited them just fine.

They sat for a little while. Karel munched the mushrooms he'd found in the well; his arm finally started feeling better. As he munched he realized just how much stronger his pain could make him, how much more aware of his surroundings. He would use that from then on.

The trio finally felt... normal? Natskin's ribs were taped (and he finally didn't feel nauseous anymore!!), and they all felt more relaxed than they had in awhile.  Well, not Zilya, she was still on edge. They were not amongst friends; the vinteralven could kill them at any moment, and the sooner they got away the better. Natskin scoffed. If the vinteralven had actually wanted to kill them they could have done so at any time, whatsoever. But Natskin was fine with that. He'd made peace with dying awhile back. His people cremated their dead and spread the ashes in the fields, where they returned to feed others. The minotaur people taught that there was a pasture somewhere, far away, where all souls went to live in peace. But Natskin wasn't sure if that was a real place. He'd seen so much, so many horrors, he wasn't sure about much anymore, only that he wasn't afraid to die.

Karel said he didn't really feel any sense of gloom, or that he had thought about death at all. They were in the mountains, that much was obvious, and that was home to Karel. Karel hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time. He couldn't quite get his peoples' story about mountains out of his head. The mountains were formed because the god of ice and the god of snow couldn't agree on anything. So they had a war. So fiercely did they fight that the mountains were born in the ensuing wind blasts and struggle. And that was where his people lived: in the footprints of the gods.

That's all they were doing end. Living in the footprints of those that had shaped the world.

Karel, Natskin, and Zilya sat awhile, silent. The world outside continued.

Hallucinations: Session Six

Last time... Zilya, Natskin, and Karel went down a well after a missing girl. They found her, but ran afoul of the security statues of the dungeon they had inadvertently found. Natskin's ribs and lantern were broken, Karel's napsack, with all his extra torches, were destroyed, the facility was put on lockdown, and they're now staring at five hungry ghouls, scared little girl in tow. What a time to be alive!

Yes, there were five ghouls staring at them. Karel did want to live. But he was very curious about the room. It was very similar to one of the rooms in the cube: a golden room, with glass tubes lining the walls. There could very well be a secret door on this floor, and Karel wanted to find out if there was one  before they were all eaten. He handed his torch to Natskin and made a break for it, hoping to get to the other side of the room to try and find something, anything! One of the ghouls lunged out and bit Karel as he ran; he almost threw up from the immediate nausea. Karel threw the ghoul off and got away. He was going to live, damnit! At the other end of the room he found the door he was looking for; it opened with a whoosh.

Natskin strode forward and dropped into a boxing stance. He was a beefy minotaur; it didn't take much to distract the ghouls from everything else. He lunged out and punched at them, daring them to take him on. They took him at his word.

Zilya grabbed the little girl, who could barely move from the terror, and dragged her away, hiding behind one of the glass tubes, trying to work out a plan of engagement. A small whisper, stately but sad, sighed over her shoulder: "You can use the tubes against them". The girl didn't react to the whisper. Karel yelled that he'd found another door.  They all made a break for it, torch guttering wildly. The stately but sad whisper voice told Zilya they'd meet again. No one else heard it but her. There was only one button in the elevator.

The doors closed on the charging ghouls just in time. But only just. They opened again on a rotting room: furniture barely held together against time, dampness, and a cracked ceiling, which let in just enough light.

Oh, and a sleeping black dragon. He's important too!

Everyone froze. Except Natskin. He wanted to fight the dragon, maybe even tame it and make it a pet! He tried to stride forward, but was restrained forcibly.

The dragon stirred.

It sat up.

They could see a door behind the dragon.  They were jamming the button to the elevator like mad. The doors whooshed shut, just in time.

They opened upon the snarling ghouls. Putting herself between the girl and the undead monsters, Zilya yelled at Natskin to get the ghouls in the elevator. Natskin yelled at the ghouls. They remembered him from before, so it didn't take too much work to get them into the elevator to feast on his enormous frame. But Natskin couldn't get out. Karel got himself next to the elevator door. Zilya tried to duck under a ghoul's reach, so she and the little girl could get out.

The doors closed before she could.

