AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles

*ARCHIVED* Sub-forum for the original West Marches Discord campaign

Moderator:etherial

Locked
Jason
Posts:124
Joined:Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:54 pm
AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles

Post by Jason » Sun Feb 25, 2018 3:40 am

AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles
GM: Jason
Circle: 6
Difficulty: M
Summary: Party managed to open the stone platform and found the history of the City of Homsa.

Rewards
Aegharan: 6800 Legend, 1200 Silver, 3 TIP
Romari: 6800 Legend, 1200 Silver, 3 TIP
Ceadda: 6800 Legend, 1200 Silver, 3 TIP
Varis: 6800 Legend, 1200 Silver, 3 TIP

Downtime Skills Provided
Item History: Step 16 (Rank 4)
Alchemy: 11 (rank 4, Booster Potion, Kelia's Antidote, Kelix's Poultice)
Map Making 8 (Rank 1)
Research 28 (Rank 6)
Play my game jam games - made by one person in a limited time frame (usually 48 hours)

Aegharan
Posts:439
Joined:Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:58 pm

Re: AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles

Post by Aegharan » Sun Feb 25, 2018 4:09 am

Varis gathered Romari, Ceadda and me to set out and find out what hides beneath the centerstone of the Runic Circles. We gathered a diverse set of foods, one recipe of each runic circles and set out towards the Baurschwine Farm. We examined the Centerstone and tried different things, but nothing happened.

So we set out to the Dwarfen Circle, where Varis attuned easily and we got the Elementalist's mark. We then got attacked by 4 Hellhounds, but were able to defend ourselves really well and dispose of the Hellhounds rather well.

The way back to the Centerstone was uneventful. We did make a small detour via Throal to refill on the foods to provide. Arriving back at the Center we set out the food, but nothing happened. Romari was able to attune his fully stacked symbols and a gate opened. We entered into the catacombs. In the first room we had a puzzle involving a teeter-board and a moveable waterstream, that we used to act as counterweight for us.

In the next room several pathways were laid out about 10 yards off the ground, with gaps of around 2 yards between them. At the outer walls there were 4 statues of Gargoyles. When we touched the walkways, the Gargoyles came to life and attacked us, trying to push us down. I fell down first, but the others quickly followed. Soon I sensed some Air Magic electrically charging up and yelled at everybody to get out. The ground was covered in water and we would have gotten toasted.

We came up with the plan to charge through the room, help Ceadda climb up directly so that he could help us. I ate 2 electrical discharges and was nearly knocked unconscious, before I managed to climb up. Romari and Varis came after me, but their armor seemed to have been much stronger. Thankfully Varis had cast Resist Air upon us, otherwise I would probably be dead right now.

In the next room we found giant drawings and runes, as well as a pile of books. The murals told the story of a city that got broken into by horrors, apparently about 20 years after the scourge started. Maybe it also was that they were not able to close the Kaer proper before the Horrors broke in. They managed to create a Ritual, transporting some people out and created the Runic Circles to preservce the knowledge of their town. We decided to take the books back to Throal.

User avatar
BattleChad
Posts:422
Joined:Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:43 pm

Re: AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles

Post by BattleChad » Thu Mar 01, 2018 4:19 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Aegharan for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 340 Legend Points and 300 Silver

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles

Post by Dougansf » Tue May 29, 2018 4:37 pm

From the Travel Journal of Varis

Ceadda, Romari, and Aegharan join me and head to the Barswhine farm to open the octagon. I'm still disappointed that Gronk couldn't come with us, I wanted to see what would happen to someone without any marks. We decide to bring food samples of the recipes from the other circles. We attempt to open it with our marks, but Romari pieces together that one person has to have all the marks at once. We head to the Dwarf - Elementalist circle to get it for Romari.

We head to the Dwarven circle, activate it, and are attacked by 4 Hell Hounds. One charges Romari, breathing fire and clawing him, knocking him down. Ceadda leaps to Romari’s defense, killing the Hound. A second one emerges and attacks Ceadda, setting him on fire. We make quick work of them, with one running off at the end.

We head back to Throal and buy another round of food since the first batch was eaten before it went bad. Aeggy fails to haggle a cheaper price, and ends up nearly broke in the process.

Back to the circle, and Romari starts to lay the food down on the octagon. His mark starts to glow, and it opens to show a staircase going down. We head down.

We come through a doorway into a large room with 2 other exits. There are glyphs in the astral that are detecting and dispelling flight spells. There’s a walkway up above, with water coming down past it, and filling the room with ankle deep water. Aeggy checks for traps all over, and notices that the walkway is on an axis with the rod. We head up the stairway on the other side of the room. There are levers next to the entrance to the walkway. Aeggy mans the levers and learns he can move the bucket of never ending water anywhere in the room. He times it with Ceadda to stand on one side, while the water pours on the other end. Ceadda reaches the other side, and finds other levers there to take control. We repeat the process until everyone is across.

We enter another large room with long walkways at our level, which is about 10ish yards above ground. There are some gargoyle statues in the corners. Romari notices there’s a lot more magical glyphs in the room, dispelling flying and making the walls hard to climb. Ceadda enters the room, and power starts flowing to the gargoyles. As we move into the room, they come to life and start heading towards us. Romari takes a fall trying to reach the next walkway, and his flight spell is dispelled. Another Gargoyle pushes Aeggy off the walkway. In short order, everyone is on the ground, except for me, so I steps out of the room. As they head for the exit back to the water room, Aeggy notices that the floor is becoming charged with electricity running through the water. We retreat into the first room.

We come up with a better plan. We run across the electric floor and climb up to the other hallway.

We see murals depicting Namegivers going into a kaer 20 years after Throal closed it’s gates. A Horror got in before it was sealed, and they used ritual to set up the runic circles to record their city before it fell. Piebach is an ally spirit bound to perform the deed. We can try to decode the books to find where the kaer is.

User avatar
BattleChad
Posts:422
Joined:Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:43 pm

Re: AAR: Mystery of the Runic Circles

Post by BattleChad » Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:08 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Varis for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 340 Legend Points and 300 Silver

Locked