Into the Darkness: the Second Session

At the start of this session, the PCs were joined by a wildling ardent. They just woke up, and there he was. None of the PCs found this the least bit odd (by DM fiat), and they are all (the ardent included) closer than brothers.

In the second session, the PCs pushed deeper into the Sla-Mori. There, they found the skeleton of Kith-Kathan and his empty scabbard. The skeleton had long since fallen apart, but on the seat of his throne was carved the following image: a great tree stands between a bed of flowers and a pile of ashes.

It might be worth noting at this point that the carvings are of unknown origin. There are no chisel marks, no remnants of magic, no bubbling or scarring from heat melting the rock, no signs that the images were pressed into the rock, no nothing. Arcana, Nature, History, Religion, Dungeoneering, none reveal anything.

The PCs find a tunnel that slopes down. Deep down. Like, twenty stories down. It opens into a cave, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, blind cave fish, the works. At the back of the cave is a carefully-constructed ten-foot-wide tiled-stone tunnel. It leads to a carefully constructed staircase. The stairs seem old, but solid, and there are no 'moons' in the middle of the stairs. ('moons' being the indentations that develop in the center of old stairs, from countless people stepping in the same place over the ages).

At the base of the stairs, there is a crossroads. Constructed in the same building style (ancient, high-quality stonecutting, tiled floors, walls, and ceilings), there are four paths leading out. One is the path leading up to the surface that the PCs came down. One leads off in an indeterminate direction with no markings. One leads the opposite direction, and is marked with the symbol of an anvil. One leads to another flight of stairs, some ten, fifteen stories down.

At this crossroads, there were four goblins waiting for the PCs. The paladin fell into a pit trap, and the goblins ambushed the PCs in the meantime, twice dropping the ardent below 0 HP. Our first-level heroes dealt with the goblins with great skill, and a good time was had by all (including the ardent).

Inside the crossroads were two main rooms: a bedroom (with two beds) and a storeroom. In the bedroom, there was a loose tile. On the underside of this tile was the following image: a shepherd's crook etc. is bent in a circle around a green disk on a tile in the goblin bedroom. Beneath that tile is another tile. On that one, there is the image of a great tree stands between a bed of flowers and a pile of ashes. The tree, and ashes (but not the flowers) are above a shepherd's crook with a trowel for the butt end.

In the storeroom, there are barrels and crates that fall into three types. The contents are all of mundane items, food, and trade goods.

1. These contain objects in an altered form of the elven style. The materials are low-quality, and the craftsmanship is shoddy, and the tradition isn't quite elven, but it's quite close.

2. These contain objects clearly of dwarven craftsmanship. There is an anvil branded onto each crate.

3. These contain objects in an unknown style. Half of these objects are material. Half appear immaterial. They are translucent, and glow faintly blue. However, they can be held and carried, and are otherwise quite solid. The translucent objects reek of godly magic.

The PCs opted to head down the staircase leading deeper into the earth when they found dust with the same blue glow in the cracks of the stairs.

The first session

First, a little about this game. Ever since I read Carteeg's After the End of Ages, I wanted to run a game set in it. I also wanted to run a game in the style of the TV shows LOST and Battlestar Galactica, where there is a great mystery underlying the entire plot. I also wanted to run a game to test my DMing skills, where I would prepare as little as possible, wing as much as I could on the fly, and really improve as a dungeon master. These three goals came together to make this game (though, obviously, I had to prepare the solution to the underlying mystery first).

The players were told that they could make a character of any race or class they wanted (even traditionally Dragonlance-forbidden ones), but that the characters could not worship any god, could not be evil, could not be chaotic, and, while they could (and should) have a personality, they could not have a background.

We're running using 4th edition rules.

The PCs 'woke up' next to an obelisk (not a monolith, you crazy players who keep humming the '2001: A Space Odyssey' theme), and quickly deduced that the obelisk makes all those who approach it lose their memory and trust those they arrived near the obelisk with. Thus, these PCs, never mind that they have no recollections of their past (and have thus never seen each other in their past) are closer than brothers.

They are:

A kalashtar warlock (this should clue you in instantly that this ain't gonna be what you expect out of a DL game)

A revenant paladin mystic

An elven ranger

A halfling artificer

They have an intuitive sense of their location in the world of Krynn and a deep understanding of Krynnish history, up through the age of mortals. Thus, they know that they are standing in Solace, and know a great deal about Solace.

Except Solace isn't there. Where you'd expect to see the mighty vallenwoods, there's a scrubby woodland. And, of course, an obelisk. Thoroughly confused, they decide to head north, to Gateway. Gateway's not there either. In fact, the woodland ends earlier than it should, revealing not the Plains of Abanasinia, but a barren steppe. Concluding that they must be either in the future or in the past, the PCs decide to travel to the Newsea. If it's there, they'll be in the future. If not, they're in the far past. Up to this point, they have met no living soul.

And they continue to meet no one on their trip to the Newsea. However, they do find a boulder. Carved on it is the image of a shepherd's crook with the butt as the blade of a trowel, burning like a candle, with a single tongue of flame immolating the whole thing. Confused by this strange carving, they continue on, and find the shoreline there where it should be. However, instead of the smooth, sandy beach they expected, there is a sheer cliff.

They decide to venture north to Que-Shu. If they're in the future, the stone city may have left a ruin. On the way, they meet someone.

Said someone is nine feet tall. He is sitting cross-legged in the steppe, with his eyes closed. The right side of his body has the appearance of a grizzled middle-aged man, dressed in dented plate armor. The left side of his body is magma, with cooled rock as skin, like a fire dragon. After leaving him alone for several hours, then proceeding to pester and prod him, the PCs manage to provoke this peacefully-sitting man to action – he tells them, "You know I have nothing to say to you." Soon thereafter, after continued pestering, he pulls a whip of fire from nowhere and cleaves one of the PCs in half (the kalashtar warlock). He then pauses and says, "Aahhhhhhh.... You've forgotten." Then, with a half-smile, he sits back down, and cannot be roused further.

The next morning, the cleaved PC is alive again. None of the PCs (by DM fiat) find this the least bit odd, and they continue on their journey. There is no sign of Que-Shu. Returning back the way they came, the PCs find the nine-foot man gone, and in his place, an image burned into the ground: the same shepherd's crook tending to a flowerbed.

Expressing frustration that there is 'nothing to do' (a valid complaint), the players decide to settle down and build a cabin, perhaps next to the obelisk. Passing by the same boulder with the first carving on it, the PCs find such a cabin, where no such cabin was before. At this cabin, they discover something interesting: they cannot separate. If any of them tries to get further than 100 yards from the rest of the group, they find themselves walking back towards the group from the opposite direction, not unlike a game of 'Snake'.

The PCs continue back to the obelisk in Solace, and destroy it, for no real reason. Underneath the obelisk, they find a flat rock. Painted on the flat rock is the image of the same shepherd's crook in a green disk.

At this point, the halfling starts getting a sense (by DM fiat) that there might be something interesting 'in this direction'. By following the halfling's gut (seldom a good idea), the PCs pass by the Lake of Death in Qualenesti. On a rock jutting out over the lake, the PCs find an image of a tongue of flame burning dead grass.

Continuing to follow the halfling's gut, the PCs come to the Sla-Mori: the secret passage to Pax Tharkas. Assuming Pax Tharkas still exists, of course. The PCs haven't seen any other humanoids except the nine-foot magma man. Inside the Sla-Mori, the PCs find the following image: a green disk with a black disk superimposed. The black disk has a small tongue of flame emerging. They resolve to venture into the Sla-Mori next session.

Confused? You better believe the players are.