The torch went out. The girl screamed over the snarling of the ghouls.

Somehow nobody got bit before doors opened again. The four friends heard it: a deep breath, from something large. They hit the deck. A pillar of acid flew over them. The ghouls screamed in agony. And then they charged the dragon, falling apart as they did. They engaged the beast, biting and and clawing at it, as they disintegrated.

The crack in the ceiling looked too small for Natskin, so the group tried the door at the far end of the rotting room. It was locked. Pressing any next next to it resulted in a voice saying "Lockdown initiated. Access denied". They all charged the steel door, even the little girl, with Natskin in the lead.

KRUNCH

There was a hallway, ending in a room. In the room was a stone archway. They could hear the sounds of the fighting dying down, as the ghouls fell apart. Zilya tried running through the archway. Nothing happened. There was a control panel on an adjacent wall. They all pounded on the buttons. A voice, mechanical and cold, spoke: "Lockdown measures in effect. Only emergency destinations are authorized."

The archway sprang to life, a light crackling between the posts. They dove through. Natskin was the last to go through. He so desperately wanted a pet dragon...

It turned and saw him. And it took a deep breath.

The room Natskin entered was bitterly cold, even for him. Standing before the group were three blue humanoids, with pointy ears: the vinteralfen.

"How did you get an Ensivalen Arch to work...?" one of them asked after a second.

They looked startled. Not to mention confused.

Hallucinations: Session Five

Karel and Zilya finally got away from Novstrech, heading north to check out the range of mountains that are supposed to have more facilities with gold.

As the group made their way to Yerwo the Yewkhol River, source of life and economy to the a good part of the nation, dried up suddenly. When they came to Yerwo they found the town gathered around their well. A little girl had fallen into the well, hit the bottom, and had vanished. A few ment sent down had also vanished. The group were begged to help, with all the town's assets promised. None but Karel, Zilya, and a minotaur Natskin said yes, but for everything the town was going to give the original group of fifteen. Oh, and they would need some rope. Natskin had a grappling hook, but didn't have any rope to attach to it. The mother of the child pleaded. She didn't have to plead for very long.  Zilya secured the grappling hook to the rope. She, Karel, and Natskin climbed into the well. The stones had no moisture or wearing on them, almost as if the well had never had water in it. Natskin began to to regret his life choices.

When they got to the bottom they saw passage leading away into the earth. There was a steel wall at the end of the gloomy passageway. Karel lit a torch and  and examined the wall. It was a set of doors, which whooshed open. Zilya and Natskin walked into the darkness beyond.

The door whooshed shut behind them, shutting out Karel and his torch. The doors would not reopen.

In the darkness Natskin rummaged in his backpack, pulled out his lantern, filled it with oil, lit it, and held it aloft.  The room was made of steel, with a large donkey wheel in the middle of the room. In each corner stood a colored stand; red, blue, green, and white, with depressions from each corner connected to the donkey wheel in the center. Colored orbs, which were atop their respective stands.. except the blue orb, which was cracked in half on the ground.  Zilya explained to Natskin that she and Karel had seen this room set up before, and how it had previously worked. She picked up the remnants of the blue orb and placed them together, and placed them in the blue pedestal. Nothing happened.

Outside the doors Karel attempted to find a way in. He couldn't find another way in.  Karel noticed that the ground outside was damp and had growing fungi. With a little bit of poking around Karelfound some small mushrooms he'd heard had healing properties, provided they were cooked. Nodding approvingly, Karel pocketed the mushrooms.

Back inside, Zilya and Natskin found a trail of blood, which led to a wall. Knowing there could be a secret door, Natskin rammed the wall, with Zilya running beside him. They knocked the secret doors in. The trail of blood ended in a tiny room. One of the walls had a panel with uncolored buttons, three in total. They looked back at the doors that had locked behind them.

Their first charge about broke the steel doors. Karel, realizing what had happened, began ramming a weak spot created by Natskin and Zilya's damage.The door caved under the next charge. Karel's torch and Natskin's lantern had gone out, so Karel relit a torch and Natskin returned his lantern to his backpack.

They walked into the elevator. Zilya pressed the middle of the three buttons. The platform rose. The next doors opened onto a little girl with a broken arm and three swinging giant clubs.

Zilya pull the girl out of the way, just in time, but several of Natskin's ribs were broken and Karel's satchel was utterly destroyed. Natskin jumped in front of his newfound compatriots, trying to buy them time. One of the giant statues swung and knocked Natskin back into the elevators; Natskin heard his lantern crack. The doors closed.

They heard "Lockdown initiated". The elevator rose.

It opened onto a golden, lined with giant glass tubes.

And five ghouls. The little girl trembled.

Karel's torch began to flicker.

Hallucinations: Session Four

Last time... Zilya and Karel ran into Zilya's mentor, Timok, and Karel's friend, Arron, who were accompanied by two strange humans. They had to flee, and Zilya lost her torches in the process. They came up out of the tunnel into a building in Novstrech, the town they'd come from to get into the Cube in the first place. During their escape from the guards they bumped into they lost their backpacks, and were left with only their gold, Karel's axe, some of Zilya's knives and stilettos, and pretty much no dignity. Oh, they did make it out with a map showing more locations like the Cube they just got out of. There's that.

As they faded into the crowded street Karel and Zilya began to feel better. Karel's hunger and thirst seemed to just disappear. All of a sudden he heard a quiet whisper: it was his long-dead grandmother. She assured Karel the spirits were with him. And Karel drew strength from that. Zilya's nausea faded, and a spring returned to her step. Karel, however, still had a really bad cut on his arm, and despite the assurance that the spirits were with him he remained angry about having left his friend Arron with what seemed like his captors. So Zilya brought Karel to see her friend, Katia, who was more than happy to put them up for a week or so, while the guards looked around for them. Karel hoped the convalescence would help his arm to heal.

It didn't.

So, after the week was up, Karel thought he would try to sleep on an actual bed, by himself, for a little while. He checked into The Swift Kitchen, one of the seedier inns in Novstrech, and hunkered down there for a bit, hoping that some alone time and additional medical care would help his arm to heal up faster. But it didn't. His arm stayed a festering wound.

During this time, holed up and out of the way, Zilya and Karel processed the events of the Cube. Zilya realized what was missing in her technique for sneak attacks, and came up with a few solutions to ensure she wouldn't get caught like she had. Karel figured out how they'd evaded the townsfolk they'd fled from and thought up a few tricks of his own, to ensure that nobody could do that to them. The time at The Swift Kitchen didn't help heal his arm, but Karel did feel more rested than he had in a while, so that was something at least.

Zilya, for her part, was now in a much better mood after having hung out with her friend for a few days. Since Katia no longer really had the resources to really put her up, it was time to get out of town. She joined back up with Karel and they went to the market to replenish some of their gear. They left Karel's axe at Katia's, as weapons larger than a dagger were illegal in Novstrech.

Karel got some torches for some of the gold shavings that he had. Zilya was not so lucky, as one of the other vendors at the market flat out refused to sell her the backpack she was trying to get. Karel came over and tried to get the man to see sense, but he was turned away as well. Fortunately another vendor, of a more open persuasion, accepted the shaved gold for some satchels. They picked up some rations as well.

And that was as far as their gold could take them in the markets of Novstrech.

They managed to get Karel's axe out of Novstrech by sheer dumb luck, walking it right out the front gates and hoping nobody would notice. Somehow, nobody did. Outside the town Karel and Zilya bumped into a party of about a dozen adventurers. Some of them looked really seedy, but the captain looked alright to them. He told them of the rumors he had heard of great riches to be found in the mountains far to the north. Would they mind joining up with his motley gang? More people would be helpful in surviving the bitter colds of the north! And well, someone could probably take a look at Karel's arm in their little band. Maybe help him get it back to normal.

That was a done deal. They headed north, next to the Yewkhol River, towards the small town of Yerwo, three days distant from Novstrech.

Hallucinations: Session Three

Previously... Karel and Zilya had broken into a golden cube, which had popped outside the divided town of Novstrech. They've been scraping gold off the walls, broke a few robots (who initiated a lockdown, whatever that means??), and are pretty happy with getting rich, and they found a secret passageway... and apparently there's someone walking down it.

As the footsteps got louder Zilya rushed to find a place to hide. But in her desire to get into a spot for a sneak attack she just wound up standing right next to the opening to the hallway, in plain view. Karel didn't even bother; he stood in plain view, lighting his lantern, as Zilya's torch had gone out. Out walked two unknown human males (one whom was holding a torch), along with Karel's friend Arron and Zilya's mentor, Timok, who didn't acknowledge her. Karel jovially told Arron that he had some money for his inn! The two humans were aghast: the walls were scraped of as much of the gold that Karel and Zilya could have gotten into their bags. They'd defiled an Ensivalen meditation cube! The information in this cube could completely stop the religious civil war in its tracks. And Karel and Zilya had just been bumbling about in it??

Karel laughed; they'd done everyone a favor by taking out the two statues upstairs and deactivating some of the security! The four could explore to their heart's content now. Shaking their heads, the humans formed up, drawing their weapons. They would bring in these two hooligans! Timok formed up with the two humans, but he hung back. Karel made a break for Zilya, but one of the humans knocked his lantern onto the ground, where it went out. Zilya shoved both humans out of the way and they made a break for it, but they grabbed her torches as she ran, spilling them onto the ground.  Karel managed to scoop up his lantern as they ran down the worked stone hall, which turned neither right or left. Zilya and Karel swapped the lantern and a bag of gold as they ran, and Zilya relit the lantern as they fled. They came to a stair, vaulted it, and burst through the door at the top of the stair.

The three guards in the room beyond were utterly shocked. The windows opened out to the street. Their backpacks did not fit through the windows, so they threw them off as they jumped out.

Broken, bruised, exhausted, and yet laden down with bags of shaved gold, Zilya and Karel vanished into the crowds of Novstretch.

Hallucinations: Session Two

Last time... Zilya, an assassin from Novstrech, and Karel, a barbarian from the northern town of Preyderi, broke into a golden cube which had surfaced outside the town of Novstrech. They had broken into it, but managed to trigger a lockdown. Exhausted and pissed off, they hunkered down for a few hours to try and get some sleep.

When Zilya awoke a few hours later she didn't feel tired anymore, although she was still pretty angry at things. Karel had calmed down but still hadn't slept any. Karel had found a large secured storage locker the previous night. So when she woke up Karel took Zilya over to where he remembered it being. He didn't remember properly. He had mapped it wrong.

So when Zilya opened the locker it spat gas right into her lungs.

Zilya could barely see straight from how nauseous she was. She cussed out Karel as she wretched, trying to throw up. After taking a few minutes to make sure she wasn't getting worse Karel looked through the locker. There wasn't much, just a map. When Karel unrolled it he realized he was looking at the more northerly ranges of the Ledaye Mountains, which his hometown Preyderi was a few days south of the more southerly reaches of of those mountains. The map, which Karel had to dust off, showed what looked like a bunch of different stations, way up in the world. Karel couldn't read the language, however.

They then started scraping off some more gold from the walls, putting it into sacks they'd brought and attached them to their belts. Zilya asked Karel why he was out and adventuring, way down in the south. Karel told her that his friend Arron was wanting to make an inn, but lacked the funds for the initial investment. Karel wanted to fix that. Well, and you know, he wanted to get rich too. Zilya.

They decided to go to the other locker, which Karel elected to bust open, since Zilya still felt really nauseous. It collapsed on him, and cut his arm, about to the bone! Wincing, Karel picked through the remains with Zilya: they found a battleaxe and a dagger, along with a horseshoe that was powerfully magnetic. Karel also showed Zilya the hole in the floor, which allowed her to see the ghoul who was hanging out on the next floor down. Zilya wanted to go down and kill it, not to mention continuing  to loot the place.

They took the elevator, as opposed to the glass tube. They hit the blue button and descended. The walls of the blue tinted room, illumined by a freshly-lit torch, showed rotting furniture. Karel found that there was a secret door behind a bunch of rotting couches; it opened onto a stone tunnel, leading out of the cube. Karel and Zilya investigated the walls on the blue floor. The blue-tinted gold was a higher karat, and thus harder to collect, and even harder to store. 

And then they heard movement from down the stone tunnel. Someone was coming.

Hallucinations: Session One

Karel: A barbarian from the small mountain village of Preydiri, played by David. He's into gold and glory.

Zilya: An assassin who comes right from the town of Novstrech, which is where we're starting, played by Bryna.

Novstrech: A supposedly neutral city in the growing civil war between the Old Faith and the Faith of the Stars. Its neutrality is in question because of its proximity to Bohspat, the center of the Old Faith, which is a major military power in its own right. Earlier in the day a gigantic golden cube rose out of the ground, just outside the town. A low thrumming noise was emanating from the cube and was distress to the town.

At dusk Karel and Zilya made their move. Zilya took point, helping Karel sneak toward the Cube. But Zilya wanted to feel a rush, so she made Karel run right as a guard was looking, hoping they moved fast enough under the cover of shadow.

Zilya was wrong.

As Zilya and Karel heard the alarm being raised in the town they got to the Cube. The thrumming noise that had been causing so much consternation was louder here, potentially harmful even; fortunately Karl and Zilya were able to withstand it. They knew they needed to hurry, but couldn't find a door. Karel began touching around the Cube, trying to find a secret door. It was actual gold and quite smooth... exception for the slightest of indentations. Karel traced the doorway, and pushed.

The doors opened with a quiet whoosh, and they stepped inside, with another quiet whoosh behind them. Karel lit his lantern and held it up in his left hand. The whole room was gold: walls, floor, ceiling. In the corners to their right and left Zilya and Karel saw pedestals: white to their left and green to their right. A pair of orbs, green and white, lay nearby, covered in dust, cracked and chipped. In the center of the room was a glass tube, with a doorway cut into said tube.

Karel searched the room, Zilya next to him and lending a helping eye. On the other side of the room were two more pedestals and orbs, red and blue. Karel was looking for another secret door and was convinced there was one, but it was significantly harder to find than the one that let them in in the first place. By the time they did find one they were both so angry they could barely see straight. That door whooshed open, onto a small room. A series of small colored circles were on an area next to the doorway: red, blue, white, and green.

They walked back into the main room and looked over the orbs on the floor. They were safe to touch, about the size of a human skull. Zilya put the red orb on the red pedestal. The glass tube sealed its open doorway shut and the floor within it sank, leaving a hole. Zilya took the orb off the pedestal and the floor returned; the tube re-opened. All the other orbs were tried in their matching stands. Blue took longer for the platform to return, white and green also took longer than the previous one.

They decided that Karel, who was eager for gold and glory, should go down the tube and see the four sub-basements beneath them. Karel got in the tube and Zilya put the green orb on the green pedestal. She lit a torch as Karel went down in the elevator. She investigated the walls as he went down, scraping at the gold with some tools. Three inches of gold later revealed steel. Chuckling, Zilya began to scrape as much off the wall as she could, stashing it in her backpack.

Karel went to each sub-basement. The next floor down had red-tainted gold, and was more of a passage-way than a gigantic room, and had two enormous statues next to the tube he was in. They were equipped with gigantic mauls. They didn't respond as he coasted down.

The next floor down was plated in blue-tinted gold. It was filled with rotting furniture. One of the corners didn't have floor anymore; gaping blackness was all that Karel could see.

The white floor's walls were lined with glass tubes. There were also five ghouls, who jumped up and began to pound on the glass tube Karel was in. Karel knew that, by the time he came back up, they would have broken through the glass.

The bottom green floor had a broken glass tube. The stone platform Karel stood on continued on, even without the tube. There were billowing clouds on the ground, eerily green, and there was a funny smell in the air. Karel held his breath, and realized he was pretty thirsty.

Karel held his breath until he got back into the white room. The ghouls broke the glass tube on their level. Klaxons went off, causing Zilya to jump as she was stealing gold on to the top level. Karel threw the attacking ghouls off the platform as it rose to the next floor. The ghouls snarled but could not reach the platform.

The stone statues were swinging their mauls as Karel came back up into the red-tinted room. He hadn't noticed their clubs on the way down, what was that pattern on them?

Zilya heard the smashing of glass from below and called out to Karel. No answer. The platform came up empty. Could anyone hear anything over those klaxons?? Zilya ran to the small room she'd helped Karel to discover. Taking a shaking breath, trembling from being tired, she pressed the small red circle. The doors whooshed shut. The platform beneath her began to sink. A minute later the doors whooshed open. Two gigantic statues stood over Karel. He looked unhurt, albeit a bit winded. Karel demanded that Zilya get over to him and help! Zilya hid in an opposite corner, waiting, watching.

The statues approached Karel, declaring the intruder needed to be detained. Karel told them he'd been there before, and had just helped by clearing out the ghouls that were down below. The statues paused a moment, processing the response. Zilya saw that there was a control panel on the back of their enormous heads. Zilya took a stiletto out of her hair and threw it at one of the statues. She managed to toss it through the plate on its head and it shut down. the other statue turned around, and Karel pulled out a hammer out and chucked it at the back of its head. As it shut down it said "System compromised. Lockdown initiated."

The klaxons stopped.

Exhausted, Karel and Zilya sat down and made camp. Karel and Zilya gave each other shoulder rubs to help relax after everything. Zilya passed out immediately. Karel did not. He got up, grabbed a parchment and a quill, and began to sketch out a map of the floor they were on.  He found the walls could move on this floor; it looked to be  a storage floor, with various locked containers that he thought about having Zilya check in a bit. There were blue, green, and white pedestals, but a gigantic hole where the red pedestal had been. Karel looked down into a ghoul's glare. It couldn't get up to them.

Karel didn't really sleep well the rest of the night. Zilya slept like a rock.

Hallucinations: Session Zero

The world was a mess. Star liches, undead stars, had fallen to the earth and defiled it. The dead rose. The living were subjugated. Some blamed it on their own sins and petitioned the gods, the Lords of Light and Darkness, for relief. Others blamed those who lived atop The Red Giants, who none had seen. And others killed themselves deliberately, so they could be part of the new world order. 

And then the living stars, beautiful beyond compare, crashed into the planet, and sacrificed themselves, spilling their ichor and flame into the desecrated earth. The star-liches' power was no match for the inherent goodness of this sacrifice. The living heralded them as the answer to their prayers from the gods. The dead screamed as they disintegrated.

A new kingdom, Mamye, was founded. It was not very large and it hugged the coast, but it was home. Those to the north, in the Yuzney Zuby Mountains, refused to comply. The mountains were too cold for anyone from Mamye to care. There were rumors of creatures calling themselves the shuyao and vinteralva even farther north, but even the barbarians who refused to join with Mamye knew very little of them. 

Things began to fall apart for Mamye. A question of religious orthodoxy (Were the stars themselves the gods? Were they to be worshipped? Were the Lords of Light and Dark even real?) was hijacked by the schemes of politicians, and two cities were founded to represent this broach: Bohspat, who worshiped the old gods (originally sponsored by the crossroads city Novstrech), and Yakravat (sponsored by the port town Krasay Dok), who worshipped the stars directly. Founded upon the Pairvents and Tretiy rivers, these two economic and religious bastions have effectively ousted the capital Rabayda from its position as the most important city in the realm of Mamye.

But Karel Ladislas, from the mountainous barbarian town of Preydiri, and Zilya, hailing from Novstrech, didn't really care about any of that. Karel had come south because he had heard of Mamye's riches and the glory that could be gained from them, and Zilya only kept saying that she wanted money, fast. They had met up at Aloysius's Plate, one of the inns of Novstrech. They discussed breaking into one of the forgotten structures of old and looting it for all it was worth. Karel was excited! Glory was to be had! But Zilya was watching this strange newcomer with apprehension. She was desperate, so she went along with it. But did that mean she could trust Karel?

And then the earth quaked and shook. 

A few miles outside of Novstrech rose a gigantic cubic structure, shining golden in the sunlight. A low hum emitted from it. It was actively distressful for the Novstrans. The members of the old and new faiths resolved to go into the golden cube and stop the noise. Glory and political gain was at stake!

But Karel and Zilya? They wanted to know if that cube was solid gold or not.